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As Loren fired the pistol, not at Pitt but at Irene, the receptionist had an instant to react She lunged across Pitt with her hand still clutching the stun gun, hoping to knock away the pistol She overreached and struck Loren in the back of the hand as the flintlock fired

Lying beneath the action, Pitt saw the purple light of the stun gun crackle against Loren’s wrist as a cloud of white smoke from the flintlock erupted over him Both women then vanished in the haze

To Pitt’s left, Loren spiraled to the floor, falling unconscious from the cos To his right, Irene staggered back fro with terror As the s the clothes beneath her fingers where the lead ball had struck just beneath the sternum

Irene tried to speak, the words didn’t cos failed her, too She knocked over the tray table as she fell back against Abigail Brown, then sunk to the floor Sprawling upright, she clutched her stomach and moaned softly

To Pitt, the whole scene was surreal Loren lay drugged and unconscious on one side, Irene dying on the other The former Australian prime minister remained oblivious in her virtual world Trapped in the middle of it all lay Pitt But Loren had left him a way out When shocked by Irene, she had dropped the flintlock and it fell at Pitt’s side

He twisted and slid his body, forcing the weapon toward his left hand His fingertips grazed the barrel, and he pulled the pistol close until he could wrap his palm around its stock

It wasn’t the gun he was interested in, it was its bayonet blade He twisted the gun and applied the steel edge against the strap that held his wrist The ancient blade was dull, but it still had enough of an edge to fray the leather binding He sawed at it for a fewthrust from his arm With his left hand free, he unbuckled the strap across his chest and a binding on his right wrist, then freed his legs

He rushed to Loren, picked her up, and lay her on the

table Her eyes fluttered open as she regained consciousness She focused her eyes on Pitt and gave him a wary look that softened into a broad smile “Did I do okay?” she whispered

Pitt nodded and kissed her

“I didn’t drink their coffee or tea, only pretended to,” she said in a slurred voice “It was drugged, like you said I could see the effects on Abigail” She glanced toward the Aussie, then saw Irene sitting lifeless in a pool of blood

“I had a very bad dreah” Her eyes closed for a ail”

Pitt stepped to the Australian woman and removed her earphones and virtual reality headset “Are you all right?” he asked

She stared back in an unblinking daze, not co the difference between the virtual world and the basement of McKee Manor

Pitt tried to break her drug-induced stupor “What do you say we go for a walk and get some fresh air?”