“Hey, what’s that?”
Rhynehart turned and raised his eyebrows at the scene. “Most of the time, we lock ‘em up, Blakely. But magicals like Taaz, who get let back out again, don’t need to learn their lesson.”
Three rez guards in black fatigues jostled the figure Cheyenne now recognized as the unwieldy goblin across the stone toward the edge of the cliff. Taaz struggled a little, but there wasn’t much he could do against three guards and magic-dampening cuffs. Once they got him to the edge of the cliff, one of the guards unlocked the cuffs and gave the detained goblin a massive shove.
Taaz’s yelp of surprise ended in an echoing snarl, then the goblin and his voice were swallowed by the ocean waves crashing against the rocks below.
“What the hell?” Cheyenne spun toward Rhynehart, her fists clenched at her sides. “Now you’re killing these people?”
Rhynehart stared at the edge of the cliff and the three rez guards turning away from it to go back to business as usual before they disappeared into thin air.
“Hey!” The half-drow slapped the operative’s burned shoulder and shoved him sideways, so he had to face her. Rhynehart grunted and clenched his teeth before shooting her a warning look. “I didn’t come here to help you people murder refugees you can’t get under control. I caught him and saved a bunch of other people from getting hurt, and this is how you deal with it?”
The FRoE operative grimaced and grabbed his other arm beneath the burned shoulder. “Relax, half—”
“Don’t tell me to relax, asshole. That goblin is supposed to be behind bars right now, not dead!”
“Shut up and listen to me, will ya?” Rhynehart gestured with his good arm toward the edge of the cliffs. “That’s the Border, okay? That’s how we ship ‘em back home. Taaz’ll land on the other side with a massive headache, but he’s off our hands for now. Short of killing him, it’s the best we can do.”
“That’s the…that’s the Border?” Cheyenne sucked in a breath through her teeth and gazed at the edge of the flat, dark-gray rock. “That’s how they come through?”
“At this particular spot, yeah.” The man ran a hand through his hair and started walking toward the black Jeep at the end of the dirt road. “There’s no way for us to keep magicals from crossing over if that’s what they want to do—if they’re willing to put in all the effort it takes to get themselves to our world. And trust me, rookie, I’ve heard plenty of stories of the kind of effort it takes to cross over. If they wanna do it, they’ll find a way.”
The half-drow forced herself to relent and follow him, unable to decide between being pissed off and feeling sorry for the goblin who’d gotten tossed out of this world and back into the realm he’d wanted to leave behind.
“How many times have you sent Taaz back?”
Rhynehart paused beside the driver’s door of the Jeep and met her gaze over the hood. “That’s the first. It’s not something we take lightly, halfling. You have to screw up to get sent back.”
He jerked the door open and climbed inside with a grunt. Cheyenne followed him, feeling sore and exhausted, and confused. None of this is what I thought it would be.
After she closed the passenger door behind her and strapped herself in, Rhynehart started the engine and brought the Jeep around in a tight circle to head down the frontage road. Cheyenne couldn’t help but stare at the side mirror outside her window. There wasn’t anything reflected there but an open swath of land between the thick forest backed by those empty cliffs and the ocean that wasn’t an ocean but a portal into a different world.
“Have you been to the other side?”
Rhynehart didn’t look at her. He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter with both hands. “No. And I don’t plan on it. You shouldn’t, either.”
The half-drow glanced at the raw sores on her right shoulder. At least the bleeding and stinging had stopped. Sitting down with little pain and nothing to do while Rhynehart drove them off the reservation made the tiredness sink in, although she knew she wouldn’t be sleeping, not with the tense silence hanging between them and a two-hour drive back to Richmond.
I could go for one of those stupid broccoli bars about now.
* * *
That silence lasted the entire drive. When they got into the greater Richmond area, Rhynehart sniffed and glanced in the rearview mirror, as if he expected someone to be following them. “Where am I dropping you off?”
“Willow Lawn works.”
“Seriously?” He shot her a quick glance before returning his attention to the traffic and the upcoming exit for Highway 360. “You relax at a strip mall after a long day of bagging and tagging criminal magicals?”
She knew he was trying to lighten things up by making fun of her, but she wasn’t in the mood. “You normally ask this many questions about a rookie’s personal life? Or anyone else’s?”
Rhynehart’s jaw tensed, the muscles there flexing before he took the exit and headed toward the shopping center. “Guess it’s the strip mall, then.”
He pulled the Jeep up alongside the shopping center and stared straight ahead as Cheyenne unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the passenger door. When she slid out, the operative turned toward her and nodded, although he didn’t meet her gaze. “Keep that phone on you, huh?”
“Yeah, I know how this works.” Cheyenne shut the door and stepped up onto the sidewalk. She watched the Jeep roll out of the parking lot, and she didn’t move for
