I NEARLY COLLAPSED from relief when my gaze fell on Theo. He was carrying a duffel bag, and I wondered if he’d brought more than just weapons. His shoulders relaxed when he spotted me, and after glancing around him, he hurried toward me.

“Did you bring me any presents?” I grinned as he put the bag down in front of me and started to unzip it.

“Plenty.” He opened the bag and revealed a bulletproof vest, which he pulled out and handed to me. I took a peek inside the bag as I took off my jacket so I could put on the vest. There was another vest, two black baseball caps, and a whole lot of guns inside.

“Where did you get all this stuff?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“From a friend.” He shrugged out of his jacket and I noticed his shirt was ripped in one place.

“Define friend.” I pointed at his shirt.

He glanced down and grimaced. “A really good one.”

I had no idea if he’d stolen this or what, but I didn’t care right now. “We need to get to Vix and the Cobras ASAP. Our meeting spot is close to the Spiders’ area, so I guess we’ll have to approach it from the opposite side.” I arched an eyebrow at him.

He grabbed one of the guns and offered it to me. “No.”

“No?” I took the gun and tucked it into my holster, wondering if I’d heard him wrong or if he’d misunderstood what I’d said. “But we can’t parade right in front of the Spiders’ noses.”

“We’re not going to parade. We’re going to sneak around.”

My brow furrowed. “I’m not sure if hiding in plain sight will work this time. They’ll be on alert and looking for us.”

“Yeah, they will, but they’ll be monitoring all the other areas more because they won’t really believe we’d dare come near them. Walter must’ve told them I might do something like that, but we haven’t been seen for days now, and they’ll think that we’re already out of the city or trying to get away. And didn’t you say Vix will make it look like we’re planning to run?” He tilted his head at me.

“Well, yeah, but I’m not looking forward to a run-in with the Spiders.”

“Relax. We can do this.” He checked his gun. “We just have to avoid places where they could attack us easily.”

“Okay.” I sighed. Even if Walter believed Theo would risk passing very close to the Spiders’ territory, he might think that Theo would never put me in danger like that or that I wouldn’t want to go there. Maybe this was the right thing to do, after all. “Do I look weird in this?” I could barely put my jacket on over the vest. It was a good thing this wasn’t one of my regular jackets, because they’d never fit over the vest.

Theo gave me a long look. “Nope.”

“Don’t lie to me.” I rolled my eyes and tugged my baseball cap down to shield my face.

“I’m not lying. You’re always gorgeous to me. And we’ll be trying to avoid people and being seen. You’re not worried what the Spiders will think of you if they see you, are you?”

I thought about it for a moment. “No, I guess not.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here.”

***

“I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR this,” I said as we walked down a plank that connected two rooftops.

“Don’t look down.” Theo grasped my hand tighter, and I tried really hard not to do the opposite of what he’d just said. “This shortcut is going to make things a lot easier for us.”

If one of the roofs wasn’t being repaired, there wouldn’t be all these planks lying around, but at least the workers weren’t anywhere in sight. Maybe they were on a break or on the other side of the building.

A shuddery breath slipped out of my throat as our feet touched solid ground again, or, well, the rooftop. Theo made his way toward the edge and leaned on the low wall, looking down at the street. This wasn’t an overly tall building, so we could still see what was going on down there without needing binoculars.

“Is the coast clear?” Recognizing people’s faces from up here was still a bit difficult, so I squinted my eyes.

“Yea...” Theo’s voice trailed off as his face grew serious.

“What? Do you see something?” I glanced at the rooftops and windows around us, wondering if maybe Walter was somewhere around here, although that seemed unlikely. But since Theo wasn’t diving for cover, I assumed whoever he had seen wasn’t looking in our direction or wasn’t able to reach us.

“Look at that car.” He indicated a black car that was parked at the curb in front of a restaurant. A group of men in suits was waiting around it.

“Do you think it’s Jerome?”

“I’m not sure. This isn’t where he usually goes.”

“It doesn’t matter even if he’s here, right? We can find a different path.” Jerome wasn’t the only rich guy who had a ton of bodyguards who were with him wherever he went, so it could be someone else. A politician or a businessman. But even if it was Jerome, I didn’t think he’d spot us if we stayed out of sight. His guards worried about his safety, not about us. I started toward the door, but I stopped when I realized Theo wasn’t coming. “Shouldn’t we get away from here before he comes out of that restaurant?”

“We can stay for a few more minutes and see who’ll come out.”

“If Jerome just got here, then he’s not going to come out anytime soon.” I ducked because one of the guards lifted his eyes toward us, and Theo crouched. “Do you think he saw us?”

“No.”

“This is too risky. If they spot us, we’ll be in trouble.”

“When did a little bit of trouble worry you?” He glanced at me. “And we’re perfectly safe here. If they spot us, we can get downstairs and out the back exit before they reach this building.”

I peered over the wall, but the guards were still calmly standing there, and the one that had been looking our way was now focusing on the other end of the street, which hopefully meant that he hadn’t seen us.

Minutes trickled by, and I was tapping my foot against the ground, glancing behind us to make sure no one surprised us, but there wasn’t anyone around. For now. Just when I wanted to tell Theo that we’d been here long enough and that we should get going, the door of the restaurant opened and the guards moved forward. Two men came out, and the guards surrounded them immediately.

“Is that Jerome? And Walter?” I wondered if I was seeing things or if the two of them were really here, right in front of us.

Theo’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, it’s them, but I can’t hit them from here.”

What were the two of them doing here? What if they were negotiating with someone else to help them take Theo and me down, and maybe even the Cobras? Jerome and his guards made their way toward the car, and Jerome got inside, but Walter remained. The car headed down the street, and Walter strode into the crowd. Theo and I looked at each other.

“I’m going after him,” he said. “This is our opportunity.”

“But what if it’s a trap? What if someone actually did see us? Why would he just walk away like that?” He was in the crowd and it would be hard to get him, but it was still a bit weird, or maybe by now I was expecting everything to be a trap.

“The Spiders’ area is nearby. It would be easier for him to get there on foot than by car or a bike that can be tailed.” Theo raced for the door, and I followed him.

“I’m coming with you,” I said as we stormed downstairs, and I was a little dizzy once we reached the bottom. “Why would he be going to the Spiders’ area? Does he have some business with them? He just met with their leader.”

“Jerome might have sent him to deliver a message or they came up with some plan that Walter wants to explain to the others in person. If he needs some of the Spiders to go with him, then he’ll want to meet them first.”

We emerged onto the street and rushed through the crowd so we could see where Walter was going, and I hoped our baseball caps shielded us from curious glances.

“I think I know where he’s going,” Theo said, and I was glad he’d caught sight of Walter, because I couldn’t see him anywhere. But then, Theo knew Walter and had worked with him for years, so he could spot him easier, even among people. “Over there!”

We raced around the corner, and I realized Walter must’ve gone to one of the alleys. “He’ll see us if we go after him.” Only a few people were going in that direction.

“Follow me.” Theo started in the opposite direction, and I supposed he knew a shortcut. After running through alleys and weaving between parked cars and buildings, we ended up behind an abandoned building in the Spiders’ area.

No one was around, which was good, but I thought that by now we’d lost Walter. It hadn’t been easy to get here, and he hadn’t had to take a detour, so he could’ve finished whatever he needed to do or had disappeared in one of the buildings. Hell, maybe he even had a car somewhere around here.

“Be careful where you step,” Theo said before he removed two loose planks that covered the entrance. “I’d tell you to stay somewhere safe, but there’s no such place around here.”

“Have you been here before?” I eyed him carefully.

“Yeah, but I was alone.”

“How old is this building? Are you sure it’s not going to collapse?” The walls looked as if they were going to crumble or fall at any moment. The glass on the windows was long gone, and grass and even a small tree were protruding from one of the holes in the wall. Trash and broken bottles were everywhere around, and graffiti covered most of the dilapidated walls.

“Let’s hope it won’t.” His lips spread into a smile, his eyes glinting with excitement, and I realized he was in his hunter mode. Walter was now his target, and Theo was enjoying the hell out of the chase. And if Walter actually didn’t know that we were coming, then yeah, I could see how this was thrilling.

Theo went inside and I followed him, carefully stepping over the rubble. We headed toward the stairs that led to the second floor, which was also the top floor. There was a huge hole where one of the steps was supposed to be, and I held my breath as I hopped over it.

We ended up in a long hallway that stunk of mold and dampness, and once we reached the end of it, we found ourselves in front of a large window. This one still had partially broken glass, but when we peeked through it, I almost gasped when I saw the Spiders patrolling the alley.

I hid behind the wall. “They’re guarding something,” I whispered.

“It’s where they meet. If we’re lucky, Walter will be here. All we have to do is wait.” He got hold of his gun and pulled it out of the holster.

I met his gaze. “Wait, are you planning to take out Walter? Here? With all the Spiders around?”

“There’s only four of them. You and I can take care of them. But if you’re afraid, then tell me, and we’ll abort the mission and go meet with your friends instead.”

I debated what to do, but when I glanced at the Spiders again, I realized I’d made my decision. “We’re staying,” I said, my hand resting over my gun.