But Jack was already up, already moving around his desk. “She’s an intruder on my property,” he said. He reached back and pulled open a desk drawer and lifted out a semiautomatic handgun. “I’m going to do what you should have done a long time ago, my friend.” He pointed the gun at Archie. It was a SIG P226. No safety. A big gun. “I’m going to shoot her.”

Jack laughed and lowered the SIG and then started going through more drawers. This was going very wrong. Archie looked around at Karim, Cooper, and Razor Burn. They had to know this was nuts, but none of them said anything. Susan looked over at Archie, eyes wide. Archie searched for something to say to Jack, some way to defuse this. “I’ll go with you,” he said, starting to stand.

Archie felt a hand on his shoulder before he’d even made it to his feet, and then was shoved hard back into his chair. Pain radiated through Archie’s abdomen and he winced and brought his hand to his wound.

“Sorry,” Cooper said softly from behind him.

Archie shifted his weight in his seat, and concentrated on Jack. “She’s armed,” he told Jack. “She’s got a scalpel.”

Jack slid a box of ammo out of the drawer and put it in the pocket of his sweatpants. It bulged awkwardly from his hip as he came back around the desk. He stopped in front of Archie.

Cooper’s hand seemed to get heavier on Archie’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” Jack said with a lascivious smile. He nudged Archie with the barrel of his gun and the smile turned into a sneer. “You can fuck her dead body when I’m done with her.”

“Don’t do this, Jack,” Archie said.

“Who cares?” Susan asked loudly. There was a pink spot on each of her cheeks. “Let them kill her,” she said, and the viciousness in her voice made Archie cold. Her eyes dared him to disagree, to challenge her. “Unless you don’t want her dead,” she added accusingly.

There was nothing Archie could say that she wanted to hear. He didn’t have time to explain that right now he was far more worried about Jack’s prospects than Gretchen’s. “Give me a gun,” Archie urged Jack.

Jack rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, delighted. “See?” he crowed to Susan. “He just wants to be the one to do it.” He slapped Archie hard on the shoulder, and Archie winced in pain again. “Not a chance,” Jack said.

“She’ll kill you,” Archie said quietly. Blood oozed from the wound under his palm.

“That’s why I hire commandos,” Jack said brightly. “For just this kind of thing.” Jack jabbed a finger at Razor Burn. “Collins,” he said. “You’re with me. Get Ronin and the others up. I’ll meet you all at the elevator.”