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“Sarin gas, when it comes into contact with the body, prevents certain neurotransmitters from working. The end result is, a person’s lungs stop working. In high concentrations it’s lethal within a couple of minutes. There’s no way to stop it once it gets into the atmosphere.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience, Blake,” Harper said. “Should I be worried?”

“You should be very worried,” Leopold said. “But not about me.” He removed the steel panel. He froze. “You should be worried about this.”

Harper leaned in. “What the hell?”

“You need to evacuate this hotel now,” said Leopold, getting to his feet. “It looks like your Korean friend was telling the truth.”





Chapter 49





JUNE OPENED THE door carefully, just a crack. She peered through the gap. The hallway was empty. Whoever she had seen prowling the corridor must be still inside one of the rooms. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted for the elevator. Rounding the corner, she nearly tripped over a pile of sand in the middle of the carpet. With no time to process what the hell might be spilled all over the floor, she shoved her key card into the security slot and hit the call button.

Nothing happened. The elevator was locked down.

She ran to the stairwell door and tried to figure out how to get the security bars off. It was a simple enough mechanism, just some pins that needed to be removed before the cross-shaped arrangement collapsed. She set it aside, and gave the door a push.

It didn’t budge. She rammed her hip into it to little effect. She looked up and down the door, swearing under her breath.

I really am locked in this damn place.

June heard the sound of a lock disengaging. The intruder must have finished searching one of the empty rooms, making his way to the next. June ran back to her room as fast as she could and ducked through the door just as a dark figure emerged from one of the neighboring suites.

She leaned up against the wall, gasping for air. Heart rate through the roof, she tried to calm herself down. She took several slow, deep breaths, and looked around for a weapon to use. She heard a key card shoved into the lock at her door. The handle moved.

He’s here.

It was too late to hide, and the room had been swept for weapons already. There wasn’t so much as a kitchen knife in the whole place. She took refuge in the living room, ducking behind the wall just as her door swung open.

She heard footsteps. The intruder was inside the room, moving slowly. Without gauging his abilities, it would be a mistake to engage him in physical combat this early. And she had no way of knowing what weapons, if any, he was carrying. Any sudden movement, he might panic. If he had a gun, he might fire off a shot. He might get lucky.

She would need to try another tactic.

Ignoring the screaming urge to crawl underneath the sofa, June decided to press the only advantage she had. If she could catch him off guard, maybe he would reveal a weakness. So long as he didn’t shoot her first. Still, better than waiting to get executed.

June composed herself and stepped out into the open.

“Hey,” she said, flatly.

The intruder flinched, spun round to look at her. “Who the hell are you?” He aimed a large pistol at her chest, complete with silencer. He was at least three steps away.

“You first,” June said back. He looked vaguely familiar.

“Nobody you care about.” He glanced around. “Where’s Melendez?”

“Not here.”

“Bullshit.”

“Secret Service discovered a perceived threat, so they moved him to another location.” June tried to smile, but there was a tremble to her lips. “Go look for him somewhere else.”

The intruder shook his head. “Secret Service isn’t providing him a detail yet.”

“His private security team handed him over,” June said, taking a step toward him. “They’ll be back any moment to get me.”

“Nobody’s coming, I’m afraid. Agent Smith had an unfortunate accident. You and I are the only ones up here.”

“Who are you?” she asked, taking another easy half step closer.

“You don’t want to be involved in this. Just tell me where Melendez is.”

“Like I said, not here.” She took in a deep breath, instantly regretting it.

“Then you won’t mind if we check the place together, will you?” He waved the gun toward the living room. “Get your hands up.”

Hands near her ears, she led him through, wondering what the distance was between them. If she got him close enough, and with enough luck, she might be able to do something about the situation.

Jerome had straightened up the living room the evening before, and everything was still in pristine condition. The coffeemaker had finished brewing, but it was too far away to grab the pot. There was nothing else she could imagine using as a weapon unless this guy had a particular sensitivity to sofa cushions. Through a decade of martial arts training, June had learned several methods of disarming a man carrying a gun. But all of them relied on her getting close.