was all he got out before one of the "firefighters" pulled a gun from under his heavy jacket and shot Archer straight in the chest.
"No!" I screamed, reaching out to grab Archer. My fingers snagged his T-shirt, but he was already falling. His weight tipped forward, and I could do nothing but watch in horror as he toppled down the short flight of stairs toward the firefighters.
Ryan grabbed me faster than I could fully react, shoving me behind his body and around the low corner of the stairs as he popped off a series of bullets toward our attackers. He dropped three of them, but then he, too, collapsed.
My pulse thundering, I clutched at my own gun. I kept low, hiding behind the low railing but knowing it'd only be a matter of seconds before the remaining attackers were on me. Tears burned at my eyes, but there was no time for falling apart. If I was going down—and I probably was—then the least I could do was take some of them with me.
With that thought, a calm resolve flooded through me. I slipped into a cold, emotionless trance and let my fresh training take the reins.
Quicker than a whip, I rolled out of my hiding place and fired on my attackers. There were more of them now, but I wasn't shooting to stay alive. I was shooting to inflict damage, and as much of it as possible.
When my body jerked and searing hot pain flooded my veins, I hit the ground with the sweet satisfaction of knowing I'd dented their numbers. That, apparently, was the best I could do.
My limbs lost feeling and my vision blackened, but I still held onto enough consciousness to watch one of the firefighters crouch down beside me, then sweep his helmet off.
Fuck.
"You cunt," I spat with damn near my last breath.
"Such language, Madison Kate," Zane scolded me. "Your mother would be horrified."
I wanted to curse him out, to tell him my mother would have personally cut his balls from his body for this. But... I had nothing left.
The fire alarm continued to scream in my ears, but my whole world went black and my body gave up the fight.
36
Ever so slowly, consciousness crept back into my brain. For several moments, it was just a daze of confusion and pain, but after a series of deep, calming breaths, I found my wits once more.
Enough that I connected some important dots. The first of those was I hadn't been shot like I'd thought. I wasn't bleeding, and I wasn't dying. I'd been tranquilized. That gave me a surge of hope that Archer had only been tranked too... It certainly would explain the way he'd instantly crumpled and the lack of blood spray.
The second thing I assessed was that I was bound. A thick gag covered my mouth, and my wrists were tightly tied behind me. Worse yet, I was in the trunk of a car. Again.
Fuck.
A weak, pathetic sound of fear whined out of my throat before I could get a handle on it, and my body trembled with anxiety.
Pull it together, MK. You survived every other small space; you'll survive this one.
Still, it was one thing to give myself a stern pep-talk. It was another to calm my panicking body down. As it was, I was tugging frantically at my wrist restraints and trying to free myself. The effort was totally futile, and I already knew this, but couldn't stop trying anyway.
The car was moving, the rumble of the engine vibrating through the trunk, and I couldn't stop the flood of worst-case scenarios washing through my brain. What the hell was Zane up to? Why had he suddenly flipped on us? I'd never totally trusted him, but I'd really believed he was looking out for my safety. Why else would he tell me about Archer's marriage arrangement? Why help me out with a place to stay and…?
But the answer was clear. Because it all hurt Archer. And he hated his little brother. Hated the fact that he was beholden to him and that he could do nothing to wriggle free. Until now, it seemed. Zane had made his move, and I could only hope it was all about to spectacularly blow up in his sneaky, lying face.
Fuck.
I had a weirdly confident gut feeling I knew where Zane was taking me. Like Archer had said, we no longer believed in coincidence, and it was all too coincidental that Kruger was in Shadow Grove at the