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I tensed, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck standing up as action suddenly engulfed the screen. In the kitchen, the lights went out, the night vision camera switched on, and my heart leapt into my ears all within the time it took to blink.
“Get her, get her, get her... come on.” Mumbling to herself over and over again, Katie glared at the screen intently and absently swung her fists up and down slowly. Watching her, a strange sensation tickled the back of my throat. She needed this person to die, wanted to kill her herself, but at the same time... this Jett woman was a threat. For the first time, I realized that Katie understood the world as acting or reacting, not directing.
She’d never controlled anything in her life, whereas I controlled everything in mine.
“Detonating Pack Two.”
There were rumbles of murmurs, and I pressed myself against the wall before my weak knees gave out on me. Katie and Nathan didn’t stop watching the screen, pointing when they needed to. I wasn’t sure if this discomfort that gripped me in a vice was a good thing or not, but it didn’t seem to matter when one of the cameras suddenly went dead.
Theboomof an explosion crackled through the spears of the teams’ headsets, and even the concrete walls shivered. Action on the screens stole my attention, and my breath hitched as the kitchen monitor lit up with gunfire. There was some muffled yelling, and Katie practically bounced on the balls of her feet as she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Detonating Pack Six.”
Another explosion, this time near the front of the building, and I flinched. Faintly, I could hear people shouting under the blazing guns, and Katie growled in frustration when the lights popped back on in the kitchen. Several people were on the ground, and I tore my eyes off the screen as my stomach churned dangerously.
“She’s not there. Find her! Damnit!” Practically yelling into the microphone, Katie raked both her hands through her hair. Concern soured my tongue and dried my mouth, and she shook her head viciously. “Fuck. We don’t have time to sit here...”
“They’ll get her, Katie. We gotta go topside if we want to take off before anyone notices.”
Reluctance thickened the air and twisted her lips, but Katie turned on her heel to storm out stiffly. Nathan grabbed my arm to haul me behind him, and dazed confusion made the slender, cramped world spin around me.
“Everyone’s looking exclusively for her, Katie. They’ll get her.”
“They better.” The venom in her tone was dense, but she suddenly stopped at the bottom of the stairs to turn to Nathan. Her face paled, and I frowned as anxiety glittered in her eyes. “Choke me out. I can’t go up there. I can’t.”
“What! Katie!” My voice came out a high-pitched screech, and she shot me an almost desperate glare. “C- can’t Julia give you something?”
“No. It was bad enough she had to give me that sedative a few days ago. Anything more and it’ll risk the baby. We’re gonna have to do it old-school.” Guilt clawed at the back of my throat, and Katie reached around Nathan to pat my shoulder. Her wobbly smile tinged with assurance, but I felt sick to my stomach. “I’m gonna be fine, Brandon. We need to leave, and my fear of flying can’t get in the way. Nathan’s not gonna kill me.”
Her lips quirked up slightly, and my own thinned as my heart rampaged through my chest. Turning around, she was shaking at the idea of flying, and I covered my mouth and closed my eyes in horror. It was so fast, just a few seconds, before she went limp against Nathan, and he picked her up with a slight grunt to start hastily up the stairs.
What the fuck... I was going to lose my mind. This was insanity.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Adrenaline surged through my system as I followed Nathan up the stairs, and another explosion rumbled through the walls. The closer we made it to the secure door that led aboveground, the worse the tingling in my hands and feet got. The harder it was to breathe.
“Here we go.” When we emerged from the bunker, huge plumes of black smoke billowed from the main house. The plane was already being taxied on the air strip, and all we had to do was jump on. Glancing behind me, my eyes widened as another explosion ripped through the air. Fire and debris flew high only to come crashing down onto a building being ruined.
And it wasn’t anything like the movies. It was terrifying to watch, knowing people were inside there, being crushed and dying.
“Brandon!” Nathan’s snap stole my attention.
I jumped as I rushed to catch up to him and Katie. My stomach roiled as we boarded the plane, and Nathan shoved Katie’s unconscious body into the closest seat to pull the door closed and lock it. Everything was so quiet on the jet, and I sat down as the pilots initiated takeoff. There was no announcement— the plane just started moving, and I closed my eyes and held my breath.
“All we gotta do now is get in the air and we’ll be fine. Even if Jett gets out of here alive, she’ll at least be in rough shape and a few hours behind us.”
My eyes snapped open at that, and Nathan sat down across the aisle from me to sigh heavily.
“Katie’s plan to blow the place was designed to trap Jett in a corner of the compound where she couldn’t get out. Jett slipped out of the kitchen, so if Katie’s predictions were accurate, she will try to find a way out even though she can’t back track to the front.”
“I don’t understand...?” My voice was weak even to me, and I clenched my jaw hard as Nathan glanced over at me. “You said they’d get her.”
“That was a fucking lie, Brandon.” Nathan chuckled a little, darkly, reaching over to clap a hand on my shoulder with a shake of his head. “It’s a learning curve that you really don’t wanna learn. And besides, we still needed a backup plan, and blowing up the place was our best bet. If the teams don’t get her, the fire might, and even ifthatdoesn’t work, she’ll be stranded on this island, injured, with teams looking for her. Just close your eyes and relax, Brandon.”
“Katie thought of all that?” He shrugged lightly, rubbing his face roughly as he stretched out his legs, and awe softened my tone. “That’s crazy.”
“Think about it, Brandon, and you’ll realize that this is just business— Katie’s brand of business, but business, nonetheless. And if there’s one thing you’re good at being hardhearted about, it’s business.”
ChapterNineteen
