Page 66 of Lethal Game

That’s when she remembered she had a gun. She pulled it out and pointed it in his face.

He let go this time, rolling away into the smoke.

Sophia didn’t hesitate—she scrambled for the door. Just before she reached it, there was another knot of people, some obviously shoving others in an effort to get out. She watched them for a few seconds and discovered something disheartening. Two pairs of booted feet appeared to take an interest in those leaving, but didn’t leave themselves.

Either they were assisting everyone in getting out of the building, or they were looking for someone in particular.

She pressed herself against the wall as more people thundered past her, then jumped in at the back of the pack, not crawling anymore, but crouching very low with her gun tucked in close to her right side, chest high and pointed straight ahead.

Just as she was about to come abreast with the doorway, another person rushed past. Something about the gait caught her attention. Smooth, yet precise.

It reminded her of the way Con walked when he led her out of their room.

She grabbed one of the person’s legs, wrapped herself around it and brought whoever it was to the ground.

Smoke.

He was already halfway on his back, probably turning while he fell, and pointing his gun at her. When he saw her, he dropped the muzzle of his weapon, grabbed her collar and yanked her close.

“Stay low.”

No shit.

He got to his feet and rose up into the smoke, but kept his grip on her shirt as he mostly dragged her through the doorway. It was still dark outside and the exterior lights weren’t on. People were running in every direction, shouting over each other, creating an unintelligible cacophony.

Smoke suddenly let her go, turning to face someone approaching on the right.

The dark shadow of a man came out of the darkness to the left, moving toward his back.

Nope. Not happening. Sophia kicked out at the man approaching Smoke from behind as hard as she could in the knee.

The man went down, grabbing the joint.

The man Smoke was fighting went down too.

Both attackers saw her and one of them reached out, so she pointed her gun at him. A second later Smoke grabbed her by the collar again and took two steps. The man Smoke had been fighting lunged at him again and he lost his grip on her.Again.

The man she’d kicked grabbed her leg and pulled, but she was done, sodonewith this shit. She let him pull her a half step toward him, then kicked him in the face as hard as she could.

He let go of her leg.

Another man jumped on Smoke, partially dislodging the first attacker. Smoke managed to punch one hard enough to daze him, but the other grabbed him in a hold, locking Smoke’s arms against his body.

His eyes met hers, his dark gaze filled with violence and worry. “Run,” Smoke shouted.

She ran.

The struggle, the smoke, and the fire alarm still ringing in her ears left her disoriented. She ran almost blindly for a couple of minutes before slowing down to take a better look around her.

Wonderful. She’d gone the wrong way.

She headed back toward the base, but stopped cold at the sound of gunfire. She recognized the coughingpop, pop, popof a SCAR and her stomach dropped. What had happened to Con? Was Smoke all right?

She started jogging toward the nearest gate to enter the base. They were going to look for her at the lab, so that’s where she needed to get to. There were people on the street. She made sure she had all her hair tucked under her black cap and avoided them.

It took a few minutes before the gate came into view. There were a lot of people clustered around it, most of them in uniform with weapons of some sort.

She could ask for help from one of the American soldiers, but she wasn’t entirely sure whom she should trust. The knot of people in front of the gate grew and she decided now was the time to try to get through.

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