Page 96 of Lethal Game

The timer hit eight minutes, and then it dinged.

"It stopped," Jason said with excitement. "It stopped. This one is done."

She felt an enormous wave of relief, but it didn't last long because that wasn't the only bomb.

"Mr. Hunt," Jason said, shaking the man on the ground.

She realized her father was waking up. He blinked his eyes open. "The timer," he said.

"It stopped," Jason told him. "Alisa gave me the code. Where's the other bomb?"

"Parking garage."

At her father's words, everyone in the van froze, realizing their command center, which was on the top floor, open-air part of the garage, was now ground zero.

The wordevacuateflew across the radio channels.

"We have to get out," Kyle told her, jumping to his feet.

Jumping out of the van, she saw new chaos and commotion as people started running away from the garage toward the roads leading out of the complex.

She couldn't follow them. She couldn't leave. The bomb was nearby. It was in the backpack she'd seen them take out of the warehouse. There were agents already going car to car, but there weren't enough people in this immediate area, and she knew the bomb wouldn't be in the open air, it would be downstairs, on the lowest level.

She ran toward the stairwell, flying down the cement stairs, her fight-or-flight reflexes colliding in her brain as one voice told her she was crazy she should run to safety, and the other said this was her chance to be as brave as Jason. He had risked his life to save her father, and even if he was further away than she was, if the bomb went off in this garage, it could still kill him and so many more people.

So, she kept going, even as more recent, post-traumatic memories filled her head. The last time she'd gone to the bottom level of a dark parking garage, she had almost been killed. Shehadn't thought she'd ever be able to go into a garage again, but now she was racing to the bottom.

As she hit the last step, her gaze swept the area. There were a half-dozen cars, but no one in sight. When she saw a door to a utility area partially open, she headed in that direction, terrified that Novikov or Stephanie might be waiting inside with the backpack ready to blow. But she told herself they wouldn't be that close to the bomb, not with minutes to spare.

She threw the door open and saw the backpack on the ground. She carefully unzipped it, and the timer flashed in her face.

Three minutes, twenty-one seconds…

Telling the code to Kyle to give to Jason had felt dangerous, but this was worse. She had no one to help her, to coach her. She had to do it herself. And she had to make sure she didn't inadvertently set off a toxic bomb that would kill her.

Her hand shook as she pushed the first number, then the second. She heard heavy footsteps and Jason shouting her name.

"Here," she yelled, but she stayed focused on the keypad as she put in the next two numbers, knowing she needed to speed up because the time was ticking down.

Two minutes, sixteen seconds…

"Alisa!" Jason stopped abruptly when he saw what she was doing.

Her fingers froze.

"You can do it," he told her.

"You need to leave now in case it doesn't work."

"You've got this. Keep going."

She didn't have time to argue so she turned back to the keypad, putting in one number after the next and then the three symbols.

One minute, two seconds…

It was too late to run. If it didn't work, they wouldn't make it.

Jason pulled her up and into his arms as they both watched the clock tick down six more seconds. And then it stopped.