Page 92 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"You," she said and nodded at Eli. "Untie me. Now. Or they'll shoot."

Eli slowly approached and reached behind her back.

"So that's it?" I said. "This is how we all die?"

"Oh no." Sadie Davis laughed. "No, not at all. That's going to end with quite the boom. And like I said before, it's not until tomorrow. Perfectly fitting. It is the anniversary of your parents' car accident, right?" She stood up as soon as Eli finished untying her. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I could really use a vacation." She walked past us toward the exit door on the roof. "Don't move an inch and you'll be allowed to live for one more day. If not, the game's over now."

"He's going to kill me!" I called after her. "You can stay and help us. You can get revenge for everything he's ever done to you."

"I want him to kill you. Don't you see, Summer? We made a deal. It's the only way I'll ever be free." She opened up the door and disappeared through it.

"No one move," Eli said calmly.

"This is why I wanted to stay in the shadows," Liza said. "If this doesn't kill us, I'm going to kill all of you!"

"Are you okay?" V said.

I hadn't realized how close he was to me. I didn't risk moving my head. "No."

"She faked her own death when she was 16. She's a liar, Sadie," V said. "You can't believe anything she s

aid to you."

"It didn't seem like she was lying." And it didn't. Yes, she was clearly jealous of my mother. And a little insane. But she thought Mr. Crawford was my father. She thought my mom never loved my dad. She thought Julie was dead. She thought Don had killed my parents.

"I've pinpointed the four snipers," Eli said. "They're in four different buildings. 12 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 7 o'clock, and 8 o'clock. When they drop their targets, we each need to run to a building and find them."

"Like hell," Liza said. "My taser does not put up a fight against a sniper rifle. I'm going back to V's and I'm not leaving until the boom is over tomorrow or whatever that crazy person just said."

"One of them might have more answers."

"More answers? What other answers do we need than that?" Liza asked. "I'm not trying to die."

"Liza's right," I said. "It's over. That was our last chance..."

My words were drowned out by a loud booming noise. I glanced around, terrified that one of my friends had been shot. But we were all okay. The red lights on our chests all disappeared. We were in the clear. So what the hell was that noise?

"Over there," Liza said and pointed behind me.

I turned and saw smoke billowing over the edge of the building. I ran to the railing and looked down at the fiery explosion on the street. It looked like a car bomb had been set off or something. There were flames everywhere.

"Get back!" Eli yelled. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me down just as another explosion went off. He kept his arms wrapped around me. "It was just a matter of time before the gas tank exploded too. Are you okay?"

My heart was beating out of my chest. "Was that Jane? Is she dead?"

"I don't know. We need to get you back to V's where it's safe."

I didn't protest as we all went back to V's. I didn't protest when they said Liza and I could stay there while they went out to see if they could locate the snipers or figure out if Jane was in the accident. I just stood there. Could Don really have killed my parents? Could Mr. Crawford be my biological father? Was Julie really dead? And I kept hearing a clock ticking down in my head. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

"So you didn't think it was a good idea to mention that this whole countdown was leading up to the anniversary of your parents' deaths?" Liza said.

I didn't bother turning around to face her. "I didn't remember the day," I whispered.

"How could you not remember? You go around acting like it was the end of your life. If it was really that big of a deal how could you just forget?"

"I didn't forget." I'd never forget that night.

"Obviously you did or we would have known all along that tomorrow was your last day and..."

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