Page 169 of Burn Like An Angel

Leaving Ripley to find Raine and pack her essentials, I don’t budge. Warner flicks me a glance.

“You’re not packing?”

“I’ve got all that I need.” I toss the pocketknife effortlessly up and down in my left hand. “Where are you taking us?”

“We have another safe house far from London. Closer to Oxford.”

If Warner is a mole, he would’ve turned us over to Bancroft long ago. Or be fleeing to hide from the inevitable convictions that will now be doled out. Perhaps it’s time I gave him some due credit.

“Listen, Warn?—”

CRASH.

Glass daggers hurtle towards us as the living room window shatters. A projectile flies through the air, carrying sharp daggers. Warner lunges to shove me to the floor, landing half on top of me.

We hit the rough carpet with a thud, the impact jolting my spine. His weight pins me down, azurite eyes lit with concern. The brief second of silent shock doesn’t last long.

CRASH.

A second projectile hits the carpet closer to us in a pile of scattered shards. It takes a moment for the round, dark-green object to register in my mind. Then terror sets in faster than I can bellow a warning.

“GRENADE!”

Warner kicks the grenade across the room before a flash blinds us. The detonation causes an almighty roar of crumbling bricks and broken glass. Smoke quickly fills the open plan space.

It’s all we can do to cower. The explosion ripped a hole in the apartment, causing an almighty racket. When I lift my head in the thick plumes of dust that have filled the room, I spot the first projectile.

Another grenade, but it hasn’t detonated. I’m not taking any chances. Reason doesn’t pierce the surface of my determination. We can’t take another hit. Protecting those around me becomes my only thought.

“Xander! Stop!”

Warner hollers when I pick up the grenade and aim it towards the window, hoping it sails through the smoke to reach outside. For an awful second, I’m standing there with it in my fucking hand.

“Run!” I scream at him.

Thick, noxious smoke is billowing from the hole blasted in the side of the apartment. The first grenade flies through it, vanishing into the black cloud. I momentarily look at my hand. Huh. It’s still attached.

“Go!” Warner bellows back. “Now!”

Dropping low, I follow him out into the corridor. The hollow smash of an exploding bottle reverberates throughout what’s left of the room behind us. Crackling flames and the stench of ignited fuel chase us out the kitchen.

Is that..?

“Fire!” Warner roars.

Molotov cocktails.

We’re being firebombed.

I point for him to find Lennox while I head towards Raine and Ripley’s room, my panic narrowing into a pure adrenaline rush. We need to get out of here.

“Xan!” Ripley pulls Raine into the corridor, their bags forgotten. “What’s going on?”

“No time! Out, now!”

They run for the door, leaving me to find Warner and Lennox. The pair stumble through the rapidly-increasing smoke, billowing from the burning kitchen. More cocktails must’ve been thrown in.

Grabbing Lennox’s wrist, I hold onto him as Warner guides us to the exit. Raine and Ripley hang in the stairwell outside, waiting for us to follow. Throughout the building, fire alarms are wailing.

---