Page 40 of Lost to Thievery
I pressed a finger into his bandaged shoulder, careful not to press too hard, only enough to prove a point. Owen still grunted in pain. I checked the bags connected to his IV. Nothing for pain. Why?
He let his head fall back, a smile tugging at his lips. “Okay. Maybe I’ll let you stay. Just for the night.”
I bit at my lip. I had wanted to be alone. To scream my anger and hurt at the gods. To replay today over and over again, until I could make sense of it. Until I could wrap my head around this pain.Hiswords. My brokenness.
But I should have known Owen wouldn’t let me out of his sight again. And maybe it was better that I wasn’t alone. Maybe Owen could keep the demons at bay.
Grayson
Alittlefurther.Justa little fucking further, I begged my legs to hold. I slinked into the shadows, dodging another stupid agent that walked like she had a stick up her ass. Former military. I waited for her to pass, keenly aware of the overly eager agent I slipped past earlier at my back, heading my way. He had to be brand new. No other agent had searched with such vigour.
It had been thirty-nine seconds since I passed the rookie. At the pace he was walking, it would take him roughly twenty seconds to catch up to me, enough to spot me where I crouched. That left me with four seconds to disappear into the alley, after stick-up-the-ass was out of sight.
I counted down the steps until she would disappear around the corner.
Three… two… one. I sprinted across the street, counting down the seconds before the agent behind me would be able to spot me.
And four… three… two…I turned into the alley, out of his line of sight.And one.
I just needed to make it through the building at the end of the alley. Then I could relax.
I reached the door and picked the lock with practiced movements. Picking locks had become so natural to me, I could easily do it with my hands tied behind my back.
Or shaking like a madman.
I silently clicked the door closed behind me, moving as swiftly as my struggling legs would allow across the abandoned warehouse. A light had me swiftly stepping behind a wooden crate. I sighed soundlessly as the two agents moved closer, blocking my way.
Exit Plan B, it is.
“Split up,” one whispered to the other. “I’ll sweep the lower floors, you take upstairs.”
I waited for the agent to move past me and up the stairs before I followed behind him.Fuck.Could my legs even handle Exit Plan B at this point?
I had to get my shit together.
At the top of the stairs, I kept close to the left-side wall in the hallway, where I had cleared a path of all noisy debris earlier, for exactly this reason. Rule three. Preparation always saved my ass.
The agent’s boots crunched over the floors as he swept the offices, but my steps were silent behind him.
He moved into an office and I shot forward. I had to get past him to the last office, while I still had control of my body.
I froze as he came out the office, having not searched it as thoroughly as the rest, stepping right out in front of me. I had instinctively reached for my knife, my mind effortlessly playingout three different ways to kill him silently. Lucky for him, he had his back to me.
I stepped around the agent as he turned to look behind him. I had already mapped the debris on the floor and found the quietest spots to place my feet as I moved. I backed into the office he just swept and swivelled behind the wall as the agent righted himself and continued on.
My jaw clenched, the irritation starting to take over. It would be so much easier to just slit his throat and be done with it. For once I didn’t have the energy for games. I wanted to get the fuck out of here before I lost my shit.
Ava’s smell bombarded me and I spun around, sure she was behind me.
Nothing.
Fuck.
The agent had gone into the office next to me, and I made it to the end of the hallway and slipped into the last office.
By his pace, I had less than two minutes to get out.
I opened the window and swore as I got onto the ledge. This was going to be a fucking bitch.
