AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A few seconds more.
It took all my will to roll to my side—I hadn’t come here to die in this place. Careful to flick away large pieces of glass, I levered myself upright, first elbow, then knee, then slowly onto my trembling legs. Using the edge of a counter, I hauled myself up the last distance and steadied myself.
Above the counter top, a picture caught my eye. The frame had been knocked awry, and the glass over the photo had cracked. The label beneath was legible.
Fairfield. 1953, the site of the first Beastly Burger.
“Good to know.” My voice was rough. The picture was so fucking normal. My body shook from my laugh.
Fairfield? The name niggled, but I was too exhausted. I tugged the photo from the frame, folded it, and stuffed it into my dusty pocket. Every part of me was probably black with ash.
I spat some wretched, gritty taste. Something had floated into my mouth while I lay on my back.
When I limped out the front door, or rather, out the hole where the door once was, the Dodge was farther away than it had any fucking right to be.
My legs hurt, my ass did, and whatever I’d done to my head, it hurt too. The little backpack had saved me from worse lacerations and bruises.
Even the back of my legs hurt. “Ow!” Glass? I clutched at the side of my leg. I’d need to get it out. That’d mean a doctor. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Every step brought a new curse.
I searched for the keys in my pocket.
“You won’t need those.” Val’s voice blindsided me. “It’s unlocked.”
CHAPTER26
Val
I lefther in handcuffs in the lobby of theGrand Palaisas I flashed a badge to check-in. The badge was real, the details fake, courtesy of the CIA—nobody ever checked, but then to be fair, with Zara standing there seething and bleeding, their attention wasn’t exactly on me. She’d struggled in the car, but she was smart enough not to try and run—this wasn’t the kind of crowd that would be sympathetic to a perp resisting arrest. The motel receptionist’s attention returned to me.
“I can give you the cabin on the end.” The kid’s voice broke as his eyes shifted back to Zara.
“At the end is perfect.” I gave my bestyou-wont-even-know-we’re-heresmile to reassure him.
Signing and grabbing the keys, I turned round to face Zara. Her eyes darted around the room, but the only exit was behind her. I knew that face from a thousand captives. I knew her thought even as her lips twitched. I stepped into her space before her mouth opened.
“Uh-uh. Too late.”
Three lines crinkled on her forehead.
“You make a noise now, everybody is going to think you’re crying wolf.”
Awareness of her situation still didn’t register on her face.
“You let me flash my badge, darlin’. That makes me the good guy. Anything that comes out of your mouth now just plays out the script—everybody’s always swearing they’re innocent.”
“Iaminnocent,” she hissed.
“Funny, sounded like grand theft auto to me.”
“You’re pissed I took your company car?”
“Yeah, I’m pissed you took my car. I’m more pissed you walked out on me. I thought we had—”
“A what? A tag-team? A tag-a-trios? You, me, and the Nightmare King?”
“—an understanding. A partnership.”
Interesting. Now she flinched.
