Free Chloë by Marcus LaGrone Page B

want?” demanded Chloë with an icy breath.
    “Well,
we would like you to ride along with her back home.  And if that
doesn’t seem to suit your fancy, a generous cash donation would go a long way
to ensure Anna made it across the border and safely to a local hospital.”
    “You
are nothing but a self-serving mercenary,” snarled Chloë.
    “Yes,
but you may be surprised how often we get the jobs done.  All those dirty
jobs your precious father doesn’t want to admit doing.”
    “So
are you the ones responsible for my mother’s departure too?”
    “No,”
he laughed, “that was more than a little before my time.  Things are
simple. If you don’t want to go back home and don’t want for Anna to have to do
all that explaining, then you meet us across the border tomorrow night with
three million in cash and everything will be fine.”  He handed her a small
card with a single address on it.  “Eleven o’clock at night on
Friday.  No big deal.”
    “Even
if I wanted to, how would I come up with that much cash?”
    The
young man smiled, “The Nedej Mercantile Bank.  Your father holds many
assets there, and his daughter should have no problem pulling some petty cash.”
    “Petty
cash?  Three million?” asked Chloë incredulously.
    He
just shrugged, “You could at least try, eh?  See you Friday.”  With
that he wandered off into the crowd and quickly disappeared.
    Chloë
just sat there in shock and disbelief.  All the life seemed to drain from
her and despair and desperation started to take over.  Could she even get
the cash if she wanted to?  Tomorrow night, and travel how far?  Was
Anna actually alive but just injured like he claimed or was it all a ruse?
    “Are
you all right, pretty lady?” suddenly asked a young boy of about eight.
    Chloë
tried to smile at the youngster, but just couldn’t.  Instead she broke out
crying.
    “You
are Heather’s friend, aren’t you?  You stay here; I’ll go get Heather for
you!”  The little boy sprang into action and quickly disappeared as well.
    Chloë
had just enough time to start a second cycle of depression and self-guilt when
Heather came running up to her.  “Little Penn said you were… oh,
no!   What happened Chloë?  Someone try to get fresh with you?”
    Chloë
shook her head, “No, someone came up and said that my governess Anna was alive
but horribly hurt and I had two choices: return with them home or pay a
ludicrous amount of cash on Friday and they would turn her over to the local
hospitals.”
    “One
day… I assume the rendezvous is across the border…think think think.  Odds
are, they are going to try and double cross you; capture you and the
cash…”  Heather’s mind was whirling but it was her relative calm that
surprised Chloë.  “We pack up and head out in the morning.  I’ll get
a message to Dad and see if he can meet us there.  All else fails, he has
some old friends in the borderlands.  Okay, back to the inn.  Pack up
and sleep tight because we are going to need to head out early in the
morning.  Before sunrise in fact.”
    Chloë
just stared at Heather with disbelief.  “We?  It’s stupid enough for
me to do anything, much less drag you along…”
    Heather
blew a raspberry, “Pardon me, but I can hold my own, and you could darn well
use a good escort on the way there.  Dad should be able to catch up. 
If not, like I said, he has retired friends in the borderlands.”
    “Should
we just go to the constable and see if he can help?”
    Heather
rolled her eyes, “The local constable is an idiot and scared to death of my
dad.  Going to him would just guarantee inaction .”
    Chloë
was confused on several levels.  Why would the local constable be afraid
of her father?  Why was Heather, whom she had known now for less than two
weeks, so ready to help her?  “Do you actually have a plan?”
    Heather
nodded, “Of course.  By morning it might even be a good plan.”  The
joke fell flat.  “Look