Page 64

John

T he Red Zone was crawling with cultists. I was forced to move slowly, silently taking out lone men, but I had to hide anytime a group of them got too close. I searched as I went, but I turned up nothing to lead me to Claire. I ground my teeth in frustration.

I was looking for a needle in a nest of hornets. Every second I wasted was a second that my girl could be fighting for her life—without me. It was a special kind of torture.

I ducked into an alley, behind a dumpster, as two masked cultists turned a corner behind me.

As they passed, one said to the other, “The Vessel’s been recovered. Jim J’s prepping for the ritual now.”

“Bet she’ll bleed real pretty for Him.”

Shit. I took a deep breath against the panic rising inside my chest. The loss I’d been so afraid of was right there, about to sink its claws into me. But it wasn’t over yet. She was alive. For now .

As I watched them walk away, I debated killing one of them and torturing the other for Claire’s location. Not something I wanted, but I was fucking desperate. I’d die before I let them touch her.

Instead, I followed them. If Claire was captured, they’d probably go wherever she was. Just based on the one time I’d seen Jim J, I got the feeling he was a guy who needed an audience to take a shit.

They led me down a bunch of side streets, then eventually to a main road that was obviously the place to be.

Masked men and women were crowded in front of a large, dilapidated building.

A faded sign above the door read College Theatre .

Across the street, a massive, hollowed-out shell of a building stood—a College for Performing Arts , crumbling into dust like everything else around it.

The cultists were waiting for something, because there was a buzz of impatient chatter. A couple of guys shouted orders back and forth. They weren’t allowed inside yet. That gave me hope—the ritual hadn’t started.

Daylight was starting to fade, and I stayed hidden in shadowy alleyways as I made my way around the block. I needed to scope out other possible entry points.

I settled into an alley half a block away and looked through the scope of my rifle.

The back exit of the building had only three guards.

Even though it was better odds, I wasn’t sure how to take them out without alerting everyone.

Stealth was the only way to get in there, but it might just be impossible.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted movement from the old college building across the street from the theatre.

Looking through my scope, I realized that a woman, dressed in black and wearing an Order mask, was leaving the hollowed-out shell—on the side facing away from the theatre.

The way she moved and kept looking over her shoulder said that she was trying to avoid the attention of the other cultists.

I frowned. Why?

I watched her for another minute. She came in my direction, weaving in and out of alcoves and alleyways, as if she was looking for something. As she got closer, a flash of golden hair caught the fading light.

If that’s Holly, I’m going to fucking kill her .

Even if it wasn’t, she may have info that could help me get in.

I flattened my back against the brick wall, right at the mouth of the alley.

I listened to her footsteps get closer. Right as she walked past, I grabbed her.

My hand clapped over her mouth to smother her scream as I hauled her into the alley.

I crushed her against the wall, face first, twisting her arm behind her back.

The ties on her mask sprang free on impact. The mask clattered to the ground, and I was again looking at the too-perfect face of my fiancée’s sister.

“Scream and I’ll wring your neck,” I growled.

Holly groaned in pain, but managed to get out, “I came to find you.”

It took a lot to make me speechless, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

“I’ll help you get inside,” she continued. “The basement levels of the old college and the theatre are connected. I found it when I was trying to plan an escape route for Claire. But we ran out of time.”

I was pretty sure my eyebrows were as high as they could go. What the hell had happened? The last time we met, she was as fucked as the rest of them. It had to be a trap.

“You’re a liar,” I snarled.

Holly struggled restlessly in my hold.

“Please, we’re wasting time,” she pleaded, and to my surprise, I heard tears in her voice. “He’s going to kill her. Please.”

My heart sped up, but I held my ground. “You were fine with that before.”

“I wasn’t fine,” she replied, her voice breaking. “I was fucked up and desperate. But we don’t have time for this. You won’t get in without me. Please, let’s go.”

I hesitated, but she wasn’t wrong. I didn’t have many options, and as much as I hated to admit it, there was something in her tone that rang true. She sounded devastated…a side of her I hadn’t seen before, even when she thought I might kill her. She’d been all attitude and bravado then.

I didn’t know what had changed, but I also didn’t have time to find out.

“Drop all your weapons,” I ordered. “Don’t try anything. I’ll snap your arm like a twig. ”

“I can’t go unarmed,” Holly answered, a note of hysteria in her voice. “What if—”

“That’s the deal. Otherwise, I kill you now and find my own way.”

She was shaking like a leaf, but she tossed the holstered gun at her hip onto the ground. Having learned my lesson with Asha, I gave her a quick pat down for hidden weapons. Nothing.

“If you give me away, you die,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Let’s go.”