Crossing Ties - Susi Hawke Page 0,26

he was talking about, but I nodded. “You about ready to make a move? I’m about ready to wing it.” I prayed he understood my on-the-spot, badly concealed suggestions.

His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. “I could spend all day looking, but yeah, if you’re ready to go, I’m happy with this. Just gotta pay.”

I smiled thinly, and my brain fired its turbo jets trying to figure out how to tell him about the wings when I realized, I didn’t have to tell Misha, I just had to do it. Tank Top Guy was just passing between us, and I acted as soon as the thought entered my mind. With one rushed sweep, I scored his back with my blade, making sure to cut through the center of the wing. I got his left side, but missed his right as I continued my swing, slamming Mullet Man against the table as he started to turn. I managed to slice through both sides of his back as something crashed behind me.

A giant, red wing crashed into a cabinet, shattering a display of fancy plates and cups. Damn it. That was probably the tattoo I hadn’t hit. But Misha was quick on the uptake, and he jumped onto the half-shifted dragon’s back and drove his knife into the base of the flailing wing. It shrank and disappeared as the man howled.

“Fuck you, you left-sided arsehole!” Mullet Man was struggling against me, but I just pressed my knife against his ribs and smiled viciously.

“A left-sided arsehole, huh? Misha, you ever heard of that? What do you think, is your arsehole right-sided or left-sided?”

“I tend to think mine plays center.” He jerked his captive to his feet. “Where do you think we should put them? Here’s not ideal. Someone could walk up and look through the windows. We’ve gotta secure them before I can get a hand free to call River and Patrick.”

River swung the door open just in time to hear. “Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” he declared with a flourish.

“Aw, bollocks.” Patrick was right behind him, a giant sword slung over one shoulder. “You gents took all the fun.”

“Why the fuck do you have a sword?” I asked. We ignored the shouts and curses of our captives.

“It’s my cover, innit? I was gonna say I was looking to cash it in. I also figured it might be useful fighting a couple dragons. You know, the knight in shining armor bit.”

I shook my head.

River hoisted a heavy bag that clanked onto the counter beside him, ignoring the knicknacks he knocked to the floor. “I wouldn’t worry about the fun being over, Patrick. I’d say it’s about to begin.” He licked his lips and eyed our captives in a way that made me feel a little queasy. I knew what River was here for. Misha and I had talked it over. I wasn’t against torture. It certainly had its uses, and we needed to know why these guys had kidnapped Da, and we needed to get their tears to cure him. But I wasn’t sure I was up for the methods STAHP tended to employ.

Perhaps I should be comforted that River seemed to be carrying tools? It wouldn’t be just a claws and jaws event.

Hopefully.

The basement was a hoarder’s wet dream. Boxes upon boxes stacked precariously in leaning towers in a maze of paths that had no logic. Loose items scattered everywhere you looked. The floor…well, surely there was a floor. Misha simply used his brute strength to push several mountains out of the way, clearing a table and a decent ten-foot square for us to stand in. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, their light casting everyone in a sickly glow. But it just added to the ambiance.

Patrick found two of those old metal-framed, thinly padded vinyl chairs that used to be popular in evangelical churches held in gyms and community centers back in the nineties. I remembered going a few times because a boy at school who I thought was cute went there. But the chairs and the singing were too much for me.

He and River tied the dragons to the chairs using silver-threaded chain. Both men were wearing shorts, and hissed as the silver touched the bare skin around their wrists and ankles.

“What do you fuckers want?” Tank Top Guy demanded. He was apparently the spokesperson. “You here for our hoard? We’ll put the cops on you so fast…”

River snickered. “You’ll put the cops on us? That’s rich. And