Subject Seven

Chapter Twenty-five
Tina Carlotti

Tina didn’t turn around when the limo pulled away. She just kept her poker face in place and played it nice and cool. Victims sweat the small stuff. Camden taught her that. It was okay to be afraid, but you never showed it.

For a second she thought Cody was going to bolt after the limo, but he stopped himself. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

Hunter was cute, quiet and maybe a little bitter. He had a brooding quality she liked. It was what she was used to, after all. But even with his calm demeanor she got the impression he was tired and maybe a bit angry. She decided to give him plenty of space, just in case he decided hitting girls was a good idea.

Kyrie. The other girl? She was stacked and walked like she had ball bearings for hips. Every one of the guys checked out her ass and her walk and she acted like she didn’t care, but Tina had doubts about that. She knew the type: money and everything handed to her on a silver platter. She couldn’t decide if she admired the girl, was just jealous of her or flat out hated her. So for now Tina chose not to think about her. There were more important things to consider.

Mostly, she needed to know what they were heading into. Even as she gave that thought consideration, Gene cleared his throat. He was quiet and he watched everyone, and while he was sort of cute, he had something about him that gave her a bad vibe. Not dangerous exactly, but more like sleazy. If she shook his hand, she’d want to wash hers. Which was weird because he acted all harmless. Maybe that was it. He acted. There was nothing sincere about him.

Gene said, “The door’s over there and I guess we should use it.”

Tina looked around and shook her head. It was a fake. Everything around them looked like it was covered in gang tags, but it was too fresh, too new. The building wasn’t as rough as someone wanted to make it look, and that was sending all sorts of warning signals to her.

“I don’t think this place is abandoned.” Cody looked hard at her, and she could see him stopping himself from saying something. “What?” She threw the single word as a challenge.

Cody blinked. “Nothing. I was just thinking you’d know better than me.”

She bristled. “You think I’m trashy?”

He looked like a mouse facing a very large cat. “What? No! I just, I figured you might be-”

“Just decide if you’re going in or not. Leave the fights for later.” That was Hunter, who headed for the door. He was taking control of the situation without even trying. She wondered if he even knew that.

Gene looked at the other boy’s back for a moment, sighed, and followed him. After that it seemed like everyone had decided. They moved, walking toward the building as a unit, following Hunter.

Just like that, she thought. He leads and we follow. How did that happen? There was something about him that made it seem perfectly natural. She looked at his sleek, muscular body and thought maybe that was part of it. He was damned cute.

Up close she could see even more clearly that she’d been right. There was a little damage to the building, but it was all superficial. None of the windows were broken out, and no one had come along and cannibalized the place yet. Most of Camden, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a building that had been stripped of doors, windows or most especially metal. With the cost of copper, aluminum and other metals, somebody would have torn the hell out of the place just to get to the pipes if the place had been empty for long. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she suppressed a shiver.

Cody seemed to feel it too. He looked around with a frown on his face and a worried expression. She caught his eye and he nodded to let her know she was right. He didn’t trust any of it. No more than she did.

And then Hunter, Gene and Kyrie were inside. Cody shook his head and followed. Tina gave one last look around the place and then followed, hating the feeling that she was walking into something even worse than her life had already become.