Page 87 of Hell Breaks Loose

After catching my breath and letting my thundering pulse quiet, I creep down the ditch beneath the brick enclosure.

Where the hell…

It should be right here…

There!

A gap, hastily shored up with stones, gapes in the masonry. Someone must have undone the repairs my guys made a few days ago…

Someone waiting for me just on the other side of the wall in the water runoff between the adjoining property.

“That was smooth,” Gavin rumbles.

“My middle name,” I whisper, slapping his ass and hustling past.

A short jog takes us around the back of another manor, through the gardens and into a spacious garage that we cased a few days ago for a functional car with fuel. Too many of the wealthy members of Sanctum took their prized possessions with them when they abandoned the town.

Or, they’ve already been ransacked.

Fortunately, proximity to the mayor’s mansion and the army of security I brought with me sets a radius around this block that keeps things quiet.

“I left the back gate unlocked when I went running yesterday.”

“Nice. Use the old ‘stretching on the gate’ maneuver?”

“What?” I give him a look as he starts the car.

“Uh, yeah. You used it on me when we used to run on the trails near my place. Conveniently right before every footrace we tried to have…”

“I wanted to make sure my shoes were tied and I was stretched out.”

“And that I was distracted by ass cheeks peeking out of your shorts right before you bolted and got a head start.”

“Didn’t hear you complaining.”

“I still won.”

“We both won in the shower after.”

Gavin huffs a rumbling sigh as he winds us out through a back road and up into the hills. It’s the first, and likely the only, chance we’ll get to slip out unnoticed to scope out my dad’s old place.

“We should have sent Tell and Sing.”

“I can’t trust that Sing won’t tell Marco about where our base was.” I chew my lip, watching out the window. Not that there’s much to see. Pitch black. Trees.

“Or maybe you just can’t leave it to anyone else.”

“Are you saying I’m a control freak?”

“No. Just a brat.”

“You’re about to see how much of a brat I can be if you keep snapping at me, Mr. Rorshak.”

“Oof. I hate that.” He makes a face.

“Yeah. Me too.” I stifle a laugh, covering my mouth. “Truce?”

“If by truce, you mean a quickie in the back of this car…”

---