Page 48 of Girl Lost (The King Legacy #1)

THE GROUND SHUDDERED beneath Luna’s feet, a tremor that pulsed through her bones. The shelves rattled. Jars clinked together. The distant boom of the explosion rolled through the building like thunder.

Luna couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. The market. The beggar girl. Aisha’s lifeless eyes.

What if it was the lab? Or the vault. What if Corbin was trapped? She could almost feel the heat of the explosion, smell the smoke, hear the echoing boom that reverberated through her.

“What was that?” The voice of one of the guards was closer now.

“Sounded like a blast ball or stun grenade. We’d better check it out.” Footsteps retreated, growing fainter. “C’mon!”

Stun grenade. Not a deadly explosive. Just a distraction.

Luna waited, counting her heartbeats until she was sure the guards were gone. She did a four-count breathing exercise. When her hands were steady again, she said, “Okay, I think it’s clear.”

“Are you sure they’re gone?” Trinity whispered. She clutched the edge of a shelf for support.

“Only one way to find out.” Luna eased the storage room door open and peered out. The hallway was empty.

Summer put her hand on Luna’s arm. “Was that ... a bomb?”

She shook her head. “No. Special ops tactical diversion. Big noise, bright flash. It’s meant to stun and distract.”

“Worked for us,” Trinity said.

“We have law enforcement outside waiting for our signal,” Luna said. “That’s probably them making a move.”

Trinity’s eyes widened. “So that was your people?”

“Maybe. Or Corbin creating a distraction,” Luna said. “Either way, we’re safe.”

“Yeah, but what about Corbin?” Summer asked. “What if that was meant for him?”

“He knows what he’s doing.” How many times had she told herself that in the field when operations went sideways? But this wasn’t just any partner. This was Corbin.

“What do we do?” Summer asked.

“We stick to the plan. If that was Corbin buying us time, we can’t waste it,” she said. “Help might be on the way, but Stryker might not have time. I say we keep moving.”

She studied the girls’ faces. Summer gave a determined nod. Trinity, pale but resolute, did the same.

“Okay, we can’t go back the way we came. The guards went that direction.”

Summer nodded. “Let’s keep moving forward.”

A door at the end of the hall caught Luna’s attention. Unlike the others, it had a small window. “This way.”

She approached with caution and peered through the window. It was a surgical scrub room. They slipped inside. The room was small, almost claustrophobic.

Stainless steel dominated. Long sinks lined one wall, each one equipped with a gooseneck faucet and foot pedals. Dispensers for soap and hand sanitizer were mounted above, their chrome surfaces gleaming under the harsh fluorescent lights overhead.

Luna’s gaze scanned the room. “Let’s find a way out of here.”

She moved to the opposite wall where a door, clad in stainless steel, had a small, rectangular window of reinforced glass set at eye level. The edges were sealed with a thick, black rubber gasket. A red light, small and pulsing, glowed above the frame.

Through another window, she could see into an operating theater.

“Stryker,” she breathed.

Stryker lay on the table, tubes and wires snaking from his body. His eyes were closed, a breathing tube down his throat. A woman in a specialized wheelchair that gave her height was pulling on surgical gloves. Beside her, Dr. Forest was being helped into a surgical gown by Dr. Sheridan.

Her blood ran cold as she saw the array of surgical instruments.

They were about to operate on Stryker.

Without thinking, she burst through the door, Summer and Trinity right behind her.

“Stop!” Luna shouted, her voice echoing in the sterile room. “Don’t touch him!”

Everyone froze. Dr. Forest’s eyes widened in shock, then narrowed.

“What are you doing?” Dr. Sheridan hissed. “This is a sterile environment!”

But Luna wasn’t listening. Her eyes were locked on Stryker’s still form, on the machines. She started for the operating table.

Dr. Forest snatched up a scalpel. His surprise morphed into a cold smile. “Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His gaze shifted to Summer and Trinity and back to Luna.

She took a step forward, hands raised. “Get away from him. Now.”

Luna felt Summer and Trinity move closer, flanking her. She straightened, drawing strength from their presence.

“It’s over, Forest,” Luna said. “Whatever you’re planning, it stops now.”

The woman in the wheelchair turned, her eyes locking onto Luna’s with an intensity that sent a chill down her spine.

Dr. Forest’s smile didn’t waver. “Oh, I don’t think so,” he said. “In fact, I’d say things are just getting interesting.”

Luna took another step forward, but before she could act, the doors behind them burst open. Two men rushed in, grabbing Summer and Trinity. One wrapped his arm around Summer’s neck, while the other pressed a gun to Trinity’s temple. Dr. Forest’s enforcers.

“No!” Luna cried.

Dr. Forest’s smile widened as he pressed the scalpel against Stryker’s throat. “I wouldn’t move if I were you.”

Luna froze, torn between the girls and her mentor. Her mind raced, seeking a way out of this nightmare.

Dr. Forest’s eyes gleamed with a manic light. “Since we’re all here, why don’t I explain why we’re doing this? It’s time you understood. Then maybe you’ll agree that everything we’re doing here serves a greater purpose.”

He glanced at the woman in the wheelchair.

“This is my daughter, Elizabeth. She’s a brilliant surgeon, but she’s dying.

We’ve tried everything, including two transplants, but her new heart is failing, just like the others.

Stryker”—he spat the name—“has interfered with all our hard work. Because of him sticking his nose in my business, Elizabeth might never get the heart she needs to survive.”

Luna’s brow furrowed. “Why not just print one for Elizabeth? Isn’t that what your research is about?”

Elizabeth spoke up, her voice soft but determined. “We’ve tried. But our trials haven’t worked yet. The bioprinted hearts ... they fail.”

Dr. Forest nodded. “It’s all a part of the clinical trial, you see. We remove the healthy heart and give the patient their bioprinted heart. The healthy heart goes to someone in need. Someone who won’t waste the new life we gave them. Then we study the bioprinted heart in our patient.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. “The victim you mean.”

Elizabeth ignored her. “It works at first. The hearts beat just fine. The patients recover and gain strength. But then, like clockwork, four or five weeks later, their bodies reject the heart.”

“But we don’t just let them die,” Dr. Forest added. “That would be cruel. I take them into surgery and remove the bioprinted heart, along with all the healthy organs.”

Summer’s eyes widened in understanding. “Because you don’t waste resources, right?”

Dr. Forest beamed at her. “Exactly, my dear. You’re very bright.”

“What about me?” Trinity asked. “You gave me a bioprinted heart a year ago.”

“You’re the special one,” Dr. Forest said. “The only one whose heart hasn’t failed yet.”

“So why did you kidnap her?” Luna spat the question.

“Because she was wasting it!” A dark shadow passed over Dr. Forest’s features. He stared at Trinity. “You were destroying what I created. Killing yourself with drugs. You were wasting the precious life I gave you. If it hadn’t been for me, you would have died a long time ago waiting for a donor.”

Trinity paled, her hand flew to her chest.

Luna felt sick. The enormity of what they’d done, the lives they’d destroyed, all in the name of saving one person. It was overwhelming.

She had to keep them talking, had to find a way out of this.

Trinity’s face suddenly contorted in pain. She clutched at her chest, her breathing becoming labored. “I ... I can’t...” Her legs buckled and she sagged against the enforcer who had been holding the gun to her temple, nearly dragging him down with her.

“Trinity!” Luna cried, lurching forward, only to be stopped by the enforcer’s gun.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened in alarm. “Dad, do something now!”

Dr. Forest’s calm demeanor shattered. He dropped the scalpel and rushed to Trinity’s side, barking orders. “Get her on the table! We need to stabilize her immediately!”

The enforcer holding Trinity scooped her up and laid her on an empty surgical table.

“We can’t lose her. She’s our only successful case.” Dr. Forest pressed his fingers to Trinity’s neck, checking her pulse.

“Dad, please! We need her.” Elizabeth wheeled herself closer. “We have to study why her heart lasted so long!”

“Sheridan!” Dr. Forest’s hands flew over Trinity’s body, attaching monitors. “We need the stabilizing agent! Now!”

Dr. Sheridan nodded. “I’ll get it from the lab.” She rushed out of the room.

Trinity’s body lay limp on the table.

Luna saw an opening. She spun and drove her elbow hard into the temple of the enforcer holding Summer.

Summer slammed her heel down on the man’s instep. He gasped and released her, stumbling back with his right foot dangling at an awkward angle behind him. He hobbled a step, then another, left leg working overtime to stay upright.

Luna shifted her weight. She turned her hips, brought her foot knee-high, and pistoned her heel down and forward. It cracked against his shin. The leg, bearing the guard’s full weight, collapsed with a pop. “My leg! You broke my leg!”

Pain ripped through her scalp. The second enforcer had grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her back. He shoved the barrel of his gun into her spine.

Rage snapped loose.

She twisted away from the gun and jabbed her fingers into his eyes. He roared, stumbling away. Her knee shot up into his groin. He folded and sank to the floor, gasping.

Luna scooped up the gun he’d dropped.

“Summer, run!” Luna shouted, already moving toward Trinity.