Page 5 of Toxic Temptation
Grinding my molars together, I hand her Luka. Then I twist around and look out, my Smith & Wesson ready to prove just how capable it is.
Big metal toy, my ass.
I see men who don’t belong here clustering down at the end of the hallway. Four of them in my line of sight, too brawny and brutish for a children’s hospital. I rise from where we’ve been crouched, then I aim, exhale, fire.
One falls.
Three left.
“Go,” I bark out of the side of my mouth, toward where the feisty doctor is still kneeling, caught in shock. “In three, two…now.”
I fire again. And then there were two.
Behind me, the doctor scoops up Luka and waddles up the hall as fast as she can. I empty my clip in the direction of theattackers to keep them pinned down in their hiding spots. I’ll run out of bullets before they run out of breath, but so long as she and Luka get where they’re going, that’s fine.
I’ll finish the motherfuckers with a stapler to the carotid if I have to. Won’t be my first time.
I retreat as I unload.Bam, bam, bam?—
Chhhk.
Empty chamber. No more bullets. I peek over my shoulder to see Luka’s bobbing head disappear through a door at the end of the hall.
With a snarl, I follow them in.
The moment I’m on the inside, I slam it shut and bar the way with one of the massive grey filing cabinets clustered on the side. Thankfully, they’re not attached to the walls, but the metallic wail of it dragging across damp tile sets my teeth on edge.
I turn to find the doctor in the furthest corner of the room. She has laid Luka out on the floor and now, she’s rummaging around between the tall shelves trying to search for an EpiPen.
“Come on, come on,” she mumbles to herself. “Stop hiding from me, you little bastards.”
I cross the room to Luka’s side. The swelling on his lips has spread to his face. He looks ghastly, too pale and too frail. That ugly, keening moan he was making earlier has died down to a sad little whistle. His body is sealing up on him like a fucking mausoleum.
My hands are shaking as I lean down to check his pulse. “Hurry the fuck up! He’s barely breathing.”
“Step aside,” she orders. “I need room.”
Her touch is feather-light on my bicep, but it’s like she hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer. I retreat backwards as she drops to her knees beside Luka.
She rolls up Luka’s pant leg, bites off the pen’s cap, and raises it high. In one precise move, she plunges the needle into his thigh.
Now, I’m the one not breathing.
The room is silent. The doctor doesn’t make a peep. Neither does Luka. Neither do I. Even the gunshots have died down for now.
“Come on,” she whispers. “Come on… Breathe for me, Luka, breathe for me.”
He doesn’t move.
He doesn’t so much as twitch.
I’m about to lose my fucking mind… when suddenly, Luka sucks in a huge gulp of air. His eyelids careen open, closed, open, closed fighting against the invisible hooks dragging them closed.
Then they open and stay open. His eyes find mine. He smiles.
And I crumble to my goddamn knees.
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