Page 195 of The Vigilante's Lover

I shoot him.

19: Jax

I got Mia out.

The silent gas hasn’t gone anywhere. I don’t doubt this even though it is odorless and invisible. Mia got a puff of it before I shoved her out, and it definitely affected her.

I’m on my knees, trying not to breathe, slowing my heart rate on purpose to buy me time. The panels are on lockdown now. The only thing that allowed me to part them in the first place was the last jolt of energy in the pass key. It’s dead now.

I know how these elevators are made. It’s why I never, ever get in one. No hatches. No trapdoors. Just solid steel. And jets.

My chest burns. There is no point in using my phone. No way to call anyone. These elevators are black holes. No communications can get through.

I can hear the murmur of voices. I think one of them is Mia. A human must have run the gas. The system should protect her, especially now that she’s away from me.

I got Colette and Sam out of detainment. Hopefully they’ll make it.

I don’t think I’m going to win here today, but maybe they’ll escape at least. If the Vigilante network goes down, it goes down. My parents areout of it. Sam and Colette are out of it. Mia can’t get hurt by it.

I’ve done my job.

I have to take a breath. I know this. My lungs feel like they are going to explode.

It’s a sleeping gas. The old-fashioned kind. Silent, deadly, but a peaceful way to go. Among deaths, it’s not the worst.

I sit down in the corner. If I’m going to think last thoughts, they’ll be of Mia at least. Who would have known that this random girl holed up in a decommissioned safe house would be the perfect fit for a workaholic risk-driven Vigilante?

I picture her from that first meeting, how she slept so innocently as I slid the ropes around her body, tightening them inch by careful inch. I was so angry, so sure she was the cause of Klaus’s disappearance. I couldn’t see what she was. What she would be.

My vision starts to blur.

I can picture Klaus and his screwed-up blond hair. We were once friends. The betrayal stings one last time.

It’s like he’s in front of me. I want to strike out at his image, rage filling me. I throw a punch and realize with a jolt that it has connected.

“I know how you feel about elevators,” he says.

There’s a rush of air being sucked out. I realize we’re moving, silently, down. I risk a breath, and it’s clear. Klaus stands over me, tucking his cuff more neatly inside his suit jacket.

“I’m not here to save you,” he quips and gives me a hand to stand up. “But I do need you to be alive a little longer.”

“Who ordered the gas?” If it wasn’t automatic, then I’ll know Mia is still safe.

“Some Phase Four with an itchy finger. She’s been dealt with.”

So Mia will be fine. I take in another deep breath. Time to finish this.

The minute I have enough energy to throw a punch, I do. We wrestle, falling out of the elevator and into a steel-lined hall.I slam my elbow into his face. I’m not full force, not after the gas, but it’s enough. I pin him to the ground. I’m ready to kill a second person with my bare hands.

I encircle his throat.

“It’s Jovana,” he gasps. “In the War Room. Go in. Jovana’s got her.”

I look up. There’s a door with no markings. But we’ve gone down a long way. Easily six floors below. The hallway is silent and empty.

I let go of Klaus. He sucks in a breath and rolls closer to the door. A green line scans him. “Klaus approved for entry to the War Room,” a voice says.

Then it scans me.