21. Artemis
21 ARTEMIS
Following the sheriff is a really bad idea.
And yet…
At five thirty-two p.m., I am parked down the street from the sheriff’s house.
He has to get here soon if he’s going to be meeting someone at six.
And sure enough, just a few minutes later, he arrives.
He gets out of the cruiser and heads inside, reemerging minutes later in civilian clothes.
His gun is still on his hip, however.
He wastes no time climbing into his personal car, a sporty white SUV, and backs out of the driveway.
Tucked between cars the way I am, I doubt he sees me.
I start the engine of Apollo’s bike— borrowed, not stolen —and head out behind the sheriff.
His car’s engine is loud.
It’s flashy, and it strikes me as a splurge purchase.
I should’ve known he was on the take, because he drives way too nice a vehicle for someone on a cop’s salary.
I stay well back from him, even taking a different route and running parallel to him for a while.
Motorcycles aren’t known for their stealth, so I have to stay creative.
Creative-ish.
Eventually, I have to get back on the same road and just keep about a block behind him.
The smart move would’ve been pilfering some tracking equipment and planting it, letting him get well and truly ahead of me.
But I didn’t let anyone know where I was going, and getting that sort of equipment probably would’ve required advanced notice.
So… here I am.
My phone vibrates, and I hit the button on my helmet.
It’s the only thing I managed to save from my bike’s violent death.
Don’t think about violent death .
“Where is my bike?” Apollo’s voice comes through the Bluetooth in the helmet.
I smirk. “Where did you leave it?”
“Outside of Olympus—but your car is here and my bike isn’t.”
“Oops.”
“Artemis—”
“ Ooh , you’re full-naming me. What next, my middle name?” I grin.
“I can literally hear you riding?—”
“Good point, I shouldn’t drive and chat at the same time.” I hit the button to hang up the call.
I’m sure he’s got this thing tricked out with GPS and whatever else.
He could be tracking me right this second and come find me within minutes.
Since the sheriff is heading through West Falls, maybe I have more than minutes.
Apollo would be coming from the opposite end of the city, especially if he’s only just leaving Olympus now.
A prickle of unease slides down my spine at being in West Falls.
It’s not nighttime, which means I should be relatively safe.
I don’t know if this bike is marked the same way mine was.
They didn’t really elaborate on that.
Well, actually, she said that I was marked.
I check my mirrors. There are a lot of cars out and about, people coming home from work or heading downtown for dinner.
Still, the hair on the back of my neck rises.
We’re working our way toward…
the reservoir?
Once we’re out of the tightly packed neighborhoods, I let the distance between us grow.
And sure enough, he heads toward the reservoir.
It’s a huge lake that supplies the town water.
It sits up high, and one of its waterfalls is a frequent destination.
There are also more unsavory things hiding in the woods up here.
I round a corner and cut the engine.
The bike rolls silently now, coasting on my momentum, toward the parking lot for the waterfall.
There’s a hike here, too.
My phone buzzes with an incoming call.
The number I dialed in the sheriff’s house…
I thought I made my number private, though.
Unless I did it wrong?
Unless I only did it for the first number?
My throat goes all tight, but I answer it anyway.
“Hello?”
A surprised inhale.
“Artemis?”
“The one and only.” Around another corner, and I squeeze the hand brake.
The sheriff’s vehicle is right there .
I manage to steer down a little hill and behind a giant tree.
Branches snag at my clothes and Apollo’s bike, leaving a scratch in the paint.
Whoops.
“What are you doing? How did you get this number?”
“Quick question,” I say.
“Did you have another burner phone?”
Reese doesn’t reply, which essentially confirms it.
Who would he have called?
And not once, but twice?
It’s a shame the logs were blacked out…
it would’ve saved a lot of this trouble.
I drag Apollo’s bike farther off the path and leave it in the trees.
Once I’m sure it’s out of sight, I head around toward where Nathan is now climbing out of his vehicle.
He walks to the fence and braces his arms on the top rail.
Waiting.
I check the time on my phone.
It’s 5:49 p.m., which means we’re essentially going to be waiting for eleven minutes.
Or longer. Bad guys are never on time—and the sheriff being early isn’t a shock either.
He’s still got a cop’s brain, which means getting the lay of the land.
Surveillance. No surprises.
“What are you doing, Artemis?” His voice comes through my helmet.
“I’m digging into the mystery of Reese Avery.”
I’m funny, because that’s exactly who I’m talking to.
“I—”
“Save it, Reese.” I shake my head.
“Who did you call?”
“I—”
“ Reese .”
Another car is coming.
“Goddamn it,” he mutters.
“My mother.”
I flinch.
“And what’s up with Kade?” I peek out to see the newest vehicle.
“He and I were…”
If I were with him, I think he’d shrug at me.
But now, he just trails off like he doesn’t know how to classify what he and Kade were.
“Lovers?” I ask.
He chokes.
“God, no. Kade might not care about what his partner has between their legs, but I like women. I’m only attracted to women.”
Interesting.
Another detail filed away for later.
“And why does he want to find you so badly? Have you been leaving him clues?”
The new vehicle is blacked out, the windows tinted so strongly I can’t see the driver.
But I recognize it, nonetheless.
After all—I was in it not too long ago.
I press my lips together, suddenly sick.
Kade climbs out, and the sheriff meets him halfway.
I flip my visor up in an attempt to hear them better.
“Artemis…” Reese’s voice is low in my ear.
“Don’t.”
“You’re running from someone,” I whisper.
“Is it Kade?”
The sheriff holds something out to him.
The papers.
“I expected you to just email it,” Kade rumbles, taking it from him.
He towers over Nathan.
“You went old school. Paper.”
“This was cleaner,” the sheriff snaps.
“Take it or leave it.”
Kade sneers.
“I’ll take it. But I’m not leaving.”
“Where are you?” Reese suddenly asks in my ear.
“Shh,” I whisper to him.
He swears.
Too bad.
I take my helmet off and set it on the ground next to me.
Getting closer would be stupid—but so would letting Reese distract me from their conversation.
“You’re disrupting my city,” Nathan says with a grimace.
“The deal was, I give you this and you leave Sterling Falls.”
Kade inclines his chin.
“I came here looking for something, and I haven’t found it yet. This is just a puzzle piece slotting into place.”
The sheriff is going to make the fucking connection.
Any second now. But instead, he sticks his hands in his jeans, seemingly passive.
Considering, sure, but he’s not upset about it.
He’s giving Kade phone records to Reese’s mother.
Reese Avery, who Apollo and Antonio have raged about in his office.
Is this the sheriff’s method of getting Reese out of Sterling Falls?
He hopes Kade will take him and go?
This can’t be legal.
No, dumbass, it’s definitely not .
Kade pulls an envelope from his back pocket and tosses it to the sheriff.
It’s thick, and Nathan catches it against his chest. He takes his time opening it, thumbing through what I can only assume is cash.
He nods, and they go their separate ways.
The sheriff back to the railing, overlooking the waterfall, and Kade to his vehicle.
I stay where I am until it makes a swift three-point turn and disappears back down the road.
The sheriff doesn’t move, but I sense his attention shifting toward me.
“Come out, come out,” he calls softly.
“You make an awful tail, Artemis.”
I stiffen.
I grab my helmet and hang up on Reese, then pick my way out of the brush and up to the road.
“How’d you know it was me?” I fold my arms over my chest.
“Your brother doesn’t have breasts.”
A flush heats my face.
“Besides, you were parked at the top of my street earlier today. And again when I got out of work.” His lips quirk.
I open and close my mouth, but I’ve got nothing.
I thought I was so smooth getting in and out—all for nothing.
Stupid.
What can I say?
I’m not on my A game.
Months of sneaking into a Hell-Hound-controlled Olympus, making not a whisper of noise, being perfect , has transitioned to this?
Sloppy.
“It’s okay,” he says carefully.
“He has you searching for something, too, doesn’t he?”
“Not a thing ,” I hedge.
I don’t bother telling him I’ve roped the Hell Hounds into it, too.
Maybe that’s for the best—our appearance could’ve scared Reese away from that place.
Moving to a new location, getting a new burner phone, all those things will help keep Kade off Reese’s trail a little longer.
Wait.
Whose side am I on?
“Do you trust him?” I ask Nathan.
“No.” He narrows his eyes.
“Who’s he looking for?”
“You highlighted the numbers on the phone records. I think you know more than you’re saying, Nathan. Like… you know those are burner phones belonging to Reese Avery. Maybe you even tracked them. How long do you think it will take Kade to realize you can find him that way, and come back for more favors?”
His expression darkens.
“I was highlighting numbers I couldn’t trace. That’s all.”
I snort.
“Jesus, Brad, you’re not a good investigator. You want Kade and Reese to leave Sterling Falls? Try actually having a moral backbone.”
I leave him standing there.
It takes a lot of muscle to get the stupid bike back up onto flat ground, and I’m sweating by the time I do.
I peel off Kade’s sweatshirt and tie it around my waist, and in no time I’m zooming away.
It’s a miracle I was able to hear everything over the sound of the waterfall.
My sweatshirt— Kade’s sweatshirt —is speckled with fine mist from being up close to it.
On some level, the sheriff knew I was going to follow him.
It doesn’t matter if he spotted my vehicle before or after the meeting was set—he could’ve easily called Kade back and changed the time.
He could’ve driven like a bat out of hell and lost me, or confronted me outside of his offices.
He didn’t.
Which means what?
Was I supposed to follow him, or was the sheriff simply banking on my curiosity to help him ?
He also seemed unafraid of the idea that Kade would return and ask more questions.
That leads me to believe Kade doesn’t need the sheriff to find Reese.
Whether by leveraging Reese’s dear old mom for information, threatening her to get him out of hiding, or something worse.
This is a mess. One I should warn Reese about, at the very least.
It’s not like I owe him anything, but I don’t know if I could live with myself if I just sat and watched Kade put his plan into motion.
I get back into West Falls, heading home at a good speed.
I could take this road all the way south and swing by the apartment building to check and see if Reese is still there.
Or… not.
I could call him, fill him in.
Or… not .
Maybe the sheriff is right, and once Kade finds Reese, they’ll both leave.
Can I leave that up to chance?
The decision is still unmade when something on the road catches my attention.
And the people. Too many men, crowding both sides of the sidewalk.
Only one watches me, his dark gaze full of loathing.
I instinctively hit the throttle.
But then the line across the road is pulled tight, lifted in the air, and it catches my bike just below the handlebars.
I never stood a chance.