With a groan, he pushed off the cold glass and stretched as best as he could in the small space. His shoulder was still tender from the incision, but taking out the dislodged chip had eased most of the tension. His wounded arm felt mostly fine.
Aiden blinked a few times, bringing the world into focus, though kept his eyes anywhere but on Darren’s face, unable to meet that haunting indigo gaze. As they waited for Nyle and Nan to get off first, Darren retreated as far back to his side as was physically possible, nesting both hands in his lap and fumbling with the gun they’d retrieved on the way out. Aiden could feel Darren watching him, but he didn’t look up. He couldn’t, as the pleasanthum that being touched had caused was still present within him.
“Alright, boys, your turn!” Nan said, waving at them to get out.
Aiden took her outstretched hand and stepped off the shuttle. “Where are we?” he asked, surveying the Victorian building and its armada of shuttles parked nearby.
“Nyle’s place,” Darren supplied from a pace behind him. “I need to make a call and you could use a shower and a change of clothes.”
“And some food,” Nyle added over his shoulder, causing Nan to giggle. “I don’t know about you, but I’mstarving.”
Aiden looked at his bloodstained and torn shirt. Darren was right. Nyle too, since food sounded the most appealing out of the three, especially with coffee being the only thing to grace Aiden’s stomach since…
He frowned. He didn’t know since when. But even that paled compared to how much he yearned for a warm bed and a good night’s sleep, so he could forget, if even for a while, the life-changing truths he’d never expected to unearth.
The Valrais tragedy, Claudia’s betrayal, Marcus’ crime. It was all too much in too short a span of time, one thing after the other throwing his world into disarray without caring whether his exhausted body and mind could keep up. He didn’t know what to think, how to feel except for lost, where to go from here. He just needed a break, a day where he could just sit down and process everything.
Yet, as soon as they entered the lounge and Nan turned on the TV, Aiden was reminded that his breakdown would have to wait. He just didn’t have that luxury now,not when he was a fugitive on the run. A wanted criminal, according to the news, who’d murdered a pair of auditors for uncovering his theft of prison funds and then kidnapped an inmate.
“Wow.” Nyle whistled, throwing himself on the leather sofa across from the screen. “They sure are quick to make you into some ruthless motherfucker, warden Kesley.”
Aiden wasn’t really a warden anymore, though. Hadn’t really ever been or felt like one, if he was being honest. It had been simply a role, a costume he’d worn so he could get to Darren Howe and kill him. “Just Kesley is fine,” he said to Nyle, looking around the room.
Like the outside, it followed classical conventions of style and colors, but even so, it was more opulent than tacky. There was an idea behind it, a theme, the golds and royal blues mixing just right with the whites, and the ornamented furniture complementing the carved wooden panels covering the walls.
“I wonder how long it’s gonna take them to notice I’m missing,” Nyle commented, propping his chin in his hand.
“They are probably going through the surveillance as we speak,” Darren’s voice boomed behind Aiden, reverberating through him. He turned around just as Darren bit into an apple. “Nan, can I get that phone?” he asked the short woman, who was piling snacks on the coffee table in front of Nyle.
“Of course, dear! Let me just show Mr. Kesley to the bathroom and find him some clothes. I’ll be right with you,” she said with a bright smile, meeting Aiden’s eyes.
Aiden nodded and followed Nan to a spacious bathroom, slipping under the shower before the bathtub he knew he didn’t have time to enjoy had managed to tempt him.
Chapter 36
Nan returned ten minuteslater, carrying a bulky retro-looking transmission device that Darren guessed ran on the same protocols as the one he’d had in his possession before his capture. In her absence, the news reporter had finally made the announcement of a second inmate’s escape, believed to be an accomplice to the ex-warden.
“Look, Nan, I’m on TV!” Nyle chirped, pointing at the picture they’d pulled from his prison file. The one with the sultry smile and the quirked eyebrow.
“Oh, my! Ain’t you a looker!” she beamed, pulling a snort out of Darren. “Mr. Howe.” She handed him the radio device. “I assume this will do?”
“Yes, Nan. Thank you.”
She squeezed his arm in a motherly gesture. “If you need some privacy, you can use any of the rooms down the hall.”
“Thank you. I’ll let you two have some space.”
He went to the first room on the left, where a massive bed with lace linen occupied an elevated platform in the middle. Perching his ass on the edge, he called his contact and gave a quick rundown of his situation. As much as he wanted to stay on the phone until they were both caught up with each other, he kept the call short, hanging up as soon as they’d set up a meeting spot. On his way back to the lounge, he ran into Nan and gave her the coordinates.
“I’ll go prepare a shuttle, then. As much as I’d love to let you three rest, we should leave before our uninvited guests show up,” she said, not sounding at all worried even though Nyle was now part of Darren’s mess.
“Sorry, Nan. For dragging Nyle into this,” he apologized. He’d tried to keep Nyle out of it, sort of, but the twink had simply refused to listen.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Mr. Howe. Nyle might look all sweet and innocent, but that child is a devil in disguise.” She laughed, her entire face lighting up. “Always gave his parents such a hard time.”
Darren could see it. Nyle was cunning and seemed to always find ways to get what he wanted. On top of that, he had an unexpectedly dirty mouth, didn’t care about the rules and was probably one of the best hackers Darren had ever encountered. The combination of those traits probably made the twink a pain in the ass to more than a few people.
“I can imagine.”
