He was dying.
He was going to die here on this fucking continent and lie, frozen, in the LO Arch in a body bag just like Patty. “No!”
Vasily leaned over him. “For traitors, hell is ice cold.”
Steve felt the life leave his body, the world fading to black.
* * *
Samantha staredin mute horror as one last strangled breath left Steve’s body, blood spilling from his mouth, freezing in a pool around him. She looked from Steve to Vasily, who walked back to his men.
With a smile on his face, he said something to Vlad in Russian—and then slit Vlad’s throat with one clean swipe of the blade. He wiped the blade on Vlad’s snow pants and turned to Samantha. “He overheard your men. Then he sent a text to this bastard and told him where you were. He betrayed you against my orders.”
Samantha was too terrified even to scream as Vlad fell to the floor, clutching his throat, blood spilling between his fingers.
Vasily walked over to her, making her recoil. He put the switchblade away, stripped off his parka, put it over her and Thor. “I told you I am your friend. Now I have proved myself, I think.”
Then the doors from the LO Arch flew open, and Malik and Lev rushed through, weapons raised.
“Nobody move!”
“Hands above your heads!”
Samantha gasped, raised one hand, but kept her other arm wrapped around Thor, doing her best to put pressure on his wound.
“Not you, Samantha, sweetheart.” Malik knelt beside them, reached for his station radio. “Ryan, this is Jones. Ryan, do you copy?”
“Jones, Ryan here.”
“Hardin and Vlad are dead. We’re bringing Isaksen and Samantha up in the freight elevator. They’re both in bad shape. Isaksen has lost a lot of blood, and both are severely hypothermic.”
“EMS is responding, out.”
“Thor?” He lay still in Samantha’s arms. “Stay alive. Please, stay alive. Help him. Malik, please!”
Thor was dying. He was bleeding to death.
While Lev disarmed the Russians, Malik felt for Thor’s pulse. “His pulse is weak and thready. We’ve got to move. Help me get him into the elevator!”
“Is he going to be okay?”
Malik’s face showed only worry. “I don’t know.”
Thor spoke, his voice barely a whisper. “A… p-pos.”
“A pos,” Malik repeated. “We’ve got you, brother.”
It took Samantha a moment to realize they were talking about his blood type—A positive—but then she was so sleepy.
“We are here to help,” Vasily told Lev. “I killed that whoreson.”
Lev knelt beside Samantha, examined her aching cheek. “Is he telling the truth?”
“Y-yes.” Samantha struggled to keep her eyes open. She’d stopped shivering and no longer felt the cold. She knew that wasn’t good, but she couldn’t seem to care. “Don’t worry about me. Save Thor.”
Then Lev and Malik lifted Thor and carried him between them into the elevator, Lev staying with him, keeping pressure on the gunshot wound.
Samantha tried to stand but couldn’t. She was so sleepy, so painfully tired. She wasn’t even cold any longer.