Page 68 of Burn

The bananas were beginning to go a little brown, so they were real. For some reason, the bowl of fruit struck me as odd. I couldn’t quite figure that one out. Goblin trotted after Alphabet as he made his way through the kitchen to a sunken living room. The windows here stretched all the way up to the second floor ceiling. The space was massive.

The view was just incredible.

“Come on in and make yourself comfortable. Plenty of space. We’ll get the gear distributed and I expect Lunchbox will want tostart on dinner. But I can make you coffee if you want? Or more water?”

It took real effort to glance away from the view to turn and look at Alphabet. He stood near the steps that led back up to the kitchen, his expression assessing. Goblin had sat down right next to him.

Voodoo passed through and then headed up the stairs with two of the bags, followed by Bones with the third bag. Lunchbox was in the kitchen washing his hands.

“Yes, I do want to make dinner. I’ve got some ideas I’ve been wanting to try out.” He flashed a grin at me. “You like chicken, right?”

“Um, yes.”

“Fantastic, so we’ll do some Chicken Piccata, maybe a little garlic butter pasta—fettuccine I think. Garlic bread. Maybe some grilled broccoli or brussel sprouts. Have to see what looks good.”

That was a lot of food. But he was already on the move hustling around the kitchen.

“I’m going to get a little work done,” Alphabet said. “There are remotes there on the table for the tv if you want. We don’t get local networks, but we have tons of movies and shows downloaded. Help yourself.”

“I want to call my sister.”

Alphabet paused and then he looked to the kitchen and when I followed his stare, I found Lunchbox watching us. His gaze shifted and a sound on the steps alerted me to Bones and Voodoo descending again.

“You said when we were secure, you’d get me a phone so I could call her. We’re secure here, right?”

The longer it took them to answer, the uneasier I grew.

I shot a look at Voodoo. “You promised.”

“I know, Firecracker. I did.”

“But he can’t keep the promise,” Bones said. “None of us can. So, do what Alphabet said, get some rest. We need to debrief and then we can get to work.”

Anger struck a match inside of me as Bones began to walk away. I seized the nearest thing, ignoring the twinge in my back, and flung it at him.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

LUNCHBOX

Iwasn’t sure what happened that made Bones change his mind for us to pick them up but I also didn’t stare at it too hard. We’d arrived at the airport two hours earlier than rendezvous, specifically to make sure nothing was waiting for them when they arrived.

Instead of experiencing relief at their appearance, I found myself in a front row seat to a gathering storm. Gracie’s pallor and tension translated to everyone else. Bones and Voodoo were in the middle of some disagreement—never a good sign.

What I couldn’t pinpoint was what specifically upset Grace currently. She had every reason to be upset from the initial kidnapping to being held to being transported. I wasn’t sure if they’d tried to rape her to break her or what. The type of people who trafficked in women would more often than not. Rape them into obedience, or at least to break them from fighting, then use drugs to keep them docile.

Her injuries had increased during her absence. That fit with what we knew of the second ambush. She moved slowly, soreness evident in every step, but she didn’t complain. The relief reflected in her eyes and her posture when she first saw me, followed by Alphabet and Goblin was also not lost on me.

When I pinned Voodoo with a look, he ignored me. I wanted an explanation, but that would have to wait until debrief. For the moment, Gracie didn’t need to suffer through a breakdown of current intelligence. Most of it wasn’t pretty. That briefing needed to happen before we broached any discussions with her.

Her nerves were on display during the flight. They didn’t vanish during the drive to the house. She relaxed some when Voodoo put her in his lap. The familiarity and the comfort set off alarm bells.

Yeah. I really wanted the debrief on what the fuck happened between when Voodoo took off with her and meeting us at the airport. Still, the wariness returned to Gracie when we pulled into the garage. All of us waited for Alphabet to do the electronic sweep and deactivate the main alarm.

A physical and visual sweep would follow. We split up the gear and carried it in. Grace moved carefully, like she was hurting.

Of course, she was still hurting. I could have slapped myself in the head. She’d taken more than a few blows and with the narrow exception of two nights in the safe house, how much sleep had she gotten since?—

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