“What about yous,Sean?” Cillian asked. His Irish accent was street-roughened and thick, something he’d never bothered to clean up. No matter how high Cillian’s rank rose during his time in the Reborn IRA before he split off to run his own terrorist group, one could always hear the accent of his childhood in hisvoice.
“Cillian,” Sean got out in a voice that sounded nothing like his usual self. Alexei tightened his grip on Sean’s hand, not looking away from theuplink.
“Did ye like th’ welcome-home present weleftye?”
Sean said nothing. The look in Cillian’s eyes was cruel, almost proud, and Alexei wanted so badly to put his fist through the otherman’sface.
“Ye always were a chatty fuckin’ bastard. Got nothin' ta say tamenow?”
“Not to you, but I’ll talk to Declan,” Seansnapped.
Cillian’s smile pulled at the scars on his face. “Ye’ll do more’n talk when I finishwi’ye.”
The roar of a bomb detonating right behind them deafened Alexei even as he instinctively dove for cover, taking Sean with him in a dive for the front door. Fire burst outward and filled the apartment in a blink of an eye as the concussive blast Alexei couldn’t feel sent debris flying through the air and through their phasedbodies.
The ceiling and floor cracked and buckled as the windows exploded, sending plas-glass raining down on unsuspecting people below. Alexei held his breath while Sean held onto him, keeping them safe in the midst of an explosion that utterly gutted the apartment Sean had lived in foryears.
Alexei craned his head around to stare at the fire and smoke filling the apartment. Lifting his free hand, he spread his fingers through the fire burning everywhere and reached for every last spark of it with his pyrokinesis. The fire froze in mid-burn before it retreated from the shattered space around them under Alexei’scontrol.
Alexei forced the fire to obey his will as he crushed it down to nothing but a handful of sparks that sputtered and died beneath the black smoke pouring out of the gaping hole in the side of the building. The ringing in his ears hadn’t stopped. They’d been too close to the detonation without hearing protection, which meant he was half-deaf at the moment. But even through the thick, cottony feeling between his ears and the rest of the world, Alexei could still hear Katie’s mental voice shouting through his mind, reaching across the megacity tolinkthem.
Inferno, what happened?Katie demanded.The security feed went out onourend.
Alexei glanced at Sean, who was staring blankly out the hole in the side of the building, face drained of color. He couldn’t hear Sean through the mental link and he wondered how much of that was due to shock. Alexei closed his eyes and tried to breathe through the smoke drifting through the ruins of the apartment and their phased bodies. It made his lungs tighten, and he knew they needed to get the hell out of there before the authoritiesarrived.
They bombed the apartment. We’re compromised,hetoldher.
Which was the understatement of the fucking year, and if Kyle were here with them, his brother would laugh his goddamn head off, because they both had a gallows sense of humor, even during timeslikethis.
Have Wraith get you clear. Right now. That’s an order from thedirector.
Ourfamilies—
Inferno, I’m telling you to move yourgoddamnass!
Alexei nodded, even though she couldn’t see it. It was instinct at this point to obey Katie the same way he would Jamie. He gave Sean a little shake, trying to get his attention. Sean’s eyes snapped his way, full of a terror that Alexei understood all too well. It had nothing to do with their current predicament and everything to do with the people they caredabout.
“Need to go,”Alexeisaid.
Sean coughed out what sounded like all the air in his lungs, as if he’d been holding his breath since the first hint of the blast. Grabbing Alexei by the collar of his uniform shirt, Sean phased them through the damaged floor into the apartments below. They kept dropping, the world winking in and out every time they passed through the solid levels of the structure. A few levels up from the street, Sean solidified their bodies, letting their feet hit the carpeted floor in a messyapartment.
Alexei skimmed his gaze over the toys strewn around the living room before he focused on the door. He could hear panicked voices out in the hallway beyond. People were apparently still evacuating. He hoped no one else had been caught in theblast.
“We need to go,” Sean repeated, his voice sounding like he was speakingunderwater.
“Viper wants us backatbase.”
Sean nodded, heading for the door to the apartment with gun in hand. Sean kept it pressed against his thigh and Alexei made sure he was blocking the sight of it from curious eyes. No one paid them much attention, too intent on fleeing any further attacks that might happen. Alexei didn’tblamethem.
He followed Sean out of the building, keeping an eye on his six as they finally joined the growing crowd of evacuated people, gawking onlookers, and the handful of first responders who were trying to get in position. Alexei grabbed Sean by the wrist and got them both out of there. The motor pool car they’d driven out here was impossible to retrieve without being noticed by everyone, so they keptwalking.
Alexei didn’t see the SUV the team of agents had driven in. He wondered if they’d cleared the perimeter, and then stopped wondering half a block later when the SUV braked to a hard stop on the streetbesidethem.
The door opened up, a tight-lipped woman beckoning them inside. “Let’sgo,sir.”
Alexei and Sean didn’t need to be told twice. They scrambled into the SUV, finding room while everyone shifted around. Sean ended up sitting on Alexei’s lap, back pressed against the blacked-out window, one arm slung over Alexei’s shoulders. Having Sean safe in his arms went a long way to helping Alexei breathe a little easier despite the fear for his family eating away at the back ofhismind.
He wrapped an arm around Sean’s waist, pulling him closer. Sean was staring out the opposite window with an expressionless look on his face, though Alexei could see just how tight he was clenching his jaw by the tendons standing out inhisneck.
