The halfling scoffed and gave him a bitter smile. “We’re finally on the same page, then.”
“Great. Keep that phone on. You’ll get another call tomorrow.” Sir sat there with his thick, bushy eyebrows raised, staring at Cheyenne until the server returned with the receipt and his credit card. He thanked her, signed the receipt, and glanced at Rhynehart without another word. Then he pressed his hands on the table and pushed himself up and out of the booth. His footsteps clicked across the sticky diner floor, echoing in Cheyenne’s ears almost louder than the clink and hiss of Roger working at the grill. When he thought he was out of earshot, she heard him mutter, “This goddamn heartburn.”
She smirked when she heard it, and apparently Rhynehart thought it was aimed at him. “What’s so funny?”
“He’s gonna have a rough night. Probably all the mayonnaise.”
The man’s eyebrows flicked together, and he pointed at the empty plate in front of him. “Can’t find extra-crispy fries like that anywhere else.”
Rhynehart slid out of the booth, and Cheyenne grudgingly followed. Not that she wanted to stay in this diner any longer, but because this was the part where she had to endure another car ride in the passenger seat of the man’s Jeep. Sitting next to him.
“Thanks, Roger.” Rhynehart raised a hand as they passed the cook behind the counter.
“Later, Charlie. Don’t take so long to come back, yeah?” The cook nodded at Cheyenne too as she shuffled behind the FRoE operative, and all she could do was raise her eyebrows at him.
She wasn’t friends with any of these people, and she didn’t have to be. I bet Roger the cook and Grace the server don’t know jack about who he is or what he does. Of course, they like him.
“All right.” Rhynehart clapped his hands and walked around the Jeep. “Just taking you right back to the mall?”
“Unless you towed my car somewhere else without me knowing, then yeah.” The halfling jerked open the passenger-side door and slipped into the seat.
He started the engine. “You know what? I think I’ll feel better too once I drop you off. It’s not like you’ve been all lollipops and rainbows since we met, but you’re just a little too salty today.”
She strapped on her seatbelt and slowly turned to shoot him a blank stare. “Can you blame me?”
Cocking his head, Rhynehart pulled them out of the diner parking lot and shrugged. “Not really, rookie. Can’t really blame you for anything you’ve done. Maybe especially today.”
Cheyenne decided to go ahead and leave it at that. She wasn’t about to thank the guy, but at least she didn’t feel compelled to make things any more strained between them. Today, she’d made the choice to go against all her instincts and work with the FRoE on one more mission—at least, what she’d thought was one more. And today, she’d seen the worst side of the magicals who’d left their home to cross the Border and take advantage of those who were here to make a better life for themselves, if anything anyone had told her could be believed.
Trees and cars and highway signs rushed past them as Rhynehart took the Jeep back down the freeway toward the strip mall. Cheyenne dropped her head against the headrest and stared out the window.
When I’m done playing Sir’s stupid game, I’ll be sitting face to face with L’zar Verdys himself. That guy’s got a lot to answer for too.
Chapter Eighty-Four
When she finally got back to her apartment that night—in her own car, alone, with all her stuff intact—Cheyenne dropped her backpack on the floor by the kitchen’s half-wall and headed straight for Glen. “Please tell me there’s some progress after the day I’ve had.”
Her main monitor blinked on, and of course, she had to go through the steps of logging onto servers and checking for messages before she found anything. And she definitely found something.
“Hey, no way!” The message had come straight from Todd on the Y2Kickass server, and she had to read it twice to make sure it said what she thought it did.
T-rexifus088L: You’re one lucky hacker chick today, C. I reached out to our friends and asked for favors. No one’s willing to take your money, so I guess you can shove that offer. But DeathCage4Birdie said she’d take a look. Thought the double-encrypted file you sent over looked like something she’d seen before. You remember the kid, right? She came in right after GRND0 bid us all adieu. Kinda reminds me of you when the old man first brought you aboard. Not as fast. Not as creative around sharp edges. But she only took ten hours for this little pet project, and I think she just decrypted the whole thing for you because she could, and it was something to do. So that’s attached. Hope it means something to you.
Oh, and DeathCage4Birdie said all she wants in return is a favor to call in later. Go figure, right? Not like we’re not already open to calling in favors in this cozy little group, but she was pretty damn specific that the favor came from you. I think you just turned into somebody’s role model. Enjoy.
“Great. Everybody who looks up to me has no idea who I am.”
Still, Cheyenne couldn’t help but be impressed that this new girl DeathCage had jumped right on the call for help and decrypted the entire file from gu@rdi@n104 without asking any questions. It was a decent gesture, even if it wasn’t free.
When the halfling clicked on the clean file and brought the whole thing up on her monitor, though, it wasn’t anywhere close to a satisfying discovery. “What the hell is this?”
She didn’t know what she’d expected to find, but it sure wasn’t a map. Not a normal map, either. It looked like Richmond. It even said Richmond,
