Ghost Ship (NUMA Files 12)

Sienna did as Kurt asked, and he helped her down the hall to the waiting elevator. There, he leaned her against the wall and pointed to Joe. “Stay with him.”

“Why?” she asked. “Where are you going?”

“To return a favor.”

Joe shot him a look. “Kurt, this place is going to be crawling with North Korean troops very shortly.”

“All the more reason,” he said.

Kurt let Sienna go and stepped out of the elevator.

Joe flipped the hold switch back to operate and pressed the button. “I’ll send the car back up once we’re out.”

Kurt nodded and took off back down the hall. Sienna didn’t take her eyes off him until the doors closed between them.

The smoke from the firefight and the stun grenades had filled most of the hallway by now. The flashing lights of the fire and smoke alarm systems pulsed through the haze.

Kurt found the room where the fight had taken place and discovered Calista beginning to wake up from what he guessed was a stun grenade that landed too close.

He dropped down beside her and shook her. “Remember me?”

Like Sienna, it took Calista a second to recognize him. When she did, she reached for her gun, which Kurt knocked out of her hand and across the floor.

“You wouldn’t kill your rescuer, would you?”

She looked around. “Egan . . .”

“If you mean your date,” Kurt said, “he’s dead.”

The news brought little reaction from her. Kurt began to help her up.

“Wait,” she said. She pulled out a small silver canister. “Throw it in the stairwell, it’ll give us a few minutes.” He dragged her over to the door and cracked it open. The sound of feet pounding down the metal stairs told him the North Koreans were on the way.

“Twist the top,” she said, now standing on her own. “And don’t breathe.”

He did as she directed and tossed the canister onto the landing. It skittered to the wall and began hissing as two high- pressure jets of gas burst forth. Kurt slammed the door and heard the sound of men falling in their tracks and tumbling down the stairs.

“Don’t worry, they’re not dead,” she said.

“I’m more worried about us,” he said. ?

?Go.”

She began to move, lurching forward unsteadily, but Kurt wasn’t about to get too close.

“Down the hall,” he ordered.

With a wall to lean against, she made better progress, slamming her hand onto the elevator call button as soon as she reached it.

The doors opened and she fell inside. Kurt followed and stood on the opposite side of the car, the pistol in his hand. He punched the bottom button and the elevator began a slow creaky descent.

She laughed. “You really are a white knight,” she said. “Can’t resist a damsel in distress. Even one like me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said. “You have answers, that’s all I want from you. Who are you? Who are you working for? What do you want with Sienna and the others?”

An exaggerated pout appeared on her lips. “I was hoping for something more than boring conversation.”

The elevator reached the bottom floor and the doors opened.