Untouched The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,43

“Sure,” I said. “Bygones and forgetting and all that.” I picked up the burrito from my plate. The smell of beans, rice and chicken wafted up to me, tempered with the tang of the salsa and guacamole.

“What did you talk with Old Man Winter and Ariadne about?” Zack asked just as I was taking my first bite.

I finished chewing before I answered. “How did you know about that?”

“I went to see Ariadne this morning and the secretary told me she was in a meeting with the two of you and couldn’t be disturbed.” He took a sip of the water sitting in front of him.

“History of metas, remember?” The burrito was slippery in my gloves and Byerly was giving me a funny look as the salsa dribbled down the leather and onto my sleeve. I dropped the burrito and wiped at it with a napkin.

“Uh huh.” He chewed as he answered, kind of skeptical. Hannegan still hadn’t looked at me and Kat hadn’t taken her eyes off me yet. I wanted to knock her chair over with her still in it. Or maybe Wolfe did. No, it was probably me. “You guys talk about anything else?”

I remembered the compensation sheet, tucked away in my coat pocket. “Yeah,” I said. “A couple things.”

“They offered you a job, didn’t they?” This came from Hannegan, who had stopped eating and was frozen with a taco halfway to his mouth.

“Yeah.” I felt myself flush. “So?”

“Doing what?” Scott Byerly did a flush of his own, his ruddy complexion suddenly redder.

“As an agent?” Zack was looking at me in wonderment. “A retriever?” He looked down at my side and my eyes followed him a moment later. His hand was already in motion and he snatched the compensation sheet from where it was dangling out of my pocket. I didn’t try to stop him, and he stared at it, eyes narrowed as he focused, Hannegan leaning over his shoulder. “Wait, this isn’t an organizational chart...this is...this is...whoa.” Zack’s jaw dropped and he looked at Hannegan in near-astonishment. “I don’t get paid that much. Do you?”

“Hell, no,” Kurt said, scowling. “And I’m near the top of the pay scale!”

“But at the bottom of their estimation, apparently,” I said and ripped the paper out of Zack’s hands.

There was an eerie quiet around the table that lasted almost five seconds before Scott Byerly spoke. “Can I see that?”

I let out a small noise of exasperation and thrust it at him. “Sure. Why not?”

Kat Forrest looked over his shoulder as he looked down the page. “Wow,” she said. “They must think you’re really powerful to offer you so much.”

“I’d offer you more to leave,” Hannegan said under his breath.

“This is...” Byerly blinked a few times in rapid succession and then handed the page back to me. “A very nice offer. I wish I’d gotten one.” I saw his jaw tighten as he said it.

“The day will come, my friend,” Zack said. “Probably soon, in fact—” A low buzzing filled the air and he reached down, pulling out his cell phone and studying the screen. He looked to Kurt. “Ariadne wants to see us.”

Kurt paused in eating, his mouth full. “Now?” Flecks of half-chewed food rained onto the table and I looked away.

“When was the last time she made an appointment to see the low-paid help?” Zack stood and pulled his coat off the back of his chair. “Yes, now.” He looked back at the three of us still seated. “You guys take it easy.” Hannegan followed him out, a taco clenched in his chubby fists.

“Congratulations on your offer,” Kat said, her eyes shining. “That’s really amazing. Not too many metas get asked to go through the training program. You should be proud.”

“Why?” I took a bite of my burrito and then wiped my glove on a napkin. “I didn’t do anything except be born a meta.”

“Well, you killed that psychopath.” Her smile glittered like a spotlight shining directly in my eyes, annoying me.

“Yeah, you did,” Byerly said, then leaned closer. “How did you do that, by the way?”

I felt still, as though a great slab of ice had frozen everything inside me. “I told you—I’m death.”

“What does that mean?” He leaned even closer, almost whispering. “You’re an efficient killer? You’re super strong?”

I felt an ugly thread tug at me inside, felt Wolfe doing something, though I couldn’t tell what. I ignored him. “It’s none of your business.”

“Are you a human time bomb? Like the guy that blew up the science labs?”