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The explosion is so sudden, so unexpected.
My heart jumps. My whole body bucks. Kay screams from the bottom of her lungs. I hear the grief and the agony in her broken voice. That’s my Aston Martin that just blew up. With Marcus in it.
“No,” I hear myself whisper. My voice is gone.
My heart is breaking into a billion little pieces.
Everything happened so fast yet so slow at the same time, a giant tower of orange flames rising upward. The blast is so powerful, itsends the Prius and the SUV next to it flying over the others. The sound of scraping and clanging metal scratches my ears, making my stomach tighten. I feel like I am going to be sick.
Time comes to a sudden halt as I try to make sense of what just happened.
Agents rush outside, alerted by the explosion. Kay runs down the stairs, crying and screaming. I am frozen on the spot and realizing, ever so slowly, thatIwas supposed to be in that seat, in that car. My hands on the wheel. My skin burning, my whole being disintegrating in the heart of that wretched obliteration. I’m the one who was supposed to die today.
23
Avery
Once the shock of Marcus’ death wears off, numbness set in.
One week ago, Luke’s Aston Martin blew up with Marcus behind the wheel. It was a twisted kind of bad luck because the intended target was Luke. Somebody tried to kill him, and they killed Marcus instead. That’s something I still can’t quite wrap my head around. The mere thought makes me want to puke. First, Kellan. Then Fallon. And now, Luke.
Someone is coming for my men, nearly succeeding every time.
Marcus’ funeral is a solemn but crowded affair. The whole of Wolfhound Security is present at the burial service, along with a couple dozen folks from all over Lincoln County who knew him personally. Some of the firm’s clients are also in attendance, people who worked with Marcus and held him in the highest regard.
My eyes sting, flooded with tears as I stand beside his casket, Kellan, Fallon, and Luke right next to me. Helen has my girls farther back, and she is just as devastated. She’s known Marcussince he first came to work for the guys. Annie is too young to fully understand, but I’ve explained the basics to Miley. She knows it’s a funeral, and so she does a surprisingly good job of not only staying quiet and solemn, but also of keeping her little sister in check.
Marcus was beloved by everyone, and he will be sorely missed.
I watch the crowd in silence as the priest goes on with his service. Familiar faces. Foreign faces. A sea of them, all carrying a mask of sadness as they watch Marcus’ coffin go into the ground. The United States flag that draped his coffin is expertly folded by fellow Navy officers and handed over to his mother—beyond distraught, yet poised and graceful as she accepts the flag with trembling hands. A twenty-one-gun salute sounds off as the Naval officers stand straight and salute.
Luke moves closer to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. She looks up and gives him a sad nod, then shifts her focus back to the grave as tears continue streaming down her cheeks.
Once the service is over and most of the attendees have left, Fallon escorts Marcus’ mother to a waiting car driven by one of his agents, another in the backseat. They will escort her to the after-service luncheon being hosted in North Platte.
Kellan and Luke gently pull me aside, while Helen takes my girls back to my car.
“Avery, you’re not safe at all with us,” Kellan declares.
“What do you mean?”
“I hate to admit it, but you did right by moving out. You should stay there for a while longer.”
“It’s not why I moved out,” I remind him.
He nods. “I know. I’m just saying our relationship, our issues, our future… all of it needs to pause for a second while we figure out what’s going on.”
“Are you breaking up with me?” I manage, my throat closing up.
“No. God, no,” Luke steps in. “No, Avery. But we’ve talked and we’ve agreed that we need to keep a certain distance from you and the girls, at least until we find the fuckers who did this.”
“It means we won’t be coming around to see you for a while,” Kellan adds, sounding so pained and miserable, it’s tearing me apart on the inside. “We’re paying extra attention to your security detail. You and the girls will never be without cover.”
“Don’t think I didn’t spot them in their black SUV,” I shoot back with a grumble.
“You weren’t supposed to not see them. That’s the whole point. We want whoever is doing this to see that you’re never alone, that you’re always protected,” Kellan says. “We’ll make sure Helen has an extra agent watching her, too. And we’ve also dispatched a whole team over to the school.”
“Thank you,” I mumble.
