Page 64 of Darkest Deeds
Niko
Ava’s mouth twitches,her fork shaking in her hand. I turn around and follow her gaze outside the diner, where a middle-aged man with graying hair is dragging a little girl by her upper arm across the parking lot. She’s small and petite, with long red hair and huge eyes that are full of terror.
I can’t speak. It’s like looking into the past.
She’s mouthing something to the man holding her, but he doesn’t respond, continuing to drag her between a row of cars toward a dark sedan. I hold my breath as she digs her black dress shoes into the pavement beneath the open car door, a hand rising above it before dropping down with unnecessary force.
Then comes the scream.
“Did that asshole just…” I turn back around to find Ava out of the booth and running toward the door. “Ava! Shit, Ava, wait!” I throw some bills on the table and take off after her. When I finally catch up with her, she’s standing in the parking lot, her hands fisted by her side, silently mouthing something to herself.
“What the hell was that—”
“W79-QU5,” she hisses.
“What?”
“That’s the license plate number. Call whoever you have to call and have them run it. Now.” Without another word, she stomps toward the Audi and stands stiffly next to the passenger door until I unlock it.
After starting the car, I text the information to Mik, along with a request even I’d consider over the line, and mark both urgent. While I wait for his reply, I tighten my fists around the steering wheel and stare at her. She’s glaring ahead, grinding her teeth so hard, I wouldn’t be surprised if her jaw snapped.
“You want to tell me why I just spent forty dollars on a plate of cheese fries and two Cokes?”
“He hit her.”
“I saw. I don’t care what that little girl did, she didn’t deserve—”
Ava tilts her chin, casting an accusatory glance at me out of the corner of her eye. “Her dress was torn.”
“I didn’t notice.”
“I did.”
The seething hate in her voice is unmistakable, and she clenches her hands together in her lap. I can smell Ava’s energy shift from unstable to deadly. My dark goddess has emerged, and she’s out for blood.
Before I can say anything else, my phone beeps, and I glance down to see a name and an address from Mik followed by a row of middle finger emojis and a second location.
“What’s this about, pchelka?”
Clicking her seatbelt into place, Ava turns her attention toward the road. “Drive.”
* * *
Senator George Dresden’shouse isn’t quite a mansion, but it’s well beyond what any normal citizen could afford. Thankfully, the Audi blends in with the neighborhood, so when I park it at an empty lot it doesn’t raise any flags. Ava’s out of the car before I can turn off the ignition. By the time I catch up with her, I’m out of breath.
“Will you slow down? You don’t even know where the hell you’re going.”
“4832—the big White House looking one on the corner, right?” She throws an arm out, pointing to a house about fifty yards ahead of us that, I’ll be damned, does look kind of like the president’s Pennsylvania Avenue digs.
“How did you know that?”
“Some things you just don’t forget,” she says, reaching a hand out behind her. “Give me the gun in your ankle holster.”
If she would’ve been anyone else, I would’ve called her bluff with a stone face. However, the situation has already thrown me off my game, and I stop in the middle of the street gaping at her. “How the hell did you know I have a—”
Ava sighs, shaking her outstretched hand impatiently. “Niko, we were best friends for five years. You never go out without at least two pieces of backup, your ankle holster being one of them. Trust me, I remember more things about you than you’ll ever know.”
She’s right, and I don’t know if I hate it or love it. “How do I know you won’t use it against me?”