Page 104 of The Gentleman

“No matter how much we want it to be, life isn’t simple. As an MI6 officer, you of all people should understand that.”

Somewhere down-corridor, a dampened rumble shuddered through the floor plates—the fight outside edging closer.

Leo slammed a fist on the computer console, making Kat jump. “The kill command, Eldridge. Where the fuck is it?”

She looked straight at him. “I see civilian life hasn’t softened you, Bychkov.” Her attention switched back to Kat as Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Raptor tech can excise a tumor cell by cell—miracles surgeons still call impossible.”

“Stop making excuses.” Kat flexed her damp fingers around her Glock, her stomach rolling queasily. “You ran to Korolov, sold out everyone who ever trusted you.”

“This is a waste of time.” Leo kept his gun trained on Eldridge as he searched the room, tossing books and files to the floor. “They’re trialing this on fucking children, Eldridge.”

Eldridge ignored him. “I was dying, Landon. Twenty-seven years of service, and they cast me aside the moment I became inconvenient.” Her hand shook as she adjusted the blanket across her legs. “Fuck loyalty. I want to live.”

Jane’s body was all Kat could see now—vacant stare, loose hands. Sympathy had been burned out of her long before this room.

“You sold classified information.” The words were ash in Kat’s mouth.

Eldridge didn’t flinch. “I offered Korolov protection. Intel from inside MI6. In return, he found what I needed—labs, scientists, full deniability.” She paused, adjusting the IV as it tugged against her bandage. “They weren’t encumbered by ethics. That was the point.”

Her gaze met Kat’s, unrepentant. “The same technology that gives him his lucrative weapon will give me my life back.”

Leo paused in his search on the far side of the room. “And when Kat stumbled onto your files?”

“My entire survival plan was at risk. Her implication was a necessary convenience and bought me time to complete the treatment protocol.” Eldridge sighed, her mouth a brutal slash. “This could cure the incurable. Brain tumors. Cancer. Lives no surgeon can reach?—”

Leo spun and hammered his palm onto the console, hard enough to rattle every monitor on the bank of screens. “Kill switch, Eldridge. Or do I unplug your miracle one circuit at a time?”

“If it were easy, MI6 would have done it without you.” Eldridge offered him a thin, exhausted smile that bypassed her eyes.

Static burst across Kat’s earpiece.

Griff coughed. “Tower team’s down to one gun. Ten minutes if we’re lucky, Leo—” The line died in a crackle of interference.

Kat caught a glint beneath the rail. “Leo?—”

He lunged, fingers scrabbling beneath the bed. “Got it.” A black tablet surfaced in his grip. Across the glass, the countdown flashed crimson red.

00:17:57

00:17:56

The kill switch.

Kat’s hands ached around her gun. If Nightshade went live, no one would know they’d been rewritten. Not until it was too late.

“You think this is my first war?” Leo shoved the screen at Eldridge, then jammed the SIG’s muzzle against the puckered scar on her temple. “End it.”

Eldridge’s breath was strained. “Can’t.” She raised trembling hands. “Dual-biometric lockout. Mine and Korolov’s.”

Kat’s pulse scattered. Somewhere in this maze, Korolov was breathing the same air.

“Where is he?” Her voice came out even, betraying none of the panic punching at her ribs.

The countdown tracked downward on the locked screen.

We don’t have time for this.

“Tell us where he is, Victoria. You can still make this good.” Hot blood roared in Kat’s ears.

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