Framed (26 page)

“Is there any way you can confirm their arrival?” I asked, trying to think logically. “I know they're tricky, but they don't know that you know why they're coming. Maybe they aren't really trying that hard to be sneaky.”

“Hm,” he said, looking thoughtful. “Maybe. I have to leave either way. I need to be there when they arrive to keep up appearances, but understand something, Ruby. If anything seems off to you, I want you to get out of here. Do you understand me? By
any
means possible. Got it?”

“Even if I have to
kill
them?” I asked, wanting to clarify the issue. He grabbed me by my shoulders and thrust his face into mine.

“By. Any. Means. Possible,” he growled. “
Scarlet
should understand me. Be sure she gets that message.”

Loud and clear.

“She's got it,” I said, sadly. “But what about you? How do I know
you're
going to be all right?”

“Because I can't d—”

“I know, I know, but you've said yourself that there are things far worse than death. What about
those
.” His face looked grim momentarily.

“Those are always imposed on home soil,” he replied. “I'd have some time before that happened.”

“Okay,” I whispered. “Then go.”

“Keep your phone close.”

“Yours too.”

He slipped out of the room into the hall where I'd expected to see Cooper and Peyta waiting. Instead, the hall was empty. I followed Sean to the living room and said goodbye as he left. The closing of my front door reverberated through my mind. I hoped that wouldn't be the last time I saw him walk through that door.

Cooper stared at me silently from the couch. Peyta wasn't nearly as subtle.

“What's going on, Ruby? Seriously,” she started in without giving me the slightest chance to process. “I need to know.”

“It's a long story, Peyta,” I replied, “but the short of it is that Sean's governing body is on their way here. They should arrive at midnight in Boston.”

“That doesn't seem so newsworthy. What's with the panicked phone calls and random drop in then?”

“He thought they may have showed up early,” I said, looking at Cooper. “He was making sure they didn't.”

“I'm missing something here, aren't I?” she asked, swiveling her head between Coop and I.

“Not really,” I lied. “Sean had a theory he was working off of. It seems to be invalid at the moment. He was overreacting.”

“
Tha
t guy?” she said sarcastically. “Can't imagine that…. He's
way
too intense for his own good.”

“Agreed,” Cooper quipped quickly, before abruptly changing the subject. “Ruby, do you know where you put those new speakers I bought? This movie would be much better in surround sound, don't you think?”

I looked at him cluelessly, and he flashed his eyes as if to say “follow along, please.”

“Oh, didn't I put them in my closet? I'll go look now.”

“I'll help you,” he offered.

“Oh, I see...fine. You two go pretend you're doing something productive and not trying to get away from me so you can talk,” she groused. “You insult my intelligence, you know that?”

Her nattering disappeared as we made our way down the hall. Cooper shoved me into my room and closed the door before dragging me into my walk in closet. He shut that door too.

“Wanna let me in on what just happened?”

“It's like I told Peyta, he said they were coming at midnight.”

“And the need to come plowing through your front door unannounced was because?”

“He wanted to be sure they weren't duping him. He came to make sure we were alive.”

“You mean that
you
were alive.”

“Whatever, Cooper, the point is that they're coming. We need to figure out what to do. I can't have them showing up here with Peyta around. Sean assured me they wouldn't hurt her, and I'm inclined to agree, but if they succeed in taking me down I can't have her witnessing that.”

“So what's the plan then?” he asked eagerly. I looked over at the clock—it was eight p.m.

“We're going to have to play it by ear. Sean said he would let us know if anything changes on their end. I think we need to hunker down here for the time being and act as normal as possible for Peyta's sake. I'm going to try and get in touch with Ronnie to make sure she hasn't gotten any crazy ideas about the Rev situation,” I said with a sigh. “We still have that CF to deal with too. I just hope there's enough time.”

“Why don't you just bail? Leave town?” he suggested. “I could go with you, or meet you somewhere.”

“I'm tired, Cooper. I don't want to run. That didn't end so well for me the first time. It's time to stay and fight. I can't live looking over my shoulder.”

“I don't like it,” he replied, nostrils flaring.

“I know you don't. I don't like it either,” I said mournfully. “But it's the way it is. Maybe we can figure something out when the time comes. We've gotten pretty good at winging it.”

“Let's hope so.”

* * *

Peyta decided to knock off early to bed, which surprised the hell out of me. She was half asleep on the couch when she mumbled something about “tired” and “pillows” before staggering away from the couch. Cooper scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the hall. I wondered how she was so capable of sleeping when it was abundantly clear that some crazy shit was going down—Cooper and I were horrible actors.

I saw him heading back from my room with a tiny grin on his face. Something was brewing in that mind of his.

“Wow, she really crashed, huh?” I asked, sharing my surprise. He didn't look shocked at all.

“She sure did,” he replied, his smile widening. He looked like a killer who was about to be acquitted.

“What did you do?” I asked, standing up to meet him.

“Just a little trick I learned back in the day. Works every time.”

“Oh my God, Cooper. Did you drug her?”

“Not
exactly
,” he started, visibly figuring out how to skirt the truth. “I
may
have slipped a Benadryl into her soda...maybe two.”

“Jesus, Cooper!” I snapped. “What is
wrong
with you?”

“What?” he replied, having the nerve to look surprised. “You didn't want her to witness anything, right? Well, problem solved!”

“And you think
I'm
a loose cannon,” I muttered, shaking my head. "How long is she going to be out for?”

“Hopefully for the night, but the effects of the drugs should only last a couple of hours.”

“You better hope we don't need to wake her up in a hurry.”

“That isn't part of the plan.”

I looked over at the clock; it was 11:23 p.m. A bitter and pungent liquid rose up my throat to my mouth, making me gag.

Fear had a wretched taste.

“You okay?” Cooper asked, as if he'd be talking to me for a moment and I'd not heard him.

“I'm fine, why?”

“You just turned really white all of a sudden.”

“I'm anxious. This waiting is killing me.”

“I need to go do something,” he said, heading towards his room. “You good by yourself for a minute?”

“Yeah, Coop. Go ahead, I'll be fine.”

He slipped into the darkness of the hall, disappearing from view entirely. I slumped back down onto the couch and stared blankly at the wall before me. It was nearly impossible to fathom, but in less than a couple of hours I was likely going to be dead. No grand finale. No swan song. What little life I had left to live amounted to little more than a countdown to execution.

Dead man waiting.

A rumble on the coffee table jarred me from my mental downward spiral. The blue screen of my cell phone cut through the room like a beacon of light, calling me to it. I walked over and picked it up, opening the text which had presumably come from Sean since it was the same number he'd called from earlier. His message was plain, precise, and highly effective: “Get out now. They're coming.”

Dead man standing.

“Ruby, I just wanted—” Cooper started as he appeared in the living room. One look at my face and he stopped dead in his tracks.

I shakily held the phone out to him because I couldn't seem to find my voice. He reached over to me to take it when a piercing pain shot through my head. I crumpled to the floor helplessly, Cooper's voice fading into the background.

The Rev was going to have fun with me one last time. It was truly poetic in a morbid kind of way. Historically in my life, when it rained, it poured.

It was about to rain cats and dogs on this dead man walking.

23

“Ronnie!” I gasped, coming out of my stupor. "Stay with Peyta," I ordered, just before I ran out the apartment door at full speed.

That speed only increased as Scarlet took over.

There was no time to waste. We both knew we had only moments to get to her before
he
did. Second place was not an option.

I wasn't even sure that Cooper had heard me as I bolted out the door, but I prayed he did. Maybe he'd know to call for help.

The early morning hour and midweek status left the streets empty as Scarlet hurdled cars, running at insanely inhuman speed—even in human form, she was
far
from human. Ronnie was four blocks away in the alley by her store in my vision. I hoped she hadn't gone far.

Scarlet growled as we neared the alley; his smell offended her.

“Tonight he dies,” she said repeatedly in the few seconds it took us to close in on Ronnie's location. The vibe she was throwing wasn't vengeance—it was protection. Scarlet would defend her territory and those in it. She was far from the mindless killer the Elders and PC had painted her out to be. She was a ruler, soldier, judge, and jury all wrapped up in one. Her rules may not have been the ones that others played by, but she had her own principles.

And there were consequences for offending them—major ones.

We were only yards away when the gunshots rang out, echoing off the four story buildings surrounding us. Scarlet howled as we rounded the corner, signaling her attack. My hope to find The Revenant sprawled out with three slugs to the chest and one to the head was immediately dashed. Instead, he stood with Ronnie in a headlock, sheltering his body with hers. Her gun had been knocked down the alley just shy of Scarlet, but we all knew that neither she nor I would risk shooting Ronnie to get him. It would have been completely unsatisfying—and Scarlet
needed
some satisfaction.

The fear was plain on Ronnie's face when she looked down the alley to see two blood red eyes staring back at her. It hit me like a tidal wave, and I wished I could have helped to calm her, but it wasn't time for that. Hopefully, if we both lived through it, I would have a little time to try to smooth things over.

“Why don't you throw your toy aside and come play with the real thing?” Scarlet baited. “I
really
want to play with you.”

He licked his lips in the creepiest way, clearly misinterpreting her invitation.

“Not tonight, pet. I have long unfinished business to take care of here,” he replied. “But I hope to have you
soon
. Very, very
soon.
”

“The only unfinished business I see is you being put six feet under...by me, of course,” Scarlet purred.

“Now, now, Scarlet,” he tsked at her, maintaining his uncomfortable grip on Ronnie's neck. “After
everything
I've done for you, this is how you would repay me?”

“I'm sorry, love," she said softly, but menacingly. "What exactly have you done that you feel I'm dismissing? Maybe I just misunderstood you. Or maybe it's true that blondes aren't very bright.”

“First I compliment you with my challenge, then I offer you a place by my side. Lastly, I led you to the one who set you up and selflessly left him for
you
to kill. I was a little disappointed to see that you squandered that opportunity.”

“Well,” Scarlet said in a guttural tone, “it seems as though your gifts were lost on me at the time. That changes nothing. Ronnie is
mine
, and I don't share well.”

“
Ronnie
and I have been at this a long, long time, Scarlet. You're going to have to wait your turn.”

He brought his focus back to her by grabbing her chin and nearly twisting her head beyond normal limits. She looked at him with a hatred that burned so brightly; I was amazed that her eyes weren't glowing red. Hatred that pure could only be cultivated in one of few ways.

“What has it been, Veronica...close to eighteen years now?”

“Fuck you,” she mumbled, his grip on her face impeding her speech.

“Been there, done that,” he said, with murderous eyes flashing. “I have different plans for you this time.”