Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire #1)(76)

“Furnace room … gonna … burn him …”

Eve stabbed her gun harder into the human’s side. “Tell me where to find that room.”

“Go … left … all the way …” He tried to point with his broken hand.

Someone was being useful. “And Wyatt?” Cain wanted to know as he flipped the guy around to face him. “Where is he?”

The guard stared at Cain. Yeah, that was fear blazing in the man’s eyes. Cain knew that look well.

“His office …” the guy muttered. “Basement, sub-level one …”

Definitely useful info. Cain slammed the guy’s head back into the wall.

Now someone was unconscious.

Cain had caught sight of an elevator on his first trip into the fun house. He shoved the guard’s body into the corner then turned right, heading for that elevator.

He’d taken two steps when he realized Eve wasn’t coming with him. He froze. They only had so much time… .

Cain glanced back at her.

“I have to see him for myself.” Eve’s chin lifted. “I’m not leaving until I make sure that Trace is dead.”

Morbid. And a pain that she didn’t have to experience. “They’ve probably already burned his body.”

She flinched. But Eve turned away, heading back down the hallway that would take her to the furnace room.

Guessing Wyatt burned plenty of bodies in there.

Cain looked back at the elevator. This was his chance. He’d slipped in, and now he could get to Wyatt. The bastard still thought he was buried under all those rocks.

The perfect opportunity … Cain stalked toward the elevator.

This was what he’d wanted. What he’d fought for. Vengeance. Wyatt deserved every minute of torment that he was about to get.

Cain’s fingers lifted toward the elevator button. He heard Eve’s footsteps slip away.



Eve kept her back pressed to the wall as she eased down the steps and headed toward the furnace room. Just the name of that place had her stomach tightening. Trace didn’t deserve this end.

My fault. He’d been trying to help her, and he’d wound up here. How the hell was that fair?

She wasn’t going to leave him there, even if all she could do was drag his body away from this hellhole. Trace had been her friend. She wouldn’t just leave him without a backward glance.

Two guards headed toward her. Even though she had a weapon, Eve didn’t leap forward and fight them. Stealth and surprise were her tools, and if she could avoid some bloodshed, then yes, please, that was what she’d like to do. She hunched into the shadows and didn’t make so much as a sound.

The guards marched by her. Didn’t even glance her way.

Once they were gone, she started breathing again.

And after a few moments, she started walking. Now that she was on the right floor, it wasn’t hard to find the furnace room. There was just one big, heavy metal door at the end of the hallway. All the other doors were made of normal wood. She was guessing the metal entrance led to the flames.

To Trace.

There was a lever in front of the metal door, no doorknob. So she spun the lever. Once. Twice. The third time, she heard the grind of gears and the door slid open with a clang. She stepped inside.

“What the hell are you doing here?” a sharp voice demanded.

Crap. Eve whipped out her gun and pointed it at the guy in the white lab coat.

He gulped and his eyes doubled behind the lenses of his glasses. “Guard, what’s happening?”

Right. She was supposed to be a guard. “Th-there’s a change in plans. I’m here for the werewolf.”

His gaze darted to the table on his left. To the body that was covered by a white sheet. “I’m disposing of him now.”

“The hell you are.”

He blinked, then his gaze swept over her. “You’re not one of the normal guards. This isn’t your floor.”

Seriously, the dude was slow on the uptake. Didn’t he realize she had a gun pointed on him? Was that normal guard behavior?

In this place, maybe it is.

Eve smiled at him. “No one has to get hurt here. I’m just going to take that wolf off your hands.”

But the man put his too-thin body between her and that table. “He has to be destroyed. He’s infected.”

Infected?

“I told Wyatt the experiment was dangerous, but the fool wouldn’t listen. They never listen to me here.” Sweat beaded his high forehead. “I have to burn the body before the wolf wakes up.”

Before the wolf wakes up … Her heart slammed into her chest. “He’s still alive?” Hope had her feeling light-headed. Yes! Trace was— The man lunged for her. His fingers wrapped around the barrel of the gun and he tried to yank the weapon right out of her hand.

He was lucky she didn’t shoot his idiotic self right in the heart. Instead, Eve jerked the weapon back even as she kicked the guy in the groin. He groaned and staggered away a few steps, almost ramming into Trace’s body.

“Are you crazy?” she snapped at him. “You don’t charge at someone holding a gun.” That was a pretty clear rule.

Well, you didn’t charge when you were just a human, anyway. And this guy seemed to shout, “Human!” from every pore.