Even if the other two cars are still drivable, which is a possibility, they’re not behind us now. Hopefully we’ll get enough of a lead that they won’t be able to follow us.
“You still got the drive?” Marcus asks, his eyes glinting in the darkness as he looks over at me.
Releasing my death-grip on the gun in my hand, I rest it on the seat and dig into the folds of my dress, closing my fingers around the small metallic drive. “Yes.”
“Good.” He nods sharply. “Now we just have to hope whatever’s on that thing is worth the shit we just got ourselves into. Theo?”
“Yeah. Headed there now.”
Theo’s response from the front comes so quickly that it’s like the two men had an entire conversation without words. I don’t know what Marcus’s prompt meant, but obviously his friend does.
They work well together, all three of them. It’s probably the only reason they’re all still alive.
“We’ll head to a safe house.” Marcus shakes his head as he catches my raised eyebrows. “Not the same one we took you to before. A different spot. Should be secure, at least for now. We’ve never used it before, so it should be hard to track down.”
“We’re gonna run out of fucking safe houses,” Ryland comments grimly. “That’s the last one I’d feel confident going to. The house on Whitmore is probably compromised.”
Marcus nods, sliding the magazine out of his gun and replacing it with a sharp slap. “Agreed.”
My gaze drifts up to the front passenger seat, where Dominic is sprawled awkwardly, his head lolling against the window. More blood coats his face, staining the white collar of his shirt.
“Did he do that on purpose?” I ask, my brows pinching together. “Help us?”
“Dunno.” Theo cuts a glance his way. “For all we know, the fucker was trying to hit us and just missed. If he’s dead, we’ll deal with the body. If he’s alive, maybe he can tell us what the fuck he was doing.”
I lean forward and reach around the back of the front passenger seat. When I press my fingers to Dominic’s neck, they slide over his skin, slick with blood. But I feel a flutter of movement in his neck.
“He’s not dead, I don’t think.”
“Great.” Theo sounds entirely unenthusiastic.
I withdraw my hand quickly, wiping off my fingers on the expensive-looking leather of the seat. A shiver runs down my spine, and it’s not just because of the blood.
I’m not sure I like the idea of Dominic helping us. I don’t like the idea of owing him anything.
It takes us almost an hour to reach the safe house, and I think it’s partly because Theo’s taking a route that keeps us off major roads. When we finally pull up a long drive, I let out a shaky breath.
Theo pulls into the small garage off the side of the house, and when he cuts the engine, Ryland shoves open his door. I open mine, grabbing my gun again before sliding out with Marcus right behind me. He and Ryland pull Dom from the front, carrying his limp body between them as Theo unlocks the door to the house.
The inside reminds me a lot of the other safe house they took me to. Sparse and mostly empty, the air stale and too-still. The living room has some furniture that looks like it probably came with the house—a large couch and beat up coffee table sit in the middle of the space with an overstuffed easy chair off to one side. A massive old bookcase sits against one wall, bare of books.
Marcus and Ryland haul Dom’s body down the hall toward one of the rooms at the back of the house. The mattress is bare, but they don’t seem concerned about getting blood on it as they lay him out on the bed.
They step back as Theo and I step forward, and all four of us gather close to the rickety bed, staring down at the man on top of it.
“Well.” Theo lets out a breath that’s almost a laugh. “This is completely fucked.”
Chapter 10
Fucked is right.
We’re supposed to be back at Theo’s house right now.
We’re supposed to be celebrating.
We’re supposed to be one step closer to taking Luca down.
Instead, we’re on the run, targeted by every other player in this fucked up game, and staring down at the beat-to-shit body of a man who once kidnapped me.