Page 60 of Inferno

Bristol had been wild, and every time she got in trouble for pushing boundaries, Samantha had been blamed for the fallout. As if she was responsible for everything her sister did.

Julio touched her shoulder, trying to impart some comfort. “Maybe we should make a promise right here and now. You stick with me, and I stick with you. No matter what.”

She studied him, biting the edge of her lip. “I want to, but it’s still scary.”

“Scarier than the idea of being without each other the rest of our lives?” The last two years were already bad enough. He gave her a second, then said, “What do you say?”

“I stick with you, and you stick with me?”

Julio nodded.

“Okay, you’ve got a deal.”

“You’re promising?”

“I promise,” Samantha said.

He leaned in, intending to seal the pact with another kiss.

Before he got that far, thunder rumbled through the building. A wall of flames rushed at them, flinging them out of their seats against the wall.

Samantha cried out.

Julio collided with something. He felt a wrenching pain in his shoulder, and everything washed in the wave of heat.

Fire.

TWENTY-FOUR

Richard stood on the roof of the medical center across the street, having gained access to the building with his credentials. They didn’t know it was so he could watch the fire burn. He could smell the smoke from here, along with the tang of something new.

He was evolving.

To the east, under the gray afternoon sky, the firehouse had collapsed in on itself. The office wing was nothing but rubble. Unexpected, considering he’d placed one device on that side and another in the operations wing.

Trees on the sidewalk swayed in a gentle breeze. As if unaware that a fire blazed feet away, determined to spread. Left unchecked, it would eat its way through the city, consuming fuel with every foot it gained. Taking over. Taking control.

Would the whole city burn?

Richard shivered at just the thought of standing here, watching it all go up in flames.

He caught himself before he descended into the spiral of those rapturous thoughts.

He had to focus on this fire.

Today.

Not the next step.

One of his devices here must have malfunctioned, but that wasn’t entirely surprising given explosives weren’t his usual method of destruction.

He’d rather it would’ve been the other side of the building, where he had seen them enter. He’d placed the device close to the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and bunk rooms. But that side of the firehouse hadn’t collapsed completely.

Richard watched flames lick up from the rubble on both sides.

If occupants weren’t dead now, they would be soon enough.

The old, swept away in the fire of purification. Making way for the new.

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