Page 98 of Back In the Shadows

Her jaw clenched and unclenched, a single tear slipping down her cheek. “He reassured me that we would be taken care of.”

“And you believe him?” Kip’s words were clipped and distrustful.

“We don’t really have a choice,” she replied.

A spider crawled across the dashboard, and Ella jerked so violently she slammed her head against the window. I quickly smashed it and brushed it away.

She rubbed her head, visibly trembling. “I can still feel phantom legs crawling over my skin at night and hear the skittering sounds in my dreams. The rational part of me knows that I’m safe, but my body remembers each moment in that glass cage.”

My heart cracked wide open with her confession. I reached over and took her hand, my thumb gently rubbing the back of hers. “You have my word that you’re safe, babe. I’ll stay by your side every minute if I need to.”

She nodded and her shoulders relaxed a little.

Returning to our previous conversation, I said, “The Piper seems to have a large umbrella of protection, and Death agrees that we did the right thing.” The van bumped along the dirt road, and I looked into the rearview and side mirrors, but I didn’t see anyone else around.

“Kip, you see anyone tailing us?”

He shifted in his seat just enough to look around without being obvious. “Nope. Let’s go home. I’ll let you know if I see anything suspicious, but so far, so good. I’m going to call Ryan and put him on speaker. I need some proof that the Piper has the reach he says he does. Can’t believe a motherfucker like that.”

“Good idea,” I said.

Seconds later, Ryan’s phone rang.

“Hey, it’s Kip, Bass, and Ella. We’re driving back that way, but I need some information.”

Kip rattled off his questions about the Pied Piper having FBI and police influence to Ryan.

“I know the name really well. From what I’ve seen in law enforcement,” Ryan said, “the Pied Piper’s reputation is real. Cases go cold when he gets involved. Evidence vanishes. Witnesses change their stories. No one can prove anything, but every cop knows not to dig too deep when his name comes up. From my experience, you can believe him.”

“Thanks, man. We just needed to know if he was full of shit or not.”

“He’s for real. If you’re dealing with him, you guys need to watch your fucking back, though. He’s smart and scrupulous.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” I said.

“All right, we’ll catch you later. Thanks again,” Kip added.

“Later,” Ryan said before he hung up.

“At least we know,” Ella said, trying to get comfortable in her seat.

I turned right and the van rolled onto the pavement. “Five more hours until we reach Portland. I’ll hide the van, swap the plates out, then we’re homeward bound.”

“Thank you for taking us back. I miss the twins so much.” She sniffled and wiped the moisture from her cheek.

“When we’re at the penthouse, I’ll take care of the kids, you just get some rest. Maybe we can go forward and put the past behind us.”

“Yeah.” Her tone didn’t do anything to reassure me that it was possible, but I would move heaven and earth to make sure she felt safe enough to try.

The early morningsun peered over the horizon as “la di die” by Nessa Barrett and jxdn softly played through the car stereo. Ella had finally drifted off to sleep, and Kip’s snore reached me from the backseat. I was exhausted myself, but I was wired from the events of the last few weeks.

Something is off with my little lamb.

I didn’t disagree with Death, but I was probably overreacting. She’d been through hell, tortured mentally and emotionally, held captive, and met the man who had helped give birth to Death. She was strong, but no one could withstand that for long.

You’re not fucking naïve enough to trust that the Pied Piper is out of our lives for good, right?

I stifled my laughter in order not to wake Ella. “I wasn’t born yesterday, asshole.”

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