CHALKE: I guess that is some small good news.
They went on for a while longer and Chapman paid only small amounts of attention. The agenda was loose tonight, and he got the feeling that some of them were only online because rubbing shoulders with each other was more fun than sitting alone in their apartments on the respective coasts.
Chapman looked at the time again, wondering where Gwen was and how long it would be until he saw her again. Hopefully tonight. Otherwise he’d just be sitting around like the rest of these losers, dateless, on a Saturday night.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX
Reed
I was contemplating packing up my desk—an unpleasant prospect, even though I’d finally surrendered to the idea the agency was going out of business—when Miranda knocked on my door. “Hey,” I said, glad that she’d spared me—at least for a few minutes—from having to face this. I mean, it was one thing to realize I was going to have to give up on Sienna’s dream here (and sort of mine, too). It was another to actually have to start working to clean out my desk. Or tell everybody else we were broke and shutting down.
“So, Tennessee,” Miranda said, a folder in her hand.
“Yeah, I just got back,” I said, turning my attention back to the empty box on my desk. I’d gotten it from Costco, and it was branded with a vodka company’s symbol and name, which I took to be an omen. “I came to some decisions while I was there—”
Miranda shook her head, frowning. “The invoice, Reed. Did you see it?”
It was my turn to frown. “What invoice?”
She lifted the paper. “The State of Tennessee paid us last night. Like...a lot.” She smiled. “Enough to float us for ninety days, which means—”
I sat down, heavily, in my chair, weird rush of relief blowing over me. “We’re not broke.”
Miranda just smiled. “To put it in terms you’d understand...‘still flying.’” She waved the paper. “I’ll get things disbursed. You might want to get some more work, though. Most jobs aren’t quite as generous as this one, and they damned sure don’t pay as quickly. I mean, overnight?” She shook her head. “We should work for them every chance we get.”
I was left shaking my head, staring at the empty box on my desk. Why had Tennessee paid us so quickly? No one did that. Every state we’d ever worked for waited sixty, ninety days to pay invoices. I thought back to Sienna being up in Nashville and wondered if somehow she’d had something to do with it. What it might have been, I had no idea.
Suddenly, though, the empty box on my desk seemed wildly out of place.
“We’re not going out of business,” I muttered. Then another thought clicked into place.
Harry had sent me to Tennessee knowing that this would happen. That taking this mission would save Logan Mills’s life...and the agency.
“Thanks, Harry.” I frowned, wondering if, wherever he was, he could hear me with his weird, future-seeing powers. I kind of hoped he could, and added, “But you’re still a bastard.”
EPILOGUE
Julie Blair
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Washington, DC
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building was a French Second Empire-style office building that stood across Pennsylvania from the White House. It had once been called the Old Executive Office Building, and before that, simply, the State, War, and Navy Building. Now, though, all those departments had their own buildings, and the EEOB, as it was now known, was reserved entirely for the President’s men—and women.
And Julie Blair was definitely that. She was a vocal supporter of President Richard Gondry, dedicated and believing.
Which led her to still be sitting at her desk in the EEOB, working for the tenth night in a row well past her kids’ bedtime. She massaged her eyes. Moved her glasses up, tried to read through the blur, then slid them back down. Still blurry. This much missed sleep would do that to you, she supposed.
Finally, she gave up.
“It’s a non-stop deluge,” she said, sinking back in her chair. And it had been. Like someone was just bombarding her with emails on a constant basis to see how many she could answer before breaking.
Wait, what time was it? She squinted at the clock in the corner of her screen. Eleven? Already?
Julie sank back in her seat. She’d worked past her kids’ bedtime and hadn’t even remembered to call them at tuck-in time.
She stared longingly at the family picture on her desk, trying to remember the last time she’d actually been home for bedtime, and cursed, fumbling for her purse and the cell phone within.
Thirteen missed calls. Five missed video calls.
Burying her face in one hand, she thumbed the screen to call back her husband. The slow beeping would have annoyed her under normal circumstances, but after so many nights of exhaustion, it just made a noise that rolled right past her consciousness almost unnoticed until he picked up. “Hey, honey—” She sat forward, chair squeaking. “I know, I know...well, I thought I was going to get done early tonight, but...you know how it is. Yeah. Something blew up.” She massaged the scalp above her eye. “Like it always does, yeah...I know...I’m sorry...did—oh, they asked for me? I’m sorry, honey. What? Oh, he wanted me there to sing to him? I know, I’m...I’m sorry...” She sighed, deeply. “No...no, I don’t know when it’s going to get any better...”
She nudged the mouse, and her computer screen sprang back from where it had started to fade to black, going to power save mode. Blinking, she stared.
Five more emails had just come in.
“What?” Her voice cracked. She sounded broken, even to her own ears. “Sorry, I just got...” She stared. One of them was from Kathy over at— “No, I’m listening, I’m sorry, hon, I’m just...” She put her head in her hands. “I know. I should be home soon. I just need to wrap up...yeah. Love you, too.”
She hung up absently, clicking the email from Kathy. Maybe just one more and she’d head home.
Wiping her bleary eyes, Julie clicked open the email, already mentally composing her reply. By the time she finished reading it, thoughts of going home had already begun to fade as she settled in to try and dig out of yet another endless crisis in a world that seemed full of them.
Sienna Nealon Will Return in
DRAGON
The Girl in the Box, Book 37
(Out of the Box 27)
Coming October 2, 2019!
GET IT HERE!
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thanks for reading! If you want to know immediately when future books become available, take sixty seconds and sign up for my NEW RELEASE EMAIL ALERTS by CLICKING HERE. I don’t sell your information and I only send out emails when I have a new book out. The reason you should sign up for this is because I don’t always set release dates, and even if you’re following me on Facebook (robertJcrane (Author)) or Twitter (@robertJcrane), or part of my Facebook fan page (Team RJC), it’s easy to miss my book announcements because … well, because social media is an imprecise thing.
Find listings for all my books plus some more behind-the-scenes info on my website: http://www.robertjcrane.com!
Cheers,
Robert J. Crane
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
The Girl in the Box
(and Out of the Box)
Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Alone
Untouched
Soulless
Family
Omega
Broken
Enemies
Legacy
Destiny
Power
Limitless
In the Wind
Ruthless
Grounded
Tormented
Vengeful
Sea Change
Painkiller
Masks
Prisoners
Unyielding
Hollow
Toxicity
Small Things
Hunters
Badder
Nemes
is
Apex
Time
Driven
Remember
Hero
Flashback
Cold
Blood Ties
Music
Dragon* (Coming October 2, 2019!)
Control* (Coming December 2019!)
World of Sanctuary
Epic Fantasy
(in best reading order)
Defender (Volume 1)
Avenger (Volume 2)
Champion (Volume 3)
Crusader (Volume 4)
Sanctuary Tales (Volume 4.25)
Thy Father’s Shadow (Volume 4.5)
Master (Volume 5)
Fated in Darkness (Volume 5.5)
Warlord (Volume 6)
Heretic (Volume 7)
Legend (Volume 8)
Ghosts of Sanctuary (Volume 9)
Call of the Hero (Volume 10)* (Coming September 2, 2019!)
The Scourge of Despair (Volume 11)* Coming in 2020!
Ashes of Luukessia
A Sanctuary Trilogy
(with Michael Winstone)
A Haven in Ash (Ashes of Luukessia #1)
A Respite From Storms (Ashes of Luukessia #2)
A Home in the Hills (Ashes of Luukessia #3)
Liars and Vampires
YA Urban Fantasy
(with Lauren Harper)
No One Will Believe You
Someone Should Save Her
You Can’t Go Home Again
Lies in the Dark
Her Lying Days Are Done
Heir of the Dog
Hit You Where You Live* (Coming Late 2019!)
Her Endless Night* (Coming in 2020!)
Burned Me* (Coming in 2020!)
Something In That Vein* (Coming in 2020!)
Southern Watch
Dark Contemporary Fantasy/Horror
Called
Depths
Corrupted
Unearthed
Legion
Starling
Forsaken
Hallowed* (Coming in 2020!)
Enflamed* (Coming in 2021!)
The Mira Brand Adventures
YA Modern Fantasy
(Series Complete)
The World Beneath
The Tide of Ages
The City of Lies
The King of the Skies
The Best of Us
We Aimless Few
The Gang of Legend
The Antecessor Conundrum
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my editing team of Lewis Moore, Jeff Bryan, and Nick.
A big thank-you to Karri Klawiter (artbykarri.com) for the cover and for being an incredibly patient human being during my regular requests for additional art.
Gratitude to my wife, my kids, my parents and my in-laws for keeping life interesting and running. Love to you all.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Epilogue
Teaser
Author’s Note
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
Acknowledgments
Music: Out of the Box 26 (The Girl in the Box Book 36) Page 36