Page 88 of Retribution
“Oh, no. I’m moving on. I wouldn’t want mydeartháir beagto think anything you said had a point to it.” Finn sniffs. “You smell that, Kimmy?”
I narrow my eyes.
“Rot. Eating away at the foundations of this place. I’d best root it out.”
I roll my eyes even as that muscle I’m starting to loathe begins to pound once more. A heart attack is imminent. “Sure, Finn. You root out that rot.” With that, I close the door behind us.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Iinsisted Lorcan shower before I’d have anything to do with him. He tried to coax me into joining him, but I only have a narrow window to find Dai Qing, tell her about Malik, and get whatever information she has from my file. Before rushing out of Lorcan’s room, I tell him I’m going to change. I’ve got blood on my clothes. Malik’s blood. It makes my stomach clench every time the thought crosses my mind.
I’m running down the hall when I see Yichun dusting my wing. Popping my head into where she’s working, I say, “Please get Dai Qing as quickly as you can.”
She gives a curt nod and dashes off while I punch in the code to my room. The light burns red, and it beeps at me. I missed the numbers. When I raise my hand again, it’s shaking. With a deep breath, I steady myself. This won’t do. I can’t fall apart. Finn knows nothing. Malik needs my help.Breathe. I input the code again.
As I’m yanking off my shirt, there’s a brisk knock. At the door, Dai Qing is there with her bucket of cleaning supplies. She comes in and drops everything with a clatter. The door clicks shut behind her.
“He’s there.” She takes the words right out of my mouth.
“Yes. It’s bad.” I discard my pants and search my drawers for other clothes. “When can you extract?”
“Maybe tonight. I don’t know how much warning, if any, I can get you. Stay out of the basement. Try to keep at least one of them away from there. Fewer people means less likelihood of exchanging fire, setting off alarms, getting anyone killed.”
I nod and pull a shirt over my head. “Noted.”
She points to my cheek and frowns.
In the bathroom, I see a spot of blood. Over and over, I pump the soap and wipe my face. When I look, my hands are covered in blood. I scrub and scrub until she places her hand on top of mine.
“They’re clean.”
I look at her in the mirror. “Are they?” Tears pool in my eyes. “I’m screwed. Finn’s suspicious. Malik—” My voice cracks on his name. “He’s here because of me.”
“We’ll get him out.”
I brace my hands on the counter and stare in the mirror. Hungover and haunted is not a good look on me. “My file?”
Dai Qing sucks in a breath. “I’m not sure right now is the best time for that.”
“I want to know. When will we get a chance again? It’s getting dangerous. I don’t want you to end up in the basement at some point.”
The color drains out of her face like a faucet running dry. “The deaths connected to you were ruled as suspicious, did you know that?”
I frown. “Deaths? There’s one. Chad. Well, two, actually. My father. But he died in a hiking accident.”
She shakes her head. “Three deaths, all with the phrasepossible Mafia involvementand a question mark. It’s odd. I mean, usually that’s investigated before you get hired. Especially for your job. I mean, if you were an accountant, I could understand it. Even if you were someone like me. Or like an analyst or… security at the agency. But you, you’re—”
“Dai Qing.” I cut off her rambles. “There haven’t been three deaths. There’ve been two.” My watch starts beeping, and there’s a soft knock on the door. He’ll be out of the shower now. I need to get moving.
“Kim,” Yichun says through the door. “Lorcan is calling for you.”
He’s probably worried Finn’s after me. God. This is so messed up. I exit the bathroom and grab pants from a drawer and put them on. “Who else?”
“Chad’s father. Ho-Jun.”
My mind flashes to my mother murmuring those names when I visited her. Then, I remember the violent way she reacted to Lorcan. My skin begins to crawl. Shaking my head, I don’t let the thought take hold. With some force, I gather my hair and loop an elastic around it over and over as tight as I can. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ll try to dig. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get that information to you.”