Read Online Out of the Box 7 - Sea Change by Robert J. Crane - Free Book Online
Authors: Robert J. Crane
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did not respond favorably to this idea. “Is it just going to be a talk?”
“Yes,” I said, sighing again. I had a feeling I’d be doing a lot of this.
“On your honor?” Taggert asked with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
“Well, I damned sure wouldn’t bother swearing on yours,” I said, turning my back on the bastard. “I just need to clarify a couple of points with Ms. Gavrikov before I make any commitments here.”
“Ms. Who?” Taggert asked, his face frowning in a way that looked wholly unnatural. There were parts that just didn’t move with the rest of his face, causing me to do a double take while looking at him. Plastic surgery, I realized after a beat.
“Oh, you didn’t know that was her original name?” I smirked
“Sienna, please,” Kat said, looking more than a little stricken. “Please, Taggert … we need a few minutes.”
“Yeah, all right,” Taggert said and snapped his fingers at the poor girl who’d turned on the TV. She hurried after him as he swept from the room. Scott, for his part, seemed a little less put off by that shit than I was and paused on his way out of the room.
“Thought you weren’t coming,” he said.
“I changed my mind,” I said. “It’s a woman’s prerogative.”
“If you say so,” he said, favoring me with a smile as he headed after Taggert.
I waited another minute for the room to clear, but the camera guy and the dude with the big microphone on a stick did not make any motion toward leaving. I rolled my eyes. “You, Guido, Luigi, get the hell out of here, okay?” They didn’t respond, like they were automated or furniture or something, so I mimicked Taggert and snapped my finger at them. “You know who I am?” I asked, summoning my most menacing, commanding voice. They nodded in sync. “Get the hell out of here or I’m going to take your boom mic and your camera and sodomize you both with them—sideways.”
That got them moving. Probably in more ways than one, though I wasn’t close enough to smell them to be sure. They scrambled through the open archway and disappeared into what looked like a spacious kitchen, one big enough to probably swallow my entire house. Time was, I might have sighed in envy, but that was before I parked a half-billion dollars of moderately ill-gotten gains in a Liechtenstein bank account. Someday, maybe I’d get a house like this. But probably not in California. I already didn’t care for the weather. Not my speed. Also, I knew what real estate cost out here. Half a billion didn’t feel like it would go far enough.
“So, Kat,” I said, tilting my head toward the aperture where Taggert was probably listening in on us with the cameramen, “why don’t we step outside?”
She froze then nodded in surrender. “Okay.”
“Stop acting like I’m going to murder you or something,” I said, opening the door for her, “it’s insulting.”
“I know you have a temper,” she said, just loud enough I knew she was playing for the damned cameras.
“Yes,” I said, “and remember that I’ve seen yours at work, too, including times when you’ve killed our fellow human beings in seriously unpleasant ways.” I spoke loudly too, enough to do a little playing of my own to the camera. “Remember that time in Gables, Minnesota, when you crushed like five guys to death with tree branches—?”
“Okay, let’s go outside,” Kat said, hauling her bony ass out the door before I could even finish my sentence. I guess emphasizing her war record wasn’t good for “brand management.” It wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong; the guys she’d killed were sure doing their damnedest to kill us at the time.
I closed the door behind us and stepped out onto the softly lit pool deck. Kat looked like she was glowing cerulean from the underwater lights, and I looked up into a sky that was so polluted by light that I couldn’t see a single star. “So,” I started, “as an impartial observer, I hear you’re kind of
“Yes,” I said, sighing again. I had a feeling I’d be doing a lot of this.
“On your honor?” Taggert asked with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
“Well, I damned sure wouldn’t bother swearing on yours,” I said, turning my back on the bastard. “I just need to clarify a couple of points with Ms. Gavrikov before I make any commitments here.”
“Ms. Who?” Taggert asked, his face frowning in a way that looked wholly unnatural. There were parts that just didn’t move with the rest of his face, causing me to do a double take while looking at him. Plastic surgery, I realized after a beat.
“Oh, you didn’t know that was her original name?” I smirked
“Sienna, please,” Kat said, looking more than a little stricken. “Please, Taggert … we need a few minutes.”
“Yeah, all right,” Taggert said and snapped his fingers at the poor girl who’d turned on the TV. She hurried after him as he swept from the room. Scott, for his part, seemed a little less put off by that shit than I was and paused on his way out of the room.
“Thought you weren’t coming,” he said.
“I changed my mind,” I said. “It’s a woman’s prerogative.”
“If you say so,” he said, favoring me with a smile as he headed after Taggert.
I waited another minute for the room to clear, but the camera guy and the dude with the big microphone on a stick did not make any motion toward leaving. I rolled my eyes. “You, Guido, Luigi, get the hell out of here, okay?” They didn’t respond, like they were automated or furniture or something, so I mimicked Taggert and snapped my finger at them. “You know who I am?” I asked, summoning my most menacing, commanding voice. They nodded in sync. “Get the hell out of here or I’m going to take your boom mic and your camera and sodomize you both with them—sideways.”
That got them moving. Probably in more ways than one, though I wasn’t close enough to smell them to be sure. They scrambled through the open archway and disappeared into what looked like a spacious kitchen, one big enough to probably swallow my entire house. Time was, I might have sighed in envy, but that was before I parked a half-billion dollars of moderately ill-gotten gains in a Liechtenstein bank account. Someday, maybe I’d get a house like this. But probably not in California. I already didn’t care for the weather. Not my speed. Also, I knew what real estate cost out here. Half a billion didn’t feel like it would go far enough.
“So, Kat,” I said, tilting my head toward the aperture where Taggert was probably listening in on us with the cameramen, “why don’t we step outside?”
She froze then nodded in surrender. “Okay.”
“Stop acting like I’m going to murder you or something,” I said, opening the door for her, “it’s insulting.”
“I know you have a temper,” she said, just loud enough I knew she was playing for the damned cameras.
“Yes,” I said, “and remember that I’ve seen yours at work, too, including times when you’ve killed our fellow human beings in seriously unpleasant ways.” I spoke loudly too, enough to do a little playing of my own to the camera. “Remember that time in Gables, Minnesota, when you crushed like five guys to death with tree branches—?”
“Okay, let’s go outside,” Kat said, hauling her bony ass out the door before I could even finish my sentence. I guess emphasizing her war record wasn’t good for “brand management.” It wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong; the guys she’d killed were sure doing their damnedest to kill us at the time.
I closed the door behind us and stepped out onto the softly lit pool deck. Kat looked like she was glowing cerulean from the underwater lights, and I looked up into a sky that was so polluted by light that I couldn’t see a single star. “So,” I started, “as an impartial observer, I hear you’re kind of
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