Page 90 of Kill Me Again: Psychics

I took the stairs back down even faster, only slowing to avoid taking a tumble. I opened my mind, sifting through people’s thoughts like they were grains of rice and discarding each one that didn’t matter.

There.

Lake.

Not afraid. Not in danger. Normal.

I spotted him moments later, lounging against the reception desk as if he had all the time in the world, the offending charging cable dangling loosely from his hand.

Any annoyance I might have felt dissolved completely beneath relief.

I charged across the lobby and wrapped my arms around him, dimly aware he’d been mid-conversation with someone, but unable to find it within myself to care. For five minutes, he’d been gone. Out of my life. Reduced to a pawn in my brother’s game.

And now he was here. Warm. Breathing. Safe.

“Hey,” Lake said, returning the embrace when I didn’t immediately let go. “What’s wrong?”

With my throat too tight for words, I shook my head.

I’d mostly regained my composure by the time we made it back to the car. Despite leaving the door wide open and the keys in the ignition, it hadn’t been stolen. A minor miracle, if ever there was one. Nor was anyone hiding in the back seat. I checked. I even checked the boot.

Then, I sat staring at the road ahead, my mind working furiously.

“I’m really sorry,” Lake said. It wasn’t the first apology he’d made. “It was thoughtless of me to take so long. I should’ve considered how it might look from your point of view. Or better yet, I should have left the damn cable behind and used one of Asher’s, like you suggested.”

“You don’t need to apologize.” My voice sounded brittle, as if it might fracture completely if I kept talking.

“Obviously I do,” he said gently. “You’re pissed, and you have every right to be. Just because someone was telling me about their history degree doesn’t mean I had to stand there listening. I knew you were waiting. And I should’ve known what you’d think if I took too long.”

“He has us on the ropes,” I said quietly. “Ready to hide and never come out again.” Lake’s slight frown said he didn’t know what I was getting at. “Calisto did that when O’Reilly was after him. It got him nowhere. The only reason that situation ended was that he faced it head-on. Granted, his hand was forced, because it was that or let Ben die. But that doesn’t change the truth of it.”

“What are you saying?”

I started the car and eased into traffic. “I’m not hiding from him. I’m not giving him the satisfaction of going to ground. Ask me why.”

“Why?”

“Because he’ll still be there waiting.”

“The police will catch him.”

“Will they? They didn’t exactly do a great job last time. They even pinned my murder on the wrong man.”

“It’s different now,” Lake insisted. “They know who they’re looking for. He can’t hide forever.”

“Can’t he? How many people live in London?” I laughed softly. “I wouldn’t expect anyone else to be able to answer that, but I bet you can.”

“Around nine million.”

“Around nine million,” I echoed. “That’s an awful lot of people to blend in with, don’t you think? Like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.”

“It also has close to a million CCTV cameras,” Lake countered. “It’s one of the most surveilled cities in the world. The average person’s image appears on camera hundreds of times a day.”

When I didn’t respond, Lake stared out of the window. “Where will you go?”

“Home. Where he knows exactly where I am. Now that I know about him, he’ll come out of hiding.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. He’s my twin.” I forced myself to take emotion out of the equation and think logically. “I’ll drop you at Calisto’s.”

“No!”

The single word carried enough force that I studied him. He had an obstinate set to his jaw that I’d never seen before. “Wherever you go, I go. If you’re not hiding, neither am I.”

“If you think that’ll change my mind—”

“I don’t.”

I nodded. It was good to have backup. I just hoped I wasn’t dragging Lake straight into hell with me.