04-09-2019, 09:44 PM
Axel goaded, but only received a flat stare. Given the connections from her birthright alone he was stupid to make no demands at all, and she was unsure what to make of it. He underestimated her, certainly, but she only shrugged a shoulder. They needed his help, and the possibility of betrayal was worth the risk whatever his motivation. Enemies squared all sides anyway, and she’d bargained with worse. “Sure,” she said, deadpan. “If you think we won’t both be dead before then.” The words were thrown careless, absent the telling smirk. It was hard to differentiate the toneless joke from the truth anyway.
She slipped the wallet in her pocket as she stood. It felt heavy. Marcus had already begun to pull the necessary strings for the Carpenter’s asylum; she only had to get them to an airport before the threat of border closure, now. Instead she lingered to entertain slivers of a foolish hope that might just as likely reveal itself to be pure mirage, while Axel grinned down at her discomfort. She dampened the dare that wanted to burst like a demand in her expression as she stepped into his shadow. Cayli’s presence at her shoulder tempered the desire to pick a pointless fight.
Her gaze slid to Jensen at the immediate admission Amengual visited the house. She really hoped he had been unaware of that detail when he’d offered Jay’s family sanctuary, but truly doubted the man was capable of such coldness. More likely it would be another thing to wrongfully weight his overburdened shoulders. It shouldn’t. One more knot in the noose wasn’t likely to make a difference this late, and as Axel so eloquently pointed out, what was done was done. If he didn’t know already, Amengual would discover soon enough where they were.
Natalie glanced back to Axel. She could feel impatience begin to spark restlessness through her limbs. Talk of deals sparked concern, but it was one for later. There’d only been enough time to skim Weston’s research, but she pulled together the things she knew. “Sedation has to be kept topped up to be effective. A medical facility, maybe. Have you heard of Orion?”
Until Axel said the words, the connections hadn’t sparked. Jay himself suspected Diaz’s involvement when they’d discussed the disparate pieces of the puzzle they each had at the lake. There’d been nothing obvious in her inspection of the dart, but the peripheral involvement of a pharmaceutical company was too coincidental to ignore. Laurie would know more, but even now suspicion began to drain Natalie cold as the possibilities occurred.
She slipped the wallet in her pocket as she stood. It felt heavy. Marcus had already begun to pull the necessary strings for the Carpenter’s asylum; she only had to get them to an airport before the threat of border closure, now. Instead she lingered to entertain slivers of a foolish hope that might just as likely reveal itself to be pure mirage, while Axel grinned down at her discomfort. She dampened the dare that wanted to burst like a demand in her expression as she stepped into his shadow. Cayli’s presence at her shoulder tempered the desire to pick a pointless fight.
Her gaze slid to Jensen at the immediate admission Amengual visited the house. She really hoped he had been unaware of that detail when he’d offered Jay’s family sanctuary, but truly doubted the man was capable of such coldness. More likely it would be another thing to wrongfully weight his overburdened shoulders. It shouldn’t. One more knot in the noose wasn’t likely to make a difference this late, and as Axel so eloquently pointed out, what was done was done. If he didn’t know already, Amengual would discover soon enough where they were.
Natalie glanced back to Axel. She could feel impatience begin to spark restlessness through her limbs. Talk of deals sparked concern, but it was one for later. There’d only been enough time to skim Weston’s research, but she pulled together the things she knew. “Sedation has to be kept topped up to be effective. A medical facility, maybe. Have you heard of Orion?”
Until Axel said the words, the connections hadn’t sparked. Jay himself suspected Diaz’s involvement when they’d discussed the disparate pieces of the puzzle they each had at the lake. There’d been nothing obvious in her inspection of the dart, but the peripheral involvement of a pharmaceutical company was too coincidental to ignore. Laurie would know more, but even now suspicion began to drain Natalie cold as the possibilities occurred.