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"--you stop talking," I said, blindly reaching back to pull the door shut, "and kissas he co nerves, because his happiness was infectious, and because that duht insideinside my chest He deepened the kiss and coaxed ue and was rewarded with a srowl of approval

Normal Happy Crazy For hi him call for me repeatedly from down the hall, that Cole finally strolled into the kitchen and started banging around in the large, beat-up refrigerator It gave leout toa paper cup ater "Or did you forget about hihtless, wonderful happiness evaporated under et about Clancy" My words were sharpened by irritation "Was I not supposed to trust you to take care of it?"

"No, you weren’t," Lia to have a bitch of a headache after the drugs we loaded hi to coe Looked like he was et it over with"

Rather than taking us back upstairs, Cole led the way down the hallway of the lower level, passing several bunk roo a doorand passed it to ave lance around to , and rattled the handle to make sure it would stay locked We slipped inside Cole reached up to tug on the string for the lone light bulb overhead

There were those simple, utilitarian metal shelves, stuffed with random boxes and piles of paper--archived Ops files, supposedly, if you believed the lie that had been etched onto the door It was convincing enough at first glance My eyes roamed the library of folders and binders, all neatly lined up on the shelves, as Cole ainst the back wall

"This one," he said "With the red storage box Give it a tug"

I reached over the top of the letter-size box The dust on the lid had been recently disturbed by hands reaching to get to the hidden latch on the shelf’s back support bar My fingers curled around it and yanked up There was a loud, satisfying click as the entire bookshelf swung out toward hts in the hallway beyond it clicked on, flooding the sht

It was a short walk down the bare hall to yet another locked door Here, I had to insert the key and punch in an access code--4-0-0-4-0-0-4--before the door sprang open with a hiss

"I’ll be here," he said quietly "Signal if you need me"

Another part of the deal--he wanted someone to watchthe little pest food My choices were him, Cate, or Vida, but I’d added Chubs to the list since he had always been resistant to Clancy’s influence

I stepped inside the second hall, letting Cole shut and lock the door behindcells in the hall, both of them about ten feet wide and four feet deep Each had been outfitted with a cot, a plastic toilet, and a bucket of water for washing and brushing teeth As cells went, these were certainly an upgrade from the daation block at HQ Better lit, too--alht-white walls and the exposed fluorescent light bulbs overhead Hardly up to Clancy Gray’s usual standard of living, though he seeh sprawled out on the cot, his arm thrown over his eyes Cole ed him into clean sweats It was more than he deserved

He didn’t stir as I moved toward the door The metal flap built into it had another lock; I assuht It squealed as it opened, but still, no response frolass of water on the s it Clancy waited until I had already turned to go to speak

"Move-in going badly?" His voice was unsettlingly curious as he turned around to face lass"

It was irrational, but for a moment I orried heto poke around inside ofrush that raced down the back of ed his food over to his cot with his foot He made a face as he pulled his sandwich apart "What, there’s no steak anywhere west of Texas? What is this meat?"

I started to roll na"

He sniffed at it, his lip curled in disgust, then rewrapped it in the plastic it’d couest"

"In any case," Clancy said, ignoring this, "I’ht you’d be in here first thing, gloating about being reunited with your little flash drive again What’s got your mood so sour?"