Sizzle and Burn (The Arcane Society #3)(67)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“No,” Zack said. “Stupid would be refusing to believe the facts when they’re put in front of you.”

Bradley looked at him. “If you want me to arrest Cassidy Cutler and Niki Plumer, you’re going to have to give me some hard proof.”

“I don’t have a lot of that,” Zack admitted. “But you could start with her SUV.”

“What about it? She’s driving a rental.”

Zack raised a brow. “The same one she had a couple days ago?”

“No. She said the heater wasn’t working on that one. She had to exchange it.”

“Got a hunch it never made it back to the rental agency. It’s probably been abandoned in one of the big mall parking garages. She didn’t have a lot of time to get creative.”

“You think she used it to run down that guy who attacked you?”

“Yes. Probably wiped it clean but she may have missed something. You never know.”

Bradley reached for his phone. “I’ll have someone contact the car rental agency.”

Zack smiled slightly.

“What?” Bradley asked, brows bunching.

“Raine told me you were a good cop,” Zack said.

An electrifying sensation shivered across his parasenses. Adrenaline splashed through him.

He was on his feet before he had made a conscious decision to move, heading for the door.

“What the hell?” Bradley yelled after him. “Where are you going?”

“Raine. She’s in trouble. Get someone to her shop. Now.”

His phone rang. He yanked it out of his pocket as he opened the door and ran toward his car.

One ring. Calvin’s code appeared on the small screen. Then silence.

Fifty-one

The poisoned smoke was dissipating but the masks still taunted her and the costumes still swayed to music only the ghostly dancers could hear. The room whirled around Raine. Her stomach roiled. She could not be sick. Not now. She had to get out of there before Cassidy and Niki decided it was safe to enter the room. The alley exit was her only chance.

She inched forward, trying not to make any sound on the carpeted surface. The gleaming knob that spelled escape was almost within reach. A draft of fresh air was coming in under the bottom of the door. All she had to do was jump to her feet, yank the door open and run for her life.

Another peculiar sound intruded on the silently screaming voices. Someone was pounding on the front door of the shop, demanding admittance.

“It’s the clerk,” Cassidy snapped from the far side of the red curtain.

“She sees us,” Niki said, her voice rising. “Probably thinks the door got locked by accident. If we don’t open it, she’ll know something’s wrong.”

“Let her in. We’ll have to get rid of her. The other two didn’t see us but she’ll be able to give a description to Jones and the cops.”

“You said no guns.”

“I said no guns. I didn’t say no weapons. I’ve got a company product with me. A double dose will be more than enough to stop her heart.”

They were going to murder Pandora simply because she was an innocent bystander who had seen them. Rage crashed through Raine.

She heard the outer door open.

“Hey, thanks,” Pandora said. “Who locked the door? Where’s my boss? And the big man who was sitting in that chair?”

“Back room,” Cassidy said coolly. “They’ll be right out.”

Raine took one last gulp of the relatively untainted air seeping in under the door, surged to her feet and, holding her breath, half-stumbled, half-ran through the wispy vapor toward the crimson curtain.

Adrenaline drowned most of the pain that shot through her injured ankle. Not all.

She thrust the velvet curtain aside. Pandora was in the act of crossing the threshold into the shop. She held the pizza boxes in both hands. Cassidy and Niki were on either side of the front door waiting to jump on her as soon as they could get the door closed.

“Run, Pandora!” Raine burst out of the opening, heading toward the front door as fast as she could on her bad ankle. “They’re going to kill you. Get the cops. Run, damn it!”

Pandora hesitated, mouth open in surprise and confusion. Cassidy reached for her.

“Run,” Raine shouted again, putting every ounce of authority she could muster into the single word.

Pandora dropped the pizza boxes, whirled and fled straight out into the middle of the street. Horns honked. Tires shrieked. Drivers shouted. Somewhere in the distance a siren wailed.

“Forget her,” Cassidy said to Niki. “We’ve got to get out of here. The back door. Help me with the bitch.”

“Guess that would be me,” Raine said. She gave Cassidy a really super version of her special, patented screw you smile.

She did not stop. Fueled by desperation and fury, she continued her unsteady headlong rush. Cassidy and Niki were directly in her path. The plan, such as it was, consisted of ramming through them with enough force and momentum to carry her outside onto the sidewalk.

But her injured ankle gave out just as she reached the pair. She lost her balance and staggered wildly to one side, colliding with Niki.

The impact sent them both down in a tangle of arms and legs. Raine lashed out, frantically trying to free herself.

“Hold her still, damn it,” Cassidy ordered.

Raine caught a glimpse of a silver, pen-like object aimed at her neck.

But nervous Niki was in a full-blown panic now.

“This is crazy,” she screamed. “The cops are on the way. Do whatever you want, I’m getting out of here.”

She freed herself from Raine, lurched to her feet and streaked out through the front door.

Raine rolled away from Cassidy and grabbed the feet of the nearest mannequin, the one used to display the ballerina costume. She yanked hard and managed to topple the figure. It fell between her and Cassidy, who was forced to jump back out of the way.

“Damn you.” Cassidy’s face was a snarling mask of rage and frustration.

Raine rolled again. This time she grabbed Marie Antoinette’s elegantly shod feet and pushed with all her might.

“Eat cake and die,” she yelled at Cassidy.

Cassidy barely avoided tripping over the elaborate skirts. She suddenly seemed to become aware of the commotion going on outside the shop. She hesitated a fraction of a second, then evidently arrived at the sensible conclusion that the situation was not going well.

Whirling, she ran toward the red velvet curtain, whipped it aside and vanished into the back room.