Priceless (28 page)

“
This
i
s not the time to get all white knight on me
,
”
I said, keeping my voice low.

The troll snarled and lifted the gun, his finger twitching against the trigger.

Using my hip, I bumped O
’
Shea out of the way and walked closer to the troll, swaying
my body as seductively as I could
and batting my eyes, much to his delight
,
if the way his loose hanging eye lit up was any indication.

“
You know, I always wondered what a double whammy would be like
,
”
I said.

The troll puffed up his chest, his free hand stroking down the folds o
f skin that hung from his body
to cup one of his overlong members
.

I struggled to hold back the gag. T
hat was not attractive in the least, but I kept moving forward, closer to the troll
,
and the gun he held leveled
on
O
’
Shea. Sure, it could backfire, it could explode,
hell,
it could do all sorts of weird things. But after seeing it blow out that young officer
’
s brains all over the inside of the car, I wasn
’
t going to take any chances.

There was only one weak spot I would be able to
reach
,
and so even though I didn
’
t want to, I sidled up to his hanging bits.

With an exaggerated slowness, I lifted my hand and placed it on the troll
’
s upper chest, massaging my fingers into the loose skin.
“
Do you know who I am?
”

“
You
’
r
e
that Tracker, who goes after kids
,
”
he
said, and I rubbed harder across his
collarbone
, inching closer to the dangling eye.

The troll rumbled under my hand, the skin vibrating to the point of making i
t ripple like a bowl of Jello that had been shook
.
He puffed out his chest which stretched the skin, making it taut, the rumbling in his chest now caused a sound reminiscent of a large bull frog’s mating call. Gross.
I bit back the disgust fill
ing
me, ma
king
me want to pull away. But I had to get that gun away from him.

Like now.

I reach
ed
up and grabbed the eye, squeezing it just short of it popping like a grape in my fingers.

The troll howled and the gun swung toward my head.
“
Drop it!
”
I
hung
onto the eyeball, applying more pressure with one nail.

He screeched
,
and then a body, O
’
Shea
’
s to be exact, tackled the troll to the ground, the gun pinned between them. The connective tissue to the eye snapped, the troll screeched
again,
and I was left standing there with an eyeball in my hands
while
O
’
Shea handcuff
ed
the screaming, writhing t
r
oll like it was something he did regularly.

Gun secured, O
’
Shea stood
.

I just stared at him.
“
I had it under control you know
.
”

“
I couldn
’
t watch you fondle that thing anymore
,
”
he
snapped.

My jaw dropped
,
and I was about to tell him just where he could stick his meddling when a wave of fear hit me
that was not my own
.

India.

I froze and focused on her. She was terrified and her life force wavered. Shit, shit, shit.

“
We
’
ve gotta go,
”
I said
.
“
India
’
s in trouble.
”

O
’
Shea glared at me.
“
You say that like it
’
s something new. Like she wasn
’
t in trouble before.
”

I wasn
’
t about to explain my ability to sense people, certainly not to him.
“
Get in the car, we
’
ve got to get weapons and get back out to the mine shaft. Now.
”

He started to go around to the driver
’
s side.

“
I
’
m driving
,
”
I said, jogging to catch up to him.

Hoisting the body of the young cop out of the seat, O
’
Shea let out a sharp breath.
“
Here, just let me move this for you.
”

The cop
’
s head rolled
,
exposing what was left of his brains inside the gaping black hole that had blown out the side of his head. Much as I didn
’
t want to admit that it was affecting me, the sight was almost too much. Muscles tensing, I fought against the emotions
rising
in me. Sorrow for his family, grief for him, and an unmistakable sense of regret that was not my own, but O
’
Shea
’
s. Damn. I clamped down, forcing the feelings back, and behind that came a bolt of terror that was pure child. India was panicking and that was not a good sign. She had to be the number one priority. I
’
d thought I had time to prep, but it was obvious that wasn
’
t going to be the case
,
which meant we were going to go barreling in there with next to nothing.

We slid into the cop car
. The
blood on the back of my seat
,
trailing down my left side
,
was cool
,
but not yet starting to dry. I put my hands on the wheel, ju
mping as the radio came to life, the voice
static-
filled
,
but still loud.

“
Bravo
Echo thirty
-
nine, come in. Over.
”
I turned to look at O
’
Shea.

“
You
’
d better answer this one,
A
gent.
”

He picked up the receiver and an
swered back.
“
Bravo Echo thirty
-
nine. Here. Over.
”

The response was surprising.

“
Please disregard the instructions to bring the prisoners to the main jail
;
an unmarked will be intersecting with you to take over their transport.
”
The radio clicked off and I shared a look with O
’
Shea while he answered again in the affirmative before turning off the radio.

“
That can
’
t be good
,
”
I said.
“
Why wouldn
’
t they just allow the transport to continue as is?
”

“
Could be FBI. Could be one of your uglies has taken over.
”

“
Hey!
”“
They aren
’
t
my
uglies.
”

O
’
Shea blew out a sharp breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“
Whatever it is, it won
’
t be good for us
,
and certainly not for India.
”

For once, we were in agreement, though it came a little too late.

I started the police cruiser as two black
van
s
screeched to a halt, pinning us down. I held my breath
,
expecting more trolls or maybe a golem, but all that
poured
out of the nondescript vans were humans.

FBI agents covered in riot gear
pointed
guns and tazers at us, but other than that, I let out a breath. This could be handled.

“
They aren
’
t going to let us go after her
,
”
O
’
Shea said, stating what I thought was rather obvious.

“
Yup. So you ready to kick some ass and break the law to rescue a little girl?
”

He turned his head, his dark eyes holding mine for a brie
f moment
.
H
e didn
’
t say anything
. From outside
,
they shout
ed
at us to get out of the car with our hands up. Of course, that wasn
’
t going to happen.

I placed my foot lightly on the gas pedal, ready to go the second O
’
Shea gave me the nod. Because I wasn
’
t taking him with me if he wasn
’
t in one hundred percent. I didn
’
t need dead weight and worries about the law dragging me down when it came to getting India out alive.

“
I
’
m crossing to the dark side I guess
,
”
h
e said
,
and that was all I needed.

The car was made for ramming
,
and even in the tight space between us and the two vans, it did its job.

With my foot hard on the gas pedal, we
smashed
into the van in front of us first
.
I shoved it almost out of the way before being forced to throw the car into reverse, but it gave us enough room to spin backwards, do a one eighty and peel away from the underpass.

Bullets
ricocheted
off the back of the car
,
and I ducked instinctively.

“
Ever lose a tail before?
”
O
’
Shea asked.

“
Once, but I wasn
’
t in a police car. This isn
’
t exactly a car that
’
s going to blend in you know
.
”

He grunted.
“
Move over.
”

“
What?
”

H
e was already shifting, sliding across the seats to take my place and forcing me into the passenger seat. My ass rubbed across his upper thighs, and he let out a sharp hiss of air that
,
in any other circumstance
,
would have made me think I
’
d hurt him. Not so much here.

He flipped on the lights and sirens and headed for the freeway. A glance behind showed the two vans were already on us, only a few hundred feet behind.
I clicked my seatbelt
into place
, the possibility of falling out extremely high due to the passenger door hanging by only a half a bolt
.

“
We need gear, climbing gear
.
”
But
where the hell were we going to get that kind of stuff now?

“
They
’
ll have it in the vans
,
”
O
’
Shea said, cranking the wheel and dodging around a slow moving car.

“
You mean in the vans behind us?
”

“
Yes, a
long with lights, weapons and body armour
. Those vans are always fully loaded, prepped for anything that might cross their path.
”