Price of a Bounty (Reliance on Citizens Makes Us Great!) by S. L. Wallace Page A

mirror until I’d made a
decision.
    I’ll
give Keira a place to stay for as long as she needs. Not here. One
of the safe houses will be fine. I’ll be there for her. We’ll take
it slow. She’s loyal and trustworthy, Scott said. Maybe soon, I can
trust her with more.
    When
I returned to the bedroom, she was already gone.

-Keira-
    On
the Run

    Guy
left. He shut me out. I sat up and pulled my knees under my chin. What does he want from me? What does he expect? I knew he
wanted my help with the Resistance, so he must value my skills. He’d
asked me all those questions, made me think about changing my ways.
Didn’t that mean he cared for me?
    Who
was I kidding? I didn’t even believe in love. I was crazy to have
thought he might want more.
    It
didn’t matter. I could take care of myself. I was back in control.
I had to be, and I knew I couldn’t stay here. I needed to figure out
my next move and get back on my own two feet. Where would I live
now? I would have to pick up the pieces of my life and begin again.
There, that was the answer. I would go back to the beginning and
begin again.
    My
high heels swung at my side as I began a barefooted trek toward
Tony’s, a bar I knew well from my earliest days of living on the
streets. Darkness sifted down from unlit streetlamps. When I
spotted the familiar windows lit with candles, I hesitated. Did I
really want to go down this path? I took a deep breath. Yes, right
now I needed familiarity and a place to hide. Here, I knew what to
expect, and I knew what would be expected of me.
    I
opened the door and made my way inside, into a roomful of people who
had nowhere else to go. I scanned the crowd until I spotted him.
Cole sat at a corner table intent on some playing cards. A red
pillar candle lit the players’ faces. Cole wasn’t the first person
I’d stayed with back then. I’d met him a few months later.
    I
slipped behind him and gently placed my hands on his shoulders. The
men across the table grinned in my direction, their poker chips
momentarily forgotten. Greed reflected clearly in their eyes. As
they looked me up and down, I became intensely aware of my short
caterer’s skirt. The women at the table regarded me with neither
friendliness nor hostility.
    Cole
turned his head. “Ah Keira! It’s been too long.” He
addressed the men. “Show some respect! Don’t you know who
this is?”
    They
looked confused.
    “This
is Keira Maddock. Tell me you’ve at least heard the stories?”
    Two
of the men looked down, but one shook his head. The woman on his
right nudged him and pointed at a man seated at the bar. I looked
too. How could I forget? He’d burned my left shoulder. He picked
up his drink and took a sip.
    “Hey,
what happened to his fingers?” the man sitting across from me
asked.
    Cole
sighed and returned his attention to me. “I heard you were
doing well for yourself.” He looked at my outfit, and his
eyebrows shot up. “I thought you were self employed though.”
    “I
am. This was necessary for my last job. Cole, something’s
happened.”
    “Something
that brought you to me?” He smiled.
    “Did
you see the fireworks display earlier this evening?”
    “No,
but I heard about it. You did that?”
    “You
know me better than that.” I playfully slapped his arm.
“That’s not my style.” I leaned down close to his ear
and whispered, “Someone did that to me. I need a place to stay
for a while, a place to lay low.”
    He
set down his cards. “Did anyone follow you?”
    “No,
I’m pretty sure they think I was in the apartment.”
    “Chrissy’s
moving out.” He glanced across the room and tilted his head in
the direction of a petite brunette.
    I
turned to see Chrissy. With her was a tall slender woman I didn’t
recognize.
    “She’s
moving up in the world. Payment includes room and board. How will
you be paying this time?”
    I
needed to keep every gat I’d just earned. “In the usual way,”
I said.
    Cole
nodded in agreement and picked