Darkening Dawn (The Lockman Chronicles Book 5) by Rob Cornell Read Free Book Online Page B

the living room had been obliterated. Jagged teeth of wood and drywall hung down from the opening’s top edge and stuck up from the bottom, making it look like the house had a huge-ass and hungry mouth. Through the mouth, Jessie saw the minivan. The Ronald Reagan-masked dude had ditched the grenade launcher. She didn’t recognize the thing he held on his shoulder now. It looked made of a purplish metal with a high gloss, yet the weapon had an organic shape, like something you’d normally find swimming around in the ocean.
    “What the—”
    Ree jumped on Jessie, knocking her onto her side. He covered her body with his and wrapped his arms around her. “Close your eyes,” he whispered.
    Jessie’s pants felt wet and cold—the blood from the glass wounds. But something inside of her, her primal core, felt even colder. “Why?”
    “Because we’re gonna die.”

Chapter Eleven
    K ENNY’S HOME DIDN’T look anything like Elka expected. A two-bedroom condo in Lincoln Park, the place must have cost at least half-a-million. Clean brick and vinyl siding on the outside, fresh off-white paint all through the inside, the condo looked newly built and barely lived in.
    In the living room, Kenny pointed out the pair of abstracts hung on a wall above the leather couch. “The artist is a friend of mine,” he claimed. “An ex-girlfriend, actually. But we’re still friends. She owns a gallery in the loop.”
    Elka must have had one funny look on her face because Kenny snickered.
    “What? You don’t think I have any culture in me?” He slipped his arms around her waist. “You’ll find I’m full of surprises.”
    Me too. Elka forced a grin and tried not to vomit when she let Kenny kiss her. She held her breath, expecting his to smell like peanuts. But she caught a whiff of wintergreen. At some point he must have popped a mint. Thank the Bright Beyond for small favors.
    Kenny opened his mouth and tried to push his tongue into hers. She pulled back and patted his chest. “Why don’t you show me the rest of your abode.”
    His eyes narrowed. He cocked his head to one side while he studied her.
    “Relax,” Elka said. “I’m obviously missing a whole other side to you. I want to get to know it.”
    His expression loosened up. “All right, I’ll give you the grand tour.”
    He turned his back to Elka and headed for the kitchen, which was separated from the living room by a long counter with a glossy marble surface. A leafy plant with purple flowers sat in a handspun pot at the end of the counter. It looked vibrant, well cared for. A hardcover copy of a Gabriel Marquez novel lay flat beside the plant. A bookmark stuck out from between the pages about three-quarters of the way through the book.
    No way he was actually reading that book. It was probably a prop to impress his female conquests. Elka, however, wasn’t fooled. And with his back to her, she had her opening to remove this disgusting fraud from existence.
    She held back, though, still not sure how to handle his remains in broad daylight. Some of the girls at the restaurant had probably seen Elka leave with Kenny too, which complicated things further. If the dope had stuck to the plan, she could have snuck out with him in the cover of dark after the rest of the staff shambled home from the late shift.
    Maybe she should wait for another day.
    Of course, waiting meant playing along with Kenny’s plans for her, which was not something she thought she could handle. She had little doubt his “grand tour” would end in the bedroom. He was such a cliché.
    Kenny turned into the kitchen, stopped in the center of the tiled floor, and pivoted to face Elka as she joined him. His shoe squeaked on the floor. Everything looked as neat and untouched as in the living room. The tiles shined. The fridge practically sparkled like a unicorn horn. The gas stove didn’t have so much as a smudge.
    Kenny released a contented sigh. “My first love is cooking. I used to dream of studying