Cutting Edge

by Allison Brennan

  “God, Nora, I—” He couldn’t say it out loud. He thought he was going to lose her. He pulled her into his arms, kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her lips. “I love you, Nora. Don’t scare me again.”

  Nora rested her head against his chest. “Why did she do it?” she asked, but Duke didn’t think she expected answers. He didn’t think there were any that they could understand.

  “I had to—”

  Nora reached for his face, tears streaming down her own. “Shh. She gave you no choice. I just—I wish it was different. I wish I could have fixed it before—but I don’t know. It’s such a tragic waste.”

  Nora closed her eyes and started coughing.

  Sean said, “We need to run, folks, or we’ll be in serious shit.”

  “She’s in no condition to walk.” Duke picked her up. She held on to his neck. “Lead the way, brother.” He looked around. “The smoke isn’t getting worse. It might be improving.”

  “I hope so,” Sean said. “I don’t think I could get out if it’s this bad where the plane is parked.”

  “I’m proud of you, Sean.” They walked briskly in silence until Sean led them to an old logging road that branched off of Last Chance Road. If you want a full-time position at Rogan-Caruso, you have it.”

  “Thanks, Duke. I appreciate it. Let me think about it.”

  Duke frowned. “What do you need to think about? I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  “Maybe I do. But I have some other ideas I want to explore.”

  Nora squeezed the back of Duke’s neck. He glanced down at her in his arms, still concerned, but pleased that the color was returning to her face.

  “Sean will be fine in anything he does,” she said.

  “I know. I just want to keep my eye on him,” he whispered. “And you.”

  “Good,” Nora said with a weak smile. “I want to keep my eye on you, too. I love you.”

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY-ONE

  Nora sat next to Quin’s hospital bed. She was so pale, still so weak, the cuts turning into angry red welts. She’d be scarred forever, but she was alive.

  Her sister would live.

  Agent Ted Bliss stepped in with a vase of yellow roses. Hooper had told her Ted saved Quin’s life by giving blood in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. She smiled at him. “Come in.”

  “How’s she doing?”

  “Better.”

  “She has more color.”

  “Thanks to you. You can put those on the table.”

  “Thanks.” He put them in a vase on the night table. “Well, I just wanted to bring those by.”

  “Thank you. I know she’ll love them.”

  He looked at Quin, nodded. “Um, tell her I said hi.”

  “I will. Thanks, Ted.” She watched him leave. Yellow roses meant friendship, but Nora bet he wanted more. He had a crush on Quin big-time.

  Nora took Quin’s hand and lightly rubbed it. Her skin was still cool, though she was under multiple blankets. She’d woken up several times, but not for long, and the doctors said the sleep was good for now, but in the next day they’d be working on keeping her awake more, getting her up and walking around.

  Quin yawned. “Hi, Nora.”

  “Hey. How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been beaten to a pulp.”

  “That’s what you said yesterday. What’s new?”

  “Okay, I feel like I’ve been beaten into partial pulp. A little better than yesterday.”

  Nora handed her some water. Quin sipped through the straw.

  “Ted came by again.”

  Quin glanced at the night table. “He brought more flowers?”

  Nora nodded, grinning.

  “He’s sweet.”

  “He is.”

  “I loved Devon and I never told him.” Quin’s voice cracked and her eyes welled with tears.

  “Honey, you need to take one day at a time.”

  “I heard you talking to Duke yesterday.”

  Nora frowned. “When?”

  “In the evening, near the end of visiting hours. I’m glad you have someone like him. He treats you like you’re special. Like you’re the only woman in the world for him.”

  Nora’s stomach fluttered. “He’s good that way.”

  “You deserve someone like him.”

  “So do you. Not Duke,” she quickly corrected, “but someone like him. Someone who treats you special.”

  “I heard you say you went to see Lorraine. Did you really?”

  “Yes.” Nora still had mixed feelings about her experience, but she didn’t regret it. Without the visit, she’d never have found Quin in time.

  “You did that for me.”

  “You bet. I love you, Quin. I’d do anything for you.”

  Tears streamed down Quin’s face, and Nora brushed them aside. “Don’t cry.” Nora’s own eyes burned with unshed tears, watching the anguish on Quin’s face.

  “I’m so sorry for what I said. I thought I was going to die and never tell you how much I love you, how much I appreciate you, how much I need you. I don’t know why I—”

  “Shh. Quin, I’m not perfect. I’m a control freak, I always think I’m right, and you were right: I did follow you here to Sacramento. Not because I wanted to watch out for you—though that was probably part of it—but because I missed you. You’re my family. You were my rock. You’re the reason I became strong. You needed me, and back then I needed to be needed. It kept me focused. So when you didn’t need me, I didn’t take it too well.”

  “I did need you, I just didn’t want to admit it. And I still do. I—I talked to my doctor about seeing a shrink. I think—I think I need to. I’ve got a lot of stuff in my head, and I know it’s not all good stuff.”

  Tears rolled down Nora’s cheeks now. “I’m proud of you, Quin.” She kissed her.

  There was a knock on the door, and Duke entered. “Hey Quin, can I borrow Nora for a minute?”

  “Yeah. Nora, want to send Ted in? I want to thank him.”

  “I’m sure he’s still out there. I’ll find him.”

  She left and Duke asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Terrific.” She kissed him.

  “Melanie Duncan is here. She came by to share some great news. I think you’ll want to hear this.”

  “Okay.” She saw Ted talking to Hooper. “Ted, Quin’s awake. She wanted to talk to you.”

  He looked skeptical, but went into her room.

  Melanie Duncan was in the waiting room. “Great news!” she said. “Fish and Game didn’t terminate D-Eleven.”

  “D-Eleven?”

  “The missing duck. The one Agent Hooper found in the cabin.”

  “Right.”

  “The lab in Wisconsin said none of the ducks had symptoms of the avian flu, and I’m flying with D-Eleven to the national lab there to re-create Jonah’s research.” She sighed heavily. “It’s going to take years. But with D-Eleven, we’ll be much further along.”

  Duke said to Nora, “Jim Butcher agreed to donate all materials to the lab, and he’s taking a job with a biotech company in the Bay Area as their spokesman.”

  Nora smiled. “I’m happy for you, and for the project. It’s good news.”

  “It is. I’m leaving tomorrow, so I need to pack. Ian isn’t happy, but I told him I’d find him a job.” She smiled. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the bank account shrink—he’d already planned on flying out three times before Christmas!”

  She hugged Duke and then Nora, and left.

  “Come with me,” Duke said, and took Nora’s hand.

  He led her out into the rose garden in the courtyard of the hospital. “What’s wrong, Nora?”

  “Nothing.”

  He stopped, sat her on a bench, and kissed her. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m tired. I’m still worried about Quin, though she’s doing better. I’m sad that fifteen thousand acres were destroyed. And—I didn’t want Maggie to die.”

 
; “I know—but she tried to push you over the cliff.”

  “But the thing is—I don’t feel guilty. And that bothers me.”

  “Sweetheart.” Duke pulled Nora into his arms and breathed in deeply. “I love you so much. For your compassion and your determination and your honesty.” And for so much more. Spending the rest of his life with Nora would make him so happy.

  He kissed the top of her head. She’d had a concussion, and that first night Duke had worried greatly about her. Between the smoke in the mountains, the running, being hit with rocks, she’d been in worse shape than either of them thought at the time. It made him realize that Nora was as much a part of his family as Sean.

  He kissed her again.

  “I have a little surprise.” He pulled an envelope from his back pocket and handed it to her.

  “What?”

  He smirked. “Open it, or don’t you like presents?”

  She stared at the envelope for a long minute. He pushed her chin up. “Don’t you dare cry on me Nora, it’s good news.”

  “I know—I just don’t—nothing,” she ended abruptly.

  “You don’t get a lot of presents, do you?”

  She shook her head. “I’m being silly.”

  “Open it.”

  She did, and she stared with wide eyes. “What?”

  “You can read.”

  “It’s an airline confirmation receipt. Florida?”

  “Look at page two.”

  She flipped it over. “Hotel confirmation. The Disneyland Hotel?”

  “Just a monorail ride from the park.”

  “We’re going to Disneyland? When?”

  “We leave in two days. Don’t tell me you can’t leave on the spur of the moment, because—”

  “I wouldn’t. I can’t believe—I’m excited.”

  “You are? Do you want to smile then? Because I can’t tell that you’re excited.”

  She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly.

  “Better?”

  “Much.”

  She sighed contently and rested her head on his shoulder. Duke smiled over her head, promising himself that he would give Nora presents and trips to fun places every chance he got.

  “I learned something this week,” Nora said.

  “That you love me?”

  “Yeah, that too.” She kissed his neck.

  “What else?”

  “Home isn’t my house or your house or my things,” she said. “My entire life, I was looking for a place to be home. And it’s not a place at all. It’s a person. You’re my home, Duke. Wherever you are, I will be happy as long as I’m with you.”

  August 2009

  Dear Reader:

  For twelve books, I’ve written about the types of evil men and women commit against their fellow human beings: murder, rape, torture. I’ve followed the lives of villains and the heroes who stop them. It’s human nature to seek justice, and because real life sometimes denies justice, I make sure victims have the final justice in my novels.

  Six years ago, I had an idea for a series about the seven deadly sins, but because I was writing romantic thrillers, I put the idea aside for a time. I was exploring issues of crime and justice, I didn’t have time to investigate supernatural evil.

  But sometimes, ideas don’t go quietly away. I played the “what if” game—a challenging and fun game for writers. What if the seven deadly sins were actually demons? What if somehow they escaped Hell? How could they be stopped? Could they be stopped?

  Have you ever wanted something so badly it hurt? Like that promotion at work? The jerk who kissed up the most at work ended up with the choice position and a raise—when you were obviously more qualified? Or when you worked all semester on your thesis only to barely pass, while the teacher’s pet wrote it over the weekend and got an A+? Or your best friend got into the college you targeted, with worse grades and you know it was because their dad was an alumni? Or your high school rival who ended up marrying the girl you love …

  We recognize this sort of jealousy as a weakness, and we rein it in. But what if we were touched by the demon Envy and lost the moral compass that guides us and gives us boundaries? Jealousy flares and there is no way to stop it from boiling out of control. We retaliate against those who have something we want, with no thought to the consequences, even if someone dies.

  It was this idea of weaknesses run amok that called to me—that the very human failings within each and every one of us can be strengthened through a chance encounter with one of the seven deadly sins. Seemingly unrelated, unconscionable, and violent crimes are committed for no known reason. The police are stumped. And the longer the deadly sins are free, the stronger they become.

  Though this series has a supernatural flavor, it’s grounded in real-world physics and basic understanding of mythology, ancient religions, and demonology. My team of everyday heroes with untapped strengths must work within the laws of society, or pay the penalty for breaking them. And when the laws favor those who are evil, it makes it that much more difficult to save the world.

  My cast of characters came to life as I started researching this series. The former seminarian who witnessed a horrendous act of violence. The woman who, while possessed by a demon seven years ago, killed her lover and now searches the ends of the earth for the person responsible—her mother. The cynical true-crime writer who doesn’t believe in anything he can’t see. The cop who is torn between duty and the faith of the man she loves. The demonologist who must learn how to trap the demons before more souls—and lives—are lost. They are all flawed but brave, inexperienced but determined. They know that if they fail, there is no one else to stop the seven deadly sins from spreading throughout the world.

  The villains are not only the demons themselves, but those who summoned them, led by a woman who not only knows how to channel dark forces, but has a brilliantly devious plan to enact revenge on everyone who thwarted her, while gaining eternal youth. And the more the good guys think they’re winning, the closer they are to losing. Because pride, they say, is the deadliest sin of all.

  Original Sin, to be released in March of 2010, launches a seven-book series where an evil occult unleashes the seven deadly sins into the world—as demons with an agenda. I hope you’ll visit www.sevendeadlysinsbooks.com and sign up for my newsletter so you’ll be kept up-to-date on this series, as well as future romantic thrillers.

  Thank you for being a loyal reader.

  Warmly,

  Allison Brennan

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  Cutting Edge is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A Ballantine Books Mass Market Original

  Copyright © 2009 by Allison Brennan

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-51513-1

  www.ballantinebooks.com

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