Page 159 of Hurt

“You know what a dead man’s switch is, Weaver?” he said with unrestrained glee. “If I let go of this detonator, we all die.”

Kurt saw Grant pause. He didn’t want to stop. He wanted to grab Ezra. Damn the consequences.

Grant’s head twitched, and he looked up past Kurt’s shoulder at something. “No, stand down.”

Ezra looked around him in a panic. “Tell your snipers to back off!”

No doubt Jamie had Ezra in his crosshairs the moment Ezra dragged him out onto the balcony.

When Ezra heard the alarms going off, he panicked. It had been satisfying to see. The acrid smoke clinging to Kurt’s tongue had been like the taste of victory. The Catacombs were burning. He would have laughed if he could.

In his panic, Ezra had run to a box under his bed. Pulling it out, he referenced a notebook and enabled the switch he currently held in his hand. His eyes were wild with a look Kurt had never seen before.

“You see that box in the ceiling?” he asked, gesturing to a box with a red LED light built into the juncture of the wall and ceiling. “Every room in the compound has enough Amex in it to make a new Grand Canyon.”

“You’ll kill yourself with us,” Grant pointed out angrily.

He was looking at Ezra, but his attention was on Kurt. Fingers twitching, he was itching to reach out and touch him. Kurt wanted to touch him, too.

He wanted to feel that touch again. Feel it without fear. Have Grant hold him with those bloody hands and clean him of all his sins.

“You think I care?” Ezra’s voice rose in pitch. “I’ll kill every last one of us. Including your precious little toy.” He jerked the wire hard enough that it cut into Kurt.

“Get your hands off him.” Grant’s voice was calm and even, low with confidence.

Ezra cackled maniacally. “No, I don’t think I will.”

Stiffly, Kurt turned his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that a crowd had gathered. There must be a hundred people standing with their faces upturned to see what was going on. In the crowd, he could pick out Noah and Willow.

They were standing next to each other. Roland was holding onto Willow and Noah, keeping them from rushing the building. There was no way they could hear what was going on—they had no idea Ezra was holding all their lives in his hand. To them, it looked like Grant was unable to get to Kurt, and they were more than willing to try.

What would happen if they broke free of Roland’s grip? Would they rush up here and spook Ezra into dropping the trigger?

“What exactly do you want?”

Ezra shook the black detonator. “My life, obviously. I want to walk out of here unharmed. And I’m going to take him with me.” He tugged Kurt closer. “Call it an insurance policy.”

Grant smiled so that his canines showed. Less a smile and more a snarl. “If you think there is any scenario where you walk out of here alive then you’re delusional.”

“You’re not in any position to—”

“Every second your hands are on him is another second. I have to plan unique and horrible ways to kill you.”

Ezra was finally silenced. Something clicked in his mind, and he realized he was not getting out of this situation alive. It wasn’t the hundreds of people surrounding him so much as it was the look in Grant’s eyes.

His hands began to tremble, and his eyes darted in all directions like an exit would suddenly open, and he would be able to escape.

Like all narcissists, Ezra never believed this could happen to him. He believed he was untouchable in his bunker in the desert. Hiding behind walls and power, he never imagined a scenario where there would be no options left. Even when he was completely surrounded, he couldn’t bring himself to accept that he had lost. His pride would not allow him to beg for mercy, and he was too afraid to die with dignity.

Kurt knew all too well what it felt like to be cornered, and he recognized the look in Ezra’s eyes.

“Don’t you fucking know who I am?” he screeched.

“If you let Kurt go and give me the trigger, I promise you a painless death.”

Kurt could see the toll the promise took on Grant. His face was twisted as if he was in physical pain.

Grant would put aside his revenge, his personal vendetta against the man that had torched his home and killed his people, for Kurt.