Ciphers, Matt Rogers [a court of thorns and roses ebook free TXT] 📗

would make him happier than speaking to her for the rest of the night. But there were eight million people relying on him, and womanising had to be the last thing on his mind.

He’d confirmed the bank building was occupied by armoured mercenaries. Now, breaching it was priority number one.

He screwed up his face and said, ‘I haven’t been entirely honest with you.’

‘Okay,’ she said.

Unperturbed.

‘What’s your name?’ he said.

‘Alexis.’

‘Alexis, I’m Will.’

‘Pleasure to meet you.’

‘You too. I work for the government.’

She eyed him. ‘In what capacity?’

‘That’s hard to define. But I’m … in the middle of something.’

‘Okay.’

‘So I really, really need you to help me with this shoulder. And then I’ll be on my way.’

She shrugged. ‘Whatever you say.’

Slid off the arm of the chair, sauntered over to him and took his arm in her hands. Her fingers dug into his bicep, a little harder than necessary. He looked straight ahead. Every part of him wanted to respond to the touch. To look up into her eyes and see what happened from there. He was a man of opportunity, and he didn’t usually get opportunities as effortlessly as this, especially after such a harrowing introduction. It showed she had an underlying feistiness. She wasn’t easily disturbed. It spoke to him in all the right ways.

But he couldn’t speak back.

He said, ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’

‘I’m a paralegal,’ she said.

He hesitated. ‘What?’

‘You heard me.’

‘What does that have to do with—?’

‘First aid training,’ she said. ‘Part of the job introduction.’

Then she added a smirk, to let him know she wasn’t being serious.

He rolled his eyes. ‘Just do it.’

‘It’s going to hurt.’

‘You don’t say?’

‘Like, a lot.’

‘Story of my life.’

‘How long have you been working for the government?’

He said, ‘Look, I’d love to chat, but—’

Halfway through the sentence, she wrenched his shoulder back into place.

He lost his vision for a split second, plunging into blackness, and when he resurfaced he rode out a wave of agony unlike anything he’d experienced in a long, long time. A breathless gasp exploded from his lips, and he fell back into the corduroy cushions, stunned into silence.

But then the wave crashed on the shores, and subsided, and when it cleared he had full function of his right arm.

He lifted it up, entirely pain-free.

He felt like crying with joy, but he didn’t.

He still had a job to do.

She kept standing over him, watching him intently.

He looked up and said, ‘What?’

She smiled. ‘See? You’re fine now.’

‘I know.’

She slapped him on his brand-new shoulder. ‘There you go. Job done.’

With new life coursing through his veins, he sprung up to his feet. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘You got a bathroom?’

She hesitated. ‘Uh—’

But the relief that came from crawling out of the pain chamber had blessed him with limitless energy. So instead of waiting for her to respond he spotted a closed door near the kitchen with a handmade wooden sign hanging off a peg reading: Restroom.

Cute, he thought.

He levered off the couch, left the Glock on the cushion, and strode for it. His bladder was fit to burst, and he didn’t need to put up with that inconvenience in the midst of trying to locate King and storm the fortified bank building.

He thought he heard her say something in protest, but he ignored it.

He also thought he heard something strange coming from behind the restroom door.

He ignored that, too.

Put a hand out and pushed it open.

The strange noise was emanating from two men lying sideways on the tiled floor of the bathroom. Their hands were duct taped behind their back, and their ankles were bound, and there was thick grey tape over their mouths, too. They were yelling into the tape, but what came out was ineligible muffled nonsense, no louder than murmurs.

Slater froze with his hand still outstretched.

He turned around.

Alexis had his Glock in her hands. She was aiming it at his chest.

From that distance, she couldn’t miss.

48

Her voice shook as she said, ‘I really need you to leave.’

He soaked in what was happening. Compartmentalised it, then accepted it. He stayed quiet. In a tense situation, less talk was better.

She continued. ‘I know you work for the government. So you’re going to want to get involved in this. But please, just go. I helped you. I did what you asked.’

He still didn’t speak. Just folded his arms over his barrel chest and stared at her.

‘Did you hear me?’ she said, the barrel lurching up and down as her hands shook.

‘How could I not have?’ he said.

‘Then get out.’

He stayed right where he was.

She said, ‘I’m not playing.’

‘Put the gun down, Alexis.’

‘You’re unarmed. I have your weapon. Get out of here.’

‘When are you going to work it out?’

‘Work what out?’

‘I’m not moving,’ he said. ‘So you’re going to have to shoot me if you don’t want me to be here.’

Silence.

‘I’m not playing,’ she repeated.

‘You are playing,’ he said. ‘The fact you had to say it twice shows it’s a bluff. If you want to prove me wrong then shoot me in the face. There’s nothing I can do to stop you.’

She didn’t budge.

Nor did he.

He said, ‘So what happens now?’

‘I told you to leave.’

‘And I politely declined.’

‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘Did I say you have?’

‘You saw them.’

‘Sure.’

‘Am I under arrest? Is that what you’re saying?’

‘I didn’t say a word.’

‘Don’t you have bigger things to worry about?’ she said. ‘Look what’s happening outside. It’s going to be chaos soon. You know that. I’m not an idiot. I can work out what’ll happen if there’s no power for more than a couple of days. You should be working on fixing that.’

‘Alexis,’ he said, and she went quiet. ‘You’re doing a whole lot of unnecessary talking.’

‘I just want you to leave.’

‘I just want you to explain.’

‘What does it matter? It’s my word against theirs. There’s two of them.’

‘Says who?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘You have to uphold the law, right?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t.’

She paused. ‘You don’t work for the government, do you? Who are you? Why’d you come in here?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘But you don’t care about the