Page 106 of Retribution

‘He’s not here now, but he will be later. He asked for you andyour friendsto meet him for dinner in the hotel restaurant at eight.’

‘Oh,’ I murmur, ‘but I’m not supposed to be seen.’

‘He has a private room, Miss Evans. The public won’t know you’re there.’

I nod and turn around to go down the ladder, but then grin back at Thomas, belatedly remembering his little adventure with the green pills from my bag.

‘Feeling better?’ I ask him.

He snorts. ‘Those drugs of yours sure pack a punch, just not in the way I usually like.’

I chuckle as I step down into the sub-basement and I hear Carl asking him if the rumors he heard about me are true.

I don’t hear Thomas’ answer though because I’m already in the lab, starting the next batch and thinking of a plan to get rid of the Stinger.

SHADE

We sit in silence for a few minutes after Sauvage’s goons take Daisy downstairs.

‘She’s not herself,’ Mav says quietly from the armchair on the other side of the room.

‘Something happened to her,’ Blake says. ‘Something bad.’

‘You think that nurse mistreated her?’ Mav asks.

‘I don’t know. Would Daisy tell us if she had?’

I’m already shaking my head before Blake finishes talking. ‘No,’ I say. ‘She wouldn’t.’

Blake walks across the room to the fridge and opens it. His actions are casual and relaxed, but if he’s feeling anything like I am, it’s the last thing he is.

He takes out a candy bar and stares at it. ‘Was shealways like this? Doing everything herself? A one-woman island? When you were kids, I mean?’

‘Not with me,’ I say.

I’m consciously tryingnotto make it about me, but the truth is, I’m hurt that she’s keeping things from us.

From me.

‘Then we need to get her to open up to us,’ Mav says.

He checks his watch. ‘Let’s find out where these tunnels lead so we can come and go without anyone being the wiser. I’ll go get some of her stuff, so she can at least change clothes. And I’ll grab the hair products and soap she likes, too. Maybe if we can create a calm, familiar environment, she’ll relax enough to talk to us.’

I let out a sigh. ‘We just got her back and it’s like she couldn't get out of here fast enough. I want her here with us. I want her close. I want to hold her.’

‘Me, too,’ Blake says. ‘I’m sort of afraid she’s going to disappear in a puff of smoke.’ He winces like it took it out of him to say that out loud.

‘Yeah, but I think with all of us in here, all our attentions on her. It was a lot for her. She’s really wound up and she’s clearly exhausted. We shouldn’t push her.’ Mav looks at me when he says it and my eyes narrow at him, but I nod.

‘Okay,’ I say reluctantly. ‘It’s just… We can’t help her when we don’t have all the facts and I hate it. It’s frustrating that she won’t just tell us everything, you know? It’s like she doesn’t trust us.’

‘It is frustrating,’ Mav agrees, ‘but I don’t think it’s because she doesn’t trust us. She doesn’t talk about having any friends in England. I haven’t heard her mention anyone from her life before. Maybe she’s been relying on herself for so long, she isn’t sure how to let others take some of the load.’

Mav makes sense, I concede. ‘You two go. I’ll stay in the hotel, make sure she stays safe.’

I go down to the basement with the guys and, by the laundry rooms, a guy waits. He’s wearing heavy boots and a winter knit cap on his head with an LED attached to it.

‘Ready?’ he asks gruffly.