Page 116 of Requiem
“You won’t find her dead in this hallway, either.”
The words hit like ice water.
And suddenly we’re moving again, forced backward beneath relentless gunfire as Rafe covers our escape with lethal calm. Blood streaks across the polished floors beneath our shoes while we shove through the final exit door into the freezing night air.
Snow hits my face instantly, and for a moment, I think of how good it feels on my burning skin. The parking area beyond the service entrance is pure chaos. Men shout into radios while headlights slash through the heavy snowfall in streaks of white and gold. Cars are peeling out left and right.
My gaze whips frantically across the lot, searching every vehicle, every fuckingshadow.
Emma.
Where the fuck is Emma?
Then I see the van.
And the second I do, I freeze. Because Nico is outside the side door on his knees, covered in blood. I’m moving before I fully process what I’m seeing. I sprint across the lot, my lungs burning from cold air and adrenaline while Rafe stays close behind me. The closer we get to the van, the worse it becomes. The side door is hanging open. Blood streaks across the metal step beneath it.
“No, fuck—” The words burst from me.
Nico jerks his head up at the sound of my voice, dark hair soaked with melting snow, panic carved so deeply into his face that I barely recognize him. “They fucking took them!” he shouts.
My stomach drops straight through the ground.
Inside the van, Micah is slumped against the seat, his skin horrifyingly pale beneath the blood soaking through his shirt. Kieran is sprawled half across the floor near the back, one hand clamped weakly over his side while blood slips steadily between his fingers.
For a second, I can’t breathe around what I’m looking at. “What happened?”
Nico shakes his head. “Heather, Adriana, and Adela are fuckinggone,man. They came out of fucking nowhere.”
Rafe immediately climbs into the van beside Micah, his expression sharp the second he sees the wounds. “How?”
“Two SUVs,” Nico says quickly, scrambling to his feet. “Masked guys. They hit us right after Adela wiped Alexei’s system.”
My vision pulses hard.
No.
No, this isn’t happening. Wewon. Adela cracked the files.
We fucking won.
So why the hell is my world collapsing anyway?
Micah groans weakly from inside the van, dragging my attention toward him. “Jude…”
The sound nearly fucking destroys me. I climb inside immediately, dropping to my knees beside him while Rafe tears open Micah’s jacket to assess the damage. The metallic scent of blood fills the cramped space so thickly it almost makes me vomit.
“Hey,” I say quickly, gripping Micah’s hand. “Hey, stay with me.”
His eyes are glassy with pain, but still focused enough to find mine. “They…too—took Heather…”
“I know.”
Guilt crashes into me. This ismyfault. Every single fucking bit of it.
Rafe presses hard against the wound near Micah’s shoulder, and Micah curses through clenched teeth. “Bullet passed through. Missed his heart by inches,” Rafe mutters. “Lucky.”
“Doesn’t feel lucky,” Micah grits out. “Motherfucker—”
