Reed laughed. “Sorry. But hey … at least we’re rid of the version of him that talks back. All you need is a shower or twelve and you’ll be done with him for good.”
“Oh, you’re funny,” I said, still scrabbling to try and get the smudge off my cleavage. I finally gave up. “I hate that he’d actually love that he ended up here.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Reed said, and I could tell he was setting up for a punch line, “it’s what he would have wanted. In a way, leaving him there kind of makes you a real metahumanitarian.”
“Ugh, awful,” I said, shaking my head. I let the humor pass, watched my brother’s smile fade. “I thought you didn’t believe in killing our criminals.”
He opened his mouth and let it hang like that for a moment before answering. “I … well …”
“I’m sorry,” I said, waving him off, “I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“No, it’s fine,” he said. “I wanted to say—”
“I had kind of a revelation while I was under—” I started.
We both paused in that awkward way, like neither of us wanted to step on the other’s line. “You go first,” I said.
“No, you,” he said.
“All right,” I said, swallowing my pride. “You were right. I kill too quick. It’s become a sort of … first resort for me, since London. It’s a bad habit to be in—”
“I was talking out my ass, Sienna,” he said, shaking his head. “I was the one who was wrong. I’ve never seen you kill someone who didn’t have it coming.” He paused, thinking it over for a beat. “You know, since M-Squad. Or Omega’s Primus. And even some of those are kindasorta arguable—”
I blinked in surprise. Where the hell was this coming from? “Uh, no. They really weren’t. That was … it was a hint of me at my least controllable.”
He pulled back, looked like he’d been slapped a little. “I was just … I think I’ve been too hard on you.”
“Maybe I haven’t been hard enough on me,” I countered. “You once told me I was a sheepdog here to protect humanity. That I wasn’t a mad dog in danger of breaking my chain. But something happened since that day to convince you otherwise, and looking back on what’s happened in the last year or so, I’ve killed a lot of people—”
“I’m not going to explain those away one by one,” Reed said, shaking his head, “but I think if you went through your head and really examined them, every last one of them was trying to kill you. Every last one of them had ill intent toward you or another person. Every one of them was conducting their own little war against Sienna Nealon or someone else. You didn’t go kill nannies and babysitters on the street, Sienna. These people knew they were in a fight with you. And that’s the last place anyone ought to be if they want to live. By now, that’s just understood.”
“Tell that to the paparazzi,” I muttered, and I knew he caught it. “You’ve got something else on your mind.”
He didn’t argue, but he looked tentative. “I know that to you, I always seemed like the guy who had his shit together. Even when I was a kid, and Dad … left me for the last time … I was like a block of stone, holding it all in. I didn’t let him see how desperate I was underneath it all, how much I was barely treading water, how much I wanted to break down. For the last few months … I’ve been doing the exact same thing to you. Letting you think I was just some impervious wall that didn’t care at all about you, that ignored you. The truth was … I was just trying to … I don’t know. Harden my heart. Hold you at arm's length because I disagreed with you, with what you were doing. But all the while, I’ve been isolating you, and that was … just damned cruel.” His face crumpled. “Sienna, I’m sorry. You’re the only family I’ve got left, and I’m sorry I let my pigheadedness get in the way of thinking it through sooner and telling you how much you mean to me … sis.”
I blinked tears out of my eyes for the umpteenth time in the last few days. Seriously, this was going into the Sienna Book of World Records. I don’t do the crying thing very much, after all. “You want a hug?” I asked, trying to keep a stiff upper lip.
He grinned. “Hell, no. You’ve got some Anselmo on you, after all.”
I laughed, and he hugged me tight.
And when it did it, it felt just like my dad.
Just like our dad.
He broke after a minute with a laugh. “You hungry?”
“I am so starving,” I said, and my stomach rumbled. “Apparently I haven’t eaten in the last couple days, and if I don’t ingest some fat soon, the tabloids are going to start reporting on my shocking weight loss plan that has my complete lack of friends worried about my health. On the plus side, maybe the internet will stop saying my ass is fat.”
“The internet is stupid,” Reed said, shaking his head. He put a hand around my shoulders and started steering me toward the door. “And I think you know, after tonight, that you’ve still got friends … though it seems like you might have tried your hardest to push a few of them away.”
I am death, the voice whispered in my head.
“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” I said. I glanced back and saw Dog wagging his tail. “Stay,” I told him, and he parked it right inside the threshold. “Good Dog.”
“Cafeteria’s shut down for the night,” Reed said as we hit the stairs. I wondered if he had an aversion to elevators, but I was letting him lead. “I know a breakfast place nearby that makes killer waffles.”
“Yesssss,” I said. “Waffles. I will eat all the waffles.”
“Maybe not all of them,” he teased. “Remember the internet, after all.”
“Those people can cram a waffle press up their asses, wide open, sideways,” I said as we rounded the bend in the staircase. “It is nice to see people back, though.”
“You mean Zollers?” he asked.
“And Scott,” I said. He gave me a look that I couldn’t decipher. “What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. It does feel good to have them here again, doesn’t it? Makes it feel a little more like … home.”
Something tugged at the corner of my lips. “Home?” I turned the word over in my mouth. “Home. Hmm. Maybe I do belong here.”
He frowned. “What made you think you didn’t? Phillips?”
I tried to decide if I should tell him or not. “It was something that … my nightmares kept hitting me with, over and over. Playing on a conversation I had with Phillips when he suspended me—that maybe I didn’t belong here. That maybe … I didn’t belong anywhere. Because of who I am, you know. It was …” I shuddered. “I don’t know if I can explain it, but … it was really unsettling. Probably made feel worse than … maybe than I’ve ever felt.”
“This Phillips thing is going to come to a head,” Reed said after a long pause, just as we were reaching the exit into the dormitory lobby. “You may find that you don’t end up belonging here.” I stared out into the night beyond the glass-fronted lobby, the first strains of dawn lighting the horizon. “But you’ll find a place, I promise.”
I felt my guts rumble, from hunger and fear. “You think so?”
“You’ve faced death in so many forms and from so many scary people,” Reed said, blowing it off, “you’re telling me you’re scared to go job hunting? Or looking for a new place to live?” He kicked at the ground as we came out of the lobby, the squeak of the doors closing behind us.
“People hate me,” I said. “And you should know, because until now, it seemed like you understood how they felt.” He grimaced. “But seriously … where would I go? Where could I go that they’d want me?”
“Reality TV?” Reed asked, smirking. “Cable news? Politics? Hell, you’d fit right in with any of those.”
“Ass,” I muttered as we walked under a near-dark sky, his warmth keeping the autumn chill at bay. “Are we going to the garage?”
“Nah,” he said, “I left Baby parked outside the medical unit.” He pointed straight ahead, and I saw his new car up against a curb across the
parking lot ahead of us.
“‘Baby’?” I asked, swiveling my head to look at him. “Really?”
He shrugged. “Your dog is named ‘Dog.’ Get off my back.”
I gave that a moment’s consideration. “Fair point,” I conceded.
We crossed the parking lot, the night air strangely refreshing. As I stepped onto the curb, I could see the dark hole in the ground next to the door to the infirmary. I stared into it for a moment, almost like I could see some evil waiting within.
Then again, I’d just proven I had one hell of an imagination these last few days.
“You all right?” Reed asked, hanging out with his driver’s door open, talking to me over the roof of his sporty little contraption. (I don’t know cars. But it was sporty.)
“I’ll be all right,” I said, his face reminding me again of Dad. I eased down into the seat and slammed the door behind me. The leather was damned comfy, I’d give him that.
“I sure hope so,” he said, shutting his door. He favored me with a smile that was warm, genuine, and reminded me again of our father. “I’d like you to be around for a good, long time.”
I thought about the words I’d said to the faux-Breandan just a few days—or maybe a lifetime—ago, about me either living nearly forever, or watching all the people I loved and cared about die before my very eyes. My breath hung in my throat for a moment, and then I forced a smile, forced myself to start breathing again. “I’d like that, too,” I said and meant it.
“Good,” Reed said, and nodded as he started to push the ignition button. “Glad we’re in agreement, since this is the first time in a while that we’ve—”
My brother’s last words were lost as his face disappeared into fire as the car exploded around us.
Epilogue
Cassidy
Cassidy watched on the monitor as the car flared into a burst of fire, a blinding beacon of light that set her monitor to near-white for a few seconds. The warm, salty water of the isolation tank lapped at her skin, and she allowed herself a little smile. “Gotcha,” she whispered, as she watched the flames through the camera’s lens, dancing soundlessly into the night.
Sienna Nealon returns in
VENGEFUL
Out of the Box, Book 6
Coming December 1, 2015!
Available for Pre-order on Amazon Now!
Amazon.COM
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MX
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Yeah, I know. I call this the “Book 5” curse, where I always seem to end book five of each of my series in a horrific place. I thought I might actually cure that this time around, but NAHHHHH. Because I'm me. Might as well embrace it, I figure. The good news (yes, there is some) is that you only have to wait three months or less (depending on when you're reading this) to find out what happens next, and this little storyline (which I call the “Vengeful” arc) that kicked off in Ruthless, the one involving Cassidy, the Clarys and Simmons, it's coming to a crashing end next book. There will be a showdown, and hopefully it will be appropriately epic for your tastes. Oh, and I suppose we'll find out if Reed lives or dies, too, in case you were wondering about that. (I wasn't, but hey, maybe you are.)
If by strange chance you want to know when future books become available, take sixty seconds and sign up for my NEW RELEASE EMAIL ALERTS by CLICKING HERE. Don't let the caps lock scare you; 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 like to set release dates (it's this whole thing, you can find an answer on my website in the FAQ section), and even if you're following me on Facebook (robertJcrane (Author)) or Twitter (@robertJcrane), it's easy to miss my book announcements because…well, because social media is an imprecise thing.
Come join the discussion on my website: http://www.robertjcrane.com !
Cheers (or apologies; whichever, really),
Robert J. Crane
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Once again the editorial duties were performed in admirable fashion by the great Sarah Barbour, and clean-up was batted by Jeffrey Bryan while final proofreading was done by Jo Evans.
My cover, as always, was designed by Karri Klawiter.
Alexa Medhus did the first read on this one, and swore like a sailor at me when she got to the end. It was hilarious, I assure you. Thanks, Alexa!
As always, thanks to my parents, my kids and my wife, for helping me keep things together.
And to the fans, too, unless you're cursing at me right now. I'll thank you once you stop.
About the Author
Robert J. Crane is kind of an a-hole. Still, if you want to contact him:
Website: http://www.robertJcrane.com
Facebook: robertJcrane (Author)
Twitter: @robertJcrane
Email: [email protected]
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
The Sanctuary Series
Epic Fantasy
Defender: The Sanctuary Series, Volume One
Avenger: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Two
Champion: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Three
Crusader: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Four
Sanctuary Tales, Volume One - A Short Story Collection
Thy Father's Shadow: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 4.5
Master: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Five
Fated in Darkness: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 5.5* (Coming in 2015!)
Warlord: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Six* (Coming in late 2015!)
The Girl in the Box
and
Out of the Box
Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Alone: The Girl in the Box, Book 1
Untouched: The Girl in the Box, Book 2
Soulless: The Girl in the Box, Book 3
Family: The Girl in the Box, Book 4
Omega: The Girl in the Box, Book 5
Broken: The Girl in the Box, Book 6
Enemies: The Girl in the Box, Book 7
Legacy: The Girl in the Box, Book 8
Destiny: The Girl in the Box, Book 9
Power: The Girl in the Box, Book 10
Limitless: Out of the Box, Book 1
In the Wind: Out of the Box, Book 2
Ruthless: Out of the Box, Book 3
Grounded: Out of the Box, Book 4
Tormented: Out of the Box, Book 5
Vengeful: Out of the Box, Book 6* (Coming December 1, 2015!)
Sea Change: Out of the Box, Book 7* (Coming March 2016!)
Southern Watch
Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Called: Southern Watch, Book 1
Depths: Southern Watch, Book 2
Corrupted: Southern Watch, Book 3
Unearthed: Southern Watch, Book 4
Legion: Southern Watch, Book 5* (Coming in Late 2015/Early 2016!)
*Forthcoming and subject to change toblin
Table of Contents
Prologue
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74.
Epilogue
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
About the Author
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
Tormented Page 31