"Yep," Quinn said with a wry smile. "This is not the place you want to be right now."
I didn't ask if he could defuse it. If he could, he would have. Neither of us had ever used bombs. Nor had Evelyn or Jack, so there was no use contacting them.
"I'm going to get help," I said.
"If you can, yeah. If you can't . . ." He shrugged. "I'm the idiot who stepped into a trap."
"I'm going to get help."
The smile returned, still crooked, but his eyes lighting with it as he stepped toward the hole. "Thank you. For trying. I know I've been a bit of an ass. Okay, more than a bit. I'm having a hard time with . . . If it was anyone else . . ." He straightened. "The point is that I appreciate that you haven't cut me loose. I've given you plenty of reason. Coming after me like this? Honestly, I wouldn't have expected it."
"Then you're an idiot."
"Yeah, someone may have told me that before. But I do appreciate it. Whatever happens. And if something does happen, I just want to say--"
"Dee!" Evelyn said through the earpiece, loud enough that Quinn must have caught the buzz of it and stopped. "Out now!"
"I--"
"No. Now. Jack wants you out."
"There's C4 rigged--"
"And that'd probably be the reason."
I turned to Quinn. "You need to take cover." I looked around the room, thinking how pointless that was.
"Got it," he said. "Now go."
"You--"
"Go, Nadia."
He reached through the hole to give me a shove. I caught his hand and squeezed it.
"Dee!" Evelyn said. "Tell me you're running your ass off right now. Jack just sent a third--"
"Gone," I said, gave Quinn's hand one last squeeze and then turned and ran. I made it to the end of the hall when Quinn shouted, "Nadia! Down!" and I dove, hitting the floor as the building exploded.
16 - Jack
The car didn't go fast enough. It just didn't. Jack flattened the pedal, not giving a shit if he brought a squadron of police cars in his wake. He didn't see any until
he reached the scene--police, ambulances, fire trucks, all pulling up in front of the building.
When he first spotted the building, there was a moment when he thought Cillian had tricked him. That Jack had seen some prerecorded image. Because despite the emergency vehicles, the building seemed fine.
The building was not fine.
It might not be a pile of dusty rubble, but it was as if someone carved out the middle, the remaining outer walls tottering around nothing.
He'd lost contact with Evelyn after the explosion. He didn't want to think what that meant. As he roared up, though, he saw her, stepping from behind a vehicle to flag him down.
She waved him to a spot around the corner, away from the knot of first responders. As he flew out of the car, he could see she was covered in dust and hobbling. Blood dripped from a cut on her cheek.
"You okay?"
"A fucking building didn't fall on me, Jack. Right now, that means I'm fine."