Page 201 of The Vigilante's Lover
Klaus jumps up and lands a punch while I’m wondering how we’ll unlock the door if we require a unanimous vote from a dead man.
I bend over, accepting the blow, and decide I’ve had enough of him. I spin into an elbow to his gut, then a hard uppercut to his jaw, enough to cause a concussion. He goes down hard. Klaus never was a fighter.
I look up. Mia has tied several knots around Jovana’s ankles, stopping her. Jovana is trying to undo them, awkwardly, hanging from the rope, but the knots are good.
That’s my girl.
“We can’t get out,” a woman next to me says. “Duran is dead.”
The screen flashes another warning. “Air contamination reaching critical levels.”
One of the men near me collapses on the table.
“System,” someone calls. “Move Duran to next in command.”
Duran’s image slides to another screen, still pulsing a red “Deceased.”
The scanners register the other occupants of the room. Klaus. Jovana. Me. Mia.
Klaus’s image moves to another screen with the words “Reported deceased. Situation unknown.”
Then so does mine, alongside the words “Reported executed. Situation unknown.”
Jovana laughs from above. “I’m next in command. I’m not letting you out. When you are all dead, I’ll be in charge anyway.” She kicks at the knots.
But the screen drops in the picture of Mia.
“Next in command, Mia Morrow.”
“Open the door,” Mia calls out.
A check box appears. Behind us, the sealed door hisses on its pneumatic seal.
Immediately a medic trolley rolls in, followed by a dozen armed guards.
It’s chaos in the smoke and crowd as committee members are helped through the door.
Blowers begin sucking the air from the room. At the top hatch, Jovana still struggles with the knots on her legs.
Mia lands on the center of the table and jumps toward me.
I catch her.
“You’re on the committee,” I say to her.
“Does that mean I get to boss you around?” she says.
I drag her in close to me. “I am at your mercy.”
I hold her tight, watching the guards evacuate the men and women. The air is already almost clear.
“Cut that one down,” I say, pointing up at the hatch.
The guard standing near looks up. “Cut who?”
Mia and I look up.
Jovana is gone.
