Firebomb (The Jewel Project #2)

20.2|| Firebomb

Sam looked from left to right, trying to figure out where they were. Good thing he'd studied those plans until they were practically tattooed to the insides of his eyelids. The smoke was a little unsettling, but except for that, everything had the potential to go smoothly.

"This way," he finally said, indicating the shortest route towards the fence.

The others followed at once and Sam hurried to walk next to Tom. His twin still had a funny spring in his step, but Sam half suspected it was Angie's fault. He'd looked away like a civil person, but it still felt a bit odd. Because even bruised, cut up and battered, Tom still looked like him. And that fleeting second in which he'd seen him kissing Angie made Sam feel like it was him. And it was weird as hell. Now he finally understood what Tom meant when he'd said Sam and Christine looked weird to him.

"Came to grovel at my feet?" Tom asked, not even looking at Sam.

"Pretty much. If I kiss you like that, will you forgive me, too?"

"If you touch me, I'm killing you with my bare hands," Tom answered, but there was an amused smirk on his face.

"I'm really, really, really sorry for being such an asshole. I have no idea what got into me..."

"You do. The water. But I guess you're such a goody-two-shoes most of the time, it's a lot more noticeable when you get nasty."

They hurried around a corner and Sam raised his hands to stop everyone from advancing. An army of Snitch Gravel's men had just stepped out from the building in front of them. Sam bent his knees, raised his fists, his head already pounding as he forced himself not to count. Because they were severely outnumbered.

The men stared at them for a second. Another explosion shook the ground under their feet.

"Um, run!" Sam said, sprinting to the left, away from the men and the new rising flames.

The booming sound of more explosions filled the air. Sam took another sharp turn, but they were now facing the canyon wall. The heat from the flames filled the air as more stuff blew up all around them.

"What the hell is going on?" Jimmy asked as they all stopped with their backs against the rock wall.

"Maybe we should retreat inside the caves," Jim suggested.

That wasn't a bad idea, actually. They could get the diamond while they were at it. Except Tom could barely walk and their luggage was somewhere in the forest. Which might catch fire with all the explosions going around. At least the flames kept Snitch Gravel's men too busy to engage them as they scurried around with buckets of water.

A helicopter rose above the inferno. At the same moment, Snitch Gravel rushed out of the nearest building and stared up at it. The pilot lowered the machine as much as he could without catching fire, and Sam's breath caught in his throat. It was Ron.

He waved at them, then gave a mocking salute to Snitch Gravel. And in that moment, when his compound was on fire and one of his trusted men was responsible, he just laughed and hit his chest with his fist as a salute. Ron seemed surprised by the gesture, but grinned all the same and pulled the helicopter up. Abandoning them in the burning labs.

"We really need to explain to Ron that it's not cool to abandon ship like a rat," Tom mumbled.

He had a point, but Sam was more preoccupied by Snitch Gravel who turned towards them, a creepy smile on his face. He seemed way too unaffected by what was going on.

"Well, it seems like you escaped. Again. You're getting pretty good at this." He scanned them all from head to foot. "Not that I'm complaining. I like a challenge. So I guess we'll meet again." He hesitated for a second. "You guys are more like me every day." And he sprinted back inside the building.