Page 62 of Bent Out of Shade
Scrambling out of the chair before Old Guy got the surprise of his life, I backed into the corner, standing in a handy escape shadow.
Despite Old Guy taking the seat behind the desk, it was the other man with his flat dead eyes and scarred hands that made me shiver.
He checked under the skinny cactus, behind the calendar, and even unscrewed the light bulb. When he examined the stack of old car magazines tossed on the filing cabinet, he was so close that I had to suck in my gut and wrap my arms tightly around my midsection to keep from brushing against him.
“We’re clean.” Old Guy swung his booted feet onto the desk. “Charlie already swept for bugs.”
“Can’t be too careful,” Scary replied. Even his voice was devoid of emotion. Not robotic, more as if normal rhythm and cadence required energy he couldn’t be bothered to expend.
I swallowed a few times past the dryness in my throat.
“Is it on or not?” Old Guy said.
“It’s on. One man each.” Scary succinctly gave details of a meeting with the leader of a rival gang. He pinned Old Guy in his gaze. “Don’t fuck this up, Tom.”
The other man’s sneer came off as a grimace. “Fuck you, Harley. I outrank you.”
Harley smiled thinly. “Of course you do.”
Tom thudded his boots back on the floor. “It’s that bitch’s fault. If she hadn’t put Paxton away, we wouldn’t be dealing with this shit.”
I perked up. Yes. Keep talking.
“Pax got careless.” Harley rubbed the twisted scar tissue on his left hand. “All that matters now is that Mayhew was found this morning and will be back in our hands tonight. Provided you don’t botch the meeting.”
Back in their hands?They’d had Sabrina and lost her? No matter. She was alive and their loss was my gain. New plan: crash the meeting, grab Sabrina, and get her to safety. Easy peasy.
A truck rumbled up outside.
Tom glanced out the window, smoothing his beard down with one hand. “Booze is here.” He headed for the door.
Harley followed but paused in the doorway.
I edged one foot into the in-between space between here and the Kefitzat Haderech, the air turning spongy beneath my feet as I balanced on one leg on solid ground.
He glanced back into the corridor, then blinding light shot from his palms, turning the room into a bright white void.
Cracks appeared in my cloaking.
Harley narrowed his eyes and flexed his fingers.
I envisioned my giant crochet hook, patching up the mesh as quickly as possible, but for every hole I closed, another two opened.
An Ohrist whose powers were wrestling mine into submission? Holy hell! Of all the ways my spy mission could go sideways, I’d hadn’t remotely considered this.
The light intensified and my shadow magic melted off me in long drips. The mesh still covered my face, protecting my identity, but my cloaking magic was a giant bull’s-eye. How long before Harley identified and tracked down the lone Banim Shovavim in the city?
I flung myself backward into the KH, but Harley’s eyes met mine for a horrifyingly long moment before I vanished.
The pain of landing on my ass on the stone floor paled in comparison to my tight chest and racing heart. He’d seen me. Fuuuck! Did the others know he was Ohrist? Would he show up at the meeting?
Pyotr wasn’t in the cave reception area, so I grabbed a sock and got myself back to my car in record time, very glad that I’d parked several blocks away from the dive bar.
First up? A text to Vincenzo saying that I’d have Sabrina tonight. I scratched my wrist, which throbbed sharply as if to hold me to that, but the vamp didn’t reply. I hoped he was busy and not on a plane. Should Sabrina’s anxious fiancé demand continual updates, or worse, micromanage this operation, things could go horribly wrong.
I’d deal with any Harley repercussions once Sabrina was safely in my keeping.
When I got home, I put a few pieces of my rescue plan into place. Luckily, Tatiana had convinced Laurent to be on staff so I didn’t bleed out like a slaughtered cow when she enlisted him to come with Emmett and me.
