My Darkest Shadow

Chapter 18

Rosewood Flatts was the last place I had intended to visit tonight. This morning, in the back of an Interpol SUV, I had imagined finally returning home with Garrett. We'd try to extract some normalcy from my shattered life. Instead he was left alone at Interpol, once again duped into thinking I had stayed with him.

As the taxi took me along the puddled London streets, I couldn't help the occasional glance behind me. The feeling of being followed must be paranoia. There was no car that persisted, no dark coated stranger that ducked into the shadows at the traffic light.

One thought recurred on my drive. It played like a mantra in my mind. Kael can take care of himself.

Doubt that my actions were needed and safe plagued me. This could be an unnecessary risk. After all, Kael was the most capable person I knew. But could he look after himself? He was injured, alone, and in the one place he felt safe. Everything I'd done could be undone tonight if I didn't warn him.

The most imperative task was to maintain some level of stealth, even though it didn't come naturally to me. Finding a taxi two streets away from Interpol had been my first precaution. As we pulled to a stop two blocks from the building, I took a moment to check all sides of the car. Nothing seemed amiss. As I walked, my eyes shifted left and right continually, but there was no one on the street save my taxi speeding away.

This visit wouldn't be long. Minutes would be enough to give warning. Garrett would never know what happened tonight. When I boarded the plane in the morning I would have no regrets and no plans of ever looking back.

The foyer was quiet. I smiled confidently at the young woman behind the desk and she followed suit. Quickly I crossed the polished wood floors to the elevator.

My hands twisted during the long ascent to the top. This was wrong, or at least strange by any measure. We'd said our goodbyes. Being here was overstepping boundaries that had been implied when Kael had shown me the place last year.

By the time I reached the penthouse, I had decided to retreat. When the door opened, my impulse was to press the silver button for the lobby. For a second, my finger hoovered in indecision.

The sound of music distracted me from my delima. It was coming from his unit. Soft strains of opera filtered in unintelligible bursts of vibrato to where I stood with my hand suspended over the keypad. The music was strange and haunting. Just before the door closed my hand shot out. I was here and couldn't leave now.

At his door I stood listening for a moment. I'd always preferred the ballet to opera, but Maria had treated me to an opera on several occasions. To me, the tight vibrato and piercing notes were like a jack-in -the box wound too tightly. There was nothing fluid, nothing graceful. The succession of notes I heard now were familiar, but I couldn't place the piece.

With new resolve, I raised my chin and pressed my finger into the dark screen by the door. The latch clicked. I opened the door and stepped inside.

The apartment was just as I remembered it. Dim lighting accentuated the fantastic view of London afforded by floor to ceiling windows. Small dots of light from the buildings below dotted the black canvas of night.

"Well, hello." An unfamiliar voice shifted my attention from the view.

Kael's penthouse was one large room with the living area in the center. The bed and kitchen were on opposite sides. A stranger came toward me from the bedroom side, wiping his hands on a towel. His face was hard to distinguish without a light.

Between the haunting music and this man's presence, the situation felt dubious. As he neared, his features looked similar to Kael's, though he was at least a decade or two older, with graying temples and creases around his eyes. The other noticeable difference was his smile, an expression Kael rarely offered. This man's smile was too wide, the twinkle in his eyes disconcerting considering the circumstances.