“Halina,” Keira whispered, “what do you shoot?”
She didn’t answer, but turned to Mitch, searching for his eyes in the dark and catching sight of his cold green gaze in the ambient light. “What are you doing? You can’t risk everyone just for—”
“She can shoot anything,” Mitch told Keira over Halina, then met her eyes again and lowered his face to hers. “Don’t you dare expect me to give you up again. No way in fucking hell is anyone getting you away from me.”
“If anyone other than Halina Beloi”—the voice sliced through Mitch’s last passionate statement as if to make a point—“attempts to leave the house, they will be shot.”
Two consecutive rounds of automatic gunfire splintered the thick wooden front door and lodged in the entry hall’s sheetrock with a thwffftpt. An explosion of gypsum powder hit their faces. Dex barked again. Halina’s lungs erupted in uncontrollable spasms. Mitch pulled her to the floor and held her against his chest until she’d hacked the junk from her lungs. When she found her bearings, Luke, Keira, and Kai were already crouched near the windows, peering over sills and around edges into the night through scopes.
A shadow moved on her left. She twisted from Mitch’s grasp, hands up, ready to strike.
“It’s Quaid.” He dropped into a crouch beside them. “Is anyone hurt?”
Before Mitch responded, Abernathy’s controlled voice echoed in the night again. “Be forewarned, every exit has been wired with explosive. Any attempt to escape will blow the entire building.”
A series of shocked, quiet curses came from what sounded like every member of the group. Kai shifted, shined a penlight out the corner of a window, and panned it around the edge. Then sprinted past the front door in a crouch and into the dining room, repeating the scan with his flashlight.
“Sonofabitch,” he murmured, then called down the hall. “Cash?”
“Here too,” Cash responded in a rough whisper. “Every door. Every window.”
“What did he use?” Quaid asked.
“C4. Remote switch.”
Mitch turned to Quaid. “Teleport outside and defuse them.”
“Can’t.” He was serious, but calm, as if he was completely at home in this chaotic stress. “The signal blocker he’s using has totally screwed up the electromagnetic signals. I’m as stuck as all of you.”
“Jessica?” Mitch asked.
“She’s in the basement with the kids. I just came from asking her. She can’t teleport either.”
At Halina’s back, Mitch’s breathing grew faster, raspier, his body a wall of fire and growing sticky with sweat. This was his family. These were the people he loved above everything else in the world. And it was clear he would be forced to choose between them and her.
Halina pushed to her feet. Before she could open her mouth, Mitch’s grip tightened on her arm. “No, Halina.” His voice shook, but his eyes remained fierce in the dim light. “I mean it.”
“Vents.” Cash’s voice made Halina startle and turn. “Ducts. Fireplace. Attic.”
Kai took charge. “Cash, you’re on vents. Mitch, ducts. Quaid, attic. I’ll look at the flues. That fucker’s not keeping us—”
“You have sixty seconds to send Beloi out,” Abernathy’s voice cut in again. “Then one explosive will be detonated every ten seconds.”
Halina’s breath siphoned into her lungs. Her heart thumped in her throat.
“Change of plans,” Mitch said, his grip still tight on Halina’s arm as if he were afraid she’d disappear if he let go. “Keira.” When she turned, Mitch tossed his phone to her. “Work that photo of Abernathy and find a weakness. Kai, go sit in a corner and get into the fucker’s body. Luke, don’t move. And if you see him, shoot his damn head off. Cash, Quaid—find a fucking way out of this place.”
“Fifty seconds,” Abernathy called.
So many thoughts and emotions congealed inside Halina at once, it was as if her brain detonated cells in slow motion. The realization of all she would lose when she left this circle of safety. The knowledge of where she was headed when Abernathy took her away. The certainty of her ultimate reality waiting.
Inside, she steeled herself, shedding emotion like dead skin. The transition took her back to Russia and the days she had to face punishment from her uncle.
“Halina.” Mitch took her by the arms and shook her. “Baby, you have to keep your head together.” His voice broke and the anguish that flooded into it would have dropped her to her knees if she’d still been feeling.
“Thirty seconds,” Abernathy called.
“Jesus fucking Christ, you damn super people,” Mitch yelled, but pulled Halina into his arms and held her so tight it hurt, his mouth against her hair. “Do something with your sorry powers for a change.”
Halina pulled back and pressed her hands to Mitch’s face. So much pain washed his features, her body throbbed inside the steel shell she’d taken on. “Shh, it’s going to be all right. You’re going to be okay.”
“No. You can’t go,” he rasped through what sounded like tears. And in the reflection of the ambient light, wetness glistened on his thick black lashes.
Halina choked with so much love for him. “I can’t stay,” she whispered. “You know I can’t stay. Think of Alyssa, Kat, Brady . . . Mitch, let me go.”
“Twenty seconds.”
A thin veil of ferocity glazed over the anguish in his eyes. The shadow of his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth. “He won’t take you from me again.” His voice sounded like a feral growl. “Keira, Kai, someone, give me something, goddammit.”
“Ten seconds.”
Mitch’s gaze jerked toward the door.
“Baby—” Halina started, but Mitch put his hand on the back of her head and pressed her face to his chest.
“No. No. No!” He screamed the last, the sound filled with so much pain, Halina winced. Her shell was cracking. “I won’t do it.”
“Time’s up,” Abernathy called, his voice carrying a new edge. “Send her out now.”
Someone put a hand on Mitch’s shoulder and pulled.
“Mitch,” Quaid said gently while Luke pried one of Mitch’s arms from around Halina’s back. “We’ll get her back, but we’ve got to send her out now.”
Halina went cold. She forced her mind black. Told herself this was inevitable. That he would find happiness. He would recover. But when she slipped out from beneath his arm, he broke free of the others and lunged for her.
His arm closed around her, his face pressed to the side of her head with a wrenched, “I love—”
An explosion from somewhere at the back of the house rocked the ground and tossed everyone to the floor. Smoke filled the space. Voices. Shouts. Halina looked up and found the roof spinning. Spotted the front door and crawled in that direction. She used the handle to pull herself up and managed to force the locks open.
Outside, Abernathy’s voice counted down to the next blast. “Eight, seven . . .”
She swung the door wide and lost her balance. Dex appeared at her side, ready to brave the night with her.
“Ya lyublyu tebya.” She leaned down for a quick hug and kiss. “Love you, sweet boy. Ostat’ sya.” She ordered him to stay.
“Five, four . . .”
Crisp, fresh air wafted over her. Her head swam.
“Halina!”
Mitch’s plea gave her the strength to push herself out the door and into the night.
Slipping on debris, choking on smoke, Mitch gathered his feet beneath him and pushed off the floor with his hands. He grabbed anything to balance and slumped his shoulder against the nearest wall.