The Cloak Society by Jeramey Kraatz

Author:Jeramey Kraatz
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-07-02T21:00:00+00:00

10

Full Color

When Alex opened his eyes again, he was in a small room almost identical to the one in the underground base. The overhead lights burned dimly. He trembled, horrified by what he’d just seen, and hurried over to the electronic screen on the wall, shoving his palm against it. All he wanted to do was get far away from the Gloom. After a flash, the wall before him shifted and a panel slid aside.

He stumbled into the new room. The transporter was hidden in the back of a long closet, where he now stood, flanked on both sides by dark-colored clothing. Alex hurried through, his hands pushing over the hanging shirts and pants and jackets, sending several of them falling to the floor. Then he headed through the master bedroom, furnished only with a bed and dresser, and into the rest of the apartment. He collapsed on a sofa—one of the few objects in the sparsely decorated living area—and tried to calm down. Cloak members of all rank and order traveled the Gloom on a daily basis, he told himself. So what if the Rangers of Justice were slowly rotting away there? They were his enemies. It was okay. Everything would be okay.

Despite these thoughts, Alex couldn’t calm down. He needed to be outside, where there was fresh air and open space and the shadows didn’t move on their own. The safe house was located in the basement of a building owned by a subsidiary of Cloak, and the building manager and staff were all paid enough to turn a blind eye to the “storage space” secured behind an electronic lock. Alex found another blank screen beside a door in the living room and waved his palm in front of it. With a loud click, the thick metal door moved toward him an inch, and he pulled it open to reveal the dank cement floor of the building’s basement. Alex pulled the door shut behind him and made his way up the stairs to his right, which led to the street. There was a wrought-iron gate blocking his way, but with a little concentration, he felt out the innards of the simple locking mechanism, and one metallic click later, he was standing on the sidewalk of downtown Sterling City.

Alex gasped for air, his body feeling light from the relief of being outdoors. He stared up happily at the full moon, surrounded by thick clouds. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. The city at night—at least this part of it—was practically monochromatic, all varying shades of gray brick giving way to sidewalk and asphalt. The office building sat in the middle of a narrow, one-way block, lit only by the streetlamps that dotted the sidewalk infrequently. Alex could see why this location had been chosen. The street was quiet and offered large patches of darkness in which to hide.

He pushed all thoughts of the Gloom out of his mind and stepped into the street, getting his bearings, rehearsing what he might say to Kirbie while he waited for the perfect moment to hit her with the Gasser.

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