I release Zoe and charge after Knox, only to be grabbed by the shirt collar from John, mere inches from Knox’s gun. “You son of a bitch! I’m going with her! You will have to kill me to stop me!”

Gunfire pierces my eardrums as I feel the whoosh of the bullet shoot past my head, crunching into the wall behind me. “I’m growing tired of you not doing what you are told. You have been a pain in the ass since you were captured. I have no fucking problem killing you!” he snarls and points the gun in my face.

“Jake, it’s okay, please just do as he says,” Zoe cries.

I’ve never in my life wanted to kill someone with my own bare hands before, but right now, I can envision my fingers gripped around his throat, pressing into his fleshy skin, closing off his airway. Watching as his last breath leaves his evil body.

“I’ve seen that same look in your eyes before from John.” He laughs.

“Make no mistake,” I say, “I will be the one to kill you.”

John steps in between us and faces me. “Don’t taunt him. I will take care of Zoe. You make sure Brooklyn stays safe,” he says with his voice lowered as he is slowly moving me backward away from Knox. He mouths the words, “kill him,” and walks past me, wrapping his arm around Zoe’s waist to help her walk out the door.

“Wait,” I yell. I glare at Knox and walk over to Zoe. “I love you, baby.” I place my hand on her belly. “I love this baby, too. I’ll get there as soon as I can, I promise.”

“Just don’t get yourself killed,” she says. “We both need you.”

“If she’s not out of here on the count of three, I may change my mind about letting her go at all.” Knox waves his gun around. One of his goons opens the door and follows them out, leaving only one behind with him. He’s the size of a brick wall, and I’m not sure how I’m going to take him out, but I will. I have a moment of feeling completely helpless as the door closes behind Zoe and John, then a determination like I’ve never felt fills me. I bump Knox’s shoulder as I walk past him to stand next to Brook.

“What can I do to help?”

“Put some gloves on.” She motions to a box of gloves sitting on a small square metal table. Once I have them on, she hands me two vials. One is filled with a blue-colored liquid, the other one with tiny silver-looking beads. “Mix these two together when I tell you and then pour it into here.” She points at a small open port in one of the machines.

She walks around to the other side of the room and starts pressing buttons on one of the panels of the ultrasound machine. Then she walks back over to what looks like a computer screen but is filled with a black-and-white X-ray of a human skull. The vessels are all highlighted in white. You can actually see the pulsating of the arteries as blood moves through them. There is one area in the middle of a vessel that is completely blacked out.

“What’s this,” I ask as I put both vials in one hand and look at the screen.

“This is a simulator of a brain filled with plaque and torturous vessels that are believed to cause Alzheimer’s. See this vessel below the dark area that is twisted?”

I nod and feel Knox come stand behind me.

“It’s my theory that if I can get this to straighten out, the serum that I’ve created will dissolve the plaque rather than pushing it somewhere else. The tricky part is getting this area untangled.”

“Is that what I’m holding?” I hold out the vials.

“Yes, but the tiny little beads are tracers. Without them, I can’t watch to see what it does on the screen. When they are injected into the port, they will light up the screen in green, and I can see the effect they will have on the vessels.”

“Kind of like injecting a dye into the vessels,” I say.

“Exactly.” She hands me a large syringe. “Once you’ve combined them, draw them up into this. This end will fit directly into the port and when I tell you to go, push hard until every drop is inside. Got it?”

I look over my shoulder. “Do you mind giving me some room?” I nudge Knox with my elbow.

He takes one step back. “If you touch me again, I will kill you.”

I start to turn toward him, and Brooklyn stops me. “You can’t help me if you’re dead, Jake.”

It takes everything in me to turn away from him. “Tell me when you’re ready.”

She taps the keys on the computer and walks back over to the ultrasound machine and turns a few knobs, causing the machine to hum. “Mix them together,” she says.

I pour the tiny beads into the blue liquid and swirl it around. I take the syringe and place it into the mixture and draw it up until it is all inside of it. I hold it up, showing it to Brooklyn. I glance over my shoulder, and Knox smirks at me. I don’t know if it would kill him, but I’d love to force feed him what’s inside the syringe.

“Get ready,” Brook says.

I line up the syringe in the port and wait.

“Now, Jake.” She points at me. I push hard, letting the thick mixture flow into the port, then I step back and watch the screen. Sure enough, you can see it flow through the vessels. It accumulates at the tangled spot. Brooklyn joins me at the screen as she is nervously biting her bottom lip.

“It stopped moving,” I say.

“Just wait, give it a minute.”

Swirls of motion cover the area below the tangled mess. The vessel looks like it starts to vibrate and slowly uncurls, sending a rush of green to the blackened area. Bit by bit, the black area fades and the green rushes through the rest of the brain.

A big smile covers Brooklyn’s face. “What just happened,” I ask her.

“It worked. It really worked,” she says and grabs me into a hug as she bounces up and down.

“You figured out the cure?”

“Well, it still needs to be tested on humans, but, yes, it looks like I’ve found the cure.”

Her moment of happiness grows quiet as Knox comes into her line of sight. “I knew I could count on you to find the cure for me.”

She lets go of me and faces him. “I didn’t do it for you, you bastard. If I had my way, you would never get your hands on it. I would enjoy seeing you slowly lose your mind.”

He steps close to her and reaches out with his left hand and runs his fingers along her jawline. Her jaw clenches when he makes contact with her skin. “You and I in another lifetime would have made great partners.”

I lose my fucking mind and yank his arm upward, causing his gun to fire into the ceiling. I bolt forward, knocking Brook backward and sending Knox against the wall. His wall-sized friend grabs me by the back of the collar, pulling me off Knox. He finagles his arm around my neck, holding me in place. Knox straightens his shirt and pulls his sleeves back down in place.

“I think you are even more difficult than your notorious brother is to deal with. Take him to the vehicle and make sure he doesn’t cause any more problems. I’ll deal with him once Brooklyn here gives me what I want.” I watch as he walks over to her. “Maybe I’ll even take more than what I’ve asked for.” He looks her up and down.

Now, there is no doubt in my mind that I will kill him. I squirm, and his hold gets tighter around my neck. “Don’t you lay a fucking hand on her!”

He laughs and faces me. “Or what, you’re going to kill me?”

“Even if you kill me, John will rip you apart limb by limb.”

I see fear flash through his face, and then he waves at his man to take me outside. He forces me through the door as I struggle against him.

“You can do this willingly, or I can choke you to death right here,” he snarls and applies pressure into my carotid artery.

I give in, knowing if I’m passed out, I can’t escape and help Brooklyn. When I quit fighting him, he shoves me into the back seat of the SUV, but not before slamming my forehead against the outside of the door. A rush of blood gushes down my face as I slide into the middle of the seat. I press the palm of my hand into the gash to stop the bleeding. The door slams shut and locks. I try to open the opposite side, but the handle lifts without opening the door.

The front door opens, and he gets inside, slamming the driver’s side shut. He turns in his seat and sticks a gun in my face. “Don’t try anything,” he says with a sick smile on his face. “I won’t bat an eye at killing you.”

He turns back around and puts black earphones in his ear. I look around the back seat that is completely empty. Even the seatbelts have been removed. There is nothing I can use to escape. I lean back against the seat and watch as his head starts to rock with the music he’s listening to. I slowly lean forward, then snatch the cord to the earphones up around his neck, hoping like hell they won’t break. I grip them tight in one hand and yank his head backward. His large hands scratch at this neck, trying to free the cord that is biting into his skin and eating away his air. I keep a good grip in one hand and reach forward for the gun that is sitting in his lap.

One of his hands grabs mine as I grasp the gun. I manage to get my finger on the trigger and squeeze, shattering the windshield. He leans forward and strikes me with his elbow, forcing me backward. My grip loosens, and he’s climbing over the back of the seat to get to me.

It takes me a second to realize the gun is still in my hand. I raise it up and pull the trigger. My ears ring out in protest, and he collapses onto the seat with his head dangling in my lap. Warm blood covers my thigh before I can push him off me.

Climbing over his dead body, I get in the front seat and open the door. I have no plan or any other thought other than it’s time to take out Knox.