Page 92 of Protecting Bianca

I threw the device at Will and ran back to grab the crowbar. Christian followed me and picked up the second bar and raced back alongside me.

Despite my tired muscles, new strength pumped through my veins, and I believed I could open this container with my bare hands if I had to.

“On the count of three,” I said.

“One…”

“Jager. Stop!” Will shouted behind us. “It’s not—”

“Two…”

“Get back!”

Christian dropped the bar, but I didn’t let go. She was in there, and I didn’t care if a caged tiger was about to jump out at me. I was opening this door.

“Three—” Will grabbed my arm and pulled me back, then he threw himself toward my waist and pushed me several feet away.

“What the fuck, man?” I screamed as he dragged me across the pier. “I need to get—”

“There’s a bomb!” he shouted.

“A what?” I heard his words, but my mind wouldn’t process them.How could there be a bomb inside that container if Bianca was inside?

He was mistaken. There couldn’t be a bomb.

“Let me go!”

Christian and Will both pulled me away from the container as Jake ran to warn Walsh and the detectives. I shook my head, confused, until a loud explosion blasted through the deathly quiet pier. The door flew open, and black smoke seeped from the container.

My mind slowly processed the scene before me as though I were watching it in slow motion on repeat.

There was a bomb.

Inside the container.

Where Bianca had been.

There was a bomb…

Inside the container…

Where Bianca had been…

“No!”

22

Jager

Tears streamed down my face, but I couldn’t wipe them because my brothers were holding me down. Jake and Christian held my arms while Will pressed his chest against mine. It could’ve resembled a hug if I wasn’t trying to break free of him.

The tears dried as I pushed my way closer to the wreckage. An immense heat emanated from the steel container, scorching my face.

“It’s too hot,” cried Will. “The metal will burn your skin right off if you try to go in there.”

“No,” I shouted, thinking of Bianca’s soft skin torched by the bomb. “I have to see her.”

“No, brother. You don’t. You shouldn’t.”

---