Free Sin and Sacrifice by Danielle Bourdon Page B

buildings flash by out the window. The
architecture never ceased to amaze and mesmerize her although her
appreciation was a distant thing compared to her growing
consternation.
    The taxi pulled up outside
a string of businesses on Agapo street and she paid the driver
extra to wait.
    Climbing out, she crossed
the sidewalk and went inside the bank. The interior of the older
structure had been redone in marble with spiraling columns and a
long counter beyond a sitting area with several couches for the
customer's comfort. Sunlight streamed in through tall windows and
highlighted a bank of ATMs that she passed on her way to one of the
available tellers. She needed more money than the ATM would allow
her to withdraw on any given day.
    The teller, a black haired
woman with clear skin, a hook in her nose and a pair of brown eyes
greeted her with a heavy, English accent. “Welcome to the Bank of
Herstos. May I help you?”
    Evelyn fished out her
identification and bank card from her pocket. Smiling at the
teller, she passed both over and snatched a withdrawal slip from
the stack to the side to begin filling out. “Hello. Yes, I'd like
to make a withdrawal.”
    “ Do you have an account
with us?”
    “ No, I don't. But I'd like
more than the ATM will give me,” Evelyn explained. “Can you do
that?” She pushed the withdrawal slip over while the teller
examined her I.D and the card.
    “ Yes Ma'am. There will be
a short wait and a transaction fee, you realize.”
    Evelyn nodded. She'd
expected as much. “I'll wait. Thank you.”
    “ Let me verify this and
then we can discuss currency.” The teller punched in numbers into
her computer, watching the screen through the fine veil of her
bangs. She frowned and clicked through another series of
information on the keyboard.
    Unable to see the screen,
Evelyn watched the woman's face instead. “Is something
wrong?”
    “ It seems your account has
been frozen, Ma'am.” The teller spoke with clear
hesitation.
    “ Frozen?” Evelyn frowned.
“That can't be right. I haven't closed it out or even accessed it
in several days.”
    “ Excuse me for a moment,
Miss Grant. Let me see if my supervisor can make a call.” The
teller smiled cordially and took her card, her I.D and the
withdrawal slip with her away from the counter. She spoke with a
balding, rotund man in a voice too low for Evelyn to hear. They
spoke at length while he took the information to a different
computer behind a desk in the back, tapping through numbers and
screens. Evelyn could see their eyes scanning each different one
that popped up.
    Unease ate at her insides.
What could be the problem?
    After several minutes, the
man came back with the teller and took up the spot on the other
side of the counter. He had an even thicker accent than the
woman.
    “ Miss Grant, I am the
manager. I'm sorry to tell you that your account has been frozen,
and I will be required to confiscate your card.”
    “ Confiscate my card?
But--”
    “ I'm sorry, Miss Grant,”
he said, commiserating with her. The only card he traded back to
her was her I.D. “Perhaps you can straighten it out with your bank
on one of our house phones?” He gestured to a row of them, all
tucked into privacy cubes, against a far wall.
    Evelyn didn't need to
follow his gesture. She'd seen them on her way in. It dawned on her
belatedly that it was probably the Templars. They'd accessed her
information and had enough pull or connections to freeze her
account, making it hard for her to maneuver around the country.
They were tightening the noose in every way they could.
    Her dependence on the two
agents had just ratcheted up another notch.
    “ Thank you for your time.”
About facing, she departed the bank without stopping by the service
phones. Nothing would be gained by wasting time with
representatives that wouldn't give her access anyway.
    Squinting into the
sunlight, she let her eyes readjust before stepping toward the
waiting taxi. A hand on her elbow whirled