I dropped my hips, winding my entire body backward like a coiled spring.
"Three!"
Rex lunged forward, swinging the heavy aluminum bat like a sledgehammer into the top hinges. At the exact same microsecond, I unleashed the Pendulum.
But this time, I didn't freeze an inch away. I didn't hold back. I drove my heel directly into the bottom hinge with every ounce of force, grief, and anger I had carried for twenty-four years.
The impact sent a sickening shockwave up my leg, jarring my teeth.
The synchronized, massive impact was too much for the rusted hardware. With a sharp, metallic screech, the pins in the hinges sheared completely off. The right side of the door blew outward.
Rex dropped the bat, threw his shoulder against the buckling steel, and forced the door open just enough for us to squeeze through.
We stumbled out of the locker room and onto the gym floor, collapsing onto our hands and knees. The main gym was a nightmare. The walls near the office were entirely engulfed in flames. Thick gray smoke obscured the ceiling lights, and the heat was blistering.
I sucked in a desperate breath of relatively cleaner air, clutching the black ledger against my chest.
"Don't move."
The voice cut through the crackling of the fire.
We looked up. Standing near the front exit, twenty feet away, was Victor. The gasoline can was dropped at his feet. His face was covered in soot, and his eyes were wild, unhinged.
In his right hand, he held a black revolver, pointed directly at my chest.
Rex slowly stood up, stepping slightly in front of me. His breathing was heavy, and the betrayal on his face was absolute. "Put it down, old man," Rex rumbled.
Victor shook his head, his hand trembling so violently I thought the gun might go off accidentally. "I didn't want this! Leo didn't leave me a choice! I told him, I begged him! I was going to lose everything!"
"So you hit him in the back of the head with a hammer," I said, stepping out from behind Rex. "And you buried him, and you lied to the woman who loved him."
"I built this gym!" Victor screamed, waving the gun between me and Rex. "Me! Not him! I couldn't let him take it from me. And I won't let you destroy it now. Drop the book, Maya. Drop it, or I swear to God I'll shoot."
I looked at Rex. He was staring at the man who had raised him, the man he had idolized, seeing him for the pathetic, desperate coward he truly was.
Rex didn't look at me, but he slightly lowered his left shoulder. A silent cue.
"Victor," Rex said, his voice suddenly calm, heartbreakingly soft. "You were like a father to me."
Victor hesitated. For one crucial second, his eyes shifted completely to Rex, guilt flashing across his soot-stained face. The gun wavered just a fraction of an inch off its target.
It was all the opening I needed.
I sprinted forward. Two steps. Three. I launched myself off the edge of the blue training mat, propelling my body into the air.