Page 64 of Burn Like An Angel

“I’m aware.”

“If they’ve captured Warner… he’s as good as dead.”

“How is that our problem?” Xander throws his hands in the air.

“He’s my friend!”

“Your friend didn’t come back,” Lennox interjects. “Perhaps his priorities lie elsewhere.”

I flash him a furious look. “I’m not leaving without him.”

“Would you prefer to stay here and be shot between the eyes when those men storm the institute?” Xander clips out.

“Obviously not!” I explode. “But… fuck! Where can we run? We have nothing. No money. Nowhere to go. We need Warner.”

“Incendia’s men are here to get the hostages out alive,” Xander reasons. “If Warner has been captured, he’ll be rescued. If he’s in hiding, he’ll be safe soon enough. Unlike us.”

He’s lying through his fucking teeth right now. There’s no guarantee Warner will make it out alive, even if reinforcements have arrived. I don’t even know if his cover is intact or if Incendia will kill him too.

“Xander’s right.” Lennox taps Raine’s hand to pass his located items. “If we stay, we’ll be dead by nightfall. Either way, we can’t help him from here.”

“So what? We make a run for it?” I laugh.

“I’ll die running before I die on my knees.” Xander picks up a bag and swings it over his shoulder. “They’re storming the gates. No one is watching the perimeter.”

Raine unfolds his guide stick as Lennox takes a final look around. We’re running dangerously low on essentials. This plan sounds a lot like suicide. I don’t know if we can even get beyond the perimeter fence.

“Let’s move.” Xander casts a final glance around. “No splitting up, no one gets left behind. Remove anyone who gets in the way.”

“No!” I protest. “We said we’d stay and fight. I’m not running scared!”

Tapping his way over to me, Raine clasps my face. He softly strokes my cold skin, his sunglass-covered eyes reflecting my own terror back at me.

“We can’t fight this if we’re dead,” he says quietly. “I want to see Incendia taken down too. Of course, I do. But this isn’t the place to do it.”

“But—”

“Please, Rip. We have to go. I need you to be safe, not killed by Harrowdean’s thugs or captured by the authorities investigating them. Then we can fight this war until the end.”

Strangled by miniature knives cutting into my lungs, I can only nod. The words refuse to surface. Xander turns to leave as Lennox claps Raine on the shoulder.

“I’ll take the rear,” he announces. “Xan, help Raine.”

Throwing me a loaded look, Lennox waits for me to step past him before slipping in behind. Xander leads the way out of the main swimming pool room with Raine, through the mould-ridden corridors and outside.

We step into the crisp dawn air as a group, all on high-alert. This part of the institute is always quiet, shrouded in mist and ominously swaying willow trees that obscure the outside world.

The abandoned swimming pool is surrounded by older, disused buildings separate from the main manor. I’m not surprised there aren’t any other patients hanging around, though signs of destruction litter the grounds.

“Jesus,” Lennox grunts behind me. “Did they leave any furniture inside?”

Eyeing a nearby smouldering bonfire with a blackened bed frame still intact, I choke on the cloying ash that hangs in the air. The destruction has gone beyond a defiant PR stunt now.

Loud humming rings above us through the interlocking birch trees. We’re still tucked into the dense foliage that hides the abandoned building, giving us a precious few seconds to take in the scene.

“Our best bet is the rear fence on the south side of the property.” Xander studies the landscape. “Farthest away from where all the attention is right now.”

“What if they’re patrolling the perimeter?” Raine whispers fearfully.

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