Under Falling Skies by Kate MacLeod

Author:Kate MacLeod [MacLeod, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-946552-50-1
Publisher: Kate MacLeod

17

Warrior pulled her gun from its hiding place at the small of her back, but the dogs were faster. Shadow raised the alarm, leaping into the air over and over again, ever higher as he barked. But Girl went straight for Ottilie, tackling her and knocking her to the ground. The knife fell from her hand as she hit the floor, skittering away to disappear behind the bar.

“Get this dog off me!” Ottilie shouted.

“I don’t know, maybe we should leave her there,” Warrior said, putting her gun away. With all eyes on the knife fight and the dogs, Scout wasn’t sure if the others had even seen it. “Scout, get the dog off her.”

“Girl, come!” Scout said. Shadow responded first, trotting back to Scout’s side to stand close to her calf. Girl looked back at him, then took her paws off Ottilie’s chest to follow.

“Grab the knife,” Warrior whispered to Scout, then put out a hand to help Ottilie to her feet. But she didn’t let go once Ottilie was up. She hooked her foot around the leg of one of the chairs, spinning it around and pushing Ottilie back into it. She had both of Ottilie’s wrists cuffed to the arms of the chair before Ottilie could even object.

“You can’t do this. This isn’t your jurisdiction,” Ottilie said darkly.

“I’m not arresting you, I’m keeping you out of trouble,” Warrior said.

“Then tie her up too,” Ottilie said, pointing at Liv with her chin.

“What good would that do?” Scout asked. “It’s not her hands that are the problem. It’s her mouth. Why did you try to jump her, Ottilie?”

Ottilie didn’t answer, just silently fumed. There was a red tinge to her cheeks that Scout could almost take for embarrassment. Ottilie struck Scout as someone largely driven by emotion and impulse, someone for whom stabbing was an appropriate response to Liv’s whispered innuendos and provoking, “knowing” glances. But Warrior’s reflective lenses were fixed on her now, and Scout knew just how that gaze felt, like being judged and found wanting.

It was nice to know it wasn’t just Scout who felt like she didn’t measure up.

“Knife, Scout,” Warrior said, then turned as Viola finally passed through the doorway.

“I’m guessing you’re the one trying to bust into my space. Anybody else would still be out cold,” Viola growled at Warrior.

“Or dead?”

“No, not yet, but don’t think I’m not considering cranking it up.”

Scout found the knife under the shelving behind the bar and brought it back to Warrior.

“That’s mine,” Ottilie said, trying to twist her wrists out of her bonds.

“I’ll give it back to you in three days,” Warrior said. It wasn’t a very large knife, more suited to paring an apple than murdering a grown woman. She tucked it into a pouch on her hip.

“Why was she trying to stab Liv?” Viola asked. “Did Liv kill Ruth?”

“No, she killed Ebba!” Ottilie said, trying to tuck her thumbs in tightly enough to slip her hands free.

“I’d sit still if I were you. Those are going to keep tightening if you struggle.

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