Chapter 57

The woman was holding a walking stick, too. Dear god, was she blind? Claudia was about to scream out to her when the woman, apparently instinctively, dropped to her knees and then rolled over on her side, covering her head. A spray of bullets hit the metal doors of the closing elevator right where the woman had been standing. Claudia turned to Daniel to warn him about the innocent woman.

He was staring toward the other woman, a look of anger and horror frozen on his face. Claudia had never seen such emotion penetrate his deadly exterior. Did he know the other woman? From her current position, Claudia doubted it. The woman looked soft and feminine, the opposite of anything that might attract Daniel Mercer. Yet, he was watching her like a hawk watches over its young. Deadly, uncannily still, ready to strike if necessary.

Thinking quickly, Claudia said, "Give me one of those guns."

Daniel looked down to where Claudia was crouched under him. Her green eyes held his earnestly. Like mo