Eighty-Sixed [manxman]

XIX | Ablaze |

XIX

| Ablaze |

-

Fire consumed the Harlow estate. Licking up the walls were stories-high flames. Plumes of black smoke blanketed the sky. I slammed the car into park and darted across the front yard. No one stood outside. Where were Oliver and the girls? Where were Kinsley and Vin? Security?

I kicked open the front door. I had to know they were out and safe. Running into the blazing hot foyer, I couldn't look away from the fire consuming everything in its path. The walls, the furniture, the drapes--it enveloped everything it touched and turned it to ash. Thick smoke hung in the air and clung to the ceiling.

My chest tightened as I coughed and scanned the room, seeking a way out. Near the top of the stairs, Oliver laid unconscious, Ella under one arm and Paige under the other. Both of the girls were out, little faces smudged with soot. I took the stairs by twos and grabbed the girls. I ran them back outside, sitting them in the grass. Turning on my heel, I went back for Oliver. Pulling him up, I wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders and grabbed his waist. I hauled him outside and put him with the girls. All three of them remained unconscious.

Panic bubbled in my chest. I scrambled back to the car for my cell phone when I heard sirens. Private ambulances and fire trucks whipped into the driveway. Paramedics filed out of the trucks, scooping up the girls and wheeling over a gurney for Oliver. A few blacked-out SUV's pulled in next.

Several high-ranking Savage 5 members stepped out. Two of them noticed me and came over.

"What the hell's going on?" I demanded, meeting them halfway. Up close, I recognized them as Adam Savange and Jesse Reveich. "I got here and--"

Savange seized my shoulder and threw me up against the side of the firetruck. "Shut the fuck up, Syx. Fuckin' traitor."

"What? No! I--"

Savange pinned me against the engine, tightening metal cuffs around my wrists. Fuck. Reveich reached around and gagged me. A black hood fell over my head. One of the men tore me off the vehicle and shoved me down. I smacked face-first into the pavement. Pain shot up my nose, into my forehead and under my eyes. Hot liquid seeped down my nose and soaked the cloth Reveich forced into my mouth.

Jerked back up to my feet, Oliver's men led me into one of their vehicles, throwing me into the backseat and slamming the door behind me. I heard the door front doors shut. The car started up and lurched into motion.

Were Oliver, Paige and Ella okay? God, I didn't even fucking care Savage 5 got me. I just wanted to know whether Oliver and the girls were going to recover. I couldn't ask with the gag. I kicked the back of the seat, fucking pissed. It was met with a knife stabbing into my thigh. I gritted my teeth, screwing my eyes shut tight as I fought back a scream.

"Try it again and you lose your fucking foot."

I stayed in line for the rest of the ride. These weren't the goons from the police department. The men that had me were Harlow's. They were Savage 5. Even at my best, these people knew how to maim someone like me and make it look easy. A simple stunt like what I pulled at the regional jail would never work on them.

I'd need a fucking miracle to escape them.

Escaping was far from the top of my priority list then though. Oliver Harlow himself could waltz into my cell and shoot me point blank, and I'd die content knowing he and the girls were safe.

Soon enough, the car stopped. The doors opened. Rough hands yanked me out of the seat and had me stumbling over myself to find my footing fast enough to keep up with the hands shoving me forward. A hand on each shoulder navigated me. I took notice of each pace and every turn.