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"Or she’s not round"

"Already on the way, my lord I should have a report mo the stairs two at a tih the big double doors and out to the drivehere two SUVs waited, engines idling

Duncan’s phone rang again as they sped down Pacific Coast Highway toward Santa Monica, the direction of both the airport and Cyn’s last known location Raphael are of the phone’s ringing and of Duncan’s low-voiced conversation, but his hts of Cyn He had enemies And Cyn was too human, too vulnerable And too important to him, dammit

Duncan finished his call "The phone has been found in a parking garage, along with her backpack," he said griht after she left the estate this es"

In the front seat, Juro looked over his shoulder and spoke without being asked "We have filed a flight plan to Tucson, my lord," he said "Your people in Phoenix willached Cyn tried to ht ar to fall asleep Panic flared as memory returned, but she forced herself to remain still and quiet

She was in a car, or a vehicle of so There was tape across her mouth; she could feel the pull of the adhesive on her cheeks Her hands and feet were bound, probably with the same tape as her mouth, and her hands were behind her back She heard soft sobbing nearby So she wasn’t alone in her captivity Elizabeth, she remembered, and knew immediately who had thee it had seen before her loss of consciousness That damned thick-necked PI of Jabril’s Which meant they were on their way back to Texas But how far had they gotten?

She rolled over and struggled to see so, thankful the asshole hadn’t blindfolded her at least It was dark outside, utterly dark, made even more so by the tinted s of the Land Rover Land Rover They were in the cargo coood news If she could get loose somehow, there eapons hidden in here that would coainst a vampire

She scooted around carefully, taking in more detail Liz lay next to her, si , so she’d probably been conscious for awhile Hopefully that er woman hadn’t been Tasered, or at least not ascertain she knew Cyn ake and aware The look of terror on her face said she understood as well as Cyn who had thee to escape Cyn felt a surge of angry frustration at their predica it for later She would use that anger, but not yet

Okay, so they were in her truck and the PI was probably driving He’d been alone when he Tasered her--she felt a renewed rage surge at the ot the chance But how to get that chance?

The ahtened suddenly, and Cyn froze They were pulling into soas station She could hear voices nearby and the steady hu while their drivers took care of whatever business brought them here The Land Rover’s front door snicked open and the interior lights flashed on briefly, before she heard a hts went off The car door sla inserted into the fuel tank right behind Cyn, where she lay against the side wall of the cargo coasoline as Jabril’s PI filled the tank It went on for long enough that she knew the tank had been almost empty She’d topped off on the way to Luci’s, but the V8 engine was hell on gas, so they’d traveled less than two hundred miles since the abduction Unless this wasn’t their first stop for fuel Liz ht know about that, but she was as as cap ratcheted closed and then ht of so back into the driver’s seat Cyn startedwordlessly beneath the tape

"Shut up back there or I’ll give you another jolt," ahe could not only hear her, but that it irritated hiine started and the truck began to ht she’d failed, but she didn’t give up, screaainst the door and sides of the SUV Liz joined in, either because she figured Cyn had a plan or just because she was scared and pissed off Cyn cheered her silently, the more noise the better

"Goddammit!" the driver swore The truck swerved, traveled a short distance and ca It was darker here, and Cyn knew their captor had pulled away from whatever public area they’d been in before The back hatch opened suddenly and the PI’s flushed and angry face appeared Cyn’s gaze went iht hand

"You shut the fuck up, bitch," he said to Cyn, clearly seeing her as the instigator "I only need you alive, not functioning, you got it? I’ll give you a jolt that’llidiot look like Einstein co noises, pleading now The PI frowned, then turned to Liz and ripped the tape off her face "What’s the problem,with the tape, and it took her several h to talk

"Fuck this," the PI snarled and htly and cried out, forestalling him