Chapter 21 · Bring Her In Breathing

Dax is blocking the south stairwell when Rona gets there.

She stops three steps from the landing. He's got his arms crossed, full tactical vest, that smug tilt to his head that says he's already won. The alarm's still screaming through the compound. She can hear boots on concrete somewhere below.

"They said alive," Dax says. "So I won't break anything important."

Rona's heart is trying to crack her ribs open. She's got maybe ninety seconds before the rest of the family closes in. Ghost is two floors down in a cell that Rona can't reach if she can't get past Dax.

And Dax is fast. Enhancement prodigy fast. The kind of fast that makes other hunters look like they're moving through mud.

"Move," Rona says.

Dax laughs. It's not a nice sound. "You gonna make me? You can't even throw a punch without pulling something."

She could try to go around. There's a service ladder on the east side. But Dax would catch her before she made it ten feet. He's always been faster.

So she's got one option.