Page 94 of Tin God
The cautious part of him said run, but then he thought about Gus waiting silently in his boat. The last thing he wanted to do was put one of Jennie’s people in danger.
The guard came charging again, still not shouting for help, and Carwyn wondered whether keeping appearances up was so built into the crew of this ship that they’d lost all common sense.
He reached out, trying to wrestle Carwyn to the ground, but the big earth vampire ducked to the right, punched into the man’s kidney, and the guard fell to his knees.
The guard reached back, throwing a punch over his shoulder and into Carwyn’s face. It hurt and split his lip open, but there was little force behind the awkward attack.
Carwyn locked his elbow around the guard’s neck and wrested it to the side, twisting the man to the deck in a headlock that made an audible crack as he fell.
The man shuddered for a second, then went still, his neck broken. He was still alive, but he wouldn’t be moving for twelve hours or so. Carwyn stood, bracing himself as he looked around to see if anyone had heard the fight, but the whipping wind must have carried the sound of their violence away.
Carwyn remembered Clovis’s words before he’d left the fishing boat with Gus.
“You want a life vest before you get in there?”
“I can’t drown.”
“Nah, but it’s plenty cold if you sink to the bottom.”
Despite what he’d seen in the portfolio, he didn’t want to kill the guard that night until he got more information. He could, however, throw him overboard and let the ocean decide his fate.
“I’d say I’m sorry” —Carwyn kept his voice low, glad that the wind was coming off the stern and heading up the bow where he was planning to dump the motionless guard— “but I’m not. If you’re working with Zasha Sokholov, I hope the fishes eat your liver by dawn.”
With a giant heave, Carwyn tossed the vampire overboard, then grabbed the portfolio and gathered the papers that had scattered in the wind before he ran for the ladder and the waiting boat.
If the sound of the guard’s splash made it to the deck of the freighter, he didn’t want to know.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Brigid heard Tenzin land on the roof of the house in Juneau and started when she heard a second set of feet.
Thunk.
Thunk.
She pulled her Hellcat and unlocked the trigger, taking position across the room within sight of the door that led to the stairwell.
“Brigid,” Tenzin called, “I brought Ben. Don’t shoot us with your gun.”
She relaxed a tiny bit, somewhat certain that Tenzin wasn’t being coerced but still cautious.
“It’s me, Brig.”
She recognized Ben’s voice and released the breath she’d been holding.
Tenzin walked through the door, quickly followed by Ben.
Brigid lowered her weapon. “Took ya long enough to find us.”
Her old friend rolled his eyes. “As if we didn’t know exactly where you were for weeks now.”
“Sure ya did.”
Tenzin looked at him. “You said that you didn’t know until I called you.”
“I mean, it wasn’t exact but…” Ben looked at Brigid.
“Don’t expect me to cover your arse for ya.”