Page 77 of Rescued

Her face flushed. “I’m sorry, okay? I was scared, so I was holding out on you. When I got here, I had no way of knowing what fluffy teddy bears you all are.”

Rex almost spit his coffee.

After a few minutes, Sugar came back on the line. “Yeah,” Switch said, “Okay. We’ll be there. And tell him I’m bringing Gunn.”

He hung up the phone and said to Breanna, “His Majesty the King of Ghouls will see us at the Big House in twenty minutes.” He looked around the room. “Does anyone know where Gunn is?”

It turned out to be a slightly larger party than Thanatos was expecting. Switch and Breanna showed up to the door of the Big House trailed by Gunn, Mikey, and Rex, plus Sanchez and Boomer, who’d somehow attached themselves to the happening.

Sugar opened the door, took in the whole group, opened his mouth to protest, and then clearly realized it was a waste of time.

He sighed. “Come in.”

They all trooped down to what Switch insisted on calling the dungeon. Breanna thought back to the first time she’d been down here, and how nervous she’d been. How she’d felt like Switch was the only one on her side.

Now she was surrounded by a loyal pack of tall, hot, scary guard dogs. In a bizarre way, it felt nice.

They went through the ritual—walking down the hallway to the self-opening doors, walking the length of the dungeon until the lamp went on and shone in their eyes, suddenly seeing Thanatos in his chair when their vision cleared again.

Breanna really, really wanted to know if he came up through the floor on a hydraulic lift, or teleported in like Star Trek, or what.

She wasn’t brave enough to ask, though. Even with her pack of guard dogs around her.

Thanatos sat very still while Switch briefed him on the situation—Quentin, Kimberly, the bearer bonds.

Breanna braced herself. The hood turned to her, Thanatos’s icy voice emanating from it.

“May I ask why you didn’t see fit to mention these bearer bonds before now?”

Breanna was done with this question. “Will everyone stop asking me that? They were my score. My getaway money. Mine and Kimberly’s, and we swore to share them. Bearer bonds belong to whoever possesses them. You seriously thought I was going to go, ‘Here, Mr. Mysterious Person in a Robe. Take my getaway money. You’ll give it back, right?’”

Boomer said, “She has a point. No offense, but I wouldn’t trust any of you guys with eighteen million dollars. I’m not sure I’d trust my own brother with it.”

Switch muttered, “You mean he wouldn’t trust you with it.” Sanchez snorted.

Thanatos ignored all that. “But now you’re willing to give the bonds to Quentin Moreno in return for your friend’s safe release.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

Thanatos didn’t answer that, which was just as well. Because he probably wouldn’t—even if he had friends. He sat there, fingers steepled and drumming against one another, clearly thinking.

Boomer said, “If it makes a difference, I’m volunteering for the mission.”

“Me, too,” said Rex and Mikey together.

Sanchez said, “What the fuck. Me and the other Hounds need some exercise.”

Gunn added, “As commander, I’m in favor.”

“And, obvs, I’m the pilot,” Switch put in.

Breanna wanted to hug them all.

They waited. Switch was absently rubbing his hand up and down her back, and she found it incredibly comforting.

She’d never really had someone to rely on before. Not like this.

Finally Thanatos said, “I believe we should take this opportunity to catch Mr. Moreno in the midst of the ransom drop, and to rescue your friend. As everyone is so fond of pointing out to me, it’s what we do.”