Page 211 of Silver Elite

“Condor,” I say urgently, tapping my earpiece.

Silence.

“Kaine, come in. Please.”

“Tyler.” I hear the note of fear in Xavier’s voice.

“Kaine.”

“Jones. Tyler, damn it.”

We’ve abandoned call signs as we plead for our fellows to answer.

Silence.

Despite my instincts screamingdanger!I run toward the warehouse, but I only make it five steps before I’m being yanked backward. Cross shoves me behind him moments before a second explosion rocks the night.

A blinding burst of light illuminates the darkness like a thousand suns, sending shock waves of embers and debris hurtling in our direction.

We flatten ourselves to the ground, and I watch in despair as the weapons depot is transformed into a hellish inferno, flames licking hungrily at it, thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. The force of the blast shattered windows and sent broken glass raining down like deadly shrapnel. A shard of it is lodged in Xavier’s cheek.

When he tries to get up, Cross issues an order. “Stay down.”

A sickly scent fills the air. Sweet. Mingling with the acrid stench of smoke. As the fire rages unchecked, the walls of the depot begin to buckle and groan. With a series of earsplitting cracks, they give way, collapsing in on themselves as flames continue to consume everything.

“What the hell bomb was that?” My eyes water as I stare at the building, utterly helpless. “I’ve never seen an explosion like that.”

“Sugar bomb,” Cross says.

The building has been reduced to a smoldering ruin. Nobody could have survived that second explosion. The first one, maybe.

But not the second.

The stinging of my eyes gets worse, and it’s no longer from the air quality. Battling my tears, I jump to my feet. “We need to…They might still be…”

I take several steps toward the raging inferno, but even from twenty feet away, the sheer heat of it singes the tiny hairs on my face.

Cross pulls me back. “Stand down. Do you want to burn alive?”

“They’reburning alive.” Vomit bubbles up my esophagus. “We need to get to them.”

“They’re gone, Wren,” he says, confirming my grim thoughts. “Nobody survives that.”

Xavier is the one trying to make a run for it now. When Cross locks his arms around him from behind, forcibly restraining him, Xavier unleashes an elbow into Cross’s throat.

Cross growls. “Stand down, Lieutenant.”

“Tyler’s in there.”

“I know.” He sounds utterly defeated.

Several long, painful minutes pass. The fire continues to rage. We continue to stare at the scorched ground where a whole building used to be.

Hope bursts inside me when I suddenly hear static in my ear. I suck in a breath, waiting for Kaine’s lighthearted voice to assure me he’s okay, that no explosion could stop someone so dashing and handsome.

But the crackling ends as abruptly as it starts.

“The hell was that?” Xavier demands. “Did you all hear that?”

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