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"Nikki?" Jake asked

She shook her head and turned away, staring out theagain Michael pulled a chair across to Jake’s desk and tried to close hihts But he had a notion it was not his night to win--in any way

Nikki crossed her arnpost Jake and Michael were standing several yards in front of her, barely visible through the mist of rain She wondered why Monica had chosen a train tunnel to hide in There had to be more secure places about And surely a child raised in opulent surroundings could never be comfortable with the dirt and constant noise inside the tunnel

Not to ht The area was a well-known haunt for street kids Her gang had often dared each other to race through the tunnels just as a train was due She had no doubt kids still did today Some brainless stunts never went out of fashion And unless it had changed in the last ten years, there weren’tholes inside So why coht Maybe another trap waited for them Yet she had no sense of the evil that came with Jasper’s presence, only Monica She wrapped her fingers around the locket The le beat every few minutes Monica’s heartbeat, she knew Jake snapped the timetable closed She walked across to the two of theure, there’s no train due for at least half an hour"

"I hope you’re right There’s dah" Jake griet hter Not with all this rain"

"It won’t matter Monica will have no choice but to rest soon," Michael said, studying the tunnel "Are you certain Monica’s inside, Nikki? No one else?"

She wondered if he could sense so that she could not The locket pulsed in her hand, and heat washed over her skin Heat and hunger Monica’s, not Jasper’s

"Oh yes," she replied softly "I’ht and walked towards the tunnel, becoloom An odd prickle ran across the back of her neck

"It’s not too late to turn back, Nikki"

Yes, it is She gripped the barrel of the flashlight tighter and walked forward Michael kept close, and she felt safer for it Yet instinct warned it wasn’t going to be enough to save her She ignored the quick thrust of foreboding and watched the beaht dance across the darkness Her own paled by colooht soh the silence Would Monica hear theht, and the darkness fully encased theht to the left There had been a break in the wall near here, somewhere She’d fled into it once in the face of an onco train

Jake stopped so abruptly she al his grip on the stake he held "Wait here I’ll check it out" Shifting her weight froh she couldn’t sense anyone in the hole, it was better to be sure

Michael stood behind her, as silent and still as the darkness around theer ahead, like her

Jake returned "Nothing," he said, sounding oddly relieved "Only rubbish"

"Monica’s still ahead" She swept the light across the darkness surrounding them She’d heard no sound, yet she had a sudden sense of athered out there in the darkness

"How far ahead?" Jake’s question jostled harshly against the silence

"I’ the way once ht danced away froloom It would be so easy to fall into a trap Or walk, as she sensed they were doing

The locket in her hand pulsed again She clenched her fingers and let her senses flare to full life Monica was on the , but not in fright Nikki bit her lip So she couldn’t sense or understand

Michael’s tension washed heat across her back Maybe he could sense the presence she uessed at

"Jasper’s not here," he said softly "But the zoo back I’ll continue the hunt for Monica alone"

"Monica is our client’s daughter," Jake reo nowhere without us"

"The two of you will never et in ht pierced the darkness, al you can match her inhuman speed?"

"Yes, I am" Michael hesitated "I don’t like the feel of this Take Nikki and head back to the entrance You’ll be safe there"

He was certainly determined to keep her away from Monica What did he fear--that she’d try to stop hi anywhere I’ve already told you that"

"Damn it Nikki, you’ve encountered the zombies once already Do you really think you and Jake can survive a sudden attack froh annoyance barely touched his voice, it seared through his thoughts, al her She stared at hiht She’d barely escaped an attack froer and an extra zo favorable--even with Michael on their side Perhaps it was time to leave Monica to her fate

Besides, she didn’t like the feel of as happening up ahead, either She held up her hands "Okay, okay I’ll retreat Jake?"

He shook his head "I think e it to Trevgard to see this thing through" Michael raised an eyebrow "And did you not prolanced at hihts, to know so as intimate as that Maybe it was only her presence that stopped hi hilared at him "Just how in hell did you know that?"