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“Good. That’s very good.” I grabbed the tool and used the pliers to cut the ties.
He let out a moan, rubbing his wrists as I gave a jerk of my head, motioning to the living room. He followed, turning to keep me in his sights, before he scurried to the single sofa and plonked down.
“I could lose my job for giving you this.”
“You could lose your life if you don’t.”
He jerked his gaze up as he opened the laptop. I stood over him, waiting for him to return his gaze to the screen. He did, logged into the database, and pulled up the files. One rip from the notebook beside him on the small desk and he scribbled furiously, writing not one address, but three.
“Here.” He shoved the torn page at me. “I’ve done what you wanted.”
I took the addresses, scanning what he’d written. “I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you cause a problem over this?”
His cheeks burned. “No, you don’t.”
I have a nod, then turned away and strode for the door.
“You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?”
The question stopped me as I reached the door. Hale’s fucking face burning in my mind. Riven was just a way for me to get to him. “Yes,” I answered. “I’ll kill them all.”
I left him with the truth and walked out the way I’d come and headed down the stairs. Minutes. That’s all it took for me to get back to the Explorer. By the time I did, I was sucking in hard, ice-cold breaths. They burned all the way down as I unlocked the four-wheel drive and climbed inside.
The heater on full blast didn’t help a damn.
Still, I leaned close, warming my fingers in the heat and pulled up the first address on the list. It was a goddamn exclusive golf estate outside the city. That was out, so I turned my focus to the second on the list. Only the address didn’t look right. I punched in the details on my phone and stared at the subway line that ran clear through the city.
“Sonofabitch,” I swore, and looked outside the car.
Still, the address brought me back to the map of the railway. Riven wouldn’t give a fake address, so there had to be something here. I put my faith in that, pulled into the street, and headed to the heart of the city.
The closer I came to the address printed on the torn piece of paper, the more I realized it wasn’t on the subway line at all…it was under it.
I drove past the address, noting the dark sedans parked outside and pulled into a side street. A homeless man lifted his hand as I killed the engine, shielding his eyes. The alley was filled with homeless. They’d hung sheets of plastic, the only barrier as they huddled against the winter chill.
I pushed the door opened and climbed out. Death haunted me, my past, my present. But it was the future where it truly waited, lingering in the shadows, watching me. I walked back to the sedans, peering through the darkened windows before I turned to the building.
Thunder boomed as the midnight trains raced overhead. I winced, waiting for the roar to pass, and lifted my gaze to the apartment building directly under the tracks. Headlights blinded me instantly. Through the haze and the blur, I saw the hunched over figure behind the wheel of the same car I’d seen before.
It was a woman.
One who stared straight ahead as she drove past. I fought the urge to chase her and turned my focus to the building as I reached for my gun and worked the silencer free.
You don’t get to think, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR? Your job is to DO…you should’ve killed your fucking conscience when you had the chance, Riven, now get the fuck out!
Those words resounded, coming back to me clearly now. They were the same words I’d heard standing outside Hale’s office at The Order.
Did The Principal have a goddamn conscience? I didn’t think so…then again, that’s what others thought of me. I stepped up to the door, glanced over my shoulder, then stared at the heavy lock. A lock that couldn’t be picked, so I moved, stepped along the side of the building, and made my way to the rear, scanning the windows overhead.
The lights were on inside.
Riven was here?
He had to be. I searched the back door, but found the same unpickable lock. The only way in would be to break the door down, and that would take more strength than I possessed. I lifted my gaze to the balcony overhead, then to the six-foot fence.
But that…
That I could do.
