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Reluctantly, he handed her the cell. As she read the message, her hope lifted.
Boss-man has job for us. Dusk tomorrow. Crow’s nest. You know the drill.
“Whoever sent this is in contact with Julius,” she mumbled. “They said boss-man.”
“Crow’s nest is the shipping container yard. We meet them there tomorrow,” Axel said. “And we find a way to get to him.”
Daisy pocketed the phone, a fact Axel noted but didn’t comment on.
“You should get some rest,” she said. “Go back to Elena. I need to pick up supplies.”
“She’s fine with your family. I’m not leaving you by yourself.”
“Axel, I’m fine.” She gave him a derisive look. “I can handle myself.”
He folded his arms and became an immovable mountain. Daisy suddenly had a vision of what he’d be like in his job—picking up injured people, carrying them like he had with her. His scowl deepened. “You were sliced up not that long ago and almost drowned. When I pulled you from that storm drain, you were barely breathing. I know you have some kind of fast healing, but I also know what it’s like when someone is hiding how they really feel. My sister does it all the time. So, I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Fine.” Why did she like his response? “Come with me.”
Satisfied, he dropped his scowl. “Where we headed?”
“To my old apartment in the Syndicate Tower.”
First, they needed a mode of transportation. To get to the Lazarus House garage, they had to go through the headquarters in the basement. A strange vibe filled the air as she walked out of the elevator and into an empty hallway. It felt like a ghost town, but she knew the rest of her siblings were out on the streets, either hunting down replicates, stopping rioters and looters, or looking for their mates. None would be sleeping yet.
Axel cleared his throat. She glanced up at him. At least with no one here, she didn’t have to tell him about the mating bond. If he knew he had a connection to her, she’d have a hard time convincing him to go back to his sister after this little excursion.
Straightening her shoulders, she strode forward and stopped at the weapons room. The door was ajar, and she could see inside. Lined along the walls were various swords, guns, and devices she could use to help her with her task. She went in.
“Wow,” Axel said, following her. “This is some shit.”
He touched a few items. On instinct, Daisy put down the baseball bat and went for the military grade sniper rifle in the case. She hauled it over her shoulder but then froze under the weight of a memory.
“Pretend it’s a game,” Julius urged.
Daisy settled herself stomach first on the hot asphalt of the building’s roof. She looked down the scope of her sniper rifle and counted the milling people. They were ants. And ants should be squashed. That’s what Julius always said.
“I’ll give you fifty bucks for each one you hit.”
“I don’t want money,” she mumbled.
“What do you want?”
“Anything?” she asked, excited and turned back to squint at him.
His tall figure blocked the sun. All she could see was the dark space he filled. “Well that depends on how many you hit.”
“I want to go to the zoo.”
“Take down twenty and it’s a deal.”
Daisy shook the memory away and hate filled her. She’d made it to the zoo in the end, but Julius never came with her. Some nameless nanny did. Daisy’s life had been full of his empty promises.
She put down the sniper rifle, collected the bat, and headed for the operations room. Axel followed but then stopped somewhere behind her. She caught him staring into the viewing window of the medic room. His jaw flexed.
“This is where they took you,” he said. “After we rescued you.”
She glanced at the operating table, medical equipment, and recovery gurney. She’d laid on that cold surface for hours while they pumped fluids into her via an intravenous needle, but she’d been in worse situations. The scars on her body proved it.
