“Bomb!” The word tore from her throat, raw and uncontained.
She sprinted toward the trailer, lungs burning, fear clawing up her spine.
“Move! Get away—now!”
Duke turned first.
She saw it in his posture—the shift from search to threat. Ranger spun. Ben lunged backward, momentum already changing direction.
Another blink.
Closer now.
Too close.
Andi waved her arms, heart hammering. “Get away from the trailer!”
Duke shouted something back—her name, maybe—but she couldn’t hear it over the rush of blood in her ears.
They ran.
Andi turned, legs pumping, gravel biting into her shoes as she veered away from the structure. She didn’t look back.
Then she dove onto the ground as the world split.
CHAPTER
SIXTY-FIVE
The blinding light hit first.
Then pressure slammed into Duke’s chest, ripping air from his lungs. Pitching his body to the side.
Then heat rolled over him, white hot and brutal, searing his clothes. His skin.
For one suspended beat, nothing existed but ringing and grit and the taste of metal on his tongue. His mind clawed for orientation. Up. Down. Threat. People.
Andi.
Duke shoved himself onto his hands and knees. Pain flared along his ribs, sharp but distant. He dragged in a breath that burned all the way down.
He glanced back. The trailer was gone.
Not collapsed. Not damaged.
Gone.
Fire chewed at the remains, flames licking skyward, smoke boiling into the night. Debris rained down across the sand. Something clanged nearby—metal striking rock.
“Andi!” Duke shouted.
She coughed but said, “I’m here. I’m fine.”
“Ranger!” Duke called.
“Here.” Ranger’s voice sounded strained, but he was okay.
Ben coughed somewhere to Duke’s left. “Still breathing.”
