Free Shadow Falling (The Scorpius Syndrome #2) by Rebecca Zanetti

Either prison or military. Either way, I had to leave gang life or I’d be dead.”
    It seemed like that background had actually served Jax well after the world became infected. Raze cleared his throat. “Speaking of gang life, any news on your brother?”
    “No. I’ve sent out sketches with his face, but nobody has seen Marcus.” Jax slowed down to cross over a bunch of crumbled bricks in the center of the road.
    It’d be a miracle if Jax ever saw Marcus again. The gang leader Jax had killed when rescuing Lynne had hinted that Marcus, another gang member, was still alive. It was likely that the gang leader had just been messing with Jax’s head. “I hope you find him,” Raze said.
    “Me too. What about you? Siblings?”
    Raze purposefully kept his body from stiffening. “A younger sister named Maureen.”
    “Ah. Where is she now?”
    “Not with us,” Raze said. He couldn’t exactly tell Jax that Maureen was being held by the Mercenaries up north.
    “I’msorry.”
    “Me too. She was everything good in this world, you know? I pretty much raised her since our mom had to work so much, and she ended up so damn smart. Got a scholarship to Harvard.”
    “Wow.”
    Raze nodded. “Studied food production. Wanted to end world hunger.”
    “Sounds like she was a sweetheart. I would’ve liked to have met her.” Jax slowed down. “There it is.” He pulled into an empty driveway with 2702 on a plaque near the dusty red door. Another sign had been mounted on the house near the driveway: “Jack’s Construction—Go around back.”
    A home business. Raze’s heartbeat sped up a little. “Unless scavengers bothered to look in the phone book, if they could even find one, this type of business wouldn’t be easy to find.”
    “Nope. Let’s hope Jack didn’t take his goodies with him if he left.” Jax stopped the truck and jumped out.
    “Let’s hope Jack left,” Raze muttered, exiting the truck, leaving his door open for a quick getaway. He settled his stance and took a moment as Jax did the same thing, not moving.
    Birds trilled above, their chirping cheerful in the chilling quiet. No sound came from the ground or from the homes around them. No children laughing, no lawn mowers humming, no cars honking. No life.
    Raze caught Jax’s eye and gave a short nod.
    Jax nodded back, any congeniality gone from his stone-cold face. Leading with his gun, he kept to the brick and started making his way down the rest of the driveway past the house.
    Raze stayed on his six, emerging onto a square of concrete with a metal shop on the far side. The twenty-footgarage door was closed, as was the bright yellow man-size door to the side.
    The wind picked up, scattering palm leaves against the house, while the birds continued to chatter. So long as they kept up the noise, he wasn’t too worried.
    Jax kept his gun low and sidestepped across the empty lot to twist the doorknob of the shop. It turned easily and swung open. He leaned against the far side.
    Raze hustled his way, his peripheral vision working hard, and stopped on the other side of the door. “I’ll go low.” He waited until Jax had nodded, took another glance around at the trees lining the wooden fence on either side of the property, and then bunched his legs. Turning, he ducked into the room and went low.
    Jax moved in sync, his gun high.
    Sunlight filtered through a series of windows from the back, revealing a stunning 1969 Boss 429 Mustang.
    Jax whistled.
    Raze nodded, his gaze on the shiny chrome as he straightened. “What a beauty,” he whispered.
    “Man, I wish we could take her.” Regret crossed Jax’s face, so real and heartfelt, it almost made Raze laugh out loud.
    “Me too,” he whispered back. New red and chrome lockers and tool storage units lined both walls, while the floor was sealed concrete, clean and nearly sparkling. “I’m thinking if there was a work truck, it’s long gone.”
    Jax nodded and began filtering through the lockers, every