I look around, seeing the destruction, broken glass covering every surface I look at, and when my gaze lands on Kitty, she reaches down to the floor and picks something up before frowning at it.
“He knew we were coming,” Ty says, keeping his gun in front of him as sirens sound around us. “We gotta go.” He looks at me. “You good?”
I take stock of how I’m feeling; my chest hurts but it’s only because of the desk that landed on me, and when I take a step forward, my gait confident, I know I’m okay.
“I’m good.”
“Let’s go.”
We follow his lead as he runs out of the room and down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. Kitty follows him, Evan behind her and me behind Evan with Daley bringing up the rear.
We make it to the bottom floor just as flashing lights start to shine through the windows, and when Ty tilts his head toward the back, none of us question him and follow.
We slide out the back door and into an alley, the lights illuminating the street, but we can see our SUVs from here.
“Kitty, you drive Luke’s car. Count of three and dash for them.” He looks at all of us in turn. “Three, two, one.”
We all run, and even though my chest heaves and a pain rushes through me at the force, I don’t stop. I keep my gaze fixed to the car before pulling open the first door I see and throwing myself inside with Daley leaping in behind me.
It’s not two seconds before the engine is running and Kitty is squealing away from the curb.
I stay down for a minute before sitting up and watching as Evan turns left before Kitty swings us right. My ears ring, the noise not disappearing even though we’re out of the building.
“What the hell happened?” Daley asks.
“He had a bomb planted,” I growl out. “He knew we were coming.”
“Fuck!” he shouts. “He knew I was here.” He slams his fist into the back of the passenger seat over and over, not letting up, his face contorting into a mixture of pure rage and terror.
“We’ll get him,” I say. “We just need to regroup.”
He doesn’t say anything, instead he throws one final punch into the back of the seat and leans back before closing his eyes.
We’re silent the rest of the drive, and I know we’re all trying to piece everything together. The last couple of months have been up and down—no straight lines—and I can’t think clear enough to connect all the dots.
Kitty pulls into the compound, the brakes squealing as she slams them down. Her body rigid as she jumps out and opens the back door before watching me as I get out.
Daley follows and we all walk to where Evan and Ty are standing outside his cabin. We're silent as we make our way into his safe room and sit around the table.
“You said you know what he looks like,” Ty starts, standing over Daley. “You need to show us. This is fuckin’ personal and I’m not lettin’ this shit go.”
Daley nods, pulling his cell out, but when Kitty stands up and slams a piece of paper on the table, we all look at her.
“How long?” she asks, but I have no idea what she’s talking about and neither does anyone else from the confused looks on their faces. “How long did you know he was up to something?”
“What—”
“You know.” She laughs and crosses her arms over her chest. “I knew you were keeping something from me; the secret meetings, the shared looks, but Jesus, I never thought you’d keep me out of the loop on something this important.”
“What the hell you talkin’ about?” Ty growls, his brows coming low over his eyes.
“Is that what you were doing?” She points at me. “Investigating him.”
“Who? Darrell?”
She shrugs and holds both hands up, palms facing the ceiling. “Dean… Darrell.” Tilting my head to the side, I watch her carefully, trying to decipher what she’s saying. “You don’t think I thought it was weird for Dean to turn up and stick around? You don’t think I’ve been following and keeping tabs on him too?”
“I have no—”