Fate's Edge (14 page)

This man was a rogue, not because circumstances forced him to be a criminal but because he was born that way. He was probably conning his mother out of her milk the moment he could grin. He’d charm the clothes off a virgin in twenty minutes. And if the poor fool took him home, he’d drink her dad under the table, beguile her mother, charm her grandparents, and treat the girl to a night she’d never forget. In the morning, her dad would be sick with alcohol poisoning, the good silver would be missing together with the family car, and in a month, both the former virgin and her mother would be expecting.

Whatever he wanted, it was bad. She had to get the hell away from him. He wasn’t one of Alex’s junkie buddies, and he wasn’t one of her father’s “friends.” Seamus Callahan knew his limits. This man would run circles around him, and Seamus never partnered with anyone smarter than himself. Well, except for the family.

No, this man was too dangerous to be a common Edge rat. He was working for someone in the Edge or, more likely, in the Weird, and he probably wanted the box she had stolen from West Egypt. If he had found her, others would follow. They would never leave her alone, and they wouldn’t think twice about killing her.

She was finished. Her job, her life, it was all over.

THE girl was beautiful.

Kaldar had expected a junkie or a long-suffering victim, a woman with a haggard face, toughened by life, and bitter. He’d seen some pretty girls in his time, a lot of them in their entirety, but Audrey was in a class by herself. She was golden. Her tan skin almost glowed. Her dark eyes sparked under narrow eyebrows. Her hair, pulled away from her face, was that particular shade of dark red, more brown touched with gold rather than orange. And when she smiled at him, showing white teeth, it was infectious. He wanted to smile back and do something amusing so she would smile at him again.

She walked up to him. Big smile, wide eyes, no hesitation. Nice outfit too; professional, true, but tight enough to show off her long legs and hug her butt, and her red shirt under the jacket was cut just low enough to pull the gaze to her breasts, which were very nice to look at. He’d bet there were men in this building who spent too much time picturing themselves peeling off her clothes and pondering the color of her panties. The question was, did she know it, and if she did, how did she use it?

“Hi!” she repeated, all sunshine and roses. “My name is Audrey. How can I help you?”

Her voice was golden too—smooth with a light touch of the South. He should’ve gone for a different type of disguise, something warmer and more folksy, instead of Seattle grunge. But too late now. Either she was really good, and he was in trouble, or she was an airhead, and he was unbelievably lucky.

“Hi, Audrey.” Kaldar smiled back, dropping a hint of his own South into his voice as well. “My name’s Denis Morrow.”

“So nice to meet you, Denis.”

“The pleasure’s all mine.”

Audrey shook his hand, and he caught a whiff of her perfume: citrus, peaches, and sandalwood, fresh, sensual, but not overpowering.

Her fingers squeezed his for a second and slipped out of his hand. He’d expected it, but his pulse sped up all the same. She was good.

“Please sit down.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Kaldar sat in the wooden chair in front of her desk. She went to her desk, sashaying a little, sat, and smiled at him. It was a sweet and completely innocent smile. He half expected flowers to sprout from the carpet and small birds to spring into song.

Audrey slid the top drawer of her desk out. Kaldar tensed. She took a small box of Altoids out and set it on the desk. “Mints?”

Probably poisoned. “No, thank you.”

Audrey pried the box open with her slender fingers. “Sorry, I just had coffee. My breath is . . . phew!” She waved her hand in front of her face.

“I don’t mind. Go right ahead.”

She plucked a mint out, put it on her pink tongue, and closed her mouth. “Mmm. I love Altoids.”

Aaand his thoughts went off the map. Nicely done again. He wondered how often she’d used that little trick. He could picture a conference room full of men simultaneously shutting up to watch her eat Altoids. No sister of Alex Callahan could be a complete innocent, but he didn’t expect this.

She leaned forward, her face earnest. “So, how can I help you, Denis?”

“I’ve visited your brother,” he said, testing the waters. “Alex.”

“Alex?” Her eyes went wide. “How is he? Is he okay? Did something happen?”

Her face showed genuine concern, even.

“Did he OD?”

And that was genuine fear. If he were a little less jaded, he would’ve bought it. Callahan wouldn’t be the first addict to have a persecution complex. Maybe Audrey was Daddy’s little girl, and Alex was the family’s bitter black sheep, who was lying through his teeth.

And maybe pigs would fly and rich men would grow a conscience.

“Papa said he was in a nice place. The doctors were supposed to take care of him!”

Moisture wet her eyelashes. Crying on cue. Adorable. Kaldar had to say something before she teared up, or things would get messy. He held out his hand and put on a guilty smile. “Audrey, please, you misunderstood. It would break my heart to see such a lovely woman upset. Your brother’s fine.”

Audrey drew back. “That wasn’t nice. You scared me.”

Now he was a mean, rotten man, yes he was. He almost clapped.

She drew herself upright. “What is it that you would like from me, Mr. Morrow?”

Well, it was a great performance, but all good things had to come to an end. Kaldar leaned forward, and said in an intimate, quiet voice, “I want you to cut the bullshit and tell me what your daddy has done with the device you stole from West Egypt.”

She jerked her hand toward him, blindingly fast. A sharp jolt exploded in his chest, as if he had hit his funny bone, and the shock overwhelmed his whole body. Kaldar’s muscles locked. He willed himself to move, but he remained trapped in the chair, rigid like a board. The words gurgled in his mouth.

A Taser! She had Tasered him!
Damn it all to hell.

Audrey slipped from behind her desk. He felt his arms yanked, then the pain was over. His body snapped back to normal, all functions restored, and he spat the first word that popped into his mouth. “Fuck.”

Audrey slapped a piece of duct tape over his lips. He growled and lunged at her, but his arms didn’t move.

She’d zip-tied him to his chair.

He’d been had. She’d tricked him like he was a sucker. Like he was a child. The moment he got free, she would regret it. He would make her deeply regret it.

Audrey bent over him, running her fingers through his clothes with practiced quickness, and pulled his knife from the inner pocket of his hoodie. The slightly curved black blade was almost six inches long and razor-sharp, but thick enough to parry one or two sword strokes.

“Nice knife.”

The point of the black blade pricked the skin just below his eye. She bent over him, her voice shaking with quiet rage.

“You have no idea what you’ve cost me. I worked for months to get this job, and you ruined everything. Do you know what it’s like to have to start over? Do you know how hard it is to get legal in the Broken?”

The knife cut his skin. He felt a drop of blood slide onto his cheek. Kaldar held very still. No need to agitate her.

“I’ve worked so hard. I’ve been so good. I like this job. I was supposed to get benefits in three months. And you and that pathetic excuse for a human being crushed it all. What did you give Alex to get to me, huh? Couldn’t have been money. He doesn’t care about money. No, it had to be drugs, didn’t it? That bloody moron would sell me out for a dime bag of pot. If he told you, he’d tell anyone. The Hand, the Claws, anyone!”

Audrey raised his knife. If she stabbed him, he’d lunge right and hope she missed the heart. For a moment, she looked like she would plunge the knife into his chest, then she leaned over him, her face an inch from his and spoke, each word a furious promise.

“Don’t follow me. If I ever see you again, I’ll cut out your eyeballs and make you swallow them.”

Audrey turned and marched out of the office, carefully closing the door behind her. The door clicked. She’d locked him in.

Kaldar surged to his feet, spun his back and the chair toward the heavy desk, and braced the chair’s legs against it. If his luck held, the chair was as old as it looked. He strained. The wood groaned. He’d done this a couple of times before. The trick was enough pressure at the right angle.

The last thing he wanted was for Jack to find him tied up. He would never hear the end of it.

JACK crouched on the curb and surveyed the parking lot. The tall glass-and-concrete building rose in front of them. From his vantage point, the front door was clearly visible. Next to him, George kept messing with the skateboard. He had good balance from fencing, and if he pushed with one foot, he could stand on it while it rolled; but Kaldar had said there was a way to make it roll faster by rocking side to side. So far nothing George had tried worked, but he was entertaining to watch.

Jack inhaled the scents. The parking lot smelled of many things, but through it all he sensed the vivid trail of Kaldar’s track. This was fun, Jack reflected. Even waiting was a lot more fun than school.

“Door,” George murmured.

Across the parking lot the glass door of the building swung open. A pretty woman with copper-colored hair stepped out and started out down the sidewalk. She walked another ten feet, out of view of the door, and broke into a jog.

“Go!” George said. Jack shot across the parking lot at a dead run. He burst through the doors, following Kaldar’s scent. An older man behind the counter yelled, “Where are you going?” Jack ignored him and turned right. The scent trail led him past the elevator to the stairs. Jack bounded up, taking the stairway two steps at a time. Smart of Kaldar to take the stairs. Can’t track scent through the elevator.

Seven floors, eight, nine, ten. There! Jack slapped the door open and jumped out into the hallway. The scent said, “Left!” He turned left and dashed down the hallway. Doors punctured the walls. Not this one, not that one, no, no, no. This one. He gripped the door handle. Locked.

Jack took a step back and hammered the heel of his foot into the door. It popped open. Jack ducked inside and almost ran into Kaldar, who for some reason had pieces of wood dangling from his wrists. They looked like chair pieces. Kaldar jerked his arms up, exposing pale plastic things wrapped around his wrists. Jack pulled his knife out and slashed at the ties. Chunks of chair crashed onto the floor.

“Where is your knife?” Jack asked.

Kaldar’s face was frightening. He grabbed a small sliver of wood and headed out of the office, “She took it.”

“What do you mean, she took it?”

Outside in the hallway a woman with gray hair blocked their way. “What are you doing? Where is Audrey?”

Kaldar spun away from her and marched to the stairway. The woman chased them.

“She took it after she Tasered me and tied me to the chair.”

They went through the doorway, and Kaldar slammed the door shut and shoved the piece of wood he was carrying under the door.

“Oh, so you gave her your knife so she wouldn’t kill you.”

Kaldar stopped and stared at him. The woman shoved the door from the other side and cursed.

“Too bad,” Jack said. “It was a nice knife. I really liked it. But it was a good trade.”

“You have an odd mind.”

“Is that bad?” Jack asked.

“Not at all. It makes you unpredictable. That’s an excellent quality.” Kaldar shook his head and kept walking.

“So what now?”

“Now I get my knife back.”

FIVE

IT was ruined. Audrey clenched her teeth. Everything she had worked for, everything she had tried to accomplish. All of it was ruined.