Betrayal by Arthur Slade

Author:Arthur Slade
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459822740
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2019-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP

THE CAB WAS ONE of the stereotypical small black cabs you see in British movies. They look cute on the screen but are cramped in real life, and this one smelled like an old sock. I still found it odd that the driver was on the opposite side, but that seemed to be working out for the Brits.

Hexdall waved a stack of fifty-pound notes in front of the driver. “Will that get us to Oxford? Quickly?”

The driver nodded solemnly, not even raising his eyebrows. British nonchalance apparently ran in his blood. The trip would take at least an hour, so I assumed he was making a tidy profit.

We left the airport, pulling onto the M25—a highway with several lanes of traffic. Again, all on the wrong side. I couldn’t help but think I’d walked into an alternate world where everything was a reflection of the real world. London was to my right, and I felt some regret we weren’t heading straight into that city. I’d cut my literary teeth reading books that featured good ol’ London town. Dickens had walked those streets. And James Bond. Well, not Bond so much as Ian Fleming. And this was the land of J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien too.

So I have a soft spot in my heart for England. Mom never wanted to move here, because she thought we’d stand out with our accents. It would be harder for us to blend in if every time we opened our mouths, the polite, stone-faced Brits thought, Ugh, Americans. Go back to the colonies.

“Yes. Yes,” Hexdall said. At first I thought he was talking to himself, but then I saw he had slipped his earbud in. “An order? Then yes, here she is.”

He passed the earbud to me. I looked at it, wondering how much wax it might have on it. I wiped it on my pants and pressed it into my ear. “Hello?”

“Hello, Amber,” a ragged, frail voice replied. It sounded like an old lady.

“Who is this?”

“It’s me, Dermot,” the voice said. Once he’d said his name, I could hear that it really was him.

“You sound like hell.”

“My recovery is not going as planned. We’ve run several tests. It seems the paralytic agent your sister injects has a few other serious side effects that yours doesn’t. I’m losing muscle mass rather quickly.” He inhaled, a rattling, raspy breath. “It’s like catching a wasting disease.”

“Well, eat up. Or drink protein power shakes.” Even as I said it, I realized I was sounding rather flippant. “Really, take care of yourself, Dermot.”

“I—I will. I wanted to let you know that I’ve gone through the League papers that I can access. I can’t find any clearly moral hunts for you in England. There’s one in Zimbabwe, but that’s not helpful. I know this must be frustrating.”

“It is. I had my next meal in Mexico all planned out.” I licked my lips and couldn’t help but glance at Hexdall’s neck.

“I’m sorry about that.” Dermot coughed. “I know

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