djinn wars 02 - taken (17 page)

“That, too. I think they’d gotten in several shipments right before the Heat hit, so we were stocked to begin with, and then our foraging teams picked up more stuff when they went out to Santa Fe.”

“All the comforts of home,” I remarked.

“We do our best. Speaking of home, how is the new place?”

“It’s great. Thank you so much for getting us placed so quickly.”

Julia looked pleased and opened her mouth to reply, but right then a girl around Evony’s age, maybe even younger, came up and asked what we’d like to drink. She kept shooting inquisitive looks at us as she took our orders, mine for a glass of malbec, Evony’s for some Lumberyard ale. I thought I knew what those glances were all about — she wanted to get an eyeful of the two women who’d supposedly had djinn lovers. Thankfully, though, she didn’t say anything on that subject, but only told us she’d be back in a few minutes with our drinks. Most likely Julia’s presence there had kept her from really attempting to pry.

“I noticed the houses next to ours seemed to be empty,” I began, and she nodded.

“Yes, they’re both on natural gas for their central heating, so we haven’t placed anyone there yet. We’re working on getting that straightened out, but right now we have enough inventory that we’re doing okay.”

“It must be a logistical nightmare, having to juggle everything,” I said. Thinking of Lauren in Taos, the former executive assistant, I added, “Were you an admin or something before? Because I don’t think I could manage what you do.”

For some reason, the compliment didn’t seem to please her. Julia tapped her finger on the base of her wine glass, her gaze not quite meeting mine. “I was a paralegal at a busy law firm. So I’m sort of used to juggling fifty things at once, all of which have to be done right now.”

“Margolis a pain to work for?” Evony inquired. Judging by her tone, she already had her own ideas on that score.

“He’s…demanding,” Julia allowed. “But I understand why. We’re not having to start exactly from scratch here, but it can be tough getting people to fit in and do what the community needs.”

Including conscripting me for teaching duty. I really wasn’t looking forward to that. Never mind that I’d had vague plans to go into teaching once I was done with my master’s, mostly because what the heck else was I supposed to do with a master’s degree in English? But those plans had been to teach high school, not the lower grades, and Julia’s comment that there were kids ranging from nine to sixteen hadn’t exactly filled me with confidence. Well, I’d worry about that tomorrow when I went in to get my work assignment. Stressing about it now would only ruin my evening.

“I suppose it would be tough.” Evony’s expression wasn’t exactly thrilled, either, and I had a feeling she wasn’t looking forward to ending up here at Pajarito’s or one of the other eating establishments they’d kept open here in town, serving drinks and food to people who’d been doing far more interesting things than waiting tables all day. Well, maybe she had some other skills that could be put to use. We hadn’t had much of a chance to discuss the situation.

Speaking of servers, the girl came back right then with our drinks and set them down, then flitted back to the kitchen and returned with a huge plate of heavenly-smelling fries. I inhaled the aroma and thought maybe Los Alamos wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“You can get something more substantial after this,” Julia said. “But I figured the fries would be a good place to start.”

I had to agree with her on that one. Evony reached for the same fry as I did at the same time, and we both laughed as we withdrew our hands and selected a different one. They were marvelous, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and drizzled with truffle oil.

“I can see why you kept those on the menu,” I said, after I’d eaten a couple and then taken a sip of my wine. It wasn’t nearly as good as the fries, but I was willing to overlook its shortcomings, just because of the effect it would have on me. Some of the tension began to leave my shoulders as I drank some more malbec.

“Good, aren’t they?” Julia had also helped herself to a few more swallows of her wine, and she, too, looked a little more relaxed than when Evony and I had first sat down in the booth. Despite my comparing her to Lauren, Julia and Zahrias’ Girl Friday back in Taos really weren’t that much alike. Lauren seemed sunny and cheerful to the point that I had to wonder whether she’d been a pageant girl once upon a time, whereas there was something sad and closed-off about Julia, despite her smiles and welcoming attitude.

“They’re awesome,” Evony said. She lifted her pint glass and saluted the two of us. “Here’s to the beer never running out.”

“Well, I’m more of a wine drinker, but I’ll drink to that anyway.” Julia clinked her glass against Evony’s, and then against mine. “Captain Margolis thought it was important for the community here to have this sort of place to come to if we want. Helps to maintain an atmosphere of normality.”

My estimation of the commander rose a notch. All right, I still hated him for taking Jace away, but at least he didn’t seem to be quite the tyrant I had expected.

“Very forward-thinking man, Captain Margolis,” Evony said, gulping back more of her beer. She probably needed to slow down, or she’d be finished with that pint long before I was done with my much more modest glass of wine.

Then a shadow seemed to fall over our booth, and I looked up to see two large men standing there, both wearing unpleasant smiles on their faces. Something about them seemed vaguely familiar, and I thought they might have been among the crew that had seized Jace several days ago. I hadn’t had any real interactions with them at the time, not the way I had with Dan Lowery, and so I couldn’t be positive as to their identity. Even so, I felt myself stiffen, my fingers tightening around the stem of my wine glass.

Their appearance had put Julia on alert, too; I could see the way her jaw tightened and she took in a breath, almost as if bracing herself for some sort of confrontation.

“Well, look who’s here,” the one who was standing slightly closer to our table said. “It’s our two little djinn-fuckers.”

I couldn’t say that kind of comment was completely unexpected, but even so I felt my gut clench and my heart begin to pound. Beside me, Evony choked on the mouthful of beer she’d just swallowed.

“There’s no need for that, Mitch,” Julia said, her voice quiet enough, but underlaid with a trace of steel. “Jessica and Evony have had a change of heart. They’re with us now.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mitch inquired, rocking back slightly on his heels. From his reddened eyes and the general air of blurriness that accompanied him, I guessed he’d had more than a few beers to drink. You’d think they’d have the sense to stop serving someone when he went over the edge, but maybe whoever was pouring the drinks didn’t have the nerve to say no to one of Margolis’ enforcers. “That still doesn’t change what they did.”

“Actually, I think it does.” Julia’s tone didn’t alter one bit, and she stared up at Mitch as if she wasn’t a bit worried that he probably outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. “You ever done something you regretted, something you tried to fix later?”

“Uh….” He frowned, as if trying to work that one out. I had a feeling he wasn’t the sharpest tack in the box even when he wasn’t drunk. Then his gaze sharpened just a little. “Well, maybe. But nothing like that.”

In another situation, I might have thrown a “to err is human” quote in there, but I had no idea how this Mitch person would react to a remark like that. It was probably better to keep my mouth shut and let Julia handle this.

She said, “We’re just trying to have a quiet meal here. If all this is okay with the commander, then it should be okay with you, too.”

Obviously, Mitch hadn’t considered that side of the argument, because he glanced back at his compatriot, who shrugged, then stepped forward, leering at Evony.

“Hey, sweetie, now that you’ve given up that djinn bitch, how about you let a real man show you how it’s done?”

Without blinking, Evony responded, “Sure. If you see a real man anywhere around here, send him on over.”

Oh, shit. The second guy, who was probably almost as drunk as Mitch, tilted his head slightly as he attempted to process her remark. Then his brows lowered, and he said, “You think you’re pretty cute, don’t you? Well, you’re not going to have the ice queen here around to protect you all the time.”

“Butch,” Julia said, still in that clear, quiet tone. “That’s enough.”

“We’ll say when it’s been enough. You shouldn’t be sticking up for these bitches — ”

“Back off, Butch,” came a new voice, and I looked past the two rednecks to see Dan Lowery approaching, a scowl to match theirs darkening his face. “You’re making a scene.”

“So what?” Mitch said. “We’re only saying what everyone else in here is thinking.”

Dan paused next to our booth. He wasn’t as bulky as the other two men, but an inch or so taller, just enough so he could stare down at them as he stood there, arms crossed. “I kind of doubt that. And anyway, if Captain Margolis is letting the girls stay, then he must be all right with them being here. What he probably won’t be all right with is finding out how you’ve been treating them. Know what I mean?”

At that implied threat, both Mitch and Butch seemed to noticeably deflate. “We were just kidding — ” Butch began, and Dan cut in,

“Well, I kind of doubt Jessica and Evony thought it was funny. So you should probably just go back to your own table.”

They hesitated for a few seconds, exchanging hangdog looks, and then they slouched off, grumbling under their breath. By some unspoken agreement, Julia slid over on her side of the booth so Dan could sit down.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “Mitch is all right until you get about three or four beers in him, and then he gets mean. But now he’ll have a couple more, and he’ll swing back to being all friendly before he passes out somewhere.”

“Margolis is going to cut him off if he isn’t careful,” Julia said, then picked up her glass of wine and took an over-large swallow. It seemed as if that exchange had shaken her just as much as it had shaken me. Even though the two guys were gone, and we had Dan here as a buffer in case they decided to come back, my heart didn’t want to stop pounding.

“Well, that’s between Mitch and Captain Margolis, I guess.” Dan shifted in his seat and flagged down the waitress, then ordered a Guinness. “Hope you don’t mind me horning in like this.”

“Not at all,” I said, my voice shaky with relief, while Evony added,

“We’d never turn away a knight in shining armor.”

He chuckled at that, but I noticed the way his gaze shifted immediately from Evony to me, and I felt my cheeks grow warm. In other circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have minded the attention, but now it was just a reminder that I was here for Jace, and only Jace.

Julia seemed to notice the tension, because she said, “Have some fries, Dan. I think you’ve earned them.”

A chuckle, but I noticed he didn’t say no. He reached out and snagged a few of the truffle fries, munching on them in silence until the waitress came back with his stout.

I waited until he’d taken a long pull at the beer before asking, “Do a lot of people feel that way? About Evony and me, I mean.”

From the way he hesitated, I could tell he really didn’t want to answer me. A quick flicker of his hazel eyes under the thick dark blond lashes in Julia’s direction, and she shrugged. Then he said, “A lot? I don’t know. I mean, you just got into town, but even so, word spreads quickly enough. It goes a long way that Captain Margolis welcomed you here, because most people are willing to follow his lead.”

“But not all of them, apparently,” Evony said, her tone sour. She drained the rest of the beer in her glass, then sighed. “Should’ve ordered another one while the waitress was still here.”

“No problem,” Dan told her. He raised his hand and flagged down the server, told her Evony needed another drink, and thanked her as she hurried off to the bar.

“Wow, you really are a knight in shining armor.”

“Not really. Stacy and I have known each other since Albuquerque. We met just a few days after…you know.”

Oh, did we know. Those hellish days when the Heat burned through the population had begun to turn hazy and dark in my memory, though, like a bad dream you’ve tried very hard to forget. Even so, I wanted to hear what it had been like for other people, for those who’d had to find their own way out of the mess, the ones who didn’t have the guiding voice of a djinn guardian to lead them to safety.

“So are you….” I let the words trail off, since I had a good idea that he wasn’t with Stacy, but I didn’t know what else to say.

“No,” he replied, and I felt rather than saw his gaze rest on me, since I had glanced down and was pretending to be focused on swirling the wine still left in my glass. “She was scared and alone. I guess some guy had tried to attack her, and she ran away. I had to convince her I wasn’t going to do the same thing, but then we looked out for each other after that. A few days later, we ran into a bigger group of survivors. Margolis’ group. That’s how I met Julia.”

“So you were with Margolis from the beginning?” Evony picked up a truffle fry and popped it in her mouth.

“Almost,” Julia said, although I could tell she wasn’t thrilled to be revisiting this part of her past. “After my — well, once I was alone, I waited a day. I kept thinking help had to arrive, even though deep down I knew that wasn’t going to happen, that if anyone was going to show up and provide some assistance, they would’ve done it before then. There wasn’t any electricity, no phone service. My townhouse complex was completely deserted. I had a vague idea of trying to head downtown to the city center, since I thought if there was anything left, that might be where people were gathering. I didn’t get even a quarter-mile before I ran into Richard Margolis and his group. He already had about twenty people with him.”

The number surprised me. I wondered how Margolis had managed to get together such a large group so soon after the Heat had done its work. But, whatever my personal feelings about him might be, I could tell he was a force of nature. Maybe those survivors had been drawn to him the way iron filings were drawn to a magnet.