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Shanna fell to her knees beside him "Roman?" She touched his cheek He was cold Lifeless Was this his normal deadish behavior for daytime, or had he actually killed hi?

"What have you done?" She laid her head against his chest, listening for a heartbeat Nothing But then norht What if it never started up again? What if he was gone forever?

"Don&039;t leave ers to her face She&039;d tried so hard to convince herself their relationship wouldn&039;t work But now he looked so dead And it was killing her

"Roman" His name seemed to wrench itself from her soul She bent over, strained with emotion She couldn&039;t bear to lose him

There were people in the cafeteria who needed her help She needed to go Now But she couldn&039;t budge She couldn&039;t leave him It had been so hard to lose Karen, but this¡ªthis was like her own heart was being crushed And with the pain caer pretend that a relationship with Roman was impossible It already existed She was in love with him She&039;d trusted him with her life She&039;d allowed hiht her fear of blood for hiood and honorable ht She understood his guilt and remorse like no one else They were connected emotionally and mentally Cruel twists of fate had hurt them in the past, but now they could rise above the pain and despair by facing the world together

Sorabbed her wrist

He was alive! His chest suddenly heaved with an intake of air His eyes opened Bright red

Shanna gasped She tried to htened Oh God, what if he&039;d turned into a Mr Hyde?

He turned his head to look at her He blinked once, twice, then his eyes slowly returned to their norolden-brown

"Roman? Are you okay?"

"I believe so" He released her and sat up "How long was I out?"

"I¡ªI don&039;t know It seelanced at the clock on the wall "It&039;s only been a few minutes" He looked at her "I scared you I&039;m sorry"

She scrambled to her feet "I was afraid you&039;d done yourself serious har to do"

"Yes, but it worked I&039;m aith the sun" He stood and headed for the closet "There should be a rabbed a white plastic box "Let&039;s go"

They rushed down the hallway The alarhtened faces Some stared at Roman, while others did a double-take

"Do they knoho you are?" Shanna asked

"I guess My picture&039;s in the employee handbook" Roman looked about curiously "I&039;ve never seen the place so crowded"

They rounded the corner to the corridor that connected the laboratory wing to the cafeteria It was jaht fro s As Shanna passed by the first , she heard Rory, red burn rabbed his ar you"

"Only my face burned You must have blocked the sun from the rest of h the second shaft of sunlight, Roman lifted the medical kit to the side of his injured face The sun burned a red streak across his exposed hand

"Daers

"Let me hold the box" Shanna took the ive her added height People looked at theht without Ro more burns

As they entered the cafeteria, Roestured toward a man "That&039;s Todd Spencer Vice president of production"

Shanna hardly noticed She was too shocked by the scene before her Injured people were lying on the floor People rushed about So away debris Others hunched over the injured, wrapping theaped in the here concrete coluled chairs, and food trays were scattered about The hissing spray of fire extinguishers masked the ht

"Spencer" Roman approached the vice president "What&039;s the situation?"

Todd Spencer&039;s eyes widened "Mr Draganesti, I didn&039;t know you were here Uh, we have the fires under control We&039;re seeing to the injured Paramedics are on their way But I don&039;t understand this Who would do such a thing?"

Roman surveyed the scene "Is everyone alive?"

Spencer grimaced "I don&039;t know We haven&039;t found everyone"

Ro had caved in "There could be someone under there"

Spencer acco that mess, but it&039;s too heavy I sent for some special equipment"

A concrete column had fallen and crushed a table beneath it Roe hunk of concrete, lifted it over his head, and heaved it into the garden

"Oh my God," Spencer whispered "How could he¡ª?"

Shanna winced Roth "Maybe it&039;s trau cars after an accident"

"Maybe so" Spencer frowned "Are you all right, sir?"

Rohtened and turned

Shanna gasped His proxiht His shirt was s, black and scorched S the smell of roasted flesh

Spencer winced "Sir, I didn&039;t realize you were injured, too You shouldn&039;t be doing this"

"I&039;rasp another chunk of concrete "Help me clear this"

Spencer tackled so tiles and tossed them in a heap Soon the crushed table was exposed Luckily, chairs beneath the table had kept it fro completely flattened There was a small pocket of air beneath the table And a body

Radinka

Roled chairs out of the way "Radinka, can you hear me?"

Her eyelids flickered

"She&039;s alive," Shanna whispered

Roes"

"I&039;ll see to it" Spencer rushed off

Shanna opened the se

"Radinka, can you hear ainst a cut on her temple

She moaned and opened her eyes "Hurts," she whispered

"I know," Roman replied "An ambulance is on its way"

"How can you be here? Ito be fine You&039;re too young to die"

She gave a weak snort "Everyone is young to you"

"Oh God" Shanna&039;s sto?" Roman asked

She pointed There, stabbed into Radinka&039;s side was a dinner knife A pool of blood was for Shanna covered her mouth and sed hard at the bile in her throat

Roht You can do this"

She took a few deep breaths She had to do this She would not fail another friend

A young man came toward them with an armload of linen strips cut from tablecloths "Mr Spencer said you needed these"

"Yes" With trees in her lap She folded one into a thick pad

"Ready?" Rorasped the knife "As soon as this comes out, press hard" He pulled the knife out

She pressed the pad against the wound Blood seeped onto her fingers Her stoe and ainst the wound "You&039;re doing fine, Shanna"

She dropped her bloodied pad to the side and folded up a new one "Are you helping me? Mentally, I mean"

"No You&039;re on your own"

"Good" She pressed the new pad against the wound "I can do this"

Paraurneys

"Over here!" Rourney over "We&039;ll take it from here," one of theurney

Shanna walked alongside her, holding her hand "We&039;ll tell Gregori He&039;ll coht"

Radinka nodded, her face pale "Roht, please He&039;s not trained for it"

"She&039;s delirious," a paramedic muttered

"Don&039;t worry" Roman touched Radinka&039;s shoulder "I won&039;t let anything happen to hiood man, Roman," she whispered She squeezed Shanna&039;s hand "Don&039;t let hiet away He needs you"

The paramedics wheeled her away Police officers arrived Flashes lit the rooators snapped pictures

"Damn" Roman moved back "I have to leave"

"Why?" Shanna asked

"I don&039;t think those are digital carabbed Shanna&039;s hand and headed for the door

A paramedic stopped beside him "Sir, you have severe burns You should come with us"

"No, I&039;m fine"

"We&039;ll take you in an a"

"I&039;m Dr Whelan" Shanna smiled at the paramedic "This man is my patient I&039;ll look after him Thank you"

"Fine Suit yourself" The paramedic rushed off to join the others

"Thank you" Roo to the silver room" He opened a door to the stairwell, and they descended the steps "This is so aggravating I really want to see what kind of evidence the police uncover, but I don&039;t dare stick around with all those caular camera?"

"No" Roman opened the door to the basement They walked down the hallway to the entrance of the silver rooested as he punched a number into the keypad "I&039;ll help clean up your wounds Then I&039;ll go back upstairs, see what I can find out, and report back to you"

"Okay" He peered into the retinal scanner "I don&039;t like to leave you unguarded, but I suppose you&039;d be safe up there with the police" He opened the door and ushered her inside

She suddenly felt irritated He orried about her safety when he totally disregarded his own? "Look, I&039;? You&039;re the one with a strange, untested drug in your system"

"It&039;s not untested any to insulate his hands froet it" She shoved the door shut, flipped the silver locks, and scraped the bar into place "We still don&039;t know if that formula is completely safe It sure isn&039;t safe for you to be out during the day You look awful"

"Why, thank you"

She frowned at the burn on his chest "You&039;re injured You&039;d better have soe and pulled out a bottle

He lifted his eyebrows "Are you ordering me around?"

"Yes" She put the bottle into the microwave "Someone has to look after you You take too many risks"

"People needed my help Radinka needed us"

Shanna nodded, her eyesat the memory "You&039;re a heroic man," she whispered And she loved him so much

"You were very brave, too" Roman stepped toward her

Her eyes met his She wanted to wrap her aro

Theher She removed the bottle of blood "I don&039;t know if this is warh for you"

"It&039;ll be fine" He took a long gulp "There&039;s other food here in the cabinets if you&039;re hungry"