Unglued by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blake Pierce
Published: 2023-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The darkening skies only added to the eerie atmosphere as Cora and Gabe moved up the dilapidated stairs of the rundown duplex in the seedy part of town. The taxi driver had refused to come all the way with them. He'd dropped them off two streets away, giving them directions to complete the last leg of their journey.

And now, Cora understood why.

Through the cracked and shattered windows, where most of the glass had been taken, she spotted where figures were huddled on the sidewalks by the curb where the taxi driver had refused to come.

She watched as cars passed by, and figures emerged from alleys depositing parcels through the open windows. The exchanges happened quickly, with practiced precision. This was a professional rig.

Cora could feel her stomach twisting. She felt nerves, discomfort, and some small amount of guilt.

In a way, all of this had started with a trip to a similar curb, and an interaction with a drug dealer.

Her own choices had set her feet on a strange path.

But it was stranger still to look out the window of the old, broken down duplex and watch as figures in another country, halfway around the globe, conducted themselves in the same way she had.

Most of the buildings along the street were old and worn. In a couple of cases, they were burned out husks, completely scorched.

Cora turned, glancing back up the stairwell of the old, rundown duplex.

Graffiti lined the walls, and strange symbols were painted on the ground. The railing was missing. Outlet boxes had been ripped from the walls. Light fixtures were gone. There was no illumination, only further casting the dark building into shadow.

It all troubled her.

She moved up the stairs, slowly, but shooting looks back at Gabe.

His hands were jammed into his pockets, and his brow was ridged into a frown.

Gabriel was out of his element.

Cora wished the same could be said of her. There was something that bothered her about standing next to a man named after an angel. She didn't think Gabe was an angel. But he seemed innocent, naive. He seemed like a boy scout in some ways. He loved his mother, stuck around the small town, and worked with his hands. In his spare time, he tried to find the man who had hurt his long-lost childhood sweetheart. He'd even been willing to turn in his own father in order to find justice.

He was a strange man. Tall, muscled, and yet with boyish proclivities towards concepts of right and wrong.

And now he looked nervous.

In a way, his nerves were contagious. Cora didn't like the feeling of traversing dangerous paths with a man she wasn't sure she could trust.

Would he be able to take care of himself? Or would he expect her to do it?

She had to focus, though.

A discarded glass bottle scattered as her foot struck it on the stairs. It shattered against the wall, and rained brown pieces down on a bed of broken shards. The stairwell smelled of urine.

"Are you sure this is the address?" Gabe said, shifting uncomfortably.

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