Page 78 of Undercover Infidel
We kept going until we reached a junction where the tunnel split in three directions. Behind us, the laboratory was now fully engulfed in flames as secondary explosions drove us forward.
We went right, traveling twenty meters, when the largest explosion yet rocked the building. The tunnel’s ceiling collapsed behind us, cutting off our retreat. Worse, the shock wave hurled debris forward, striking Lex and sending her sprawling. Blood streamed from a gash on her forehead, and her breathing came in labored gasps.
“Leave me,” she insisted, pushing weakly at my hands. “I’ll only slow you down.”
“The hell I will.” I lifted her into my arms and ran through the increasingly unstable passage, dust andsmall debris raining down with each new explosion that shook the compound above. The tunnel began to slope upward, suggesting we were nearing an exit.
“There!” Lex pointed to a maintenance hatch ahead, pale light visible through its grille.
“Can you stand?” I asked, knowing I’d need both hands to get us out.
“Put me down!” she shouted, working the mechanism before I had the chance to. The hatch released with a metallic groan, revealing the predawn sky above.
We’d barely cleared the immediate blast radius when another explosion, larger than any before, tore through the complex. The concussive force threw us forward, debris raining down around us.
I turned to shield Lex with my body, protecting her from the worst of it. Pain lanced through my side as something struck me—once, twice—driving the breath from my lungs.
When the immediate danger passed, I tried to straighten, but found I couldn’t. My vision swam, darkness encroaching at the edges.
“Con?” Lex’s voice sounded distant.“Con!”
I felt her hands on me, rolling me onto my back. The sky above spun lazily, stars visible despite the flames illuminating the destruction behind us.
“You’re hit,” she said, her voice breaking as she pressed against my side. Her hands came away red. “Stay with me, Con. Help will come,” she said, tearing fabric from her shirt to shove against my wound.
The pain receded, replaced by a spreading coldness that should have concerned me more than it did. My thoughts became sluggish, disconnected.
“Lex,” I whispered, reaching for her. My fingers left a smear of blood on her cheek as I traced its curve. “I need to tell you?—”
“Don’t you dare,” she interrupted, tears cutting tracks through the dust on her face. “Save it for when you’re recovered.”
I smiled, or tried to. “Just in case…I love you, Margot Sterling.”
Her face blurred before me, my consciousness fading despite her desperate pleas to stay awake. The last thing I saw was her eyes, fierce and determined, refusing to let me go as darkness claimed me.
22
LEX
The world compressed to a single focus: Con’s blood seeping between my fingers as I applied pressure to his wound. His final words before losing consciousness echoed in my head.I love you, Margot Sterling.
“Stay with me,” I pleaded, cradling his head. “Don’t you dare leave me now.”
The wail of approaching sirens pierced the predawn air. Help was coming, but Con’s breathing had grown shallow, his pulse weak beneath my trembling fingers. The explosion that had destroyed Orlov’s facility continued to send debris raining down around us, but I couldn’t move—wouldn’t move—from Con’s side.
Medical personnel swarmed us within minutes, their voices clipped and efficient as they assessed his injuries.
“Multiple traumas, possible internal bleeding,” one paramedic reported.
“BP dropping,” another called out.
They worked with practiced coordination, stabilizing him for transport. I rose on unsteady legs, refusing to be separated from him.
“I’m coming with him,” I stated when they loaded him into the ambulance.
The paramedic glanced at my bloodstained clothes and the gash on my forehead. “You need medical attention too, ma’am.”
“I’ll get it at the hospital.”
