Her leg buckled with a sharp crack of bone.

As she stumbled, I grabbed her right wrist with both of my hands, twisting it outward and downward.

She shrieked as the joint popped.

The pistol slipped from her fingers and clattered across the cold concrete.

I swept her feet out from under her, sending her crashing down onto her back.

I immediately dropped my knee into her sternum, pinning her to the floor.

“Move and I will end this,” I said.

She gasped for air, her face twisted in pain under the pulsing red light.

I didn’t wait for her response.

I reached down and grabbed Lily by her coat collar, pulling her behind my torso.

“Mommy,” Lily whispered, her voice barely audible over the blaring siren.

“I have you,” I said, keeping my weapon trained on Vanessa’s forehead. “Stay down, Lily.”

Across the hangar, Grant was screaming.

“The drive!” he yelled, his voice cracking with hysteria. “I have to get the drive!”

He was still pounding the heavy metal wrench onto his laptop, but his swings were wild.