“I’m okay,” Hailey panted. “We’re both okay.”
I looked down. Christina was lying on her back, unconscious. Her red dress was soaked through and askew, one breast almost exposed. But she was breathing. Hailey must have dragged her out of the pool. That’s so like her.
Calahan ran up behind us. A few of the block’s residents had heard the splash and come out to investigate, but he waved his FBI badge at them and they gave us some space. “We’ve got to go,” he told us. “It’s eight minutes to one!”
At that second, two black SUVs screeched to a stop in the middle of the street. Shit! Ralavich’s men. Christina had said they were coming. And now they’d seen us.
The doors opened and men started to pour from the SUVs, all of them carrying guns. The residents screamed and ran back inside. We ran for cover, ducking down behind a row of parked cars. The men opened fire as they advanced and Hailey cried out in fear as the car windows shattered, pebbles of safety glass showering our heads. I pulled her tighter against my chest to protect her and looked furiously around. Calahan’s car wasn’t far away. We could maybe make it if we ran, but—
All of us looked at Christina. She lay unconscious, out in the open by the swimming pool. If we ran back and tried to carry her, we’d be easy targets. And we had to go: the assassination was minutes away. Shit! We all looked at each other, torn.
“We need her to testify!” said Calahan. “She’s our proof!” He took two running steps towards her—
I growled and dived on him, knocking him to the ground. A bullet that would have taken his head off whistled over our heads. He scowled at me...then reluctantly nodded his thanks.
“Leave her,” said Hailey.
Calahan stared at her. “What? She needs to go to jail!”
Hailey glared at the unconscious Christina. “Let Ralavich’s men take her. Let him punish her. It’ll be worse than anything a judge can hand out.”
I blinked at her. Part of me agreed, but…. “When did you get so heartless?” I asked.
“When she tried to kill my man,” Hailey said with feeling, and clutched me close.
Ralavich’s men were almost on us. “We don’t have a choice,” said Calahan. “Go!”
And we ran, keeping low until we reached Calahan’s car. As we pulled away, one last shot shattered our rear window. Then we were roaring down the street. The last thing I saw in the rear view mirror was Ralavich’s men pulling Christina to her feet. I almost felt sorry for her.
Then I faced the front and put my arm around Hailey, drawing her protectively against me. She was safe, but she was still going to jail—we were all going to jail—unless we stopped the assassination. Without Christina’s testimony, we had no proof I’d been framed. If an FBI chief died, there’d be no hope of anyone listening to our side of the story. And Hailey would lose a colleague... a friend.
We had to save Carrie. We had to save the woman who’d spent her whole career trying to bring me down.
“How long?” I asked, my voice tight.
“Five minutes,” said Calahan.
64
Konstantin
THE CAR screeched to a stop in front of the FBI building and the three of us leapt out. As we reached the glass doors, I cursed. Extra guards were on duty in the lobby. As we burst in, three of them moved to block our path, young and inexperienced, hands twitching nervously towards their guns.
“Get out of the way!” screamed Calahan.
The nearest guard shook his head. “We’ve got orders to take all three of you into custody.”
“We don’t have time for this!” Calahan started forward. “You’ve got to get word to Carrie. Tell her—”
The guard put his hand on his gun. “Agent Calahan, remain where you are!”
Calahan stopped and cursed, raising his hands. He looked over his shoulder at me. Then I saw him glance at Hailey and when he looked at me again, our eyes locked. He sighed and the rivalry between us faded away. “Tenth floor,” he murmured, too low for the guards to hear. “Office at the end of the hall. I can give you a few seconds.”
I nodded and readied myself. “Stay here,” I told Hailey.
Her eyes went wide. “No—”
“I’m not letting you get hurt.” I squeezed her tight, then pushed her gently behind me. And then I gave Calahan the nod.
“They’re going to send me to Alaska with Kate for this,” he muttered. And then he roared and charged forward, arms stretched wide. As the guards drew their guns, he slammed into them full force, taking all three to the floor. They were up and on him in seconds, but by then I’d already sprinted past them and was heading for the stairwell.
“Stop!” yelled a voice behind me. Then a gunshot and my suit jacket tugged as a bullet sliced through the flapping fabric, missing me by an inch. I heaved open the stairwell door and ran.