It took me down, sent me straight to my knees.
Even then the shock of seeing the woman I loved die still gripped me. I was moving to her, crawling forward. In the corner of my eye I saw John go down and the Spades started to run.
The air was filled with a tension that spilled over into my soul, accompanied by laughter. Balthazar’s laughter.
Slow motion and laughter.
Balthazar laughing.
“I told you, you won’t win, Xander Cage.” His voice pierced into the fog that clouded my brain. I looked to him as he was going through the door with his men. It was where he’d come from. He waved something in his hands. Looked like a grenade.
As he threw it I looked back to Claire.
Her beautiful face.
What was I going to tell her father.
I couldn’t protect her.
“Xander get down!” That was Lucas.
Before I could even register what happened, the grenade went off.
Chapter 17
Xander
Present day…
The sight of Balthazar earlier had my mind on replay of the past.
That day was one I’d never forget.
The day Claire was killed.
The day my world flipped and turned upside down.
The bomb went off but the blast only knocked me out because I’d gotten shot. I wasn’t close enough for it to take me out. Not like Lucas. I couldn’t tell if the bullets or the bomb killed John.
When I came too their bodies had been blown up, unrecognizable. It seemed like the facility had been evacuated. That gave me the chance to get myself out.
The thing to do was to contact Ethan but I never did that.
I decided that since it was a trap it was best if everyone thought I was dead. It would give me the advantage of being one step ahead to get Balthazar.
It didn’t really though.
Today was a reminder.
That fucking asshole came back for me to remind me that I was useless.
That was what he wanted me to think.
I refused. I was a mess but I was refusing to give up and be forced into that chasm of shit where I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it.
I’d just arrived at the park and this was me jumping into action to do what I had to do to steal the blueprints.
I pulled out my phone and called Wes. he answered on the first ring.
