Ghosts by Matt Rogers (ap literature book list txt) 📕

bursting out into an empty corridor.

There was a door at the end with an embossed nameplate reading: GLORIA KERR, CLARK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY.

It hung ajar.

No door code required.

King and Slater ran for it in unison, moving fast but not sprinting so they could keep their SIGs up, ready for anything.

They didn’t hesitate.

Hesitation achieved absolutely nothing.

They went in fast and hard, assisted by mountains of adrenaline, kicking the door aside and sweeping the space in less than a second.

Violetta stood in the middle of the room.

She had a suppressed Beretta in her hand, the long barrel trained rigidly on a pale woman sitting at a desk. There were two bodies sprawled on the carpet. Both very obviously dead. They looked to be ex-military. Now ex-living. They were face down, so the nature of their demise was unconfirmed, but the blood pooling around their head told the tale.

Violetta had shot both of them in the head.

King breathed out and lowered his weapon.

Slater said, ‘Looks like you didn’t need us.’

Violetta said, ‘I thought I might. Turned out I could handle it.’

King turned to the silent woman sitting straight-backed in her chair. ‘Gloria Kerr?’

A nod.

King said, ‘Lovely to meet you.’

‘I have five men downstairs,’ Kerr said. ‘They’re all highly trained. You should leave now to save yourself the trouble.’

‘Oh, those guys?’ King said. ‘We got past them.’

Kerr paused. ‘How?’

Slater mock-sighed. ‘By the skin of our teeth. We barely survived.’

She went quiet.

He swept a hand over himself. ‘Can’t you tell?’

Silence.

Slater said, ‘Highly trained.’

‘Enough,’ Violetta said. She looked at her watch. ‘You two got here quick.’

‘Of course,’ King said.

They exchanged a look across the room. He knew she was just as flooded with relief as he was. They were still here. Still kicking.

For now.

Kerr said, ‘Either way, the three of you are fucked.’

‘Are we?’ Slater said.

Staring at her with unashamed disgust.

Kerr noticed the glare, and actually wilted. King was still watching Violetta. She seemed surprised. Perhaps she’d thought Kerr was ice cold, incapable of feeling shame. But when someone like Will Slater steps into the room, his eyes burning with pure hatred, it’s a whole different story.

Violetta said, ‘Will, you want to know something else?’

‘I’d love to,’ Slater said.

‘Take a look at the family portrait on the cabinet over there.’

Slater looked.

So did King.

He blinked. Just to make sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him. Just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

He wasn’t.

King turned to Kerr. ‘Really?’

Kerr said nothing.

Violetta looked at the bodies at her feet. ‘I killed two people here. She went on and on about how they’re ghosts with new identities, but this is still a mess. Did you kill the five downstairs?’

‘No,’ King said. ‘Maybe we should have.’

‘They’re just hired muscle,’ she said. ‘Not contract killers like these two. There’s no need.’

‘So let’s go,’ Slater said.

King watched him.

Slater couldn’t take his eyes off the framed photograph with Melanie in it.

‘That’s it?’ Violetta said. ‘You just want to go?’

‘Of course not,’ Slater said, and aimed his SIG at Kerr’s face.

The air grew cold.

‘No,’ Violetta hissed. ‘She knows Elsa’s whereabouts, but she hasn’t given it up yet.’

Slater refrained.

It took significant willpower.

He didn’t lower the weapon.

He said, ‘Elsa Bell. Daughter of Josefine Bell. Where is she?’

Kerr didn’t answer.

Slater said, ‘I’ll shoot you right here.’

Kerr said, ‘You won’t.’

‘Don’t try me.’

‘I’m not trying you,’ she said. ‘I’m stating a fact. You three are the righters of wrongs. You’re all weighed down by the burden of morality. If you kill me here you’ll never find Elsa — she’ll vanish, exactly how everyone vanishes when I want them to disappear. If I tell you where she is, you’ll have no further use for me, so I’m dead.’

Silence.

Kerr said, ‘I’m a little smarter than your average enemy. So the answer to your question is: “Yes.” I would very much like to live. You’re not getting a word out of me. And I don’t think you’re willing to torture me in this very public place. It’ll take a lot to make me talk, and the cops will be here before long.’

‘The cops will be here whenever you want them to be here,’ Violetta said. ‘They’re in your pocket.’

Kerr turned to regard her with curiosity.

Violetta said, ‘And you haven’t called them yet.’

Kerr stayed mute.

Violetta turned to King. ‘She’s coming with us.’

Slater smiled.

Walked round the desk, grabbed Kerr by the arm and hauled her out of her chair.

She struggled to no avail. ‘You’re kidnapping a DA?! Smart move. You’ll bring the whole damn city down on your heads.’

‘That doesn’t matter if we don’t exist,’ Slater said in her ear.

That made her hesitate.

As Slater pulled her toward the door, Violetta said, ‘Gloria, honey, I don’t think you understand who you’re up against.’

36

The warehouse used to be an auto body shop.

That much Alexis could discern, even through the veil of terror. It made everything surreal, like she was detached from it all. Her arms and legs felt miles away, but somehow she managed to walk, even with her hands pinned behind her back. She swayed left and right from the disorientation.

Ward kept a hand on her upper back to guide her through a side door into the warehouse. There were leftovers of the old business everywhere — cars that had been stripped, machinery gutted, the skeletons of racks scattered around the place. The concrete floor was caked in a layer of dust. It hadn’t been swept in months.

And there was activity everywhere.

A makeshift command centre — like Violetta’s setup with a tenth of the budget — was spread across cheap metal tables that men had carted in and erected. It seemed like the whole thing had been thrown together that day. An assortment of undesirables milled around under the dirty skylights in the roof. They came in all shapes and sizes. Mostly white men in tank tops and jeans, a few Latinos with gang tattoos, and a handful of African-Americans who all looked tough as hell. Alexis counted twelve men — all men. She was the only woman in the building.

Ward yanked her to a halt