It was too late. She stomped her foot backward, landing right on top of Mallory‘s. Mallory stumbled in shock for a moment, and Len darted, heading for my gun. I tried to lunge for it, but I was the furthest.

Mallory recovered quickly, and with Len’s arms tied, her movement was limited, and Mallory beat her to it. I was still moving toward the pair when the shot rang out, the piercing sound echoing through the warehouse.

For a moment, I thought Len was hit. Her eyes widened, and she stumbled away from Mallory. It wasn’t until I felt the excruciating pain shoot through me a second later that I realized I was wrong.

My leg ached, the pain knocking me to one knee. Looking down, I noticed blood already dripping down the side of my leg.

“No,” Len screamed.

I was lucky. It wasn’t anything lethal, but the pain did limit me.

She raced over to me, and Mallory lifted the gun, aiming it at her.

“Stop,” I called. “Don’t hurt her.”

Her eyes flickered between the two of us as she weighed the choice.

“Don’t hurt her,” I pleaded again. “You have what you want. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

I accepted my fate. One more bullet, that’s all it would take. Tears streamed down Len’s face.

Mallory stared at the pair of us. Movement to my right caught my eye at the doorway. It was slight, so slight that the other two didn’t notice. The small reflection light flickered again, and I knew.

“Let me say goodbye,” I said to Mallory.

“No,” she said.

“Please,” Len cried.

“It’s not for me; it’s for her,” I assured Mallory. “Just let her say goodbye.”

Mallory nodded and kept the gun pointed at us. Len quickly melted to on the floor, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Do something,” she begged.

“Grey,” I whispered in her ear.

It a one single word, but it was enough for me to feel the way her muscles relaxed for only a second.

She moved back, and her eyes held mine, searching.

I gave her a little nod, one Mallory would think was me encouraging her to go. Instead, I confirmed what she thought.

“I won’t leave,“ Len said and stood to turn.

She put her body in front of me, placing herself between me and the gun.

“Move,” Mallory demanded.

“No,” she said. “If you want to kill him, you’ll have to kill me first.”

My chest ached at that. Len was playing with fire and I didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much more I could do. We needed to hold Mallory‘s attention.

“Move,” Mallory demanded again.

“No,” she said. “You’ll have to make me.”

Mallory started to stalk across the warehouse, gun still raised, pointed directly at Len’s head. I tensed, praying my team would move fast.