Zach said, gripping his head as he walked in a circle, looking desperately at the house that was so close, and yet, now, so far away. “Oh God,” he said, his eyes widening as his hand fell away from his head.
Reed whipped around. Oh God, oh no. Smoke was billowing from what looked like the foundation of the house, black clouds amassing even as they stood staring. Helplessly. He whipped around. There was no quicker way to the house than past the fence. They could go down to the river and come back up a different way, but that would waste minutes they did not have. And Liza had said there were other explosives too, ones they didn’t know the locations of.
“We’ve gotta set off the explosive,” Ransom said, leaning down and picking up a rock. “No time for anything else.”
Okay, yes. Good. Reed bent down and picked up a rock too. “There’s one somewhere near the edge of the fence!” he shouted as Ransom moved forward. His partner took aim, throwing the rock with all his might. It landed with a soft thud, but no explosion. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
With a roar of crashing timber, flames erupted out of the ground, sparks flying into the sky, lighting the night. Oh no. Oh God. They were in there.
With a shout of rage, Zach threw a rock to the edge of the fence, a raucous blast exploding from the ground. Reed raised his arms as debris flew at them, tiny pellets that hit their skin and rained down around him. His ears rang as he opened his eyes, stepping forward as the air cleared, the smoke from the blast dissipating. “Come on!” he saw Ransom say, though his ears were still useless from the blast.
The house was a burning inferno now, flames licking high into the night, the entire structure crumbling. Reed’s breath came short as his hearing returned, the crashes and roars of the fire making him want to fall to his knees in anguish. An inhuman scream rose up, a piercing shriek that made Reed’s blood tremble in his veins. No one could have survived what was in front of him. No one. Oh God, Arryn.
The three men ran toward the house nonetheless, heat hitting them in waves as the fire rolled and jumped. They rounded the engulfed structure, looking for a way in, some hope for those inside. Reed heard Zach yell something, make a sharp turn away from the inferno and go down in the grass and then he saw them too, three people huddled together on the ground, lying just clear of the blaze that burned without mercy just a hundred feet away. All of them were coughing and gagging, holding their arms over their mouths as they attempted to suck in fresh air. Zach picked up . . . Arryn, it was Arryn. And he ran with her, carrying her to the remains of a stone foundation that might have once been a cellar or a barn several feet away. Reed’s head whipped back around. Milo and Sabrina. The other two people were Milo and Sabrina. Ransom helped Milo up and put his arm around his shoulders, helping him jog to where Zach was.
“Can you walk?” Reed asked Sabrina who appeared stunned. She bobbed her head, still coughing, as tears tracked down her cheeks. Reed helped her up and walked as quickly as possible with Sabrina’s limp, toward the others.
He heard sirens in the very near distance, seconds away. Good job, Liza. Good job. She’d have warned them about the explosives too. They’d be coming in prepared. “We can’t risk moving any farther than this until the explosive unit shows up,” Zach yelled over the thunder of the fire.
It was cooler where they were, and the blaze seemed to be completely contained to the old home, the trees nearby far enough away that a spark igniting them was unlikely.
Arryn was clutching to her father, tears streaking down her cheeks too. “How’d you get out?” Zach asked, pulling her closer. Next to him, he heard Ransom on his phone, calling in their location, but focused in on Arryn.
“Charles freed us, Daddy,” she said.
Zach pulled back, looking in his daughter’s eyes. Reed’s heart jumped. Liza had mentioned Charles too. He’d been shot. Axel had brought him there.
“Tell me what happened,” Zach said.
Arryn took in a big shuddery breath. “Charles gave Liza a tool that she used to escape. Then Axel started the fire. He had gasoline. The whole