She and the other nurses had sprung into action, clearing the emergency room then working their way from floor to floor. As far as anyone could tell, the fire had started on the second floor. The patients who were able to walk had been led to the stairs and had evacuated on their own. But it was more difficult to deal with the bedridden patients. The ones who were hooked up to IVs, oxygen, and other life-saving machines. Avery had managed to get into the elevators with a few of them before the smoke got too bad, but now the elevators were inoperable and people were being evacuated on stretchers down the stairs.
She was dripping with sweat and exhausted, but she needed to make one last search of the fourth floor before declaring it completely evacuated. She’d volunteered to run up there, check, then meet the other nurses back on the ground floor. There were firefighters around, but they were all busy, and the last thing Avery wanted was for someone to be forgotten on the fourth floor.
Ignoring how creepy the stairwell felt with the strobe light from the fire alarms flashing through the smoke and the loud clanging of the alarm, she moved as quickly as she could. Panting from exertion, Avery used her hand against the wall to guide herself. She went from room to room, using a flashlight to check under beds and in bathrooms.
She’d just searched a room and closed the door behind her, turning to continue to the next, when something made her turn and look down the long deserted hallway.
A man was walking toward her.
The second her eyes landed on him, she knew it was him. The traitor.
She was convinced she’d recognize him when she saw him again, and one part of her was ridiculously relieved she hadn’t misplaced her own confidence.
But another part of her knew she was fucked.
“We meet again!” the man shouted out with a crooked grin.
She barely heard him above the ringing of the fire alarm, but the gun in his hand made his intentions unmistakable.
The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion.
She’d obviously been reading too many novels and watching too many dramas on television, because when she’d pictured this moment, coming face-to-face with the man who’d had her kidnapped, who’d been responsible for the deaths of the two army privates, and who had allowed hundreds of weapons to fall into the clutches of terrorists, she’d expected a dramatic discussion. He’d tell her she was doomed, Avery would beg for her life, then he’d set about torturing her with a long soliloquy about why he’d done what he’d done.
But the reality was nothing like that.
The man stopped in the middle of the hallway and raised his arm.
Avery reacted without thinking, diving into the room she’d just vacated.
The gunshot echoed in the hallway, sounding loud even over the pealing of the fire alarm.
Thankful for the smoke for the first time, Avery frantically rushed into the bathroom. Luckily it was a shared commode with the room next door. She could not be trapped. That would mean certain death. The traitor was trying to kill her, he wasn’t going to give her time to come up with a plan to trick him.
Thankful she didn’t have to try to be quiet, the alarm masking any sounds she made, Avery slipped into the room next to the one she’d thrown herself into. She could hopefully slip out when the traitor went into the other room to look for her.
Straining to hear where her would-be killer was, Avery tried to think about where she could hide. She knew without a doubt this man would do whatever it took to kill her. He’d most likely set the fire as a distraction.
In a flash, the perfect hiding place came to her.
A year and a half ago, the hospital had an active-shooter training session. Every doctor and nurse had participated, and they’d walked every floor in the hospital brainstorming ways to lock someone out of a room and finding inventive places to hide.
The only problem was, her hiding place was on the other side of the nurses’ station, in the break room. At the time of the drill, they’d all agreed the hiding place was ideal, but given recent events…now Avery wasn’t so sure.
But she had few choices. And to get to the hiding spot, she’d have to get past the man who was hell-bent on shooting her dead and slip into the break room without him seeing her.
She would’ve preferred to be able to get to one of the stairwells at either end of the hall, but Avery didn’t think she’d be able to make it that far without being seen.
Avery hid behind the door that led into the hallway and held her breath. The smoke was thick, but not thick enough to hide her if she sprinted pell-mell down the hall. She’d be shot in the back for sure if she did that.
She had to be patient and sneaky as she played the ultimate game of hide-and-seek with a madman.
She wanted to ask him why. Why he’d done it. Why he’d told the insurgents about the weapons convoy. Why he’d committed treason against his country.
She wondered if he was married, if he had kids.
But the bottom line was that none of that mattered. Her world had shrunk to nothing except this moment. What had happened to her or the traitor in the past was unimportant.
For a moment, she let thoughts of Cole slip into her consciousness, but she quickly shut them down. She had to concentrate on the here and now. Though…she wished Cole and his SEAL team were here. They’d take this asshole out.
But they weren’t. She’d have to save herself.
Her adrenaline spiked when she saw the man walk by the door she was hiding behind, heading toward the room she’d just vacated. He hadn’t yet discovered some of the rooms were connected on this floor, which would be her saving grace. It was obvious by the way he walked, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, that he thought he’d cornered her.
Surprise, asshole, she thought as she ran as fast as she could out of the room and toward the nurse’s station.
This was the most dangerous part of her plan. She had to pass the open door the traitor had just entered. If he turned and saw her, she was dead.
Luck was with her.
Avery had half expected to feel a bullet in her back as she silently ran the thirty feet toward the desk at the nurses’ station, but she made it without a shot being fired. Doing her best to control her breathing, she crouched at the end of the desk and peered down the hallway, back the way she’d came.
Within seconds, she saw the traitor emerge through the door she’d exited seconds before. Not so nonchalant now, he roared out in anger, and goose bumps rose on Avery’s arms.
“You can’t hide from me, lieutenant!” he yelled out, his words hard to hear over the alarm, but still distinguishable. “Make it easier on yourself and come out now. If you do, I’ll kill you quickly. If you make me find you, I’ll make sure you die slowly and painfully.”
Avery didn’t move an inch. She didn’t want to die at all. And the more she stalled, the more likely it was someone would come looking for her. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but if she didn’t show back up on the ground floor, Beverly or Rita would hopefully tell one of the firefighters and they’d do a search. And if this asshole was dumb enough to ambush them, everyone would know he was there, and that would send in the cavalry.
Hopefully Cole and his SEAL team.
All she had to do was stay alive until that happened.
She watched the traitor reach up and grip his hair in frustration as rage swept over his face. He was pissed all right…but then again, so was she.