“You’re just like me!” Winston yelled.
“The hell I am.” He grabbed for the door.
And nearly ran straight into Gray.
“What’s happening?” Gray demanded.
“Bomb inside, second floor office, in the desk. We have to get everyone out.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Someone will need to carry his ass away, but that’s the leader of the Twins and he has?—"
Screams erupted from inside. Cass stopped talking. He ran in. Rushed through the hallway.
“Bomb! We have to get out! There’s a bomb!”
Agnes’s yell, rising above the others. The Feds were scrambling. The members of Bayne and Winston’s crew were fighting to get to the exits. Utter hell reigned.
Agnes rushed to her brothers. She and Ryan yanked Nash to his feet. Ryan slung Nash over his shoulder and hauled ass. Everyone was scrambling. Everyone was running for the doors.
But Agnes…she turned and ran back to Cass. What. The. Hell?
Her hand reached out to him. “Let’s go, Cass!”
His gaze flew around. Then up. The second floor. The office up there. In the desk. “Winston said the bomb is up there. Maybe I can disarm it?—”
“How the hell are you gonna do that? You’re not the bomb squad!” She launched at him. Grabbed him. “It’s a trap. You can’t disarm it. Let’s get the hell out of here. The bomb squad can come in. They can disarm it. We are getting out of here, now. You made my brother promise I’d walk away, remember? Well, here’s my promise. We’re walking away, together, right now, and—Cass!”
Screw walking. He was running with her. Because she was right. It probably was a trap. Winston might not have given them two full minutes. It would be just like the twisted fucker to say they had more time than they actually did.
He tossed Agnes over his shoulder. He was rushing out, with the Feds in front of him. Everyone was scattering. Almost out. They were all almost?—
And then he heard the eruption. Heard it. Felt it. Even glanced over his shoulder and up. He saw the rolling waves of flame coming out of the second floor office.
But he was at one of the open doors. He had almost made it to safety.
Screw almost. I am making it. He launched forward, holding onto Agnes, and even as the bomb detonated, he was still holding tightly to her.
He would always hold tightly to her.
We are both going to walk away, sweetheart…both going to walk away from this darkness and finally, into the light.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Do you remember me?” FBI Agent Gray Stone stood in front of the prisoner. The man was secured in the hospital. By secured—he was cuffed. With guards on either side of him.
Winston Striker squinted up at him.
“Grayson Stone,” he said. Just in case he needed an introduction, but Gray suspected that the prisoner definitely remembered him.
Disgust twisted Winston’s face.
“You’re under arrest,” Gray informed him. He’d actually told the guy this before, but he had to make sure that Winston was actually aware of the words this time. So he rattled off the man’s rights. Made sure Winston knew he could get an attorney. The whole spiel.
“What in the hell am I being charged with?” Winston glared at him.
Oh? Had Winston missed that part? “The FBI has connected you to four bombings that occurred across the US within the last few years. There is also the drug running, the illegal weapons trade, and the murders. We have you and Bayne Hendrix on record confessing to those crimes.”
“Bayne…” A low growl.
“He’s dead.” Gray inclined his head as he delivered that bit of news. “Pretty sure he was dead before the blast. But, yeah, dead. Two other men in your crew were also killed.”
