CHAPTER 86

CHAPTER 86
The night air smelled of damp pavement. We got into Aylissa’s car that was parked in the driveway. She started the engine; the low vibration travelled up through the floor.

We stayed three cars back following Dan’s car without him being suspicious of us. The streetlights passed in regular yellow intervals.

The dot on the phone moved steadily north, then turned into an industrial stretch where the buildings grew lower and the streetlights farther apart.

“I can’t see his car anywhere, should we turn back?” I side eyed her, I stifled a laugh.

“Please continue, I will tell you where to turn and it’s not going back.” I said laughing. 

The tracker led us to a warehouse that sat at the end of a cracked service road. 

There were no signs anywhere, just a long concrete wall and a single loading door left slightly ajar. 

Dan’s car was parked near the side. 

“Please switch off your lights.” Aylissa killed the headlights and rolled to a stop behind a row of stacked pallets. The engine went quiet. “I don’t like this, Em.”

“Nothing is going to happen.” We sat for half a minute listening, distant traffic. A faint metallic clang from somewhere inside.

“Let’s go check inside.” I opened my door carefully; the hinge made only the softest sound. 

Gravel shifted under our shoes as we crossed the open ground. The air here smelled of old oil and wet concrete.

We reached the loading door. Aylissa went first, slipping through the gap. I followed, the metal edge cold against my shoulder. 

“Do you think he would bring his side chick here?” Aylissa asked with a scared look. 

“At this point of events, he is capable of a lot of things.” I said in a low voice. “We should just keep quiet and go spy on them. I am sure we will find them naked.”

“Where on the cold ground? Open your eyes, Emerald. This is not where anyone can fuck.” She said hissing at me, I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Clearly you haven’t cheated before, I would definitely come here to get dirty with my side piece.” I said my voice low, she stared at me with a look.

“When did you ever cheat?”

“That’s not the point.” I said walking further away from her.

Inside the space opened up high ceilings lost in shadow, rows of empty shelves, a single strip of fluorescent light buzzing near the far end. 

I instantly picked up on voices though it sounded like men’s voice. They were low at first and then grew loud, harsh.

We finally got a better view and Dan stood near a folding table with his back towards is and he had two guys next to him.

Two other men faced him. One of them gestured sharply with an open hand; the other kept both fists at his sides. 

Well, this is not what we were expecting.

“This is clearly a private meeting, we should leave.” Aylissa said slightly pulling my arm.

“No, wait.” I said. Words snapped back and forth short, hard syllables that echoed off the walls. 

I caught only fragments: numbers, a name I didn’t recognise, the word “late.” Dan’s shoulders were tight. His hands moved when he spoke, cutting the air. Okay, he looks frustrated.

Aylissa’s fingers closed around my wrist. She leaned close enough that her breath touched my ear. “We need to leave.”

I nodded, but my feet stayed planted a second longer. The fluorescent light flickered once. 

One of the men stepped forward. Dan’s voice rose. The exchange grew louder, the words overlapping, sharp and fast.

Then the sound cut through everything a single sharp crack that bounced off the concrete and metal. 

My body moved before the echo finished, I ducked down.

That was a definite gun shot going off. We were still ducked down when another went off and in that moment I could feel my heart in my throat.

Aylissa tugged hard on my arm. We turned and ran, shoes scraping against the grit on the floor. We slipped through the loading door into the darker night.

Gravel scattered under our feet as we crossed back to the car. I opened the door and closed it with a bang pleading with Aylissa to drive as she furiously searched herself for the car keys.

The engine came to life. Aylissa’s hands shook on the wheel; the car jerked once before the tyres went forward. 

I kept one palm flat against the dashboard, the other on her shoulder, feeling the rapid rise and fall of her breath under the fabric of her jacket. “I’m so sorry, babe. It’s all my fault.”

"Emerald, someone got shot. Someone could be on the floor dying right, we need to go and check." The words rushed out of Aylissa word's.

“Breathe,” I said. My own voice sounded steady only because the words were short.

“Just drive, okay. Don’t pick up the speed, keep the lights off until there’s a distance between us and them.“

She nodded, eyes fixed forward. 

The warehouse receded in the side mirror, the strip of fluorescent light still visible through the gap in the door. "Em, your husband could laying there, dead."

"That would the moongoddess doing us a favour." I said in a hushed tone.

"Moongoddess? Are you that angry with him? I mean he still your husband and the father of your kid." I shook my head closing the conversation.