The Gadget: The Rondon Chronicles Book One V. Timlin (mobi reader .txt) 📖

as Nat had led her to believe, the investigation had now become a tad more complicated.

Nat hadn’t said a word since they left the premises, but looked straight ahead, his jawline hard as if he were grinding his teeth. Anouk opened her mouth but then closed it. What would she say? She opened her mouth again. “I’m…”

“I’ve been blind,” Nat spat.

Anouk startled. “Umm, it’s normal to trust friends and not expect the worst from them.”

Nat stopped and turned to face her. “In this line of work, you meet shady people. You have to pick out the most trustworthy of a real untrustworthy lot.” He shook his head. “I know what she is, but still I trusted her. Blindly.”

“I’m sorry.” Anouk didn’t know what else to say. He was feeling betrayed, and she sympathised. Only, a small victory tickled inside her. Now that they were banned from the brothel, they should have one less problem.

Nat took off his top hat and pushed his fingers through his curls before putting it back on.

“What’s wrong?”

“Madam Valeria has wide connections. I find it very hard to believe she hasn’t learned anything concerning Stalo.”

Maybe she had been too hasty in ticking Madam Valeria off their list of problems. Anouk chewed her lower lip as she pondered. That girl… What was her name? Shannah! Yes, Shannah had come to tell the madam there was the call she had been waiting for. Also, the previous visit had ended because there had been a gentleman who wanted to see the madam. Her skin started to prickle in discomfort when a thought occurred to her.

“The first time we went to see Madam Valeria, there was a gentleman who wanted to see her, and just now she received a phone call she was expecting.” She hesitated. “And that might be a coincidence, of course, but what if the gentleman and the caller are the same person, and that person is…” She licked her lips. “Stalo?”

Nat regarded her, his eyebrows knitted together, and then nodded slowly. “It’s possible. Madam Valeria makes no difference with whom she deals as long as it is of benefit to her.”

Anouk took a deep breath. “That’s what I thought. So, do you think she might have struck a deal with him?”

Nat shook his head. “No, otherwise we wouldn’t have walked out of the door.”

“What if she’s blackmailing him?”

“With what?”

Anouk shrugged. “Well, if Stalo is a fugitive, Valeria could threaten to report what she knows to the enforcers. That’s one piece of blackmail, at least.”

“It’s possible, but highly unlikely and not very wise.” Nat scanned the street for a minute before facing Anouk again. “I also find her interest in you unsettling.”

“Only now?” Anouk blurted.

“Aye, I should have listened to you.”

Anouk gulped. “Do you think she has discovered I’m not from this world? From Stalo, perhaps? And what is the obsession with my eyes? They are not as extraordinary as she seems to think.”

Nat didn’t answer right away, but studied the traffic for a while. “Here, your eyes are unique. If you haven’t noticed, no Anglean has two different coloured eyes like yours. But has she found out about your true origin? I don’t think so. But should that happen, nothing will stop her from trying to recruit you.”

Now that Nat had pointed that out to her, she realised he was right. None of the Angleans she had met had any form of heterochromia. Wonderful. Should she start to wear sunglasses from now on?

“Men would pay extra to spend time with an alien female,” Nat added, his face grim. His eyes flicked from Anouk’s face to something behind her. “We have company.”

“What…”

Nat’s hand dropped on his revolver. Before Anouk had time to react, three men encircled them, guns pointing at their faces. As in The Pits, the crowded streets emptied, people scurried back the way they came. Although Flower Estate looked to be a finer part of the city with its better maintained buildings and cleaner streets, that appearance was deceiving. It was a red-light district and a dangerous one—even in the daylight.

The men wore dark bowler hats and brown trench coats while the leader wore an eye patch, but his other, dark, healthy eye gleamed hard at Nat and Anouk.

“Madam Valeria wants to speak with the miss.”

Anouk stiffened.

Nat lifted an eyebrow. “Does she? And why is that?”

“None of your business, bounty hunter,” the one-eyed man sneered.

“Actually, it is. Miss Herring is my partner.”

The man took Anouk by her elbow. “Come with us, miss.”

Anger sparked into full flame inside Anouk and she freed her arm with an upward yank. With the same movement, she grabbed the hilt of her katana, bringing her sword down in front of her. She pointed the tip a few inches from the one-eyed man’s nose. “Madam Valeria and I have nothing to talk about. I said ‘no’, and if she doesn’t know what the fuck that word means, she’d better ask somebody else.”

The one-eyed man took a step back and cocked his revolver’s hammer. Two more clicks came when his comrades did the same.

“You’d better do as you’re told, pet, or your friend dies.”

Anouk’s stomach dropped to her boots. Frustration and rage stormed inside her. She didn’t want to give in to the madam’s bullying, but she couldn’t risk Nat’s life.

“If Madam Valeria thinks kidnapping me is going to get me to work for her, she can think again.” Tears came into her eyes and her voice quivered. She lowered her sword.

‘One-eyed’ shrugged. “We have our orders, pet. Come.” He reached to take Anouk by her elbow again.

“Enforcers!” Nat barked.

One-eyed curled his lip. “Nice try, bounty hunter.”

The two other men weren’t as convinced. They glanced around, trying to spot the law enforcement. One-eyed growled at his men, “He’s bluffing.”

His attention faltered for a second. Anouk turned her sword with a twist of her wrist and cut upward, severing his hand holding the gun. Blood sprayed from the stump in pulses. One-eyed screamed and staggered back, grabbing his wrist. She spun to meet