Page 21 of Rogue Mission

White light detonates. A crack so sharp it punches my ears, kicks my chest.

Rosalie's body jerks hard, then slams down onto the concrete landing.

The shock wave rips through me too, hurls me down a full flight, knees bouncing off treads.

Holy fuck. Holy.Fuck.

“Rosalie!” I claw my way up the treads, the electricity still humming around us.

For a second, I'm so shocked, I stare at her, lungs heaving, head ringing.

To my horror, she's sprawled flat, smoke curling from the hem of her shirt. Her skin is mottled pink and white.

“No, no, no. You're not dying!”

I lean over her. Praying out loud, I search the place where her pulse should be.

Cold floods me when I register the emptiness in her neck.

Nothing. There's nothing.

"Rosalie's down!" I yell into comms. "Get me a med-evac! Now! They electrified the stairwell somehow."

My hands shake for a few seconds, then training kicks in taking over.

Airway. Breathing. Circulation. Tilting her chin, I lean down and give her two big, fast breaths.

Water is pouring from my eyes as I fold my hands over her sternum and begin rhythmic compressions as I yell for her to come back.

Compress. Compress. Compress.

My palms piston against her chest, desperate, brutal, begging the heart under my hands to remember it knows how to beat.

"Come on, sweetheart. Don't do this to me. We got somewhere to be." My voice breaks. "Not like this. Not here."

Every compression rocks her body. But she's lifeless.

Again, I give two breaths even though I know training says all chest compressions now. But I can't stand the idea of her not getting oxygen.

Compress. Compress. My own lungs burn but I won't stop. I'll die on this staircase before I stop.

"JT!" Truck's voice blasts through comms. "Report!"

"Flatline!" I shout, still driving my weight into her chest. "Package one's not breathing!"

"Hold position. I'm enroute with an AED," he growls.

Thank god.

"Do not touch anything metal in the stairwell!" I growl, my voice shredded. "Beast, see if you can kill the power to this entire grid."

"Copy," they both shout back at me.

Rosalie's body rocks as I jostle her over and over. Her gold necklace glints against her throat and a flood of memories twist my insides into a flaming pit of anger.

Come on. Come. On. This is not the end.

"We're just getting started, Rosalie. Hear me. This is us,ourfucking start."