Raymond shrinks away from him, holding both arms up to his chest. Colter’s sinister message is so cryptic even I’m not sure if he means he’s going to shoot him or not.
But I don’t interfere and, as with everything he’s done so far, Colter doesn’t shoot Raymond. He twists his wrist and flings it sideways, slamming the pistol’s handle against the bridge of the reporter’s nose.
“What the fuck wa—” Raymond starts shouting, cupping his bleeding face.
Colter slams his gloved hand over the man’s mouth, hissingshh, to enforce his silence. “Dead men don’t speak, Raymond. Continue trying, and I’ll have to teach you the lesson in a more literal way.”
He fires a third, and final bullet into the cupboard next to Raymond.
Colter doesn’t have to suggest he fall over and play dead, because Raymond’s body does so naturally. He slides down the rickety cupboard, flat on his ass, staring wide-eyed at the man who just saved his life… by pretending to take it. He doesn’t utter another sound, not even to breathe audibly, and if it weren’t for his twitching eyelids, I’d think Colter had missed the cupboard and hit his intended mark by accident.
“Did you really have to hit him?” I ask.
Colter waves his gun-free hand across his body, showing the blood droplets that stain his clothes and mask. He doesn’t say a word, but I understand. He needs to look like a person who just killed three people.
“A clean-up crew will arrive here in the morning. I would suggest you’re gone before they do.” Colter makeshis way to the door, treading carefully around us, as if we actually were corpses.
“What about you?” I ask, fighting against my body’s natural instinct to rush over and stop him from leaving.
“There is one more matter I must see to, tonight.” He doesn’t look over at any of us.
“But when it’s done, Lilith, I will come for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Colter
To offset the Head’s suspicion of my loyalty, I tasked Iniko, Fenrir, and Voodoo with finding the man I believed Lilith and her mother would go to. It was business as usual for them, and they started working on it without a second thought.
It only took two days to uncover their location in the Bleed. But I withheld my team’s findings fromthe Veil for a few more days, because I wasn’t ready for what had to be done.
I knew the Head, the man who should have been my father, but who had given up that opportunity at my birth, would have placed eyes on me at all times. That was why, after a week of silence, I showed up at Lilith’s door, gun in hand and causing a commotion.
I had to sell the act.
Now, I meet him in his sanctuary below ground. Unlike the last time we met here, the wall lamps are ablaze, giving his office a warm, almost homely feel.
He jumps out of his seat and greets me with a paternal smile. He’d have gotten word from my tail already, but it doesn’t stop him from giving me the once over. I see him notice Raymond’s blood splashed across my attire. It’s enough to satisfy his questions about the outcome, but not so much that it looks overdone.
“So, you’ve seen reason, after all?” His first words to me.
“I did. Will you join me for a walk? I would like to speak with you about something.” This question would usually earn a scornful sneer and sour temper from the Head, but today nothing can get in the way of his good mood.
“It’s a shame the Spirit had such a weak constitution,” the Head says, donning his mask for our walk through the Veil. He lets me lead the way.
I find myself growing agitated at his lack of foresight. Not for what I’ve schemed, but for the tasteless way hespeaks about those he believes I killed. It reminds me of so many encounters, not too different from this one. Concerning people I’d killed on his behalf, and the excuses he’d pull out to make mesee the reasonsfor their deaths.
Of course, none of that mattered then. I was loyal, duty-bound, and I did what the Veil requested of me. Now, I wonder how often he misused his position, to have me kill for his gain alone.
“We were on the precipice of greatness, and she threw it all away.” He shakes his head in pretended disappointment. “Still. There will be another. I’m sure of it.”
We make our way along the north corridor to the Grand Hall.
“But what is it you wanted to speak about, Ghost?” he asks, as we reach the door.
I stop outside it, keeping my eyes locked straight ahead at the intricate patterns carved into the wood. “Do you believe, what you’ve done is right for the Veil?”
“What kind of question is that?” Fury bubbles behind his mask.
