Devour (Unbreakable Bonds 4)

“Lucas Vallois isn’t going to survive the ride to the hospital!” Jagger roared, his tight control over his emotions slipping. Rage flushed his pasty face bright red and spit clung to his lips. He sucked in a deep breath and swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “And after I kill you, Frost and Ward are going to be useless. It’ll be easy to pick them off.”

Ian clenched his teeth, swallowing back the wave of panic that threatened to consume him. A cold sweat broke out across his skin, chilling him to the bone. He wouldn’t let himself believe Jagger’s words. Snow was working on Lucas even now, doing everything possible to save their friend’s life. He didn’t care so much about his own life in that moment as he stared down the black muzzle of Jagger’s gun. He didn’t want Hollis to die. He didn’t want Rowe and Snow to lose more than they already had.

“No,” Ian whispered fiercely as his throat threatened to close up.

“And when you’re all dead, I’ll slip right out of town and set up my business in a more hospitable location.”

Ian’s vision blurred as he blinked back tears. Boris Jagger couldn’t be allowed to continue. He couldn’t touch another child, damage another life.

“But first, let’s go for a walk.” He waved the gun twice, motioning for them to turn and walk toward the entrance of the cave.

Ian chewed on his lower lip as they slowly walked across the room. Hollis had pulled him in front, using his own larger body to block Ian from the gun if Jagger decided to suddenly shoot them in the back. But it was a safe guess that Jagger was going to wait until they were in the cave. It looked to be at one of the farthest sections of the building. It was probably also the hiding place of his damn jammer so Rowe couldn’t overhear their conversation. How much time had passed since they’d left the rotunda? Had it been only five minutes? Maybe ten? He needed to think of a way to stall, to buy them a little time until Rowe could sneak up on Jagger.

With a shaking hand, Ian tried three times to unhook the red velvet rope that was barring their entrance to the faux cave. The lights were turned on for the interior of the cave, but it had been marked off limits for the party. He dropped the rope, letting the metal hook clatter against the floor then looked around Hollis to see Jagger motion for them to continue into the cave.

The entrance to the cave was actually an overlook with a glass barrier. The walkway allowed you to look down into the cave that glowed with warm orange light that accented stalagmites rising up from the floor more than a dozen feet below and stalactites hanging down from the ceiling high above them. If he’d been standing there with Rowe or Mel, he might have been able to find beauty in the reproduction, but Jagger was marching them to their deaths. It was like willingly stepping into the mouth of a great monster.

In the distance, he could hear the sound of steadily falling water hitting stone several feet below. The wet pounding echoed throughout the cave, masking any sounds that might be coming from the rest of the museum. He blinked hard, forcing his mind back from the woods and that vast emptiness. No one there to help him.

Pushing the thought aside, Ian scanned the area, searching for some escape or opportunity. The entrance into the cave split, with a walkway providing an overlook onto the ground floor of the cave veering off to the left while the right offered a narrow staircase down to the floor of the cave. There was nothing in the walkway that he could use as a weapon—no chair or fire extinguisher. Nothing. He—

Hollis suddenly ripped his hand free from Ian’s and shoved him hard to the side. Knocked completely off balance, Ian went down hard. His knee slammed into the smooth concrete floor half a second before his head hit the wall. Stars exploded in front of his eyes as everything went white. Above the sound of falling water, he could hear the low grunts and solid thuds of fists on flesh. Ian blinked, dazed but fighting to clear his double vision so he could help Hollis as he struggled with Jagger.

Moving to his hands and knees, Ian turned in time to see Hollis and Jagger locked together as they tumbled backward down the stairs. Their combined weight took them through the plate-glass barrier and over the side of the stairs to hit the stone floor in a shower of glass shards. The impact knocked loud grunts out of them.

Ian crawled over to the edge of the overlook, fighting back the feeling of vertigo as the room shifted and swayed. Pain shot through his temple where he’d hit the wall and through his knees still healing from where he’d crawled through glass. Beneath him, he could see Jagger staggering to his feet first. Standing over Hollis, he delivered a series of brutal kicks to Hollis’s stomach. Hollis tried to curl up into a ball to protect himself, but Jagger then shifted and kicked his head.