Sizzle and Burn (The Arcane Society #3)(68)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Raine lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath. She heard the back door of the shop open, followed by frantic, scuffling sounds.

“No,” Cassidy shrieked. “Let me go, you f**king bastard.”

“If you hurt her, you’re a dead woman,” Zack said. His tone was lethally cold.

“Watch out for her pen,” Raine shouted.

There was a dull thud.

Zack appeared in the opening, an elegant black and gold fountain pen in one hand.

“Got one of my own,” he said, slipping it back into the pocket of his leather jacket.

Bradley slammed through the front door of the shop, gun in hand. Two uniformed officers followed him. One of them had Niki in handcuffs.

Bradley looked at Raine. “You okay?”

“Yes,” she said, sitting up cautiously. “I’m okay.” She decided to ignore the pain in her ankle for the moment.

“Cutler’s in the back room.” Zack jerked a thumb in that direction.

Bradley ran toward the other doorway, one of the officers on his heels.

Zack’s hands closed around Raine’s shoulders, his face hard. “Did she inject you with anything?”

“No.” Raine shook her head. “She used the smoke again, a lot of it, but she didn’t get a chance to shoot me up with anything.”

He pulled her close and hugged her so tightly she had to struggle to breathe again.

“There’s something very dangerous in that silver pen of hers,” she mumbled into his shirt. “She said two doses would kill Pandora.”

“I’ve got her pen. Bradley will search her for other weapons.”

“What about the smoke in the other room?”

“You can still smell it but there wasn’t enough left to affect me when I came through.”

“Calvin and the mayor?”

“Unconscious but alive,” Bradley announced from the doorway. “So is Cassidy. What the hell did you do to her, Jones?”

“Nothing permanent,” Zack said. He eased Raine slightly away from his chest, no more than an inch. “It’ll wear off in a few hours.”

“Guess I won’t ask any more questions on that subject.” Bradley moved farther out into the front portion of the shop. “Which one of them tossed that damned smoke bomb?”

“Probably Cassidy,” Zack said.

Raine blinked, startled, and opened her mouth to correct him. His arm tightened a little around her. She closed her mouth.

“How did you know we were in trouble here at the shop?” she said instead.

“Don’t ask me.” Bradley smiled wryly. “It was Jones who realized something was going down. Must be psychic.” He paused and then added quietly, “Like you.”

Fifty-two

Much later Raine sat on the sofa, one leg curled under her, and sipped the tisane that Zack had brewed for her. She had showered and washed her hair as soon as they returned and now she was wrapped in her white spa robe. Robin was a warm, comfortable weight in her lap, Batman snuggled against her thigh. A medic had taped her ankle. Another package of frozen vegetables was wrapped around the badly abused joint.

Zack and Calvin sat in the twin chairs, drinking coffee.

Raine looked at Zack. “I’m very glad Bradley took your suggestion and agreed to let me give a full statement tomorrow. I really didn’t feel up to it this afternoon.”

Calvin snorted, amused.

She raised her brows. “What’s so funny about that?”

“Hate to disillusion you,” Calvin said, “but I doubt that Zack was thinking of your comfort when he persuaded Mitchell to wait for the statement. Zack here is what you might call a real focused kind of guy when it comes to details.”

Raine suddenly understood. She looked at Zack. “You wanted to make sure I got my story straight first.”

“Hey, give me some credit for thoughtfulness,” Zack said, managing to appear offended. “You were exhausted.”

“Hah. I’m not buying it. You felt I needed a little assistance with my facts. Admit it.”

Calvin grinned and drank some more coffee.

“Okay,” Zack said. “In my experience, I’ve found it’s usually best not to confuse the police with too much information.”

“In other words, we aren’t going to tell them that they got caught in the middle of an ongoing turf war between two secret organizations devoted to psychic research, is that it?” she asked politely.

“As a general policy, J&J prefers to let the bad guys give that version of events to the cops,” Calvin said.

She raised her brows. “Because it makes the bad guys look like nut-cases while J&J preserves its image as a legitimate private investigation agency?”

Calvin’s grin widened. “You got it.”

“It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of legitimate charges to go around,” Zack said. “What’s more, Mitchell has a strong personal incentive to make them stick. He doesn’t like the fact that Cutler played him.”

“Assault, attempted kidnapping and possibly attempted robbery will make a good start.” Calvin wrapped one big hand around his coffee mug. “Got a feeling Mitchell will dredge up some others.”

“Not that he’ll need them,” Zack said, watching the fire. “At least, not for long.”

Raine looked at him, startled. “What do you mean? Are you saying Cassidy and Niki will walk?”

“Yes. Straight into an institution for the criminally insane, and that’s assuming they make it that far,” Zack said.

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“From what we’ve seen, Nightshade doesn’t tolerate failure.” Zack swallowed some coffee and lowered the mug. “I told you, one of the ways it keeps its operatives in line is by making them dependent on a version of the formula that is specifically tailored to them. If they’re deprived of it, they go insane and usually commit suicide within forty-eight hours.”

Horror shivered through Raine. “Like Jenna?”

“Yes,” he said, watching the fire. “Like Jenna. One way or another, insanity has always been the big downside to every version of the formula ever created.”

“What about the stuff you found in Bradley’s apartment?”

“The vial was nearly empty. There was only a trace of the drug left in it. Not even enough for one dose. Cassidy left just enough to make sure I could identify the formula and leap to the conclusion that Bradley was the guy I was after.”