Page 36 of A Fine Line

“Seriously.” Darius snorts, giving me a dirty look. “And she wouldn’t be equally as pissed off if she knew I’d let you go into the death trap without me at your back?”

“So, you’re saying there’s no winning with her?”

“Yes. She’s gonna be pretty fucking pissed either way. But at least this way, she should get to rant at our double funeral. I’ll give her a quick call, though. Say my final goodbye so at least she won’t piss and moan about that.”

“Send her my undying love as well,” I say seriously.

I turn away as he pulls his phone from his pocket, hits her number, and then walks a short distance away so I can’t hear his conversation. The vans that are supposed to be waiting a safe distance away start pulling into the driveway and then park outside the building. Anton and Jayme exit first, with a steady flow of others quickly joining the small group of men who are already congregated.

Anton and Jayme walk toward me, stop in front of me, and say nothing, so I finally ask, “What part of stay out of sight did you not understand?”

“Did you think I was gonna sit down the road and let you get yourself killed trying to save my sister?” Jayme says.

“And none of us came on this mission to listen to you lot get slaughtered over the COMS. Where’s the honor in that?” Anton adds with a shake of his head.

Dare walks back over, sliding his phone into his pocket as he says, “Antoinette says you are an inconsiderate fucking asshole, and if either of us dies, she’ll haunt us for the rest of her life.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“She said what she said,” Darius responds, shrugging his shoulders dismissively. “You know how she gets. Either way, she fucking means it.”

I shake my head, sighing in exasperation as I reply, “Yup, she’s a pain in the ass–”

Boom.

The distinct sound of an explosion has us all whirling toward the building. I take a step toward it, but Dare’s hand on my chest stops my forward momentum as I yell into the COM, “Any movement? Has anyone left that building?”

My question is met with a constant string of negatives echoing through my ear, and my guts clench, a stabbing pain spiking through my chest and stealing my breath as I shake off Dare’s hold and sprint toward the building, his shouts sounding out behind me. His footfalls slap the gravel as he follows closely, but he’s not gaining as I close in on the door, his shouts vibrating through my brain without triggering a response.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The whole building vibrates, and the door I was closing in on flies open, the force pushing me back until I’m airborne. Several more explosions follow, shaking the earth beneath me, a sickening reverberation of the destruction around me.

I roll onto my hands and knees, coughing and choking as I attempt to get back my breath. I gain my footing and immediately move toward the smoking building, but Dare grabs me, pulling me backwards and standing in front of me, becoming a human wall every time I try to get to the building. He shouts, “No! It’s too late!”

I lean against him so heavily that he’s the only thing keeping me upright as this almost all-consuming pain washes over me. I’m shouting incoherent denials, cursing, my hands fisted in his shirt until finally, he pushes me back, and his hands grip my face, forcing me to look in his eyes, and I see the finality there.

I don’t believe it. I refuse to believe it. But we’ve seen the blueprints of this building, and we’ve studied every possible exit and the entire surrounding area.

I startle as a shout comes from the COM in my ear, and it takes a few beats before I make out the words through the fog in my brain. “Someone’s exiting! A woman!”

Dare looks at me, a mixture of shock and disbelief on his face, and then we’re both running, sprinting around the building. We come around the corner and run toward the group of men standing over a prone figure in the dirt.

I immediately know it’s not Carolina but Dare and I continue to run until we’re close enough to get a good look at the figure as it starts to stir. She comes up on all fours, her head bent down as she coughs and gags, and Dare and I both slow as we get closer, stopping several feet from her. Then we look at each other in complete disbelief at what we’re seeing, and Dare asks, “Is this a fucking joke?”

I’m speechless.

I shake my head, waiting for confirmation of what we already seem to know, even though it doesn’t seem possible. Then the woman turns, still on all fours, and looks over at us, those bright blue eyes cutting me in half as I attempt to speak. But nothing comes out.

Finally, Darius asks, “Lilith?”

She grunts at him, not bothering to deny what’s right in front of our face, as impossible as it may seem.

Lilith fucking Ferro.

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