Page 53 of Raven's Claw
Kash moved in close.“Relax, sweetheart.Just breathe.”
“Breathe?God, what if…” She rolled her shoulders, wanting to claw out of her own skin.“I need a knife.Now.”
“Easy…” Chase darted over.“No one’s getting a freaking knife.Just, talk me through it.Obviously, you both think you know what kind of implant Becca’s talking about.”
Jordan met him head-on.“It’s supposed to be for birth control, because God forbid one of Rook’sassetsdid something as insane as get pregnant.I had it replaced a year ago, but a month before I ran, I had a mission go seriously sideways.Barely made it to the extraction site before I passed out.It was one of the few times I’d ever been thankful Scythe has its own physicians.I never thought…”
Chase merely nodded, thanking Zain when his buddy handed Chase his medic bag.What Jordan assumed was always waiting in Chase’s truck.“I assume nothing changed to make you suspect it had been swapped out?”
Jordan resisted rolling her eyes.“I was always in that fifty percent who didn’t get any additional benefits other than the obvious, if you get my drift.”
“No need to say more.Is the implant under your arm?”
“Scapula.I get hit too often in the arm to risk putting it there.”
Chase didn’t have to ask her to lift her shirt.She had her form-fitting sweaters off and her tank yanked over to one side before he could open his bag and remove a scalpel.
He probed the area, hissing out his next breath.“Damn.”
“What?”She tried to look over her shoulder, but he tsked.
“This’ll go a lot smoother if you don’t move.And whoever put this in went way too deep.It’s supposed to sit just under the skin, not in your damn muscle.”
“I don’t care if you have to shove a sword in there, just get the freaking thing out.”
“Spies.”He removed a syringe.“Let me freeze the area a bit.And no, that’s not up for debate.You don’t have to muscle through me slicing a six-inch groove in your back to prove you’re tough.We already know.”
Jordan stood there, picturing all the ways she’d strangle Rook once she got her hands on him, when Chase sighed.She chanced another glance, when he held up the unit.“That son of a bitch.”
“It’s definitelynotfor birth control.”Chase dropped it into the palm of her hand.“Let me get some skin adhesive on this before you try to kill anyone, okay?”
Jordan stared at the device, wondering how she’d been so naive.Why she hadn’t thought to check.If this was the first time Rook had made the swap or if he’d used the handful of other times she’d been medically compromised to insert similar implants.
Which brought up another issue, but she could worry about the unprotected sex with Kash, later.Assuming she was still alive.
Chase taped a bandage over her back and gave her arm a pat.“I don’t get it.Why would he exchange your implant with a tracker that has such limited range?”
“Because he’s an obsessive, manipulating, narcissistic bastard.”She resisted the urge to punch the nearest wall.“Damn.Did he get a lock on me?”
“I jammed the signal before he would have gotten more than the general area.”Becca sighed.“But I’m sure he already knows where you are.”
“And everyone wonders why I have trust issues.Can you?—”
The burner cell rang.
Becca started tapping keys, again.“I’ll do what I can to trace it but…”
“Don’t worry.He’s going to tell me exactly where to find him.”Jordan took a breath, then answered, putting it on speaker.“Rook.”
He chuckled.“Ember.Or do you prefer Jordan, now?”
“If you knew where I was, you could have just knocked on the door so we could have this chat in person.”
“What’s wrong?Miss me, already?”
“I promised you I was going to stick a knife in your back.I can’t do that unless we’re in the same room.”
“I thought the point of shifting into Jordan was to reduce your violent tendencies?”
