say there is a bomb in this building. That’s not what he meant, is it?” Don’t be what he meant.
Dex staggered into the bathroom and pushed past the chunks of broken door. “I’m cuffing the bastard.”
“The bastard is saying there’s a bomb. That he had a third SOB helping him.” Sebastian’s voice was ice cold.
Dex stiffened. “My team didn’t see a third man.” His voice thickened as he tapped his ear. “Did you see a freaking third man?”
Who was he talking to? Alyssa crept closer to the side of the tub.
Dex nodded, and his hand fell away from his ear. “No sign of a third man.” Blood dripped down his side.
She winced.
He bent, groaned, and tried to slap cuffs around the perp. But the perp swung at him—
“I will shoot you,” Alyssa announced. She was surprised by how calm her voice sounded. Especially since calm was the last thing she felt.
All three men immediately focused on her.
Sebastian stared with blazing eyes.
Dex blinked. Smiled a little.
And the perp—he glared at her in fury. “Bitch, you’re dying!”
Sebastian drove his fist into the guy’s stomach, yanked the cuffs away from Dex, and snapped them on the perp’s wrists.
Oh. That had been fast.
“Is this building wired?” Sebastian snarled.
“It’s probably just a trick,” Dex muttered. “They’re trying to get us out. Want us to run into the open where an ambush could be waiting.”
“Boom,” the perp said again.
“I don’t like when he says that.” Alyssa bit her lower lip. Her fingers were all sweaty around the gun.
“I was supposed to be in and out in five minutes. That’s all the time I had.” The blond-haired man began to laugh. “Guess time is up for us all.”
“Oh, shit,” Dex growled at the same time. His eyes had flared wide. “Team member just found a device. Timer is counting down. We’ve got less than two minutes!”
No. Alyssa shook her head. He had not said they had less than two minutes.
“Someone sacrificed you,” Dex fired at the perp. “Sent you in here to die. You’re the distraction, all right, and you’re the distraction that’s supposed to die with us!”
Sebastian shoved the now swearing perp at Dex. “Get out!”
“Sebastian?” Alyssa called.
His head snapped toward her.
“There isn’t really a bomb,” she said. “There’s not, right?”
He scooped her into his arms. “Baby, hold on. Tight.”
Oh, dear God. There really was a bomb.
She held on, tight. Only he didn’t take her down the stairs. When he ran into the bedroom, Dex and the perp were gone. Someone had moved fast.
Instead of rushing out the bedroom door, Sebastian rushed for the window.
“What are you doing?” Alyssa gasped.
“Getting you out as fast as possible.” He kicked out the glass as an alarm blared. “I got in, I’ll get you out. Like I said, hold on.”
And Sebastian started climbing out of the window and freaking down the brick wall. She was shaking and wearing a towel and holding on to him and to her gun, and it was the most insane and terrifying experience of her life. He moved with confident strength, like he was rock climbing or something. Sebastian scared the ever-living hell out of her and then he said, “Jump, baby. Jump and run, now.”
She jumped. Fell about four feet and hit the ground.
“Run!” Sebastian bellowed. “I’m right behind you.”
He’d better be. She held one hand to the front of her towel, barely keeping it in place, and with the other she gripped her gun. Alyssa glanced back.
Boom.
This time, the blond jerk didn’t say it. That was the sound the explosion made as smoke and flames shot from the bottom of the building. Glass exploded outward. She was looking straight at Sebastian, and the smoke flew behind him. The blast also seemed to lift him into the air.
It lifted her, too. Lifted her and threw her back.
She could see Sebastian’s mouth moving, but there was no way she could understand what he was saying. That terrible boom was far, far too loud. And then—
She hit the ground.
Her elbows scraped over pavement because it was not soft ground that she’d hit. A groan broke from her lips. Dammit, that had hurt.
Her towel was slipping. Probably the last thing she should care about, but as she flopped there, stunned, the towel seemed awfully and oddly important. She grabbed it, hooked it into place, and—
Sebastian.
He was on the ground. Sprawled face down. And there was some guy in all black rushing up behind him. A guy with a gun drawn.
“Get away from him!” Alyssa yelled. Or