Page 100 of Victor's Lethal Desire
"Are you hit? Are you hit?" I ask, my voice ragged.
She doesn't respond immediately. She's flat on her back, her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth open in a silent, desperate gasp for air. Panic seizes my chest. I check the Kevlar and find a compressed bullet lodged deep in the fabric, right below her right breast. The impact didn't penetrate, but I'm sure it hurt.
"Jesus," I breathe, knocking the hot slug away.
Danika finally sucks in a painful breath, coughing as her lungs get the air they need.
"Good thing... you gave me... that vest, huh?" she says, wheezing.
I help her sit up, but she winces sharply, clutching her ribs with a groan. "I think he might have cracked a rib," she breathes, forcing herself to her feet with my help.
For the first time in a long time, I'm at a loss for words. If something had happened, I would never have been able to live with myself.
We take a moment to look around, and I notice my left arm stings. I glance down to see blood seeping through my shirt. A bullet has grazed me, nothing serious, just a hot, sharp sting that I barely registered in the heat of the firefight.
"Cutting it close here, Victor," she says, looking at my graze.
"Too fucking close."
She nods. "Come on."
We step over the bodies, our attention on the door in front of us.
"Now what?" she asks as we move forward. "Should we knock?"
I smile at her. "I have an idea."
"I am not climbing through anything," Danika says.
"No, I'm going to storm in holding up our dead friend here," I say, pointing down at the man lying lifeless against the door, "and disarm Dimitri."
"That's crazy," she says as I bend down to lift the guy up.
"I know, but I thought you liked that about me."
She rolls her eyes. "Everything goes right to your head, huh?"
I shrug as I grab the dead man's pistol and then grunt as I lift him.
"What should I do?" she asks.
"For the love of God, shoot the door open. This fucker is heavy."
She steps back, aiming at the lock, and fires. She then kicks the door inward, and I charge through, holding the corpse up like a shield.
The dead man's body jerks as two bullets slam into it from Dimitri's gun. I shove the body forward, dropping it to the floor, and raise my pistol. I fire once, hitting Dimitri square in the shoulder.
He howls, dropping his weapon and falling to his knees.
I step forward to finish him, pulling the trigger again.
Click.
The gun jams.
Dimitri sees it.
Clutching his bleeding shoulder, he scrambles backward across the floor of what looks like a high-end home gym, desperately reaching for his dropped gun with his good hand. I can't unjam it in time.
