Page 113 of Wicked Sexy (Wicked Games 2)
“Had a little convo with the director of the NSA on the way over—well, you know. Anyway, it seems they’ve been aware of Killgaard for a while now. More like, they’ve been aware of the effects of Killgaard. Described him as a black hole. Things within his orbit get all”—he makes a wiggly gesture with his fingers—“warped. But the man himself is invisible. He can only be detected by indirect observation, by looking at the distorted things he’s left his fingerprints on.”
Warily, he adds, “Meaning no disrespect but…like Tabitha West.”
Whatever he sees on my face makes him take a small step backward. The agents by the door take a step in.
“Does the NSA know where he is?” My voice is an animal rumble in my throat.
He shakes his head. “Unfortunately, no one knows where he is.”
A movement at the door catches my eye. I turn and see two agents walking past. Miranda Lawson is sandwiched between them. She glances over, our eyes meet, and she pales.
It hits me like a lightning bolt.
Heart pounding, I say, “Wanna bet?”
Thirty
Tabby
In the dark I sit, waiting. Listening. Because the walls are made of concrete, there’s nothing to hear except my shallow breaths and the thrumming of my heart.
And Shaggy withdrawing his gun from the holster at his waist.
“If you move, I’ll put a bullet in your brain,” he says quietly. “Nothing personal.”
“I don’t know, that seems pretty personal to me.”
He doesn’t answer or make any other sound. I feel him listening, feel his attention intently focused into the darknes
s that surrounds us, and on the door.
The electrically operated door, which, with the power out, is more like the lid of a crypt. We’re not getting out of here unless someone lets us out.
Shaggy says, “Just stay put. The backup generators will come on in a second.”
That’s what they all say.
After a while when nothing happens, I start to count. It keeps my mind occupied, keeps me from thinking how Shaggy might actually be able to see in the dark with those cat eyes of his and decide to pull the trigger even if I don’t move. Keeps me from thinking about Connor, and what he’s thinking right now.
Keeps me from focusing on how much I wish he were here with me.
Finally, when I’m nearing six hundred, I hear a noise.
Bang.
It’s far away, the sound muffled by the thick walls, the reinforced steel door. It comes again several seconds later, louder and closer than before.
Bang.
“Did you—”
“I heard it,” says Shaggy grimly.
“Gunfire?”
“Or explosives. Charges of some kind. Hard to tell.”
Another thirty seconds and then—
