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

fact that there’s two men tied up in my bathroom?’

‘Depends.’

‘What exactly do you do?’

‘It’s complicated. Tell me what happened.’

‘They—’

She only got one word into the speech. Then she dropped the Glock on the floor, planted herself down on the couch, and sobbed into her hands.

He crossed the room and fetched the weapon off the carpet. Took it in his fresh right hand as he sat down beside her and put his elbows on his knees. He maintained a respectable distance, just as he’d been taught to do with all victims of trauma. Not too close. Not too far away. He kept his face warm and open.

He said, ‘What happened?’

‘They’re drug addicts,’ she said. ‘I know they don’t look like it, because they’ve got money. They live down the hall and they work at my firm. I’ve been a paralegal there for two years. They’ve been disgusting the whole time. They don’t even pretend to hide the fact they stare at me. They’re so quiet when they’re sober, but when they do coke and ecstasy they get mean. Wall Street drugs, you know. Tonight they did a lot of both. Probably planning a night out on the town. Then the whole city went dark. And they got other ideas…’

‘They came here?’

‘They knocked on my door, asking if I was okay, after the lights went out. I was nice to them. I could see they were sweating bullets. I knew what was up. I invited them in for a coffee to try and keep things friendly. I was scared, I guess. The darkness spooked me. I wasn’t opposed to company.’

‘How far did they get?’

‘They didn’t try it immediately. I could almost see the gears in their heads whirring, you know? Like the common-sense part of their brain was telling them, “she knows you, you won’t get away with this, you’ll be held accountable for what happens.” But I guess when you do enough drugs you can’t hear that part of your brain anymore, so it didn’t matter to them. The guy with long hair forced me down on the couch and pinned me there. That’s when he really started sweating. But he was loving it. The other guy started stripping his clothes off. But…’

She reached over Slater’s lap and lifted the far couch cushion. He peered into the shadowy space. There was the outline of what appeared to be a taser, resting there against the frame.

He nodded his understanding.

She lowered the cushion.

‘How’d it play out?’ he said.

‘I jabbed the guy holding me and he was done. I guess the drugs had heightened his senses, so it amplified the shock, too. He was foaming at the mouth before he hit the floor. Then the other guy opted to try and wrestle the taser away from me instead of running, so I jabbed him twice and he was out of commission, too. I tied them up pretty fast, and dragged them in there.’

He glanced over his shoulder at the open bathroom door. Saw the two silhouettes squirming there on the tiles.

He said, ‘Do you have combat training?’

‘No. I just didn’t want to get raped.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me when I walked in here?’

‘I tased them pretty bad. Gave them a couple of extra jolts after I already had them tied up, just to make sure they stayed placid while I worked out what to do. I guess that’s why I thought you were a cop through the keyhole. I was desperate for help. Then when you came in here and grabbed me…’

‘You thought it was happening again?’

Alexis didn’t answer.

She lowered her gaze to the floor, and did her best to stay calm.

49

Slater watched her closely. ‘Thank you for trusting me. I can’t imagine what was going through your head.’

She looked at him. ‘I could tell you were a good man. It’s something I can just sense, right away. From the start I knew those two would be trouble, back when I first met them. It’s an instinctive thing.’

‘Still,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hit me in the head with a steel pipe.’

‘I was considering it.’

‘Then I’m glad I’m conscious.’

She paused, then said, ‘I am, too.’

He looked over his shoulder again and said, ‘I can’t deal with them right now. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s okay. They’re not going anywhere.’

‘You’re okay keeping them in here?’

She shrugged. ‘I neutralised them and tied them up. It’s a whole lot easier to watch over them.’

He said, ‘Are you sure you’ve never been trained in any of this?’

‘Is that so surprising?’

‘You handle yourself better in horrible situations than any civilian I’ve ever met.’

‘That’s what I am?’ she said, eyebrow raised. ‘A civilian? You sure it’s not because I’m a girl?’

He stood up. ‘It might be easy to paint all men with the same brush after what happened to you, but that’s not me.’

‘I know. I’m only playing.’

‘One of the most capable government operatives I’ve ever met was a woman.’

‘You two work together?’

Slater bit his lip. ‘We used to.’

She seemed to understand all the implications of those three words, and the weight they carried. The aforementioned colleague was more than just a coworker to Slater, and also no longer around, which could only mean one thing in his line of work. Alexis said, ‘I’m sorry.’

He made to respond, but his phone barked in his pocket.

He slid it out and read: King.

Said, ‘Would you excuse me one moment?’

‘You don’t have to excuse yourself to answer the phone.’

He smiled. ‘Guess I’m old-fashioned.’

Then he instantly switched demeanours, lifted the smartphone to his ear and said, ‘Glad to know you’re alive.’

‘You, too,’ King said.

‘Where are you?’

‘Closing in on the Bowery.’

Slater dropped into a crouch, moved across the space and peeked over the lip of the big windows running the length of the loft. Sure, the windows were merely one part of a two-hundred-plus apartment complex, but he wasn’t about to take unnecessary risks. He observed the streets below from his vantage point.

For the first time he got a decent look at the