“I don’t have a choice,” Zack said and started toward the door.
“What the hell are we waiting for?” Jake said to Kendra, and the three of them went through the door as a single combined force.
THE DRIPPING OF THE MELTING wax onto the tile tormented Emily. For the first time in her life she was totally consumed with terror. She felt every heartbeat like the ticking of a death knell.
From where she lay bound she could see the two-way mirror. She wondered if Marcus Underwood, Clay Carpenter and the man from MIDNIGHT who’d betrayed Zack stood on the other side, gaining some sort of perverse satisfaction from her impending death.
Zack.
A sob broke from her lips when she thought of him, of all the things they would never do together, of all the things that would never be. Even though she would die here today, she would at least go to her death knowing she’d loved with her whole heart, body and soul.
That would have to be enough.
The wax had stopped dripping.
Emily choked back another sob, closed her eyes and waited for the pain to begin.
ZACK DIDN’T BOTHER WITH a warning when he burst into the testing chamber receiving area. He took out the security officer with a single shot to the head. The man dropped without even looking up. Kendra darted to the fallen man and quickly confiscated his weapon. Jake Vanderpol headed toward the administrative offices. Pistol drawn, Zack sprinted down the narrow corridor toward the observation room. Darkly tinted glass was set into a tiled wall. A red light flickered In Use, and he knew Emily was inside.
I’m too late.
The thought besieged him as he barreled toward the glass. He couldn’t bear the thought of her dying. She was the only thing that mattered. Not his own life. Not justice. All he wanted was for her to be alive, because he couldn’t imagine the world without her.
“Devlin, don’t!”
Zack heard Jake’s shout, but he didn’t hesitate. Using his coat to protect his face, he hurled himself through the glass. The window shattered on impact. Shards flew like razor-sharp pieces of ice. Then he was inside the small tiled room. Emily was strapped to a gurney. Tears streamed from her eyes. A cry tore from her throat when she raised her head and saw him.
“Zack! No! Run! The RZ-902—”
“Quiet.” Slashing the straps with his knife, he pulled her from the gurney. The urge to take her into his arms was powerful, but Zack knew the gas may have already been released into the air.
“Devlin, get out of there!” Jake bellowed.
But Zack was already pushing Emily through the shattered observation window, then following her through. On the other side Jake Vanderpol put a pistol to Marcus Underwood’s cheek. “You have two seconds to tell me how to neutralize that gas or I’m going to throw you in that room and let it take you to hell.”
Underwood’s eyes bulged, his throat worked convulsively. “W-we modified a fire extinguisher, filled it with a neutralizing agent.”
Kendra Michaels crossed to the red extinguisher, yanked it from its hook on the wall, then hopped through the broken window to spray the melted vial of RZ-902.
Zack couldn’t get Emily far enough away from that hellish room. He let her help him, but only because he liked the way it felt when she put her arms around him. Besides, he was a little dizzy. A tad nauseous. He made it as far as the prisoner receiving area before he collapsed.
“Zack! My God, you’re bleeding.”
“Just a flesh wound,” he said.
Emily went to her knees beside him. “It’s bad.”
Jake was already on the phone. “Care Flite chopper is en route. ETA ten minutes. Hang tight, buddy.”
“Hope they bring food. I’m starved.”
Choking out a sound that was part laugh, part sob, Emily took his face in her hands and kissed him full on the mouth. “You saved my life.”
“Just doing my job.”
“You did a lot more than your job.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t take a bullet or jump through a glass window for just anyone.” He smiled, but it was becoming a struggle to keep his eyes open. “But I’d do it all over again for you.”
She closed her eyes briefly, and tears began to roll down her cheeks. “I didn’t want to die without telling you I love you.”
“Thanks for clueing me in,” he said. “That’s one hell of an incentive for a guy to pull through when he’s shot.”
“There’s a hundred more where that came from, Zack Devlin.”
“I’m feeling better already.” But he could feel consciousness slipping away. He didn’t want to leave her. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to find his way back. And she was so damn good to look at.
“I’m here.” She grasped his hand and squeezed hard. “Zack. Zack! Don’t you dare die on me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he murmured and drifted into space.
Epilogue
One week later