I’ll gather as much evidence as I can, and then save the girl and get the fuck out of there before anyone comes to help.That’s the easy part, though; I’ve got plenty of practice taking men down, so saving her will be easy.
As long as I get there in time.
As long as that code I saw on my father’s calendar means what I think it means.
I see the turn I need ahead and chance a glance over my shoulder, to make sure no one is going to get in my way.I don’t think anyone saw me leave my father’s house, so I should be in the clear, but you never know.
When I look back, I see a sedan I’ve never seen before.It’s dark, the windows completely blacked out, and fast.I know it wasn’t there five minutes ago because I’ve been checking the rear-view mirror, just to make sure.It must have come from some other street, and the noise of the New Orleans night is so raucous that I didn’t notice it.
Shit.
Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s following me.Maybe he just decided to drive to the club rather than walk.
I take aim at the street I want and slow just enough to make the turn, skidding through it at a speed that’s barely safe, the tires jumping along the asphalt below me and screeching when I hit the gas again.I shoot up the street, trying to gain as much speed as possible.If that guy is following me, he won’t be able to take the corner as quickly.I want to have plenty of distance between us by the time he gets straight again.
When I glance over my shoulder, though, I’m shocked at what I see.He’s taken the corner at a speed I wouldn’t have thought possible, performing a nearly perfect Tokyo drift to get around it without tipping the car onto its side.
God dammit.
I turn back around and slam on the accelerator, rethinking my route and trying to put as many turns in as I can afford.I don’t have a lot of time to get to the destination, but I also don’t want to get there with company.I don’t know who the fuck is in that car, but if they’re taking a corner like that, they’re a better driver than anyone I’ve ever met.
And they’re evidently set on catching me.
***
By the time I reach my destination I’m breathing heavily, strung out on adrenaline and stress and feeling jittery.
But I also lost the guy.I’m sure of it.I took corners he couldn’t take and used alleys he wouldn’t fit in, and he fell behind me ten minutes ago.I’ve kept a close eye on my mirrors and haven’t seen him since, and I think I might have actually pulled it off.
I bring the bike to a stop and wheel it up next to a building, where it’s hidden in the shadows.Beyond me, a parking lot sits bright and well-let in the darkness.
And beyond that, a graveyard full of vaults and headstones.
I frown at that, trying to remember which cemetery this is, and remember so suddenly that it feels like my head is going to explode with the knowledge.I’ve seen that cemetery before.Many times.Lucien used to bring me here as often as he could.
Because that’s where his supposedly secret entrance to the catacombs is.
I grab for my phone, panicked that I remembered the address wrong, and pull up the picture I took of my dad’s screen.Then I glance at the building next to me, and then the street sign.
This is the right address.But there’s nothing here except a parking lot and a graveyard.What the fuck am I doing here, and how are they going to kidnap a girl from a fucking graveyard?
Before I get any further into that thought a squeal of tires announces someone coming in hot, and I jump back against the wall next to my bike as a car barrels into the parking lot, then comes to hard stop.The engine cuts and there’s silence for a full moment.
Long enough for me to recognize the car that was following me.
I slide my hand into my jacket and grab the knife I always wear against my chest, then pull my Glock out of the holster on my back.I didn’t expect to use them this early, but I came armed.And this guy is about to find out why following me into a dark parking lot is a bad idea.I’m busy.I don’t need company.
When he opens the door and steps out of the car, though, all growling, piratical menace, I realize that it’s Lucien.
I sag, the adrenaline rushing out of me like someone’s put a drain in my side, and have to stop myself from actually running to him.I’ve torn though the night–and my father’s house–without allowing myself to think about it too much, and at the sight of someone friendly–someone I used to trust with my life–I suddenly realize how much I’ve needed backup.Suspecting that my father is behind everything, then facing him, then racing toward this parking lot without knowing for sure what I was going to do...
I didn’t give myself any time to think about it.But now that I see Lucien I know that a part of me was waiting for him to come support me.
And the moment I realize it, I put it away.Because I might have trusted him once, but that was a long time ago.These days, I don’t know who he is or what he wants.I do know that he’s keeping secrets from me.And I don’t like when people keep secrets.
Though his face when he tears toward me tell me that he dislikes me almost as much as I dislike him right now.
“What are you doing here?”I ask.“And how the hell did you find me?”
