Page 226 of The Wicked
“You’ve been saying that shit since you bent to get a good look at that thing; we barely have fifteen fucking minutes left, Zahra—”
“I’m fucking working on it! Get off my damn ear and let me think, for fuck’s sake!”
“Guys, I know adren… ne is high right now, but there are children on that b… if you could tone down the c… ing a little?”Milk said, her voice hiked with nerves, static cutting her off like it had been doing for a while now.
“The last thing these kids need to worry about is bad language, Milk. Any word from the bomb squad?”
“Angelo’s people are com… ting with them via our line, but it wi… ke time because there are no visuals,” Upper said.
“Time is the one thing we don’t have, Upper. It’s running; it’s running fast.” I swallowed. “How’s coverage?”
“It’s all over the news; reporters are eating up the… bl… dy… litary… story, and cars are being cleared off… oad.”
I knew it was a matter of time before the media covered the story; that was why Angelo’s people covered the news and supplied concrete lies to them. It would have been messier ifwewere the unknown gunmen.
But that didn’t erase the fact that we had another problem. Signal. We were losing the signal for the comm. It started when we first set off; Devil and Dog had lost all communication, including me, at first, but then they turned off theirs, and mine picked up after a few seconds; now, mine was cutting out, and my nerves were crawling underneath my skin.
“How about Chika’s tracker? Still on?”
“Yes, he hasn’t caught wind y… He’s still in the city. But pre… ng to flee.”
“Good. That’s good.”
At least I have something under control.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my shoulder, the pounding in my chest making breathing a little difficult.
“Listen, Upper, Milk; we might lose communication—”
“We… saying… zah… ca… us?”
“Shit… Upper?”
“… oody fuck… can’t… it’s…”
The static was hurting my ears.
“What’s happening, Z?” Devil’s voice was etched with worry.
“We’re losing connection,” I said, but my voice was small. “Guys, can you hear me?”
Cutting voices and loud static was all I heard.
“Hello? Upper? Still there?”
Static.
“Guys…” I blew out a breath when nothing came.
My eyes burned from the stress of the situation as I swallowed. “I think we lost them.”
“Just fucking great,” Dog cursed, hitting his cuffed hand on a pole in the bus.
I removed the comm from my ear. “I can do it if I just… study it a bit more…”
Dog scoffed out an annoyed laugh. “We don’t have time for you to study the bomb, Zahra. We’re fucked!”
The cries from the children doubled in number.
