Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
The glass exterior walls of the building shattered.
Fragments flew into the street. Sirens erupted from nearby cars.
Flames licked and stroked the air around the front of the convention center.
The det cord and dynamite wouldn’t be responsible for all of this—the bastard had to have used thermite charges as well with how fast the fire was burning through the metal.
Wyatt pressed his hands to his ears and shook his head. His knees gave out as he tried to stand, but he pushed through the pain. He had to get inside. This wasn’t supposed to have happened. The car bomb had been disabled, so why—
“Get back!” someone shouted from behind. “It’s not safe!”
Disoriented, Wyatt flung his comm onto the ground, his ears ringing from the blast. He examined the building, identifying potential breach points. Only the front of the structure appeared to be damaged, but the auditorium doors were just on the other side of the fire, which meant . . .
“You can’t go in there.” Two people grabbed hold of him, yanking him backward.
“Let go,” he growled out, prepared to reach for his gun, but a third guy jumped in to stop him now.
“I have to get in there,” he cried, tears in his eyes. The nearby smoke burned his throat as he struggled to breathe.
“You need medical attention. You’re bleeding,” one of the men hollered over the wail of sirens and alarms.
Wyatt looked back to find three uniformed firefighters holding on to him. Men refusing to let him get to Gwen and Natasha. “Give me your gear. Let me go in. There are people in the auditorium.”
The guy on his left side finally released his arm. “It looks like the blast came from outside the auditorium. The doors, maybe. The blast blew outward, probably not too much damage inside the auditorium.” He brought a radio to his mouth as Wyatt processed what he was saying. “What’s the status?”
“We’ve recovered multiple people alive inside,” someone announced over the radio. “They’re okay. We’re exiting the left side of the building now.”
Wyatt’s shoulders dropped at the words spoken over the radio. “I need to go.” Adrenaline pumped through him. His heart piecing back together. Hope building inside of him.
“Let go of him.” The firefighter tipped his head. “Come with me.”
They quickly rounded the building, and Wyatt stumbled and fell to his knees at the sight of Natasha and Gwen twenty meters away. Roman exited the building just behind them, along with the Wards, Jasper, and the other hacker.
But where in the hell was Balan? Hopefully, fucking dead.
Gwen’s eyes connected with his a moment later. “Wyatt!” she called out and yanked free of the firefighter’s grasp to sprint toward him.
“She your daughter?” the firefighter asked, offering an assist to rise.
“Yeah,” he choked out, “she’s mine.”
Gwen flung her arms around Wyatt, taking him by surprise, and he buried his face into her shoulder and hugged his daughter for the first time in his life.
He lifted his eyes to search for Natasha a moment later, but he didn’t let go of Gwen.
Natasha was talking to the police officers, and whatever she was saying had them not only handcuffing Jasper but both Kate and Felix as well. Another officer immediately brought a radio to his mouth and began running Wyatt’s direction in a hurry.
Roman was nowhere in sight. He’d most likely discreetly vanished from the area, something he was good at, so the cops wouldn’t question him.
“Are you okay?” he asked Gwen as Natasha started their way.
“I was scared.” Gwen stepped out of his arms. “But the other bomb, it didn’t go off, right? We disarmed it in time?” Her bottom lip trembled, and tears had her eyes glistening.
“Yeah,” he said as Natasha returned, and he pulled her tight to his side, so grateful they were both safe.
“Balan got away.” Natasha’s tone was thick with regret. “Seconds after we disarmed the car bomb, the auditorium doors blew. We had a feeling that would happen, though, so we distanced ourselves as far away from the doors as possible. I had hoped you all warned everyone to clear the area.”
“Natasha threw herself on top of me like a shield,” Gwen spoke up.
Wyatt sucked in a sharp breath at her words.
“But, um, when I was back on my feet, those two other fake cops had Balan, guns drawn. I couldn’t get off a clean shot.” Tears crept into Natasha’s eyes. “I tried, but I couldn’t take him down.” She pressed a palm to her face. “He got away, and it’s my fault.”
“Ma’am,” the firefighter who’d brought Wyatt to Natasha and Gwen spoke up, “the police are looking for him. Don’t blame yourself.
Sounds like everyone out here owes you and this young lady a debt of gratitude for diffusing the other bomb.
” He nodded. “You all need to get checked out in an ambulance, though. Let the police handle the rest.”
“You, um, do have pieces of glass in your face.” Gwen lifted a hand to Wyatt’s cheek, a tender look in her eyes, and it was as if she were seeing him for the first time.
“I’ll be fine.” He tipped his chin, motioning for them to walk. “What’d you say to the police?” he whispered into Natasha’s ear as they slowly walked out front.
“I had to show him my credentials. I had to let them know Balan got away, and I didn’t want to risk Jasper or the others walking free,” she said, her voice soft, still plagued by guilt.
He caught sight of Harper and Finn lingering off to the side of the barricade, attempting to blend in with the crowd.
“We’re lucky everyone had been notified to get away. No one out here appears to have gotten hurt from the blast,” the firefighter said as he helped Gwen up into the back of the ambulance. “Your dad was ready to walk through fire to get to you. You’re lucky to have him.”
Gwen looked at Wyatt standing outside the ambulance next to Natasha as if there were a million things she wanted to say but couldn’t.
“Excuse me, we’re family,” Harper called out, pointing to Wyatt, and the firefighter nodded and let Harper and Finn cross the barricade to get to the ambulance.
“Roman touch base?” he asked Harper, making sure the man purposefully disappeared and hadn’t been grabbed by Balan’s men.
“Yeah, he’s good. And he begrudgingly followed that order of yours with only seconds to spare before the blast,” Harper said, her voice low.
“So, everyone appears to be good.” Finn lifted his eyes to Gwen, then peered at Wyatt.
“Balan got away.” Natasha faced Harper, her shoulders trembling.
Harper motioned Wyatt and Natasha out of earshot of the firefighter and medic. “Roman told us. Our people are canvassing the streets.”
Wyatt surveyed the area. Every first responder in Montreal was probably on their way there, but .
. . “Shit. There!” He threw a hand out and pointed down the street in the distance.
“That’s the only police car leaving the scene.
Balan’s probably in there,” he said just as the car rounded the corner, and he lost visual contact with the vehicle.
He brought his hand to his ear, ready to alert his team, but his comm was gone.
“I’m on it.” Harper tapped her comm. “All stations, come in.”
Wyatt eyed Natasha as Harper updated the team. “I need to stop him. Will you stay with Gwen?”
“No, don’t go.” Gwen yanked her arm free from the medic who’d been trying to take her blood pressure and jumped out of the back of the ambulance. “Don’t. Please.”
“I have to.” Wyatt kept his voice as calm and steady as possible. “You’re okay now. I’ll never let anything happen to you, I promise.”
“Wyatt.” Natasha grabbed hold of his bicep, urging him to look her way. “I want him as bad as you do, but if you go chasing after him here,” she said, lowering her voice, “you could end up arrested. There are too many eyes on you. You can’t just shoot him in broad daylight.”
“And I don’t care,” he grit out.
“And if you go to prison, you can’t be her dad,” Natasha reminded him.
Wyatt’s gaze flicked to his daughter, and Gwen nodded, her blue-gray eyes tight on him. A plea for him to back down.
Wyatt brought a palm to cover his eyes and took a deep breath. “Give Balan’s location to the authorities,” he said to Harper as he brought his hand back to his side, “but have our people tail them.”
“We need him alive if possible.” Natasha had said the words as if it pained her to do so, but she was right.
Even though he wanted the cocksucker buried six feet under, he was more useful alive.
God knew how much intel Balan might have collected over the years on the terrorists he’d sold intel to on the Dark Net.
Harper nodded before she and Finn took off toward the thick of the crowd.
“You’ve been after him for so long.” Wyatt reached for Natasha’s hand. “Why take the risk of losing him?”
“Because you’re worth more to me than him.” She brought her lips to his, a gentle kiss in the middle of chaos.
“I guess I was right about you two,” Gwen said softly. “But you really should be the one getting checked out, Wyatt.” She arched a brow. “Glass in your face, remember?”
Would he ever be Dad to her?
“This is nothing. Don’t worry,” he said, his heart squeezing with relief that Gwen and Natasha were unscathed. “And did you really help disable the bomb?”
Gwen shrugged as if it were no big deal.
He wanted to pull her in for a hug again, but he didn’t want to overstep, this was still all so new. And after everything they’d been through today . . . “I’m so sorry you got involved in all of this.”
“You did tell me not to come today.” Gwen pointed to the ambulance as a stubborn directive for Wyatt to get checked out, but until he knew Balan had been taken down, he couldn’t worry about glass in his face.
“I’m getting a call.” Natasha reached into her pocket and produced her phone. “I don’t recognize the number.” Her brows drew together as she lifted the mobile to her ear. “Hello?” She paused as her eyes met Wyatt’s, and she mouthed, “It’s him.”