but the explosion wasn’t as loud as the previous ones, and it didn’t shake the building as violently.
Her arms wrapped around me. “You said you disabled it,” she accused. “You said it anyone could do it.”
“Anyone could.” If they could’ve reached it, which Harm apparently hadn’t, but he’d seen it before the first explosions had gone off, and that was the only reason we were still standing here. That, and Abernathy had stupidly not hidden the third bomb when he set it just under the landing of the stairwell on this floor.
“Come on, you’re going under the mattress one more time. I need to go check on Harm.” With an urgency I hoped she didn’t pick up on, and with my hand keeping her head to my chest so she didn’t look at the body, I moved her back to the bed and got her under the mattress. Squatting so she could see my eyes, I made her a promise. “I’m not going to let anything else happen to you. Give me a few minutes to check on Harm, and I’ll be back. If I’m not back in a few minutes, give me a few more. It only means Harm needs my help. You’re safe here for now.” I pulled the fabric back up over her nose and mouth. “Leave this in place until we get out of here.”
Her small fingers wrapped around my wrist. “Okay, but make it less than a few minutes.”
A ghost of a smile hit the side of my mouth. “I’ll do my best.”
“Wait. What was that?” She touched my lips with a shaking hand and then the girl I’d met all those years ago, the one who always tried to make light of heavy situations, she came out. “Can it be? The serious Ronan Conlon is giving me a smile with a dead body lying next to us after three bombs went off?”
Taking her hand, I kissed her palm. “Ten minutes. Max.”
“If you leave me under here for ten more minutes, I’m coming to look for you,” she warned.
I didn’t doubt it for one second. “Copy that.” I squeezed her hand and stood to leave.
“Be careful,” she called.
I glanced over my shoulder. “I’m always careful.”
“Except when you pull the trigger while a suicidal bomber is holding a detonation device.”
“No,” I agreed. “Then I’m calculating and precise.”
Leaving the body for later, I strode back through the second suite and rushed down the corridor to the stairwell.
No more visible damage than before, I called out before I could see around the corner. “Harm!” Holding the doorframe, watching my step, I looked into the stairwell.
Grasping a section of broken-off railing, standing on a now even smaller section of landing, Harm looked up at me. “I couldn’t reach it.”
I glanced down at the now gaping hole that was stairwell. Jesus Christ. “What the hell did you do?”
“I can’t hear you,” he said louder than he needed to. “I need to see your lips.”
I looked back at him. “I said, what the hell did you do?”
“I couldn’t reach it,” he repeated. “So I hit it with this.” He held the broken-off piece of railing in his hand up higher. “Knocked it down.” He glanced toward the now twenty-story hole where the stairwell had been. “It exploded somewhere down there.” He looked back up at me and shrugged. “Maybe halfway? Not sure. Is he dead?”
“Yeah, he’s dead.” I could’ve taken Abernathy down without killing him, restrained him until we got out of here, but I didn’t, and I had no regrets about it. “Don’t move. I’m going to get something to get you out of there.”
“What?”
“Don’t move,” I uselessly yelled.
“Copy.” He leaned back against the wall, but he favored his bloodied leg.
“Hey!”
He looked up.
I nodded at his leg. “Does that need pressure on it to stop the bleeding?” The last thing I wanted was for him to pass out from blood loss, then drop twenty stories.
He shook his head and winced. “I’m good, as long as I don’t shake my head.”
I took him at his word, but he looked like hell. “Be right back.”
Giving me a thumbs-up instead of a nod, he leaned against the wall again.
Rushing back into the first suite, I ripped the curtains down and used my knife to cut the pull cords. It wasn’t ideal, but I could fashion something that would hopefully be strong enough to get Harm up fifteen feet and to safety. Taking the material and the cord, I started to walk back out