Knox (The Boundarylands #12) - Callie Rhodes Page 0,1

she was missing was a cage over her face to keep her from biting the ears off her guards.

Despite their overblown rhetoric, Josie wasn't a domestic terrorist. She'd never murdered anyone. Hell, the worst she'd ever done was a bit of petty shoplifting on a dare when she was twelve. Beyond a little pushing and shoving, she'd never hurt anyone during a protest.

But that didn't mean that she wasn't dangerous. Or that she wouldn't be made to pay.

There was only so long a person could taunt a tiger before getting bit, she reminded herself as a cold shiver ran up her spine. As if to prove her point, the agent yanked her to full attention in front of the open side door.

'She's all yours, sir," he said to the man in the suit with an air of deference.

Bad Suit didn't say a word. He just nodded at the closest soldier, who reached down and pulled Josie into the helicopter.

The cold shiver turned to ice. Whatever was going on here, it wasn't good.

As an activist, Josie had accumulated a decent-sized rap sheet. She'd spent plenty of long hours waiting in police vans, in holding cells, in line to be processed. The one thing that remained constant no matter who did the arresting or what jurisdiction she happened to be in was the incredible amount of paperwork. Even when she was released without charges, there was always paperwork. Hell, it often felt like she couldn't even go to the bathroom without seven authorizing signatures.

But not today. Now she was being handed over without so much as a handshake.

That couldn't be a good sign. Neither was the huge hurry that everyone seemed to be in. The moment Josie was forced down into her seat, Bad Suit signaled for the door to be closed, and seconds later, the copter's blades started to whirl.

With her hands cuffed behind her, Josie had no way to steady herself as the sleek machine lifted off the ground. She slammed into the soldier seated next to her, whose only response was to shove her back upright.

Fighting a wave of nausea at the rapid ascent, Josie focused on the man in the suit seated across from her, searching for any sign of emotion on his face and finding none. His chin tilted down slightly, his attention focused on a manila folder open on his lap. Somehow aware of her scrutiny, he snapped the file shut before she could make out any of the words and looked directly at her with the steeliest gray eyes she had ever seen.

"I'm sorry, Miss Price," he said in a cold voice that made it clear he was not. "Where are my manners? Are you comfortable?"

Josie blinked, wondering if she should answer and deciding she had little to lose. "No, not particularly."

"What a shame," he said indifferently. "Fortunately for you, then, this won't be a long flight."

Her first clue as to what was going on. Josie quickly scanned through her knowledge of the region, trying to figure out where the hell they might be taking her. Washington, D.C. was off the list; if that had been the plan, she'd be on a plane instead of in a chopper. The only other option she could imagine was the federal women's prison to the south.

Either way, she told herself, it didn't really matter. She wouldn't be there long.

"Are you aware that it's been over an hour since your people broke into my hotel room, and no one has read me my rights? I haven’t even been told what charges I'm being held on," she stated with more confidence than she felt.

Bad Suit arched a colorless eyebrow, and when he spoke, his voice dripped with condescension. "No? How careless of the officers. It must have slipped their minds. On the other hand, I've heard you're a pretty smart girl. I'm sure you can figure it out."

Josie's lip curled at his patronizing tone, though considering how often she'd had to endure it from other men, she should have been used to it by now. But each time, it grated on her more deeply until even an offhand comment made her want to scream.

Not that she was about to give this son of a bitch the satisfaction of knowing it bothered her. Instead, she gave him a tight smile. "What I have figured out is that my lawyer will have me out of wherever you're hauling me off to in five minutes, given how many of my rights you've violated