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Boris smiled at her, and she could see the madness in his grin. "Because I know why you’re here. You’re hoping to hunt me down. I can see that. It’s obvious," he said.

"Why would I do that?" she asked. She thought if she could keep him talking, there might be a better chance of getting out of this alive.

Boris's eyes narrowed. "You're not one of the weak ones, and that means you want to stop me doing what I need to do."

"And what do you need to do?" Cora asked. She edged forward, just a few inches, hoping that he would be too distracted by the question to notice her movement. But he was immediately triggered by it.

"Stay put!" he yelled. "Stay where you are! You are not coming closer. Try anything, and you’ll be shredded in a fireball! I don’t care! I’ll throw this at you and it’ll destroy you. The question is, do you want to die?"

She said nothing. She froze, hoping he would calm down. There was nowhere to break and run. That explosion would be too forceful. No convenient tree she could shelter behind to avoid the blast, which in any case, might hurt her regardless.

She hoped that if she stood still, he would at least put the damned grenade down. Instead, he threw her a pair of handcuffs.

For just a moment, Cora felt unreasonably angry about the lax administration on this Army base. She was going to have a serious talk with the chief of staff, if she got out of here alive. Not only were they letting this killer take victims, but they also weren’t locking up their weapons and ordnance effectively, because he’d found his way into the stores. These were Army items, now in his possession.

"Put them on!" he ordered. "Now! I want you to lock yourself in those. And if you don’t, I’ll do what I promised!"

Cora hesitated for a moment before picking up the handcuffs. She couldn’t believe this was happening, and felt a sense of unreality. A grenade? Of all the weapons she’d never expected.

And yet, her SEAL’s voice was chastising her, saying that she should have expected it, and that ex-Army people would always know how to get their hands on items like this. She should have prepared better, thought further ahead. At the least, she should have had her own gun drawn already. She’d been too slow, and now she was paying the price.

She knew that she needed to buy some time. But she could not delay doing this. This man was too unbalanced. There was way too much of a chance he'd pull that pin. She had the feeling he'd reached a tipping point and that right here, right now, killing her was a very serious option.

Even if she managed to run and to shelter from the grenade’s inevitable blast, this would allow him to do the same. He might turn and run and melt away and be gone for long enough that they lost him.

She was just going to have to look for an opportunity at a later stage. If she could get closer to him, she’d have a chance. Even in handcuffs, there were things she could do if she was within arm’s reach of him.

Slowly, carefully, she drew her wrists together in front of her and put on the handcuffs, trying not to make any sudden movements that might trigger him.

She clasped one around her wrist. Clicked it shut, feeling its cold embrace.

Then the other. Now she was trapped. No way to maneuver or attack him.

Now, he marched forward, grabbing those cuffs, twisting her arm viciously so that she was jerked off balance. While she stumbled, fighting to get her footing back, he rummaged in her holster, freed her gun, and stuck it in his own belt.

"Always good to have an extra weapon," he commented, with a mirthless smile. "Now, let's go."

Go? Where to?

Cora resisted instinctively as he tugged her cuffs forward, and he responded by turning, holding the cuffs down with one hand, and jamming the grenade into her face with the other.

"Move!" he screamed. "Or I'll blow us both to hell!"

Cora had no choice but to obey. She surged forward, trying to regain her balance as he marched furiously down the narrow path.He was leading her straight to what looked like a solid bank of shrubbery.

Her teeth were clenched.

She couldn't believe this sonofabitch was doing this to her. She needed to turn the tables on him, and soon.

But to her surprise, instead of veering into the white roofed cabin, he dragged her beyond it. They were heading straight for the shrubbery.

She needed to give Gabe a sign. She had to somehow let him know which way she’d gone, because if there was a way through this foliage and something beyond, it wasn’t obvious.

As he hauled her along, Cora let her foot drag in the damp, sandy soil, creating a trail that led straight to the wall of greenery.

And sure enough, Boris blasted his way right through it, the plants springing back as they passed. Beyond it was a clearing, followed by more greenery which he forced his way through.

Beyond that, invisible from the starting point, was the end of another trail. A wider trail. And parked at the end of the trail, Cora saw an old battered pickup. He’d had another way in. Now, it seemed, they were both going for a ride.

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