Chapter 68

SIXTY-EIGHT

AMETHYST

I freeze, my eyes widening as beams of red light target my chest. Before I can even register the ambush, Xero shoves me down. I hit the rug with his larger body crushing mine, then my ears ring with the roar of automated gunfire.

My heart thrashes. All the air escapes my lungs. Bullets fly from wall to wall, and Xero flinches.

On instinct, I rear up, but he presses my head into the carpet. “Stay down.”

My breath shallows. “Xero, you’re hurt.”

He tenses, but neither confirms nor denies. His breath is hot against my neck, making me shiver. I can’t tell if it’s out of pressure or pain, but we can’t continue to lie here, exposed.

Staring out into the dark, I eye the room for shelter or escape. The bed lies a few feet ahead. Its mattress is the only thing that isn’t exploding. I elbow Xero in the ribs and yell, “Hide under there.”

“I’m not leaving you exposed,” he snarls.

Desperation fuels my next words. “Then we move together. Under the bed, now!”

With a grunt, he crawls across the floor, covering every inch of my body like a shield. Bullets whizz past, embedding into the wall and nightstand. We make it to the bed just as a round hits the nearby rug.

“Did you think you could break into my house, assholes?” A female voice sounds over the speakers.

Her words trigger a slew of fresh memories, making every fine hair on my body stand on end. It’s the bitch who came to my bedroom every night, telling me to kill my baby brother. Some days, she’d appear as a wraith. Others, a disembodied voice.

Once again, Charlotte has gotten the upper hand.

“Ignore her,” Xero rumbles, shoving me further under the bed. I close my eyes, trying to shut her out, but the memories keep coming more vividly than a dream.

One time, she sat on my chest, crushing my lungs until I passed out. When I woke up the next morning, my mind was filled with images of her pale face, her blood-spattered gown, her red fingers. Mom looked around my room and told me it was a nightmare, but I could still feel the lingering pressure on my ribs.

Another voice fills the Bluetooth in my ear. It’s Tyler’s and he sounds urgent. “Shutters just fell across every door and window in the building. What’s happening?”

“Charlotte’s placed us in lockdown,” Xero snarls. “She’s in a panic room, attacking us with remote-controlled weapons.”

“We turned the power off. She might have a generator.” Tyler replies.

“Or she’s siphoning power from a neighbor like a parasite,” I say, remembering how Charlotte used to cozy up with Dad when Mom was upstairs resting.

Xero snorts. “If you can’t shut her down, we’ll expire long before she runs out of ammunition.”

Bullets pierce the mattress and hit the metal bed frame. How the hell can anyone be so calm when we’re stuck in a killing room? Xero might be protecting me, but how long will his armor continue to protect him?

“Give me a few minutes. Let me override the lockdown,” Tyler says.

“No time. Activate the EMP.”

“But that will fry our tech,” Tyler says.

“Then protect as much of it as you can. Start the countdown.” Xero plucks my night vision goggles off my head, along with the attached Bluetooth, and pulls the comms device from my jacket. “Stick these in your left pocket. It’s the only one that’s shielded.”

With trembling fingers, I do as I’m told and place a hand over that pocket for extra protection. Xero shifts on top of me, moving his devices. Seconds later, my ears fill with a high-pitched ringing, and then the bullets stop.

We slump at the sudden stillness, both releasing identical exhales. The next few heartbeats stretch out like minutes. Our breathing synchronizes, and the butterflies in my chest flutter. Knowing he would sacrifice his life to save mine does strange things to my heart.

When he rolls off my back with a soft grunt, I already miss his comforting weight.

“Are you okay?” I whisper, patting him down for wounds.

He catches my hand, his touch infusing me with a jolt of electricity, and brings my knuckles to his lips. “I’m fine.”

“But you flinched.”

“My armor absorbed the bullet, but not the impact. How are you holding up?”

I gulp. My heart is racing, I can barely breathe, but I’m not about to add to his worries. “This is still less terrifying than my last memory of Charlotte. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Worried about me?” he asks, his voice lightening. I don’t need the night vision goggles to tell that he’s smirking.

Heat rises to my cheeks. The fear of losing him was a knot in my chest, tightening with every flying bullet. “Of course, I worry. Who else would keep me warm at night?”

He leans in, pressing a quick kiss to my lips. The contact is brief, but it leaves me breathless, sending a flush of sensation low in my belly.

“Let’s capture Charlotte. Then I’ll keep you warm all night long.”

Heat spreads to my core, awakening parts of me I thought were long dead. The muffled sound of crashing has me jolting back to the present, and I crawl out from under the bed and slip on my night vision goggles.

Charlotte’s room is a mess of bullet holes and debris. The rug we lay on now has a hole in its middle and the mattress we hid beneath is cratered. I glance at the metal door leading to her panic room, which is unsurprisingly intact.

“What are we going to do?” I ask.

Xero reaches into his backpack and pulls out an ax. It’s a lightweight, titanium model with an edge that looks sharp enough to split a hair.

“We’re going to get her out,” he snarls, the resolve in his voice sending a thrill down my spine.

“What if she’s armed?”

He flashes me a grin. “I have you to watch my back.”

Before I can react, he moves to the door and swings the ax. I unholster the pistol with trembling fingers, wondering if his confidence in me is misplaced. I’m about to confront a demon of my past.

What if I freeze?

Xero hacks at the door with the ax like he’s auditioning for a part in The Shining, and I ready the gun. The moment he penetrates the metal, I’ll be there to shoot Charlotte before she has the chance to retaliate.

I adjust my goggles, letting the Bluetooth slip back in my ear. The volume is quiet, but Tyler’s voice screams through the headset, “She’s escaped! There’s a convoy of trucks approaching. Evacuate, evacuate!”

Alarm kicks me in the gut, sending my pulse ratcheting up to a hundred. “Xero, we need to go. Charlotte’s already left.”

He whirls around. “What?”

“Camila’s giving chase,” Jynxson’s voice resounds through the device.

“Fuck!” Xero rushes to the door leading to the hallway, attacking it with frenzied swipes of the ax. The metal buckles under his furious assault, leaving massive dents.

Three swings later, the door crashes onto the floor, and we rush through the hallway and down the stairs. Shutters cover every opening, enclosing us in the dark. We continue down to the basement, toward a vent leading to the sewer, when Xero’s feet skid.

“Change of plan,” he snarls.

“Why?” I peek out behind him.

Lurking on the floor is a device the size of a cell phone, flashing with a countdown from 49 seconds.

My heart skips a beat, fear clawing at my insides. “Is that a?—”

“An explosive she activated when evacuating the house?” he growls.

“Shit.”

Xero grabs my arm and spins me around, sending me racing ahead back up the stairs.

“Head for the front door. Now!” he roars.

Panic punches me in the chest, propelling my movements. I thunder up the steps to the ground floor. Xero barks orders at Tyler, who says something about the EMP blast taking out the remote-control bomb he planted around the perimeter.

We’re trapped. Trapped in a house about to explode. Xero will die, never reaching his goal, and Dolly, Charlotte, and Delta will go unpunished.

We reach the front door, and my last hope shatters as Xero’s ax fails to make a dent. Cursing, he rushes into the living room to hack at the window shutters.

I stand in the hallway, paralyzed by terror. My skin breaks out in a cold sweat. We have less than thirty seconds left before that bomb detonates.

“Tyler,” I stutter into the Bluetooth. “Can one of your team fly over a grenade?”

“Affirmative. Stand back from the front door. Drone incoming. Ten… Nine… Eight.”

“Amethyst!” Xero charges out of the room, scoops me off my feet, dives into the kitchen, and slams me against the wall. His large body covers mine completely, a solid shield against the impending explosion. His breath is hot and ragged against my ear, mingling with the acrid scent of gunfire and fear.

“Four… Three… Two…”

An explosion rips through the house with a deafening boom. Debris flies from the walls as a shockwave rattles the floor. Plaster and dust rain down on us like it’s Armageddon.

As I’m reeling from the impact, Xero picks me up again and launches us both through the smoky hole. The night air hits me like a punch, but I barely have time to register the change in atmosphere before we’re moving again.

Xero picks up speed, clinging to me like his life depends on it. We race down the street, passing houses, trees, and cars that whip by in a dizzying frenzy. My heart pounds so hard in my ears that it muffles the second explosion.

Fire brightens the sky, followed by a gust of heat that knocks Xero off his feet. He dives behind a truck, cradling me so tightly that I’m at risk of suffocating before the bomb can do its work. My breaths come in shallow gasps, my heart hammering a furious rhythm against my ribs.

Sirens blare. People scream. Car alarms ring. The toxic stench of smoke fills the air. A vehicle screeches toward us in reverse. Its back door swings open, revealing Jynxson.

“Get in!” he shouts from the driver’s seat, his face illuminated by the horrifying glow of the fire.

Xero rises on shaky legs and tosses me into the vehicle, climbing in as the tires screech away from the scene.

He grabs me by the throat, his grip tight but not threatening. “Amethyst,” he snarls through gritted teeth, scanning my face with frantic eyes. “Never do that again.”

But I saved us, didn’t I?

My lips part with a protest, but he silences me with a kiss.