Read Into the Fire for Free Online

then.”
    â€œYou have rats?” she demanded in horror.
    â€œSorry, princess, but this ain’t the Taj Mahal. It’s an old warehouse, and rats come with the territory. They show up occasionally, but at least they’re dead. Someone must have put some rat poison behind the walls years ago and it’s still working.Every now and then there’s a nice fresh corpse, and I don’t have to worry about them getting into the food.”
    Food, Jamie thought. She glanced down at the dead rat, but even a corpse wasn’t enough to distract her. “I’m hungry,” she said.
    â€œThen go on into the kitchen and find yourself something to eat. Unless you were thinking of fried rat?”
    She rose from her seat on the stairs and glared at him. Two steps up put her eye level with him, and the result was disconcerting. “Maybe you could move the rat first? I don’t want to step on it.”
    Big mistake. Before she knew what he was doing he’d simply picked her up, swung her across the small square of floor and set her down in the kitchen. Letting go of her immediately, as if she weren’t any more appealing than the dead rat. Maybe less. “There you go, Your Highness. There’s bread on the counter and beer in the fridge.”
    â€œOr course there is,” she said, hostile. “But I’m not in the habit of drinking beer for breakfast.”
    â€œYou oughtta try it. Good for what ails you.”
    â€œNothing ails me.”
    â€œNothing but that stick up your ass,” Dillon saidpleasantly, picking the rat up by the tail. It swung limply from his hand, and she shuddered.
    â€œI’ll save the beer for you,” she said, controlling her shudder.
    â€œGood of you.” He carried the rat over to the back door, opened it and flung it out into the alleyway. “All taken care of,” he said.
    â€œYou’re just going to leave it out there? Spreading disease and God knows what else?”
    â€œThe bubonic plague is over. And if it comes back I’m willing to bet you’d be happy to have me get the first case.”
    â€œYou got me there.”
    He seemed to consider the idea for a moment. “Besides, there are enough scavengers around that he won’t be there for long. He’ll either be eaten by his brothers or carried off by some stray dog.”
    â€œWhat makes you think it’s a he?”
    â€œThat was for your benefit. I assumed you think all rats are male.”
    â€œGood point,” she said. The kitchen didn’t look much better than it had last night. The bottles had been swept off the table, but the smell of cigarettes and stale beer lingered in the air, with the faint note of exhaust beneath it.
    â€œBread’s on the counter,” he said. “I’ll make coffee.”
    There were exactly two pieces of bread in the plastic bag, both of them heels. “Where’s the toaster?”
    â€œBroken. There’s some peanut butter over the stove—make yourself a sandwich.”
    Isobel would have fainted with shock at the idea of peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast. Jamie was just grateful for the protein. She sat down at the scarred oak table to make her sandwich, watching as Dillon reached for the coffeepot. He poured out the dregs, filled the carafe with water and put it back in the machine.
    â€œAren’t you going to wash it out first?”
    â€œWhy? It’s going to hold coffee, and that’s what it held before. What’s the big deal?” He leaned against the counter, watching her lazily.
    â€œThe old coffee oils will make it bitter,” she said, not even getting to the cleanliness part. From the look of Dillon’s littered kitchen, cleanliness wasn’t high on his list.
    â€œMaybe I like bitter.”
    â€œI have no doubt that you do,” she said. The bread was slightly stale, but it was solid, and she devoured her makeshift sandwich. “I