Page 48 of Risky Passion

Inside, Maya had holstered her weapon and crouched next to Grant, pressing two fingers to his neck. She was a medic as well as a trained killer.

He’s alive for now, Maya, but nothing will save him from the C4 under his chair.

“Did you hear me?” Cooper hissed.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “Fifty grand cash. But this is it. No more negotiating after this.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll believe it when I see it,” Cooper replied.

I wanted to reach through the phone and punch him in the nose.

On the iPad, Viper froze, pointing at the floor, then jerked back like he’d been burned. My stomach dropped.

He’s pointing at the wires. The ones leading to Grant’s chair.

My pulse spiked, my chest tightening like a vice. Viper was an explosives expert so he knew exactly what he was looking at. He knew it wasn’t just wiring. He knew it was a detonation cable.

Maya sprinted toward the front door.

“Fuck!” I hissed, my voice breaking.

“B, you still there?” Cooper’s voice crackled from the speakers in my helmet on the ground.

On the screen, Viper shouted something to Blade. They whirled toward the gaping hole in the warehouse floor.

“Fuck!” I snarled, slamming my thumb onto the detonation trigger.

The explosion ripped through the warehouse in a blinding flash, the iPad screen erupting into static. My retinas burned with the afterimage, and my heart pounded as I leaned closer, straining to make sense of the chaos.

“B! I’m getting sick of your fucking bullshit,” Cooper bellowed.

Through the fuzz and flickering feed, I caught one last, gut-twisting image: Blade and Viper diving through the large gap in the floorboards.

The screen went dark.

Are they dead? Did I kill those fuckers?

My hands shook as I stared at the blank screen.

I didn’t know whether to cheer or scream.

But even worse, if that didn’t kill them, I didn’t have a plan B.

CHAPTER 14

Tory

The wreckageof Jaxson’s Jeep burned fast, the flames roaring as the twisted metal melted into itself. The fire cast jagged shadows across the landscape, flickering against the wiry shrubs and the gnarled, windswept trees that reached for the dark sky.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. My ears rang from the blast, and every time I blinked, the explosion’s afterimage burned against my eyelids as a blazing orange streak tearing through the endless black.

Jaxson’s Jeep was supposed to be our escape out of this hellhole. Our only chance.

The firelight danced across Jaxson’s face, showing his tight jaw and wild eyes. His mouth moved, yelling something, but I couldn’t hear him over the roaring flames and the piercing ring in my ears. My legs felt like stone, frozen beneath me. All I could do was stare at the burning wreck with the heat prickling my face and the acrid stench of gasoline and rubber choking the night air.

“Tory!” His voice finally cut through my haze of shock, sharp and commanding. His hands gripped my arms, his touch firm and grounding. He shook me hard enough to jolt me back to reality. “Move! We have to run!”

Run? Oh, God. I could barely feel my legs.

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