“Baby doll, enough.” I pulled my wrist away, and she snarled. I definitely needed to talk to Doc about her need to drink vampire blood. “We need to move.”
The plan was for Kraft and me to hang around there while Olivia took the sisters back to base before the party started.
Layla regarded me with a faraway glint in her eyes.
I waved my hand in front of her. “Layla.”
She blinked, glanced at the house, and then was out of the Hummer before I could stop her.
I bolted after her as she ran like a lion chasing a gazelle and into the house when a blood-curdling scream tore through the early morning hours, practically shattering the windows.
I ran down a hall, and the scent of petroleum oil hit me like a brain freeze from eating ice cream too quickly. Another scream almost blew my eardrums out of my ears. I rushed down the stairs and into the basement.
“Layla,” I called as I rounded the banister.
She stood with her shoulders up to her ears, her tension thick, her fear overpowering. She slid to one side as I approached.
Holy fuck.
Rianne was tied to a chair wrapped in C-4, eyes wide and red, panic pouring off her.
Layla went to rip the tape off her mouth.
“Don’t touch her,” I snapped hard. Any little movement could set it off or trip the wire attached to the timer. We had ten minutes to disengage the bomb.
My phone rang with an unknown number. I was keen on ignoring it, not sure if answering it would trigger something on the timer.
“We need to get her out of that,” Layla said through clenched teeth. That faraway look in her eyes was still there. “The house is going to blow.”
The ringing stopped only to start up again. “What!” I barked.
“Mason.” Roman’s tone was smug. “I see you arrived early.”
My fangs slid out as I growled. “Your plan was to blow me up? That was your genius plan for me? You’re more of an idiot than I thought. You know a bomb wouldn’t do much to me.”
“No shit,” he said. “But it will slow you down. Too bad you didn’t bring more of your team.”
The fucker was planning on attacking the naval base. At least now we had confirmation.
“Oh, and what a nice surprise to have another Aberdeen sister walk right into our arms. You should thank me, Mason. I’m ridding the planet of vampire hunters,” Roman said as though he was proud of himself. “But I sense you’ll save them. Anyway, from my calculations, you have ten minutes to diffuse the timer. Then boom.” Roman belted out an evil laugh.
Layla seemed to snap out of that other world she’d been in and flinched.
“See you soon.” Roman said. The line went dead.
I squatted in front of Rianne and examined the wires leading into the timer.
“Tripp, come in,” I said into my earpiece.
“Go,” he said.
“This was all a diversion. But bad news. Rianne is strapped with C-4 in the basement of Layla’s house. We have nine minutes. I’ll try my darndest to diffuse it. Have Jo and Abbey left base?”
“She and Abbey left with two guards,” Tripp said. “I’ll have Sawyer walk you through disarming it.”
“Sam,” Sawyer said. “Send me a pic.”
I snapped one with my phone and sent it to him. “Hurry the fuck up, man.” I turned to Layla. “Get out of the house.”
