Sacrifice the Wicked by Karina Cooper Read Free Book Online Page A

that sounds big, and it’s from a source that really needs to not, uh . . . have questions aimed at him. If you know what I mean.”
    Following that took effort. “He . . . is willing to give us information in exchange for a certain amount of immunity?”
    “Yes,” Jonas said in relief. “That.”
    “About GeneCorp?” About the witches GeneCorp was cultivating. The human subjects churned out in lists longer than her arm. Anticipation gripped her.
    “Er . . . yes.”
    Parker slid off the edge of her desk, straightening from her perch, and carefully tucked stray tendrils of her hair back into place. “So meet with him.”
    “Um . . .” He sighed. “Ma’am, he wants to meet with you .”
    Her eyebrows knitted. Her? Unheard of. “This sounds like a trap, Mr. Stone.”
    “I promise you, it’s not,” he said hurriedly. “Really. It’s just that it’s really complicated.”
    She studied the surface of her desk, neat to the point of obsession, and traced two fingers along the ledge in absent thought. Complicated.
    Wasn’t it always?
    “I won’t ask you what you know,” she finally said, her lips turning up into a humorless smile as Jonas’s sigh of relief filtered through the speaker. “Yet.”
    “Right.”
    “But I need to know how credible this is.”
    He didn’t even hesitate. “Absolutely, one hundred percent credible, ma’am. Whatever he’s got, it’s going to be worth it.”
    And if whatever it was could help her in her Mission, then it would be exactly that.
    She nodded, once. “When and where?”

 
    C HAPTER T HREE
    K ayleigh strode down the hall, her head buried in her digital reader. Like Simon knew it would be.
    He didn’t bother with greetings. “Where’s the docket?”
    She jerked in surprise. “Simon! What are you doing?” Her question ended on a surprised note as he grabbed her arm, pulled her out of sight around the corner. She stumbled, but she didn’t fold.
    She was too much her mother’s daughter to fold.
    Simon let her go as she pulled at his grip, her pretty blue-gray eyes narrowed in anger. Color rode her cheeks. “You have no right—”
    “Shut up,” he said over her, cornering her into the alcove wall.
    The shock in her eyes made the act worth it.
    The Magdalene Asylum had damn good security. Practically unbreakable. Compared to the other three sides of the Holy Order quadplex, the place was a veritable fortress.
    Fortunately for him, his security clearance allowed for a certain amount of free reign in the building. Not as much free reign as she got, but being the Sector Three director’s daughter had its perks.
    It was only a matter of time before she’d come back to her office. So he’d waited.
    With some really bad vending machine coffee to keep him company. After the morning he’d had, it’d do.
    “No one knew about that folder but me,” he said, ignoring her wide-eyed surprise. He kept his voice low, but the intensity of his anger didn’t need volume to translate. “I broke every reg in the book, but I got it and got out, no mess. Only to lose it to some jackass shadowing me. How did you learn about it, Kayleigh?”
    Although she had no room to sidle in, less room beyond Simon where the alcove ended abruptly into the instant coffee machine, she didn’t give in. He let her shake off his grip from her arm.
    Her mouth thinned, practically white with anger. “Don’t you ever jump me like this again,” she hissed. “Ever. I don’t know where your goddamned folder is! My operative never got inside.”
    Simon frowned at her. “What the hell do you mean?”
    “Exactly that.” When she pushed at his chest, he stepped back, giving her the space she needed to peel herself off the wall and straighten her red suit jacket. “Are you telling me someone took that file from you?”
    “Motherfucker.” As an answer, it said enough.
    Kayleigh bent to pick up her dropped digital reader, light brown eyebrows furrowed. “That’s not what I wanted to