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Wylder held up the end of the thick rope we were using as a fuse. We’d soaked it in kerosene before bringing it out here, and the chemical tang wafting off it itched in my nose. He snapped his fingers. “Lighter?”
I held out the one I’d been carrying for this purpose. All four of us stood around the mouth of the tunnel as Wylder flicked on the flame. He held it to the end of the fuse and dropped the rope the second it lit up.
It fell to the floor of the tunnel, the flames already streaking along its length out of view like a serpent made of fire. Kaige grabbed the hatch and slammed it down. “Let’s get the hell out of here before the place blows!”
We turned and jogged through the forest as fast as we could in the darkness, not daring to even turn on our flashlights now. I didn’t think it’d been more than a minute before an earth-shakingboomsplit the air and rattled the branches around us.
I spun around. Orange light danced and flashed in the distance in the tiny gaps between the trees. The initial explosion was followed by a thundering crash of thick walls collapsing. In my mind’s eye, I pictured the hail of concrete and mortar—and the bodies engulfed in the blaze.
I leaned against a trunk to catch my balance. The breeze licked over me, carrying a trace of acrid smoke. My throat constricted around it.
We’d mostly wanted to obliterate this resource of the Storm’s, to show him we could tackle him on his own turf. But at least some of the men in and around that facility would have died in the explosion—some of them men who might have had nothing to do with Paradise Bend.
But that was what this war had come to. How many innocent people had fallen in the Bend because of the Storm’s reign of terror?
My people were safer now because we’d managed to strike a major blow against our enemies.
Kaige raised his hand to request a high five from Wylder. Wylder smacked his hand, but his expression was somber. He wasn’t unaffected by the lengths we’d gone to for this victory either.
“It looks like Beckett set us on the right path,” Rowan said. “He didn’t know we’d found out about this place until he showed up at the mansion, and he hasn’t had a chance to leave or do anything unmonitored since he arrived. I don’t see any way this could have been a ploy to convince us.”
Wylder nodded. “The kid’s legit. Now let’s get home and find out what other ways he’s willing to help us rain havoc down on his dear ol’ dad.”
I gave the flickers of the flames one last look and hustled with the others through the forest toward our car.
