“What in the hell happened?”Desmond demanded, voice low, as his question echoed Atlas’s thoughts.“I was behind you.Things were normal one moment, and then the limo was flipping the hell over the next minute as flames poured from the front.”
The reporters pressed in closer.
“It was an explosion,” Atlas said.Then, dammit, because he didn’t want one of those jerks with their phones and cameras getting killed right in front of him, he loudly announced, “I think it could have been a bomb.”A bomb that had been placed under the front of his limo.“So back the hell away from the vehicle!”Atlas shouted at the reporters.“There could be another one!And don’t you all see the flames?Dammit, get back!”
They scuttled back.Finally.Atlas yanked off part of his shirt and tried to apply pressure to Carl’s head wound.His stare whipped around the crowd again.Lily—had she gone to seek shelter in Desmond’s car?He couldn’t see her.“I need you to get eyes on her,” he said to his friend.
Desmond frowned, then glanced over his shoulder.
“I need you to stay with Lily.”No, more than that.“Take her home.Please, man.Get her to safety.”
“You coming with us?”
“I can’t leave him.”Was an ambulance coming?“Did someone call the fucking police?”
As if in answer, a siren screamed in the distance.
His breath shuddered out.“Get Lily out of here.”Because this place was a circus.Far too dangerous and…
A bomb under my limo?
Desmond rose.
Atlas’s hand flew out and curled around Desmond’s wrist.“What if there is a bomb on your ride, too?”
“We don’t know it was a bomb, not yet.”
His instincts screamed that it had been.“You think cars just ignite for shits and giggles?Because this has never happened to me before.”
Desmond’s expression became even grimmer.
“You keep your car parked in the same garage with my limo.”Atlas tried to keep his voice low now, but he feared the reporters were picking up every single word.“Yours could have been tampered with, too.”Fuck me, I sent Lily to Desmond’s car!
“Hell.”Desmond’s hands fisted.
Yes, the fire made him feel like he was in hell.
Carl groaned.
“It’s okay,” Atlas told him.“Help is coming.”
“What do you want me to do?”Desmond pushed.“Do you want me to drive her out of here or?—”
“Just get her.Make sure she’s safe.”They’d figure it out.The cops were coming.They could get a ride in a patrol car if necessary.But—"I need eyes on Lily.Now.”
Desmond bounded off.He shoved through the pack of reporters.
“What happened, Atlas?”
“Are you hurt?”
“Who is the injured man?”
“Where is Lily Gallo?”
The questions fired at him, and he ignored them as he focused on Carl.The man’s eyes cracked open, and he groaned again, the sound heavy with pain.As he woke up, the pain from his burns had to be careening through him.
“Lily Gallo was in the limo with you!”
