He gave up on the door and shook his head once. Then he reached up and yanked the ski mask from his head.
Ava gasped and stumbled back. She knew him. Simon. He was one of her patients, one of the covert agents the lab treated and monitored.
Guess they hadn’t monitored him closely enough.
“Simon?” She flattened her palm against the glass of the window. “Simon, put down your weapon. The police are on their way.”
She had no idea if the police were on their way or not. The lab used its own security force, so she and her coworkers never had a reason to call in the police from the small town ten miles away in this New Mexico desert. Since the lab’s security guards had made no attempt to stop Simon, she had a sick feeling Simon had already dealt with them.
“You need help, Simon. I can help you.” She licked her lips. “Whatever you need me to say to the authorities, I’ll say it. We can tell them it was your job, the stress.”
His mouth twisted and he lunged at the window, jabbing the butt of his gun against the glass, which shivered under the assault.
Ava blinked and jerked back. She made a half turn and scanned the lab. If he somehow made it through the door and she got close enough to him, she could stick him with a needle full of tranquilizer that would drop him in his tracks. She could throw boiling water or a chemical mixture in his face.
He’d never let her get that close. He’d come through shooting, and she wouldn’t have a chance against those bullets. None of the others had. She gulped back a sob.
The bullets started again. Simon had stepped away from the door and continued spraying bullets at the glass. That window hadn’t been designed to withstand this kind of relentless barrage. She knew. She’d asked when she started working here, curious about the extra security of this room.
He knew it, too. Sweat beaded on Simon’s ruddy face as he took a breather. He didn’t even need to reload. He rolled his shoulders as if preparing for the long haul.
Then he resumed firing at the window.
Again, Ava searched the room, tilting her head back to examine the ceiling. Unfortunately, the ceiling was solid, except for one vent. She eyed the rectangular cover. Could she squeeze through there?
Simon took another break to examine the battered window, placing his weapon on the floor beside him.
She tried to catch his gaze, tried to make some human contact, but this person was just a shell of the Simon she had known. The sarcastic redhead who did killer impressions had disappeared, replaced by this creature with dead eyes.
Ava’s breath hitched in her throat. Beyond Simon, a figure decked out in black riot gear loomed in the doorway of the clinic. Was it someone from security? The police?
Not wanting to alert Simon, she inched farther away from the window and kept her gaze glued to Simon’s face.
The man at the door yelled, “Simon!”
How did he know who the shooter was? Had someone from the lab seen Simon before the rampage started and reported him?
Simon turned slowly.
“Give it up, Simon.” The man raised his weapon. “We can get help, together.”
Simon growled and swayed from side to side.
Would he go for his gun on the floor?
Taking a single step into the room, the man tried again. “Step away from your weapon, Simon. We’ll figure this out.”
Simon shouted, “They have to pay!”
Ava hugged herself as a chill snaked up her spine. His animalistic sounds had frightened her, but his words struck cold fear into her heart. Pay for what? He’d gone insane, and they’d been responsible for him, for his well-being.
“Not Dr. Whitman. It’s not her fault.”
Ava threw out a hand and grasped the edge of a counter to steady herself. Her rescuer knew her name? His voice, bellowing from across the room, muffled by the mask on his face, still held a note of familiarity to her. He must be one of the security guards.
“It is.” Simon stopped swaying. “It is her fault.”
He dropped to the floor and jumped up, clutching his weapon. He raised it to his shoulder but it didn’t get that far.
The man from across the room fired. Simon spun around and fell against the window, which finally cracked.
Ava clapped a hand over her mouth as she met Simon’s blue stare. The film over his eyes cleared. They widened for a second and he gasped. Blood gurgled from his gaping mouth. He slid to the floor, out of her sight.