BRAINRUSH 02 - The Enemy of My Enemy Read Free Page B

to escort the children into the street across from the schoolyard. Jake still circled the school above them in the Pitts. She dialed his number for the third time, wondering why he wouldn’t pick up.
    It was then that she noticed Josh was missing.
    Per l’amore del Dio!
    She took off running toward the school. Bradley caught up to her, grabbing her arm. “Where the hell are you going?” 
    “It’s Josh. He’s still inside!”
    Bradley scanned the crowd of children across the street. Josh was not among them. A dog barked. Bradley turned to see Max rushing toward them from the school. The leather handle of his guide harness flopped against his back.
    “Stay here!” Bradley shouted to Francesca. He handed her Max’s harness. “Hold him.”
    Francesca kneeled on the grass, her arm around Max’s neck, and pulled him close. They were both shaking as they watched Bradley run across the schoolyard and disappear into the building.
    Thirty seconds later, the building exploded. The blast wave knocked her on her back, sucking the wind from her lungs. She shielded her face as small bits of debris rained down around her. Max whimpered at her side and licked her face. She struggled to her feet, her ears ringing. The world was a blur. Max pressed against her, urging her away from the heat of the burning building. She staggered back toward the street and the crowd of stunned children and teachers.
    Sarafina ran to her side. She wrapped her arms around Francesca’s waist and Francesca could feel her little body trembling.
    Francesca looked up at Jake’s plane. It was lower now. She appealed to him with her mind:  We need you. She hoped he could sense her thoughts. He’d been able to do that sometimes since the accident.
    As if in response, the plane descended toward them. It appeared as if it was going to land. Children and teachers scattered to either side of the street.
    When the plane touched down, Francesca and Sarafina ran toward it. The rest of the class followed.
    **
    Jake sped up the street toward the school. His brain screamed warnings. His body would give out any second. He ignored it by allowing images of Francesca to fill his mind. A wave of despair assaulted him. He had worried from the onset that a romantic relationship with her would put a target on her back. But in a moment of weakness—after their impossible escape from death at the hands of the terrorist Battista—he’d given in to his heart, to the joy in her eyes when she discovered he was alive, to the softness of her touch, her lips…He had woken the next morning steeped in guilt. Not because he didn’t care about her, but because he realized she had become the lever that his enemies could use to cut him the deepest. Though she’d returned with Jake and his friends to California—needing desperately to leave the memories and potential threats of Venice behind her—Jake had kept her and Sarafina close enough to watch over. But not so close as to place them in danger.
    Or so he had hoped.
    Houses rushed past him. Startled neighbors came out of their homes and pointed to the smoke up ahead. He faltered when he saw the Pitts descend toward the school. He would have expected Tariq to use the opportunity to flee...
    Unless something had gone wrong with Tariq’s plan.
    Unless the explosion failed to kill Francesca and the children.
    Jake pushed harder.
    He was a hundred fifty yards away when he saw the plane touch down on the cliffside road abutting the school. Children scattered to clear a path as the plane slowed to a stop. Jake saw Francesca and her students pressing toward it. They were led by the barking golden retriever that he knew was Max.
    They think it’s me.
    Everything seemed to slow. External sounds faded. Jake’s aural senses filled with the solid thumps of his heart, each one stretched in time. His vision tunneled to the scene now one hundred yards before him. And getting closer.
    Using the pop-out step on the side of the Pitts closest to