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. It s being tested downstairs, but I don t know ifthey ll have results before game time. That s good, though, Kismet said. The blood gives our side a chance to lookfor antibodies, and if the dye isn t something Thackery can identify, it ll go a longway toward finding out where he s set up his little laboratory. Exactly, I said.And if Marie happened to learn that I wasn t carrying anythingextraordinary in my veins, so much the better.It meant I wasn t giving Thackeryanything useful, and I d beaten the infection through good, old-fashioned gnomehealing magic.A newly familiar clanging bell broke from Wyatt s hip.He pulled Thackery s cellphone out and held it to me.I stared at it, wide-eyed. He s early. I took it, flipped it open.Hit Speaker. Stone. Ah, excellent, Thackery said. When I heard about your presence at the cabin,I feared for your safety. Fuck you. He chuckled, and I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him. Nosense in being vulgar, my dear. Why are you calling? Our agreement was twelve hours, and it s been onlyeight.You reneging? Not exactly.The deadline stands, but I ve decided to alter the price of yourfriend s freedom. And if I don t feel like negotiating? Thackery sighed.Then a scream erupted on his end of the call, long and loudand agonized.I nearly dropped the phone.I knew that voice.Wyatt held my gaze,steely determination in his black eyes, and I didn t look away. You were saying about not wishing to negotiate? Thackery asked.It took several tries to get my voice steady enough to answer. What do you It took several tries to get my voice steady enough to answer. What do youwant? Two hundred thousand dollars wired to the overseas account of my choice. I barked laughter, stung by the absurdity of his request.Had I left my life behindand landed in the middle of a police television drama? How the hell am Isupposed to get my hands on two hundred grand, not to mention have a clue asto how to wire it somewhere? Your friends will help you.Have it ready to go when I call at the end of ourdeadline.And just in case you re planning on double-crossing me in some way, Ithink I ve proved I ll not hesitate to take it out on the shape-shifter.But if you needfurther incentive, I have two hounds left at my disposal. My heart sank. Cross me, he said, and I ll release them in a populated area.Perhaps a parkor inside the mall.A good place for them to hunt.Talk to you soon. He hung upwith an audible click.Motherfucker! The sound of Phin s agonized scream haunted me as I tuckedthe phone away with trembling hands.I couldn t stop imagining what Thackeryhad done to make him shriek like that.Wyatt slipped his arm around my waist,and I sagged against him, eyes closed, trying to collect my racing thoughts.Anyplans I d had to get Phin free and make a run for it were gone.I would never riskThackery loosing those hounds on the public.The casualties would becatastrophic.Thackery had played every card right, and I had nothing to challengehis hand.As though sensing my defeat, Wyatt held me tighter. Where are we going to get that kind of money? I asked, focusing on theproblem I could fix. We ll ask the Assembly, he said, voice rumbling through his chest. What if they pull some sort of nonnegotiation policy on us? Doubtful. His hand stroked my arm in comforting lines. Phin s an Elder, Evy,and he s one of the last of his kind.Something tells me the Assembly will pay.I malmost surprised Thackery didn t demand more. I snorted and stood up straighter.He d demanded plenty.In fact, his demandhad cemented my course of action in a way nothing else had.Wyatt s handstayed on my hip, and I threaded my fingers through his, holding it there. I ll callMichael Jenner.He ll be able to help. Jenner was the official representative of the Assembly of Clan Elders, speakingpublicly for them in matters involving the Triads and most other species.He wasTherian, like Phin, but he d never verified from which Clan.He was also a publicdefender.He d helped save my life twice, and here I was about to ask him foranother favor.The call went well, considering it was almost five in the morning and the firstJenner was hearing about Phin s abduction.I gave him the condensed version ofevents and promised details later.He said to give him two hours to alert theAssembly Elders and collect the money in a transferable account.I didn t knowhow he d manage it before any banks actually opened but trusted him to get itdone. done.I didn t have a choice, really, and I despised being left without choices.With apromise to get every available Therian on the streets looking for Phin andinspecting potential hound hunting grounds, he hung up.I gave Kismet s cell backto her and gazed at the faces around me.No one had left the lobby during thecall, not even Bastian.He d come upstairs, nose bandaged, and had beenshowing Baylor and Kismet how to use the laptop for tracking me.He got looks,but no one asked about his fresh injury. So you re really going through with this? Baylor asked as they tucked thelaptop back into its case. I don t have a choice, I said. Let s pretend I could actually justify allowing Phinto be tortured and murdered in order to protect what may or may not be in myblood.Even if I could manage that, I cannot justify the dozens, if not hundreds, ofpeople who will be killed, hurt, or maimed when Thackery releases those houndsin public.You know he wasn t bluffing.We ve been lucky with them so far,because they ve been sent after specific targets usually me but when they relet out to kill indiscriminately? No, and if we weren t so unsure about my blood,none of us would consider any other course of action beyond trading me. But this isn t just any other demand, Kismet said. If he gets his antidote, hehas an effective weapon And you ll deal with it, if it comes to that.Just like we always deal witheverything that gets thrown at us.One step at a time.We can only battle what s infront of us. They can only battle what s in front of them.I had to stop thinking interms of we. A chill skated up my spine as the reality of what was happeningtruly set in.I was going to willingly turn myself over to Thackery, and all signspointed toward a very slow death at his hands.God, not again & I ll call Morgan and Nevada, Baylor said. Start the phone chain.We needevery team we have out there scouting potential attack zones.It s likely Thackeryhasn t placed the hounds yet, so someone may get lucky.I m going to stay herefor now and coordinate things. I ll take the Hunters off base, Kismet said, accepting his plan with a curt nod. Where do you want ? Can you take Oliver to the hospital to meet up with Carly? Ah, so Baylor s female Hunter had a name.Good to know. Yeah, I ll do that.I wanted to swing by and check on Felix anyway. She lookedat me, her expression warring between sympathy and grim determination. Youwant a lift? I don t have anywhere to go, I said, which was true enough.Our old apartmentwasn t the best spot, even though I hadn t been back since the morning of theearthquake.Too many people knew where it was.Kismet considered it a moment
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