Page 71 of The Chameleon

Matteo grabbed Jorge, forcing him down the ladder in front of him.

The boy looked panicked and scared.

“Go, go, go,” Ares blurted, pulling the closet door shut behind them before scrambling down the ladder and pulling the hatch closed above them.

Darkness filled the space around them.

From the bottom of the ladder, all three stared up at the trapdoor, illuminated by tiny slivers of light that crept in through the small spaces in the floorboards.

Above them, feet scrambled across the bedroom floor, desperately searching for their targets. Curses were exchanged, followed by the sound of men charging in and out of rooms.

It appeared that whoever was after them had not noticed the trapdoor hidden in the closet.

Thank fuck.

Matteo let out a sigh of relief.

A flame ignited before them. Ares stood there, holding a lighter.

“This way,” Ares growled, glaring at the boy as he walked past him.

24

ARES

Talk about a close fucking call. A minute later and they would have been done for.

Elijah had just finished calling Ares, telling him that he had found a match on the boy and was just about to fill him in on the details when the warning alert on Ares’s phone went berserk. Motion sensors that Ares had set up around the cabin detected multiple people approaching from all sides.

Not wanting to stick his head out the front door to ask the gentlemen what they wanted, Ares figured he should err on the side of caution and get them the fuck out of there. No good ever came from a swarm of men approaching a house in the middle of the night.

Good thing he had his go bag ready.

Holding Matteo’s hand, he used the small flashlight he had eventually fished out of the duffle bag to guide their way through the long, dark tunnel. He hoped that Elijah was preparing things on his end. He didn’t exactly have time to say goodbye before the cabin erupted in explosions and gunfire.

“What is this place?” Matteo asked, stumbling behind Ares in the dark.

“A tunnel,” Ares responded.

“No shit. A tunnel to where?”

“To a safe house I have located on the opposite side of the woods.”

“How did you know this was here?” Matteo asked, hand still firmly in Ares’s grasp.

“Because… I had it built.”

Matteo ripped his hand from Ares’s grip as if his touch were suddenly a thousand degrees. Ares came to a halt and turned.

Intense fury glared back at Ares from what was once a handsome face. At the moment, Matteo’s face looked like a cross between a rabid pit bull and every murderous demon who ever walked Ares’s nightmares.

“What?” Ares asked, shrugging his shoulders like he didn’t know what was coming next.

“You had it built?”

“Yeah, about six months after you and I started dating. I needed an escape route for us in case our lives were ever in danger. And look! They were!” Ares said sarcastically, pointing over Matteo’s shoulder and back into the darkness.

Point proven.

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