I was trained to stand in front of a jury and be prepared for whatever was thrown at me from the prosecution. I wasn't just good on my feet, I was fantastic. And here I was, mouth too dry to speak and a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead.
I wanted this man in the cage dead. I didn't want to help him escape but I didn't think I had a choice. Not if I wanted to make sure I lived as well. They'd already said they'd kill me if I leaked their secrets. What would happen if they thought I was being recruited?
I couldn't see a way out of this. If Suit talked, and they believed him, they might kill me. He would eventually; I didn’t doubt the lengths Fate would go to for answers.
But if I got him out, maybe I could buy myself enough time. They’d be suspicious but it would be better than him telling them I was playing for the wrong team.
Unless I killed him.
I wanted him dead. I didn’t know if I could take him, one on one, but what if I stalled and came back with a gun? Could I shoot him like this? He couldn’t run. It would be shooting fish in a tank.
But he was slime!
Even still, he wasn’t killing anyone. There was no one here to defend or protect. It would be cold-blooded murder, and I just didn’t have it in me. Maybe if I hung around here for another century I’d be the kind of person who could, but that changed nothing for me right now.
“If I get you out, I want you to swear you'll never approach me again, in any life, from this point forward.”
“Done.”
I knew the keys to open the cage were down here. I’d seen Lars leave them on the hook across the room. They dangled there, like a beacon to escape.
I grabbed them before I could second-guess myself and let him out, cursing my weakness the whole time. I scanned the cement walls for some exit but I knew I wasn't going to find one. I’d have to cause a distraction upstairs so he could slip out.
And in that space of two seconds, when I turned my back on him, his arms looped over my head and he had his forearm pressed against my neck.
“What are you doing?”
“I can't leave you behind.”
I had only one choice left, or the only one I maybe truly wanted. I grabbed the metal pen I had in my pocket. I’d grabbed it on my way out of the hotel because I’d thought I might need to make notes of what I saw. I felt for the point and fisted it in my hand. With surprising ease, I violently jerked my arm back.
I knew I’d hit my target. I didn't need to see the blood spurting in my peripheral vision to tell me. My aim had been uncanny. And unlike in my mortal life, I knew it wasn’t just luck, anymore. Without seeing what I was doing, I’d managed to stab him in the jugular.
His wrists still handcuffed together, I was pulled back with him, knocking over a chair and clattering some other things with us. We fell to the floor, me lying on top of him, facing the ceiling.
“What are you getting me into?” I murmured out loud, having a funny feeling that it would be heard by my intended target, not the dying man below me.
I heard the rush of people running through the door, Fate in the lead.
He was on me before I had a chance to extricate myself.
“Are you okay?”
I was covered in Suit’s blood and I wished at that moment I could claim an injury.
“I’m fine. It’s his blood.”
I crawled out of Suit’s embrace and got to my feet. My victim was lying on the ground with a pen sticking out of his neck. I didn't need to be a defense attorney to know that this looked bad, really bad.
He wasn't moving, and his blood was oozing out, not spurting to the rhythm of a heart. He was definitely dead.
“She killed him,” Cutty yelled.
He lunged for me but Fate stepped quickly between us, making a human shield between me and the men.
“Back off,” Fate said.
“She screwed us!” Cutty was pointing in my direction. “She knew we needed him alive. There’s something wrong with her. She let him out!”
All four men that faced in my direction had varying degrees of distrust written on their faces.
“That’s a gigantic leap, Cutty. She’s not with them,” Fate argued.
“How do we know?”
“This is a problem,” Lars said, staring at me in a very unsettling way. I would have put him at the lower end of the distrust scale a minute ago.
“Clean this up and get rid of him. I'll handle her,” Fate said. He pushed me in front of him, always maintaining a buffer between me and the guys.
I hustled up the stairs quickly, happily putting distance between me and the men down there. I knew a lost cause when I saw one, and they all looked like they wanted to kill me, and not like “let’s ponder the thought and get around to it next week,” but “rip my limbs off and use my bones for some broth.”
I didn't have a guarantee that Fate didn't want the same thing, but “handle her” didn't sound anything like “kill her.” I could be grasping at semantics, but Fate was my best bet, right now.
He pushed me toward the door, another good sign. If he wanted to kill me, he'd probably do it here. And he’d defended me. I didn’t know what to even think of that.
I took a shot and decided to head toward the car I'd stashed further back, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me toward his. I didn't argue or fight. It was time to do damage control. Keep everything calm until I was out of this situation.
He grabbed a towel from his trunk and laid it on the passenger seat, obviously looking to avoid the blood stains.
“I guess you have this problem regularly?” The words slipped out before I thought better of it.
“Get in.”
I shut up. This wasn't about playing nice, I was in pure self preservation mode. I’d messed up badly and I knew it.
“What happened?” he asked after he started driving.
“I was trying to get answers. I wanted him to think I was on his side and I was going to get him out so he'd talk. Then he attacked me.”
“You know that story is ridiculous.” He shot me a look that dared me to deny it.
“It's what happened.” I mean he did dare me, everyone has their limits. Plus, I certainly wasn't going to come clean. I couldn't. He had towels in the back of the car for sopping up blood and I wasn't sure how much the universe liked me. Was it I’m head over heels for you, or more of a passing fancy without any real commitment? Did I want to find out while Fate was choking the life from me that the universe had found a new favorite?
I could just imagine trying to explain to Fate how I, someone whose position is supposed to handle karma, had saved criminals that would've been sent to jail so that I could build a name for myself. It seemed so much worse now but it hadn't then. I’d never really thought it was me. Yeah, I knew I could be convincing, but I didn’t realize I’d been actually swaying them beyond what was natural. Hell, I still didn’t know how I’d even done it, exactly.
I used to think as a judge, I would make a difference and it would all be worth it. I'd rationalized it away, right up until Suit had just tried to recruit me. What kind of monster was I that a mass murderer wanted me on his team? I was in the ranks of someone like Maxwell? If I were human, what would I have looked like? I lifted a hand to my skin, as if I could feel the pus already.
“Do you know how long I've been trying to get a lead on this guy?” He punched the dashboard of the SUV. I’d never seen him this upset.
I shivered and he probably thought it had something to do with him. It didn't. I shrugged off the image of my face covered in cracks, at least for now. I couldn't change or fix what I'd become if I didn't make it out of this predicament.
“From the moment you showed up, you've been nothing but a walking disaster. Cutty is right, there's something wrong here. And then I’m forced to defend you when I know it too.”
“I’m sorry but threatening to kill someone doesn’t inspire confidence.” But the more he talked, the more I realized he never would’ve done it.
“You take nothing seriously, but that you decide to listen to. How many times have you heard someone say that?”
“You said it with a very scary tone.”