Using the guard as a shield, I scuttled backward toward the tree where I ditched the Swiss guards’ weapons. I hoped I was aiming for the right one; my brain had been half-frozen when I’d arrived.
The leader put the muzzle of his gun against Connor’s head. “We have the weapons you discarded. I don’t want to take any more lives today, but I will if you give me no choice.”
Connor laid still. Fear charged through my limbs, but I continued backing my guard up far enough to see the base of the tree. The snow was all messed up and—no rifles. He wasn’t lying.
I couldn’t take out a group of this size by myself while still protecting Veena. My eyes swiveled, looking for a weapon for Connor. Nothing.
A thought went through my head: Connor was disposable.
I didn’t think they’d kill Veena, not when they were so close to their objective. But he was a different story. If I could find any way to get my client safely out of this, Xene and my other instructors might tell me to do it, even if it meant sacrificing Connor.
And for one awful second, I thought about it.
Then I dropped the rifle. With a growl, the guard scooped it up and shoved me back toward the group. Veena’s terrified expression only changed when she realized the kidnappers weren’t shooting anyone that second. As far as I could tell, Connor hadn’t seen how close he’d come to getting a bullet in the head one way or another.
Veena’s guard threw zip ties to my guard. Within seconds my wrists were secured behind my back. I grasped for a backup plan.
“It’s okay,” Veena whispered. “You did your best.”
Yeah, and that wasn’t good enough.
The men led us around the side of the chateau to what looked like a garden, the kind with a stone fountain and overgrown plantings covered in snow. It was probably beautiful in its day.
In an open area in the center, with engines running and headlights on, were two tricked out snowcats, transport vehicles with tank tread over a series of wheels. High-powered windshield wipers swept back and forth, keeping the windows cleared. Men were already behind the wheels, ready to drive.
We could not get in those things. Deep snow and steep terrain would be no problem for them. They could go almost anywhere wide enough to allow them to pass, and while they’d leave an impression, their tracks would disappear in the snowfall within an hour. I yanked my wrists apart, testing the tie.
The wind pummeled this side of the chateau, creating a hard-packed, curving wall of ice where the building met the ground. The cats sat in the bright light of the floods, ahead and to the right, but beyond was a wall of blackness, no trees. I’d bet a cliffside laid beyond. When it was clear, the view was probably spectacular.
I glanced at Veena. Her eyes were on the wall of ice. Her expression wasn’t scared now. She looked like she did before she dropped in the halfpipe to do something life threatening. I wasn’t sure what she was planning, but I could tell she was planning something.
“Veena, no!” I whispered.
Too late. She elbowed the guy holding her in the gut and bolted toward the wall. Leaning forward and digging her toes in, she ran up the curve, pushed off, and threw herself into the air, like she had in the halfpipe that night. Her legs flew over her head as she rotated, flipping and twisting. But instead of landing on her feet, she landed on top of her guard, squashing him. His head bounced hard on the ground, and he dropped his weapon.
It was a thing of beauty.
I scrambled into motion. My hands still tied behind me, I bulleted at the guard in front of me and slammed into him with my shoulder. It spun me to the side and my neck cracked viciously, but he went down. My guard raised his weapon to shoot me. I disarmed him with a roundhouse kick and went for a third guard, taking him down with a knee to the groin.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Connor boot the man holding the end of the stretcher with his good leg, knocking him back. The guard dropped the end of the stretcher, and Connor slid to his feet. Limping fast, he grabbed Veena’s guard’s gun and shot two men in the legs.
Knowing how to use a rifle to harvest an animal was one thing. Shooting real humans in precisely the spots to take them down but not kill them was another. I froze for a second, wondering at his performance, and then turned my attention to Veena.
My breath caught. One of the snowcat drivers aimed a rifle at Connor—and he didn’t see Veena stumbling into his path.
“Veena, get down!”
I shouted, but only got her to look back at me instead of at the danger she was running into. Preparing myself for the impact, I sprinted and flew through the air in front of her as the driver fired. Pain exploded through my left arm, and I landed on it with a scream.
My breath tore in and out of my lungs as the sharpness of the initial agony was replaced with a numbness spreading to my left hand. My brain shouted that something was seriously wrong. Veena skidded onto her knees next to me. Her eyes were huge.
“You’re shot!”
“Get . . . down!” I panted.
Connor hopped backward toward us, keeping his weapon on the rest of the kidnappers. Blood trickled into the snow with every step.
“Stop this. Put your weapon down.”
Still armed, the leader led his remaining men forward. The snowcat drivers were behind us. We were surrounded.
Connor hesitated, the muzzle of his rifle jerking from one man to another, before he dropped it to
