CHAPTER29
Colby
My heart was racing as we ran from alley to alley, stopping only long enough to search behind debris.
“Wish I knew what we’re fucking looking for,” Arsen growled.
I knew how he felt. Knowing they sent it with food shipments sounded like good intel when we’d said it, but now actually finding it was another story. This thing could look like anything. A garbage can. A pail. It could be inside of a box. Not knowing anything about it was frustrating. What was most terrifying was not knowing how long we had. There were so many people milling around the marketplace out on the main street. The sheer number of people who’d be hurt, or killed, made my heart seize in my chest.
A crackle split the air and I looked over at Arsen. He held the radio up.
“Found it,” Rafe’s voice came over the radio. I licked my dry lips, nerves and anticipation coiling in my stomach. “East alleyway, closest to the entrance.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but Arsen knew. He took my hand and bolted. I had to double time it to keep up with his long legs. The backpack bounced against my back with each step.
My lungs were burning by the time we found the others. We were the last to arrive. I shoved my way through them, only to be stopped when Rafe grabbed my wrist.
Turning my head, I looked at him. “I have to go, Rafe.”
He looked tortured. The idea of letting me walk up to a dirty bomb was killing him. It made my anger at him from before completely melt away.
I moved over to him, increasingly aware of how little time we probably had, but needing to comfort him. We’d been at odds for days now and even though he’d agreed to my terms, we hadn’t fully fixed things. If these were going to be my last moments, I didn’t want anger to be the last thing we remembered. I cupped his cheek. “This is my job,” I told him, voice soft. “Trust me to do it.”
“I’ll go and you walk me through it.” Those anguished silver eyes locked onto mine.
My smile was bright. As much as Rafe could be a controlling asshole, he could also be sweet. He always seemed to be protecting me. “It’d take too long. Besides, we both know that the blast radius is too big for me to escape now.”
“I’m going with you,” he insisted.
“Us, too,” Sig said.
I looked around at them, then nodded. I knew there was no way I’d keep them away and frankly there wasn’t time to try. “Maybe everyone else should clear out?” I suggested.
“And go where?” Brandon said. “We’ll stay here.”
Not wanting to waste time arguing, I pulled my arm from Rafe’s grip and as a unified group, we stepped over to the end of the alleyway. The opening was closest to the market. Whoever had dropped it off clearly hadn’t wanted to venture farther into the city and had left it here. That meant at least it wasn’t set up to do maximum damage. It would still do a lot.
I tipped the box that was sitting over top of the IED and hissed out a breath.
“It looks huge,” Arsen commented. Leave it to him to say that as calmly as if we were discussing something innocent.
Itwashuge. I scanned it from top to bottom and it only got worse. The sheer amount of duct tape and wires made my head spin. “Fuck,” I coughed out.
“What?” All six men asked in unison.
“This thing is a haphazard mess. Roj is supposed to be a professional. This thing was strung together in a hurry. We’re lucky it didn’t go off enroute to here. One loud fart could set this thing off.”
The men chuckled at that, but everyone sounded as nervous as I felt.
“Roj knew we were closing in on him. He must have built it right after he got a hold of the bio crap,” Rafe said.
“Yeah, when his little hit squad didn’t come back he must have panicked,” Sig replied in agreement.
“Guys,” I interrupted. “It's bad enough that he rushed this thing, I don’t need your chit chat right now.”
There were choruses of cursing. “How long do we have?” one of the guys from Brandon’s team asked.
I looked down and groaned. “Five minutes.” My heart leapt into my throat. I was a tester of bombs and IEDs. This was what I was meant to do. I’d trained for every worst case scenario. Still, five minutes wasn’t a lot of time.