Adverse Possession (The Anna Albertini Files #3) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,86

myself. The smell of burning rubber assaulted my senses. “How long was I out?”

“Too long,” Aiden said grimly. “You’re going to the hospital.”

“Not yet.” I sat on the stretcher. “I don’t understand.” My head hurt and everything was blank.

Aiden whistled toward a couple of other guys in ATF jackets. “Get out a BOLO on Barensky and the two men we met with the other day. The names they gave were false, but we caught them on camera.”

One of the guys nodded and hustled away from the fires.

“I take it you’re no longer undercover?” I croaked.

“No,” he said, turning to watch the firefighters spray water. “I don’t know if this was an attack against the Lordes by Barensky for some reason, or if he discovered we were ATF, but either way, I’m done. We’re going after him and he will give up his client. Period.”

Saber patted my shoulder. “The fire is dying down in the northern building. I’ll go investigate.”

Aiden shook his head. “Not yet. The roofline is too unstable. I’ll go in with you as soon as we’re solid. Need to see what he used.”

I tried to swallow and ended up coughing instead.

“Get her water,” Aiden said.

A paramedic jogged up and jumped into the back of the ambulance to hand over a bottle. “Went to get it. You’re awake.” She was young, and soot covered her brown hair and part of her face. “How’s the head?”

“Fine.” I accepted the water and drank carefully. My throat felt scalded.

Another ATF agent jogged over. He was tall and blond and looked familiar. “We have four missing Lordes members.” It took me a second, but I placed him. He’d been with Aiden during the last time the world had gone crazy. It was during a gunfight, and it was also the first time I realized Aiden was one of the official good guys.

Aiden looked toward the building. “ATF?”

“We’re all accounted for,” the guy said. “When we heard the car, all of us ran outside.”

Must be good training. Oh yeah. I was driving that car.

Aiden swung his gaze to me. “Good timing, Angel.”

“She’s definitely our angel,” the blond guy said. “We’d be dead if she hadn’t run over that motorcycle and caused such a ruckus.” His expression remained somber. “I’m Drag.”

“Anna,” I whispered.

A slight grin played on his mouth. “I know.”

An engine exploded from one of the cars. Aiden put his body between me and the debris before relaxing. “Which Lordes members?”

Drag eyed the few Lordes members gathered over by a police car. They milled around, looking lost as their home burned. “Jale, Carbine, Crash, and Lewis are all unaccounted for. Nobody knows if they were in the buildings or not.”

Carbine and Crash? The night came flying back. “Where is Kay? She had me at gunpoint.” I grabbed Saber’s arm. “She shot an officer at my house.”

Aiden motioned Saber out. Then he stepped up, moving the vehicle. “Kay is on the way to the hospital with a concussion and broken leg, at a minimum. Since she had a gun and you were driving like crazy, I figured something was up, so I sent an officer with her. Are you up to telling me what happened?” He sat on the bench and wiped soot off my chin. His touch was gentle even though his gaze was street hard.

“Yeah.” The sound of the fire was unreal. Loud and somehow creepily merry. I could see why Barensky was entranced by it, but right now, fear kept me cold. “Kay thought I killed Sasha and Bev and wanted to get to me before I got to her.” I stiffened. “Oh, yeah. She said that Carbine and Crash told her to crash the truck into my car. The Lordes wanted to hurt me, but she didn’t know why.”

Aiden cocked his head. “What the hell?”

I shrugged and then regretted it as my neck protested with a jolt of pain.

Aiden leaned toward the door. “Saber? Put BOLOs out on all four Lordes members. We’ll assume they’re alive for now until we can get into the buildings.”

Saber hustled toward one of the state police vehicles.

“Get an update on the cop from Anna’s house, would you?” Aiden called after him.

“Thank you.” I watched more debris fall onto the Chevy I’d driven. “Why would Carbine and Crash want me hurt?” It didn’t make any sense.

“I hope we get the chance to ask them.” Aiden watched the northern building burn. The firefighters were slowly getting the fires under control. “I gave the order for everyone to