Page 109 of A Touch of Treachery
All that mattered was finding Charlotte.
I kept going, healing myself in spurts.It took several corridors, an ocean of electricity, and dozens of broken lights, but my breaths came easier, and my legs grew steadier.
Crack!
Crack!Crack!
Crack!
These gunshots were closer than before, and I quickened my pace and peered around a corner.Up ahead, two men were firing at a wooden desk that had been shoved up against a wall, slowly but surely shooting it to pieces.
Charlotte popped up from behind the desk, but instead of shooting at the two men in front of me, she whipped around and started firing at three more men running up the corridor behind her.The men stopped and scattered.
“Move!”one of the guards on my end of the corridor yelled.“Now!While she’s distracted!”
The two men quickly reloaded and aimed their guns at Charlotte.I was still clutching the bloody knife Bryce had stabbed me with, and I threw it at the man closest to me.
The blade zipped through the air and sank into his back.The guard yelped, but he didn’t go down, so I hurried forward and rammed my shoulder into his.Then I churned my feet, driving him across the corridor and into the other guard.The second man hit the wall, bounced off, and slammed into his buddy, who in turn ping-ponged back into me, and all three of us went down in a heap on the floor.
The second guard snarled and raised his gun to shoot me, but I yanked the knife out of the back of the first man and lashed out with it.The blade sliced across the second guard’s forearm, and he hissed and dropped his weapon.
The first man tried to get up, but I threw myself forward and planted my knee into his back, knocking him back down to the floor.Then I used his body as a springboard to launch myself at the second guard, the bloody blade in my hand whistling through the air again.
The second guard tried to scoot out of the way, but I buried the knife in his chest.The man screamed, but I ignored his sharp cry and flailing fists and twisted the blade in deeper.He was not shooting at Charlotte again.The guard let out another scream, but it was softer and shorter than before, and his body went limp underneath mine—
A hand dug into my hair and wrenched my head back.My hand slipped off the knife that was still stuck in the dead guard’s body.The first man yanked me back against his chest and locked his arm around my throat.He was an enduro with enhanced strength, and he was slowly but surely cutting off my air.Gray spots exploded like fireworks at the edges of my vision, and if I didn’t find a way to break his grip, I would be unconscious in a minute and dead shortly thereafter.
Desperate, I stretched out with my hands, searching for a weapon.My fingers brushed up against the gun the other guard had dropped.I scooped it up, shoved it against the right thigh of the man behind me, and pulled the trigger.
Crack!
He yelped, and his arm fell away from my throat.Wheezing for air, I whirled around on my knees and shot him in the chest three times.He toppled onto his back, blood pooling underneath his body.
I crouched there a moment, still wheezing for air, then forced myself to hobble to my feet.I had to help Charlotte.
Crack!Crack!
Charlotte fired her gun, and one of the three guys rushing up the opposite end of the corridor dropped.Once again, the other men stopped and scattered.Charlotte scuttled around to the opposite side of the desk, putting it between her and the two guards.Her head whipped in my direction, and her eyes widened.
“Desmond!Behind you!”
I turned around.Two more guards were running toward me.Unlike Charlotte, I had no cover and was completely exposed in the middle of the corridor, but I lifted my gun.The guards might kill me, but they weren’t going to hurt Charlotte.
Crack!Crack!
Crack!Crack!
The guard on the left dropped, quickly followed by the man on the right.Farther down the corridor, a smoky shadow detached itself from the wall and morphed into the form of a man.Gabriel winked at me.I whipped back around to Charlotte and took aim at the two men once again advancing on her position.
Crack!Crack!
Crack!Crack!
Before I could fire, those men dropped as well, and Joan appeared in the distance, a gun clutched in her hand, hurrying in our direction.I hissed out a breath and glanced up and down the corridor, searching for more enemies.
Gabriel stepped up beside me, grinning wide.“That’s twice now I’ve saved your life, Slick.And yes, I am totally keeping count—”
I leaned to the side, raised my gun, and pulled the trigger.
