Terry caught my gaze, his face a stony mask. “You’re making a mistake.” Was he talking to me or Carlos? I’d already concluded I’d better not try anything at the moment. Even if I could grab the barrel of the gun and duck fast enough, Terry could get hurt.
“Start the car!” Carlos barked.
My mate put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking place. Overly slowly, he drove toward the exit.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Harbinger. Lothair has been getting on my nerves for years. I won’t regret it much if I accidentally blow your lover boy’s head off.”
The fucker. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to sit still.
Terry’s phone rang, connecting to the car’s speaker. Carlos had a clear view of the screen, which showed the wordsTeam 1 calling.
“Get rid of them,” he said. “No unnecessary sentences or codes. Continue driving south along Ninth.”
Using the controls on the steering wheel, Terry answered the call.
“Hi, Kim.”
“Hi. Where are you? We’re on the corner of Ninth and Wedley Street.”
“We’re taking a different route home,” Terry said tersely. “The streets around the theater were packed. Can you take a cab?”
“Sure. Everything okay?”
“Yes. We’re fine. I just wanted Lothair out of there as soon as possible. Thank you for tonight.”
“Um. Okay. Good night, then.”
“Good night.”
The call ended. I had no way of knowing if Kim had read between the lines and noticed something was off. Even if he had, how could he help us?
Terry stopped at a red light for a second then accelerated again, taking us toward the suburbs and industrial areas south of Ardaine city center.
Whatever Carlos had planned, he would eventually fail. He was a mere human with no special skills or training, and the slightest hesitation on his part would give us an immediate advantage.
I only had to make sure Terry got out of this unscathed.
25
Scary Monster
TERRANCE
At first,I wondered if Carlos had completely lost his shit, taking such a risk. Then he handed Lothair a laptop, and the light bulb above my head lit up.
“I admit I made a mistake,” he said, trying too hard to sound nonchalant. “I shouldn’t have gone after Paris. He’s not as dumb as you are.”
Lothair didn’t react to the cheap taunt. He lifted the computer. “What do you want me to do with this?”
“Open it. I’ll dictate the password. Then log in to your bank account.”
Since Carlos hadn’t succeeded in acquiring the contracts and Paris was still after him, he wanted money. Lothair glanced at me. He saw where this was going just as clearly as me.
I gave him a tiny nod then focused on the road. We needed to cooperate—for now. I hadn’t been armed at the event, and my taser was in the glove compartment right in front of Lothair, useless.
Lothair gritted his teeth and logged into his bank. I couldn’t see how much he transferred to the account Carlos had specified, but it must have been a lot, judging by Carlos’s smug face in the mirror. Lothair confirmed the transactions via his phone and handed the laptop back. It didn’t even take three minutes.
“Open the window, and throw your phone out,” Carlos said.
