Trickster s Girl - By Hilari Bell Page 0,90

talk."

It made sense for the gang to have a bike-to-bike com system. It probably had a feed in their helmets as well. Kelsa looked at the bikers, two cars back. Several had taken off their helmets, like good citizens enjoying the sun that had broken through the shifting clouds.

The one who was looking down at his display was the redhead who'd accosted her at the Woodland Cafe.

Kelsa's stomach knotted, but they were all locked in by other cars, surrounded by witnesses, and under the omnipresent gaze of the grid - a grid whose cameras were probably being watched by border agents. She would never be safer than she was now. She punched the "com on" button.

"What do you want to talk about?"

The camera's tiny lens distorted his face, making the nose more prominent and the ears recede. The puffy brown patches of fresh burns showed starkly against his pale skin.

She winced, and he must have seen it, for he grinned nastily.

"Yeah, you got me good. So you can't be feeling you owe me any dirt, right? If anything, you owe me a favor."

He was trying to sound friendly, but his voice lingered on the word favor in a way that made her skin crawl.

"What kind of favor? And what makes you think I owe you anything? I was defending myself. Creep."

It was only bravado, but it made her feel better, even though his expression didn't change.

"Now that's where you're wrong. You've got something that belongs to us, and we want it back."

"That big leather bag?" Kelsa's thoughts raced. "What's in it? Drugs?"

Could she trade them the bag, and keep them on this side of the border?

A flicker of surprise crossed his face before he realized that she couldn't have gotten through the DNA-locked seal. She wouldn't have, without Raven's creative destruction.

"None of your business what's in it. It's ours, and we want it back. Drugs won't go through the scanners, so you don't want to be carrying it yourself."

That much was true. The cash and the gun would go through, but Kelsa's expression would certainly give her away to a customs guard trained to watch for people with a guilty conscience.

"Just bring it back to us," the redhead wheedled. "And we'll take it, turn around, and go. You'll never see us again. Promise."

It sounded like a lie, but she couldn't be certain. Even if he meant what he said, would Raven's enemies release their human tools now that they had the medicine bag within their grasp?

"Where are the others?" Kelsa asked suddenly.

"What others?" He hadn't expected this question, and his eyes slipped aside. He was lying. He was lying, and he knew it. The others might still be hiding the drugs, but there was an excellent chance they were waiting for her on the Alaska side of the border.

Cold dread gripped Kelsa's heart. She wouldn't be able to get away. Not from the bikers. Certainly not from Raven's enemies, if they could track the pouch she carried.

She wanted to heal the world; she didn't want to die for it.

"The guys who were with you at the lake," Kelsa said. She needed time to think. "There were nine of you. Where are the other three?"

"Just taking care of business," he said mildly. "Our business. Don't worry about them. You know we can't let you get away with robbing us, bi - uh, girl. You gotta give the bag back."

"I could turn it over to the border guards," Kelsa said. "And tell them how I got it."

His narrow face brightened with what looked like a real grin. "Well, if we end up in jail you can tell us how to get out. Jailbreaker. How did you do that? It ain't so easy to get out of the slam once you get in."

He sounded genuinely curious, and not at all frightened. He was right. She didn't dare approach the authorities. That would put an end to her quest as surely as if the bikers killed her.

"I'll think about it." Kelsa cut the connection. Her face felt cold despite the sun. Her hands shook.

She'd promised Raven to get the medicine pouch over the border. To finish what she'd started.

But if she crossed the border the bikers would be waiting. And even if she could elude them, Raven's enemies would sense her magic. She might be able to keep ahead of them till Raven caught up with her, but he couldn't defeat all of them. The ice had proved that. Sooner or later, his enemies