Jewel’s eyes narrowed. “In any case, the Centurions as a whole are fools, Gabe and his team even worse than the rest, and their chivalrous code doesn’t make them heroes. What it does is make them suckers and makes you a fool for believing in them. They’re mercenaries, like me, and people like us have done awful things for no good reason.”
Jewel stepped forward, the grin on her face broadening when Maylin didn’t bolt. “You’re going to come with me as bait for your wayward sister. Let’s get going before the idiots on watch actually manage to pull together a timely response team. If they realize you’re in danger at all. You see, they’re used to bigger threats. A single woman talking to another woman? It’ll take them time to recognize the back of my head as not belonging to any of the Centurions on site. If they recognize me at all.”
Maylin hadn’t even known where the cameras were, only had faith they had to be somewhere. As much as Jewel knew, there wasn’t any hope of a miracle rescue in time to stop her.
Jewel raised her right hand, training a small gun at Maylin.
Don’t look away. Keep your eyes wide open and look for your own solutions. Maylin didn’t think her father had meant his advice for life-threatening situations, but hell if it didn’t apply.
She kept her eyes on the gun, with Jewel behind it, and yanked the ladle out of the now-boiling soup pot, knocking it over. Jewel screamed as scalding liquid splashed across her hand and the gun she was holding, and Maylin scrambled around the kitchen island as the stock pot clattered to the floor between them.
Jewel was cursing behind her, and Maylin sobbed as she bolted for the hallway toward the front door. Maybe she’d knocked the gun from Jewel’s hand. Maybe...
Her feet were yanked out from under her and her head hit the ground as she fell. Stars shot through her skull like a billion piercing needles, and she fought to keep conscious. She was roughly flipped onto her back and a frightening click sounded off right next to her head.
Jewel was kneeling over her, gun held in her left hand as she cradled her right close to her chest. “Little bitch.”
Dead was better than taken. Maylin swallowed hard. It’d be better if the mercenary killed her than use her against people she loved. Like An-mei, or Gabe.
And he didn’t even know she loved him.
But Jewel only held the gun steady and cocked her head sideways. “Gutsy. I’ll give you that. I’ve blown you up, driven you through glass, and now I’m holding a gun to your head. Did it even occur to you to leave Gabe? It’s not a major concern to me, mind you, more a point of curiosity.”
Leave?
Jewel regarded her with a small, patient smile.
“He...he’s not staying.” Maylin blurted it out. No idea where Jewel was going with this. The woman was crazy.
“With you?” Jewel cocked an eyebrow.
“Here.” Maylin blinked over and over again, trying to clear her vision past the pounding of her head. “This place is only temporary.”
Jewel had to know that. It was for rest and recovery only.
“Yeah, yeah. I do know.” Jewel sounded exasperated. Maybe Maylin had been babbling out loud. “And what about the two of you? Did either of you talk about anything besides what was directly in front of you?”
Maylin’s throat tightened. “I don’t know. We haven’t figured it out yet.”
“Did it occur to you to take your sister and leave once they all bring her back?”
“Without saying good-bye?” Leave things unfinished? “No. There’s too much. Too many questions.”
“So you were going to just play house here until they came back?” Jewel laughed, a genuine sound of mirth bubbling up from deep inside. The amusement chased away the hard lines and made her look years younger. For a moment, you’d think she was a normal woman. Not capable of shooting people in the back. Not holding a gun on Maylin.
Embarrassment burned Maylin’s cheeks. “It’s what I can do for them. Have something comforting when they get back. I couldn’t go with them, be real help to them. I don’t have the medical training to treat their injuries. This is what I could do.”
And it was something. It was needed.
“You know, I mistook your quiet little demeanor for submissive.” Jewel nudged Maylin’s hip with a booted foot. “You’ve obviously got no combat skills. You played the respect game very well inside the embassy back in DC. Most American Chinese would’ve gone in there and tried to roll over everyone and gotten nothing but passive-aggressive bullshit in return. But you, you walked the fine line and got results. Give a little ground, gain a lot more than they realized, until they were tripping over themselves to help you. More effective than I figured you could be. Takes a lot of patience to be that kind of person.”
Maylin tried to squirm away, but Jewel nudged her harder.
“Ah. Don’t move. I’ve got a point here and I’m going to take my sweet time getting to it. You don’t give up and I like that too, but now’s not the time to get all uppity.” Jewel spit to one side.