But fear and rage.

Chapter 7

GET HIM OUT OF THERE!”

Sarah coughed.

“Bring the bastard—the fire is spreading too much!”

She cracked open her eyes. She was . . . moving? Yes, and she was upside down. Slung over someone’s shoulder. Smoke was all around her and Sarah coughed, choking.

“It’s okay, Doc,” a man told her. He was the one carrying her like she was a sack of potatoes and running fast—so fast through that smoke. “We’re taking care of you.”

Another coughing fit racked her body, and Sarah realized that she hurt. Her body ached in about a dozen different places because . . .

Her memory came flooding back. “F-Fire!”

They burst out of the alley. She could hear the sound of fire trucks, and when she turned her head, she saw the flash of their lights. The firefighters always responded so fast in this city—because a fire could spread too easily on these streets. The buildings were positioned right next to each other and a fire could jump from one location to another—this fire was already spreading!

She pushed against the guy’s back, trying to see more.

“Easy, easy . . .” he told her, and then Sarah’s world spun as he lifted her up and sat her down on the sidewalk—the sidewalk across the street from that blaze. “Let me check you out.”

She looked up and found herself staring into the dark gaze of a man who had a long, slashing scar over his left eye. Carlos.

“Don’t be scared,” he said. Carlos was huge—a giant and currently covered in ash, just like she was. “Jax sent me to take care of you.”

She heard a groan and turned her head to the left. Two other men were there—big guys with lots of tats who’d just lowered Wade onto the sidewalk.

A fire truck roared up the street. Another followed close behind. The wail of those sirens was so loud that her ears ached. She wanted to lift her hands and slap them over her ears, but Sarah found she could hardly move at all.

Then those men—all three of them, closed in around her. Sarah stared up at them, a tendril of fear snaking through her. What was happening?

Carlos smiled at her. “Don’t you worry. No one is gonna hurt you again.”

They were . . . guarding her. And Wade.

“Jax,” she said, her voice coming out like a croak. Probably because of all the smoke. She coughed, cleared her throat, and tried again. “Jax—he sent you?”

Because he’d told her that his men were coming.

“He’s on his way,” Carlos said. “And you’re safe.”

But she almost hadn’t been. Wade started coughing and she focused on him again. He’d been pulling open that door. If Jax hadn’t called and told her to get away . . .

She and Wade would have gone into that building. Then they would have been the ones blown to bits.

This doesn’t make sense! We were just looking for the girl.

But the girl had only been bait, to lure them in. Sarah stared over at those flames. The firefighters were on scene then, shouting orders and spraying water at the blaze. Had Molly Guthrie been in that building? Was she burning right then?

“They need to know . . .” She coughed again. “ . . . that a victim . . . could be inside.”

The men looked at each other. Carlos nodded. “Tell the cops.” A fellow with a long, twisting tiger tattoo around his left hand nodded, and he ran toward the cop cars that had just braked to a screeching stop a few feet away.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Carlos asked her, his voice a low growl.

She had plenty of bruises and scrapes, but nothing that wouldn’t heal on its own. “I’m all right.”

“What about him?” Carlos asked, jerking his thumb toward Wade. Wade was sitting up now, but his shoulders were hunched.

“He’s . . .” Wade managed, “fine.” Wade’s head tilted back and his golden stare met hers. “What in the hell happened?”

She glanced over at the burning building. “He tried to kill us.” And she’d bet a month’s pay that the man they were after had been watching them on those video cameras. Waiting to draw them in. To get closer and closer. He’d locked the front entrance, making sure they’d have to go in through the back. And that was where he’d rigged the explosives. Open that door and—boom.

“How did he know we’d even get here? That we’d . . . find her?” Wade asked.

“Because he knows us.” He knows me. That knowledge terrified her.

She couldn’t stop looking at those flames. So big, streaking up toward the sky. Red and orange. The firefighters were trying to stop that blaze from spreading, but the fire was so greedy.

Another car braked to a stop. A Benz. It was just steps away. The passenger side door opened and—

“Sarah!” Jax shouted her name.

“She’s here, boss!” Carlos called back.

Jax’s head whipped toward them. Then he was running toward her. Hs face was locked in tense, angry lines. He sure is pissed. That thought was immediate, and it was followed by . . . He’s going to make someone pay. She knew it with a chilling certainty.

Jax stopped right before her. She rose on trembling legs. Sarah had actually thought that he might pull her into his arms. Hold her tight. But he didn’t. He just watched her with that glittering stare.

Did I want him to hold me?

“You’re bleeding.” Jax snapped out those words.

“Just scratches.” She felt so cold. Strange, when the heat from that fire was scorching the street.

A muscle flexed in Jax’s jaw. “How close were you to the fire?”

“Uh . . .” It was a bit hard to remember that part.

Carlos stepped forward. “We found her and the guy on the ground in the back. They were both unconscious.”

That tended to happen when you were tossed through the air and you slammed into the concrete.

She stood there, uncertain. Jax’s gaze was slowly traveling from the tips of her toes up to her—

“Don’t scare me like that again.”

Before she could respond, Jax pulled her against him. He held her a little too hard, his grip a little too tight, but Sarah didn’t care. For just a second, she let herself sag against him. Tears stung her eyes.

I didn’t get to Molly. I didn’t save her. And Wade almost died, too!

So much for helping. It seemed as if—once more—she was just surrounded by death.

“I’ve got you,” Jax said. “You’re safe.”

Safe. She never felt safe. Her father had taught her that safety was an illusion. “There is no safe place,” Sarah whispered before she could stop herself.

His hand slid under her chin. He tipped her head back so that she had to gaze into his eyes. “Yes, princess, there is. You’ll always be safe with me.”

She wanted to believe his words.

He scooped her into his arms. “We’re getting you checked out.” He started heading toward an ambulance that had just lurched up to the scene.

Her arms wrapped around his neck. “No, I’m okay,” she protested. She needed to be over there, talking with the cops. Figuring this thing out.

She looked at the building. Two firefighters had just raced into the burning building. Her breath caught. They were going in—trying to find Molly? But how could the other woman possibly survive a blaze like that? It was too hot. Too powerful.

He put her into the back of an ambulance. An EMT whirled toward them. “Check her out,” Jax ordered. “Make sure she’s all right.”

“Just scratches and bruises,” Sarah muttered. “I’m fine.”

Jax braced his legs apart as he stood on the ground behind the ambulance. “Check her out,” he said again, his voice heavy with an unmistakable demand.

The EMT nodded and quickly started asking Sarah questions, one right after the other. She waved him away. “Send someone to my friend Wade.” She pointed to Wade. A big gash was bleeding on his forehead. “He needs more help than I do.”