Damn right it was.
I knelt down and checked Taryn’s pulse to reassure myself she was still alive.
I glanced at Max, “Stay with her.”
He didn’t blink, angling toward the open bay, head low, ears forward, a low growl building in his chest.
Good dog.
Stain shifted near the door, watching the darker edges of the bay.
I exhaled slowly and stood. “Let’s move.”
Max’s eyes tracked our movements.
“Don’t let anything near her, or I’ll feed you to those things,” I murmured.
He growled at me, and I chose to take it as an agreement.
I motioned to Stain, and we exited the service bay in search of a vehicle. Every step I took away from her felt wrong, but it had to be done.
The showroom opened up in front of us.
Bright.
Too bright. Dawn was starting to break.
Pale sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the front, creating clean lines across the polished tile that still shone as if someone had mopped it that morning.
Like nothing had happened to change our world.
Rows of vehicles sat perfectly spaced, angled just enough to look expensive, untouched, and out of place now. Chrome gleamed brightly. Windshields caught the light, reflecting it in sharp flashes, making it hard to focus.
Too many reflections. Everywhere I looked, something moved?—
Except it wasn’t movement; Just light bouncing off glass.
Stains' shadow broke and reformed as he moved ahead of me.
“Shit.” Stain muttered. “Deadheads could be anywhere in here.”
A sales desk sat to the right, with chairs slightly out of place, and a computer monitor still faintly glowing as if someone had walked away mid-sentence and never returned.
Keys hung on a board behind it.
I felt exposed.
The silence pressed in harder here.
No wind from outside and nothing in the distance.
Just the faint creak of the building settling and the soft echo of our boots on the tile, with each step carrying farther than it should. I felt like I heard a clock ticking down in my head. We needed to find something fast, because we weren’t alone in here.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
BECK
Inside the offices lining the walls—glass doors half-open, blinds crooked, shadows sitting too still.
