Chapter 7 · Red Under the Fortress

"Take your hand off my gun, Gabriel." His fingers closed over my wrist before I could pull the trigger.

The barrel pointed at the man slumped behind the enemy terminal. Blood ran from his temple into his collar. He was alive. Barely.

Gabriel stood behind me, chest pressed to my back, one arm locked around my waist. His breath touched the side of my neck. Warm. Controlled. Infuriating.

"You shoot him, you lose the only person who can tell us who sent the convoy," he said.

"Then stop holding me like a hostage."

"You are a hostage."

I drove my heel into his boot.

He didn't move. His grip tightened instead, dragging my spine against the hard line of his chest.

"Careful, Elena. Your cuff is still counting."

I looked down.

The black titanium band around my neck had turned red along one narrow seam. Numbers crawled across its inner display.

08:47.

Eight minutes and forty-seven seconds until my protected status died.

After that, anyone with a valid claim could take me. The capital. Julian. Gabriel's rivals.