Page 23 of Sinner's Salvation

He frowned, turned around, and cocked his head. Listening.

Anna could hear shouting.

Smoke!

There’s a fire in the security room.

Gunn probably couldn’t hear the exact words, but the tone was all that was needed.

He jerked the door open and let a cacophony of sounds in. Panicked shouts from multiple people.

Brian shifted, leaning around Anna as alarm bells began to ring, so loud they beat against her skull.

More shouts, people ran past their little room in ones and twos, then in larger clumps. A thin finger of smoke snaked past the doorway.

How terribly convenient.

Evander turned to meet her gaze, and she raised one eyebrow at him.

He didn’t smile, but she detected a couple of very small changes to his expression that told her he wasn’t surprised. In fact, things were going exactly as he wanted.

Her thoughts and half-formed escape plans all came to a sudden silent stop.

Things were going exactly as he wanted.

Her assessment of the situation shifted to move Evan from enemy to ally.

“Don’t move,” Evan ordered her and Brian gruffly. His tone was at odds with the quiet satisfaction on his face.

Brian hopped off the gurney. “Are you fucking kidding me? There’s a fire out there?”

Gunn took a long step into the room, paused to look right at Anna, tilted his head down, then mouthed,be ready Sunshine. He grabbed the door handle, backed out of the room, and closed the door.

Her entire world tilted slightly, realigning itself into a new pattern with a jolt that punched her in the chest, robbing her of her breath.

Sunshine. Bernard had called her that as a joke, because her skin was so sensitive to the sun. Aprivatejoke. The ring wasn’t a mistake or coincidence. Evan Gunn knew things no one alive should know.

Her friend had trusted Evan with what he knew about her. She’d never met anyone who was a better judge of character than Bernard. He could pick out a collaborator or Nazi spy out of a group of people in minutes. If he judged this man safe and trustworthy, she could too.

Wait. Be ready for what?

He wouldn’t have set fire to the building? Would he?

She went to the door and listened.

“It’s about to get FUBAR around here,” Gunn was yelling to someone, probably the guards. “Stay in front of this door until I come back. If the fire encroaches on this area, however, move the prisoners to the closest muster point outside.”

“Sir, yes sir,” both guards said. They moved, and she was certain they were standing right in front of the door.

Brian came over to stand next to her, frowning. “What the hell is going on?”

“I think,” she said, very quietly. “This is a jail destruction.”

He stared at her blankly for a moment.

Then he blinked. “Jail break,” he whispered back. “We sayjail break.” He studied her face for a moment. “You think Gunn is helping us escape?” Brian sounded like he thought the idea was ludicrous. “Why would he do that?”

“Three reasons, none of which I’m willing to discuss right now.” She stepped away from the door.

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