Page 128 of Rage
Still, I calculate how long it would take someone to breach the property if they came through the woods. Forty-three seconds to reach the back entrance.
I look back at her. She hasn’t moved. For the first time since I found her, there is no crease between her brows. No tension locked in her jaw. No fist curled around the edge of a blanket like she expects sleep to betray her.
But here she is resting. Something violent and unfamiliar twists behind my ribs. I don’t have a name for it. All I know isit consumes me more than anything, and it’s because there is a threat when it comes to her.
The phone on the dresser vibrates. I answer before the second buzz. “Talk.”
Valen’s voice comes through low and clipped. “They found something in Monica’s room.”
I look at Amy, and she is still asleep. I don’t want to wake her.
“And?”
“It was cleaned.”
I go still.
Valen continues, “No blood. No forced entry. No signs of struggle. Her phone was on the desk. Laptop open. Bag still there.”
“Message?”
“Yes.”
My hand tightens around the phone. “What did it say?”
Valen exhales. “Not over the phone.”
That means it’s bad, and it also means it was meant for me.
I look at Amy again. Her lashes flutter once, but she doesn’t wake. For one selfish second, I consider hanging up and staying here, letting someone else handle it.
Azriel.
Garret.
Valen.
The Order.
The twins.
Anyone.
Then I remember Monica’s name moving through the courtyard like smoke. I remember Amy’s face when she heard it.
Then I remember Victor Sokolov’s father begging with a desk full of photographs behind him.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“Five minutes out.”
“Bring Azriel.”
“He’s already with me.”
Of course he is, so I just hang up.
For a moment, I don’t move. Then Amy speaks from the bed.
