"Joanna Wylde - Saurellian 5 - Jerred's Price" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wylde Joanna)

If she tried signaling someone for help, they’d pay the price.
True fear filled her as she realized Manya’s might not be the sanctuary she’d hoped
to find. Manya and his employees had been good to her. She shouldn’t have brought
them trouble like this, she thought in disgust.
“I have to go behind the bar into the office to get my keycard,” she said slowly.
“Will you let me do that?”
“Take me with you.”
“It’s not allowed.”
“Make an exception,” he said smoothly. “Don’t make me do something you’ll
regret.”
“Don’t you dare blame me for this,” she muttered in disgust.
“If you want your friends to live, be good,” he replied in a low voice.
She quieted at that, visions of Manya’s broad, friendly face covered in blood flitting
through her head. Bastard.
“I’ll be quiet,” she muttered grimly. Manya saw them and raised one eyebrow in
question. She wasn’t quite sure, but something about his gaze seemed different.
Unusual. Did he suspect something?
“Manya, I need my keycard for the apartment,” she said slowly, looking him
directly in the eye. “I forgot it here earlier. Can you help me out?”
Manya smiled and nodded.
“Sure thing,” he said. “It’s in the office? You wait right here and I’ll get it for you.”
He turned and walked down the bar into the back room. She stood nervously,
trying to figure out what to do next. There was no keycard in the office. She’d had a
retinal scan lock put in just last week. Would Manya remember?
Manya came back out, a triumphant smile on his face. He held up a keycard.
“I’ve got it right here, Giselle,” he said. “Looks like it fell out of your bag when you
pulled it out of my desk drawer.”
She reached out for the card, wondering what to do next. Just shy of the bar, Manya
slipped in a puddle of beer, falling on his back with a startled cry. Black Leather held
her back as she started forward to help the man. There was a loud, cracking noise, and
then Black Leather sagged against her body, pushing her to the floor. She fell with a
thump. Manya jumped over the bar to kneel beside her, lifting the heavy man’s body to
one side. She looked up to see Brant holding a metal club smeared with blood.
“That one ain’t gonna be botherin’ you no more, Giselle,” Brant said with a smile. “I
don’t like it when people sneak blasters past my security. Makes me look bad.”




11
 Joanna Wylde




Chapter Two

Jerred could hear the people around him before he could see them. There was a