‘What?’
‘I’ll use the front door this time.’
‘Lachlan,’ Kade says very clearly.‘Youkilledeighteen people.’
‘Your people all gave as good as they got.’Lachlan gets up again, glances around, getting his bearings.‘I’ll see you tomorrow, or… today.’
‘What if I don’t want that?’
‘Then your friends can use me for target practice from yourTower.Did you name it that, by the way?’he asks, gesturing to the concrete and titanium heights behind them, the top drenched in the fresh morning sun.
Annoyed, Kade doesn’t answer.
This fucker probably already knows he did.
‘Get lost.’
He waits for Lachlan to leave, won’t turn his back on an enemy.
And Lachlan is his enemy.
Kade’s almost sure of it.
Lachlan gives a mock salute and heads off into the trees until he’s gone.Only then does Kade release a deep, long breath, hand on heart to calm it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
He showers and then sleeps for a while.
Three hours is plenty.
When he wakes, all the memories of last night return, demanding organisation.Kade usually works out in the mornings, but today he skips it entirely.Instead, he downs a handful of painkillers and sits through an examination from the medic, wincing while his inner ears are checked.
‘Healing fast, like always,’ the man proclaims.‘So.’
‘So?’
‘Is he a Brightling like they’re saying?’
Kade sighs.
The whole Tower is abuzz with rumours about the demon man who broke in despite all the security measures, theBrightling,the devil himself.
‘He’s just a man.’
‘Just a man who facedyouand lived?’the medic asks doubtfully, brow lifting as he finishes the last of his checks.
‘It’s complicated.’
‘Apparently so.All right.No strain on the stomach, no loud music for a few weeks.I’d say take it easy but we both know you won’t.’
Kade gives a shallow smile.‘Correct.’
Before he leaves, Kade goes down to the Cold Room to look over the bodies himself.Nothing invasive.He just needs to see them before they’re gone.Kade apologises quietly to each of them, feeling the weight of every loss.Out of the eighteen people Lachlan Tanner killed, thirteen died from near-perfect shots to the head.The others took centre-mass rounds to the chest.
Clean.Efficient.Controlled.
Gage is the hardest to look at, mostly because Kade knows what the loss is going to do to Seth, who he goes to check on immediately afterwards.
