Chapter 81

The first thing I hear after the ringing in my ears subsides a little is Grant’s frantic voice.

“EVE! Eve, are you okay?!”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” I yell back at him from the ground.

The FBI agents swarm in, hollering at everybody to drop their guns. Since Grant doesn’t have one – and since he’s obviously strapped down to the bed – he’s safe.

As for me, I tell them right away about the pistol in the back of my jeans. I also make sure my hands are high in the air when I do it.

“GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR!” they scream. “HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!”

I move very slowly into position, careful not to spook them. Once I’m spread-eagle facedown, they slip the gun out of my waistband, then zip-tie my wrists and hoist me roughly to my feet.

I try not to look at Epicurus’s dead body. I feel bad, though God knows there’s no reason to. He was a serial killer. He was going to torture Grant to death, and he would have happily done the same to me. He was a deranged psychopath, a nightmare wrapped in huma