Read Online Smoke and Shadows by Victoria Paige - Free Book Online Page B

shivered as she stepped out of the sliding doors into a frigid evening punctuated with below zero wind chills. Winter was making a last stand, and after the warming trend over the past few days, the polar vortex returned with a vengeance.  
    The VIP wing was adjacent to the medical offices, and today being a Saturday and 10:00 p.m., there was virtually no activity outside this side of the hospital. Street lamps cast a sinister glow over the parking lot. A slither of unease crept up Marissa’s spine.
    She warily assessed her surroundings. There were too many dark corners. Not the kind of environment a spook wanted to find herself in if she wasn’t the one in the shadows.
    Allison better have a good reason for calling her . She pressed “Call Back” on her phone.
    “Marissa?” Allison’s voice sounded surprised and Marissa’s gut was immediately gripped with a sense of foreboding. “Why are you calling?”
    Footsteps rushed up from behind her.  
    Without thinking twice, Marissa spun around in time to ram her elbow into an assailant’s masked face. The man cursed violently and staggered back. Another came at her with a stun gun. Marissa bounced on the balls of her feet, arms cocked in front of her at the ready. Gauging the distance between them, she spun a roundhouse kick to knock the stun gun away.
    But she realized there was one assailant too many as bulky arms grabbed her from behind. She stamped on her attacker’s instep, but the man must have been wearing boots of steel because he barely grunted.
    She bent forward to crack her head against the guy’s face when he suddenly let her go, shoving her away from him.  
    Stumbling forward, she was gripped by the excruciating pain of her muscles spasming. Dark spots danced in front of her just as her knees buckled and then there was nothing.
    *****
    Marissa had been barely gone five minutes before Viktor decided to go after her. The sensation that something wasn’t right wouldn’t go away. Years on the job had honed that instinct into a sharp edge and he wasn’t ignoring it, especially when his woman was involved.
    What he successfully ignored though, was the smirk on Jack’s face when he informed them that he needed to step out and check on something. McCord knew he was going after Marissa.  
    He tried to calm his racing pulse as he reached the ground floor and turned toward the exit. And that’s when he saw it. The scene of Marissa fighting off three masked men and finally falling down in a heap, sent a blast of rage coursing through his veins. Son of a bitch, did that bastard stab her?  
    Bursting through the sliding doors, gun at the ready, he fired two shots at the startled assailant, hitting him right between the eyes. Viktor never missed. Seeing their comrade’s head blown off, the remaining hostiles beat back a hasty retreat.
    Viktor didn’t bother chasing after them as he dropped to his knees beside Marissa, who was slowly coming around.  
    The sound of gunfire had drawn a circle of people around them. The sight of a body, sprawled on the ground with a dark pool forming from the head, elicited more than a few gasps and shrieks. But Viktor focused on Marissa.
    “Iz? Can you hear me?”  
    One hand checked her body methodically for any signs of blood and injuries while the other whipped out his phone to warn Jack and Maia.
    “Jack, Marissa’s been attacked,” Viktor said.  
    “Is she all right?” Jack exclaimed.
    Not answering his question, because he didn’t know himself, Viktor said, “You and Taylor keep an eye out. I’ve got a dead body to process.”  
    He called Lance Henderson next, all the while keeping a wary eye on the crowd of onlookers.  
    “Are you at New Park Medical?” Viktor asked abruptly.
    “Yes. What’s up?”
    “Good, I want you to process a dead body for me . . . West entrance.”
    His gaze returned to Marissa when a low moan escaped her lips.
    “You can stop feeling me up,” Marissa said as he ended the call.