Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Wyatt said, in a tone that sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself more than anyone else. “She’ll get the right key, and we’ll be out of here, that much closer—”
“No… Oh no.” That’s when Roman saw it. The words leaped off the page, quite literally, the message written right there, underneath the chapter heading. The curtain of realization dropped on Roman like a meteor. Realization and dread. “This isn’t the tome. Salt, this isn’t the real tome. Look what this chapter is titled.”
Wyatt leaned in, reading the words before reaching out for Roman’s wrist, fingers clamping around him. He turned to look at Roman, shocked.
The Fall of the Rainbow’s Seven
“We’ve been tricked. This was a setup.” Roman looked to the exit, tugging Wyatt in its direction. “Bang Bang, Mimic, I need you two to abort the job. I repeat, drop whatever you’re doing and get the fuck out of here. It was a trap.”
Then, like an exclamation mark for his command, came two large explosions from somewhere outside, rocking the museum and breaking windows. Glass rained down, people were screaming in terror, no one knew what to do or what was going on.
No one but Roman, who understood exactly what was going on: he’d made another fatal mistake in underestimating the Pride, and he was about to pay a heavy price for that oversight.
Chapter 30
Wyatt Hernandez
Wyatt read the chapter heading and felt the dread seep into him like toxic vapors, filling him with every single breath. He reached for Roman. He reached for something, anything to keep his knees from giving way underneath him. This was all a setup, and they’d managed to blindly walk directly into it.
An explosion made his shoulders spasm. Another explosion made his ears ring and his stomach twist.
He looked around, panicked, devastated, terrified, trying to find the source of the explosions. People were running in all directions, grabbing their children and picking them up in their arms, crying and shouting for help.
No, no, no, no. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. They had it all planned out, they had their inside connection, they had knocked out the security systems and made it all the way to the tome.
A fake Tome. The Pride had still got ahead of them.
“Explosion at the entrance,” came Mustang’s voice into Wyatt’s skull. “Shit, it’s bad. What the hell is going on in there?”
Mimic ran up to them, her hair a mess and her shirt tattered, as if someone had tried holding her back but ended up with only a handful of fabric. “They have Bang Bang.”
“What? Who?” Roman asked, gun out of the holster and in his hands, held down by his hip.
“The police, they grabbed him. I’m sorry, Roman. I tried to get him out of there, but they almost got me.” She looked to the arching doors that she’d just run in from. “They’ll be here in a few minutes. We have to go.”
This was worse than worst-case scenario. Wyatt couldn’t allow his fear to get the better of him, not now. He needed to snap into the moment, keep his chest as high as Roman’s and his expression as stoic. Surprisingly, his shoulders didn’t show any signs of trembling. “Let’s go that way. Alecia ran through there—I think there might be an exit out the back.”
Roman tapped the earpiece. “Mustang, find your way to the back of the museum. Wherever the higher-ups park, go there. Wait for us.”
“You got it.”
Roman pushed Wyatt and Mimic toward the door. “Go, get to Mustang. I’m going to see if there’s anything I can do about Bang Bang.”
“They had him in cuffs, Roman. We can’t get to him now.”
“I can at least try.”
Mimic nodded, her gun now out and in her hands as well. Wyatt went for his but left it holstered, the tremble gone from his shoulders but not from his hands. They started toward the door Alecia had run through, hurrying past people who were crouched behind pedestals and sculptures. A torrent of sirens could be heard from inside the museum, the windows having been blown out. Wyatt looked back, looking for Roman—maybe he should have gone with him. Maybe if they worked together, they could rescue Bang Bang and get the hell out of there? He scanned the thinning crowd, spotting him at the far end of the room. He slipped from Mimic’s grasp.
“I’m gonna try and help him.”
Mimic looked like she was about to argue but suddenly froze, looking at something behind Wyatt. He turned, jaw dropping as he watched himself projected onto the wall. It was a picture of him, then of Roman, then Mimic. It was all of them, all of the Rainbow’s Seven, pictured either entering the museum or surrounding it, their full legal names printed under each of the pictures. And then footage started to play, depicting masked figures entering the museum and planting the bombs, the video time-stamped as the night before. One of the masked figures had their sleeves rolled up, showing a black mamba tattoo identical to that of Mustang’s.