Page 95 of Shattered By the Currents

“Raven?”

Silence.

He covered his mouth with his shirt and sprinted through the firehouse, scanning every room off the hall. His eyes began to burn, breathing becoming a battle.

The door to the apparatus bay was closed.

One tug. It didn’t open.

A piece of wood was jammed into the bottom. Fuck. He pulled it out and threw open the door.

At first, he didn’t see her. He had to step inside the room and really focus before noticing the slumped body by the door.

His world narrowed.

Raven.

He sprinted to the main garage door and pulled out the hook to open it. Fresh air rushed over his body. He raced back to Raven and carried her outside just as Ethan returned, a teenaged kid being pulled by his arm behind him.

“What the hell happened?” Ethan cried.

“Some sort of chemical gas. Call an ambulance!” He touched Raven’s pulse, and at the faint beats beneath his finger, his entire world started turning again.

Alive. She was alive. But she needed medical attention, and she needed it immediately.

22

Connor’s hands were fisted as he paced Raven’s small hospital room. He hated that she was here. That she had to wear an oxygen mask. That someone had hurt her at his own fucking base, somewhere she should have been safe.

Was it Xander? But then, who the fuck was the shooter and the kid Ethan had found? Paid help?

A knock at the door had his gaze lifting. He thought it might be the doctor. Instead, Ryan stepped in, closely followed by Ethan.

“Hey.” Ryan looked at Raven, then back to Connor. “How’s she doing?”

“Doctor said all her vitals are fine. We just need to wait for her to wake up.”

Ethan’s brows tugged together. “I’m so fucking sorry I left her. The guy I caught was a decoy.”

“Who was he?” Connor growled.

“Some teenager who was paid to loiter around the firehouse and run from me.”

“Paid by who?” Ryan asked, more calm in his voice than Connor possessed.

“He couldn’t tell me. Someone found him online, cold-messaged him with a fake account and paid him half before and said he’d get the other half when the job was complete. I’ll see what I can do about working with the kid to trace the transfer.”

Connor’s fists tightened. “How did someone get into the building to set off the gas?”

“Cameras show a hooded man broke through the window in the sleeping quarters.” Ethan’s jaw tensed. “He entered less than a minute after I left. Then he must have jammed the door to lock her in the apparatus bay and left the cannister just inside the area with Raven before getting out of there.”

“There are two of them,” Connor said. “Nathaniel must be helping Xander.”

A heavy silence passed, because they all had to be thinking the same thing—that Connor was right. The assholes had tried to shoot him and gas Raven at the same time.

“Why?” Connor said, almost to himself. “Why kill Lottie and try to frame Raven? Why gas her and attempt to shoot me?”

“He tried to discredit her, but that didn’t work,” Ryan said. “Then he tried to frame her for murder. Now he’s escalated to this.”