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He grabs a big bottle of coke from the fridge and turns toward the glass door, dragging his feet.
“Interesting,” Uri comments.
“He’ll grow on you…like a fungus you can’t remove,” Ramiel jokes. Those tasty dimples appear as he attempts at stifling his smile while gesturing me to come closer.
My phone beeps.
Jasper: Come alone.
I slide my hand into my pocket of my jeans and feel the soft lace of Ramiel’s panties. I grip them tightly.
Whatever happens in that church, I will end this. And protect what’s mine at all costs.
thirteen
RAMIEL
“Clear.” I hear Uri’s voice through my earpiece. He’s with old Betsy, his favorite rifle, on the roof of one of the buildings facing the church, covering our backs in case Jasper decides to play dirty and tries to kill Hunter again.
“Clear,” Gabe echoes as Lori adds, “And crystal.” They are lying in wait in another building. I don’t know what exactly Gremlin is doing here. They went to two different addresses where Malcom could have kept the diary but didn’t find anything.
Michael and Raph have almost reached the last one, Malcom’s old trailer park home.
Hunter and I leave my Porsche two blocks from St. Joseph’s and start walking, when Serena says, “I found Opal Penn’s car.”
Hunter stops so abruptly that I stumble to a stop, almost colliding with his back.
“There!” He jogs toward a white Corolla a few feet away from us, almost hidden behind an old dumpster. “It’s Opal’s.” He points atthe little disco ball hanging from the rearview mirror.
“She’s here?” I look around but can’t spot her. It’s four fifty in the morning, still dark. There are only two streetlamps illuminating the opposite side of the block and the empty church’s car parking lot far ahead. This impoverished area is not frequented, especially this early in the morning. There’s not much around. Just a few neglected buildings, trash littering the cracked, smelly road, a couple of rusted cars among other, beat-up ones, and an unkempt park. It was never a great neighborhood, but it turned into a ghost town after the murdered priest scandal.
“I don’t see anybody,” Uri says.
“Me neither,” Gabe confirms.
“Maybe she’s inside the church,” Lori suggests. It seems the most viable explanation.
I see Hunter clenching his fists, dread and fury gripping his face. I don’t want to leave him like this, but he needs to go inside alone.
I grab his nape and pull him down. He lets me. “Grizzly, whatever is waiting for you inside, remember the plan. We are here to back you up.” I say it on his lips before giving him a quick kiss filled with all the emotions he awakens in me. He answers with the same passion and squeezes my ass cheek hard. I feel his gun pressing against my torso.
“Be careful, Red. Want this ass later.” His words are cocky, but his worried eyes are a whole other story.
“Never say no to a good pounding.” Lori’s life advice slithers between us, pulling us apart. “Don’t move away! I want more Eros, but this time, Reacher, wrap one leg around him and twist those hips.”
“We’re here to stop a criminal and a murderer.” Gabe’s monotone voice makes Lori huff a “sorry.”
“Later!” I wink at Hunter and then dart toward St. Joseph’s east side, trying to keep myself in shadow until I stop and duck behind a small wall twenty feet from the church. I need to reach the broken window thirty feet up the brick wall that will allow me to get inside. I need to perform a wall run, a climb up, and a roll. Which sounds easy, but it’s fucking not on a barely standing, old as fuck church.
“Okay. It’s parkour time. I’m going in,” I say in the bracelet’s mic on my wrist before sprinting toward the church. I push my left foot on the side of a column and use it to give me a boost up the wall. I walk up using my bare hands for the first time, and it’s actually better for grip than using gloves. The holes in the broken bricks and some pieces of stone jutting out of the wall make the climb faster as I go quickly up. The balcony on this side has collapsed, leaving only the long stone beams. I jump and grab one with both hands, then I take a big breath and haul myself up. My biceps are bulging, pulling up the whole weight of my body until my chest is on top of the stone. I move up the rest of the way and stand on the beam. The broken window is five feet above me. I move my right foot to the next beam when I suddenly feel my left one dropping as the long stone collapses and falls to the ground with a crashing sound. I stretch my arms out, trying to keep my balance as I push my weight forward.
“Are you okay? What was that?” I hear the deep alarm in Hunter’s voice.
“I’m okay,” I pant. “Where are you?”
“About to enter the church. You?”
“Almost in.”
