CHAPTER TWO
I swatted my apartment door closed, absently locking it. The package was heavy under my jacket, the burden of the dreadful possibilities weighing it down. I yanked my coat off and held the olive green package in front of me with shaking fingers. The package quivered, almost dropped, by my own trepidation.
My apartment wasn’t modest in size, not with my lucrative online income, but the walls of my indigo colored living room pressed in on my soul. I had never felt so small in my life. The very air I breathed suffocated me as I sat down with a heavy heart. The leather of my chair cushioned my tense body, my favorite chair placed directly in front of my computer board, a blank hologram instantly appearing, programmed to my unique proximity.
I swallowed and opened the package.
I needed to know the threat level before I contacted the CA.
I keyed my passwords in on my computer board, multiple encryptions, before my neon handcuffs background appeared before me on the hologram, allowing me access. My security system was top-notch, all created by myself. Information was my bread and butter, so my security system had to be the best.
I pulled out the disc from the package and swiftly waved it in front of the hologram, then set the disc and the empty package aside on the sparse empty space on my desk—almost spilling over three drinks left there from the night before.
With a quick tap on the hologram with my pointer finger, right over the new file downloaded from the disc, I opened the secret intel.
My eyes narrowed. Only a dark internet address was there.
I tapped on it. Instant live feed from a camera in a warehouse.
My attention snapped to the watcher count in the upper right-hand corner. I nibbled on my lip. Only one person was watching this feed.
Me.
What the hell kind of game was Karma playing?
Nothing about what I was watching looked dangerous.
The barren warehouse, down to its studs and iron, was completely empty of any living being. There were only crates stacked in the right corner and a few boxes randomly scattered in the center of the room. One lone doorway—without a door—was on the left.
I squinted at the doorway. My head cocked to the right, analyzing the view. It was bright out there, but like it was filtered somehow. Perhaps by glass or… I stared hard.
Stairs. There was a stairwell outside the doorway on the left.
Not just a simple, ground level warehouse then.
Multiple floors. Perhaps new construction.
My eyes flitted to the watcher count again.
Still only me watching. This was beyond bizarre.
Why would Karma want only me to view this?
It didn’t make any sense. None of it did.
Unnerved, I tapped my bracelet. “Order: Call Karma.”
I didn’t even know the crazy cunt’s last name.
She answered without preamble. “Hello, Noelle. I knew you’d call me back. Confused, I bet?”
“What am I watching? And why am I the only one watching it?” I questioned bluntly.
“Oh, you know…” Karma hedged. “You like all the limelight. I didn’t think you would mind.”
“Cut the bullshit. I can smell it from here.”
Her laughter rang too loud in the air. “Fine. Fine. Some guy named Mr. Valentine somehow caught wind of what I was up to. He paid me a shit ton of units to make sure you were the only one watching.”
