All she did was clean. It didn’t make sense.
Yes, she’d tried to go to the cops, but that had failed. No one believed her. Everything was so fucked up right now, and she wasn’t happy about this situation. Not even a smidge.
Running a hand down her face, she tried not to groan. She was covered in sweat. Lots of it. It was so gross.
How could she look sexy to Priest right now?
Both men had told her she needed to be quiet, and well, she was able to think her own scary-as-fuck thoughts, and she didn’t like them.
In fact, there was a lot she was hating right now. The heat being the biggest thing. The fact she couldn’t talk, and if she could strike up a conversation, it meant she didn’t have to dwell on people wanting her dead. There was so much she wanted to say, but she kept it all to herself because that was the easiest thing to do.
Also, they didn’t know if they were being followed.
Priest and Harb had clocked one car. Then a second had arrived.
Her stomach chose that moment to growl.
They hadn’t stopped for snacks or toilet breaks. She kind of wished they were back at the garage with Harb’s joke about her having a number two. It was odd how she wished for uncomfortable moments rather than this.
Priest grabbed her hand and pulled her to his side.
It was nice that he still wanted her close, even though she had to smell like a sewer right now.
“We’ll be there soon,” Priest said.
“I think it’s safe to say that we’re all clear,” Harb said.
If the men in the second car had followed, they would have had to hear something. The forest was dense, and birds chattered when you walked under them. It would have been beautiful, like some kind of Disney fairy tale if it wasn’t for the humidity and threat of death.
They came to a building with a wire fence around it. The outside was labeled as a chemical plant. It looked sketchy, even for her, like a dystopian disaster area. That said a lot, considering where her apartment was located in the shitty area of the city.
“How is this a safe house?” Priest asked.
Harb walked to a panel, scanned a card, bent forward, had his eye checked, and then his fingerprint.
“We all have to do that to get inside,” he said. “One at a time.”
The gate opened, and within seconds, slammed shut.
“Okay,” Priest said. “Boss has all of these measures in place for a reason.”
“I don’t have a card thing,” Cleo said.
Priest pulled the card out of his jacket pocket. “I’ve got yours right here.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Cleo didn’t feel any humor. It would be nice to wake up about now next to Priest in bed, all of this a nightmare that never really happened.
After scanning the card, she followed the prompts and then rushed inside, feeling the doors close pretty much immediately as she stepped through with a whoosh.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” she asked, pointing at the gate. She was sure some of her hairs were trapped, but as she stepped away, there was no obvious tugging.
“It’s the Killer of Kings. They know what they’re doing.”
“And you work for them?” she asked.
“I do now,” Harb said.
Harb looked at the camera on the inside wall, and she saw Priest checking the area before approaching the panel.