Chapter 22: The Stone Comes Home

Jonas's POV

I have pulled people out of fires, out of cars and out of a river.

I have never put myself between a woman and a dead man who used to eat dinner at her table.

I did it without thinking, and I would do it again.

Keaton rose to his feet in three jerks.

The captain's shots had left two black holes in his shirt.

The light in them was getting brighter.

He took a step toward Reese.

I took one toward him, and I had the axe.

Behind me, Reese said, very quietly, "Jonas, don't hit him in the chest."

"Why not?"

"It's in there."

He came on.

I swung low, at the knee, and the axe bit through bone.

He went down on one leg and kept crawling.

The whole roof was screaming.

People pressed at the stairwell door.

Ray shoved them through ahead of Linda and the girl, bellowing at them to go slow.

Keaton got a hand on my boot.

It was cold, and his grip was stronger than a living man's, and he pulled me down.

I hit the concrete on my back.

His face came over mine, black to the eyes, with his mouth working.

"Reese," it said. "Reese. Reese."

I got my forearm under his jaw and held him off.

His teeth snapped an inch from my throat.

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