Raven" Du

pped flowing, I reached up and pulled th

ight with concern. "You shouldn't be standing, Jazmyne. Your uterine

said, swinging my legs

, but I planted my boots firmly on the wooden floor and stood up. I pulled

uth shed. Maxine told me he had spent the weekend movin

, I walked across the muddy perimeter

easer, but the dark, circular stain where my child

e back corner, picked up a three-pound sledgehammer

ix heavy blac

titched for Bennet over the last five years. Heavy buffalo hide, reinforced with Kevlar

hem into the fifty-five-gallon steel

t over a red five-gall

ine directly over the leather, soaking every patch, every

den match against t

. Without a second of hesitati

oo

shing over my face in a violent, cleansing wave. The smell

ilver letters of his road nam

sured footsteps echoed

he sharp, confident click of Italian leather heel

alked into

lled back into a severe knot. Flanking her were two hulking Alliance Enforcers, th

drum, then turned her piercing gr

" Beatrice said, her voice

ke iron,"

ingers, and the Enforcer to her right stepped forward,

trice said quietly. "One hundred thousand dollars in unmarked,

der?" I asked, not

er votes must be logged at the regional table. Eleven days rem

y palm on the aluminum case, feel

ed from the to

ers. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the burning barrel, the silve

in a desperate attempt to look imposing. "What is the C

looking Bennet up and do

orrhage on club property while her President locked the doors to drin

cold sweat. His jaw worked, his eye

is voice trembling slightly. "Jazmyn

'accident' in this compound before the next regional Church session, I will pe

ing an ugly shade of purple, but

ed up the ramp, her Enfo

ze locked onto the silver briefcase resting on my

ward the table with his hand outstretched. "

ife from my belt and drove the steel blade straight down into the workbenc