Smoke (Smoke Series Book 1)

by Mariah Esterly

  A drunk man stumbled up to them, the guard exchanged words with him then turned to say something to Gertie, who nodded. The two men exited the bar and Gertie slid off her stool, landing on unsteady feet.

  Vail ducked around the bar and followed her out into the rainy night. It took her longer than normal to reach her apartment. She had to stop frequently to rest her feet in the too high heels, until she eventually just took them off. By the time they reached her building they were both soaked through.

  He waited outside, eyes focused on her window waiting for it to turn on. No light.

  After about five minutes he began to get worried. Even moving slower than normal, she should have reached her apartment. He waited for another five minutes and when one of the other tenants of the apartment stumbled into the building he ducked through the open door and followed them into the elevator.

  10

  Gertie

  Gertie’s head was throbbing. She couldn’t remember exactly how it got that way, other than that it probably had to do with a lot of alcohol. She shouldn’t have gone out, she should have just gone to 5th as normal. The surface under her cheek was rough against her skin, not the smooth fabric of her sheets.

  There was something wet under her shoulder, uncomfortably soaking through her dress to moisten the skin under it. She groaned, hoping that she hadn’t vomited on herself. Dreading what she would see, she blinked her eyes open.

  Darkness greeted her. It must still be night. She blinked a few times trying to get her bearings. She was in her living room on the floor. But couldn’t make out anything more than black shapes around her.

  She licked her lips and tasted something salty, coppery. She gagged slightly, before whispering, “lights.” The lights didn’t turn on. Not surprising, her throat ached and the word had been more like a croak than a command. Without raising her head, she tried again. “Lights.” Her voice was stronger the second time and the lamp in her living room flickered on.

  At first her brain couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing, mostly dark red with brown and white. She blinked again and it came sharply into focus. There was blood everywhere, soaked into her white carpet, and splashed over her couch and throw pillows. And directly in front of her was a pair of glassy brown eyes, staring sightlessly at her, a look of horror frozen on the dead man’s features.

  She scrambled back, taking in the full scene in her apartment. The bodies of three men were strewn around her living room, their limbs twisted at odd angles.

  She opened her mouth and filled her lungs. A hand clamped over her mouth, stifling the scream that had been building. She jerked away, spinning faster then she would have thought possible while seated and punched her attacker in the face.

  “Ow! Freckles, stop! Its me.”

  She stopped just short of punching him again and blinked up at him dazed. “Vail? What are you doing here? What happened? What did you do?” Her voice still didn’t sound right.

  He touched the side of her face gently. She couldn’t help the gasp of pain that escaped her lips as his fingers set her head to throbbing. “I didn’t do anything. Did you do this?”

  “What?” She glanced around. There was so much blood. Too much. “I didn’t do this, I couldn’t have done this.” She was shaking. A flash came to her mind. The men had followed her into the elevator, but she couldn’t remember more than that. Was she responsible for the carnage in front of her? It looked so vicious, like an animal had ripped them apart. She couldn’t have done it. “I don’t think...” her voice trailed off.

  “We need to get out of here.” Vail said, grimly. “Can you stand?” She nodded, but didn’t move. He rose, motioned for her to stay where she was, and returned moments later with a black hooded sweatshirt. He pulled it over her shoulders and zipped it up, before pulling the hood over her hair. “Try to keep this up okay?” His fingers fumbled with the bracelet at her wrist. She looked down as he slid the bracelet off and dropped it on the carpet.

  She caught sight of her hands stained red and shaking. She couldn’t look away. “What did I do?” She asked. “What did I do? What did I do?”

  “Shh, Gertie, look at me.” He covered her hands with one of his own hiding them from sight, using the other to tilt her head up. “I need you to focus on me, okay? We have to go. Try to keep your hood up.” He repeated.

  In a daze, she nodded. He pulled her to her bare feet, opened the front door and peeked into the hall. After looking left then right, he took her hand and pulled her after him.

  She followed, forcing her feet to move. She stumbled, and Vail caught her, scooping her up to cradle her against his chest in one swift movement. Her eyes closed, she buried her head in his shoulder and tried to keep from shaking. What did I do?

  She had no idea how long they’d been walking when he set her down in an alley, left her to shimmy up a building and drop down a fire escape ladder. He climbed up behind her, his arms just under hers, ready to catch her if she faltered. When they reached the roof, he picked her up again without a word.

  She closed her eyes and allowed him to carry her, trusting that he would take her somewhere safe. She had the bleary thought that maybe she shouldn’t trust him. She had, after all, only met him that night, and while he had rescued her from the unwanted advances of Mr. Lott, she didn’t know anything about him. She thought back to how on edge he’d seemed after she’d asked him what his job was, how quickly he’d left after Liam had arrived.

  Was he some kind of criminal? Did that even matter when she had clearly killed three men?

  What did I do?

  Why couldn’t she stop shaking? Vail’s arms tightened around her as though trying to squeeze the tremors out of her. She should tell him that it would do no good, she would be shivering for the rest of her days.

  She opened her mouth, but closed it when he set her on her feet again. “We’re going down here. I’ll go first and help you, okay?”

  She followed his instructions without hesitation, climbing down the ladder when he prompted. Back at street level he scooped her up a third time and continued on.

  Gertie watched as the tops of buildings passed by. Every once in a while, when they were in a particularly dark area of the city, she could see the pinpoints of the brightest stars. After a time her vision began to swim and her head ached so she closed her eyes again, cuddling closer to Vail.

  She became vaguely aware of an increase in temperature and realized that they must have entered a building. She opened her eyes to see a rundown room in what must have been an abandoned building. Junk was piled in the corners of the room, a fine layer of dust covered everything.

  She watched as Vail placed his hand on a brick in the wall. And the brick flickered, a light shining out of it. The stone wall in front of her groaned and slid up, revealing a bright room that made her eyes squint and her head hurt.

  Vail took her hand and pulled her forward. The door closed behind them and she felt the room start moving. Lights flashed around her, making her vision blur and her stomach roil with nausea. She shut her eyes against the lights, but could do nothing about the movement and her mouth began to water unpleasantly.

  As if sensing her physical distress, Vail wrapped an arm around her waist, tugged her against him, his hand cupping the back of her head. She pressed her face into his damp black t-shirt, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the vomit threatening to eject itself from her body.

  “What the hell are you doing?” A female’s voice came over the speaker in the elevator. Gertie groaned and tried to burrow further into Vail. “I can’t let you in, Vail.”

  “Dicie, just open the door.” She could feel his voice through his chest. “I’ll deal with the consequences. Please, she was attacked in her apartment.”

  “What? I didn’t see anything on the feed.”

  “Trust me, it happened. She needs a doctor.”

  There was a pause, and Gertie thought that whoever Vail was talking to might deny them access. But then the voice sighe
d. “Okay, I’ll let you off on the 4th floor. Take her to Bailey and then you had better go straight to Atkins.”

  “Thanks, Dice. I owe you one.”

  “You owe me hundreds.”

  The elevator stopped, and Gertie heard the door open. Vail scooped her up again. Not long after, she was being placed on a bed. “What happened?” someone asked, in a brusque voice.

  She heard Vail answer but was having a hard time concentrating. She felt someone pry open her eyelids and a light was shined in them while she moaned and tried to jerk her head away, making the pain worse. People asked her questions she didn’t know the answers to. Nausea reared in her stomach and her mouth began to water again. She leaned over the side of the bed. Someone swore as she heaved up the contents of her stomach. A garbage can appeared under her, and gentle hands pulled her damp hair back from her face and stroked up and down her spine.

  She felt better when she’d finished and leaned back against the pillow. “Where’s Vail?” She asked the unfamiliar redhead that sat on the edge of the bed.

  She smiled, and smoothed Gertie’s hair back. “Vail had to go have a conversation with his boss. But don’t worry, he promised he would come back.”

  “Who are you?”

  She stood and went to a cupboard, pulled out supplies and came back to the bed. “My name is Lauren Bailey.”

  “You’re a doctor?” She couldn’t hide the surprise from her voice. She didn’t appear to be much older than Gertie herself. Maybe in her mid-twenties.

  “Yes, I am a doctor, though not by choice.” She opened one of the packages and began tapping the contents against Gertie’s face, trying to be gentle, but still eliciting a sharp intake of breath.

  “What does that mean?”

  “Let’s just say I was born into it.” She set down the cloth she was using. “You’ve got a nasty bruise forming, and a possible concussion but no lacerations. I was worried with all the blood, but, lucky you, none of it seems to be yours.”

  Gertie raised her hands in front of her face, flinching at the blood that still covered them, drying under her fingernails. The doctor noticed her movement. “Don’t worry, when we’re done here I’ll have you taken to one of our guest quarters. You’ll be able to clean up.”

  She ran Gertie through a few more tests, and as they talked, Gertie began to feel better, her thinking became clearer. From what she could tell, Dr. Bailey did very little and yet by the time she was being led through the hallways to one of the living quarters as promised, she felt almost normal.

  She followed a pretty brown haired girl through a winding set of halls, up two flights of stairs and then into a small apartment. Really more of a hotel room then an apartment. The nurse who’d been her guide pointed out the shower and clean towels then left, locking the door behind her.

  Left alone, Gertie went into the bathroom, and peered into the mirror. Dr. Bailey had been right, there was a dark purplish red bruise on the left side of her face, stretching from her eyebrow down to her cheek, a nasty bump forming in the center of it. Considering its size, Gertie was surprised that her eye wasn’t swollen shut.

  She unzipped the sweatshirt and pulled it off. The dress followed, but was harder to remove. It stuck to her skin, glued in place by partially dried blood. The bruise on her face wasn’t the only one she’d received that night. She had a rather nasty one forming on her shoulder and another the size of her hand on her hip. There were also scores of smaller bruises peppering her body, and a ring of them around her neck.

  “What happened?” she murmured, knowing that she wouldn’t get an answer.

  She stood under the spray in the shower until the water that pooled at her feet changed from pink to clear. She washed her hair twice and soaped her body three times, knowing she would never feel clean enough.

  Vail had said that she had been the cause of the gruesome scene in her apartment, and indeed, the blood on her hands seemed to indicate that was the case. But she couldn’t focus on what had actually happened. She remembered seeing them in the elevator. Remembered feeling anxious when they’d gotten off with her. After all, what were the chances that all four of them lived on the same floor?

  But she couldn’t remember any more than that. The bruise on the side of her head began to throb and ache when she tried. Vail had been clean of all blood, so it hadn’t been him. There was no one else in the apartment left alive.

  It must have been her.

  Her legs gave out and she sank to the floor of the shower, dropping her head to her knees. As she hugged them to herself, she cried. Not small gasps of sadness, but deep soul wracking sobs that shook her body, leaving her chest aching and her throat sore.

  She stayed there curled around herself until the water ran cold, sucking the warmth from her body.

  Someone had entered the room while she showered and placed a stack of clean clothes on the one chair in the room. They’d probably heard her crying in the shower, and she felt a brief flash of embarrassment, but she shook it off. Anyone in their right mind would cry after what she’d been through.

  She pulled on the clothes, rolling up the cuffs of the too long jeans, then sat on the bed. Her eyes felt heavy, but she didn’t want to sleep, not in this unfamiliar place. Surrounded by strangers in an unknown location. No, she definitely didn’t want to sleep.

  She had too many questions and she wanted answers. She went to the door and jabbed at the open button. It didn’t budge. Just in case she tried the button again, but wasn’t surprised when it didn’t open.

  She returned to the bed, curling her legs under her and pulling a pillow onto her lap to wrap her arms around. More for comfort than anything else.

  Exhaustion pulled at her, making her head nod against her chest. But she stared at the door intent on staying awake until someone talked to her.

  11

  Gertie

  She was wakened by a knock, followed by the door opening. She scrambled into a sitting position, leaning against the headboard, the pillow still clutched in her arms. She let out her breath when Vail entered.

  He paused when he saw her, his fist clenching and unclenching, taking in the swollen discoloration at her temple, the ring of bruises on her neck. Gertie noticed he had his own injury, the beginnings of a black eye on the left side of his face. “What happened to you?” She asked before he could say anything.

  He gave her a crooked smile and came further into the room, allowing the door to slide shut behind him. “You punched me, remember?”

  The memory came back hazy, he’d put his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming and she’d balled up her fist and lashed out. “Oh, right. Sorry about that.”

  He shrugged. “I’ve had worse. How are you feeling?”

  “Who me? Oh, I’m just great. Considering that I apparently murdered three men, and was whisked away to what I can only assume is some secret government installation, where I am now a prisoner.” She crossed her legs and sat up straighter, as he came to sit on the edge of the bed.

  Surprise flashed across his features. “You’re not a prisoner.”

  Gertie motioned toward the previously locked door. “It feels like it.”

  “Oh, that was more so you didn’t wander around and get lost. It’s kind of a maze out there.”

  She picked at the blanket, pulling a pill from it. “Can I go now?”

  “Freckles…”

  “What? You said I’m not a prisoner.”

  His grey eyes were gentle as he reach out to squeeze her knee. “And you’re not. But it’s not a good idea for you to go out to the city, or return home. Not until we can fully assess the situation.”

  “The situation being the three dead men in my apartment.”

  He nodded. She leaned back against the headboard again, looking down at her clean hands, still seeing the blood that had covered them, caked under the nails. She’d spent what felt like forever cleaning them, but they would never be clean enough.

  “Do you remember anything?” />
  She shook her head, fighting the tears that threatened to spill over her lashes, the quiver of her lower lip. She wouldn’t start crying again. She refused. “What were you doing there?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper. “How did you know?”

  He ran a hand through his short brown hair. “I didn’t know what was happening.”

  “But why were you there?”

  Vail shook his head. “I can’t answer that.”

  “You can’t answer that.” She repeated feeling anger well up in her chest, sudden and hot, replacing any sorrow that had been there before.

  “Freckles, I’m sorry, I can’t.”

  “Don’t call me that.” She snapped. “Don’t act like we’re friends. We’re not. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. You won’t even give me answers to simple questions, like what you do for a living or why you happened to be at my apartment when three men were killed.”

  His dark eyebrows lowered over narrowed grey eyes. “I already told you I can’t. I don’t want to lie to you and I have orders to follow.”

  Gertie stood up from the bed, crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to talk to whoever gave you your orders.”

  Vail stood up too, strode to the door. “That’s good, because they want to talk to you too.”

  Gertie dropped her arms, caught off guard. She’d expected to need to fight him on it, to demand and keep demanding. But he’d agreed so quickly, that she was left with nothing but deflated anger.

  After pulling on the too big sneakers that had been left for her, she followed him into the hall. He led her through the maze of a building, and she had to admit that she was glad that she hadn’t been able to leave her room. The space seemed endless and she would have become lost in a matter of minutes.

  Vail took her to a large room with high ceilings and glass walls. There were groupings of desks here and there, with people busily going about their tasks. As Vail and Gertie moved through the room, she became keenly aware of the eyes that followed them. Vail paused next to the desk of a pretty girl with brown skin, black curly hair and striking blue eyes. “Anything new, Dicie?”