If he was talking, she’d know where he was. Of course, there was a very good chance he was just talking to distract her while his hybrid buddies circled around and took her out from behind. But that was a chance she had to take.
“Over a thousand people died in that sarin attack, Wade,” she added. “Why would he pay you money just so a bunch of peasants would get killed? They were nothing to him.”
On the other side of the warehouse, there was a barrage of automatic gunfire. Moments later, an explosion shook the building, and gouts of flame flew through the air, starting half a dozen small fires. Slower, individual shots followed, and Alina knew that meant Trevor was still over there dealing with Jake and maybe one of the hybrids.
“Oldest reason in the world—money,” Wade said from somewhere close behind her.
He was trying to herd her toward one of his men, she realized. Her instincts screamed at her to fall farther back or try and loop around him to the left. But she knew she’d never beat these guys at this kind of game. They were better equipped to be the cats than she was to be the mouse in this scenario. She moved behind a stack of heavy crates, preparing to shoot the first person she saw coming her way, praying it would be Wade.
“I guess Thorn was hoping the attack would prompt the U.S. and European coalition to mount a full-scale invasion of Syria and topple the al-Assad government. If that had happened, Russia and Iran would have been drawn in as well, and Chadwick-Thorn would have made billions selling arms to every side.”
Even though Alina was coming to understand how horrible Thorn was, her mind still rebelled at the idea that someone could be so greedy they’d start a war for money.
Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she leaned out from behind her crate just enough to see one of the hybrids standing a few feet away. She held her breath as the man sniffed the air. While it seemed like he might be picking up her scent, it was obvious he couldn’t pinpoint her location. The fumes must be confusing him.
She slowly lifted her weapon, getting ready to shoot. She would have felt better if she’d known exactly where Wade was, but she wasn’t about to wait to see if he’d show up. She’d never get a better chance than this to take out one of the hybrids trying to kill them.
The hybrid must have seen her movements, because he snapped his head around in her direction at the last second, his eyes glowing crazy red. He started bringing his weapon around, but she got her shots off first, hitting him three times and dropping him to the ground. Even after being hit that many times, he still got right back up and scrambled away between two rows of boxes.
She started to move after him, but as she stood up, she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She spun around and popped off several shots at Wade before throwing herself to the side just in time to avoid the burst of gunfire slamming into the crates only inches from her head. She was sure at least one of her shots had gotten the man, but he barely moved in response.
When Alina hit the concrete floor and rolled behind the next row of drums without getting shot, she thought she’d been lucky. Then something exploded nearby, sending a firestorm of flames rolling right over her head, forcing her to quickly crawl on her hands and knees to get away from the heat. She heard Wade somewhere right behind her, laughing now that he thought he had her.
But then she heard him curse as he moved right to avoid the flames starting to eat into all the cardboard boxes and wooden crates around them. “You’ve always been naive, Alina!” he shouted. “That’s why I couldn’t stand working with you. You never understood how the world works and how vicious people really are. You think Thorn made me and all these other hybrids to save the world or something? Fuck no! He needs a squad of unstoppable soldiers to start his war. He tried it before with lesser men, but this time, he’s not messing around.”
Alina came to her feet, trying to get a shot lined up on Wade through the flames as he prowled around. But the fire grew out of control now, and he was forced toward the front of the warehouse by the spreading flames, away from her.
The urge to do something extreme, like jump through the flames and go after him, was hard to resist. But her need for revenge paled in comparison to finding out what he was talking about. If Thorn was going to pull something like that sarin gas attack again, she needed to know about it. She wasn’t going to let more innocent people die because of her.
“You’re full of crap. There’s no war!” she shouted, praying his ego would force him to answer.
Wade smirked as he backed farther away, the flames making his eyes look even redder. “The crazy bastard is sending us to the eastern part of Ukraine. Wearing Russian uniforms and using those Russian weapons we stole, he wants us to go kill a couple thousand people in the nastiest massacre you’ve ever seen. And we’re going to make sure Russia gets blamed for it all. You wanted to know what war I’m talking about? The big one—World War III. The United States and NATO will have to respond, and then Russia will counterattack. After that, it’s all over. Just think of all the money to be made in a war like that.”
Alina stood there in the raging fire as drums of flammable liquid began to rupture, spilling sheets of flames everywhere. Her stomach churned as she realized all of this really was about money. Raging mad, she lifted her weapon and fired three shots at Wade. He skipped aside, though, and she missed. She expected him to return fire, but he laughed and backed toward the exit.
“I would have preferred shooting you.” He grinned. “But burning you to a crisp works, too.”
With that, Wade turned and let out a loud growl, like he was calling to the other hybrids. Then he picked up speed and disappeared into the warehouse beyond the smoke and flames. A moment later, she heard movement on the catwalk above, and she caught sight of the hybrids racing through the smoke, leaping to the floor beyond the wall of flames that had cut her off from Wade.
Alina turned and ran toward the back of the warehouse. She hadn’t heard many shots being fired from that direction, and she prayed that meant Trevor had already won and found a way out of here. The flames were spreading fast, and soon, the smoke building up in here was going to make breathing impossible.
She found Trevor and Jake standing beside the tubs where they’d found Ed and the security guard, fire burning all around them. She slid to a halt, coughing and choking on acrid smoke. Jake had some kind of wicked clawed crowbar in his hands while Trevor was empty-handed.
“It’s over, Jake,” Trevor said, and Alina had to wonder why he was trying to talk the man down. It wasn’t going to happen.
“I don’t think so.” Jake adjusted his grip on the makeshift weapon. “I’ve hated you and all your damn shifter friends the entire time I’ve been here. There’s no way in hell I’m letting one of you put me in jail.”
Lifting the crowbar, Jake let out a shout of hatred and charged at Trevor.
Alina lifted her weapon to shoot, but before she could squeeze the trigger, Trevor reached out and grabbed Jake, flinging him into flames. There was a short shout of pain as Jake’s body disappeared into the inferno, but the fire roared higher, snuffing out the sound.
Trevor stood there, motionless for a time, staring into the flames where his old partner had disappeared. Finally, he turned and saw her. He ran over to grab her hand. “Can we make it to the front of the building?”
Alina shook her head. “We’ll never get that far. There’s a wall of flame between us and the doors. Even if we could, Wade and the other two hybrids are probably waiting for us.”
“Then we find a way out the back,” Trevor said without hesitation, tugging her in that direction.
But by the time they were halfway to the back wall of the warehouse, thick, black smoke was working its way down from the ceiling, making her lungs feel like they were on fire. There was no way they could keep going in this direction. She opened her mouth to tell Trevor as much, but he’d already scooped her up into his arms and was running through the boxes and crates so fast they were almost a blur.
