In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,89
it.”
“Can I talk to you for a moment?”
“I don’t want to talk about the fact that Max came at me with a knife . . . again.”
“This has nothing to do with Max.”
“Oh.” Livy shrugged. “Yeah, okay. What’s up?”
Stevie took hold of Livy’s arm and led her away from the house.
As they moved down the street together, Stevie said, “This may be a weird request—” And immediately Livy began to chuckle. “What’s so funny?”
“If you knew my family, you’d know why that statement was funny.”
Stevie stopped, glanced back at the house. They seemed to be alone. “I need you to break into a lab.”
Livy didn’t react. She just kept staring at her, waiting for her to finish.
“I think the scientist who runs it is up to some very bad things involving hybrids. I don’t think he’s doing those things there. In that lab. It’s right in the heart of New York City, and that would be stupid. But I think we can find his second lab by going into his first.”
More staring.
“I was never trained . . . to do that . . . sort of thing. I was going to ask Max, but if she tells Charlie . . .”
“Are you saying people are dying because of these very bad things being done?”
“Possibly. Yeah.” And Stevie hated the way her voice cracked when she said that.
“Huh. Well, I don’t really do that sort of work anymore.”
“I know. I know. I’ve seen your photography. It’s powerful. Which means you don’t need to do this work anymore. It’s just—”
“Let me finish. I don’t do that sort of work anymore, but the man I love is a hybrid. And my idiot cousin’s sisters are hybrids. And you two . . . I like. So, yeah. I’ll do it.”
Stevie threw her arms open, but Livy’s hands immediately went up, blocking her.
“I don’t really hug. I’m not a hugger.”
“Right. Sorry. Forgot.”
“So when do you need me to do this?”
“As soon as you can.”
“What about you?”
Stevie grinned. “You want me to come? How excit—”
“No. I want you to have an alibi.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t help but pout a little. “Fair enough.” She thought a moment. “I’ve got to go to a funeral tomorrow morning.”
“That might be a little too soon. I still need to research the place.”
“Right, right. Well, tomorrow night I have to somehow drag my sisters to something called a Wild Dog Night with Jess Ward and her Pack.”
Livy started laughing. Not a chuckle. A full-blown laugh that had Stevie greatly concerned.
“What?” she asked, becoming extremely worried. “What is so funny?”
* * *
The phone rang and Max pinned the cat she’d found lounging in her bed to the floor and used her free hand to answer.
“What?”
The cat slashed her claws across Max’s arm, forcing her to release the animal. The little shit!
“Hey, baby.”
Despite the pain, Max smiled because she recognized the gravelly voice that did not seem as if it should belong to a five-foot, one inch Chinese spitfire who could rob a man blind, punch his lights out, and steal his girlfriend all in the same day.
“Hey, Ma. Are you okay?”
Max had called her mother several times on the number her cousin had given her, but there had been no answer. Cell phones in prison, in any country, could come and go, so she hadn’t left a message but had hoped her mother would manage to get her newest phone number. It seemed she had, but it was strange that her mother had gone to the trouble to track her down.
“I’m fine, baby. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“Me?” No one ever worried about Max.
“Devon’s out, baby. He’s out. And he wants his shit.”
“What makes Devon think I have it?”
When her mother didn’t reply, Max exploded, “That motherfucker!” Max began pacing. “Why, Ma? Why? You could have had anybody. Any man. I would still be a Yang. I’d still be a honey badger. But you picked him.”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Being with your father might have been a mistake, but you, my beautiful, beautiful girl never were. Ya understand?”
Max closed her eyes. “I understand.”
“Good.”
“And I miss you.”
“I miss you, too, Ma. And if you hear from Devon again or if you hear from any of his hench-idiots . . . tell them the last person they should come at right now is me. There’s a lot of shit going on here, and if they get in my way, I will make them regret it.”