Page 95 of The Ashes of Summer

Every muscle in my body locks.

A gun.

Groves sees it. And he doesn't stop. Doesn't even slow.

"YOU FUCKING COWARD!"

The gun comes up.

Beside me Carter's head lifts for the first time, tips a fraction—and the watch strap presses into my palm.

Then—

BANG.

The sound detonates off the concrete.

Groves' head snaps back. Blood hits the wall behind him.

And then he's still. Completely still, sitting strapped upright in that chair with a hole punched between his eyes, gone before the sound finished leaving the barrel.

The room rings.

Jesus Christ.

Hayes swears violently somewhere behind me. Kurt looks like he's going to be sick.

Jackson lowers the gun the way you'd set down a cup.

Then his eyes come back to me. Cold. Empty.

"You see what grief does to people, Sheriff?"

My pulse slams against my ribs. Because beside me—under all that ringing—I hear it. A sound so small it's almost nothing.

Rope, loosening.

Carter's free.

Chapter 32

Walking Into War

Summer

The gunshot rips through the house like the mountain itself has cracked open.

Everything in me stops.

My heart stutters. My lungs lock. The world narrows to one long ringing note while terror crawls cold and fast through every inch of me.

No.

Jacob.

The thought hits so hard it's physical. And for one unbearable second I can see it—Jacob falling. Blood. Those dark eyes going empty.

The sound that comes out of me barely makes it past my ruined throat.