Santori Reloaded by Maris Black

Author:Maris Black [Black, Maris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-12T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 13

KAGE

It turned out that what Theo wanted to show me was at the Scepter Hotel, one floor down in the basement he hadn’t allowed me to see before. Excitement thrummed in my veins. This was it. The moment of truth. He was either going to let me in on his secrets, or he was going to kill me. My fingers sought out the gun hidden at my waist beneath my suit jacket. I’d found myself doing that more and more often, especially when I was around Theo.

A familiar sense of peace washed over me at the hard bite of metal beneath my fingertips. I’d gotten comfortable with my firearm over the past few weeks at the gun range, and at night when I unholstered it and pointed it at the full-length mirror in my bedroom. I could use it if I had to. Wouldn’t hesitate. The only problem was that Theo kept me so off kilter with his jokes and veiled threats I wasn’t sure if I’d see the danger coming if he decided to take me out for real.

I thought of what my uncle had shared in his journal. The snippets of life with Theo. The hints of something darker beneath the surface of the story.

Your friend has a little problem.

I followed Theo into the elevator and stood at his back as we descended into the bowels of the hotel. I nudged the safety of the gun with my fingertip, not quite disengaging it, but very nearly. We might as well have been going into the Bermuda Triangle, because if he decided to do something to me down there... I shivered, wondering what he would do with my body. Cut me into tiny pieces? Dump me in an unmarked grave next to Z, so far out in the desert I would never be found?

“I can hear you breathing,” Theo said without turning around.

I snatched my hand from the gun and tried to control my breaths and the erratic heartbeat that rattled in my chest. “I’m kind of excited.” It wasn’t a lie, but I was also terrified. Same physiological response.

“You need to learn how to mask your emotions. I thought you were an expert at that. From the fighting.”

“Do I need to mask them from you?” I asked. “I thought we were being straight up with each other.”

Theo chuckled but didn’t respond. The elevator door slid open, revealing a dark cavern. No windows, no light. A chill seeped into the elevator car.

“Ready?” Theo asked.

“Lead on,” I said.

He stepped out and felt along the wall, and suddenly the room was flooded with harsh fluorescent light. Bare concrete floors and concrete walls down here, stark and cold and gray. Theo led me around a corner, and then we were standing in an enormous room filled with crates. So many crates I couldn’t begin to estimate their number. Three letters had been stenciled on the sides of each one in black spray paint: U.S.A.

My voice sounded muted and far away when I asked, “What is all of this?”

“Go have a look.

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