Part 19 (1/2)

I inhaled to argue, then realized I was tired of fighting him. The thing with Jake was that he always wound up doing what he wanted to anyway. A salesman to the end, there was no way not to lose. I just wished he'd found this calling earlier.

”Sure, fine.” I pocketed the blue vial, and together we walked out to my car.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

We drove to the Armory in silence. I was concentrating on the road-the snowplows hadn't hit these streets since dawn, and it was getting treacherous. Jake seemed pleased with himself, like he'd won some argument I didn't know we'd had.

I pulled against the curb a block from the shelter, where I could manage to parallel-park without putting anyone else's life or vehicle on the line. Jake grinned over at me, in the street's half-light.

”Hey-I'd been meaning to ask, but I forgot. Can you see if someone's at the hospital for me? You met him on Christmas-Raymond.” He saw the question on my face, and spoke more quickly than I could respond. ”He didn't come home to the shelter last night, and I'm worried he got hurt.”

”Caught in the crossfire of an energy supplement war?” I said sarcastically.

”Or frozen to death, after being beaten by a.s.shole college kids,” Jake replied, just as sarcastic.

”I'll keep an eye out.”

”All right,” he said, reaching over. We hugged in the front seat of my car, clumsy with coats and no-practice. He refastened all the layers of his st.u.r.dy new coat. ”You know, Edie-” he began, and looked outside. ”It wasn't so bad living with you.”

I was glad it was dark inside my car, with the engine off-I hoped it hid the emotions running across my face.

”I could pay you this time,” he went on. ”I know things are rough for you right now-I don't know how come, but you can't hide it from me, they are. I'm not talking put me on the lease or anything, but I could pay for half your rent, and we could share things again-”

I knew the thousand and one ways that having Jake live with me would be a bad idea-above and beyond the fact that a cyborg and a sleeping vampire had temporary residence. When the bottom fell out of whatever he was currently selling, and he wasn't flush with cash, and he tried to use, or sell other, worse, things, then I'd be the bad sister who kicked him out, all over again ...

”It was just a thought, Edie,” Jake said.

Just a thought, but painful nonetheless. ”I'm sorry, Jake. I need to get my own life straightened out right now.”

”Yeah. I hear that.” He reached over and knuckled my head like we were kids again, then opened my car door. Winter air rushed in and took my breath away. I was sending him out into the cold. Again. ”Bye, Sissy.”

”Bye, Jake.”

I watched him get out of my car and walk down the street while my heart broke in two.

It wasn't a long drive back to the freeway, except that I missed the exit because I wasn't paying full attention. I wished, not for the first time, that I could tell Jake everything. That I could trust him again, like when we were kids. But there was nothing I could do to change the past, and the future was hazy right now. I made three right-hand turns instead of one left and wound up going past the Armory again.

I slowed down to see if I could see Jake inside. The first floor of the structure had bank-window-type gla.s.s and was brightly lit. Warm, I hoped, and safe.

”Hey!”

I heard the voice even though both my windows were rolled up. I startled, looking around, even though surely whoever it was wasn't talking to me.

”Hey!”

I spotted him, racing down the street-a man in a fedora. Viktor, the were from the other night. ”Hey!” he yelled again, swinging his arms over his head, as if he was trying to flag me down.

I hit the gas, trying to outrun him, but my Chevy didn't have much get-up-and-go. It lurched forward, and he ran from the sidewalk out into the street at me. I had to hammer my brakes not to hit him, and I slammed my car into reverse and started rolling backward, blind down the street.

”I just want to talk to you!” He ran alongside me, pounding on my car hood. Leaving dents.

”Jesus Christ!” I braced my arm on the pa.s.senger seat and looked behind me. There was an alley coming up. I wasn't a stunt driver, but- ”I just want to talk!”

I yanked my steering wheel down and prayed there wasn't any oncoming traffic. My car spun into the alley, and I put it into drive again, and then this time floored it. I traced my way down the dark street, watching him race behind me, arms still waving like an air traffic controller, until he gave up and the night made him disappear.

I caught the exit onto the freeway this time and drove straight in to work.

I parked nearby in the visitor lot, trusting the Shadows to keep me safe once I was on hospital grounds. What was Viktor doing skulking downtown? Was that a coincidence, or had he followed me there? Would Jake be safe? I should have asked Anna to protect him, too. The next time I paid attention to my surroundings I was in the elevator, dropping down to Y4.

On an impulse, I hit the STOP b.u.t.ton and looked up. ”Hey.” I rapped on the wall with my free hand. ”Are you there, Shadows? It's me, Edie,” I said. I waited in silence, then sighed. ”Which is it, you have no sense of humor, or no knowledge of popular literature?”

More silence. I felt sure they were listening in, though. ”You'd better protect him from weres, too,” I told the ceiling. And then I let the STOP b.u.t.ton go.

I arrived on Y4 an hour early. Charles came into the break room while I was fis.h.i.+ng in the back of the fridge for my emergency Diet c.o.ke.

”Hey, Edie! Did they call you in, too?”

”I was down here already, and the weather was bad, so there was no point in driving home,” I lied. ”Why? We busy?”

”When aren't we,” Charles said, and pa.s.sed by me to take a Hot Pocket out of the freezer, popping it into the microwave as I cracked open my c.o.ke. ”So many donors came in last night. What the h.e.l.l did they need all that blood for?”

After my chat with Anna this A.M., I had a suspicion. I sat down, since technically I wasn't on yet. ”Charles, have the Shadows ever let you down?”

He turned around from the microwave. ”Why do you ask?”

”Your scar. The one you showed me. They didn't protect you then, right? But-whatever they're trading you, to keep you here, surely they've made good on that.”

”Yeah,” he said, and behind him, the microwave counted down backward, seconds ticking away.

”What is it? If I can ask?”

He made a thoughtful face and let out a huge sigh. ”My wife needed a heart transplant. She was low on the list.”

”So ... the Shadows moved her up?”

”Nope. She just got better.”

”Oh. G.o.d.” His wife-that'd mean he could never stop working at Y4. I mean, he could, but if he did ... there was a distinct chance she'd die. That was an entire level of horror above the way they'd trapped me into working there. There was always the slim but possible chance that Jake might someday decide to stay clean. There was a ding, and Charles retrieved his Hot Pocket from inside the oven. ”d.a.m.n.”