Was he al right?
He swal owed, dragging himself back to the present.
“Fine.”
“You remembered something.”
“It’s gone now.”
Lightning struck over the hil s. The air was thick and stil .
Against the low backdrop of clouds, a pitched roof F o r g o t t e n s e a 103
loomed, swal owing the road ahead. A bridge, with a wide barn mouth and rough hewn wal s.
“I could help you remember,” she said. “I’m not as experienced as Zayin, but I’ve had training.”
Justin eased back in his seat. “Is Zayin the big bastard in black?”
She bit her lip. “Yes.”
That dark voice, sliding like a knife into his dreams, slowly prying him apart . . .
Justin set his jaw. “No, thanks.”
“You promised to listen,” she reminded him.
“I don’t make promises.”
Not anymore. Especial y not to women. But they heard what they wanted to anyway.
The car rattled onto the bridge, the sound amplified by the wooden sides. Lightning flickered like a strobe light through the timbers. Thunder boomed. The hair rose on the back of Justin’s neck.
Lara moistened her lips. “That was close.”
He eyed her white, strained face. “You want to pul over while it passes?”
She shook her head. “It’s not real y raining yet. We should put as much distance as—”
BOOM.
The air sizzled. The car lurched as Lara slammed on the brake. Justin squinted, half-blinded by the blaze searing the back of his eyebal s, struggling to see through the darkness and the . . .
He smel ed it, curling down from the roof. Saw the first red tongues of flame crackle and curl, licking through the charred hole and along the beams.
The bridge was on fire.
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“Drive,” he shouted.
They had to get off the bridge before the flames caught hold. Before the roof col apsed.
But it was already too late.
The fire leaped with the force of an explosion, reaching for the timbers in the wal s, the wooden rail along the sides, the hood of the car. A blazing curtain swept down, sealing the exit.
“Back,” Justin yel ed.
Lara had already thrown the gear into reverse. The tires squealed and spun. The Taurus careened trunk first over the bridge, aiming for the black hole at the entrance. A tail ight scraped and shattered along the wal as Lara fought the wheel.
She screamed and stomped the brake again. The jolt smacked the back of his skul against the headrest.
Justin stared in disbelief as another gout of flame sprang up behind them.
Black heat, red flames, bil owed to engulf the car. Lara flung open her door.
He grabbed her arm. “What the fuck are you doing?”
She ripped free of his grasp, her eyes shining in the flickering orange light. He lurched for her. Checked, swearing, and fumbled with his seat belt. She stumbled from the car, feeling her way along the hood. Smoke spewed from the hole in the roof. Sweat poured down his face as the flames roared with greed, reaching for her with hungry fingers.
He yel ed in warning, in fury, in fear, as she stood in the middle of the narrow bridge, her slender body outlined by the inferno. She flung her arms and spread her fingers wide.
Was she out of her frigging mind?
Her hair streamed and swirled in an invisible updraft.
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