A hint of uncertainty flickered over Trent. 'I thought he was, too.'
'Maybe his girlfriend knocked him on the head and forced him into leaving?' I said, not believing it. 'Wouldn't you feel bad if you killed him, then found out he had tried to save you?'
Trent gave me a weary look. 'Always seeing the best in a person, Ms. Morgan?'
'Yeah. Except with you.' I started making a mental list of who I had to tell I was alive: Kisten, Jenks—if he'd listen—Ceri, Keasley…Nick? Oh God, my mom. That one ought to be fun.
Pushing his fingers into his forehead, Trent sighed. 'You have no idea how this works.'
Affronted, I puffed at him and his smarter-than-thou attitude. 'Work with me here, huh? Letting the bad guy live might be good for your soul.'
He didn't look convinced; he looked patronizing. 'Letting Lee live is a mistake. His family won't like him in jail. They'd rather have him dead than be an embarrassment.'
'Well isn't that just too bad. I'm not going to kill him, and I'm not going to let you kill him, either, so sit down, shut up, hold on, and watch how real people solve problems.'
Trent shook his head to make his hair float about his redrimmed ears. 'What's arresting Lee going to get you? His lawyers will have him out before he can sit on a jail-cell cot.'
'Voice of experience?' I mocked, seeing as I almost had him there last fall.
'Yes,' he said darkly. 'The FIB has my fingerprints on file, thanks to you.'
'And the I.S. has a sample of my DNA for identification purposes. Suck it up.'
Quen made a soft sound, and I suddenly realized we were arguing like children.
Looking peeved, Trent settled back in his chair and laced his fingers over his middle. Fatigue pulled at him. 'Admitting I was on that boat is going to be difficult. We weren't seen leaving. And it would be hard to explain how we survived and everyone else died.'
'Be inventive. Maybe the truth?' I said cockily. Pushing Trent's buttons was kinda fun. 'Everybody knows he's trying to jerk Cincinnati out from under you and Piscary. Go with it. Just leave me dead in the river.'
Trent eyed me carefully. 'You're going to tell your FIB captain you're alive, yes?'
'That's one of the reasons you're going to file with the FIB and not the I.S.' My gaze went to the stairway as Jonathan's tall form started down it. He seemed irritated, and I wondered what was up. No one said anything as he approached, and I wished I hadn't pushed Trent so far. The man didn't look happy. It would be just like him to kill Lee out from under me. 'You want Saladan out of the city?' I said. 'I'll do that for you for free. All I want is you to file a complaint and pay for the lawyer to keep him in prison. Can you do that for me?'
His face went empty as thoughts he didn't want to share with me passed through his mind. Nodding slowly, he beckoned Jonathan closer.
Taking that as a yes, I felt my shoulders ease. 'Thanks,' I muttered as the tall man bent to whisper in Trent's ear and Trent's gaze shot to me. I strained to hear, getting nothing.
'Keep him at the gate,' Trent said, glancing at Quen. 'I don't want him on the grounds.'
'Who?' I said, wondering.
Trent stood and tightened the tie on his robe. 'I told Mr. Felps I'd arrange for your return, but he seems to think you're in need of rescuing. He's waiting for you at the gatehouse.'
'Kisten?' I stifled a jerk. I'd be glad to see him, but I was afraid of the answers he would have for me. I didn't want him to have planted that bomb, but Ivy had said he did. Damn it, why did I always fall for the bad boys?
While the three men waited, I stood and gathered my things, hesitating before I stuck my hand out. 'Thank you for your hospitality…Trent,' I said, pausing only briefly as I tried to decide what to call him. 'And thanks for not letting me freeze to death,' I added.
A soft smile quirked the corners of his lips at the hesitation, and he met my firm grip with his own. 'It was the least I could do, seeing as you kept me from drowning,' he answered. His brow furrowed, clearly wanting to say more. Breath held, he changed his mind and turned away. 'Jonathan, will you accompany Ms. Morgan to the gate- house? I want to talk to Quen.'
'Of course, Sa'han.'
I glanced back at Trent as I followed Jonathan to the stairs, my mind already on what I had to do next. I'd call Edden first, at his home number, soon as I got to my Rolodex. He might still be up. Then my mother. Then Jenks. This was going to work. It had to.
But as I quickened my pace to keep up with Jonathan, a wash of concern went though me. Sure, I was going to get in to see Saladan, but then what?
Twenty-nine
Kisten had the heat on full, and the warm air shifted a strand of my shorter hair to tickle my neck. I reached to turn it down, thinking he was laboring under the false assumption that I was still suffering from hypothermia and warmer was better. It was stifling, the sensation only strengthened by the darkness we drove through. I cracked the window and eased back as the cold night slipped in.
The living vamp snuck a look at me, jerking his gaze back to the headlight-lit road as soon as our eyes met. 'Are you okay?' he asked for the third time. 'You haven't said a word.'
Shaking my open coat to make a draft, I nodded. He had gotten a hug at Trent's gate, but it was obvious he felt the hesitation. 'Thanks for picking me up,' I said. 'I wasn't too keen on Quen taking me home.' I ran my hand across the door handle of Kisten's Corvette, comparing it to Trent's limo. I liked Kisten's car better.
Kisten blew out his breath in a long exhalation. 'I needed to get out. Ivy was driving me crazy.' He glanced away from the dark road. 'I'm glad you told her as soon as you did.'
'You talked?' I asked, surprised and a little worried. Why couldn't I like nice men?
'Well, she talked.' He made an embarrassed noise. 'She threatened to cut off both my heads if I jerked your blood out from under her.'
'Sorry.' I looked out the window, becoming more upset. I didn't want to have to walk away from Kisten because he had meant for those people to die in some stupid power struggle they weren't aware of. He took a breath to say something, and I interrupted with a quick, 'Would you mind if I used your phone?'
His expression wary, he pulled his shiny phone from a belt holster and handed it to me. Not particularly happy, I called information and got the number for David's company, and for a few dollars more, they connected me. Why not? It wasn't my phone.
While Kisten silently drove, I worked my way through their automated system. It was almost midnight. He ought to have been in, unless he was on a run or had gone home early. 'Hi,' I said when I finally got a real person. 'I need to talk to David Hue?'
'I'm sorry,' an older woman said with an overabundance of professionalism. 'Mr. Hue isn't here presently. Can I give you to one of our other agents?'
'No!' I said before she could dump me back into the system. 'Is there a number I can reach him at? It's an emergency.' Note to self: never, ever throw anyone's card away again.
'If you'd like to leave your name and number—'
What part of 'emergency' didn't she understand? 'Look,' I said with a sigh. 'I really need to talk to him. I'm his new partner, and I lost his extension. If you could just—'
'You're his new partner?' the woman interrupted. The shock in her voice gave me pause. Was David that hard to work with?
'Yeah,' I said, flicking a glance at Kisten. I was sure he could hear both ends of the conversation with his vamp ears. 'I really need to talk to him.'
'Ah, can you hold for a moment?'
'You bet.'
Kisten's face brightened in the glare of oncoming cars. His jaw was fixed and his eyes were riveted to the road.
There was a crackling of the phone being passed, then a cautious, 'This is David Hue.'
'David,' I said, smiling. 'It's Rachel.' He didn't say anything, and I rushed to keep him on the line. 'Wait!
