Page 55 of The Hijack

“How could you?!” I demanded, forgetting my own safety in the rage that gripped me.

I moved on her so fast she didn’t have time to react. I reached out and swatted the gun away, punching Jasmine in the face as she fired harmlessly into the wall. Gripping her by the forearm, I pulled her toward me, pushed her down to the ground, and knelt on her back. Twisting her arm around, I pinned her. But I miscalculated my own strength.

Jasmine cried out, a sharp and painful cry, and then went limp. I’d only meant to disarm her so I could get past her, but I must have crushed something vital, causing her to lose consciousness. The fire licked the floorboards just feet from where she lay. If I left her there and went charging up to rescue Theo, she could very well die.

It hurt my heart that Jasmine would turn on me. I had no idea what the story was behind her betrayal, but I didn’t care. I had very few friends in this world, and I had counted Jasmine among them. I relieved her of her gun, debating whether to drag her to safety or leave her to be consumed by the flames. Though she’d done me wrong, I wasn’t sure I could live with myself if I just left her there to die.

My decision was made for me when I heard Theo cry out. He must have woken to the smell of smoke and found the bed empty. I prioritized him ahead of Jasmine, leaving her comatose on the floor, surrounded by flames. Wrapping one arm around my mouth and nose, I tried to breathe into my elbow. That didn’t help very much, but it blocked a bit of the smoke.

Taking hold of the banister, I pulled myself up, determined to make it to Theo before the worst happened. But just as I was attempting to make it up the stairs, Lukas came crashing down in a panic.

He nearly tumbled from the second floor in his haste, headed straight for me. I either had to jump down and out of the way, or I risked toppling to the floor alongside Jasmine.

My heart ached knowing that Theo was up there searching for me. I couldn’t cry out for him because inhaling so deeply would make me cough. My only hope was to wait for Lukas to pass me and begin my journey upward once again. But though he was driven by gravity and a thirst for fresh air, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Chapter 28

Theo

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I WOKE TO FIND THE bed empty and smoke seeping into the room from underneath the door. Years of training kicked in, and my rational mind told me not to try to escape that way. I should go for the window and climb out to safety, but Clark’s absence stayed my plan.

“Clark?!” I shouted, pushing the covers around as if I was a magician who could force her to appear in a dramatic reveal. It didn’t work.

Ignoring everything the agency taught me about fire, I went to the door. I put my hand against it to see if there were flames out in the hallway. Though the smoke was gathering, thick and gray, there was relatively little heat to my touch. I tested the doorknob and found it cool as well.

Pulling the door open, I coughed as more smoke rolled in. “Clark?!” I shouted, pushing my way out of the bedroom.

I could see the devilish glow of fire flickering up from the first floor and knew that we were all in trouble. Lukas stumbled out of a room across the hall, swearing loudly. I heard a crash and felt panic begin to set in. There was no way of knowing where Clark was or if she was in trouble.

I didn’t care about myself or Lukas or Z, wherever she was. My singular focus was finding Clark and dragging her to safety, if she needed me. Beyond that, there was nothing in my mind, including the threat of death.

Just as we were about to convene at the top of the stairs, there was an explosion from one of the bedchambers. I couldn’t have determined whether it was a bomb or some unlucky cache of flammable material that happened to go off at that moment. It mattered because the truth might have given me an insight into our attackers. Yet I couldn’t even be sure there were attackers. Maybe the fire was organic, the result of an overactive stove or an untended fire in the fireplace. But above the damage, the smoke smelled rancid. I was ninety-nine percent sure it was arson, and that meant Abernathy’s mansion had been compromised.

I ducked my head, turning away from the force of the blast. I lost sight of Lukas, but I heard him scream. Pressing my eyes shut, I stumbled back toward the master bedroom where the smoke was thinner.

I could hear little bits of flotsam sizzling in the air, possibly burned towels or bed sheets coming apart and fluttering to the ground. The smoke intensified. Every time I tried to open my eyes, they burned. I covered my face with my forearm, venturing out again to find my brother-in-arms.

I stumbled over his body lying halfway out of a bedroom. He moaned, letting me know that he was still alive. I crouched and helped him to his feet, still blind for all intents and purposes.

We heard a scream from upstairs, and my smoke-addled brain identified it as female. I couldn’t be sure, but I suspected that it was Z and not Clark. I still hadn’t heard anything that would indicate that my lover was safe or not. With every fiber of my being, I hoped that she’d managed to make it out of the house. Though knowing her, she wouldn’t leave without me. That meant I had to find her fast, or we were both going to burn alive.

“That’s Z!” Lukas shouted, leaning on me for support.

“You go,” I said, pushing him toward the stairs.

“You have to help her!” Lukas pleaded, limping toward the stairs.

“Go!” I repeated myself. “I’ll find her. You find Clark.”

Lukas didn’t bother to respond verbally. I knew he heard me, so I had to trust that we had a deal. I watched him stumble his way down past the landing, barely upright as he lurched toward the first floor.

I pushed my way past him, to the stairway that led to the third floor. Thank goodness I knew the layout of the house from spending so much time searching for files. There was a servants’ staircase at the far end of the hallway. By the time I pushed through, I could taste the relatively fresh air coming from the upper levels. The smoke hadn’t reached up there yet, but I could still hear the crackling of the flames and feel the heat. There wasn’t much time.

I tried to focus and block out the fact that I was possibly going in the opposite direction of my love. But it was also possible that Clark was upstairs with Z, maybe in danger and needing assistance. I hoped Lukas had made it out alive, but I couldn’t dwell on that at the moment. My first task was to find Z, and my next was to find Clark. Everything else was just noise.

Breaking out onto the third floor, I scanned the hallway for clues. “Z!” I shouted, hoping that she was alert enough to give me some direction.