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“The doors?” Lucas prodded.
“Unlocked.”
Lucas grunted and started down the hall. He had his gun drawn, but down at his side. Jude had his own in his hand, the weight of it making his palm sweat inside the leather gloves Rowe had given him. A few sessions at a shooting range didn’t make him comfortable carrying the weapon. At least, not while knowing that if he did have to use the gun, he wouldn’t be shooting at a paper target.
They stopped halfway down the hallway. There were glass doors on either side separated by two elevators. On the left was a long string of names that sounded like a law firm. On the right, there was no sign to indicate what the company did. The office beyond the door was bland and plain as if they didn’t expect to have visitors.
“We’re starting on the left,” Lucas announced. “We go together.”
“But if we split up, we can cover the floor that much quicker,” Jude argued, already taking a step toward the right office.
“And if either one of us gets into trouble, it will take twice as long for the other to find them in that damn office maze.”
Jude frowned but nodded in agreement as he followed behind Lucas. The man was right, and he understood why he was following Lucas’s lead. He’d come to plenty of offices while working as a paramedic, and he’d gotten turned around in more than one cube farm trying to get to a suffering patient. They were there to rescue Snow, but Jude’s job was to also watch Lucas’s back. He couldn’t do that if he couldn’t even find the man.
The door to the law firm opened easily. The marble floor shone in the low ambient light from the receptionist’s little desk lamp. There was a pretty Persian rug in the center of the lobby and several vases overflowing with flowers. The furniture was all dark leather, while the receptionist’s desk was an imposing dark mahogany. The owners of the law firm were definitely looking to make an impression.
The rest of the office looked much the same. Things looked a little more spartan and bland in the few offices that were probably not expected to entertain clients, but the rest of the place was filled with heavy law tomes, leather, and dark woods. The rooms smelled of old coffee and books and dust. Not a horrible odor, but something about it left Jude longing to take a nap.
They covered the law firm in roughly two minutes, but there was nothing to see. There was no time to skim over the copious amounts of papers on the desks, but Jude felt confident that Gene Schaefer had no dealings with the law firm. They were just unlucky enough to share the same space as the evil man.
As they left the law firm and crossed the hallway to the second unnamed office, something crawled along Jude’s skin. He fought the urge to shiver while a weight sank down on his chest. Something felt off about this place before they even stepped foot into it.
Lucas pulled open the glass door, and they were immediately hit with the sharp scent of bleach and an overly sweet flowery scent like someone had used too much of an air freshener to cover up the smell of something else. Jude’s stomach turned and he lifted his empty hand to his nose to try to block some of the horrific odor accosting him.
“That’s never a good sign,” Lucas muttered.
“What do you got?” Rowe demanded.
“Lot of bleach.”
“Fuck,” Dom muttered softly, reminding Jude that they still had protection waiting outside for them in the cold.
“You want Morticia and Gomez on four?”
Lucas stopped, hesitating. It sent a chill down Jude’s back. Lucas didn’t hesitate and Jude definitely didn’t like the way that Lucas looked back at him, as if he were secretly weighing some heavy decision. “No, continue on to three when you’re done,” he replied to Rowe at last.
“Lurch, there are no cameras in this office. I’m blind,” Cole admitted, which didn’t exactly help Jude’s mounting anxiety.
Lucas grunted and slowly started across the reception area. They stopped at the desk, which held just a phone, a brand-new pad of paper, and a pencil. There were no magazines or even chairs for guests to sit in as they waited for their meeting. No flowers or art on the walls. It was possible that the business owners just moved into the space, but Jude figured there would at least be some business cards or something.
Judging by Lucas’s grim expression, Jude was certain that his companion wasn’t feeling any better about the office. He reached the one door leading out of the reception area but was stopped. It was locked. They both frowned at the door, noticing that it wasn’t the typical swipe card lock. A silver deadbolt was just above the doorknob.
