BooksBarbecue
Back When Villains Rise
Chapters (52)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
  50. More Books from HMH Teen
  51. About the Author
  52. Connect with HMH on Social Media

Part of her wanted to stay, to take every single one of these dealers out, to wreak havoc on all of them for trying to kill her and sell her. But she’d tried that, and it had only made things worse. She needed to be smart about this, and being smart meant that she had to think big, plan ahead, and not just murder everyone in her way. She needed to make them all too afraid to try to kill her.

And for that, she needed Fabricio’s information. And she needed Kovit’s help—she couldn’t afford for him to have the whole planet trying to murder him.

Kovit. She checked the time and swore, leaving the bathroom at a brisk pace. She’d been delayed too much already.

She had an INHUP agent to meet.

Eight

AS SHE NEARED the Pickle Barrel, she noticed that the old man was still sitting with his breakfast in the window to the restaurant, the hostess was still texting. The man looking at books was gone of course, dead in the bathroom. Nita eyed the hostess and the man eating breakfast, but didn’t let her gaze linger. There was no way to know if they were INHUP.

In front of the Pickle Barrel stood a woman. She was short, barely five feet, with long black hair pulled into a professional bun at the nape of her neck. Her brown skin was the same warm shade as Kovit’s, and she shared his striking eyebrows and black eyes.

Nita let out a breath. Patchaya Vidthuvitsai had come.

But the question was, had she been followed? And if she had, was she the one instigating it, or was INHUP doing it independently of her?

You’re being paranoid again, one part of her mind whispered.

Better to be safe than sorry . . . And you were just followed and had to murder someone and hide a body in a bathroom. Is it really paranoia when it happens?

Touché, brain, touché.

So she casually walked by and didn’t even look up as she passed Kovit’s sister. Once outside the mall, she tipped her head back and looked around. There was construction on the opposite side of the street, but the subway entrance was clear.

Nita crossed the street and stood under the shelter of a mesh fence, pulled out her phone, and texted the same number she’d used last night: The subway entrance across the street.

A few moments later, Patchaya left the mall and made her way to the streetlights. As she waited for the lights to change, the man who’d been eating breakfast at the Pickle Barrel came out the front door of the shopping mall.

Nita’s eyes narrowed. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. But Nita didn’t stay alive by assuming the best. And she’d already had one brush with hunters today.