Running drew eyes.
But faster than anyone else in these hallways, cutting through the haze of sex and smoke like sharks through warm water.
A woman stumbled out of a doorway and nearly walked into Reo. Her robe was open and her eyes were glassy—drunk, drugged, or both.
She looked up at him, blinked, and opened her mouth.
Reo put a finger to his lips.
She stared at him for a long second. Then her gaze drifted to the guns. Her eyes went wide.
But she didn't scream.
She just stepped back into the room she'd come from and pulled the curtain shut.
Smart woman.
We kept moving.
My heart rate was climbing now. Each corner was a gamble. Every open doorway a potential pair of eyes that would end our invisibility.
The Claws scanned constantly—left, right, ahead, behind—their heads moving in practiced sweeps.
Hiroko whispered from behind us. "Left at the next junction. Then straight for a while. It opens up into—"
"Shh." Hiro raised a fist.
Everyone stopped.
I listened for what he had already heard.
That was the best thing about my brother. Those damn ears were fucking supernatural, catching sound many minutes before a normal person.
All I heard was music, but I didn’t fucking move, until Hiro gave the signal.
We waited, and then the sound came.
Footsteps.
Heavy ones.
Boots coming from around the corner ahead. How the fuck did you hear that over the music, Hiro?
Hiro flattened against the wall. I did the same. The Claws and Hiroko pressed into the shadows on both sides of the hallway, and for a moment we were all just breathing and waiting—a dozen armed men hiding in a brothel like ghosts.
The footsteps got closer.
Then closer.
A security guard rounded the corner. Then another one right behind him. Both were in mid-conversation with each other.
They saw us at the same time we saw them.
The first guard's hand shot to his radio.
I spotted the fox brand on his neck.
Kaede was already moving, closing the distance in three strides silent, low, fast—and drove his palm upward into the first guard's chin.
