Rafe tugged me around, and I followed where his dark gaze was trained. There was a curtain in the far corner of the basement, a bit of light emanating between the fabric. We carefully approached it, Rafe lifting his rifle once more before I whipped the curtain to the side. He swept forward, and I followed, but we both lowered our guns at the sight of several screens. It looked to be a security room for the warehouse, but not all of the screens had surveillance running. Some of themhad the news footage of the Creed manhunt, while another—my breath caught. I took a step closer. It was a map lit up with small red dots, and each and every one of them was sickeningly familiar.
The raven foster homes. Every orphanage. S.I.N. knew exactly where they were.
My gaze flowed over the small space until I found what I was looking for. I moved to where one of the walls had a matte black handle. It was thin, blending in well-enough that someone who wasn’t looking for it would’ve missed it. I yanked it open, my nostrils flaring at the sight of a second set of stairs.He was taken this way, I said, blood streaking over the steps.It had to be Viktor. He sees us as his property.My heart fell.All of us.
Rafe’s gaze darkened to the blackest storm.Henry, he said.
We cannot let him get to that orphanage. I practically threw myself up those stairs, scrambling out onto the pavement, the night air hitting me. Rafe was on my heels, the two of us searching desperately. We picked up on their trail, seeing a drag of blood separate from the massacre of guards, and I moved into a sprint, lifting my gun at the sight of a black van sliding its door shut ahead, taillights a bright red. I let go of some shots, aiming for the wheels as it screeched out of the lot.
Get in the car!I signaled, Rafe and I rushing toward our vehicle. Rafe took the wheel, starting the ignition and throwing us in reverse, peeling out and speeding between cargo containers after the van. It was a dot of light ahead, but we were gaining fast. I rolled down my window and propped myself up, snatching Rafe’s rifle from the middle console and lining up the sight with their back wheel. Rafe wrapped a firm grip around my calf as I leaned further out, the night speeding by.
The second I had the wheel in the sight, I pulled the trigger, jolting with the kickback. The tire blew out, the van swerving. The rear end fishtailed hard, rubber shredding against the roadas sparks spit from the rim, the driver over-correcting in a desperate, panicked attempt to keep control. I swiftly pivoted my focus to the other, determined to put them at a full stop, but—
The carexploded.
The blast tore outward in a violent bloom of fire and shrapnel. The light was blinding, swallowing the road and sky. Metal peeled back, doors ripping free as the vehicle lifted off the ground before slamming back down in a rain of burning debris. Fragments skittered across the asphalt, sparks bouncing and spinning as pieces of the car splintered and snapped.
Rafe hit the brakes, yanking me back inside in the same instant, a scream tearing out of me as shock rattled through my bones, heat washing over me in a gut-wrenching wave. The car shuddered under us, and Rafe jerked us to the side. I braced against the dash, panic bleeding into every limb. Agonizing yells seeped from the wreckage beyond, threading through the crackle of fire as Rafe pulled us off the road. The smell hit me, fucking broke me, that burning rubber, fuel, and human flesh. We both tore out of our seats, our boots hitting the pavement hard as we ran. Smoke rolled outward from the debris in thick, black clouds, my eyes stinging as I coughed on fumes. “Kane!” I screamed. “Kane!”
But what little shouts of life remained inside the van fell quiet with a second explosion, the suddenness of it erasing hope mid-breath, Rafe and I thrown backwards into the asphalt. The ground rushed up too fast to brace for, my body hitting hard, air ripping from my lungs. I slammed down, knocking my temple against gravel, pain flashing behind my eyes and my heart fucking bleeding all over again.No. NO. No no no no—a black car zipped past us, practically running Rafe and I over. We dove out of the way, both of us staggering, boots slipping on loose debris, my hand clutched over my chest as I tried to rake in asolid breath, but there was only rage. It flooded me so fast it drowned everything else, vision tunneling as the car screamed past.
Its windows were down, and its driver was Viktor Shaw. He looked straight at us as he passed, calm and smug. A fucking decoy. The van was adecoy.
An SUV screeched on its brakes at our backs, Mickey’s voice piercing the night. “Are you okay?”
My entire body shook. No, I was not okay, and the only hope I fucking had at that point was telling myself that Kane was out cold in Viktor’s damn backseat or the trunk, because he was not in that passenger seat.Henry, I thought. The little boy’s name spun through my mind. I had no doubt Viktor would go there. Of all those kids, I knew what mine, Alex’s, and Henry’s room meant to that evil man.
Go, I told Rafe.
His eyes traced over my face.Baby?
Go after him. Go to the orphanage and protect Henry.
Rafe shook his head.
We don’t have time to argue!I looked over to Mickey. “I need you to take me to the police.”
No!Rafe signed furiously.
He is about to possibly kill dozens of innocent children, Rafe, especially if we walk in there guns blazing. You just need to stall. Get there. Get to Henry. Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe Viktor has Kane and that’s good enough for him, but I’m also not taking that chance. The Ravens are in no position to protect us right now. We need back up. Viktor is smart enough to call in his own. He won’t be alone.I stepped into him and met his terrified gaze.I have a plan. Trust me.
He dipped his chin with zero hesitation, bringing his lips down to mine in a fierce kiss before he turned his back and strode to the car. He left without a second glance, speeding after Viktor,knowing what was at stake. I turned to the Ravens, sucking in a breath before pulling open the back door. The bodies were there, in the back. That was all I could let myself see Monty and Grace as or I’d fucking break, and Henry and Kane couldn’t afford that.
“Drive,” I ordered.
Mickey did, pressing down on the gas. Florence and Heath were next to me, both of them blank faced and succumbed to their shock. Matthias was in the passenger seat, fumbling through the center console before he withdrew a notebook and a pen.
“Here,” he said gruffly, keeping his gaze down to avoid seeing the bodies. “And make it good. We’ll drop it off at the precinct. Don’t say anything about Creed unless you want to be gunned down on sight.”
My shaking fingers took the notebook, blood smearing over the paper as I opened it to the first empty page. The blood, I knew, would be enough to get attention, so I kept it simple:I’m guilty, I wrote, swallowing hard. Then I put the address to the townhouse and tore the sheet out, folding it and passing it back to Matthias.
“We have to go to the other homes,” Mickey said after a long, strained silence. “S.I.N. could’ve deployed units to each and every one.” He cursed low in Italian, and Matthias lifted his cellphone, sending out orders to Ravens globally to dispatch immediately.
“Arden?” Florence asked, pulling me out of a trance. I looked over at her. Her blond hair was as stringy with blood as mine, her face smeared with it, and her axe settled across her lap. Her pupils were wide in her hazel eyes, tears leaving streaks along her cheeks among the mess. “Is Kane…” She swallowed. “Is he dead?”
I focused on the floorboard, dragging out my lighter from my pocket and gripping it tight. “I don’t know,” I said hoarsely.
The Ravens dropped me off at the townhouse first. I had to go in through the back, a few police units surveilling the street just beyond. I kept my head down, burrowing further into my leather jacket as I crept through Mickey’s silent restaurant and up the steps into that familiar hallway. My breath caught, a warmth flooding my chest as memories of Alex swam forward. His ghost was everywhere I looked, my stomach tightening as I moved to the panel in the wall where I knew was a weapons cache. I half-expected him to be there, leaning in a doorway, smirking like he always did when he caught me snooping where I shouldn’t. “Looking for something to steal, Mrs. Creed?”His voice floated through the hallway, the memory something I’d nearly forgotten. I let my eyes shut, trying to remember how he looked that day. It was one of the few he’d been cheerful, and I hated, especially now looking back, that there had been so few. My entire body froze as my mind warped between past and present, desperately reaching for the comfort that Alex and his Ravens once provided, especially with the fear of losing both Kane and Henry looming over me. Maybe it was selfish, but I let myself sink, just for a second. I needed to steady myself, and the amount of panic flowing through me was never going to get me there.
