Everyone—including Marco—had assumed Vanessa had been after Kiarra. But if Vanessa had known Kiarra was Cam’s sister, then capturing her to use as leverage made sense. How Vanessa had found out about Kiarra’s escape from the AMT so quickly was proof she either she had powerful connections, or this Collector woman did.
He now not only needed to see what he could do about this shifter’s sister, he needed to find a way to get in touch with Darius. His friend was currently working with Vanessa, and no doubt he could corroborate the story, if it were true. “Do you have a cell phone?”
“Why?”
“In order to see what I can do for your sister, I need to make a call.”
Cam walked beside Richard in silence, taking note of the surrounding landmarks and street names. She didn’t expect a rescue and escape attempt to be easy, but she’d use every little thing she could.
Her hatred of what Richard had done to her cousin Adella outstripped any lingering fear from yesterday. Her adopted sister had gone through hell twice. The first as leverage to make Cam accept her assassination assignment, but the second time because Cam had run to Richard for help after refusing to kill her child targets in Merida four years ago.
Her adopted sister had spent days curled into a ball after the second attempt, refusing to eat or speak, no matter how much her family coaxed her. It’d taken months before she’d even talked with her family, let alone functioned normally again.
Even now, years later, Adella still had trouble going to new places by herself.
In truth, part of the reason Cam had joined DEFEND was to avoid seeing her cousin. Even though Adella had long forgiven her for what had happened, each time she’d seen her, it had brought back painful memories for them both.
Cam had never been able to let her fuck-up go.
She’d long accepted Adella’s pain had been her fault—all because she’d trusted the man now walking beside her. Somehow, some way, she wanted to make sure that Richard couldn’t hurt anyone else ever again. But until Zalika and Jacek were safe, she’d have to be patient.
Richard stopped in front of an old yellow VW Beetle, unlocked the passenger door, and motioned with his hand. “Ladies first.”
She decided to test some boundaries. “So, I’m a lady now?”
“You may hide it well, but I know firsthand that you are.” He motioned again. “Now, get in the car.”
The thought of being in an enclosed space with Richard wasn’t a pleasant one, but since he hadn’t frisked her, she still had her weapons strapped to her thighs. She only hoped she didn’t need them until she knew that Jacek and Zalika were okay.
Cam peeked into the car, but while it smelled faintly of cigarettes, it was empty. Taking one last glance at her surroundings, she slid inside.
But as she settled her weight on the seat, something pricked her through the thin fabric of her skirt, and she jumped back out. On closer inspection, she saw the silver tip of a needle poking out of the crease between the top and bottom halves of the seat.
She half expected to fall unconscious, but nothing happened.
She looked to Richard, but he was smiling. “Obviously your trick didn’t work, so why are you so happy?”
Richard’s smile turned devious. “It did what it was supposed to do, now get in the car.”
Cam glared, and careful not to sit on the needle, she slid into the Beetle and shut the door.
She wondered what had been inside the pressure-triggered syringe. Richard obviously wanted her conscious, so the only possible answer she could come up with was that she’d been pumped with rowanberry juice—an illegal truth serum of sorts for the Feiru.
She needed to test that theory, because while she’d had training to resist answering questions while under the influence of rowanberry juice, she could put DEFEND and its people in danger if she didn’t prepare her mind properly.
Richard started the car. “Take out your cell phone, remove the battery, and toss it out the window.”
She waited to see if she felt compelled to follow his order—one of the side effects of rowanberry juice—but nothing.
Shit. Now she really was worried about what he’d injected into her body.
Of her own free will, Cam took the phone out and did what he asked. “So now that you know I’m not being tracked, care to tell me where we’re going? Or are you going to be vague as hell, and continue acting like some caricature of a bad guy?”
“Just shut up and sit there. We’ll be there soon enough.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Marco waited to see what the shadow-shifter would do. Time was ticking, and the longer he was here, the longer Cam was on her own.