Page 126 of The Devil We Know

I grit my teeth, sudden pain echoing in my chest, and I squash it down. Clearing my throat again, I align myself against the wallby the door right next to Kaian. “I'd sure like to know how he had such a good disguise.”

Camilla barks out a bitter laugh. “Me fucking, too. Because whoever did that's also going to fucking die.”

Kaian gives her a strange, almost hostile look. “You worried you're going to have a little competition in the old illusion business?”

She glares at him but says nothing, so Kaian turns, putting his hand on the door, waiting for us all to line up with him.

He pulls the door open, and Lilith immediately steps through it, gun drawn. She does a quick side-to-side and then motions for us to follow. “We'll have to split up. Some of us can go right, the others can go left, so if nothing else, be careful not to shoot each other.”

Camilla, Lilith, and Carolina head off to the right while Kaian and I break off to the left. For the first few minutes, the place is quiet, but then we hear far-off gunshots, indicating the others have engaged somewhere in the building. We take turns scoping around corners and being back up. After a few long minutes, I peek around a corner at a T-intersection, immediately falling back when met with a bullet into the wall.

Kaian motions that he’ll go straight across, using his fingers to count down. Three. Two. One. Then he takes off, and I immediately drop down, bringing my upper body along the floor in such a way my gun is pointed down the intersecting hallway.

Sure enough, someone sticks their head out, taking a shot at Kaian. Luckily, they miss. I do not.

I remain in this position, my gun still pointed at potential targets. Kaian peeks around the corner and then quickly steps out, keeping his body pressed against the wall, as I quickly rise to my feet and get in position with him.

There's no great way to walk down the hallway. Regardless of how careful we are, someone could easily come up behind us orjump out in front of us, so all we can do is attempt to remain as aware as possible in the hopes that we'll get them before they get us.

Kaian stops when he gets to the man I shot. He pushes him with his foot until he rolls on his back, and then Kaian smirks at me. “Good shot.”

I shrug dismissively, knowing full well what an excellent markswoman I am, even under extreme pressure. He doesn't wait for me to reply; he simply kneels, pulling the radio from where it had fallen under the man's body. He grins at it, then turns his smile on me before motioning ahead of him for us to continue.

One thing we found from our research and cross-referencing what Kaian and Matt knew is that this place is an intricate web of hallways and tunnels that all lead back to the same place.

A great fucking hall, much like the one where all the fucking bullshit happened.

I grimace, not at all looking forward to going to that place but knowing I have little choice in the matter, considering our goal is for all of us to be there without any potential threats.

Because all the potential threats will be dead.

Somehow, we manage not to run into anyone else on our journey, but each new hallway we encounter is met with the far-off sounds of gunshots elsewhere.

This means, according to Kaian, everyone else is getting to have all the fun.

I'm feeling more relieved than let down, most likely because I'm not accustomed to being surrounded by people who deserve to die.

After a short amount of time, which feels like hours, we make it to the doorway leading into the hall. I start to walk through but then hesitate, and Kaian walks into the back of me. “What the fuck, Jess?”

I step back, turning to him as I frown. “This place gives me the ick.”

He raises his brows at me, giving me an obviously befuddled look. “The ick? Really?”

I sigh, suddenly having difficulty meeting his gaze for how completely ridiculous I sound. “Yes, the ick.”

His expression softens, and he takes a step toward me, resting his hand on my arm as he whispers, “Nothing like that will ever happen to you again.”

I wince, embarrassment and horror washing over me at the reminder he was there for that. I allow myself a moment to live there, and then I shake it off. I lift my head and straighten my spine, taking a deep breath and then replying firmly, “Fucking right.”

“You good?”

“Yes. Let's fucking do this.”

He moves to go ahead of me, but I stop him, not wanting anyone to think I'm not at least capable of faking it until I make it.

I walk in silently, keeping myself to the far recesses of the room, where it's still dim. I inch around, keeping some of the larger pillars between me and the voices on the far side.

We creep to the far corner from where we came in, and I get a clearer view of the scene that's unfolding.

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