TIMOFEY
The door to the apartment is cracked open ever so slightly, just the way I left it. The woman in the wheelchair is still sitting in front of the grimy window in the dining room. She is wearing headphones. I can hear the faint, tinny sound of something loud playing. I walk past her to Noelle's room.
I'm going to grab Piper, force her somewhere safe, and keep her there until this all boils over. Until Kreshnik is dead and Sergey has been neutralized.
Except when I push the door open, the nest of blankets where Noelle had been huddled are tossed to the end of the bed. The bed is empty. No one is in the room.
"Piper?" I spin around and then move down the hall to the next room. Then to the bathroom.
She isn't here.
I storm into the dining room. The woman in the wheelchair is facing me now. The headphones are in her lap and her mouth is set in a firm line.
