GARRISON

The taste of my own blood was thick in my mouth, and the gash across my forehead was weeping hot fluid down my left eyebrow, but the barrel of my gun didn't waver a single millimeter.

My body was screaming at me to collapse. The blast from the trapdoor above had torn a fresh trajectory of agony through my already bandaged shoulder, leaving my vision swimming in jagged, white-hot bursts. But seeing Viktor Kane step through that concrete bunker doorway, his weapon raised and his eyes locked onto Roxie’s trembling body, silenced the pain entirely. A cold, feral rage overrode my failing nervous system.

"You're a long way from...