Page 28 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
The elevator doors dinged and slid open as she reached the second floor. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she stepped out into the hallway and followed the signs on the wall. The woman downstairs had been correct. You couldn’t miss the clinic. The walls were a deep rose, and there were brightly colored flower murals painted all over the place. Why did that seem to make it worse? It was as if the walls were designed to lie to you, to lull you into this false sense that all was okay, when in reality, nothing was okay. She was not okay, and no stupid images of gardens with butterflies were going to help.
You would need to be blind to miss the patient sign-in area. The circular formation of desks was in the middle of the room and had a giant, artistic sun hanging above it, the lights inside of it glowing.
“It’s odd, right?”
Ashley turned her head to find the source of the voice. A woman around the same age was sitting in the waiting area and gave her a small grin.
“Yeah, it kind of is. My name’s Ashley.” She leaned over and held out her hand. She immediately regretted it as the woman struggled to lift her arm. “I’m sorry, I… ah….” She was normally so good with patients, but right now, she was at a loss for words.
“Nope, don’t worry about it. I’m Daisy, and yes, the irony is not lost on me.” Daisy’s eyes flicked to the wall behind her, and Ashley smiled at the realistic country garden filled with the white-petaled flowers. Daisy’s cool hand clasped her own. “Today is just a bad day. Normally, I would jump up and offer to show you around. You get used to the ups and downs.”
Ashley bit her lip as they released the handshake. “What are you reading?” she asked, hoping to divert the conversation.
Daisy tilted the book to show off its cover. “The Brat and the Bodyguard, by Tia Fanning. I just started. Loving it so far—you need a little sexy distraction in this place,” she giggled. “How about you? Did you bring something to occupy the endless day?”
“Yeah, it’s just on my phone. That way, I can download as many as needed.”
Daisy smiled. “I can’t argue that is awesome, but there’s nothing like the feel of holding a book in your hands.” Daisy nodded toward the receptionist. “You better go get signed in. Stalling only makes it worse.”
“That obvious?” Ashley squeezed the strap on her gym bag hard, and the wooden top of the cane bit into her palm harder still as she stared at the slowly-rising sun.
“You can always tell the newbies. We all come in looking like wide-eyed deer about to be hit by a car. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. It’s really not as bad as you think it will be.” Daisy fumbled around in her purse and held out a business card. Taking the card, Ashley stared at the little flower emblem with Daisy’s name splashed across the front. “I run a support group if you’re ever interested. It’s nothing formal, just a few of us that sometimes just need someone to talk to that understands what you’re going through.”
Ashley blinked back the tears stinging the backs of her eyes. “Thank you, Daisy. I better get going. Have a good day.”
“You too, Ashley. It was nice meeting you.”
Swallowing down the lump of emotion in her throat, she made her way toward the desk and tried to stay focused on the fact she was here to get help, not to be taken out to slaughter like her brain kept screaming.
I’ll be okay. It’s all going to be okay.
Contrary to popular belief, the best time to stalk prey was during the day. They thought they were safe, behaving like normal members of society and not the scum that chose to destroy young women’s lives.
Kes sat in Baby Doll, binoculars in hand as he watched the man he’d nicknamed Slim Jim speak to some of the shadiest looking guys he’d ever seen. That said a lot because he’d seen a lot of shady people over his time on the streets. Spike’s phone had been a treasure trove of dirtbags, and if he hadn’t already killed him, he would’ve shaken his hand for all the information.
Instead, he’d taken the liberty of sending out a message on the late Spike’s behalf letting them all know he was fine and just lying low. He didn’t want any of Spike’s associates to go underground. Nope, he wanted them going about their business as usual.
A plain black duffel bag was handed off to the shady men, and they marched off, leaving Slim Jim to look around and make sure his sorry ass didn’t look suspicious. Too bad for him—he was already being watched. Fixing his suit jacket, Slim Jim marched for the blacked-out Cadillac Escalade and sped off toward the freeway ramp.
Kes tossed the binoculars on the passenger seat and stared at the red dot tracker on the monitor built into his dash. Firing the Hummer up, he pulled out into the sparse amount of traffic and followed his prey from a safe distance. He’d been quite successful in hunting his targets without the use of the fancy tech, but he couldn’t deny that in times like this, his life was made easier by it. It took far less time to hunt, kill, and move on to the next target.
Slim Jim pulled off the freeway and onto a road that led out past the suburbs and into the countryside. Eventually, the dot on the monitor turned once more to come to a stop on what Kes could only assume was a farm.
He traveled to the next road over, which thankfully was a dead end with only one house on it. He made his way to the very end and parked in front of theDead Endsign. Hopping out, he grabbed his gun, knives, and a few other toys, just in case, and set off at a brisk jog through the dense, overgrown brush. The sun beat down on his back and head despite the fact that his face was covered with his hood up. He hated this time of day, it was always too hot and he could still feel the bright rays beating down on him in the thick heat through the material. Sweat trickled down his spine and into his fatigues. He jumped over a small log and pushed on through the scraggly undergrowth, the slender branches acting as miniature whips along his body.
“Keep moving,” Trev yelled. “We can’t stop soldier so pick your feet up.”
He glared at Trev as he stood yelling at everyone to keep running like fucking ignore the sound of the bullets hitting rocks and sending fragments flying was normal. Dean was helping him as they ran and every stride was excruciating. Another torrent of bullets landed all around them, and Dean gripped him a little harder as he pushed the pace faster. Dodging the metal and dirt rain was like trying to dodge raindrops.
Coming to a sudden stop, he shook his head and bit his lip hard to keep the memory from surfacing.
“You are the keeper of your memories. They do not keep you,” he said softly as he took slow deep breaths.
The sound of yelling reached his ears, and his head snapped up toward the sound. He was close to his target. Breathing steadily and mind squared away, he ran on, weaving around the small saplings like a slalom skier. There was a trail camera a little further up that faced the farmhouse. Ducking down low behind some thick bushes, he watched the man, Slim Jim, pull a young woman from the house. The yelling boomed louder as she screamed for forgiveness. Kes’s hand balled into a fist as he watched her be yanked around by her hair, tears streaming down her dirty face, and saw her sad excuse for clothing hanging off her body in tatters.
“Get on your knees,” Slim Jim ordered, pushing the girl down with a rough shove. She tumbled to the dirt floor, and before Kes could even blink, the gun the man was holding went off, and the crying girl went silent. “Bury her with the others and pick one more to get rid of. We need to make room for the new shipment.”
Two men who Kes had barely noticed with his focus locked on the girl stepped up and dragged her rag doll form away. Kes looked down at the large recluse spider crawling up his arm and got an idea.
