“I’m not a kid, and you ambushed my husband,” Eve said. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there are plenty of things you’re going to regret. Probably very briefly, though, if that makes you feel better.”
Hannah exchanged a shrug with her deputy. “Well,” she said, “I tried. If you want to make it difficult for yourselves, that’s certainly your right, I suppose.”
The two of them got out, and Hannah opened Claire’s door, grabbed her by the arm, and shoved her against the cruiser with firm strength.
Then she zip- tied her hands behind her. “Sorry,” she said. “But I can read the tea leaves. The two of you aren’t going to go quietly.”
Shane was making trouble, too, trouble enough that Claire heard the deputy in charge of him at the other car cursing as he tried to manhandle her boyfriend into submission. Hannah let out an impatient, frustrated growl and spun Claire around to face her. “Calm him down,” she said. “Do it now.”
Claire lifted her chin. “Why?”
“Because if you don’t, he’s going to get hurt.”
Claire looked past her. Shane must have thrown an elbow before they’d gotten him under control, because the deputy had a bloody nose. Now Shane was dodging and kicking, trying to get past the man’s defenses again. Probably just to get to her, because there was no way he’d be getting out of the handcuffs he was wearing.
“Shane,” she said. “Don’t.”
Hannah, moving slowly and calmly, unsnapped the strap on her holster and drew her gun, which she held at her side. She stared straight at Shane. “She’s right,” she said. “Don’t make me raise this weapon, Shane.”
“Screw you,” he said in a ragged pant and gave Hannah a defi- ant grin.
She raised the gun, all right.
She pointed it at Claire.
Shane froze in place, his grin fading fast. “You’re bluffing.”
“Probably seems that way,” Hannah said. “But you know me well enough to know I don’t point a weapon unless I’m ready to shoot to kill. I like you, Shane. I like your girl, here. But you’re testing me, and I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He stayed still. The deputy got hold of him and wrenched his bound hands up high enough to make Shane stand on tiptoe, his face twisted in pain. He put a hand on Shane’s shoulder. “Walk, punk,” the man growled.
Shane walked.
Claire did, too. Eve had fallen into a watchful silence, but even so, Hannah had her zip- tied as well. That was almost certainly a wise move. People underestimated Eve a lot, because of her funny sarcasm and cute- as- a- button face, but they did it at their peril.
They left Dr. Anderson handcuffed and silent in the car be- hind them, and Claire wondered about that.
Someone had put in a fresh sidewalk to the door of the ware- house, and there were newly planted bushes and sprigs of trees around it. Even so, walking up to it felt like walking up the steps to one of those old- time gallows; she didn’t know what was going to happen to them once they were inside. The thick glass doors had the rising sun symbol on them, and the words the daylight foundation beneath it.
And, in gold lettering, all are welcome in the light. That sounded nice . . . unless you’d met their followers under less well-lit circumstances. Say, in a lab where they were ripping vampires apart.
Hannah opened one of the double doors, and a breath of chilled air raised goose bumps on Claire’s bare arms. She had ex- pected cavelike darkness, but as her eyes adjusted from the bright outdoor sun, she realized that it was nearly as bright inside, thanks to a giant skylight over the central atrium in which they stood.
Bathed in the glow was a wooden desk with the Daylighters sym- bol on the front of it, and a well- dressed older woman who smiled kindly at them.
“Mrs. Hodgson?” Claire blurted. She knew the woman; she was a neighbor on Lot Street, where their old Victorian house was located. A nice lady, always puttering in her garden with her flow- ers and waving to them pleasantly. She’d brought over cookies for Christmas a couple of times. Snickerdoodles.
“Claire? Eve? And oh, my, Shane, too.” Mrs. Hodgson looked politely distressed at the sight of their restraints. “Now, don’t you worry at all. There’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of here. You’re in the light now. You’re safe.” She got up from the desk, revealing that she was wearing a fitted suit that was straight out of the 1960s, complete with a strand of shiny pearls, and came around to clip badges on their shirts. “I’ll just take care of putting your IDs on.
Can’t let you in here without identification, can we? There, now.
That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Thanks, Doreen,” Hannah said. “Let him know we’re here, won’t you?”
“Absolutely. Can I get y’all anything? Some water, maybe?”
“Beer,” Shane said. “Shiner Bock if you’ve got it.”