Page 33 of Demitri

I turn to look at him, wondering if it’s this Andrey guy he talked about the other day, but he shakes his head.

“Worse,” he answers the unspoken question. “So much worse. We need to get out of here.”

“Community center office in an hour?” Aiden asks. “We’ll round everyone up.”

“Fuck,” Joker blurts loudly, “watch that part again!”

All of us turn back to the screens, Joker taking over the controls and slowing the replay. The man drops some kind of liquid on the floor at the bar opening and keeps walking like nothing happened.

“Do you have outside cameras, too?” Joker asks me.

“Just over the front door. But I have a security system on both doors and no alerts went off last night.”

Nate stands, heading to the door. “Okay, we need to get out of here, and I’m going to look up a few more things.”

Joker closes the laptop and stands, leaving before we can say anything to him.

“Meet us at the center in an hour,” Aiden tells Demitri and I before following behind Joker, Grady trailing after him.

“What the fuck is going on?” I quietly ask, my hands shaking.

“I don’t know,Krasotka, but we’ll figure it out. Call Brodie and tell him you aren’t going to be here tonight.” When he sees the look I give him, he amends his statement. “At least tell him you’re going to be late. Please.”

I agree and call Brodie on the way to the parking lot. I lock the door behind us and follow Demitri to his truck. I couldn’t drive right now if I tried, and I know this will make him feel better.

On the drive over the mountain to the community center in Briar Mountain, Demitri tries to converse with me, but I’m not in the mood. My mind is on my bar, where I’m worried that this has nothing to do with Demitri and what it means then.

CHAPTER TWELVE

AUNT LINDA TEXTS

Aunt Linda: Our girl is going to be freaking out. Need to calm her down.

Source: Do you blame her?

Aunt Linda: No, but she’s going to have to learn to control her reactions.

Source: I think you’re underestimating her.

Aunt Linda: Not at all. I need for her to be successful in this. I need for her to understand the importance of hiding all your cards. If she can do that, there’s no stopping her.

Source: Are you sure you want her this involved?

Aunt Linda: She’s who he wants, so she’s involved. I couldn’t get him to leave before because of her. No chance in hell he’s going now.

Source: If he did go, we’d at least know if the unsub was after her or him.

Aunt Linda: Well, you talk him into leaving her then. I’m old and tired.

Source: And full of shit.

Aunt Linda: There’re so many pieces at play right now, so many reasons to be careful, but this is something we have to see through, and you know it.

Source: You need to be honest with her.

Aunt Linda: The plan was to talk with her tomorrow. That’s not an option now.

Source: Figure it out.

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