Page 91 of Lost Kingdom

I swallow and nod. Because that’s all I have the energy for.

“So you’re going to tell me what the hell is going on. Why you’ve left two homicide victims in the autopsy suite without logging them back into their fridge appropriately. I want you to tell me why Felix is in Copeland right now, why Tim was following Jada today, and how the hell you knew all this, when you’ve been with me since this morning.”

I press my thumbs to my eyes until stars burst into my vision.

“Doctor Emeri!?”

“I’ve been keeping a secret.” I rock in my chair and reject the notion of speaking my truth out loud. Of revealing something I’ve told no one except my family and my therapist. “I’ve kept it from you, and Fletch, and Tim,and… literally everyone.” I exhale a shuddering breath that makes my lungs bounce. “I didn’t do it to deceive you. I just… I don’t tell people.”

She pushes up from her chair and comes around to stand over me. “Get up, put the DBs away, then we’re going for a walk.” She places her fingers on my forehead, tilting my head back, and yet, all I see is her worry. Her fear. Even, unbelievably, a large slice of insecurity, as though my secrecy was a slight against her and our friendship. “Then you need to talk. Secrets ruin relationships, and I’m not ready to put this one in the ground yet.”

29

TIM

THEN IT ALL CAME TUMBLING DOWN

Istorm into the bar just a single step ahead of Felix, only to skid to a stop and find Aubree sitting on the solid countertop, her feet on the stool and her elbows on her knees. She cups her face in her hands and bounces. Bounces. Bounces her knee to work through the metric pile of anxiety pulsing through her blood. So beautiful. So fucking powerful in her skin. But terrified, as her eyes swing to me and tears ball in her lashes.

Cato sits against the back wall, the guard he was born to be. The sentry who will watch over his family until the day he dies. His ankles are crossed, and an icy soda, despite the cold outside, rests in his hands, while Archer and Minka loiter to the right, chest to chest, and his arms wrapped over her shoulders as tension pierces the air.

Because a police radio crackles in the center of the room, deep baritone voices barking out orders and speaking in police code most folks wouldn’t understand.

Most uneasy of all, even more than Aubree, is Fletch as he hangs out by the pool table, pacing, pacing, pacing until I hear words that explain his worry.

“Female subject has exited the premises.” I don’t recognize the cop’s voice, but I know, even before he says her name, who he refers to. “Positive ID, Jada Watson.”

“She’s out,” Aubree breathes, dropping her head and pressing her face into her hands. “She’s safe, which means they can breach now.”

“What’s happening?” I stalk across the bar and stop in front of Aubree, my heart in my throat and my entire world balancing on a razor-sharp wire. Because she’s not getting up and running my way. She’s not throwing herself into my arms. And the fact she’s not makes me want to fucking puke. “They haven’t breached yet?”

“Just about to.” She drags wet eyes up, searching mine through the tears in her lashes. “Anyone follow you back here?”

“Your concern warms my cold, dead heart, Doctor Cutie.” Felix strides across to Archer, clapping the side of his face and pulling him in for a hug he never asked for. Then he circles away again, moving to the baby. The one he raised. The one any of us would give anything up for, even if we never actively tell him so. “I still think you’re setting fires for no reason, though.” He turns to lean against the counter beside Cato. “Calling the cops just because I was gonna intimidate and possibly assault someone?” He scoffs. “Weak.”

“Alpha Team, C side,” a voice crackles through the radio. “Bird and Hutchins, B side.”

“That means Stevenson and Dawson are going through the front,” Archer murmurs. He crushes Minka to his chest and presses his lips to her scalp. “You better be right, Emeri, or we’re all in trouble with the chief on Monday.”

“Talk to me, Aubree.” I cup her jaw and force her face up. Because if I don’t, I’m not sure she’ll ever look into my eyes again. “I need you to make sense.”

“Abort!” Detective Stevenson’s panicked shout scratches through the radio, like scattershot from a shotgun. “I said abort! Trip wire. Everyone, back aw?—”

The boom is deafening, cutting through the radio and punctuated by a vibration bouncing through the floor. Shockwaves roll up through my calves and stop in my thighs, though we’re easily several blocks from the house we followed Jada to just a few hours ago.

And then there’s nothing. Just radio static and the heavy breathing of the woman who won’t look into my eyes.

“What the fuck?” Fletch slams a pool cue to the table and spins away while the wooden length bounces off the side and clatters to the floor. “An explosive?”

“Officers injured!”one voice shouts.

“Ambulances required!”comes another.

“Fire and rescue required!”

Exhausted, Aubree drops her head and dangles it between her shoulders.

“You need to speak.” I grab her chin and drag her back up. “Talk to us, Emeri. Because we were gonna walk through that door. We sure as fuck wouldn’t have known it was a trap till you were peeling our limbs off the road outside.”

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