Page 101 of Fire and Ice

"Here," Maia said as she tossed one of her magazines to him. Rick gave her an incredulous look as she continued to interrogate Lizveta.

"Where is the formula for the Rave-IX?"

Lizveta's eyes grew wide and her lips trembled. "Reznikov will kill me if I tell you."

"Iwill kill you if you don't tell me."

"Maia, what the fuck?" Rick snarled in disbelief at her methods.

Lizveta immediately unlocked a safe, took out a binder and handed it to Maia. She fingered through it quickly and tore some pages off, folded and tucked them behind her jeans. She then gestured for the other woman to move to the far side of the room.

"We can't outgun them," Maia said as she did another scan of the room.

"You think?" Rick retorted. There was a lull in the gunfire.

"You two can't escape!" Reznikov shouted from the other end. "There is no way out. Surrender now and we will make your deaths quick."

"The guy really hates you," Rick said sarcastically.

"Don't know why? I'm so lovable," Maia quipped as she rolled a tank of pressurized gas towards the doorway. Illeoic gas was a recently discovered compound that was used largely in pharmaceutical companies. It was lethally explosive and had zero burn.

"What are you doing?" Rick asked in alarm.

"What do you think? We're running out of ammo. Unless you have a better idea, get the other two tanks. I'll hold them off."

"You're fucking nuts, you know that right?" Rick said but he did what Maia told him to do.

Maia swung the carbine from her shoulder and leaned out to rake the base of the stairs with some gunfire.

"Come and get us you Russian A-holes," Maia shouted as she shifted the carbine to single shot and took out one of his men who had dared to poke their head from behind the walls. She looked back to see how far along Rick had gotten.

"Rick, tilt the wood table. It's heavy and thick enough to use as a shield. That should absorb and block the blast energy."

"I'll take the shot."

"No! I need you to take Lizveta to safety or to dig me out in case I get buried. You're physically stronger, and I'm a better shot."

"I don't think I can miss a tank of illeoic gas, Maia," Rick snapped.

"We don't have time to argue. Do it!"

Rick grudgingly followed her instructions. After a few minutes, he gave the signal that everything was in place.

Maia ejected her magazine and gave the sound of an empty chamber trigger sound.

"Shit, I'm out!" Maia yelled dramatically, loud enough for Reznikov and his men to hear.

She slammed the door shut and secured it with a metal rod. She arranged the gas tanks at the base and scrambled behind the wooden table directly in front of the door.

Running footsteps echoed down the hallway and bullets started puncturing the door. "Get it open!" Reznikov screamed, his voice vibrating with uncontrolled fury.

Maia smiled; she could taste the end of her ardent adversary. She looked over at Rick who was huddled in a corner behind some metal bookcases with Lizveta. He was looking at her with a mixture of dread and worry. She gave him a salute.

When bullets pelted the edge of the table, she peeked out from her cover, took aim at the gas tanks and fired.

The tank exploded. The massive shockwave knocked the table against Maia and blasted her straight into the shelves behind her causing them to collapse on top of her. She tried to move, but her limbs felt weighted with lead, her hearing was shot, and it felt like she was being dragged into the depths of a black hole. And then suddenly, there was nothing.

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