Page 67 of Lethal Game

Sophia dodged and danced through the swirling mass of soldiers and civilians trying to get into the base and found herself standing right in front of the bar between her and where she needed to go. A soldier in an American uniform saw her and yanked on the arm of the man standing next to him who was turned away, scanning the crowd.

River.

He immediately stepped over her to grab her arm and pulled her under the bar. Then he frog marched her into the base. As they walked he said something into his radio.

“What happened?” he asked her when he was done talking.

“There was a fire. Connor tried to get me out, but we got separated. I found Smoke and he tried to get me out, but two guys jumped us andwegot separated. Then I found you.”

“There is some weird shit going on,” River said. “I’m to get you to the lab as soon as fucking possible.”

“Are Con and Smoke okay?”

River didn’t answer right away.

She pulled him to a stop. “Are they okay?”

“Lost contact with Con about fifteen minutes ago. Smoke called in about ten minutes ago, said he’d found you and lost you.”

Sophia looked behind her at the flickering light the fire cast into the night. She could still see the tips of some of the flames, which meant the entire hotel must be involved. She stopped and took a step back. Con could be back there, still looking for her. She didn’t want to lose him when they’d barely gotten to know each other. He was the most fascinating, infuriating, and sexy man she’d ever met. He made her feel things in a way she didn’t know was possible. She wasn’t going to leave him behind.

They were a team.

River stopped a few feet in front of her. “Dr. Perry, we need to keep moving.”

She glanced at him with an agreeable smile. “Yes, of course.”

As soon as he turned and started walking again, she sprinted for the gate and the hotel.

She heard her name shouted behind her, but she didn’t stop or even slow down. If Con was still in the hotel, he was probably incapacitated by smoke. Maybe he’d been knocked out by all the people trying to get out. She didn’t know what happened, she didn’t know what she could do, but she couldn’t let him die.

River was gaining on her when a shadow emerged from the dark to grab her around the middle. It knocked the wind out of her, but that didn’t stop her from wriggling in the stranger’s grasp.

“Sophia,” a man growled her name into her ear.

She knew that voice.

“Connor?”

He set her on her feet and she grabbed his face so she could look at him. He was covered in soot and smelled faintly of burnt hair, but it was him.

She threw her arms around his neck. “I thought you might still be in the hotel,” she said in his ear.

He squeezed her. “Is that where you were running to? Because you sure as hell weren’t going in the direction you were supposed to.”

She let go so she could smack him. “Yes, that’s where I was going. I thought you might be incapacitated or dead.”

“So, what? You were running to my rescue?”

“Yes.”

He bent down so they were nose to nose and snarled, “Wrong answer.”

She sucked in a breath to tell him to fuck off, but he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along with him as he followed River toward the lab building.

River kept looking over his shoulder at them.

“What?” Con barked after the third glance.

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