Devils Bargain

by Rachel Caine

down giggles, wiping tears from her eyes. His vanity hadn't just been wounded, it was on life support, but she couldn't help it. The idea that a lawyer had come all the way from New York City, dressed in Harley make-believe, to deliver some ridiculous, asinine joke was. . .

  "Was it Brown?" she finally asked, once she was sober enough to get through the question. "Welton Brown? Big guy, snappy dresser, terrible sense of humor?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "I'm asking who put you up to it. Was it Brown? I knew he'd go to extremes for a prank, but. . . "

  James Borden, attorney-at-law, wasn't just looking wounded now, he was starting to look pissed off. She preferred that, actually. Vulnerability was something she always found disturbing. Aggression, that was right up her alley.

  "Lady, were you in the room back there when I was getting my ribs kicked in? Would I do that for a practical joke?" Borden skidded his chair back from the table and stood up, leaning over with both hands flat on the wood. "All right. Look, I've just about had it. I caught the crying-baby express flight from New York. I've been insulted, hit, kicked, lost a jacket I spent a thousand dollars on. . . "

  She swallowed another giggle. "Seriously? A thousand? Damn. Why'd you go and listen to me, then?"

  ". . . and all to hand you the chance of a lifetime. If you don't want it, fine. I'll just go home and tell my boss you're not interested. " Borden grabbed for the check. She slapped her hand down hard on it.

  "Don't get cranky, Counselor," she said, and nodded at the chair. "Sit. "

  He stared at her, leaning close, for long enough that she thought she might have pushed him too far, but then his elbows unlocked and he lowered himself down to the seat again. All was not forgiven, but he was willing to give her another chance.

  Which she promptly screwed up by saying, "So who's Lucia Garza? Some scumbag client of yours that you suddenly need to move out of town, set up with a new identity, and find a place to launder her drug money?"

  He actually blinked. "Are you always this unpleasant with people trying to do you a favor?"

  "Only when they're lawyers. "

  Borden stared at her for a long, long moment, then stood up again. "Thanks for the coffee," he said. "I'm going to the hospital to get my ribs taped now. If you don't want the check, fine, tear it up. If you don't cash it, we'll assume you're not interested. If you do, Miss Callender, please be advised that we consider cashing the check a binding good-faith contract, and believe me, we have the resources to enforce it. Call the number on the card and talk to Mr. Laskins before you do anything stupid, since you obviously don't think I can advise you. " He pushed the chair in, neat and courteous. "And hey. Have a nice day. "

  He was walking away when she said, "Hey. James Borden. Get back here. "

  And for once, somebody didn't follow her orders.

  She stared, bemused, as he walked up to the door. He actually opened it.

  He was going to just. . . leave.

  She fidgeted with his card, drummed her fingers on the down-turned check - one hundred thousand and no/100 - and made a split-second decision.

  "Borden," she called again. "Hey, Counselor. Come back. Please. "

  He was already going. He really was leaving. She couldn't believe it.

  She got up and went after him, caught his arm and dragged him to a stop just outside the door. "Seriously," she said, and let go of him when she caught sight of his face. "I'm sorry, okay? Can we talk?"

  "You going to insult me again?"

  "Maybe," she said. When he gave her a disbelieving look, she shrugged. "What, you want me to lie to you?"

  "You're unbelievable. "

  "Yeah, well, so's this whole situation, if you don't mind me pointing it out. Look, come on back, we'll talk it over. Okay? Besides, you barely touched your coffee. "

  "I hate black coffee. "

  "Fine. Get whatever you want. "

  She watched in bemusement as he ordered a half-caff caramel macchiato, but restrained herself from making any jokes about it. Barely. He walked back over to the table with her, carrying his cup, but he didn't sit. He said, "This isn't going to work if you don't take me seriously, Jazz. I need you to do that. Can you?"

  He sounded deadly earnest. She looked up into his eyes and saw somebody looking back with a surprising amount of will and dignity.

  "Can you?" he repeated. "Because I'm one taxi ride away from being out of here for good. "

  "Yes," she said softly. "Sorry. I'm a little freaked out. "

  "Me, too," he admitted. "It's been a long day. Even without getting rescued by - " he stepped on what he'd been about to say, which proved he had some brains, and substituted " - by a client. "

  She was just about certain he'd been going to say by a girl, and he wouldn't be the first. McCarthy had been furious, the first, oh, ten times it had happened. It had taken him a while to get over the hurt macho feelings, but then he'd realized what kind of a weapon his partner could be, when pointed in the right direction, and they'd worked together like a finely tuned machine.

  Until everything had broken beyond repair.

  Stop thinking about McCarthy. Just stop.

  Borden sat down in the chair on the other side of the table. His body language was still tense and guarded, but they'd reached detente again. She read the letter again, then slid the sheet of paper out that had the name of Lucia Garza at the top of the page.

  Experience

  Former Special Agent, Office of Special Investigations, USAF. Accomplished over 800 criminal investigations with a primary focus on drug enforcement.

  Former USAF Security Police Officer, Law Enforcement Supervisor. Duties involved military law enforcement, traffic investigation, crime-scene processing, and a member of several Special Weapons & Tactics Units.

  Former Security Manager, Helios Aircraft - Special Projects Division. Security oversight of 300 scientists and engineers working on "Black" Top Secret Projects.

  USAF OSI Academy, Washington, D. C.

  FBI Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Ft. Riley, KS

  Federal Polygraph School, Ft. McClellan, AL

  Texas State Police Certification, Ft. Worth, TX

  Federal Undercover Agents Course, Washington, D. C.

  Antiterrorism and Defensive-Driving Course, Summit Point, WV

  "Damn," Jazz murmured. "If you made this up, you've got some balls, James Borden. These are serious credentials. I think they stick you in prison for even thinking about making this stuff up. "

  "She's good," Borden agreed, blowing on his pseudo-coffee. "You should talk to her. "

  "Assuming she's not made of - " Jazz waved the resume " - paper. "

  This time, he refused to take the bait, and just smiled. Slightly. "From everything I've read about you, you're supposed to be one hell of a detective. Call her up. Judge for yourself. "

  "I'd rather talk to her face-to-face. " Always a better read off of people, looking in their eyes, seeing their body language. She realized that by saying it, she'd admitted she was interested, felt a bolt of anger at herself, and watched Borden take a noncommittal sip. "Unless that's a problem. " Her voice had taken on that mutinous edge again. She didn't like being manipulated.

  He didn't seem to care. "You'd need to work that out with Lucia. Look, my flight back's in about three hours, and you know what security's like these days. I need to clean up, get my ribs checked, change out of this - " he gestured at the outfit, which really, now that she'd gotten used to it, wasn't half-bad " - and get to the airport. So, Jazz, in or out, please. Laskins is going to want an answer when I hit the ground at JFK. "

  "I'll call you. "

  "Seriously. The minute I touch down, my boss will be bugging me for an answer. "

  She flicked the card with her fingernail. "Your cell phone's on here?"

  "Yeah. But. . . "

  "I have to check it out and think about it. "

  "Can I at least tell him -
"

  "You can tell Mr. Laskins that I think he's probably full of crap, but I'll check the information out," she said. "And if anything - anything - doesn't smell right about this, I'll shred this check, send you the remains, and come to do the same to the both of you. How's that?"

  She saw a genuine spark of humor flare in his eyes and liked him a lot, in that second.

  "It sounds like a threat," Borden said. "And I take it seriously. I saw you put those guys down. That took, what, ten seconds? Maybe fifteen?"

  She took a big gulp of coffee to sober up from the wattage in his smile.