Page 102 of Oath
“Play it cool, Firecracker,” Voodoo murmured in my ear. “Don’t spook him. Much.”
But I wasn’t spooking him.
Iwas the spook.
I met his eyes again. Let the silence stretch like a blade between us.
Then—finally—he found the nerve to move.
One foot in front of the other. Past me. But not before he whispered, low and fast: “I don’t know what you think you’re doing.”
I turned my head, just enough that he saw the flash of my smile.
“I think you do.”
He didn’t respond. Didn’t look back.
But his shoulders? They were hunched like he’d just walked into a storm.
Because he had.
And this time, he wasn’t going to walk out clean.
I didn’t move until he was out the door. Even then, I gave it a beat. Just long enough to let him think he’d left me behind.
Then I turned and followed.
The hallway outside the courtroom was quiet, sterile. The fluorescent lighting buzzed above, faint and mechanical. I walked with purpose, heels striking tile, each step deliberate, steady. This wasn’t a chase. It was a shadow. I wasn’t hurrying.
I was closing in.
Sinclair had a decent lead, but not enough to matter. I rounded the corner and spotted the door swing of the men’s restroom just as it eased shut.
Of course he ducked in there. Coward.
I kept walking until I reached the wall across from the bathroom, where I set down my briefcase and crossed my arms. No fanfare. No theatrics. Just a quiet sentinel.
And I waited channeling my inner Bones. The absolute relentless patience of the man who said he would never stop and never give up.
He had maybe thirty seconds before the walls started closing in.
Sixty before the mirror stopped reflecting his confidence.
Ninety before his pulse betrayed him in his ears.
“Talk to me, Dollface,” Bones said in my ear, his tone low and smooth. “You tailing him?”
“Bathroom,” I murmured. “Waiting outside.”
A pause.
“Copy that. How’s he look?”
“Panicked.” I glanced at the door. “Trying not to be.”
“Poor bastard,” Voodoo chimed in, humor dry as kindling. “Nothing like a power piss to make you reevaluate your life choices.”
I didn’t reply. My focus was on the door.
