In the Shadow of Evil Book 2
Page 23
Calista placed her hands on her hips. “I’m not leaving you to close by yourself and walk home. How are you going to go by and visit Mimi if you don’t have a car? I’ll take the bus.”
Adam stood. “I can give Calista a ride home.” He reached into his coat pocket for his wallet. Placing a twenty down next to the register like the last customer, he grabbed his to-go bag and leaned his shoulder against the door. “Calista, “I’m ready whenever you are.”
Calista busied herself by stuffing her laptop into her canvas bag, her fingers fidgeting with the zipper. As Adam waited for some sort of acknowledgment, he pushed down the irritation forming in the pit of his stomach. Even when he was trying to be a good guy, do a normal guy kind of thing, he was still treated like an asshole.
“It’s just a ride home, Calista. I’m too scared of your grandfather to try anything.”
“You don’t have to do that. The bus stop is right there,” she said, pointing toward the parking lot.
“I know where the bus stop is.” Adam reached for her large case and paused by the door.
She stood still, studying him until he almost fidgeted. “I don’t accept rides from anyone unless I know their last name.”
“Blake. Adam Blake.”
Calista first glanced at her grandfather. He gave her a nod. The room grew quiet while she made up her mind. She finally shrugged and said, “I would love a ride home. Lead the way.” She reached up and gave Pete a kiss on his cheek. “Give Mimi my love.”
“Your grandmother will be so proud of you. I can’t wait to tell her …”
He stopped as if his words clogged his throat.
“It’s okay, Pete. Mimi’s heart knows, her soul knows, and you’re right. She’s very proud of me.” Calista wiped away the tear that threatened to spill down her grandfather’s cheek. With another quick hug, she walked out to the parking lot.
Adam moved ahead of her, positioning his body so it shielded her between him and the building. A soft crunch near the dumpster sounded behind him. He froze. With his arms tight against his body, the familiar rush of adrenaline filled his veins. He shifted his position toward the dark shadows. A large calico cat bounced off the structure and disappeared into the bushes.
“That’s Max. He and Pete have an understanding.”
“It’s a cat. How do you have an understanding with a cat?”
“He brings Pete dead mice and Pete makes sure Max eats like a king.”
Adam chuckled. Something he seemed to do a lot around Calista. With one final visual sweep, he relaxed his stance and opened the passenger door of his Acura. After Calista was settled in the deep leather seat, he ambled around and unlocked the trunk, placing her cello in the bay. He slammed the trunk and got behind the wheel.
Before he could stop himself, he asked the question that had been bugging him. “I thought I heard your grandmother passed away a while back. Did I misunderstand?”
“No, you heard right.”
“But you just told Pete to…”
“He drives to the cemetery every night after he closes the diner, sits next to her gravestone, and tells her about his day. They were married fifty years. That isn’t a loss you ever get over.”
“And your parents? They are gone, too?”
“Yes, it’s just Pete and me. Mom and Dad died in a car accident when I was eleven. Mimi and Pete raised me.” Calista twisted so she would face him. “What about you?”
“The same. Both parents gone.”
Adam hadn’t a clue why he brought the subject up. He had no business spending time with Calista outside the diner. That wasn’t a baby step into a normal existence, but a giant leap off a high cliff. His life made him hell on relationships.
But there was just something about Calista he couldn’t ignore. Maybe it was time to see if there was anything between them. If not, he could just walk away before he hurt her, too.
“I’m sorry about your parents.” She placed a hand over his arm. Their gazes held before she broke away and scanned the interior of his car. “I figured you would drive some sporty number or one of those black, mysterious SUVs.”
“What’s a black, mysterious SUV?”
“You know. One of those cool bulletproof numbers with blacked out windows.”
“Calista, just what do you think I do?”
“You’re like Batman.” Her voice was barely above a whisper and she squirmed in her seat. “When you leave the diner, you return to your bat cave unless you’re out fighting bad guys.”
He grimaced. Now what, smartass? Lie to her, or tell her who you really are and what you do?
“Who knew music teachers had such active imaginations? I’m no superhero.”
He could never tell her what he did for a living. His path may have been chosen for him, but he hadn’t walked away when he had the chance.
“And I’m not a music teacher―yet.”
“You’re going to be hired so fast, your head will spin.” He placed the key in the ignition and started the car. Backing out of the space, he pulled onto the side street.
“Where are you going?” Her voice sounded normal.
Adam slowed and stopped at the light. “I’m taking you home.”
“But I didn’t tell you where I live.”
“Yeah, I guess I need that, don’t I? This is the way the Metro bus always turns.”
Calista grinned. “It’s not far. Take the second left. My neighborhood is a couple miles on the other side of the beltway. Once you pass over I-495, I’ll direct you.”
Following her directions, Adam headed north on the deserted street. The faded streetlights casted a fluorescent gloom over homes on either side of the street, but the lack of lighting didn’t distract from the well-cared neighborhood. People took pride in their homes much like the suburbs of Los Angeles, where he grew up. There was a time when someone like Calista was exactly the type of woman he dreamed of settling down with and raising a bunch of little Blakes. She had a kindness in her that he sorely missed. But with the twelve jaded, nightmarish years he had on her that he could never erase, that dream was gone. It couldn’t exist in his reality now.
“What’s wrong? You’re so tense.”
“Sorry, my mind was on something else.”
“If you get on the Beltway here, you can get off at the next exit, avoiding all the lights.”
Adam turned on his blinker and eased over a lane. Just as he entered the entrance ramp, a stabbing pain exploded in the back of his eyes, ricocheting across his frontal lobe. An involuntary, animalistic moan escaped through his clenched teeth and he squeezed his eyes shut against the searing pain. His hands shot up to cover his head as his foot slammed down on the accelerator. The car shot across the road, jumping the curb, and hurled up a slope. Adam hit the brake inches before the front bumper smashed into the trunk of an old oak tree. His forehead smashed into the horn, the blaring sound deafening.
“Adam?”
Calista slammed the gearshift in park and shut off the ignition. She pulled his head away from the steering wheel. “Adam, what’s wrong?” She tried to remove his hands from his head, but he held on tight.
He couldn’t think, reason. He swallowed the acidic bile in his throat. The blinding pain increased until he thought his head would burst. Then the sound of a child’s desperate cry filled his head. They’re hurting Mommy! Help her!
What the fuck was that? Every word of the child’s plea seemed to cut through his frontal lobe to the back of his head. A gripping panic slammed into him as he fumbled in his jacket pockets. “My cell. Find my cell.”
Calista searched his pockets. “Here, Adam. I’ll call 911.”
“No. No!”
He dropped his head back against the seat. Everything around him faded in and out of focus—except Calista. The pain pounded between his ears as dark, red spotted dots swam over his vision, allowing only minimal light in. Sweat beaded around his eyes and screamed down his spine. He shook his head to clear his vision and grabbed th
e phone. It took a couple tries, but a line on the other end began to ring.
Calista gasped, her hands covering her mouth. “God, you’re bleeding again, but not from the wound on your head. It’s coming from your eyes.” She swiped a finger at the corner of his eye and her fingers came away dripping with his blood. “I need to get you to a hospital.”
He began to shake his head, but the pain was so bad, he froze. The phone continued to ring in his ear. Eighth ring, ninth. On the tenth ring, it was picked up.
“Rina.” His best friend’s name came out in a raspy whisper. “Rina.”
“Katrina is a little busy right now, Blake. Why don’t you join the party?”
The man’s voice came out in a thick, rough, eastern European accent. Adam recognized it and a chill spiked through him.
The agony in the scream he heard next pierced Adam’s heart. He shoved down the sharp pain in his head and allowed the years of training to resurfaced.
“You’re dead, Ludis. You hear me. Your fucking life is over,” he ground out.
“Big words. I’m going to carve her open then hunt down the kid. Your kid, you motherfucker. And when I’m done with her, I’m coming for you.”
The line went dead.
* * *
GET YOUR COPY ON KOBO
Books by Nancy C. Weeks
Shadows and Light
* * *
In the Shadow of Greed
In the Shadow of Evil
In the Shadow of Malice
In the Shadow of Pride
In the Shadow of Vengeance
His One Wish—Modern Day Novella Retelling - Aladdin
* * *
The D’Azzo Family
* * *
The Eyewitness Book 1
The Analyst Book 2
The Protector Book 3
*The author highly recommends that The D’Azzo family be read in order.
Acknowledgments
I have to take a moment and thank the amazing people in my life.
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To my best friend and wonderful husband. Your love gives me the strength to face anything. To my wonderful M & M, being your mother has been the greatest joy of my life. To my dear sisters, Terriann, Mary, and Elizabeth, without you, I never would have begun this amazing journey, nor stayed with it so long. I’m so blessed to have sisters who are also my best friends.
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I can’t say this enough. Thank you to my amazing editor, Julie Sturgeon. Julie, you take my books to another level I can’t see on my own.
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I love the new look of the Shadows and Light series. I can’t thank T.B. Bond enough for her help with the book cover design. To my wonderful beta readers, Rebecca I. and my amazing Kentucky Reader, Penny L., you are so amazing. To my copy editor, Katie Testa, I don’t know what I would do without you. Thank you for helping me make this story shine.
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I want to give a very special shoutout to my readers. Your kind emails and amazing reviews keep me going. My hope is that my series give you a few hours of relaxation, romance, and just a simple escape from life’s stresses.
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And finally, to my unsung heroes, teachers, medical personnel and law enforcement officers, some of the procedures I used developing this story to drive tension would not work in the real world. Forgive me. I have a great deal of respect for what you do, and I hope you can enjoy this fiction story anyway.
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Super Hugs to All!
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Nancy C. Weeks
Copyright Page
Copyright © 2020 Nancy C. Weeks
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
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All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
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By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of copyright owner.