Page 109 of Ignite

Rev motions our group forward. He tails me to the back doors of the abandoned building, where I swiftly pick the lock. We sweep inside, silent as death.

The earthy scent of moss hits me, patches of it growing over the crumbling interior walls. Voices below have our teams spreading out to surround the building along the upper level. When I peek my head over the railing of the platform, I spot a collection of large, tattooed men sitting around collapsible poker tables near the railways, Gabriel included.

Rev gives the signal and gunfire pops off like a fucking firework festival. Gabriel and his men reach for weapons, overturning tables in their scramble to take cover.

I pull the trigger on my rifle as one of the men rushes the platform stairs. He crumples to the ground, and my heart pounds faster in my chest from the adrenaline.

We have the element of surprise, flushing Gabriel’s gunmen out into the trainyard and right into the scopes of Rorik’s team. Snipers crack in the distance, a sound that brings me comfort.

No one is escaping today.

I spot Gabriel back-pedaling toward the dark interior of the station and chase after him. He blasts a couple of shots at me. I dart around a support column for cover, pushing out a slow breath as the tiles shatter and dust clouds the air.

My pulse is throbbing, and a grin curls on my lips. Everything inside of me screams to claim the kill. I am the hunter now.

I spin around the column, gun raised, but Gabriel’s gone. Rushing inside the station, I soon find myself staring into a pitch-black hole leading down into the earth, Gabriel’s footsteps echoing below.

The room begins to dissolve around me as my heart races. My messed up brain feeds me visions of my concrete prison. Visions of a man I know for a fact is dead.

There’s a twisted part of me that believes he got back up after I left that church. I thought I’d killed him once before. Maybe evil never truly dies.

Shit. I don’t want to go back into the dark. Am I really going to have a fucking panic attack right here?

Squatting down, I nestle my gun between my thighs and stomach as I go to war against my body’s overreaction to a stupid set of stairs.

“Baby, you there?” Cain’s voice comes over the comm piece in my ear. Other employees can hear us, but no one is going to harass the boss for supporting me during an operation. Pretty sure most of them know Cain’s got a soft spot for me. He doesn’t hesitate to claim me in public.

“I’m here. Gabriel’s in the basement.”

There’s a long pause, and all I can hear for several moments is my heart thudding too loud in my ears.

“You got eyes on him?” Rev asks.

“No,” I whisper, burning with shame. “But he’s not far ahead of me.”

He’s not far ahead, but I don’t think I can dothis.

“Ezra. No one will say a word if you’re at your limit. You’ve done enough,” Cain replies.

I shake my head. “I need to see him dead.”

“I’m right here with you. The moment you want out, we’ll all be racing to get to you, okay?”

A voice that sounds like Forest comes on the comm. “I’m very fast, Ezra. I’ll be there before you can blink.”

“We’ve got your back,” a rougher voice sounds, most likely Rorik.

“I’ll throw myself off this seven story building to get to you,” Isaac adds.

“I would walk five hundred miles—”

A half a dozen other voices start yelling in my ear, and I can’t help but release an exasperated laugh.

When they finally quiet down, Cain says, “Just keep taking deep breaths, baby. You’ve trained so hard for this. We all have faith in you.”

With Cain as my guide, I suck in a big gulp of earthy air. Over and over and over again, I breathe. Soon my heart settles back into a rhythm that doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode my chest. My vision sharpens, and my boot finds the first stair, prompted by Cain’s patient instructions.

Three more stairs, and the desire to put Gabriel and his crimes to rest becomes stronger than my fears. I’ve come so far in such little time, it only encourages me to push myself harder.