Hunger (Gone 2)

Diana decided it was time for a show of anger. “Listen, you sad excuse for a human being, I had a choice. Sam offered me that choice after he kicked your butt. I could have gone with him. It would have been the smart move. I would have been safe from Drake. And I wouldn’t have had to put up with you trying to paw me every time you felt lonely. And I would definitely be eating better. I chose to go with you.”

Caine sat up straighter. He leaned toward her. His eyes made his intentions clear.

“Oh, here we go.” Diana rolled her eyes.

But when he kissed her, she let him. And after a few seconds of stony indifference she kissed him back.

Then she put her palm on his bare chest and shoved him back onto his pillow. “That’s enough.”

“Not nearly enough, but I guess it will have to do,” Caine said.

“I’m out of here,” Diana said. She started for the door.

“Diana?”

“What?”

“I need Computer Jack.”

She froze with her hand on the doorknob. “I don’t have him hidden in my room.”

“Listen to me, Diana, and don’t say anything. Okay? I’m telling you: don’t say anything. This is a one-time offer. Amnesty. Whatever happened with you and Jack and Sam, it’s forgotten, if…if you get me Jack. Bygones will be bygones. But I need Jack. I need him soon.”

“Caine—”

“Shut up,” he hissed. “Do yourself a favor, Diana. Don’t. Say. Anything.”

She bit back the angry retort. There was no mistaking the menace in his voice. He meant it. This time, he meant it.

“Get me Jack. Use any resource you want. Use Bug. Use Drake, even. Use Pack Leader, if that’ll help. I don’t care how it gets done, but I want Jack in two days. Starting now.?

?

Diana struggled for her next breath.

“Two days, Diana. You know the ‘or else.’”

Albert was supervising the sweeping of his club by one of his crew, and reading about the melting points of various metals—lead and gold, especially gold—when Quinn pushed a wheelbarrow into the McDonald’s.

In the wheelbarrow were three fish. One was very big for a fish. The other two looked more average.

Albert’s second thought was that this was an opportunity.

His first thought was that he was hungry and would definitely enjoy a nice piece of fried fish. Even raw fish. The strength of the hunger pangs caught him off-guard. He tried to ignore the hunger, eating very little himself and making sure that his crew were as well fed as possible, but when a guy walked in with actual, honest-to-God fish…

“Whoa,” Albert said.

“Yeah. Cool, huh?” Quinn said, smiling down at his fish like a proud parent.

“Are they for sale?” Albert asked.

“Yeah. Except for whatever I can eat. Plus, we got to send some to Mary for the prees.”

“Of course,” Albert agreed. He considered. “I don’t have anything I can use to make a batter. But I could probably dip them in a little flour to give them a little crunchiness.”

“Man, I’ll eat ’em raw,” Quinn said. “I barely got them here without chomping on them.”

“What do you want for all three?” Albert asked.