Page 20 of Cash

“You have something far more valuable than money. I wonder if you know it yet.”

What else did I have? I searched wildly, imagines flying back and forth in my head. I came up blank.

“You started a new job today. Didn’t you?”

I covered my mouth with my hand. No way. How did they know that? How long had they been following me? Did they know Cash? Damn it, I should’ve known better than to get myself mixed up with a shifter. I should’ve turned Mary down, turned Harrison down. I would be cooking spaghetti for my nephew right now if I had, and he’d be finishing up his homework at the table and absentmindedly kicking the legs of his chair until he scuffed them up.

“I’ll take your silence as understanding. You’re starting to understand what it is we’re after.”

“You want him?” I whispered.

“No, no—well, maybe. If that would make things more convenient. What we really want is his blood.”

I thought back to the tubes I had drawn earlier. I had only used a couple of them for analysis and was planning to use the rest for testing once I started devising early antidotes. “I can go get it right now. I have two tubes full. Please, don’t hurt my nephew.”

Silence. I held my breath, waiting. When a soft chuckle reached my ears, I whimpered in dismay.

“You think two tubes is going to do it?” the robot-voiced man asked before chuckling again. “We need a lot more than that.”

“How much?” I could draw it when I got there. He wouldn’t even have to know why I was doing it.

“Much more,” he snapped. “As much as you can get your hands on. We realize it’ll take a little time, since draining him all at once would look… obvious… but we trust you’ll expedite the process as much as possible. You have plenty of motivation.”

“Why are you doing this?” I whispered. I didn’t expect an answer. It didn’t matter why they were doing it, anyway. They had my boy.

Another soft, sinister chuckle. “Do you really want to know?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“How do I know Tommy’s still safe?” I asked.

Tears threatened to choke me. I swallowed them back, swallowed hard, determined not to lose control of myself until I was off the phone. Of course, I’d be heartbroken and devastated and panicked. They had to expect that. But they didn’t need to hear it.

“Would you like to talk to him?”

“Yes! Yes, please, let me hear his voice. Oh, God.” I covered my eyes, weeping openly no matter how hard I tried to hold it in.

My poor little guy. What were they doing to him? I couldn’t let him stay long. They might get impatient, start forcing my hand.

“Aunt Cari?” He sounded doubtful, but healthy. Strong.

“Hey, big guy. How ya doin’?” Keep it light. Keep it normal. Make sure he doesn’t know you’re falling apart.

“I thought you were going to come to get me today,” he murmured.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I wanted to.” Tears streamed down my cheeks. Another promise broken.

“Where are you?”

What should I say? “Still at work, honey. I couldn’t leave you at school forever. I had to have somebody else pick you up. Are you comfortable there?”

“Yeah. They’re nice. How do you know them?”

Just like that, he was gone. “Tommy? Tommy!”

“No, no,” Robot Voice chided. “Sorry, pal, Aunt Cari has to go now.”

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