Page 19 of Broken
“No. Why are you asking this now?” he said dryly.
I shrugged. “We’re waiting for the guy to leave, aren’t we? There’s nothing better to do.” I lifted my hand and placed it on his cheek just as a couple passed us by.
He went completely still under my touch.
“People aregoing to wonder what we’re doing here,” I said, letting my fingers rest just a few moments longer on his warm cheek. “We can’t look suspicious.”
“The coast is clear. Let’s go.” He stepped away from me, and we headed in the direction of the bar. It took us a few minutes to reach the right alley, and I was glad no one was there. Theo glanced around, and I did the same, but I couldn’t see anyonehiding in the shadows. Maybe Walter wouldn’t see us coming. Once we reached the back door, I tried the knob and the door opened.
“Wait,” Theo said before I could go inside, his hand on my arm. “Be careful and get out immediately.”
“I will.” The concern in his eyes warmed me up inside. Now if he’d finally drop that annoying story that he was going to kill me once this was all over, I’dbe really, really happy. The light in the bar was very dim, and all I could hear were voices and music. There was a blue neon light at the bar, and when I stepped forward and ordered myself a drink, I kept glancing around.
Walter was nowhere in sight, and I didn’t think anyone was looking my way with special interest, but that didn’t mean a spy hadn’t seen me and wasn’t notifying their bossor Walter about it. As soon as the bartender brought me my beer, I grabbed the bottle and placed some dollar bills onto the bar. Taking one more look around, I decided I’d been here long enough and headed for the exit, leaving the bottle at one of the empty tables. When I glanced over my shoulder, I didn’t see anyone following me. Relief flashed across Theo’s face when he saw me, and he quicklypointed across the alley.
“Hide over there and don’t come out no matter what. I mean it.”
I nodded and hurried to the open door of the building he’d indicated. It was dark inside, and I assumed he’d checked this place out already, but still, I pulled out my gun and carefully threaded forward. Once I thought I’d gone far enough, I hid behind the wall and waited. Multiple shots rang outside,making me jump. My heart thudded loudly in my chest as someone shouted, and then there was only silence.
I knew I couldn’t stay here and wait without knowing what had happened, so I made my way to the door, my gun ready.
“Chiara?” I heard Theo’s steady voice and my shoulders relaxed. At least I knew he was fine.
“I’m here.” I didn’t lower the gun until I was sure there wasn’t anyoneelse with him out there. “What happened?”
“He got away,” Theo said through his teeth.
Chapter 11
“I SHOULD’VE BEEN MORE careful,” Theo said, slamming his fist against the table. A whole week had gone by and there hadn’t been any sign of Walter since that night when we’d followed him. I’d managed to go back to my apartment to pick up some of my things too, and he hadn’t shown up there either.
“You couldn’t haveknown he would’ve come out with his guns blazing.” I was really, really glad there hadn’t been any other people in that alley and that Theo hadn’t been hit, because Walter had come out shooting without even checking first who was there. I supposed he’d expected to find me and didn’t want me to escape.
“If I’d picked a different hiding spot, I could’ve gotten him. It’s my fault.” He leanedon the table.
“We’ll find him.” I placed my hands on his shoulders and rubbed gently.
He relaxed into my touch and let out a sigh. “How? He knows I tracked him down somehow, and he won’t let that happen again. The Spiders are probably hiding him in their area. I’ll have to go there to check.”
“In the heart of the Spiders’ area? I don’t think that’s a good idea. Their area is, like,at the edge of the city. There aren’t as many people there as here, and it’s very likely they’ll spot you.”
He turned around to face me, his eyes filled with turmoil. “Then what do you suggest? That we wait until he pops up? He has time. He’ll wait for the right moment.”
“What about the leader of the Spiders? Can you track him down? Walter should be with him or at least meet with him fromtime to time somewhere. If the leader changes his routine or goes to an area that he doesn’t usually frequent, then that might lead us straight to Walter.”
“Jerome could be tracked down, I suppose, but it’s not easy to get to him. He’s surrounded by guards all the time, rides in a bulletproof vehicle, and he only goes to well-protected fancy restaurants, parties, or clubs. He doesn’t evenlive in his gang’s area but in an elite neighborhood. If he was our target, I’d find a way, but he’s not. Walter is.”
I wrung my fingers, wondering what we should do. The Cobras and Vix hadn’t had any better luck at finding Walter either. “Would tracking Jerome involve hacking into traffic cameras or what?”
“No. We’d have to plant a tracker on him.”
“Wouldn’t his guards detect that?And what happens when he changes his clothes or if he doesn’t meet with Walter that day? Can’t we just follow him somehow? If you know which places he frequents, we can wait there and go after him.” I didn’t want us to risk our lives to get that tracker on Jerome only for it to turn out to be useless.
“His guards would spot us if we tailed him. It would have to be a tracker. Jerome has a luckysuit jacket that he always wears outside. If we plant the tracker in the right spot, it won’t fall out or be detected. I have a few I took from the Rosa Nera. They’d been perfected to avoid detection.”
My eyebrows rose up. “A lucky jacket? How do you know that?”
“Everyone does. There’s a story behind it. Jerome was in a shootout, and apparently, he was one of the few who survived. Hiswife had given him that jacket, and there wasn’t a single drop of blood on it despite buckets of it being everywhere, so Jerome believes the jacket protected him and saved his life.”