Page 50

“No, Brad’s tough,” I said, fighting the growing weight in my chest. “Which door? Trapdoor or stairs?”

“No, you don’t understand—”

“Which door, Lana?” I shouted.

She pointed to the stairs.

I bolted up them and wrenched open the metal blast door.

Waves of heat rolled over me, singeing my eyes. Angry white flames clawed at my face, forced me back, coughing. Shielding my face, I stumbled back down the stairs as smoke billowed down from above.Brad, no...

He’d walked right into a burning house, right into a blast furnace... he must not have realized we were facing a fire-breathing demon.

I pictured him passed out from the fumes, skin bubbling and melting off his face, frozen mid-scream. Dead.

My brother was dead.

Before it could sink in, a crack formed in the concrete above me, the sound hitting my ears like a whip. Pebbles broke loose from the ceiling and pelted the floor.

As I stared, too numb to react, the crack widened, exposing glowing rods of rebar deforming in the blackened concrete. A red-hot fragment landed on the couch and sizzled a hole in the leather, sputtering up wisps of smoke.

If I didn’t leave now, I would end up dead too.

Lana seemed to realize this. Her gaze fell to the bars of her cage, and a deep sadness welled in her eyes. She assumed I was going to leave her to burn to death.

By now, wisps of smoke hissed through cracks in the ceiling, burning my lungs. The ceiling groaned and lurched an inch downward, blasting out more dust and debris. Inside the cage, the ceiling caved in over Lana in an avalanche of sizzling shards, which rained down around her. She shrieked and swatted the cinders out of her hair, scrambling back into the corner, where she let out a pathetic cough.

It was now or never.

She was too valuable a prisoner to leave behind.

I threw down the M4 and dangled the keys in front of the bars. “I let you out, swear to me you’ll cooperate.”

“I’m not afraid to die,” she said defiantly.

“Yes, you are,” I growled. “Every living organism fears death. Swear to me you’ll cooperate... and I’ll let you out.”

She shook her head, an ashy tear rolling down her cheek. “I can’t, you know I can’t... I’m an Infernarus.”

“Good enough.” I fumbled with the key and jabbed it at the lock—

With a hideous moan, the ceiling began to collapse.

Still intact, a huge slab swung down and crushed her cage, forming a lean-to against the floor above. My breath escaped in defeat. Fire poured into the basement, driving me back and tripping me onto my ass. The keys slid into the rubble.

Too late.

The concrete had just sealed her in her tomb. She was trapped behind that slab. If she wasn’t already dead, the inpouring smoke would asphyxiate her, and her body would slowly smolder away as the rubble around her became superheated.

My heart felt heavy, for no reason I could think of other than her death seemed like a loss.

Fucking demons. That was what happened when you sent your biggest, baddest warrior to do a valuable hostage extraction—you lost the hostage.

Crouching above me, the demon peered down at me over the wreckage he had caused and smirked. “Look me in the eyes, Jame Asher,” his voice slithered like a snake, “so you can know the face of the Infernarus that ended you.”

Still lying on my back, I drew my Glock and fired at his head. The gun bucked in my hands.

Red welts appeared in his cheek, and instantly healed over.