Shock and Awe (Enhanced Book 1)

Chapter 22

Midnight on Friday comes both too soon and not soon enough.

I'm ready to get this night over with already — ready to focus on my own life rather than this one that has become such an utter failure.

I'm turning in the one person who has trusted me whole heartedly. The one person who has helped me discover the truth about the world we live in.

This is when I betray Crimson Current and reveal his identity to the public.

A strong hand presses against my lower back. Amaze. He stands beside me building away from the bank, watching and waiting for the red super to appear. The touch — which I might have found at one point in time to be comforting — burns through my clothes like fire ant bites. Just his presence seems to taint the air around me like slick oil and I want nothing more than to fly away.

"You're doing the right thing," he says.

I wish I felt that way.

Among the shadows below, my eyes catch movement below the bank. I know it must be Crimson.

Oh, how badly I wish he could hear the quiet murmuring of the crowd of reporters just a street away, or the whir of the helicopter ready to take flight when the clock strikes midnight in just minutes.

The dark figure starts to scale the bank with calculated movements — like he practiced this before tonight. Knowing Crimson, he probably did. His embarrassment from that night on top of the Jimenez restaurant, when I had to help him climb, most likely made him rehearse his movements for tonight.

Crimson likes to be in control. He doesn't like to show any weakness, even if that weakness is just climbing a wall.

I see his figure reach the top of the bank, and my heart releases a pang of sadness.

I want to scream for him. I want to yell at him to run — run away because it is all a trap.

But I can't.

As if sensing my unease, Amaze's hand drifts further around to grasp my hip tightly, as if saying he will stop me if I even try to make a move.

The watch on Amaze's wrist dings as the time changes those last seconds before all hell breaks loose.

I watch as the shadowed figure raises his hands and removes the mask from his face.

He is bare in the shadows on the roof of the bank, exposing and trusting me to show up.

But I won't.

I can't.

The helicopter takes flight and is on the bank before Crimson can react.

A spotlight searches the roof, illuminating everything in stark contrast agains the dark night, and I hold my breath as it zeros in on the lone red figure standing there with a mask in his hands.

Time stops as my heart breaks and my breath is sucked from my lungs.

I had hoped and prayed that when his identity was revealed, I wouldn't have any idea who the man underneath was.

Oh, how incredibly wrong and stupid I had been.

"No!" I scream, lunging for the edge of the roof. I want to jump — to run to his aid and turn all the reporters away.

Beside me, Amaze tilts his head back and lets out maniacal laughter into the night. He holds me with two hands now, preventing me from flying to the bank roof.

Despite me struggles, I'm not match for him. The exploration of my new powers over the last few days have left my old ones half as strong. There is not fighting his hold.