Sidekick by Auralee Wallace

Author:Auralee Wallace
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Published: 2014-04-21T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

I tumbled from the scaffolding, landing hard in a cart full of hay.

I blinked my eyes and gave my head a shake.

Okay, I could work with this plan. I was still alive…and I was helping.

I was also directly under the pointy end of the Sultana’s automatic weapon.

“We meet again,” she said smoothly.

“Hey,” I replied, carefully crab-walking my way out of the cart.

I glanced towards the glazed-over performers, bags full of loot, awaiting instruction at the front of the stage. Even the bearded lady stared out glassy-eyed. It made me kind of sad. His lipstick didn’t match his dress. I would have liked to have told him so.

“Aren’t you the pesky one?”

I looked back to my main adversary. She wore a black leather catsuit, much like mine…except hers had some self-respect. Her dark hair once again raged in a storm cloud above her head, but the front lay smooth, held back with tiny pin curls. To finish the look, a thin snake curled around her throat.

“What brings you here this evening?” she asked. “And in a mask no less?”

“Don’t you mean, My God! You’re alive!” I shouted. “You pushed me from a hot air balloon, remember? I should be dead!”

I flicked my gaze up to the rafters. Ryder had disappeared. I hoped she was working fast. This distraction thing was harder than it looked.

“I think your death would have made the news,” the Sultana answered.

Her words gave me an idea. Time to act on a hunch. “So tell me, how did my father react when he found out you almost killed me?”

A trace of concern crossed the Sultana’s face. “I take orders from no man.”

Her answer told me all I needed to know. Okay, maybe not all, but I was feeling pretty clever.

There was a connection between the Sultana and my father. She had recognized me right away at the bank, and it had made her nervous. Plus the circus crew was now under some sort of mind control, and that couldn’t be a coincidence given what my father was up to. But what was the link? My father was supposed to be fighting crime. How could he possibly benefit from lending his technology to the Sultana? It would be a public relations disaster. No, something more was going on here.

But I had to save my Sherlocking for later—I had bigger problems.

I peered past the stage lights anchored to the floor. I could barely make out Ryder. She was clinging to the first box seat working furiously away at the device mounted to the wall. How many more bombs had she said there were?

Suddenly Pulcinella bounded across the stage landing directly in front of me. “Why are you here? Why? Why? WHY?”

I shrugged. “Why not?”

“Can I kill her?” the very bad clown asked the Sultana. She seemed to be considering it.

I needed to do something fast.

Luckily, I had just the thing.

My secret weapon.

I whipped the device out from my back collar and smacked it on the floor.

“What is that?” Pulcinella screeched.

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