“As fate would have it, there is no formula,” Victor said.
He pulled two lockets out of his pocket. The gilding had been scraped off both of them. One contained etchings. It was Bobby’s. The other didn’t. It had to be Eva’s.
“I’m not so sure of that,” Milanovich said. “We haven’t had a real conversation with her yet. The kind where a girl tells a man all her secrets in exchange for not being fed alive to my pet tiger. And that would be after the necessary biological and genetic tests were conducted on both of these mutants to see if their body chemistry has been altered by this formula. To see if there is money in their blood or bones.”
“This is ridiculous,” Simmy said. “What are we here, barbarians? Experiments on children for the sake of money? You want money? I’ll give you money.”
“There are two problems with that proposition,” Milanovich said. “First, if there is a formula for a countermeasure to radiation, and the insides of these young people can give it to me, you don’t have that much money. And if you do, you wouldn’t part with it, so stop playing the hero, Simeonovich. Even your woman doesn’t believe your bullshit.”
He was right. Nadia could see Simmy generously parting with some amount of money, but he wasn’t going to pony up a billion dollars or more.
“We can discuss that,” Simmy said. “You invested in a venture with time and labor. I can guarantee you a certain return. I can guarantee your portfolio grows.”
Milanovich took a sip of his drink and rubbed his chin. “Now that you put it that way — and you’re quoting me back to me — you have a point. Perhaps there is a number. But that still doesn’t solve the second problem with your proposition.”
“There’s a solution for every problem,” Simmy said.
“Not this one,” Milanovich said.
“Impossible. What is the problem?”
“You’d have to be alive to pay me.” Milanovich turned to the nearest bodyguard. “Kill him.”
The bodyguard thrust his hand under his jacket. He whipped out a gun and aimed it at Simmy’s head.
An object flew in out of nowhere. It connected with the bodyguard’s neck. His body crumpled. His severed head fell to the ground.
The same sound echoed behind them. Nadia turned.
The second bodyguard’s head rolled off his body. His body fell limp.
A fierce-looking man came flying down the steps. His gun was drawn. He pointed his gun alternately at Milanovich and Victor. What amazed Nadia was that he’d killed two men without firing a shot or making a sound. And he’d killed them in such an unconventional manner that everyone in the room was paralyzed. They were all just trying to comprehend what was happening.
Eva’s father, Nadia thought. The man Bobby had met. Was he Eva’s father?
Bobby pulled a knife from its sheath around his calf. He stood up and grabbed Eva’s hand with his left. Glanced at the man coming down the stairs. Nadia caught a glimmer of the excitement in Bobby’s eyes.
The man was Eva’s father. He had to be.
Then another bodyguard appeared at the top of the stairwell. Nadia shouted a warning, but it all happened too fast.
The bodyguard shot Eva’s father in the back.
CHAPTER 52
Luo realized the girl was his daughter. He knew it by the gleam in Adam’s eyes.
She was a dark angel. A lithe beauty. She had her mother’s athletic frame after all. Her father’s inscrutable eyes. Even under dire circumstances, with boomerangs and bullets flying, there wasn’t a hint of panic about her. How strong she looked. It was his proudest moment, to know he was seeing his offspring in the flesh. It was just as he imagined it would be in his wildest dreams. All that was left was for her to look him in the eyes. She’d glanced at him once as he glided down the staircase, but Bobby had grabbed her hand and yanked her from the sofa before she could realize who he was. Before she could see that it was her long-lost father who’d come to her rescue—
A gunshot. A blow to the back. Someone set his shoulder blade on fire.
Luo tumbled down the stairs. His head bounced off wood. He tried to remember where he was and what was happening, but he couldn’t. All he knew was that he was falling and there was nothing he could do about it
A second gunshot. His thigh burned.
A third gunshot. A noise beside his head. Something pierced a surface beside him.
What surface?
His eyes regained focus. A white ceiling. A staircase above him.
He was on the stairs in a criminal’s house with his daughter and the boy. A man in an expensive-looking suit was coming down the stairs and shooting—
These Russian mafia types and their clothes…
Luo lifted his gun. Stared down the barrel of the bodyguard’s weapon and squeezed the trigger.
Two shots rang out.
A force knocked Luo back to the floor. A bullet. A hot iron in his chest. Near the heart. He’d been shot.
Luo lifted his head. The bodyguard lay slumped on the stairs, a hole in his forehead. Luo looked down at his chest. His shirt was soaked. Right near the heart. He could feel his constitution weakening. He’d seen enough chest wounds to know he was bleeding out.
He was dying.
Luo’s mind raced. He’d never speak with Eva. She’d never look into his eyes. Their souls would never connect. At least not above ground.
It didn’t matter.
He was dead, but she was alive and would survive. The boy would see to that. No matter what the obstacles ahead of them, the boy would protect her. Luo’s final vision was of the boy scaling the wall. He’d never seen anything like it.
The boy would be able to protect her.
The boy was no longer human.
The boy was something more.
CHAPTER 53
Bobby and Eva rose from the floor. They’d dropped to their stomachs as soon as they’d heard the gunshot, seen the bodyguard firing at Luo from behind.
The bodyguard’s third bullet pierced Luo’s chest. Luo collapsed to the floor, his body limp. The bodyguard dropped his gun and fell down the stairs. He remained limp on the floor, a hole in his head just above the eyes.
Bobby jumped to his feet to help Luo. He was Eva’s father. He was Bobby’s friend. Bobby wanted to save him, whatever the cost. Without Luo, Bobby would have been dead twice already. But a calmer voice prevailed. It was the voice of his father, instructing him to stop indulging in sentiment and focus on his own survival.
Eva was already rising to her feet. Bobby reached out with his hand. As she took it, Bobby saw Nadia and Simeonovich getting up, too. The latter held a gun in his right hand.
“More guards upstairs,” Bobby said. “Down is better.”
Eva passed Bobby. He didn’t wait for a reaction from Nadia. He raced to catch up with her. It dawned on Bobby that he hadn’t seen Victor or Milanovich. They were probably still on the ground, he thought. Still hiding.
The bodyguard’s corpse lay beside Luo’s body on the upward staircase. Eva rounded the corner to the downward stairwell. Bobby was two steps behind her.
Another guard rounded the flight of stairs from below. He was nine steps away from Eva. The guard looked up.
His eyes met Eva’s.
The guard raised his rifle.
Bobby leaped down the staircase. He pushed off his right knee and propelled himself with all his might. His gut resisted the leap. It was too long a distance to cover. His instincts told him he’d land at the man’s feet just as he was ready to fire.