Page 30 of The Devil's Conflict

When I hit the door, I feel the heat and know shit is about to be bad. No doubt the fire has hit the oil in the fryers and is now spreading faster and hotter. Fuck. I use my shoulder to open the door and scream for my men, even as it looks like hell on earth. The room is full of flames, and I lower myself down as far as I can to look around the room. I don’t see anyone, but I see a back door open, so I have to hope they got out. Instead of going out, I turn around and go back to check the bathrooms.

I get low to the floor again and head for the hallway, but my heart pounds when I realize that someone else is still inside and has someone over their shoulder. They stop for a hair-breath of a second when I realize it’s a coughing Thea carrying a man over her shoulder. His face is soaked in blood, and her face is covered in soot as she struggles to carry him out. I move to her fast, grabbing him and hoisting him over my shoulder. “Go!” I scream at her. “Go, Thea. Get out.”

She has to get out. The desperation inside me to get her out of harm’s way is overwhelming. She nods, her face grim and determined as she makes her way through the thick smoke toward what we hope is the front door. I look around again, trying to figure out if anyone is left, but I can’t see anything.My eyes burn, my lungs strain, and I know we’re going to be in trouble if we don’t get out soon.

I can barely make out Thea in front of me, and I weakly steady her when she starts to stumble. I give her another weak shove, and she keeps going. This isn’t the time for gentle.

It seems like an eternity before we finally make it to the door. The air, though still thick with smoke, is fresh enough that my lungs pull it in quickly, desperate for it. A fireman rushes forward to take the man over my shoulder, while Theo is there to scoop up his sister and carry her away. Viper and Bullet are there, shoulders under my arms as they half carry me away from the burning building toward the ambulances.

The next few minutes are a blur of people as I’m pushed to the back of an ambulance, an oxygen mask covering my face. A medic quickly assesses me, ignoring me when I growl at him to get away from me, that I’m fine. Viper and Bullet don’t leave my side either. “Shut up and breathe,” Bullet barks at me when I try to tell the medic to leave me alone again. “You stupid fucker, you’re lucky you’re not fucking dead.”

“Fuck…you…” I gasp out. “Where’s…Thea?” Panic starts to fill me that she’s hurt.

“She’s getting checked out,” Viper tells me calmly, putting a hand on my shoulder when I start to get up. I hiss at the pain and he immediately releases me, and then curses. “He’s burned,” he barks at the medic.

I want to scream at them to leave me the hell alone. I’ll be fine. It’s only superficial, nothing I haven’t dealt with before. A fact that is confirmed by the medic who puts some thick salve on it and covers it with a bandage. When I try to take the mask off, Bullet shoves his hand over it and forces it right back in place. “I told you to sit the fuck there and breathe,” he snarls at me. “I don’t need a second VP dying on me.”

I want to snarl at him that I’m far from dying, but I bite it back through sheer will. I’m too damn stubborn to die.

By the time the medic declares I have enough oxygen in me and I’m free to go, I’m already up and moving, tossing it off and glaring right back at Bullet and Viper when they glare at me. “Where is she?” I demand, my gaze moving and looking around at everyone.

The parking lot is full of people, cars coming and going, emergency services, and journalists. But none of them are important. No, I need to find her. I need to know she’s okay before I rip her a new one for not getting out. For putting herself in danger like that.

“Sniper!” I hear someone call, and I turn to see Rose near the other women, and I see her pointing. I follow her finger and see Thea, Theo, and Bowie at one of the ambulances. An EMT is taking off the oxygen mask and giving her a wet wipe to clean up her soot-covered face. I make my way toward her, relief filling me knowing she’s okay. And from the expression on her brother’s face, I’d say he feels the same.

Bowie nods at me and moves out of the way when I approach, going back toward where Frost and Hulk are protecting the women, their faces grim and hard. I ignore Theo, and I ignore the surprised look on Thea’s face as I reach her and pull her into me. I don’t give a damn what it looks like, what others might think about it. All I care about is that she’s alright.

Thea is stiff in my arms for a few seconds before she relaxes and rasps huskily, “I’m fine, Sniper.”

It’s the sound of her voice that has me coming back to my senses and makes my anger burn. Anger at the situation, anger at her for putting herself in danger, and anger at myself for being the reason. If I just let her walk away, she’d be fine. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?” I demand, pulling her backand away from me by the shoulders. I glare down at her, even as her eyes widen and then harden.

She wrenches herself away from my grip and says angrily, “I was doing what I was trained to do. I helped get people out and then went back to check the bathrooms to make sure that everyone was out. And lucky I did, because clearly the explosion was at the back side of the building and the bathroom showered all over him and he hit his head. He’d be dead now if I hadn’t checked.”

“You should have fucking gotten out,” I snap. “I would have gotten him out. You put yourself in danger.”

“Fuck you, Sniper,” she yells, though her voice isn’t as strong as it would be normally. “Instead of coming here and yelling at me, you should be fucking thanking me.”

“Thanking you?” I roar, my own voice still hoarse. “Thanking you for putting yourself in danger? For almost getting yourself killed because you shouldn’t have been lifting him. He was too fucking big, and if you had fallen under his weight, we might not have found you.”

“You never leave a man behind, and I wasn’t about to come to ask you or anyone else to take him when I was there. I’ve been trained on the proper way to get a man out that is triple my size and weight. I got him out, and I got him to the bar room. You took him and saved us a few extra minutes, so I’ll thank you for that. But I won’t let you diminish what I did. I won’t let you think my training is any less than yours because I’m not a man.” She turns her gaze to Theo. “I’m good. Go back to doing what you need to do.”

“Are you sure?” Theo asks, worry clear.

“Yes,” she tells him firmly.

He hesitates again, but then nods, pulls her into a hard hug, and then reluctantly turns and walks away toward Bullet. Thealooks back at me, but says nothing, then she looks at the EMT. “Am I free to go?”

“You talk to the cops?” the EMT asks as he’s already treating someone else for smoke inhalation.

“Yeah.”

“Then you’re good. Make sure to go easy on your throat for a couple days. You might lose your voice, but if you take it easy, you’ll be fine,” the EMT answers absently.

“Thanks.” Then she starts to walk away, but I stop her by gripping her wrist and spinning her back around. Her fist comes up, but I stop it easily, gripping it and then pulling her into me and walking her backward toward the women.

“You’re not leaving yet,” I tell her. “Stay put. Rose, make sure she stays,” I order as I gently push her toward Rose, who quickly wraps an arm around her waist, her face full of concern.

Then, without another word or look in her direction, I head toward where Bullet and Viper are talking to an officer. “And you don’t know what might have happened?” the officer asks doubtfully as he stares at them, pen and pad in hand. When he sees me, he doesn’t react much other than stiffening slightly.

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