Page 3 of After The Storm

“Or what about Pigeon? I know we haven’t seen her much since we all graduated high school, but I accepted a friend request from her the other day, so she might be interested in catching up on old times tonight. I can message her right now and we can be hanging out with her in no time.”

Tired of Eve’s complaining, Kate stopped dead in the street and spun around to face her dear friend, who at the moment she wanted to shake to get some sense into her. “We don’t have time for this nonsense. What about that don’t you understand? My boss is dead, and his biggest client is too. That’s not a coincidence, Eve, so just stop trying to think of someplace else to go and move!”

The people around them stopped for a moment at Kate’s yelling, and suddenly she became frightened. Any one of them could be there to find her. She needed to get the hell out of the Quarter now.

Scanning the crowd, she saw a man who looked far too interested in the scene playing out between Eve and her. Was he looking for her? Who was he? Quickly, she tried to think if she’d ever met him, but he looked like every other person in the Quarter that night.

She leaned in close to Eve and said in her ear, “There’s a man about fifty yards behind us. Calmly turn around and look at about two o’clock.”

Eve did as she instructed her to, and the man began walking toward where they stood. Panicked, Kate yanked on her friend’s hand to get her moving again.

“Let’s go! Did you see him? Did you see that man with the blond hair and black t-shirt looking at us? He started walking in our direction as soon as we looked back at him.”

“I think you’re suffering from a little paranoia, honey. I didn’t see anyone who even cared what we were doing. He’s just one of thousands of people in the Quarter tonight. It is Mardi Gras, you know,” Eve said in a breathless voice, struggling to keep up with Kate.

After a few more feet, she became too much of a drag on her, and she had to stop again. Spinning around, she scanned the street for that man but didn’t see him anywhere. Had he ducked into a doorway somewhere and was watching them at that very moment?

“What about talking to that cop over there?” Eve asked, pointing down the street.

Kate swiveled her head to look and saw a man in a police uniform standing on the corner next to a lamppost. She couldn’t tell him what was going on, though. She couldn’t trust anyone, not even a cop.

“No. I can’t. We just have to get out of here and we’ll be okay. Come on!”

They hurried down the street for another three blocks until the crowd finally thinned out. Kate took a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping to give Eve a moment of rest before they continued.

“We need to get a cab. Do you see one?” Kate asked as she looked up and down Canal Street.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Are you still stuck on that idea of hiding out at that flea bag motel tonight?”

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw that man in the black t-shirt again walking slowly down Chartres Street toward them. Why did he continue to follow them?

Her body settled into flight mode, and she quickly said to Eve, “He’s coming for us. We need to run!”

Jumping off the curb, she nearly got hit by a car, so she hurried back onto the sidewalk, but Eve couldn’t go any further. Tearing her hand from Kate’s hold, she pleaded with her to just talk to the cop a few blocks back.

“That’s what he’s there for, honey. He’ll help us.”

Panic raced through Kate. “No. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know if he can be trusted.”

Eve opened her bag and took out her phone to dial 9-1-1. “The police can help you, honey. They’ll be here in just a few minutes and then you’ll be safe.”

She couldn’t keep doing this with her. As much as she didn’t want to go alone to the Bayou Motel, she didn’t have a choice. Eve would only continue to slow her down, and with that man slowly coming toward them step after step, she didn’t have any more time to waste.

“I can’t! I’m sorry, but I have to go. I’ll call you when I’m safe,” she said as she broke into a full run down Canal Street, unsure where she was going but just knowing she had to get the hell out of there.

A police car sped past her toward where Eve stood, and the last thing she saw before she raced across Canal Street toward the Garden District was a cop getting out of the car to talk to her.

For now, Kate believed she was safe, but the sooner she got to that motel and into hiding, the better she’d be able to figure out her next step. She didn’t know who had killed her boss, but she suspected she knew why.

And they’d be coming for her next.

Chapter Two

Too many peoplein one house, even in a house the size of a small country like the Blackmore Estate, meant even when Roman closed the door to his bedroom to find some peace and quiet, he didn’t get what he wanted. If it wasn’t one of the other guys who lived there knocking on his door to ask him something, it was the construction crew working on the addition he kept hearing would make things much better.

Highly unlikely. It hadn’t happened when they put on the last addition, so why would this time be any different?

He’d spent time in close quarters with other men in his lifetime. His years in the military had meant living around dozens of other soldiers, so it wasn’t like he didn’t know what it would be like when he signed on to Project Artemis. He also knew how lucky he’d been to be recruited first, which meant he got his own bedroom. At least he could count his blessings for that. If he’d had to share with someone like Julian or Xavier, either they or he would have been dead by now.

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