Page 51 of Taken for Granite
“No. They put a bag over my head and put zip ties on my wrists.” Chloe displayed her bruised wrists. “They fed me and left me alone.”
Juniper sighed with relief.
“I got so bored I did all my homework, even that essay onWuthering Heights.” Chloe made a face then said, “I guess I’m not going back to school again, am I?”
“Not that school. Maybe.” Even if they ever went back to Philadelphia, the private school’s tuition was way beyond her budget now.
“What are we going to do, Junie?”
At that moment, Chloe was a fourteen-year-old girl needing her big sister to shield her. She was brave and smart and resilient—but also scared.
Juniper smiled, grabbed her purse, and pulled out a stack of cash she retrieved from the van. “Mickey’s emergency bribe money.”
Chloe’s eyes went wide. “Did you steal that? Who are you? What happened to straight-laced Junie?”
“Ten grand and I didn’t steal it.” Gah, she couldn’t lie. “Okay, I kinda did, but it was in the catering van to bribe the cops if I ever got stopped.” Mickey wouldn’t miss the money now.
“Blood money.”
“Money to keep us going until things calm down at home.”
“Will it?”
Juniper rummaged through the carrier bags and found the bag of Halloween candy. She grabbed a Twix and popped it in her mouth. “We’re going to eat all this candy, watch some bad movies for a few days, and then we’ll figure something out. Deal?” She tossed a Snickers to Chloe.
“Deal,” her sister said, with a mouthful of chocolate.
* * *
tas
Rhododendron sat in a chair, her legs crossed sharply at the knee, and regarded him with cool disdain. In one hand she held the sigil, red lights glowing in the cracks of the dark metal casing, and a red gem in the center.
They held each other’s gaze, neither willing to be the first to break contact. Perhaps Rhododendron was not used to Tas being able to look back at her, as she glanced down toward the sigil in her hand.
“Was this thing really worth coming back for?” she asked.
Tas said nothing.
“What’s this? You’ve never been shy before.” Painted red lips twitched into a smile. “Normally you can’t stop telling me all the ways you’ll gut me and defile my body.”
He leaned forward, ready to attack.
“I don’t think so.” She held up a baton that crackled with energy. Tas didn’t need his sight to recognize the implement. High voltage shocks would immobilize him. “Let’s just keep our distance, hmm?” She glanced back down at the sigil. “I thought this was broken.”
“Obviously not.”
“No. Obviously not.” She stood and stuffed it into a pocket. Absently, she used a handkerchief to wipe her hands, as if the alien device tainted her. “You’ve caused a fair amount of property damage today, Tas.”
Footsteps echoed down the hall. He tensed, ready for the door to burst open with Syndicate agents, each armed with their own weapons to subdue him. If he met this at the door, he could create a bottleneck to control the flow and not get overwhelmed. One human was a trifle, but they became problematic in numbers.
Static and voices carried down the corridor, growing louder and eventually passing. When the last of the footsteps vanished, Tas turned toward the agent. She did this. She diverted the henchmen elsewhere.
“I don’t need any special consideration from you,” he said.
“As nice as it is to see you with both wings functioning, and I’m sure you’re an impressive fighter, I can’t be bothered sitting through a dust-up. It’s dull. So dull. I’ve waited so long to speak with you, Tas, as an equal, and you want to ruin with fisticuffs?”
“Is that what we are? Equal?” he said hastily, before he had a chance to think better of it.
