Page 120 of Ashes

I faced Barrera again and our gazes locked. A thousand unspoken words swarmed the space between us.

Four years of unanswered questions. Four years of frustrating dead ends. Four years of built-up anger waiting to be spilled into retribution.

But all of that washed away when one question screamed the loudest.

Love or revenge?

The last few years of my life had been dedicated to seeking justice for what had happened to my parents. The answer to that question had been theonlything of importance.

Revenge had been the only thing on my mind.

But none of that mattered anymore because now there was only one choice.

Love.

So I let the man who robbed me of my parents get into the back seat of his car and watched him speed away.

I spun around and broke into a sprint with my gun in hand. My free hand reached for the door when the windows of the warehouse exploded and I was blown backward into the air.

The impact of my back slamming against the hard concrete ground knocked the wind out of my lungs. My head whipped back, my skull reverberating from the contact with the floor.

An incessant ringing filled my hearing as the sky above me trickled with ashes.

The smell of metal and burning flesh filled my nose and I was transported back to twenty years ago. The paralyzing memory overtook my senses.

Wa Mama… Baba… Finkoum?

Panic began to set in, anchoring me to the ground, but the image of my wife, of my Sienna, shattered it in an instant. My eyes fell shut and my body screamed for me to stay put, but I was running out of time.

I forced my eyelids open to find a hot and sticky world rushing in, a cloudy haze blanketing my vision. I rolled to my side, my back groaning in agony.

I have to find her. I have to get to her, I repeatedly told myself as I pushed myself up. But once I was on my feet, I realized that the task of getting her out wasn’t going to be so simple.

My limbs were unsteady as I walked inside, thesuffocating air making it difficult to breathe. My head spun and after taking a few steps forward, I found myself on my hands and knees.

I tried to breathe and let it pass, but the smoke overpowering the air made it difficult.

You can’t save your wife if you’re dead, Jamal, my conscience screamed.Get up.

The desperate need to find Sienna summoned every strength I had and I got up again. The dizziness hadn’t subsided, but I didn’t care. Iwouldget her out of here even if it meant sacrificing myself.

I could hear the faint sound of sirens wailing in the background. They would be here any minute now and I needed to find Sienna before they came.

“Sienna!” I screamed, walking around scattered debris and keeping low to avoid the dense smoke. I kept yelling her name, hoping she’d show any signs of life, but the more I looked around, the more I felt a sense of doom that I wouldn’t find her.

I shoved the sentiment away and continued my search, moving to the back of the crumbling warehouse until…

Terror buckled my knees at the sight in front of me.

A form tangled with a chair lying utterly still, fire closing in on her.

No…

Distress surged through me, extinguishing any fear of the blazing wall separating us, and fueled my steps towardher. I went around it, finding a small pathway that wasn’t ignited, and rushed over to her.

I crouched next to her and made quick work to untie her wrists and ankles, freeing them. Once I got them loose, I kicked the chair off her and scooped her in my arms.

Then, with my back to the flames, I beelined for the exit. I heard the sound of something collapsing, a loud thud resonating in the air, but I didn’t look back to see what it was.