Read Online Vin's Rules (Outer Settlement Agency) by Lyn Brittan - Free Book Online Page B

that—”
    “Or break the connection and the netting goes.”
    “Brilliant Allie, but how does that help us now?”
    It didn’t, not directly. Still... “We threaten Graham and Mama with wrecking it.”
    “That puts innocent people in danger. Can’t do it without a damned good reason. Plus, we’d have to be separated. One with the target and one talking to Graham and... look, I ain’t calling her Mama. Anyway, we’re not splitting up. That’s what they want.”
    “What if we stayed another day?” She hated the notion as soon as the words crossed her lips. The longer they stayed, the more likely the chance of these idiots finding their means of transportation. Almost certainly, they would go out looking for it today. “Kill that. We have to get to our shuttle before they do.”
    “Since you brought it up, we can’t just leave either. I’m not abandoning—”
    “I know that. That’s the one thing I know for sure.  We need that shuttle, though. We get it, then we can use it to threaten the net. Together. Mike said that people are free to leave anytime they want. So, we leave. Just go get it.”
    That cute eyebrow of his went to work again. “Time out. In your head, you see them letting us out that gate?”
    “We’ll call them out on what they claim. That way if they say no, it exposes more of the lie. We need to chip away at the façade. If they say yes, we go.”
    “Publicly. At lunch. Or whatever bell they call it. I’m in.”
    Which also meant hanging around until then. It didn’t, however, have to be without purpose. Allie patted down her dress, removing the small vial of lotion given to her last night. With a casualness she sure as crap didn’t feel, she slathered some on her ridiculously exposed chest and turned toward the doctor’s office as she rubbed it in. “Wonder if Mike’s working?”
    She glanced at Vin and instantly regretted the last two seconds. He pinched his nose and let out a huff of air. “That still stinks.”
    She snapped the lid, but some of the cream splurted on her shoes. Vin’s “Awww, lovely” was mostly ignored as she tried to wipe the excess away. Still bent, she nodded to her primary objective. “We should talk to him. He wants out. You know he does. He can be our man on the inside.”
    “Maybe, with a little help from Poppy.”
    “Maybe is better than no. He might even let us slip into the doctor’s building.”
    Turns out he couldn’t, because he wasn’t there. What they did find was a passed-out Tan reeking of last night’s liquor. His shirt was clean and unwrinkled—he hadn’t slept in it. By all appearances, he’d partied hard, dragged himself to work, and gave up the fight soon after.
    Allie tiptoed past him with Vin fast on her heels.
    Five steps led up to the front door. There, Vin jiggled the knob. “It’s locked.”
    “No problem. Ert’zods have been popping locks for generations. Help me lift my dress. No jokes.”
    “No problem.” Vin gathered the folds of her garment in his arms, then reached down to slip out the stiletto from her thigh holster and handed it over.
    Her grandfather had run and still ran into people wanting to kill him on a regular basis. Locks, be they mechanical, electrical, or even rope, were meant to be conquered. “Your parents taught you how to play as a kid. My family taught me this.”
    “I’ll applaud them later,” he said, looking behind them as the door creaked open.
    The napping guard hadn’t stirred. All the same, rather than reholster her blade, she placed it in the pocket of her dress for the time being.
    The building was dark, and her skin pebbled at the sudden change to chillier air. “Why is it so cold?”
    “Do you hear that?”
    She did. A scratching sound like dulled nails inching across steel, while the light from outside cast long, grotesque shadows. “Why do I feel like a kid hearing monsters under the bed?”
    “I wouldn’t say under the bed. They’re right over there.”
    His arm and