CHAPTER 42 - SKY
“WHERE ARE WE going?”
Some crazy-ass freak was carrying a crying brunette across a roof, Alaric had a fucking gun aimed at said freak, and yet Emmy was dragging me away. What the hell?
“Shh.”
Quite frankly, I was still trying to work out what happened. We’d nosed through the bathroom in Ryland’s apartment and found it empty apart from a dozen air fresheners, seven bottles of bleach, three of drain cleaner, four spare shower curtains, a lifetime’s supply of shower gel, and two toilet brushes—then moved into the bedroom, which was also pretty spartan. A man who liked housework? Well, that was a novelty. The bed was unmade, too low for a man of Ryland’s size to hide underneath, and the laundry hamper was on the small side as well. The only place left to check was the double wardrobe. As Emmy approached it, there’d been a sort of…squeak from inside, followed by a crash, and we tried to get the door open but it was jammed shut. By the time we broke it off the hinges and found the hole through to the janitor’s-closet-turned-prison-cell on the other side of the wall, Ryland was halfway up the bloody stairs.
And now we were halfway down them.
“Hello? There’s a woman being held hostage up there. Shouldn’t we be calling the police?”
“Oh, sure, so they can show up in an hour and make a bad situation worse.”
“Well, how exactly are we helping? You just left Alaric and Ravi up there on their own.”
“Alaric’s a big boy. He can handle it. Now, this is one of those rare and memorable occasions where we get to use the elevator.”
“Everything okay, boss?” one of the Blackwood men asked as Emmy tugged me through the sliding doors. The thing stank. If I lived in this place, I’d take the stairs every day.
“There’s a hostage situation on the roof. Once we’ve hit the ground floor, call the elevator back up and hold it here, okay?”
“Roger that.”
Why were we leaving? I thought Emmy was supposed to be a fighter, but this felt more like a disorganised retreat.
“Did you see the knife?” I asked as the lift rumbled into life.
“Yeah, I saw the knife. Did you see the serial killer starter kit in the bathroom?”
Ah, fuck. All that bleach. The extra shower curtains. Now I felt sick. “What if he stabs her while we’re…while we’re…”
“While we’re flanking him. Don’t worry—Alaric’s got the gift of the gab. He’ll keep the lunatic talking for a few minutes. We just have to hurry up.”
“Flanking him? What are you talking about?”
As we slowly descended into the bowels of Bellsfield House South, Emmy laid out her plan, and I realised a harsh truth. Ryland Willis wasn’t the crazy one. No, my new boss took gold for that. And me? I was in silver medal position, stuck on the second step of the podium since I’d just signed my life over to her for what promised to be six long, long months.
CHAPTER 43 - BETHANY
WHAT WAS GOING on? Half an hour ago, Alaric had called to say they’d got a lead on Ryland, and everyone except me had headed into Bellsfield House South, but since then, it had been radio silence. Should I try calling? I didn’t want to disturb Alaric if he was in the middle of something important, but the waiting was unbearable.
For most of the day, I’d been hiding out in a car park on the far side of the play area, but as darkness fell, a group of youths had appeared, and they kept kicking a football against the side of the vehicle. On purpose, I suspected. So after Alaric’s call, I’d moved the SUV, slotting it in between a dumpster and what had once been a sofa before rain, vandals, and mould got to it. The position gave me a good view of the south tower, and for that, I’d put up with the rotten smell.
I was checking the phone—yet again—when movement caught my eye. Two blondes burst out of the door. Was that…was that Emmy? And Sky? They weren’t hanging around. The pair of them ran right past the front of the SUV, and before I had time to think what a bad, bad idea it was, I jumped out and sprinted after them. Something was wrong, wasn’t it?
“What happened?” I gasped as I burst into the lobby of the north tower behind them.
Emmy cursed under her breath, and I wasn’t sure whether her words were aimed at me or the out-of-order lift.
“Go back to the car.”
“Where’s Alaric?”
“Busy. The car, Bethany.”
She headed for the stairs, and I followed. She may have been rich and she may have been powerful, but I’d be damned if she was going to give me the brush-off like that. Not when a man I cared about was involved. Yes, even after my father’s warning, I still cared about Alaric. Against my best efforts, my heart had overruled my head and fallen a tiny bit in love with him, and if he was in trouble… I ran after Emmy and Sky.
For seventeen floors. Seventeen freaking floors. My heart threatened to give out somewhere around level fifteen, but if there was one thing I was good at, it was stairs. After Piers made a throwaway comment about my butt being saggy, pride had led me to spend hours climbing on the StairMaster, a hundred floors at the start of every gym session. I may have sounded like a dying walrus by the time we reached the top of the north tower, but I wasn’t far behind.
“Tell me what happened!” I choked out.
“Shitting hell. Are you incapable of following directions?”
Oh, that made me see red.
“Actually, I’m really, really good at it. I kowtowed to Piers for years which, if you think about it, was how we all ended up here in this delightful place. And do you know what? I’m sick of doing what I’m told.”
“Well, while you’re getting butt-hurt and wasting my time, your friend’s being held hostage, so how about you sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and let me get on with my job so she doesn’t end up dead instead?”
The anger blew out of me, and I slithered down the wall like a deflated beach ball. Gemma was a hostage?
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, but Emmy and Sky were already gone. Farther along the corridor, a door clanged shut, and I was alone again. And scared. Gemma was in danger, I still didn’t know where Alaric had gone, and I might have made things worse by interfering. I wasn’t cut out for this. I shouldn’t be working for a company like Sirius. Hell, I couldn’t even sell paintings without screwing up.
What now? More than anything, I wanted to go home, but I couldn’t just drive off with Alaric’s car, and I didn’t fancy walking to the Tube station on my own at night either. No, I needed to wait for Emmy to finish whatever she was doing, then apologise and beg for a ride back to civilisation. And tomorrow, I’d have to call my father, apologise profusely, and offer to rejoin the country club social committee.
If nothing else, at least I’d still have Chaucer, and as I hugged my knees against my chest in the gloom, I prayed that Gemma would be safe too.
CHAPTER 44 - SKY
“UH, YOU’RE GONNA die.”
Emmy had picked the lock on the door to the roof, and we’d crept across the moss-covered asphalt and hidden behind some sort of ventilation unit. From there, we had a prime view of the action, not to mention the large gap between the two towers.