Fucking coward.
He gripped the end of the tape over her mouth and glared at her. “Scream and I’ll silence you. Got it?”
She gave a forceful nod. Pain stabbed through her as he tore off the tape, and probably some of her skin too.
“Where’s the card?” he growled.
“By those two towers. I was sitting near them…my bag’s there.” She raked her gaze through the shadows. Church was out there somewhere in the glare and blackness.
Lucian dragged her forward, and she stumbled. When he levered her by the arm, a scream seared in her throat, and she silenced it just in time.
They needed to get a little closer, give Church time to see them.
Suddenly, a dark shape stepped out of the shadows. Church held up the black card.
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
Lucian whipped around to face Church. As he did, he shoved Zee. She rolled so her shoulder hit first, and pain blasted through her arm. She turned onto her side and drove her body forward before Lucian could grab her.
Gravel tore into her skin as she dragged herself across the dirt, wrists straining against the hard plastic bonds. She dug her elbows in and pushed hard enough with her legs to scrape her knees.
She was back to that time warp again. Only this time she wasn’t measuring it by breaths. It was in inches that she wiggled across the ground.
Every inch felt like it took double the time, and her heart urged her to look over her shoulder, to check that Church was safe.
His voice shook with rage, but she stopped hearing the words as the pyrotechnics rig loomed closer, a tangle of wires and hope. A trigger box sat just inches away.
Luke had told her the actor would fall backward during a fight scene and step on the trigger switch, which would set off the explosions.
She had one chance.
She braced her forearms on the ground and pushed upward to her knees. Her body pitched and she battled for equilibrium. But she forced herself up again, dragging one foot under her, then the other, pushing up until she stood on shaking legs.
She lifted her boot and slammed it down on the trigger.
The first explosion cracked through the air like the sky split open.
The ground trembled beneath her as a blast of heat and sound echoed, followed by two more as the charges fired in rapid sequence.
Exactly the way the Luke had described to her.
Fire punched upward in columns that felt anything but controlled and shockwaves rattled her bones.
The noise was deafening, the light blinding.
People came running from every direction, all shouting over each other. The entire set devolved into chaos.
Zee staggered as another explosion went off. The force of it knocked her sideways, and she sucked in a lungful of smoke.
Choking, she coughed explosively, vision swimming as she fought to see through the haze.
Church. Where was Church?
Someone grabbed her, and she twisted to see Luke holding her upright as she coughed and her eyes streamed.
She twisted again and saw Church.
He had Lucian on the ground.
