Page 69 of The Guru: Shadow

“We have a copy of the feed, and it’s safe to say he was trained. We’re missing something.”

“We are. I shot him, and he just walks out of here, blood-drained, and kills four people? We need to get Emma into safety, he believes she filed it, he’ll go after her.”

“Slight problem, we don’t know where she is.”

“Kidding, right?”

“We lost her, she is good, actively tried to get rid of the tails.”

And just for a fraction, doubt crawled up on him.

Was it all a set-up? Was it a simple coincidence that she lost the tail on purpose and Pearson slaughtered four of his people to break free? And not just any people, but four highly trained watchdogs, one of them ex-Secret Service?

I don’t believe in coincidences.

“Her phone?”

“Turned off. She knew we were there, she actively got rid of the tail.”

Fuck.

“Ed, tell me what your feeling tells you.”

“You suspect her?”

“She knows how to get rid of a tail, Pearson slaughters everyone here. Then they know each other. Too many coincidences.”

“It makes no sense to me. Her being involved. She’s driving you away, not running after you.”

“What if it’s a scheme?”

“We’d have communication.”

Would we, though?

For some reason his mind wouldn’t quieten.

“She ishisdaughter, Ed. What if she’s like him? What if she’s that good?”

17

EMMA

PLAYLIST: DEVIL, DEVIL - MILCK

Blind rage consumed her heart, fired by the fact that Deis had overstepped the most intimate things she’d ever experienced, and then having the audacity to drop by the diner just like that. Never in her life has she wished more deeply to just transform and become a different person than now. She would give anything for it, even if it was her soul.

Anger had always been a driver for her. A driver for controlled thoughts and daring actions. And as she recognized three different people following her through all her weird turns, she knew they were his people. He had her tailed. And maybe something in her snapped. She would not be his puppet.

So, she walked, quite chaotically, up to Macy’s on 34th St., turned off her phone, and got herself lost in it. Slipping into a group of tourists, she walked out with them, and as two of them had a hoodie on, too, she slipped hers on and blended in with them until they reached Broadway. From there, she went up Broadway, always making sure to move between tourists, before she felt safe enough to turn into 49th St. and make her way up to Upper East Side, where Julie lived.

It was the only consequence she could think of. Julie must know what happened with Deis and with Carl. She’d wait for her at the entrance, the doorman knew her and would let her wait for Julie’s return. When she walked up Madison Ave and turned into 82nd St., she glanced behind her, pretty sure that no one followed her anymore. But while she glanced black, she didn’t see the man walking up in front of her.

“Hello Em, good to see you again.”

And as she heard his voice, she froze to death.

“You will be quiet and act perfectly normal,” he whispered darkly in her ear while a gun pressed against her ribs.