Page 46 of Shatter

His hands leave my waist the second I'm steady.

I turn around.

He's looking at my closed fist.

He had to see it, the little black rectangle through the plastic, right before my fingers closed.

His eyes move from my hand up to my face.

No questions.

Not what it is, or why a man drove all the way from Vancouver to cut it out of me.

Instead, he steps back and pushes the walk-in door open and holds it for me.

"Let's go." His voice is low. "Ulf's getting antsy."

Heat climbs the back of my throat, and I can't tell if I'm about to cry or be sick.

My legs don't want to work.

I stand there with the drive in my fist and the cold biting through my jeans, staring at him.

He waits.

Hakon's phone buzzes the second we're back in the kitchen.

"Talk." He has it to his ear before the second buzz.

"Gray SUV just pulled in across the street." Aren's voice comes through, faint and tinny. "Two men. Engine running."

Hakon goes completely still.

"How long?" His voice doesn't change.

"Two minutes." A pause crackles on the line. "Passenger's got binoculars. He's looking at the back of the building."

Every hair on my body lifts.

Nice suit, nice haircut.

Said he'd come back.

"Dale." Hakon raises his voice, not much. "Lock the front and stay in the office with the light off."

The office door clicks shut without a word.

Hakon takes my arm, gently, above the elbow, and steers me toward the back door.

"Gunnar." He's talking into the phone again. "You see them?"

"I see them." Gunnar's voice has gone cold. "They're getting out. Driver's going around the east side of the building. Passenger's staying with the car."

"Ulf, east side." Hakon's eyes stay on me.

"On it." Ulf's breath rasps across the line.

Hakon stops at the back door and turns to face me.