Secret Obsession (Carder Texas Connections #6)(57)

She looked on in horror as he sprinkled the powder along the perimeter of the building. He rambled, clutching his head in his hands. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but she could see what he was doing. She twisted her wrists, but the rope just cut into her more, tightening the grip on her legs.

He flicked his lighter and the powder exploded. A flame ripped up the wall of the gym. Todd smiled at the fire, staring into the heat.

“Our destiny, Alessandra. You and me. For infinity.”





Chapter Thirteen Thick smoke smothered Noah. Faraway sirens sounded somewhere in the distance. He rolled over onto his back, groaning. He blinked and looked up at the sky. “Lyssa.” His charred voice cracked.

His head throbbed, and the memories flooded through him. The land mine. He’d seen it just in time. They’d jumped clear.

The SUV hadn’t been so lucky The acrid scent of burning rubber seized his lungs. Fire still consumed the truck. He squinted through the billowing black fog.

A wheeze sounded from a few feet away. Noah crawled over to Elijah. He was hurt. Bad. The right side of his body had taken the worst of it. Noah pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Where are you?” He coughed when Ransom answered.

“Just landing in D.C.”

“Archimedes caught us by surprise. Elijah’s hurt. Need an ambulance.” Noah gave Ransom the coordinates.

He struggled to his feet, sucking in deep breaths.

“Noah, are you there?” Ransom shouted.

Noah squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them, willing his vision to clear. He stumbled forward. In the distance, flames licked at the roof of a large building.

Lyssa!

“The gym is on fire, Ransom.” He searched around for his weapon then cursed. It was now a melted chunk of metal. “I’m going in. Lyssa’s alone.”

“We’re on our way.”

He ended the call and bent over Elijah. “Buddy, can you hear me?”

Elijah opened his eyes and winced in pain, but not a sound escaped. “Ransom’s on his way. I’ve got to go to her.”

“Kill the bastard,” Elijah hissed through clenched teeth. He closed his eyes and passed out.

Noah pressed his fingers against his carotid. Pulse barely there. He scrubbed his hands on his face. “Don’t you die on me, Elijah.”

He took off as fast as his burned leg would allow toward the gym, crossing a field. It took what seemed like forever to reach the main doors.

He yanked at them. They rattled, chained from the inside. There had to be another way.

He rounded the building. Two more sides, nothing but locked, barricaded doors. His head spun, but he shoved the weakness aside. Lyssa was depending on him.

Was she even inside?

He tugged his phone from his pocket and tapped an icon. About twenty feet away a small green dot blinked. Thank God for the coin he’d given her. At least he had a location.

Except, she wasn’t moving.

One side left. He turned the corner. Finally. A small window halfway up the side of the gym gave him hope. Flames snaked from the roof, crackling. White smoke poured from the flames. No time to be picky. He was alone, and Lyssa was trapped.

He wouldn’t allow himself to consider she was anything but alive.

Noah hauled himself by the small ledge. He smashed through the glass and heaved into the small space. His shoulders barely fit, but he shimmied through and dropped to the floor of a small closet.

His leg buckled, but he gritted through the pain.

Gaze half on the locator screen of his phone and half on his path, he opened the door to a hallway. He broke into a run to a set of large doors. That had to be the gym. Unnatural heat plowed into him with each step.

By the time he reached the doors, flames burst through the windows. He couldn’t get through.

A loud crash sounded.

“Lyssa!”

With a quick scan, he sprinted to an equipment room. His hands touched the entrance. Cool to the touch. He burst inside.

Another door led out. He peered through its window.

The entire perimeter of the gym had been engulfed in flames. The fire devoured the streamers and decorations. A bevy of balloons exploded, sounding like a flurry of machine gun fire.

Surrounded by the inferno, in the center of the gym a man stood in a tuxedo over a downed chair. Lyssa lay on the floor at his feet, the chair broken, ropes slipped off.

They had a chance if Lyssa was conscious.

A child screeched above the roar of the fire. A playpen twenty feet away holding the screaming toddler.

Noah didn’t waste any more time. He grabbed a uniform from the laundry basket and wrapped a shirt around his hand. He turned the knob. It gave way. Without a gun, he’d have to improvise. Basketballs, baseballs, footballs.

Too bad Chase wasn’t here. He’d been an ace pitcher.

Noah grabbed three baseballs and slammed through the door. Without hesitation, he hurled a ball at Archimedes. It hit him in the center of his back.

“What the hell?”

Archimedes spun around. Lyssa scrambled away from the broken chair toward her baby. Archimedes dived at her, grabbing her by the ankle.

Noah threw another ball. This time it was a direct hit in the head.

Archimedes slumped to the ground, groaning.

Lyssa crawled to the screaming baby.

The flames hit the center of the roof. Smoke thickened around them, metal creaked. A section of ceiling started to peel away. Noah launched himself toward Jocelyn, grabbing the toddler out of the Pack ’n Play. Shifting to his back, he slid across the floor, Lyssa’s daughter in his arms.