The Nightworld - Jack Blaine [48]
“You guys go to bed,” she says, waving us away. “I’ll just wait up, and as soon as he’s back I’ll crash too.”
Lara shrugs at me, and we finally do leave Kath to her thoughts. I’m beat, and I say good night to Lara at the door to her room, but she follows me down the hall to mine.
“I don’t really want to be alone tonight, Nick.” Lara stares at the carpet instead of looking at me. She looks so tired, and yet she looks tough too. There’s something about her that’s totally different from how she was in school. I wonder if I seem different to her too.
“I don’t know what kind of guy you think I am, but all I’m willing to do is spoon.” I wait for her to look up, and when she does I grin. She looks relieved, and I know I’ve said the right thing. We climb into the bed and heap the blankets over us. And we spoon, and I think I sleep the sweetest sleep I ever have, just holding her close.
Chapter 26
I don’t want to be awake, but I am. I wish Lara and I could just go on sleeping, so warm, so close. But we can’t. I rub the fuzziness out of my eyes and stretch. I automatically check the clock radio on the nightstand, even though the power has been off and on for days and it won’t tell me anything true. That’s when I see it.
The low light from the nightstand lamp is enough to reveal that the box is gone. I left the device in its box on the nightstand, and it’s not there.
“Shit.” I’m out of bed and on my way to the living room in less than thirty seconds. Kath is asleep on the couch. I touch her shoulder.
“Kath?”
“Hmm?” She doesn’t wake all the way. Lara’s up now too, looking at me with alarm.
“What’s going on?”
“That device—the thing my dad made. It’s gone. Where’s Zeke?”
“Oh, no.” Kath is awake now. She sits up and holds her head in her hands. She starts to rock back and forth. “Oh, no. He promised me he wouldn’t do it. He promised me he wouldn’t.”
“What?” I can’t believe it. “What, Kath? It’s Zeke, right?”
She nods. “He showed up really late. He tried to talk me into going with him, but I said no. I said you were right, that those guys were trying to trick him. He wouldn’t listen at first, but then he finally acted like he’d had time to think, and he agreed with me. I should have known better than to believe him.”
“Going with him where, Kath? Did he say where?” Lara is pulling on her shoes. She’s looking around the room for something—her coat, which she finally spots on the back of the couch and throws on too.
“He said they were meeting him behind Rosy’s.” Kath is up, pulling on boots. “Where’s my damn jacket?”
I run to the bedroom to get my shoes and my gun. When I get back to the living room, the girls are waiting at the door. They each have a pistol.
“You both sure?”
They don’t even bother to answer.
The alley behind Rosy’s is dirty. Overturned garbage cans spew rotted food. It’s hard to tell, because there’s no light back here, so their eyes don’t glint, but I think I see the movement of rats.
Zeke is crouching behind a Dumpster. He hears us coming, and when he turns, he’s holding his gun. Not pointing at us, but close. In his other hand, he’s holding the box with the device.
“Zeke.” Lara reaches him first. She stops three feet away. “Don’t do this. Those guys are lying to you. They’ll probably kill you.”
“You there, Zeke?” The voice comes from about thirty feet down the alley. I can make out another Dumpster down there; they’re probably using it for cover. I wish I could tell how many are there.
“Yeah.” Zeke yells out the word without taking his eyes off us. “You got Meagan?”
“She’s not here, Zeke. The deal was that we get her from those scum and take her to a safe house. Once you deliver the device, then we reveal the location, and you go get her and take her home.”
Zeke looks at us, excitement and triumph shining in his eyes. He mouths a word. See?
“Ask them how you know she’s safe, Zeke.” I’m stalling. I wonder if we could take them if we knock Zeke out and all three go in, guns blazing. I hear the crackle of one of their two-way radios, and my heart sinks. That noise is all too familiar. Is it