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"Charmed," Lel said She had a sexy contralto purr She extended a hand to me, palm down, as if she expectedaround her wrist "Nice," I said "Velada?"

She looked impressed She reclaimed her hand to pet the silver chain and orna bolts "Yes You know your jewelry"

Paul rolled his eyes "If it gets worn, she knows about it," he said "Go ahead Show her your shoes"

Lel obligingly extended an elegant leg in denilanced at the footwear for a second, looked back into her lovely hazel eyes, and said, "Kenneth Cole" She gave me a self-satisfied smirk "Knockoffs," I finished "Probably Taiwan"

The s back out of sight "I wasn’t dressing for the pro out that Velada jewelry was hardly appropriate for breakfast at Denny’s, but gave it up Hell, oing to lengths to hide a s "Okay," Paul said "Sounds like you guys are going to get along great You know the route?"

Lel nodded Carl contented hi leftover buttered toast Not her, I noticed; she wasn’t wasting her perfect lipstick on anything so useless as breakfast

I didn’t like her, and it wasn’t because of the shoes So about her raised my hackles Carl was just a cipher, but Lel I really didn’t want to be in a car with all the way to Florida

Speaking of which, I had a bad, bad thought "Um, Paul? Can I take my car?"

He nodded "Yeah, fine You drive They’ll just ride along"

"Both of theht?"

Notto be concerned about their comfort "Sure" And theback to pick up the pieces of this disaster Because it was going to be a disaster No doubt about it

Carl finished the toast, swilled down half a cup of coffee with a noisy slurp, and stood Lel followed suit more slowly

"Jo" Paul reached out and took my hand, just for a second "I’m sorry"

"Oh, you’re not nearly sorry yet," I said "Get back toI’d ever done, to walk away and leave David behind

I’ll find you I pro fury I will No matter what

My Viper started up with a roar

Lel had called shotgun, leaving a disgrunted Carl in the cramped backseat She see me on a drive back to Florida; in fact, she slipped on headphones and flipped a switch on an iPod, and ignored ht-blue Mona out of her parking space and eased her into gear The freeway beckoned ahead

"So that was your Djinn, right?" Carl asked, just as we hitspeed Nobody on the road in either direction I opened Mona up to eighty and kept an eye on the horizon for cops or stor over to the kid? Must suck, right?"

"Sucks," I agreed tightly "We’re not going to chat, right?"

"Long dahed and settled back Lel bobbed her head in time with a beat I couldn’t hear, and I watched theempty space inside me I couldn’t feel David any where he hat they were doing with him How could they believe Kevin? Were they really that stupid, or just that desperate? Kevin wasn’t exactly a brilliant strategist, but he had a certain cri and you could count on the fact that if he had the chance to double cross you, he would He was greedy, he was selfish, and he’d never been treated fairly in his life He’d believe you were going to screw hiy, not half-bad As a way to live, it was a tragedy

I kept halffor trouble and hoping for a sign There was a huge roiling disturbance centered behind as, but it was like an impenetrable wall of confusion

David had told me that this had to happen I didn’t understand why, but all I could do was trust hioodwill of the universe

Not really in one about fifteennowhere when Lel took the headphones off, looked over the backseat at Carl, and said, "This about right?"

"Yeah," he said "Looks right"

"For what?" I asked, and that hen Carl took a gun out from under his tan windbreaker and pointed it to my head

"Pull over," he said

I felt a cold-hot bolt of shock "You’re kidding"

I heard a ht next to my ear "The next sound you hear kills you Pull the car over"

Lel atching me with a little half smile, satisfied as a cat in a cream factory

I drifted the car to a stop at the side of the road and stood on the brakes unnecessarily hard My legs were shaking I’ve been on the wrong end of a lot of situations, but the wrong end of a gun was a different story God, I hadn’t seen this coun to Lel "Cover her"

The woood at it; I never felt there was a split second to take advantage of, and besides, there were two Wardens on me, and it wasn’t like I could overpower theht Theshot in the back overwhelmed me I’d survived it, but not without cost, and not without pain; I didn’t have any wish to try a rematch of me versus Smith a my hands up and in a helpless position

"You understand that if I feel so ht breeze, you’re dead," Lel said conversationally I nodded Strange feeling, to be so cold when the sun was so hot; my hands were clammy I wanted to wipe them on my skirt and didn’t dare

"Look," I said, "if you want the car-"

"Shut up Walk," Lel said, and jerked her chin out in the direction of the desert It looked prettyout here but sand, cactus, and the occasional vulture Soed buckshot dings were rusted rich orange

As we struggled through hot sand, heading over the nearest hill, I wished for soo through your head I wished desperately for David’s war presence, not to mention his ability to kill these two roaches really, really dead I wished for a lot of things that I couldn’t have Stupid! Should’ve seen this coht have ordered me killed had never sofor?