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CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Madelyn
Multiple sets of footsteps rapped across the floor toward the bar. A shuffling sound from within the office told me the man there was turning toward the door too. With a stutter of my pulse, I pushed myself farther behind the counter even though I knew that effort was in vain.
They were going to take a closer look around this time. They were going to search for whatever had made that noise, and it would lead them straight to me. And my way to both possible escape routes was still blocked. Shit.
“Hey, is someone there?” the woman called out, sounding like she was right on the other side of the counter. I balled my hands into fists, my mind scrambling for an excuse that might get me out of this safely—
A loud banging sounded from the front of the building, someone knocking on the door hard enough that it rattled in its frame. Shoes scraped against the floor as the nearby figures must have swiveled.
“What the fuck do they want?” one of the men muttered. “The CLOSED sign is hanging right there.”
Voices started to filter through the door.
“Hey! Open up.”
“We’ve got to talk to you. This is important.”
That sounded like Slade and Logan. My heart skipped a beat. They’d made it here just in time. But what kind of distraction were they making? I didn’t want them getting into trouble with these gangsters because of me.
I hoped they knew what they were doing—and that it’d be enough to give me a chance to escape.
To my relief, all of the footsteps moved away from me. The guy who’d been in the office emerged, visible around the edge of the bar, but he didn’t glance my way, all his attention focused on the front of the room. “What’s going on?”
“Looks like some college guys making a fuss,” one of the men reported from near the door. “I’ll see what they’re going on about.”
There was the click of the door unlocking and a faint squeak of the hinges. “What the hell do you want?” he demanded.
My gaze flicked back and forth, noting that the man from the manager’s office was still standing near that doorway and the guy who’d handled the delivery hadn’t moved far from the back hall. I still couldn’t make a dash for the back exit without being seen.
Logan’s voice carried through the room, both bold and urgent. “We overheard some scummy-looking guys a few blocks away talking about how they were going to come here and smash up your bar. I don’t know how soon, but they sounded serious. We couldn’t just let them go ahead with it without warning you.”
For the first time since I’d gotten stuck in here, a smile darted across my lips. He had no idea how perfect that story was given the concerns these gangsters already had about their property—or maybe he did. For all I knew, the Vigil guys were perfectly familiar with the kinds of criminal conflicts going on around the city. Even if they hadn’t known anything about the people who owned this specific bar, it might not be hard to figure out what kind of news would get them riled up.
“Are you serious?” the man by the door demanded. “What else did they say?”
Slade spoke next. “We didn’t really want to stick around to eavesdrop on guys who’d do shit like that. It sounded like they were pissed off about a deal or something? I don’t know what they meant.”
Both of the men I’d still been able to see stepped completely out of my view, moving toward the front door to join the conversation. From the sounds of the feet beyond the bar counter, everyone was gathering around the door to talk to the Vigil guys.
Relief flooded me. I’d just give them time to get fully engaged in the conversation, and then I could dash for the back.
“What exactly did you hear?” another of the men asked in a firm voice that suggested he had some authority over the others. “Word for word, as well as you can remember.”
As Logan continued to spin his story, I glanced around again, and my gaze snagged on the now wide-open door to the manager’s office. I could see Dad’s lacquer box from where I was crouched. The sight of it tugged at my chest.
I squared my shoulders. I wasn’t coming out of this empty-handed. They’d taken something important from me, and I was taking it right back while I had the chance.
I scrambled over to the end of the bar and peeked around the counter. The six figures were now clustered around the door, all of them focused on the Vigil guys. This was the best opportunity I was going to get. Grab the box, then get the hell out of here.
With a swift breath, I darted across the short open space and through the office doorway. My eyes swept over the contents of the office with a pang as I thought of all the other evidence that might be in here, all the answers we might be able to find about why these people had taken Dad’s box in the first place, but there was no time to do a more thorough search. Even this quick maneuver was risky—and it wasn’t justmysafety on the line now.
I snatched the box off the desk, tucked it under my arm, and hustled back into the shelter of the bar beneath the level of the nearest table. As quickly as I could while ducked down, I scuttled to the opposite end of the counter near the back hall. The guys were still talking, but their voices were muffled by the thudding of my pulse.
I was just lunging into the shadows of the hall when one comment reached my ears that made my stomach flip over.
“Wait. You look kind of familiar. Weren’t you and your friends making some kind of trouble for our guys downtown a while back?”
