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He didn’t connect that desperate edge in his voice with himself. It didn’t sound anything like him.
His thoughts were anything but normal as well. Panic swept through his chest on repeat, shooting his adrenaline higher and higher until he felt like his heart would explode.
“Oz?”
Static crackled on the line connecting them. He stabbed the screen to end the call and dialed Indika again. The constant ringing noise severed his nerves. He battled the terror bottled in his throat.
As he ended the call, another came in. Oz again.
“There’s been an explosion, Apollo.”
Dread filled him with a sick blackness that oozed through his entire body. Sweat broke out on his face.
“Where?” he croaked, already knowing the answer.
He didn’t even have to hear Oz’s response. His brain was already linking the chain of events. He stomped the gas and jerked the car onto the sidewalk. Horns blasted, and he dodged trash cans and lampposts. He took out a newsstand and thanked god that the person running it dived out of the way in the nick of time.
“Apollo, I’m almost to her building,” Oz said in a determined tone.
“I can’t lose her, man. I have to get to her.” He grated out the words through gritted teeth.
“I know.”
He raced down the sidewalk and spotted an opening at an intersection. The traffic was moving at a crawl, but it was at least moving. He blasted through the red light and raced faster, beating two more red lights.
A car in front of him braked hard, and he whipped the wheel to the side just in time to avoid a full-on collision. His front corner slammed into the rear of the car. His vehicle spun out, but he didn’t let off the gas. He straightened out and plowed a path between vehicles that had by now realized they needed to get out of his way.
Crazed with the fear hammering him, he tuned back in to realize Oz’s call had disconnected and Sparrow was trying to get through.
He stabbed the screen. “It’s her building. They’re trying to take me out, but she’s there. She isn’t safe!” he snapped out before Sparrow could get a word in.
“We’re right behind you. On our way. Hang in there, Apollo. We got your six, and Indika’s too.”
He ground his thumb into his eye, smearing a tear. Unable to speak, he ended the call and raced on. He had to reach her.
When he looked up and saw the black cloud covering several city blocks, he knew it was bad. His gut roiled, and his bowels clenched.
Nothing but a cloud of dust with people running every direction. He couldn’t get any closer.
Pulling up onto the sidewalk, he braked hard and cut the engine. He didn’t recall leaving the car, but suddenly he was running toward the bowels of hell.
An explosion, Oz said. Where was Oz? And Blackout? He had two teams on his six, but without Indika, no amount of support mattered. He couldn’t survive it if he lost her. How had she ever lived through his supposed death?
She was strong. A fighter. The toughest woman he’d ever known in his life.
She would survive whatever happened inside that building.
He stumbled to a halt as he set eyes on the crumbled mass of concrete and twisted metal. People were stumbling and crawling out of the debris.
“Indika!” he roared.
No response came.
A hand clamped on his shoulder, and he spun toward the person. Sparrow’s gaze fixed on his face. “You can’t go in there,” he said.
“Fuck you.” Apollo stalked toward the ruin. He didn’t know how or where he’d find her, but he would.
“Apollo, wait!”
