Page 137 of No Greater Oblivion

Oh fuck. That can’t be good.

The last thing I remember before blacking out was Li demanding Alejandro return the gun he used to kill Amy Walsh. There’s no way in Hell they found it; not where I hid it and not in the few short hours since Li kidnapped me. A hundred people could tear that townhouse apart brick by brick and still not know where to look; inside an old architecture book about cathedrals.

“I’ll be right there.” Li shoves the phone in his pocket and addresses his henchmen, numbers two and four. One and three left earlier and are presumably circling the area. “Watch her. If she runs, kill her, but only after I have what I need.”

He disappears between the barren bushes and snowy trees down a narrow footpath that returns him to the paved road.

Alejandro

“Li is probably going to have the place surrounded. Where are your men posted?” I ask.

Rian reads a message on his phone before shoving it in his pocket. “Corey and Owen are surveying the area south of Bow Bridge and the rest should be here any minute now. Damiano has about three men scoping out the areas east and west of there.”

“They were the only ones close by. I don’t keep a personal security detail and everyone else is downtown, about twenty minutes out,” Damiano explains. “But they’re good at what they do. Trust me.”

I nod my approval. “Good, that’s good. Thank you, by the way, for the two men you sent to the townhouse. Doña Ana is still there and I didn’t want to leave her or the house unguarded.”

“That’s where you should be.” A muscle in Rian’s tightly wound jaw jumps as he shakes his head. “I can’t believe you let her come.”

Lyss’s cheeks heat as she fires back. “Hey! I do believe I’m the one with the tracking app.”

“Which is absurd,” Rian snaps back. “To think a cheap twenty-dollar necklace is going to help us find her.”

“This cheap twenty-dollar necklace,” Lyss tugs on the chain around her neck, “was actually forty. And Dahlia and I use the app all the time. It’s very useful when we go clubbing because if the other person can’t hear their phone ring, you can use the app to make the pendant on their chain vibrate or light up. In fact, it even sings Cher songs!”

“How do you even know she’s wearing it?”

“Because she was wearing it when I saw her a few hours ago and the app is telling me she’s in Central Park, look,” she shoves the phone in his face. “See?”

Rian turns to me. “We could’ve just taken the phone from her.”

“And risk her following us here anyway? No thank you. Better she stays with us.” Most of the pavement hasn’t been cleared of snow yet so it’s difficult to make out the footpaths, especially as another light flurry begins to fall. We reach a fork in the road and I pull Damiano and Lyss aside, guiding them under the protection of heavy, snow-covered branches. “Don’t move from here.”

“No, I want to help!” Lyss whines as Damiano lets out an incredulous, “I’m not a babysitter!”

“She has the tracker on the phone which means someone has to stay with her while Narvaez and I take turns beating the shit out of Li.” Rian makes sure the magazine in his gun is full before snapping it back into place. “Any questions?”

“I still don’t understand why we aren’t just giving Li what he wants,” Lyss says. “We found the gun. This feels dangerous.”

“Narvaez made the right call. If Dahlia went through all the trouble to hide the real one then it must’ve been for a reason. We could be making a mistake in handing it over to Li and since we can’t ask her ourselves, it’s better not to,” Rian replies. “Besides, I have the sneaking suspicion that Li knows about what happened at the investor’s meeting. There were a million other ways he could’ve forced Dahlia into giving him what he wanted but he chose to take her instead and involve the rest of us.”

“And who’s to say he won’t kill her the second Narvaez hands over the gun?” Damiano turns to Lyss. “Trust us, it’s better this way.”

She doesn’t seem convinced but she doesn’t argue either. Lyss keeps the phone close to her chest and examines our surroundings. Not much can be seen in the darkness but at the very least, the snow has started to let up in the last few minutes, which makes the streetlights easier to see.

Rian calls Li to let him know we’re here. Noticing a gap in the short wire gate separating the footpath from the trees, I step over it and walk to the top of the hill. From here I can see Bow Bridge but not much else. It’s a gray and white smudge over a nearly frozen pond surrounded by trees and ice.

A branch snaps behind me and I turn around. Lyss startles and grabs onto a nearby branch for balance. “Sorry. Li said he’s ready when you are.”

“All right.”

The color of her eyes are almost indiscernible in the winter light but there’s no mistaking the sliver of fear behind them. She keeps fidgeting with the pendant around her throat as if willing it to blink to life.

“You…” She swallows. “You seem so calm.”

“I’m always calm. I have to be.”

“Is this what Dahlia meant? When she said that sometimes you have to shut down in order to function.”