Page 34 of Darkest Before Dawn (His Perfect Darkness #2)

I nara

“What the—?” I face Burgess, who’s backed away from the metal gate. “What are you doing?” I grab the nearest bar and tug, but the metal gate is solidly shut. “Burgess, let me out.”

“No can do. He wants you.” Burgess’s expression is flat, giving nothing away.

I get a flash of a vision— birds flying in my face, descending, blotting out the sun— but shake it off.

“You’re not serious.” I grab the bars again and throw my weight to the right in an attempt to open the door, but it doesn’t budge. “What is going on?”

“He told me to trap you. So I did.”

“Are you serious right now?” I stare at my so-called partner. Years ago, Detective Collins suspected the Bondage Killer might be working with someone in the department. Seems that’s still his MO.

I grip my gun but hesitate. Burgess is just standing there. I could threaten to shoot him, but that feels like a last resort.

“How can you do this?” I ask, attempting to reason. If I can just get Burgess talking, maybe he’ll drop some clues. “Did he threaten you?”

Burgess scoffs.

“Bribes? What did he offer you?”

“Not all of us can marry rich,” he half-sneers, but his heart doesn’t seem to be in it. The tension I felt in the car makes more sense.

He was planning to double-cross me this whole time. Not just double-cross but offer me up on a platter to the very person we’re supposed to be investigating.

“How did he contact you?”

Burgess shakes his head, backing away. “Give it up, Inara. You won’t win.”

He’s really going to leave me in here.

“You need to let me out.” I raise my weapon, steadying it, and aim for his leg. “Unlock the door, or I’ll shoot. Don’t make me do this.”

“You won’t shoot me.” Burgess keeps backing away. “You care way too much about the moral high ground.”

“You’re right, she does. But I don’t.” The voice comes from above.

“What?” Burgess looks up. A shadow falls over him.

Something falls and detonates.

Bang! Smoke explodes around Burgess, swallowing him whole.

My ears are ringing in the aftermath of the sound, but my training holds. I keep my grip on my gun, pointing it at the ground until I can figure out who I should shoot.

Burgess swears, stumbling amidst the smoke, disoriented. He’s an easy target for the huge, helmeted figure who appears above him.

It’s Rex. It has to be. My heart lifts.

But then Burgess raises his gun, firing wildly.

“No!” I scream. I bite back Rex’s name before I blurt it out. I’m terrified that one of Burgess’s shots will hit Rex. I raise my gun, aiming for Burgess, but hesitate.

The dark form leaps from above, landing in front of Burgess.

Burgess raises his gun, firing straight into the helmeted figure’s chest. My shout is drowned out by the blasts of the gun. Bullets ricochet, and I flinch backward. I retreat deeper into the cell, but not so far that I can’t watch what happens next.

The bullets seem to bounce off Rex’s armored chest. In his suit, he’s larger than life.

Burgess fires and fires as if he doesn’t comprehend why his target hasn’t dropped dead.

Eventually, he pulls the trigger and his gun clicks. Empty.

“You done?” Rex growls. “My turn.” He lunges forward and grabs Burgess by the throat.

The detective is large but doesn’t stand a chance. Rex lifts him off the ground. Burgess’s face turns redder than usual. He claws at the gauntleted arm, his feet kicking, suspended.

“Rex!” I shout. “Stop.”

It’s too late.

Rex tosses Burgess to the ground. The detective crumples into a pile as I taste bile in the back of my throat.

Did Rex just murder my partner? A cop?

A dirty cop, but still.

I still hear the echo of gunshots firing over and over again. Or maybe it’s my heartbeat.

“Inara.” Rex whirls, striding to me. He grabs the bars. “Are you hurt? I’ll get you out. Stand back.”

I back away as he fixes a small black box to the bars.

“Cover your ears.” I crouch behind the desk and avert my eyes, too. There’s another bang and then a shrieking sound as Rex pulls the metal gate aside.

He doesn’t waste any time slipping in and pulling me out. I shield my face from the smoke and let him guide me out. The place smells like burning metal.

My throat is gritty. I cough, blinking to clear my streaming eyes. “How did you know where I was?” I rasp.

“Tracker. Are you hurt?” He stops to check me over.

I click the safety on my gun and holster it in an automatic move. Then I cough again, doubling over.

Burgess’ fallen form is nearby. My head throbs, and I decide I’m dealing with too much to think about him. I avert my eyes.

Rex must decide I’m unhurt because he takes my arm to raise me up. “Let’s get out of here.” He propels me through the warehouse and to the door.

“What about Burgess?”

“I’ll send a clean-up crew,” he remarks grimly, dragging me out of the building.

He barely avoids stomping on the trail of dead birds.

I stumble, trying to keep from stepping on any of them.

It doesn’t matter. My psychic senses torture me.

I can hear their fragile bones breaking, the feathers crackling underfoot.

I’m grateful when Rex finally scoops me up, carrying me until we’re in the alley. Outside, the fresh air is a welcome relief. I turn my face to the sun.

Rex sets me down but keeps pulling me along, away from the warehouse. There’s a huge black sports car idling close to the brown sedan Burgess borrowed from the lot. “We need to get out of here.”

I wrench my arm out of his grip. I have to see if he was hurt. “He shot you.” I’m panting with adrenaline. My eyes are still watering from the smoke, my ears still ringing. But I’m half sick with fear that, under all that black body armor, Rex is bleeding out. I know he was shot.

Except the armor is smooth. None of the bullets penetrated.

Impossible.

I run my hands over his chest, looking for dents in the thick armor. “How. . .?”

He retracts his faceplate, and suddenly, I’m staring at his face. “Bulletproof.”

I’ve worn Kevlar plenty before. The material absorbs the bullet and mitigates the impact, but it doesn’t repel bullets. No body armor is this good. What is this material? How did Rex survive a full round to the chest?

I shake my head, unable to speak.

“It’s a new design,” he says in answer to my unspoken questions. All I can see is Rex standing there while Burgess empties a clip into him.

Anger takes over. My hand curls to a fist, and I thump his chest. “You could’ve died.” I beat his chest. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Inara—” He catches my wrists, holding them lightly.

“You could’ve been hurt,” I shout in his face.

He blinks in surprise. “Are you mad that I killed him? Or that I could’ve been killed?”

Oh gods, he killed Burgess. But that’s not why I’m angry. Acid sloshes in my stomach, and my violent feelings give way to fear. “Both.” I stop struggling, sagging against him. “Both.”

His breath huffs out of him, blowing my hair back. I dig my nails into the strange surface of his body armor. He looks like a stranger, but he feels like home.

“I need you. I don’t want you to die.”

“Inara—” He pulls me close, cupping the side of my face. I’m winded, too overcome to say anything. I can only stare into his eyes. They’re an open book of emotions—fear and grim determination giving way to confusion, then surprise and wonder. Hope.

Boom!

A blast of heat sears my skin. Rex barrels into me, enveloping me in his arms. His weight knocks the air out of my lungs and forces me to the ground. I scramble, panicked, until I’m able to suck in a breath.

The ground beneath me rocks like we’re in an earthquake. Debris rains down, and I cry out, pressing my face to the smooth surface of Rex’s protective gear. Rex covers me with his body as the world rumbles around us.

And then. . . silence.

My ears are ringing again, and I taste ash. Bright lights flash behind my eyes.

And then Rex is lifting me, carrying me to the car. I cling to him, half-hunched into a ball. The world has gone gray.

Rex bundles me into the back seat and slides in beside me. “Alfie, get us out of here.”

I’m half in his lap. “What happened?”

“The warehouse. It exploded.”

I manage to turn my head and see the plumes of smoke and ash filling what was once a clear blue sky. The warehouse walls are caved in, and whole sections have been turned to rubble.

My teeth start chattering, and I’m rocked with a whole-body shiver. My adrenaline crashing and the fear rolling through me are too much to contain.

“My gods, Rex. We almost died.” A few minutes ago, Burgess had me locked in the warehouse. Now he’s dead, and the warehouse is gone.

“I know.” He squeezes me tight, and I’m relieved because his arms are the only thing holding me together.

Someone planted a bomb in the warehouse, enough to blow it sky-high. Was it the Bondage Killer? Was Burgess working with him this whole time?

My mind blanks. I can barely hold myself together, much less think of any answers. I lean into Rex, slumping against him as the car turns a corner and carries us away.

Rex

Sirens scream in the distance. I instruct Alfie to call the authorities and then Hamish to tell him we’re okay. The car will take us to Hotel Magnifique, where we’ll need to dig into Burgess and figure out his part in all this.

But all that can wait. I have Inara safe in my arms. She’s curled into me, shivering like she just had a nightmare. I want to soothe her, but I’m fighting the urge to strip off her clothes and touch her everywhere and make sure she’s real.

I was so close to losing her. If I hadn’t found out about Burgess in time?—

“How did you know I was in trouble?” she asks.