Page 51 of Midnight Torment

This may be Johannes’ lucky day.

“What happened?” I demanded.

“A guy kept watching me. I went to several different stalls, but he always seemed to be somewhere close to me.” Megan stopped beside me and eyed Johannes. “Hello, have you been annoying my husband?”

This was why Megan should not be allowed into my life. I was anger and death, and she was sunshine and life. Who could resist the happiness she exuded?

“He has decided that I must die,” Johannes replied solemnly. “I pointed my weapon at him.”

Megan nodded thoughtfully. “That was a tad impolite.” She turned to me. “I know I said that I’d stay outside, but that man was making me really nervous.”

She gnawed the corner of her mouth in a characteristic gesture that showed how much it had affected her. Her gaze darted to the door. I tugged her against me with my free arm and watched outside. Before I entered earlier, I’d stood out there and tried to see inside but the window display and darkened windows made that nearly impossible.

“Hands out,” I said to Johannes. It didn’t matter where I was in the world, I always had basic supplies with me that could incapacitate but wouldn’t arouse suspicion with customs. My weapon had arrived in advance and been among a package of metal pieces that looked more akin to something you would need to fix a car. I placed a cable tie around his wrists and tugged it tight. I pulled him out to stand in the middle of the shop where he couldn’t press any panic buttons.

Megan had a tourist bag with her that hung across her body and could be filled with lots of shopping. I photographed the relevant areas of the jar and stored the images to our cloud before wrapping it in some bubble wrap from behind the counter and handing it to Megan.

“Does this have the remains of a dead person?” she queried, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

“Better a dead person than a live one,” I replied and earned a look of disapproval.

“They wouldn’t fit into that live,” Johannes said with a grin.

“They would if I started to liquidise them while they were still breathing.” Both Megan and Johannes turned to stare at me in tandem. “What?” It wouldn’t be the first time someone had been pulped because they’d royally fucked me off.

Megan’s eyebrows shot up. “Nothing. I told you before, I accept who you are.”

Johannes chuckled. “Yeah, a psychopath.”

“Fuck up.” I slapped the back of his head. “Did you tell anyone I was here?”

“Like who?” he asked. “I still don’t know who you actually are. There were no names mentioned in that phone call. All I know is that you’re on that insidious Council.”

“You have no problem taking money from the Council, so you can fuck right off.” I hated everyone on it, but that didn’t mean someone else could criticise them. My vengeance didn’t belong to this asshole.

He clamped his lips together.

I wandered over toward the door and stood behind the wooden part to peer out. A guy stood a few shops down staring up and down the street.

“Do you think he followed you?” I asked.

“I hope not. I kept moving in and out of different shops to try and lose him.” Megan crept up to peek out beside me. She pointed at the guy I’d already spotted. “That’s him. Why else would he be standing there?”

I turned in disbelief to see Johannes staring out the door as well. The guy was fast working his way up my problem list, and no one wanted to be there. He was either incredibly stupid or very brave.

“I don’t recognise him,” Johannes said. “He must be a visitor. Have you seen him before?”

I cast my mind back over the week we’d been here. To ensure no one was following us, I changed our location regularly and we were travelling under aliases. Either they had us bugged, or they were in the area when we arrived and recognised us.

“Or maybe they were in the area watching you when they spotted her?” I said. “After all, a lot of key players knew where the mine was, they just didn’t have possession of the deeds. You’ve been helping to harvest from that mine for years.”

His brow furrowed as he contemplated my words. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Clearly not,” I drawled. “When was the last time you were at the mine?”

He pursed his lips together. “I took an excavator up. Most of the last chamber that was opened has been harvested. We would need to go deeper to find another vein, and for that I need the expertise of someone else.”

“I assume these men are reasonably rare?”

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