Page 51 of Shielded Secrets

“You answer to me!” the guard sneered.

Rurik chuckled. He shook his head as he let out the low and dark sound, not releasing the man. “Of all fucking days. Of all fucking days for a power-hungry little rent-a-cop to try to pick a fight with me.”

“Fuck you,” the guard whined, shoving at Rurik’s hand on his shirt. “You’re under?—”

Rurik flung him back. The guard smacked into a column that was part of the support system of this basement corridor. Upon impact, he grunted in pain. Then he opened his eyes wider, perhaps in alarm. It looked like he realized he was picking a fight with someone who wasn’t his size, but instead of retreating and giving up, he snarled and lunged forward.

“You’re going to regret that,” he growled as he raised his arm. His punch landed on Rurik’s face, but probably not with as much force as he wanted it to. Rurik didn’t dodge his hit. Instead, heleaned in to brace himself for hitting the security guard’s side with a brutal left hook.

“Oh, fuck.” I whispered it to myself as I backed away, staying out of harm’s way.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening. I was supposed to come here like usual and work, just with recording devices strapped under my shirt. Then we were supposed to leave.

That was it.

I hadn’t been counting on a power-tripping security guard to have a beef with me just for bumping into him. I wasn’t aware things would spiral this fast. As I retreated toward the wall, steering clear of the security guard fighting Rurik, I tried not to assume the worst what-ifs. If this guard had a reason to be so suspicious of me. If he saw me… well, doing nothing, because I really hadn’t done anything. Maybe there was a device or something that could pinpoint me as wearing a wire. Or what if he was working for one of the rival families and the many drug dealers? The possibilities were endless, but I felt like this was a one-off situation, a perfect storm of an idiot security guard thinking he was the law. Maybe I’d hurt his ego by bumping into him and rushing away without profusely apologizing. He had to be one of those dumbasses with such a threatened, fragile sense of masculinity that he had to overcompensate and act like a hard-ass after the fact.

He just had to figure that he could teach Rurik a lesson about not messing with him. Unfortunately, Rurik was stronger and more apt to using violence as a means of dealing with people.

I winced and forced myself flat to the wall. I was still wearing the wire. Someone else on the Baranov crew had to hear this. Helpwould come soon. Worried more that the security guard could have backup, I searched the ceiling and corners of the walls to see if a surveillance camera was watching this fight that the guard had instigated.

Before I could call for help or do anything else, a buzz and flash of light came from the guard’s hand. The slim device he held had issued the bolt. He’d tazed him. He had a Taser.

Rurik grunted out in pain as he dropped to the ground, shaking.

“No!” I scrambled closer to him as the guard backed up. He staggered and wheezed for air, trying to catch his breath. As he coughed and groaned, he lowered to reach underneath the hem of his pants.

“You stupid asshole,” the guard muttered, pulling out a gun.

No guards on campus had firearms, and seeing him getting one from a hidden holster terrified me. This wasn’t just some random idiot with a fragile sense of masculinity. He was unhinged and gun-happy to think he was invincible to be carrying a gun around where they weren’t allowed.

“You can’t try to beat me down and get away with?—”

I kicked out, sending his gun falling to the floor as he raised it at Rurik.

Still breathing hard but groaning through the pain from being tazed, Rurik struggled to sit up and get back into the fight.

“You bitch!” He dropped back down to retrieve his gun that I’d knocked away.

I tensed, bracing for a hit as he grabbed it. Covering the hunched form of the man I was falling for, I tried to be as small as possible and pray that his aim was terrible after a brutal fight.

My heart hammered so fast that my pulse was deafeningly loud in my ears. Dizziness played with my mind as I struggled to draw in enough air.

This was it.

This was the end.

As the guard retrieved his gun and straightened, aiming his gun at us, Rurik shifted. In the same stroke of a second, he pushed me down further, blocking me, and pulled out his gun.

Two shots sounded off. The echo of the blasts rang in my ears, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight as I waited for the pain.

I couldn’t even think past the panic. I had never been so scared in my life, not even when Officer O’Malley was about to violate me.

Another shot went off, but when I realized that slight kickback of motion had come from Rurik’s body, I understood that it was his arm. He’d fired. Not the guard.

“Kelly,” he uttered, breathless and worried. “Kelly?” He pulled at my arm, impatient for me to get up enough so I could face him. “Kelly.” The third time he said my name, he spoke it firmly, like an instruction.

I blinked up at him, bowled over with deep relief that he hadn’t been hit. That he was sitting here and assisting me to get up without cringing in pain. He caught his breath still, breathing deeply as he maneuvered me to get up with him.

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