Page 162 of Crimson Tears

The bus leaves, and the team, along with Kai, makes their way to the north side again.

“Hey,” Kai asks me.

“What’s up?”

“You got the guy who did this to us?”

I nod, thinking of how Evie told me she sliced through his neck with one of my obsidian blades.

Kai takes a deep breath and shakes his head.

“Good. That man really scared us today. Especially after what he did to some of the kids.”

A lump forms in my throat as he talks, but what throws me off is that he said ‘today’.

“What do you mean, today?” We have eyes on Donovan, and he’s still in Ireland.Who else could have been here?

Kai shrugs. “I know he told us his name, but I was more focused on trying to keep some of the little ones calm. They were scared of him. I might know it if I heard it though. He calls himself our sponsor.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to start spewing names, but Lev catches our attention first.

“They are getting too suspicious, guys. What’s the plan?”

I look at Kai, and he shrugs before looking back at everyone.

“Fire?” he suggests as Evie and Nessa come into view. Az’s ears perk up as we file in around them, but seem to settle once we are all here.

“That’s what we were thinking,” Nessa says.

“The girls know me. They trust me. As soon as you remove the guards, I want to be the one to go in.” Kai is unwavering in his determination, making me smile as I look at Nessa.

We all agree, and Damien sends Az to search the area for signs of anyone else. Lev’s drone follows over Az, keeping an eye out while Evie and Nessa head to the door of the bunker with Kai.

Kai knocks on the door, luring the guards to it. When they open it, we stay out of sight.

“You have to hurry, there’s a fire,” Kai says, pointing behind him. Both guards walk out, their eyes immediately focusing on Kai.

“I don’t see a fir–” That’s all they get out before two bullets take them down, courtesy of Evie and Nessa.

While everyone gets the girls loaded on the bus, I call Kai over to me, Damien, and Boris.

“What did you mean your sponsor was here today?”

Kai’s brows scrunch. “The one who has been pulling all the strings and setting everything up was here for a visit. He assessed our fighting and then got rid of theweak links.”

We all exchange glances. “What did he look like?” Damien asks.

Kai shrugs. “Like some creepy Irish dude.”

Feck. So it is Donovan.

“But it doesn’t matter because you killed him, right?”

Well shite, without even meaning to, we broke the kid’s trust already.

“We killed those who first set this up. We have not yet gotten to the ringleader of this compound,” Boris informs him.

Kai’s face pales. “We need to be careful. He could still be here.”

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