Page 125 of Snow

Brett’s hand appeared around the railing.

Her stomach dropped as he dragged himself back onto the upper level. Blood covered part of his face, one side of his body clearly hurting from the fall, but rage seemed to be carrying him through whatever injuries he’d sustained.

“You fucking bitch.”

Nova rose slowly, keeping herself between him and Snow.

“Stay where you are.”

Brett looked at the gun, then at her, and actually laughed.

“You’re not going to shoot me.”

Nova tightened both hands around the grip. “You really need to stop assuming you know what I’m going to do.”

He took another step, then another.

Nova’s fear sharpened into something strangely clear. There was no room left for wondering whether she could do this or whether she would regret it later. Brett had already tried to kill Snow, had locked them inside a burning room, and was now coming straight toward her with murder written all over his face.

When he charged, Nova raised the pistol and fired.

The shot cracked through the steel structure, startlingly loud even over the alarms. Brett jerked as the round struck him, but somehow he stayed on his feet and continued forward.

Nova fired again. Then once more.

The next two rounds hit his chest, and this time his momentum stopped. Brett stared at her for a brief, stunned moment before his knees gave way and he fell backward onto the stairs, disappearing from sight.

Nova stood completely still, the gun still raised as she tried to hear anything beyond the alarms and her own breathing. When Brett didn’t reappear, she moved cautiously toward the stairwell and looked down.

He was lying at the bottom and wasn’t moving. The reality of what she had just done hit her all at once, making her stomach roll.

She had shot someone.

Nova lowered the gun, forcing herself to breathe through the shock before it could swallow her whole. There would be time later to think about it, to fall apart if she needed to when she wasn’t standing on a burning platform with an unconscious Navy SEAL at her feet.

She hurried back to him and knelt beside his shoulder, placing the gun within reach while she gently patted his cheek.

“Come on, Gabe. I really need you to wake up now.”

His eyes remained closed.

Nova leaned closer, her voice breaking despite how hard she tried to keep it steady. “You got me through that air duct, remember? So now you need to help me out a little because I am absolutely not strong enough to carry your giant ass down those stairs.”

A tremor shook through the deck beneath her, followed by another loud crash somewhere deeper in the platform, and Nova knew she couldn’t wait much longer.

She grabbed the back of Snow’s shirt and tried to drag him.

He barely moved.

“Oh, come on,” she muttered through clenched teeth, shifting her grip and pulling again. “Couldn’t you have skipped that protein bar earlier?”

Even unconscious, the man was making her life difficult.

Nova planted her feet, tightened both hands in his shirt, and pulled with everything she had, refusing to look toward the smoke or think about how little time they might have left.

She had gotten them out of one room. She had taken down Brett. And somehow, one way or another, she was getting Snow off this platform too.

Nova shoved Snow’s pistol back into its holster and looked toward the stairs.