Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
There’s something sinister about the shadows. Or maybe it’s his own thoughts that color his surroundings. He’s been on edge ever since the messages for the detective started coming to him.
He didn’t mean to scare her earlier. He only wanted to give her the letter, as instructed. He knows why he was chosen—he has access as a member of the press. He doesn’t know what will happen to him if he doesn’t comply with the killer’s requests, but he doesn’t dare find out.
And now he can’t go home. He’s jumping at shadows, literally. He can’t shake the feeling of being watched.
The pressure builds until he can’t ignore it anymore. There’s someone behind him—he can sense it.
He whirls around. “Who’s there?”
But there’s no one following him. And if there was, what would he do?
Better to keep moving, so that’s what he does.
This is a mistake. If he looked up, he’d see a large shape rise from the roof and follow, stalking him from above.
The sound of motorcycles splits the night, and he freezes. A trio of bikes turn down the alleyway, blocking his exit. A street light illuminates two blond heads and one dark one. All three are wearing skull masks that cover the lower half of their faces.
“Ted Raider?” the closest one calls. The light glints on the silver skull ring he’s wearing as he raises his hands to show he’s unarmed. “We need to talk.”
Ted doesn’t wait to hear what they have to say. He turns and runs the other way. It’s stupid to try to outrun bikers, but they don’t follow, and he feels a little hope that he might escape his fate.
He’s almost to the middle of the alleyway when something explodes in front of him. There’s a flashbang of smoke, and he throws up his hands to ward off an attack, crying out.
Ears ringing, he staggers sideways. A large figure drops to the pavement in front of him. It’s like something out of a video game—over six feet tall, bulky with black body armor and a helmet to hide their face. Ted doesn’t need to see the dark figure’s expression to know it’s over for him. He’s been caught. There’s horror but also relief. No more dreading what’s to come.
As the hunter reaches out a gloved hand, Ted gives up his shaky grasp on consciousness and slumps to the ground at the hunter’s feet.
Inara
* * *
On-screen, Rex stalks toward Ted. In his body armor, he’s both a futuristic soldier and a figure from a myth. An ancient warrior emerging from the mist.
“Wow,” Mina says. “Men will literally dress up in a bulletproof suit and run around being a vigilante instead of going to therapy.”
Ah, Mina, I missed you.
I’m back at Roy Manor, standing in front of the large array of screens in Rex’s lair. After the ball, Rex asked me to return to the safety of the manor, and I was so shaken that I agreed.
I watch the action unfold from the screens, my heart racing like I’m standing in the alley with him. I smell the sharp, acrid funk of the gas. I’ve been Ted in this moment. I should be afraid for him, but for some reason, I’m not. I made Rex promise not to hurt him, and I guess I trust that he won’t.
I should be appalled that Rex is out there, exercising his own form of vigilante justice to hunt down the mysterious Ted. But I’m not. And what does that say about me? I’ve lived my life by the law. Ted is a witness, and there are protocols. But here I am, rooting for Rex to trap Ted in any way he can.
“Can I get one of those suits?” Mina’s disembodied voice echoes through the cave.
I don’t know what possessed me to ask Rex if I could loop her in on this mission, but he agreed.
He probably hated seeing me so frightened and would’ve promised me the moon if he thought it would help. I needed someone familiar. I guess Mina is more of a friend than I thought.
Mina doesn’t know I’m standing in a hi-tech lab in a cave attached to the Roy family mansion, but she can see the feed. “Are those gauntlets?” She sounds fascinated.
Reflected in multiple angles, Rex looms larger than life while Ted lies prone on the asphalt. Rex has gassed me before, so I know it won’t hurt Ted. But my stomach twists at crossing this line.
I wanted to approach Ted and interview him the traditional way. But I was in no state to do that, no matter how much I wanted to, and Rex didn’t offer me a choice. He was going to bring him in tonight. He sent Ivan to approach Ted at his apartment with money to bribe him. But when Ted ran, Rex chose to do things his way.