Frozen in place, I open my mouth, am about to scream and?—
Boom!
My laptop explodes, electrical sparks and chunks of metal flying in all directions.
The intruder grabs me and drags me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me.
Two hundred pounds of solid muscle flattens me to floor. My scream comes out as a gasp, the sound dying against the heavy curve of his shoulder.
Somewhere above us there’s anotherpop, another explosion in my kitchen. I’m vaguely aware of glass flying all around us.
“No! NO! Let me go!” I writhe beneath my attacker, trying to free my hands from where they are pinned beneath his bulk. “Please,pleaselet me go.”
I have to get out of here, away from him. Away from whatever is happening above our heads.
The urgency beats in my blood, but I can’t escape. My legs are manacled between his. I can barely feel my feet let alone use them in self-defense.
The giant on top of me is silent, motionless except the steady pressure of his chest against mine every time he inhales. The closeness, the darkness, the weight of him—it’s crushing. I tip my head back, gasping for oxygen.
The move shifts my hips up slightly and I feel something hard against his waist. Something that digs sharply into my pelvis. It’s got to be a gun. Or a knife. Something that will kill me.
I’ve escaped death once today. There’s no fucking way I’m letting it catch up to me now.
My fight instinct fully triggered, I attack my captor in the only vulnerable spot within reach. With our bodies this close together I can just make out a patch of exposed skin on his neck. With an awkward lurch of my head, I bite him there.
He grunts, curses. The metallic taste of blood hits my tongue just before he yanks away.
I barely catch my breath before a large, leather-clad hand clamps down on my mouth. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The low growl reverberates through my skull, his lipsburning the fragile skin of my ear. There’s no mistaking the malice in his question. Or the fact he doesn’t expect an answer. “Stay. Fucking. Still.”
“Ple—” Whatever plea for mercy I’m about to make is cut off by another round ofpop, pop, pops, all of them dying in a rapid succession of dull thuds. Dust falls down around my face. Dust and pieces of my apartment.
The man on top of me mutters something angry under his breath. His hand tightens across my mouth, and I go lightheaded, dizzy.
This is it. I can’t breathe. I’m going to die.
Suddenly, the stars clear from my vision and I gasp, dragging in a breath that burns my lungs. The man’s hand is gone, his weight on my chest lighter.
I start to wriggle, attempting to escape. The man on top of me says something. I ignore him, wiggling harder.
“Lena.”
I swear this stranger says my name, but I’m only focused on getting free.
That’s when his hand returns, this time circling my neck. One squeeze and I freeze. “Do I have your attention, Lena?” That raspy voice is inches above my face. “Nod so I know you’re listening.”
Oh, I’m listening. I nod.
“Good. Now don’t move and keep listening.” His hand leaves my neck. I stay perfectly still. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
“Wha—” Apparently, I’m not allowed to answer because that palm slams across my mouth again.
“Lena.” He uses my name a third time and a chill washes through me. “Someone is shooting up your apartment. Someone with a clear line of sight through your windows, a long-range rifle, and a hard-on to have you dead.”
I blink blindly up at the shadowed face, speechless.
“We’re running out of time to get out of here, understand?”
To illustrate his point, the mystery man draws up to his knees, his torso coming off the ground for the first time since a bullet killed my computer. The movement catches the shooter’s attention and the man in my apartment drops back down to his elbows just as another bullet lodges in the wall above our heads. “Time to fucking go.”