djinn wars 04 - broken Read Online Free PDF Page A

talk to her. Across the table, Shawn Gutierrez was staring at her with worried brown eyes.
    “Um, sure. I mean, yes. I’ll be over as fast as I can.”
    There probably was a way to patch his call through to her walkie-talkie, but Julia didn’t know what it might be. Something else she should really ask Miles Odekirk about — if he wouldn’t consider such a simple task beneath him.
    “What’s wrong?” Shawn asked as she grimly clipped the walkie-talkie back on her belt. When Margolis had ruled Los Alamos and she was his secretary, she’d worn office clothes — skirts and high-heeled boots. Now she was in jeans day in and day out.
    “Bad news. Margolis has escaped.”
    Shock registered in Shawn’s widened eyes. “What? How?”
    “I don’t know. I need to get back to the office so I can talk to Zahrias. Hopefully, he’ll have more information.”
    “Jesus.” Beneath his tan, Shawn looked ashen. As far as she knew, the former fireman hadn’t had any run-ins with Margolis back in the day. Most likely, he was just worried on her behalf.
    “It’s okay,” she said, tone a little too brisk. She knew she was over-compensating, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. “I sort of doubt he’ll come here and risk getting shot on sight.”
    “You’d think, but that guy was crazy — ” Shawn broke off then. “Sorry. You’re right. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here. And really….” He stopped, and a sudden smile touched his lips.
    “‘Really’ what?” she demanded, wondering what the hell he was smiling about. “I don’t see anything amusing about all this.”
    “Really, where does he think he can go? Won’t the other djinn hunt him down?”
    God, she’d forgotten about that. They were protected here in Los Alamos by Miles’s devices, and of course the other djinn knew the community at Santa Fe was off limits, but Richard Margolis wouldn’t have any such safeguards. He’d be easy prey.
    An answering smile lifted her mouth. “You’re right, Shawn. He will be easy prey.”
----
    Thank goodness she had the radio in her office, though, and not out where anyone else could overhear what she was saying. Julia pulled the microphone toward her and said, “I’m here, Zahrias.”
    The deep, woodwind tones of his voice came through the speaker. “Julia.”
    Warmth flushed her cheeks. But she said steadily, “Zahrias, I’ve been told you have some bad news for me.”
    “I’m afraid so. It was discovered earlier today that Captain Margolis was missing from his cell.”
    Hearing it once more, spoken of so calmly, made Julia go cold all over again. Logically, she knew she was safe. Because they’d already had protocols in place in case of future disaster — although the former commander’s escape was not an eventuality that had ever been discussed — the word had already gone out all over Los Alamos that Richard Margolis was loose. Two extra guards kept watch in the lobby of the municipal center where Julia now sat, and an extra vehicle had been assigned patrol duty. All this had happened while she was driving over here; her security team knew their stuff.
    Anyway, she had to believe that Margolis wouldn’t find too many sympathizers if he did somehow manage to make it back to Los Alamos safely. Yes, at one time he’d had most of the town on his side, because they were grateful to be someplace safe and weren’t too worried about giving up a few liberties if it meant they’d make it through another day. But after Julia revealed what Margolis had done to her, any support he might have once possessed was gone as quickly as smoke blowing away in a strong breeze. No one wanted to be associated with a rapist.
    She took a steadying breath and said, “How did it happen? I thought you had a guard watching him day and night.”
    “We did. He was left unattended for only a moment while the person watching him went to use the facilities. When he returned, Margolis was gone.”
    Great.