Page 87 of Gunpowder

“Doc,” Spencer said. He finally put the glass he’d been polishing down on the bar. “Come on, now.”

Reymond’s shoulders sunk. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses, ringed as they were with dark circles from exhaustion. “You’re right. I apologize. I’m just… tired.”

“I get it. Believe me, I do.” Blair offered him the closest thing he could get to a smile at the moment. “It’s fine.”

“I’m sorry, Kennedy,” Spencer said, tapping a cigarette out of his pack. The Incindious logo on his Zippo blazed in the fading light of the day. “But he’s gone, and he’s not coming back.”

24 Hours Earlier

Blair watched Julian get into the passenger seat of Spencer’s car, and Marie do the same with Felix. He had been leaning against his bike with his thumb hovering over a contact for the last ten minutes, but seeing how close they were to leaving finally forced him to tap the phone icon while he still had time.

It rang until Blair thought it would go to voicemail, but finally his mom answered. “Hey, sweetie.”

“Hey, Mom.” Blair was glad he was too exhausted and empty for his voice to betray him, because he knew if she asked him if he was okay, he would just break down all over again. “Are Hope and Tristan with you?”

“Yeah, they’re here. Want me to put you on speaker?”

“Please.”

He heard her say something that he couldn’t understand, then his siblings chorused, “Blair!”

Tristan’s voice made Blair’s chest hurt. It took him back to a strange night, when a beautiful man showed up on his doorstep and asked, “Where did the iguana come from?”

“Hey guys. I was just thinking about you and wanted to tell the three of you that I love you,” Blair said.

Blair had wanted the next time he talked to his mother to be when he told her about Wren. He guessed that wasn’t an option anymore.

His siblings said they loved him, too, but his mother was intuitive, too much so to make this easy. Her voice sharpened with concern as she started to ask, “Blair, are you—”

Blair hung up.

He knew the others were waiting for him. It was time to go. He pocketed his phone, straddled his bike, and started a drive he didn’t know if he would return from.

The rain had stopped by the time they got to College Point and though it was still overcast, the first rays of sun were starting to illuminate the dark clouds. The streets were quiet. Or at least, there was none of the noise that they would be listening for. There were young kids coming and going. People going back and forth to school or their jobs, not double checking the spare mags in their pockets or making sure their weapons were snug in their waistbands. Just people. Just people who weren’t going to war.

They drove through the main drag and kept going until downtown receded into the residential areas. The deeper they sunk into enemy territory, the more he anticipated a gunshot to ring out, a sniper round to take out his tire or go through Felix’s windshield. It wouldn’t be the first time Phantom knew they were coming. Them taking Wren almost guaranteed that Incidindious’ arrival would be expected. What riddled Blair with anxiety was not knowing if Wren was a hostage or a taunt—depending on which it was, Wren would be kept alive.

The alternative was unfathomable.

Wren was alive. He had to be.

The Mustang slowed in front of him and Blair matched pace. Spencer fell to the side and stopped at the edge of the sidewalk. Blair leaned to the left and brought the bike to a stop. He put the kickstand down, and Felix got out, leaving his car parked right there in the lane. It worried Blair that much more that Felix would leave the car which he treasured so much in the middle of the road, as if he didn’t care if it got hit. Or as if he didn’t expect to return to it. Spencer and Julian got out, and Marie took the long rifle case out of the Mustang’s trunk. Felix walked a few paces down the road. A wind picked up between the row of industrial buildings to their right and the houses to their left. It blew his coat around his body, his red boots as bright and shocking against the asphalt as a bloodstain.

“They’re in the office building. Spence, Kennedy, work your way up and cut down any of Isaac’s people you find along the way. Isaac should be at the very top. Julian, try to find their security and take it out. Marie, get somewhere high on the neighboring building and take care of anyone who tries to flee.”

Blair stood up from the bike a little too quick. “We’re splitting up? Where are you going?”

“Blair,” Felix said, and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll see ya on the other side. Alright?”

Blair swallowed. It would have probably been audible if not for the whistle of the wind. Felix had never used his name. “See you, Boss,” Blair said, his anger with Felix briefly forgotten.

Felix didn’t look back. He just started walking. Blair saw him reach into his coat, and then a plume of smoke rose above his head but for a moment before getting blown away. He looked to his right but the others were just as fixated on Felix’s retreating back as he had been.

Spencer was the first to break the silence. “You heard him. Let’s move.”

Wren’s captor was a restless one. They got up to pace a lot. Every time they did, their steps echoed in the small room, and Wren timed the movements of his hands with them. If he was keeping track correctly, he should be over halfway through the zip tie. One more round of pacing and he should be through it. His throat hurt like a bitch.

“There sure wasn’t a lot of information about you online,” Jinx said, rotating on a shiny heel to come back towards him.

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