Luca said, “You have to know that you aren’t getting out of here. Just put the gun down and let her go. She doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I say she and I find a quiet corner and wait out the police.” Stuart sneered. “After I kill Jenkins, we’ll have time for some fun before I get thrown back in solitary.”
Luca moved just enough to let the door shut behind him before either of them could do anything about it, locking Jenkins in the room again.
Hector came at him, swinging his fists and forcing Luca to defend himself. Kira screamed, and he was aware of Stuart dragging her away down the hall, but there was nothing he could do about it until he dealt with this guy.
Hector grabbed his arm and twisted it back painfully. Luca turned into the twist and punched the guy with his other hand. Hector let go of his arm and came back at him, swinging his head forward. Luca dodged the headbutt and punched the guy in the stomach, grabbing his shoulders and then kneeing him in the middle. Hector fell to the floor.
Luca raced away down the hall after Stuart and Kira.
Kira gritted her teeth. Stuart dragged her with that punishing grip on her arm, through the door back into the infirmary.
“Lock that door.” He swung her toward the far door. “If anyone tries to get in, I guess you’ll just have to deal with it.” His laughter followed her across the room.
Before she could shove the door closed, a tall man with a full beard shoved against it and came in. She froze, backing up from him. The guy turned and threw the lock over. Broad-shouldered, tanned skin.
A second later, three guys appeared in the window, which was crisscrossed with wire, rendering it almost unbreakable. They hammered on the glass and fought against the handle, the looks on their faces feral. They wanted to get in here with a desperation that drove them almost to insanity.
She shivered, backing up.
The big man with Middle Eastern coloring looked through her and said to Stuart, “I can take her off your hands.”
“Don’t think I need any favors from you, Sax,” Stuart said. “Barricade the door.”
The Middle Eastern guy seemed unbothered by that comment but did as the man asked. Sax?
Did that mean…
She kept her thoughts to herself. If this was Luca’s brother, the one he’d told her about, she should be safe with him. Right?
But there was nothing safe about this guy.
She whirled around to look at Stuart. “No more shooting.” She held up her hands, trying to come across as desperate—which didn’t take much with the dead body on the hospital bed on the other side of the room. “No more blood. Just stop.”
Stuart waved the gun around. “I’ll shoot whoever I want.”
Sax said, “You want someone on your side, I’m your guy.” He slammed a hand against his own chest, over the white tank that showed off powerful arms. He’d taken his orange jumpsuit and tied the arms around his waist. She saw a lot of similarities with Luca, but also so many ways this man was remarkably different.
And far more dangerous.
She couldn’t let on that she knew this Sax guy was Luca’s older brother, Amir. Stuart would use anything against her, and she didn’t know if this other inmate would protect her. He might be here to do whatever he wanted while she had no way to fight back.
Kira huddled against the wall, thinking of Luca. Wondering if that guy from the cartel had killed him. Tears gathered in her eyes, the last thing she needed. These men would take any vulnerability she showed and exploit it for maximum carnage.
The phone started to ring.
“Check the window,” Stuart ordered.
For a second, she thought he was talking to her, but Sax strode to one of the tiny windows in a row on the far wall. Moving between two empty hospital beds, stepping on gauze packets that had been strewn across the floor. He looked out the window.
Kira glanced around. The pharmacy cabinet was open, and the padlock discarded on the floor. Stuart stood between her and the supplies. She could use any one of those meds to incapacitate him if she could get over there and prep a syringe.
The whole thing looked like it had been picked over. No doubt there was a group of inmates somewhere in the prison mixing meds and getting high on narcotics.
She bit her lip.
What they wanted to use for evil, she needed to use to save her own life. Maybe even Luca’s as well. Could she get over there?