He collapsed to the ground. She scrambled for the emergency exit door. Everything felt horrifically slow. Mired in tar. Dex’s eyes had gone empty and blank.
No sounds, just her heart pounding. So loud.
Mark had been intensely focused on Dex, but his gaze snapped up and fastened onto her as she dashed out the emergency exit. He bellowed with rage as she yanked the heavy door closed—and locked it from the other side, with the GodsEye lock.
That bought her time to run out into the night, sticky with blood—
“Caro? Talk to me.”
Noah was bending over her, his hand on her shoulder. His kitchen swam into focus. His worried face.
Caro licked her dry, numb lips. “I’m fine,” she whispered.
Noah circled the table and reluctantly sat back down. He waited for a few minutes while she gathered her thoughts.
“Mark was there to kidnap me,” she said. “He was going to make me open Lydia Bachmann’s vault for him, and then kill me in cold blood. He had it all planned out, including framing me for Dex’s murder. He didn’t expect me to fight back. I killed the guy who was holding me down. I barely got away alive. But Dex . . . Dex didn’t.”
She suddenly realized that she held his fingers in a white knuckled death grip. She let go abruptly and whipped her hand back.
Noah’s hand stayed outstretched on the table, as if hoping to reestablish the contact. “You knew Lydia Bachmann’s combination?”
“If it’s still the fucking training sequence, then I do,” Caro said bitterly. “It’s not likely she ever followed our recommendations to reset a definitive combination. Lydia sucked at the Inner Vision interface. She even tripped the auto-destruct once. Almost killed us both. We had to tweak her software so that she wouldn’t blow herself up.”
“And where is she now?”
“She’s a missing person,” Caro said. “Since before Mark Olund showed up at GodsEye. I don’t know what happened to her. I’m sure it’s nothing good.”
Just a nod, and a thoughtful frown between his eyebrows. No other reaction.
“You seem so calm,” she said. “I can’t seem to shock you.”
“I don’t shock easily,” Noah said. “And I suspend opinions or feelings when I’m taking in data. That lets me calculate strategy more quickly.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t remember asking you to do that for me, Noah.”
He looked taken aback. “You think you don’t need any help with this? Really?”
“Of course I need help,” she said. “Teach me how to fight.”
Noah’s face went absolutely blank for a moment.
Caro hurried on. “Look, I killed that guy by accident. I won’t get that lucky again. And I’d prefer to use a gun, not a blade. I don’t want to get that close to Mark Olund. I assume you’re as skilled with guns as you are in hand to hand combat, right?”
Noah’s eyes were incredulous. “Sure, but . . . you’re actually planning to stalk and kill this guy by yourself?”
“If I could find solid proof that he’s a killer and I’m not, then I’d go to the cops,” she said. “But I’m in no position to do that. So yeah, Noah. That’s exactly what I propose.”
“That’s crazy,” he said.
She shrugged. “I get that a lot,” she said. “At least I’m consistent.””
“I can’t let you—”
“Not your call,” she said. “Don’t make me regret telling you everything.”
He studied her carefully, saying nothing.
“Teach me to use a gun,” she repeated. “I’ll be so focused. You’ll be amazed.”
“I already am,” he said.
“It’s not like I want to ask you this,” she said. “Did I mention that I got a friend to help me a few months ago?”
“No.”
“His name was Tim. Big, tough guy. Military training. Big believer in open carry.”
Noah looked like he was bracing himself. “And how did that turn out?”
“They got him,” she said flatly. “Tortured him to death. Cut him to pieces. Gouged out his eyes. I’m not risking that again. So you can either help me do this entirely by myself, in my own way, or—”
“Or what?” Noah asked, drumming his fingers on the table.
“Or nothing. I’m a jinx, if you haven’t figured it out. I have to go it alone from here on in. Although I have to thank you for saving my life so far. I really do appreciate that. But it’s on me from here. Really. It’s best for both of us.”
Holding his gaze when he was angry was a challenge. She could feel the force of his frustration and disapproval pushing against her.
Caro clenched her hands into fists and held her ground. Be tough, Bishop. Fake it til you make it.
Right. She tried, but she felt very fake right now, with all her tough talk. Who the hell was she trying to kid?
Herself, for sure. She didn’t have a choice about any of this. But it was very hard to maintain the necessary fuck-you attitude under these conditions.
“I can’t say I agree.” Noah rose to his feet and walked out of the kitchen.
It looked like she had her answer. She stared after him with tears in her eyes.
Chapter 18