Ajay swallowed. “Look, can I talk to Kitty? We can clear this up.”
“Kitty’s been arrested by MI6,” Bennett said. “She’ll be interrogated.”
“No.No.” Ajay frowned, reaching for the backpack strap. “This is getting hot.”
“What?” Bennett said.
“It’s burning.” The younger man scrabbled to take the pack off.
Bennett’s instincts screamed. He leaped at Hadley, tackling her to the ground.
Boom.
Heat washed over them. He heard Hadley cry out, felt objects pepper his back.
Old memories of other explosions pressed in on him. Bennett covered Hadley. He had to protect her. He had to keep her safe. He wouldn’t let her be ripped apart.
Then pain exploded in his head and blackness engulfed him.
* * *
Oh.Fuck.
Hadley’s ears were ringing and Bennett’s heavy weight crushed her into the rough, cobblestone street. Her palms stung from where they’d scraped on the ground, and she felt a burning sting on her left thigh.
Bomb.
Oh, hell. She turned her head and swallowed hard at the sight of smoking rubble.
She also saw something fleshy nearby and realized it was part of an arm.
Bile filled her mouth.Poor, foolish Ajay.
“Bennett?” She could hear shouts and screams in the distance, but everything was still a bit fuzzy.
That’s when she realized Bennett was a dead weight; he wasn’t moving.
“Bennett!” Her voice rose. Raw terror gripped her. A terror like she’d never felt before. “Bennett.”
How badly was he hurt? Images raced through her—of his body torn up, of him bleeding to death.
She tried to move, but he was too heavy.
“Bennett, wake up and talk to me, dammit!”
She heard a groan, and she’d never heard a better sound. “Wake up, darling. You’re squishing me.”
“Hadley?” His voice sounded like gravel.
“That’s right,” she said.
“Hadley!” another deep male voice barked.
She saw Bram crouch down beside them.
“Help Bennett up,” she said. “I’m fine.”
Bennett’s weight lifted off her and her lungs filled with oxygen. She sat up. Bennett was sitting beside her, his face dazed, one knee bent and the other out straight. His shirt was smeared with soot and dirt, and his hair was mussed. He had a scrape on his cheekbone, and a smear of blood at his temple.