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.