Page 45 of Broken
“Theo!”I yelled, but I had no idea where he was or if he could hear me. Was he trying to get to me? What if the killer had snuck into the room because he was actually one of the Cobras, and he’d surprised everyone in that room and killed them? I couldn’t allow myself to think that, but I was trapped in here and I didn’t know what was going on. Pressing my ear against the door, I listened for any sounds,but there weren’t any. The room was probably soundproof. No. No. No.
The sound of static came from somewhere, and I spotted a small black box in one of the corners.
“Hello, Chiara,” a voice said, and I froze on the spot. “We haven’t met yet, but I’m looking forward to it. My name’s Walter and you, my dear, are going to help me become the leader of the Rosa Nera. But first, let me tellyou something important.”
Walter was somewhere here. Oh God. Had he killed the guard? Maybe. But how had he gotten inside? One of the Cobras must have helped him. But where was he now?
“You’re the only one who can hear me,” he said. “Ingrid would want me to make you suffer first, so I came up with a little plan. Your friends are still alive for now, but I have something special in mindfor them. They can’t leave that room, and you can’t get to them. I’ll send them something that will make them believe your boyfriend betrayed them and let me inside. They’re going to kill him for me.” Laughter echoed through the hallway.
“You sick son of a bitch!” I yelled. “It’s me you want. Come and get me!”
“I wish I could know what you think about this, but you see, this works onlyone way, and I can’t hear you,” he said, and I had no idea if he was telling the truth. I ran my hand over my face. No one was going to fall for Walter’s lies, right? Whatever he’d show to my friends, they would know that Theo would never do anything to harm me, even if they weren’t fond of him.
And it didn’t make any sense that he’d end up locked inside that room with them. But if Waltermade it seem as if he’d double-crossed Theo... Or if anyone pulled a gun on Theo and he reacted... I turned toward the door again, but there didn’t seem to be a way to open it without a keycard or a computer.
The bathroom didn’t have an exit either, and unless I was going to rip out the shower hose or something, I didn’t have any weapons. I should’ve grabbed my gun on the way out, becauseit was on one of the chairs, but we’d thought it was perfectly safe around here. I blinked, patting my pockets. A pocketknife. I’d completely forgotten about it since I hadn’t needed it. Closing my hand around it, I left it in my pocket, because I couldn’t use it for anything while I was stuck in here. Shit.
I searched for vents, but they were too small. The Cobras must’ve wanted to make sureno one could pass through them. I was turning in circles and thinking I was going to go mad from all this when the door buzzed. But it wasn’t the door to the room where everyone was. It was the main door. I slowly approached it, expecting the Spiders or Walter to appear, but nothing happened. Had someone managed to open the door remotely for me? Or was it all part of Walter’s game so I’d hopeI’d get out of here only to find out that I’d walked straight into a trap?
I didn’t want to stay in this hallway either, so I pulled the door open and peeked outside. The hallway was empty. Well, not exactly, because the bodies of the Cobras were scattered everywhere. I tried to remember if this hallway led outside, or if there was another door and another way to get to the room where everyonewas or maybe to the other side where the kitchen and a few other rooms were. I sidestepped the bodies and looked up at one of the cameras. Was Walter watching me right now? Lifting my chin, I glared at the camera, my teeth clenched.
“I’m going to find you,” I said to the camera, not caring whether he could hear me or not.
“And you’ll kill me?” Before I could turn in the direction of thevoice, Walter grabbed me from behind into a tight embrace and pressed his gun against my temple. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen, babe.”
I went completely still, trying to come up with a way to free myself, but he was too strong for me and I couldn’t even move my arms. He was so much bigger and stronger than I’d thought he was. “Do you really think you’re capable of leading theRosa Nera?” I had to get him to talk so maybe his grip on me would ease a little.
“Why do you care? You’ll be too dead to see it.” His breath tickled my ear. “Your friends aren’t coming to rescue you. They’ll all be dead in a minute or two when a special kind of poison is released into that room.”
I flinched, which only made him laugh. “Did you really think you could run from me forever?”
“How did you do it? How did you find me?”
“The Cobras were snooping around the Spiders’ territory a little too much, and it wasn’t too difficult to get my hands on one of them. It turned out he had a really hot wife and a baby, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to them, so I offered him a deal. He helped me sneak inside as one of the Cobras.”
Shit. He must’ve pretended he wasone of the dead guards, and had been face down and wearing the Cobras’ jacket, so that was how he’d appeared behind me seemingly out of nowhere.
“But enough talking. It’s time for you to die,” he said, and his arm shifted to the side a little, allowing me to reach into my pocket for the knife. I was going to be too slow, though. I knew it. “Bye, bye. Say hello to Ingrid for me and tell herI won’t fail her.”
I tensed, but then Theo appeared at the end of the hallway, and I thought I was imagining him. Hell, maybe I was already dead and didn’t know it. But Theo fired straight toward me, twice, and a loud grunt right next to my ear made me realize it was all real. The gun had dropped out of Walter’s hand, which was bleeding, and Walter’s grip on me loosened enough for me to twistaround and grab his injured hand.
I squeezed hard, making him cry out. Without even thinking about it, I pulled out my knife and flicked it open, then buried it in Walter’s neck. His eyes were wide as blood spurted everywhere and he fell to his knees. I kicked his gun down the hallway just as Theo stopped next to me, his gun pointed at Walter, but there was no need for him to shoot, becauseWalter was dead.
I let out a shuddery breath and threw myself into Theo’s arms. “Thank God you’re okay. Is everyone else...? Are they alright?”
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing soothing circles on my back. “Tobias’ tech guy figured out how to override the commands Walter used to lock the doors and he opened the one that led to the kitchen. He also stopped some kind of gas from being released.”
“Walter said he was going to frame you and that the others are going to kill you, and I...” A sob rocked my body and I squeezed him tighter to me.
“He did that, and I thought the same thing, but Vix said that she could see the way I look at you and that I’d never put your life at risk like that.”
“The Cobra who let him in must’ve told him they didn’t fully trust you, and he thoughthe could use that.” I was so, so glad that hadn’t worked.
“Yeah.”
“What about the Spiders? Did Walter do this all on his own?” I glanced down at the dead bodies.
“Tobias said they attacked one of the Cobras’ stash houses almost at the same time Walter showed up. His tech guy could see it all while he tried to regain control of this place. I think Walter was the only one in here.If the guards didn’t see him coming...” He glanced down at Walter.