Page 38 of Locke 2

His eyes searched mine. He tapped a finger against his broken blue watch face. “Why?”

I tried to play off his strange question with a shrug. “Because it’s morning, and that’s what people do. We eat.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth. “I ate.”

He did? I opened my mouth to ask him what he ate, and then paused. It seemed the night took away my courage because I didn’t ask him what he ate, or if the strange tone he used to answer meantotherthings.

Locke was impossible to read.

“How about coffee?” I asked, wondering if it was obvious I was trying to keep him here.

“No coffee.”

“Tea?”

He looked at me. I looked back. He didn’t answer because he knew that I knew it was going to be a hard no to anything I offered that wasn’t me.

Abruptly, he stood up, and I felt a sinking in my chest that he was going to go. “It’s important you don’t let anyone know I’m in this town. Don’t say my name in public. I’m not here, Kali. Understand?”

Confused, I asked. “But why?”

He looked into my eyes, but I may as well have been one of his guys. “If there’s a network like the one I’ve been descending upon in secret, they’ll figure me out. I can’t have a face here. I can’t even have my men break bones for answers. It needs to be quiet.”

“Where will you be?”

“Where I always am. Operating in the dark.”

He turned away and walked out.

Panic surged through me as I practically dived out of bed and chased after him as he walked down the corridor, the floor creaking loudly beneath our feet. “Are you leaving me?”

“I just said I’ll be here investigating the boy.”

I stared at his huge back. “But what about…”

He spun around, and I almost slammed into his chest. He peered down at me delivering his words slowly. “What about what?”

I looked up at him, and his eyes were so cold, so unfeeling. “What about what you said last night?”

He didn’t look over my face. There was no reverence there. Just ice. “I learned a lot of things last night.”

My voice was small. “Like what?”

“Like when I’m wanted…and when I’m needed.”

My chest constricted painfully. “Locke…”

He waited for me to finish, but the words died on my tongue. He stared at my mouth, and then he stepped back. “I have to hunt a little boy, Kali.”

No little lion, or little prey. Just a cold Kali. I followed after him as he made his way out of the house. “How will I find you?” I asked, winded. “What if I need you? How will I get a hold of you, dammit?”

“You’ll hear from me.”

He left through the front door and didn’t look back at me.

There was a nice black car half a block down the street. He climbed into it and took off. It wasn’t a dramatic exit, either. His speed was normal as he drove past the house and disappeared down the road.

This time he leftme, and he looked like he truly needed to get away. It felt like the roles were reversed because I suddenly needed to know how to find him. To know he was tangible and real. That he wouldn’t just abandon me because of what I’d said to him last night.

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