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Eventually, we pull into a small space between alleys, barely large enough for the car to fit without both of the mirrors scratching against the sides of the buildings.
Aria doesn’t ask me if I’m sure this is the place, and I don’t offer the answer regardless. I’ve followed Naomi’s directions to the best of my abilities, and if I’ve got it right, then the meeting place will be at the back of the alley through a peeling, red-painted door. I didn’t ask my partner how she knew it would be safe, and my skin prickles now, thinking about the gaps in this plan.
The harsh reality is this: it might be an ambush.
Hell, we might knock on the door to be greeted with the PD’s best officers and guns trained between our eyes.
It’s a calculated risk, as I said to Aria, and both of us will go down if I’m wrong.
Her door slams, and she’s squeezing between the wall and the car in the next breath. Cursing, I follow her, hurrying to put my body in front of hers and get to the door first. I’m out of bullets from the shootout, my gun useless even though its weight is a comfort in my holster.
“Let me do the talking first,” I urge in an undertone, adding as an afterthought, “Please.”
The last word seems to soften her, and she bobs her head in my direction, her lips drawn into a thin piano wire line. The door is tucked into the wall at an angle invisible to the streets, hidden by the curves of the buildings. The red paint is peeling, exactly as Naomi said it would be, and the door handle looks rusted and ancient after having weathered too many years without love or use.
Do I trust her enough to go through with this?
Can I trust anything?
The better question…do I have a choice?
Without pausing to give in to my doubts, I knock against the wood and wait for an answer.
I don’t expect Bill to be the one who answers the door, yet his stomach is what’s visible first. His hair secondary and his bulging eyes third, the bulge due to Aria and certainly not me. He narrows in on her immediately, and his teeth flash.
“Well, shit.” He slicks a hand through his hair. “Why do you always show up with the most gorgeous women, Dev? I swear to god, you’re keeping them tucked away somewhere, and you only bring them out to make me salivate. Hello, gorgeous. How are you doing?”
He shoots Aria a simpering smile.
I open my mouth to tell him to shut the fuck up and tuck his boner away, but Aria is striding ahead of me with a flirtatious smile pinned to her lips now. She pats Bill on the shoulder. “Probably the same place he’s tuckedyou, sweet thing,” she replies.
I want to slap my forehead but have to content myself to clench my jaw and follow Bill into the building. He closes the door behind us, locking it and engaging a state-of-the-art security system that beeps once he types in a code. The hallway is dim, lit by a single halogen light bulb dangling neglected from the ceiling.
“What the hell is this place, dude?” I ask him.
My voice echoes off the stone walls. Rather than leading anywhere, the hallway appears to dead-end. Another trick of the building, I decide, watching Aria’s head disappear. A staircase leads down to depths unknown, and my fingers itch for my gun even though it’s useless.
Bill chuckles behind me. “What’s the matter? Afraid of the dark, Bishop? Grow a pair and follow the spicy redhead.”
“Just wondering what fascination you seem to have with cramped little caves,” I throw back.
“You’ll be able to tell me once you reach the bottom. Go ahead.” Bill sounds way too amused with himself for his own good.
I don’t like this one bit, but I’ve got no choice. Aria is already halfway down the stairs, her auburn hair almost glowing in the muted yellow.
The staircase is too steep to descend with any kind of speed, but Aria does well enough, moving with the slick grace of a spider. By the time I’ve reached her, I’m a little winded, which I’m chalking up to nerves and Bill’s girth pushing me from behind to go faster.
The door in front of us is reinforced steel, and I have to wait for the man in charge, which is definitely not me in this case, to barrel past, paying extra close attention to Aria as he opens it. “Oh, excuse me, excuse me.”
My growl shuts him up, although he licks his lips, shoots me ahow are you so luckygrin over the top of her head, then pushes the door open and holds out his arm.
“Lead the way, sweet thing. Welcome to my sanctuary!”
Not a cave, I realize in an instant. Unless it’s of the man variety.
Warm track lighting overhead illuminates an open room filled with bookshelves filled with comic book memorabilia and magazines in secure plastic sleeves. Flat-screen monitors decorate one entire wall, with several comfortable couches set across the room for viewing. An entire kitchen with a full-sized refrigerator is at the rear of the space, boasting a shiny espresso maker and a microwave the size of a pony.
A nerd’s paradise.
