She took the knife, and hoped it would be enough.
CHAPTER THIRTY
It had been three minutes since they’d seen a person outside. Derek drove slowly past the dull, grey buildings on the south side. The massive warehouses were quintuple the size of any of the big buildings in Gem City proper, and carried the cold veneer of the new. Smashed metal in red, yellow, and blue rioted like wildflowers behind a chain-link fence, but no people were outside the adjoining chop shop.
The wind whistled and even inside the protection of the car it echoed in Callie’s bones.
She turned to Lexi, whose silence had been appropriate. “You sure this is the one?”
The warehouse in front of them proclaimed it stored corrugated cardboard. Not a chief export from Gem City. The windows that weren’t boarded had cardboard behind the glass. Bits of silver industrial tape peeked at the corners.
“Yeah. There’s a door around to the left. That’s where I went in to pick up last time.” Nerves jangled in Lexi’s throat.
“No cameras?” Derek asked.
“I have no clue. I just came here to pick up souls before heading out for delivery,” the soul dealer said.
Callie searched the eaves of the building, but couldn’t find any of the signature black bubbles to indicate cameras in use. “Do you see any?” she asked Derek.
“How long has Anonymous Souls been using this place?” he asked instead.
“I started three weeks ago.”
“And they were using this place then?” Callie asked.
The woman nodded.
“So how do they stop anyone from just walking in?” This looked too easy, and anything that looked like it wasn’t going to be a problem was a goddamn trick. Callie could practically hear Nate’s sniveling snicker already.
“No one seemed worried to me. Maybe because it’s in the middle of fucking shit town out here. There’s a guy inside the door. That’s all I know.”
It didn’t matter if this was a ploy to get them inside. Options were thin. They could wait and meet Nate when he expected it and fight over shoveling souls for him, or they could bust into this place and rescue Henry—and hopefully all the souls in Nate’s possession in the process.
Derek killed the engine, and they exited the car. He gave Lexi a small shove forward, and she led them around the left side of the building. The door was riddled with rust and frayed edges of metal, but the brass doorknob was shiny and new. As was the matching deadbolt above it. At least Lexi hadn’t lied about this place being in use. Maybe they could luck out and there was a lone door guy inside. They could crash in, grab Henry and the souls, and book it.
The large folding knife Derek had foisted on her protruded from her pocket. The end bit at her hipbone with every other step. She wouldn’t forget the weapon was there, which was perhaps the point.
Lexi’s left foot dragged in the gravel more than her right, but she made it to the door. She slapped her open palm flat against the door. Callie’s hand went to her hip and the blade.
Lexi edged closer to the door. “They can’t hear when I knock otherwise,” she said in a tone reserved for murder plots and confessions.
Callie relaxed, but the tendons in Derek’s neck were bulging and tight. She might not be ready for this fight, but he was starving for it.
The door opened a few inches, and a man Callie didn’t recognize peered out at them. He wasn’t much taller than Callie. His thick moustache twitched when he saw Derek. “Who are they?”
Lexi stepped more fully into his line of sight. “New drivers. Vega asked me to help.”
Vega sure as fuck better not be on the other side of that door. Callie’s heart pounded until her ribs rang in response. Seconds stretched into eons. Derek was practically pulsing with malevolence. He’d never been anything but calm and calculating in emergencies, but his energy scraped against hers. The temptation to push her magic toward him to help maintain the cover of new hires was quashed quickly. He deserved to feel the way he did. He also knew a whole lot more about situations like this than she did. Conserving energy and waiting for the chance to strike was what she needed to be worrying about.
“Vega just left.” The door guy opened the door completely, and stepped to the side. “He dropped off a batch of fresh souls in the back.”
“Thanks,” Lexi chirped, and swung her loose curls over one shoulder. The door guy’s eyes stayed on her even as Derek and Callie followed the woman past the threshold.
The door clunked closed behind them, and the doorman dropped back into a folding metal chair. He resumed playing a game on his phone. They’d passed. Holy shit. They were inside, and no one was running at them with guns. Callie let out a little breath, and the edge of panic riding her heartbeat ebbed. They walked down a bare corridor, echoing footsteps announcing their approach.
Pictures lined the left wall. Familiar ones. None of the images were framed, but the photographs had been taped to the wall like this was a detective’s office on a TV crime show and not a warehouse in the industrial park. Callie squinted at one of the images. Benton. One of the soul rental clients, one of her clients, was on this wall. Fuck. These were the images from the Soul Charmer’s store. Nate had made his team steal the pictures of clients, too? As if she needed more proof this man was out to get the Charmer.
“Souls are off to the right,” Lexi said.
She might have been maintaining their cover or letting Callie know which
