Page 122 of The Devil We Know

“She’s talking to me,” Antoinette retorts, having met up with us a ways back. She crosses her arms over her chest, a petulant expression on her face as she glares at Carolina.

Carolina steps into her, glaring right back as she says through gritted teeth, “Your inability to focus is going to get someone killed.”

“Fuck you,” Antoinette snarls. “There’s nothing wrong with my focus.”

“Don’t try to pretend you’re not on the lookout for Dare.”

Antoinette frowns and presses her lips together as she glances away. Carolina’s expression softens as she adds, “I get it. I would totally do the same thing. But we have to focus on the mission, and the mission isn’t to find him.”

“And let’s not forget,” I add. “There are four other men out here who look like Darius.”

Both women turn their focus to me, the coolness of their gaze making me squirm a bit as I smile awkwardly. Then Antoinette giggles and replies, “Can you imagine four Dares for real?”

“Sounds like an epic why choose,” Carolina retorts. They both laugh, and then we’re all headed down the hallway again, them focused on the task at hand and me suffering from whiplash at how quickly they change gears.

We creep through the building, listening for any sign of people in our way, but we manage to make it down a floor into another large room without incident.

Antoinette stops in the doorway, raising her hand to indicate we’re to wait, and then she peers around the corner. She listens intently for a beat, her brow furrowed as she squints off into the distance. Carolina makes an impatient noise and pokes her in the side, making Antoinette slap at her hand blindly in retaliation.

I shake my head, not quite accustomed to their foolery in high-stress situations, though I suppose I best get used to it, considering this is my life now—no takebacks.

Shouting behind us draws our attention away from the room, and we all turn, slowly backing into the room and moving to the side as we await what’s headed our way at a quick speed.

I blink, straining to see in the dim light, and then Darius appears, sprinting down the hallway at top speed. Antoinette steps out, her eyes wide with excitement, a smile blooming on her lips that’s quickly extinguished when he shouts, “Run.”

None of us wait to find out what the rush is. We turn heel and take off into the room, and I move into position behind Antoinette, following her lead.

Darius quickly overtakes us, rushing ahead and taking the lead as we all race away from what sounds like a mob of people. We run faster, my lungs screaming for air and my legs burning from exertion, the sound of a murderous crowd pushing us up, up, up from the deep belly of the building until we burst out a doorway.

We stop running a few yards from the exit, all of us turning to see who will follow. Antoinette speaks incoherently to Darius, and I look over as she frowns and then shakes her head. I take a closer look, immediately recognizing the small mark on his neck, indicating this Darius is actually a decoy.

Tony.

The door bursts open again, revealing another Darius coming out at a sprint, quickly followed by Camilla. The two of them run to us, and I see this Darius is Matt, as Camilla yells, “Fucking move it. They’re coming,” as they run by us without slowing.

We wait a beat until the door explodes, and two more Dariuses run through, immediately followed by Lilith and then a whole mess of angry men. These new Dariuses bolt toward us, the look on their faces enough to have us all turn tail and run.

Tony and Matt take the lead, and we all follow, knowing exactly where we’re headed and needing the swarm of bad guys to follow us.

Because we can’t very well blow up a building in downtown, so the next best option was leading them to an outside location where they can be corralled and dealt with accordingly.

We make it to the ship in record time, barely managing to find the balance between wanting to be followed and not wanting to be caught just yet. A walkway leading onto the ship has been left in place, and I run up it between Matt and Tony.

Antoinette and Camilla are right on my heels as we race up the middle of the ship, but then Matt stops short, and I run into the back of him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I mutter as I give him a shove.

A gasp behind me gives me pause, and I turn to find Antoinette behind me, her eyes staring beyond Matt in shock. “What the actual fuck?”

I whirl around and peer around Matt, my eyes widening as two more Dariuses stand there, staring back at us. One looks thunderous, and the other looks smug, and then, in a blink, they’re gone, one giving chase to the other.

“How the fuck is there an extra Darius?” Antoinette sputters.

Camilla raises both hands in the air. “I have no fucking idea. But if I can get close enough, I’ll know which one isn’t our Darius.”

Antoinette nods, then shakes her head briefly as if she’s trying to clear her thoughts. She turns to who we assume are our Darius decoys and says, “Get rid of the disguise.”

She doesn’t wait for a reply. Instead, she takes off with Camilla, running in the direction of the other two Dariuses, knowing if there’s anything shady with these four, it will be handled.

---