Page 73 of Bleed the Shadows

Fucking cunt.

And who could blame me for being on edge? I could still hear the sound of Bram’s footsteps behind us in the tunnels. I hadn’t counted on that. I’d assumed he’d be too worried about the Haver girl to come after us right away, but apparently he’d left that to Poe and Remy.

The fact that he’d tried to hunt us down told me all I needed to know about how much he’d wanted vengeance. I’d seen the way he’d looked at Maeve Haver in the holding room.

I thought about the shot someone had taken at me in the city the year before. Could that have been Bram?

No, I was getting the timeline confused. Bram wouldn’t have had a reason to take a shot at me last year. I hadn’t even been back in the States full time.

I turned my attention back to the video feed. Maybe I should have Anton hire more guards, get cover for the perimeter by the tree line. Or maybe we should add a drone.

I picked up my cell phone.

“Boss?” There was an undercurrent of nervousness in Anton’s thickly accented English.

“Come to my office.”

I tossed my phone back onto the desk and bent over to scroll through my email. Mostly bullshit, but one from Noah Mack, my producer, with a subject line that readScheduling.

I tried to remember the last time I’d recorded a video and couldn’t. Was it before the Hunt? Maybe.

I returned to the camera feeds and rewound the footage until I was looking at the front gate the previous night. I forwarded through the first few hours of the night, then played it at normal speed when headlights came into view.

The car didn’t stop in front of the gate like the Haver girl had done. It didn’t stop at all.

But still.

I tore off a piece of my nail and watched blood rush to the surface under the rest of it.

A knock sounded at the door and I called Anton in.

“Yeah, boss?” His limp was more pronounced now thanks to the kick the Haver girl had delivered to it during the Hunt.

She’d put up a fight in the tunnels, I’d give her that, but that just meant she was overdue to be taught a lesson, and with every day that passed, I itched to be the one to teach it.

Anton’s gaze slid to the handgun sitting next to my computer.

I pointed at the feed. “Did you see this car last night?”

I’d ordered him to review the security footage every morning, make sure no one was casing the place.

He nodded. “Checked the plate. It’s the realtor who listed the house down the road.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

It didn’t make me feel better. What if Bram was casing the place some other way, watching me come and go, waiting for the right time to exact his revenge?

I resumed pacing while Anton watched. “I think we should hire more guards, maybe put other measures into place.”

Anton shifted on his feet. “What other measures?”

“I’m thinking… a body double.” I’d been holed up in the compound too long, that was the problem. I needed to get out, get a change of scenery, find someone to fuck, maybe do a retreat to clear my head.

“A body double?”

I nodded. “Someone who can throw them off.”