Page 186 of Forever Dead

Three steps from the bottom, he emerged from beside the staircase.

He had been waiting.

Selena swung the glass ornament. It struck the mask near his cheek and shattered.

Foss recoiled. Selena jumped the final step.

Her injured knee gave way.

She hit the floor, rolled and forced herself up against the wall.

Foss came after her.

Selena drove the cane into his stomach and shoved. He grabbed it again and this time tore it from her hands.

She stumbled backward through the nearest doorway.

The laboratory.

Foss had steered her back to it.

The overhead lights were still on. Her pistol remained beneath the cabinet across the room. Too far. Her phone lay near the worktable, screen cracked but glowing. Also, too far.

Foss filled the doorway.

Selena backed toward the stainless-steel table.

“You’re limping worse,” he said.

“Observant. Must be the doctor in you.”

Foss advanced.

Selena’s right hand moved behind her across the work surface. Her fingers closed around a needle holder. A curved needle for threading remained clamped in its jaws.

Foss reached for her.

She let her right knee fold, taking her weight against the table, and struck upward.

The needle entered his neck below the mask.

Foss recoiled. Selena pulled the instrument free, but he caught her hair and dragged her toward him. She struck again, close beneath his jaw.

He threw her against the worktable. Pain spread through her back, and her grip almost failed. She kept hold of the instrument as his hand closed around her throat.

Selena drove the needle into him a third time.

His fingers loosened. She twisted away, coughing, but he caught her jacket and pulled her back.

She struck once more.

Foss released her.

Blood ran beneath the mask and onto his shirt. He reached toward her, missed the table and fell against its edge before collapsing among the scattered instruments.

Selena remained upright only because the steel supported her. The needle holder was still clenched in her right hand.

Foss moved once. His hand dragged across the tiles, then stopped.