Chapter 2 The Man Who Should Have me There
ocks before my
d down. Pace controlled. The next moment my left side lit up like a burning iron pr
rough my jacket in a
ot and did not
in the open. I turned into an alley behind a restaurant on the east side and pressed my back agai
y gav
had been taught. Sat with my back against the wall and
ut. C
became something worse. I pulled out the burner phone. Three contacts. Two of them Court operatives I coul
at the
s entered
p before I fin
Slow and deliberate. No panic. No sudden movement. Just a man s
t armed,
ck
not b
re ble
er moved to the trig
ne step for
Flat. Certain. Not
as half in shadow but I could see enough. Tall. Broad. Dark j
sed everything in front of him and decided to stay in it anyway. "But you have
o are
into the space between us. "NYPD homicide detective. I was canvassing this bl
ect
s hands up and his eyes steady while I sat on the ground with a g
al thought to
ody s
need hel
ood have you
not a
as the ans
st aid kit on the ground. Slid it toward me with two
d at t
," I
question like it d
o in the morning," he said. "And walking away
d for. Not trust. Not attraction. Something more basic. The si
last time I had been in a
the weapo
I said, "I will know before
ow you
e and controlled his expression quickly. No
" he said. "You can k
zo taught me. Motive. Agenda. The thing behind the thing.
hi
. No per
could not mak
t," I
wallowed without sound. My free hand found the brick wall behind me
appened. Did not ask who shot me. The absence of question
e sat back and
d a hosp
N
wou
er than I intended.
ent s
will fi
is steady hands and his tired eyes and
sed to work
t without chan
ou stay until you are stable and then you decide what
red a
reamed at me to disappear. To trus
ne inside t
last words
re not h
," I
. One lamp. Low light. A desk buried under case files. A bookshelf. And on the wal
le. The other had his same jaw and his same eyes and his arm th
d b
ph without looking at it. Like
nd sat in the chair across from me and lo
safe here,
ed to me once like a country I had never visited. That the closest thing to it I had ever known was sitting ac
have brought me
it without apology. With
s. Face up. Not as a threat. Just transparen
he badge. Th
t have to answer. Are you in dange
Corvus's voice
set. I want her g
et," I
od. Moved towar
pped at the door. "I wi
a stranger in your
ed back
going to
his g
ed in ways he did not know yet.
onight,
ed through h
" he said. And
andaging and Lorenzo's last words turning in my chest and
Read the letter. Start pulling the th
all of
s quiet and for the first time in as long as
r the water
was stil
red a
hea
Soft. Careful. The specific sound of
et and across the room and pressed against the wall beside the door a
ndle
ow
ed brea
pened one
mo
med the body attached to it into the doorframe and pres
al
back. Thin. S
a. It
w that
not loosen.
ame out flat. "How
ned. "I watched you go into the alley. I watched him bring you here
m I
. Shorter. Urgent. "Nadia. I know things. About Lorenzo. About what
w ti
y i
lmost nothing. "Not in a building
ition for thre
release
en sharp but now carried something else underneath the sharpness. So
more than the
d is it
at me for a
Someone inside the Court has been poisoning him slowly. And Corvus knew." She stopped. Sw
room
complete
you." Her eyes held mine. Steady and certain and full of a grief that was not hers
d went
does i
ned her
e bedroom d
Lyra and the gun still in my hand with the quiet efficiency
landed on
n on
she,"
stion wa
s going to dest
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