Chapter 23 · The Traitor in the Engine

"Don't shoot the cab!" I grabbed Gabriel's coat as the train screamed toward the broken bridge.

He shoved me behind the armored rail. "Get your hands off me."

"There are hostages in the last car."

"And explosives in the first." His eyes cut toward the engine. Blood ran from his temple into the collar glowing around my throat. "I end this now."

"You blow the engine, you kill everyone behind it."

"Move, Elena."

The train hit the damaged track.

Metal shrieked under our boots. The first car jumped sideways, slammed into the rock wall, and tore loose from the cars behind it. A blast of heat punched through the gorge. Men screamed inside the locked passenger cars.

Gabriel caught my wrist before the force threw me over the rail. His fingers closed around me hard enough to hurt.

"Stay behind me."

"You keep saying that like it works."

"It will if you listen."

"Then listen to me. The detonator is in the engine. The hostages are in the rear. We need both alive."

His jaw tightened. "I don't need both alive. I need Julian."

"You need the code in his head. Dead men don't talk.