"How high does this go?"
Hale shrugged. "Far enough that you never had a chance. You were dead the minute you drove into Haven Cove."
Gabe scanned the space again, looking for options and finding none. They were surrounded and outgunned in a kill box with no good exits.
Wade had gone absolutely silent and motionless. His weapon was lowered but his body was coiled and ready.
Cara had become equally still and watchful. Her eyes tracked every guard, every exit, every weapon in the room like she was calculating angles and advantages. Ready to take advantage of the slightest mistake, Gabe hoped.
He locked eyes with Hale. "Where's my brother?"
Hale pulled out a radio and keyed it. "Brewer, bring him down."
Hale’s sidekick appeared from a doorway, dragging David.
Gabe's brother was alive, conscious, bruised and exhausted but mobile. David's eyes found Gabe's across the space and widened with recognition and warning.
"Gabe, it's a?—"
Brewer hit him. Not hard enough to knock him down, just enough to shut him up.
Rage flooded Gabe, hot and consuming. His finger tightened on the trigger.
Wade's voice was barely audible. "Easy."
The warning grounded him instantly. Until they were safe, emotion had no place in this. He had to be smarter than Hale.
A radio crackled. One of the guards on the balcony spoke urgently. "Chief, we've got a problem. Security system's compromised. Cameras are offline. Someone's in our network."
Hale spun toward the guard. "What? When?"
"Just now. Whole system just went dark. We're being hacked."
“Go, Tom,” Wade muttered.
Gabe watched the implications settle into Hale. If Gabe’s people could hack the system, they could alert authorities, copy evidence, expose everything before Hale had time to destroy it.
Hale fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a small remote. "Guess we’re moving up the timeline."
Brewer's voice carried genuine fear. "Chief, wait. Let the guys get––"
Hale raised the device. "Shut up. Real shame about the gas leak."
Face rigid with panic, Brewer bolted backwards, away from the edge of the catwalk, dragging David with him.
Gabe started forward. "Hale, don't?—"
Explosions ripped through the building.
The floor buckled under Gabe's feet. He went down hard, ears ringing, dust and debris raining from above. More explosions sounded deeper in the structure, support beams groaning and metal shrieking.
The building shuddered with another explosion, closer this time. The second floor collapsed into the first, taking the guards with it. Screams cut short by tons of concrete and steel.
Gabe pushed to his feet and grabbed Cara's arm. "Move! Wade, with me!"
They ran for the exit as the building died around them in systematic, deliberate destruction.
Behind them, the west wing collapsed. Dust billowed out in massive clouds. The fire door where they'd entered disappeared under tons of concrete and steel.
