Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 3

Hi

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was okay, sort of. Anyway, there's a new chapter to post, so here I am! I hope you like it! :-)

Lara

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Chapter 3

The lamp further down the street did little to illuminate the interior of my old Ford. The car was dipped into a shadow landscape of odd, sharp angles and dark holes. I wasn't looking, but I was aware of it in more ways than I liked: Andy was leaning with his back on the window, elbow on the armrest, watching me. A shaft of light illuminated the center of his chest, making his white shirt stand out even more in the semi-darkness. I wished I could see his face, gauge his expression. But even if I turned and looked, I knew all I would see would be a mass of blond hair, strands that fell into his face, hiding his eyes and dipping them further in shadow.

Sighing, I turned to him and stared back. I'd been pretending to play with the heat regulator for the last five minutes. It was getting old.

"So, let me get this straight," he said. "You admit that Alexander has something on you, but you won't tell me what exactly because you can't." He raised an eyebrow, a silent question mark that I could make out even in the semi-darkness. I did my best to ignore it, nodding mutely.

"The Raven told you he somehow infiltrated the Circle – something you chose not to mention to Brown because according to the official version of events you didn't even talk to the Raven," he said.

I nodded again. When I was questioned by the Circle and Brown, I never admitted to being kidnapped by Raphael Medici in advance to his attack in Boyd Park. It would have raised uncomfortable questions, like: Why would the Raven take any interest in me to begin with? Never mind that I had to concur to Alexander's version of events anyway.

"Now you're on a mission to find out if there's a mole in the Circle," Andy said.

"Not if," I said, irritated. "Raphael Medici didn't do empty threats and we both know it. I have no idea if he was referring to one person or a whole group of infiltrators. I mean, think about it. The Raven claimed to have the means to monitor each single step I took inside the Force's headquarters. There's no way he was talking about a single person slipping in and out of the headquarters just like that. No. He has someone or a few someones on the inside."

Andy stared at me for another long moment before shifting, rolling his shoulder blades before settling into his former stance again. "I don't like it, but you're probably right. Although I have no idea how he could have done it, infiltrating the Circle sounds just like Medici."

Seeing my carefully neutral expression, he shook his head. He leaned forward, face plunged into light for the first time. "Anna, I don't know what you think you're doing, but messing with people of that kind of caliber is suicide."

I snorted. "Wake up! I'm ass deep in there. Either I bring the big guns in and start playing in their league or I can give up straight away."

His lips thinned. I saw his eyes hollow out and flatten into that distant look people got when they were staring at you and you simply knew their thoughts were vacationing a thousand miles away. His jaw muscles worked as his eyes latched onto me again.

"This would all be easier if I knew just what Alexander is blackmailing you with," he said in a low voice.

"He's not-"

Andy's look silenced me. Fine.

"The city's packed with people of all kinds of races trying to bash each other's heads in, if someone even looks at them funny once," he said. "Everybody's got their hands full with all the attacks and finding the remaining members of the Inri Brotherhood. It might be an advantage for us, but still, we'll have to be careful, if we want to find the mole."