Page 147 of Nowhere to Hide

Another escalation or a game? Maybe both.

I dug out the note and stared at it again.

The rusty dots on the paper were obviously blood. Was it Cilla’s? Or the latest victim?

The wait for the team felt like six thousand years. I needed to get back to her. Needed to see her with my own two eyes.

By the time the familiar black vehicles rolled in, I was ready to peel out of the parking lot. The trucks were tricked out with the best equipment as well as Mason’s inventions. Once I gave them directions to where the crime scene had been and where I found the note, they were able to pinpoint a better plan of attack.

I left them to it, racing back to the tower.

In my head, I knew she was safe. She was with Nyx, and the tower was the next best thing to an embassy. Leo was no joke when it came to security for the building itself.

The need to see her went beyond sense.

I couldn’t regulate my system until I got to the lab.

She was sitting cross-legged in one of Nyx’s fidget chairs. The queen of the lab was forever in motion and made sure to trick out her space with the same kind of things to embrace that. Cillawas hunched over a keyboard, a massive screen before her, and she had a pile of...was that gummy bears in front of her?

It sure was.

Intermittently she would take only one and chew its head off then eat the rest. Her eyes never left the screen, and her fingers were flying. I’d never actually seen her in her element, only in recovery or survival mode.

I couldn’t stop the quick smack of love.

It almost took me to my knees.

I walked right over to her and spun her in her chair and kissed her breathless.

Her eyes were wide and her mouth swollen when I finally let her up for air.

“Uh, hi.” She laughed and dragged me back down for a softer kiss. “What was that for?”

The hint of sweetness on my tongue made me want to pull her out of the chair and head back to our room. “I couldn’t stop myself.”

She glanced around, then I followed her gaze, and caught Nyx smiling at us like a lunatic. I just rolled my eyes and crouched beside Cilla. “Find anything good?”

“I’m close.”

I stroked my hand down her hair.

She caught it and brought it in front of her. “What happened?”

I shook my head.

“Don’t hide stuff from me.”

I sighed and dug out the case.

With shaking fingers she opened it and took out the small piece of paper.

She set it on the table and smoothed it out, her fingers steadying with each pass. “Of course he probably used the most widely used printer, paper, and font in the history of anything.”

I laid a hand on her shoulder.

“What’s happening?” Nyx appeared at the desk.

Cilla pushed the paper toward her and rose from her seat. She tried to walk away, but I pulled her into my chest.