Page 54 of Rhys

“What’s the matter?” Rhys demanded.

Greyson looked up from the crate. “You want the good news or the bad?”

“Tell me.”

“The good news is, it’s not a nuke. It’s a bomb, and a pretty powerful one, but definitely not nuclear.”

Thatwasgood news.

“What’s the bad?” Vanessa needed to know.

“The damn thing’s been detonated.” Greyson pointed to the digital timer on the bomb’s face.

Her heart stopped when she saw the numbers.Five minutes…and counting.

“Can you disarm it?”

“I can try, but…fucking Austin. The bastard’s smart. He has multiple fail safes built into the damn thing. And I have to disengage each one in the right order, or—”

“Boom.”

Greyson turned to Rhys and nodded. “Yeah, brother. Boom.”

“But you can do it, right?” Vanessa prayed he could do it.

“Like I said, I’m going to try. But you guys need to get everyone out of here. The blast radius on this thing is massive. It goes off, it’s going to take down that entire building…and anything or anyone else that’s standing in its way.”

“I’m not leaving you, Grey,” Rhys stated in a very matter of fact tone. “But he’s right.” He turned to Vanessa. “You need to go. Get Trace and the others and get the hell away from here.”

“I’m not going without you.”

“Damn it, Vanessa. That wasn’t a request!”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I don’t take orders from you.”

Using the comms, Greyson quickly relayed the situation to his boss. “Trace, there’s a bomb. It’s on a timer, and it’s been activated. I’m working on it, but you and the others need to get as far away from this vicinity as you can.”

“You got it covered?”

“I think so, but I need you guys out of the blast radius just in case.”

“How far?”

“Quarter mile should do it. I’d just leave it and let it ignite, but with the design of its components, I can’t be sure there won’t be a secondary blast. And those houses we passed just up the block…I mean, there’s no way for me to know for sure what kind of radius we’re looking at if that happens.”

“Copy that. We’ll make our way down the street and start evacuating those we can. And Grey?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful, brother.”

“Always.”

In the distance, Vanessa saw Trace rounding up the others and leading them away from the lot. Rhys continued trying to convince her to leave, too, but there was no way she was walking away while he was still in danger.

“Vanessa, please,” he begged. “I can’t lose you now. I just got you back.”

“I know the feeling.” She offered him a bittersweet smile. “So if this thing’s going to take you out, it’s going to have to take me right along with you.”

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