THE FLOOR CREAKED AS I shifted from foot to foot. We’d been waiting for a while, but Walter wasn’t anywhere in sight. A few moments later, the loud noise of engines disturbed the silent alley.

Theo and I glanced at each other and peered through the window again. The guards had opened the gate that led to a courtyard, and a truck and three cars came into view. The truck went through the gate, and the cars pulled over just outside it. The guards looked around, and we had to step away from the window to avoid being seen. When we decided to take another look, I spotted Walter getting out of one of the cars.

“What are they doing?” I whispered as I eyed the truck. More Spiders appeared around it, but they were only talking and didn’t make a move to open the truck. “What do you think is in it?” Did we catch them in the middle of receiving a drug shipment? Or maybe weapons? Or whatever it was that they were smuggling? But why would Walter be involved in any of that?

“I don’t know.” Theo had his gun up, but Walter was too close to the gate and someone was always around him, so even if Theo risked being seen to get Walter, it would be really hard to get a clear shot. Walter was looking around a lot too. Something was definitely going on.

One of the Spiders went over to the truck and opened the door. I squinted so I could see what was inside it better. The truck was full of boxes. Walter made his way toward it, followed by the Spiders. The Spider that had climbed inside the truck picked up one of the boxes and handed it to Walter, who opened it.

“What is that?” I couldn’t quite see what he was inspecting.

“Looks like weapons,” Theo said.

“So Walter is working for them now? Do you think he joined the Spiders somehow?” That seemed unlikely, but maybe Walter had managed to hide the fact that he was a Rosa Nera and had come up with a story to explain why he was going after Theo and me.

“I don’t think so.” Theo shook his head. “The Spiders don’t usually bring their shipments here, especially not weapons. They have stash houses outside the city for that. Here they risk getting caught.”

“Then why is that truck here now?” My heart skipped a beat as a thought snuck into my mind, and I hoped I was wrong about the whole thing. “Please tell me they aren’t planning to attack someone. Someone like the Cobras.”

Walter returned the box to the Spider who’d given it to him and climbed into the truck, going for another one of the boxes.

“Maybe.” Theo’s face was deadly serious.

“What are we going to do? If they’re planning to attack the Cobras, then we have to do something.” Oh God. If the Cobras ended up fighting a war because of me, I’d never forgive myself for dragging them into my mess. Tobias never did anything that wouldn’t benefit his gang in the end, but a war was too much.

Walter took his time inspecting the boxes, then turned around, and pointed at one of the Spiders while telling him something. I wished we could hear what it was, but we were too far away.

Walter jumped out of the truck, and the Spiders hurried toward it. But instead of taking out the boxes, they went to grab what was inside them. They were definitely getting armed for something, and if Walter was going to lead them, then it was very likely the attack was related to me. Maybe Walter believed the Cobras were hiding me somewhere in their territory. He could’ve told Jerome that the Cobras had saved Theo and stolen from him, so Jerome had decided to retaliate, or perhaps Walter had suggested it and Jerome liked the idea.

“We have to warn the Cobras,” I said, but we didn’t have a phone since we’d gotten rid of it, and I didn’t know where the nearest payphone around here was. What if we were too late? The Cobras would probably see them coming, but I didn’t know if they’d have enough time to prepare for an attack. And if the Spiders took new cars that they didn’t usually drive and if it was hard to identify them, then the situation could get even uglier. Or the Spiders might go after Vix and attack her club. If there was a traitor among the Cobras, then Walter might know that Theo and I were supposed to meet with Vix and the Cobras soon.

I took a step forward, but Theo lifted his hand to stop me.

“Not yet,” he said. “We can stop all of this if we take out Walter.”

“I know, but how are we going to do that? He’s out of range, and all he has to do is jump into one of those cars and speed away, and there’ll be nothing we can do.” I hated the note of desperation in my voice.

“They’re not ready to go yet. The truck is still full. They’re not going to just leave it here.”

If more Spiders were going to arrive soon, then this could turn into a disaster really quickly. One of the Spiders took something out of one of the boxes. “Is that...?”

“Looks like a bomb,” Theo said.

“Shit.” The Spider carefully lowered it to the ground, and he and the others launched into a conversation as they gesticulated and nodded toward each other.

Walter held an AK-47 in his hands as he made his way to the gate. Theo’s hand twitched a little as Walter came closer but was still out of range. Walter strolled toward the car, and Theo clenched his teeth, then started down the hallway. I followed him as he went from window to window, trying to get a clear shot.

But as we were about to reach the last window, I stepped onto what seemed to be a loose floorboard. The ground shifted underneath me, and Theo grabbed my arm and pulled me back as a hole formed in the floor. The sound of rubble falling was way too loud, and as I glanced through the window, I could see everyone, including Walter, looking in our direction.

Theo swore under his breath. “We have to get out of here. Go!”

We hurried toward the stairway, but we couldn’t go too fast since we had to be careful of where we stepped. My heart was like a trapped bird in my chest, and I was sure the Spiders were already coming closer to see what was going on. Maybe the crumbling building would stop them a little. They couldn’t have seen us, so they might assume the building was collapsing all on its own, but they’d still have to check to make sure.

My foot nearly got caught in one of the holes in the stairway, but we managed to descend without anything else giving way. Everything was creaking, though. When we emerged through the door, I let out a small sigh of relief. At least the building hadn’t collapsed with us in it, and the Spiders weren’t waiting for us in front of the door. Theo raced down the alley, and I broke into a run too. We went around the corner, and once we reached the end of the alley, he stopped and lifted his hand. He peeked around the corner, and I heard voices in the distance. We were only a dozen yards away from the Spiders and the building where we’d been.

“When I tell you, run like hell to the other side.” He indicated to the building across from us. “We can find a way to reach that truck, but the Spiders might see us and they might be guarding that building too, so be ready.”

I nodded and waited for his signal. He took a quick peek around the corner a few more times, and when he raised his hand, we rushed forward. Turning my head toward the Spiders, I could see them slowly approaching the collapsing building and talking to each other. Walter’s head snapped toward me just a second before Theo and I hid behind the wall.

I was panting as I pressed myself against the wall. “Walter might’ve seen us.”

“Then we have to hurry. Come on.” Theo headed for the door, which was locked but didn’t look too sturdy, so he kicked it in. I wondered if the noise would attract the Spiders’ attention or if they were already coming our way. We slowly entered a dim hallway. Theo was in front of me, and I kept glancing behind us to make sure no one came at us from behind.

The hallway seemed to be empty, and Theo stopped in front of one of the doors. He tried the knob and the door slid open. We found ourselves in a spacious empty room and there was another door across from us. As we started toward it, multiple footsteps echoed from somewhere behind us. The Spiders were already inside the building, so we quickened our steps.

At least we didn’t have to worry about this place collapsing, although it was still possible to trip over a loose floorboard. We passed through the door and ended up in yet another hallway, almost bumping into the Spider who had to be guarding this place. The rest of his gang clearly hadn’t notified him about potential intruders, because his eyes went wide when he saw us, but before he could reach for his weapon, Theo lunged at him and caught him into a tight grip.

“Find a room that looks into that courtyard,” Theo whispered, and I tore my gaze away from him and the guy and raced toward the first of the multiple open doors that were in this hallway. I peered into one of the rooms, but the windows had bars. Shit. If they were all like that, then we’d have a problem getting out of here.

The second room didn’t even have any windows, or maybe they were covered with planks or something similar. I didn’t have time to check, so I went for the next door. This room was full of light, and the windows didn’t have any bars. Perfect. I waved at Theo, who was just lowering the Spider’s limp body to the floor. I didn’t wait for him, just entered the room and ran to the window, which was huge and low enough so we could easily climb through it. As I pushed it open, I glanced through it, but there weren’t any Spiders in sight.

“Go!” Theo hissed as he came behind me, and I pushed myself up and jumped through the window. He was right behind me, and I hoped the Spiders would be busy checking the whole building and wouldn’t immediately realize where we’d gone. We crouched behind a few barrels that were lined up near the wall.

Two Spiders had stayed to watch the truck, while the rest were probably looking for us. They couldn’t know how many of us were here or who we were, so they’d have to search the whole area if they wanted to make sure no one was here to ambush them or mess up their plans.

“We can’t stay here too long,” I whispered. “And I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here.” The only way out of the courtyard was through the gate, which wasn’t good since more Spiders would be waiting there. We’d have to sneak into another one of the buildings, but then we’d probably run into our enemy.

Theo’s gaze was focused on the car that was parked on the other side, right behind the truck. We hadn’t been able to see it when we’d been in that old building because it had been hidden from view. But if we got to it, maybe we could use it as our way out.

“I know what we’re going to do.” A smile built up on Theo’s lips.