“They can take you outside,” Carl said, surprising him, “or you can die right here with her.”
Why were they trying to make him leave? That didn’t make sense. Anton Devast was a sadistic freak. He would want to take out everyone in his path.
So why free my sisters? Why try to let me go?
This scene wasn’t adding up to Drew.
Rough hands grabbed his arms and hauled him back.
Tina still wasn’t speaking. She was just watching him with those wide, resolute eyes of hers.
That knife was so close to her throat. If he fought the two men right then, in front of Carl, the SOB could slit her throat while he watched.
No, he couldn’t risk it. He had to pick a better moment to attack. Hold on, Tina. I’ll get you out of here.
That was what he tried to tell her with his stare, but what he said was, “Goodbye, Doc.”
She blinked back tears.
They pulled him away. Shoved him toward the door.
When he tried to turn back, the taller man put a gun to Drew’s head. “Now walk away, hero. Don’t look back. Just go.”
Was Carl already using his blade on Tina? He didn’t hear a sound coming from her.
“There’s going to be no escape for you two,” Drew said, deliberately using the code word because he wanted the EOD agents to swarm. “You won’t be able to just walk out of here. You have to know that’s not going to happen.”
But the men just smirked at him. “Who said anything about walking?”
Drew was directly in front of the main entrance. A few more steps and he’d be out of the building.
Only, he didn’t plan to leave.
“Why just follow orders?” he demanded even as he palmed the small blade he’d tucked beneath his belt. You missed that one on your weapons search. “Why let Devast use you? He’s going to make sure you all die, too. Don’t you realize that?”
But the men started laughing. Drew’s hold on his weapon tightened.
“You don’t really think we’re letting you all go, do you?” the taller guy demanded.
“Ten, nine, eight...” his sidekick began.
Drew tensed. “What the—?”
“Your sisters were wired, Agent Lancaster. Hell, I don’t think they even knew those collars we snapped around their necks were set to blow—”
Drew spun for the door. He rushed outside.
“The EOD agents got them, right? Those guys who are surrounding us? Guess they’ll all go boom soon enough.”
“Three...two...”
An explosion erupted, shaking the ground and sending Drew flying.
* * *
TINA SCREAMED WHEN she heard the explosion.
The knife sliced the side of her neck.
“That will keep those agents busy.” Carl smiled at her. “I’m supposed to take my time with you, so let’s go, honey. Let’s go enjoy ourselves.”
More men rushed inside. They all headed to the back of the building. Carl was trying to haul her that way, too.
More explosions erupted, only this time they were in the building. The detonations seemed to come one right after the other. Devast’s men were destroying everything—and making it impossible for anyone to follow them as they fled through the float graveyard.
Chunks of the old floats flew into the air. A dragon’s papier-mâché head ignited a few feet from her.
“You think Devast didn’t plan this end?” Carl jerked her head back with a painful grip on her hair. “He made sure we could escape—and that we’d take you with us. Mercer will be getting pieces of you sent to him for weeks.”
They were sick. “I’m not...going...” The smoke was rising. Filling her lungs.
Breathe.
They’d taken her inhaler. When they’d searched her at the door, they’d taken her weapons and her medicine.
The smoke made her eyes burn. The flames heated her skin.
The men kicked open the back door. Fresh air blew inside and she tried to take deep, greedy gulps.
But then gunfire erupted. The rat-a-tat sent the men scrambling back inside the building. Tina tried to duck for cover, but Carl wasn’t letting her go.
The back door swung open. A man raced inside. His blond hair gleamed in the faint light. He wore black, and she could see the bulky outline of his bulletproof vest. He had a gun in each hand, and his bullets hit with deadly accuracy, slamming into the men who’d thought they’d had an easy escape.
With the EOD, nothing was ever easy. Devast had underestimated his opponents.
“Stop!” Carl yelled. Tina was in front of him. His human shield. “Throw down your weapons and get back or she dies!”
But the man shook his head. He lifted his guns. Seemed to be aiming—
At me? Yes, he was.