Page 141 of Hard Rain

Whip tilted his head.

The three of them stood motionless.

Then he heard it.

Somewhere ahead—

Footsteps.

A door closed.

Not slammed, just closed.

Quiet as hell.

Real deliberate.

Whip pointed and whispered. “That way.”

Axel was already moving.

The door gave way beneath his shoulder. The age of the building was in his favor.

With a crack, he stepped into the room with his Glock raised.

He counted seven people huddled into a corner.

“U.S. Marshals.”

They all raised their heads except for one man in the back.

Most people would’ve missed it, but working with Whip had taught him to notice shit like that.

Cutter.

Trying to hide in the masses.

“You in the back,” Axel said, leveling his gun. No way was this fucker getting away.

Cutter glanced up, grabbed the nearest woman, and jerked her in front of him. His pistol came up against the side of her head.

Shit.

Axel couldn’t take the shot. Not with her in the way.

Cutter started backing toward the door, dragging the woman with him. One more step and he’d have the hallway.

Knox didn’t give him that step.

He drove in from Cutter’s blind side, batting the gun arm away from the hostage as his shoulder slammed into Cutter’s hips. The woman stumbled free as Cutter crashed backward into a row of cubicles.

The gun went off.

Axel launched the instant Knox hit Cutter. The gun fired as he closed the distance, the round punching harmlessly into the ceiling. Cutter still had the weapon.

Knox wrapped the gun arm against Cutter’s chest before he could swing it back around. The pistol broke free and skidded across the floor, hitting his foot.

Axel picked up the gun, tucked it away, and kept moving.