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Not open for negotiation. Fine. Whatever. I followed him to Milo. We needed to wrap this shit up because nothing about this felt accidental.
“Hey, Dan,” I said quietly. “Thanks.”
“Glad you’re okay, kid.”
Yeah. Me too.
Only the deliberate nature of the call and the subsequent explosion set off alarm bells for the others.
VAUGHN
The shouts from deeper in the building were growing fainter. The dense smoke made navigation difficult and breathing almost impossible. I’d slapped a damp cloth over the lower half of my face, but it wasn’t helping.
I’d already hauled a few people out. Rome appeared out of the smoke like a wraith as I stumbled. He also had a mask on and caught me—then steadied me before he handed me a mask as well.
“Fire engines are here,” he said just as the sprinklers kicked on. The scream of water whistling through the pipes was a sound I didn’t know I’d missed. The spray was a little dank and warm. It sizzled once it hit the hot wood and soaked me where I hadn’t already sweated through my clothes.
My foot hit a body on the floor, and I squatted to lift the prone form. Lauren’s dark hair covered her face, and I swore, coughing as I tried to get her up. The fact that I staggered just added to my need to curse.
“I have her.” Rome pulled her from me. “Go.”
Coughing so hard my eyes watered made it impossible to answer. Rome had Lauren, shifting her until she was over his shoulder, then he gripped my arm. Right. I let him pull me toward the exit, trusting his navigation.
Outside, the cooler air was a punch in the face as we emerged from the hellish swelter inside. Fire trucks were everywhere, along with ambulances and shouting from the lookie-loos lining the road.
Someone took Lauren from Rome and then I was seated abruptly with an oxygen mask over my face.
“No,” I said as I fought to remove the mask. “There are still people in there.”
“Keep it on.” Rome shoved the mask back into place and blocked me when I tried to get up. One minute I was staggering to my feet, and the next, he parked me on my ass. I tried to glare at him, but it was hard to make him out.
“Rome,” I snarled, but it came out even harsher, making me cough more. “The people—” My friends. My co-workers. Fuck, my clients.
“No,” Rome said again, then shifted and pointed to the line of bodies on the sidewalk.
Bodies.
A couple were on gurneys heading for ambulances, but the rest were just—covered bodies.
Shuddering, I sagged downward and stopped fighting the paramedic strapping something around my bicep as they put the mask back in place. Rome stared at me when they offered him a mask, but he didn’t pull the strap over his head, just pressed it to his face.
Yeah, he wasn’t moving in case I tried to go back in.
Bodies.
I stared past him even as the burning in my eyes intensified the wavering. The coughing didn’t help, and the tears that splashed out onto my face were as much a product of the smoke and the fire as the line of bodies.
“Lauren?” I croaked.
Rome pointed to the gurney being loaded into the ambulance. Not dead.
At least not yet.
That was—something.
A shout came from the direction of the shop, and I twisted to see a section of the roof collapse. Flames shot upward as smoke billowed and the crash of brick, wood, and metal left a gaping black hole into what had been the upper floors.
They had evacuated the buildings on either side. Although there were more people scattered around, like Rome and me, on oxygen, just sitting there as witnesses to the destruction of it all.
