“Look.” I plucked up the worn white teddy bear, careful not to get any blood on it as I brought it back to the others. “It’s the bear we gave Lorenzo, and it feels like there’s something in the back.” I pried the Velcro open to reveal a folded-up letter.
“Do you think it’s the one Francine left in there?” Spade asked, and I shrugged.
“No idea. I guess we won’t know for sure until we open it.”
“My question is, where did he go?” Kellan grimaced. “He didn’t just disappear. He’s either still in here or—”
“The team out front is moving; let me see—” Merrick’s gruff tone rumbled over the radio, cutting off Kellan’s train of thought. “I’m following them to make sure they’re actually leaving.”
We waited with bated breath as Merrick monitored the cameras.
“It looks like they’re heading—no, they just turned into the diner.”
“Of course they did.” I sighed as Kellan wrapped his arm around my shoulder, ushering us through the back into the alley.
I guess the bear mystery would have to wait.
We took the shortcut again, getting to the street where we’d left Merrick in a matter of minutes.
“We’re on our way back to the van. Merrick will watch the cameras, but all other teams stay vigilant. We don’t know for sure if all the other SUVs on the street are empty or if they’ve caught onto us taking out their buddies yet,” Kellan said as we neared the parked van.
Merrick opened his door and quickly shuffled over to the passenger side as he scanned my body, making sure I hadn’t been hurt. Kellan took the driver’s side while Merrick placed a quick, tender kiss on my forehead and opened the door for Spade and me. Before we knew it, we were barreling down the street while Merrick monitored on the cameras. I hid the bear under the seat, not wanting to risk losing it since this might be the key to ending this war once and for all.
As he suspected, a few more guys were hiding out in the SUVs who went to search for their missing friends. Except they didn’t find them. Our guys took them out before they even had a chance to find their bodies.
We pulled up to the diner just as the men in black suits were throwing the match. Flames blazed up the sides of the diner, engulfing the structure in only a matter of seconds. The van’s tires squealed as we sped into the parking lot. The crackling of the fire was audible even from inside the car, the thick smoke already permeating the air.
Spade rolled the van door open, and I forced myself to jump out after him. My pulse thundered with every step, but I stoppered the fear, pushing it to the recesses of my mind.
The men obviously hadn’t prepared to be followed because it took them a few seconds to drop the gas cans and retrieve theirguns, but we were already firing off shots. These men weren’t wearing vests since they didn’t expect us, so as the four of us discharged our weapons, we took them out before they even had a chance to shoot back.
Their crumpled, bullet-riddled bodies slumped to the ground, their gas tanks leaking around them. Fuck. I ignored the fire as we quickly sprinted to them, firing off a headshot for each of them to make sure they wouldn’t be moving again. Embers sparked off the diner, and we rushed back to the van, knowing that the blaze could spread at any moment.
My pulse skittered as we dove back into the van, and Kellan wasted no time getting us out of there. Just as we hit the main street, the flames spread to the lifeless bodies, quickly engulfing them and the SUV. The explosion rocketed through the air as we sped down the road, the blast still echoing in our eardrums as we flew down the street and parked where we were before.
I pulled in ragged breaths, trying to fill my lungs despite the tightness threatening to squeeze all the air from them.
“Fuck,” Kellan exclaimed as he and Merrick bolted from their seats and tore open the side door in their haste to get to me.
Spade already had his arms around me, whispering comforting words in my ear that I couldn’t make out. Merrick eased my head lower between my knees, urging me to slow my breaths. Slow them? Didn’t he know I couldn’t get enough air?
“Please, little devil.” Pain laced Kellan’s tone as he rubbed my back in a soothing motion.
Merrick gripped my arm, holding me so tightly that I finally felt grounded. With all their hands on me, all their soothing words pierced through the panic, drowning out the world around me. I could hold the memories at bay until we got back into the safety of the van, and then it hit me like a hurricane. My emotions swirled, nothing making sense, only the flames growing higher and higher in my mind.
With their help I pulled in slow, deep breaths, the black dots that were creeping in at the edges of my vision easing away as my heart slowed to a normal pace.
“The fire,” I choked out.
“We know.” Kellan’s warm hand didn’t stop rubbing circles into my back. I held his other one, glancing up to meet his eyes. There was fear in their sable depths, but he was keeping a better lid on it than I was. He was the only one who knew how close the inferno had been, and how far I’d collapsed from the safety of the elevator.
“I thought I was over it.” I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the image of those flames away, but they remained. “I didn’t expect it to hit me like that.”
“That night was traumatic for several reasons, and healing from that isn’t linear,” Kellan assured me. “You’re going to have some days that are better than others, and it will take time to work through, but all that matters is you keep fighting.”
I nodded and sat up straight, needing a bit of space now that I could breathe again. I had no doubt the sight of the diner burning would trigger nightmares tonight, but as long as I was still breathing, I could fight the monsters, even the ones in my head.
“It probably didn’t help that it was the diner of all places,” Merrick said, squeezing my knee, his hazel eyes betraying his own panic.
