The Flux Engine by Dan Willis Read Free Book Online Page A

about his own age, with an olive complexion and ebony hair that fell below her shoulders. Her features were sharp and angular with almond shaped eyes that marked her as having Nipponic origins.
    The girl smiled and John realized he was staring.
    “Uh, hi,” he managed. “I’m John.”
    “Robirah,” she said. “But you can call me Robi, everybody does.”
    “Why are you in there?” John asked.
    When Robi smiled, John noticed that her canine teeth were longer than the others, giving her smile an unsettling, vaguely predatory look.
    “They’re afraid I’m going to escape,” she said, as if such a thing were natural for teenage girls.
    John’s disbelief must have shown on his face because Robi’s smile disappeared.
    “I’ve already escaped from four other jails,” she said in a disapproving tone. “I’m the best escape artist in the world.”
    “This is one jail you won’t be getting out of,” Aaron Batts’ voice suddenly interjected.
    John jumped, surprised by the sheriff’s sudden appearance. Robi, however, didn’t flinch.
    “I heard you when you came down the stairs from your office,” Robi said, a bored tone creeping into her voice. “If that’s the best you can do, it’s a miracle you caught me.”
    Batts’ face spread into a wide grin.
    “And yet we did catch you, didn’t we?” he replied. “The daughter of Hiro Laryn, the world-famous Cat. I guess that makes you the Kitten.”
    Robi’s smile slipped and her dark eyes hardened. John had heard the sisters at Saint Archimedes tell stories of the Cat, a famous thief who was said to be able to move through walls and steal any treasure no matter how well protected. The sisters seemed to think it was terribly romantic.
    “Don’t expect your father to get you out, either,” Batts said. “I’ve got his likeness posted all over the city. If he so much as shows his face in Sprocketville, my men will have him.” Batts grinned with a very self-satisfied air. “You won’t be escaping from my jail, little Kitten.”
    “Watch me,” Robi said. The smile returned to her face, but it seemed forced this time.
    “I won’t hold my breath,” Batts said, condescendingly. “Despite your father’s reputation, you can’t walk through walls and I doubt you can escape from a cage you can’t touch.”
    “Don’t bet on it,” Robi said. Her voice was defiant, but lacked the hard edge that comes from certainty.
    “Whatever you’re planning, you’d better do it soon,” Batts said, his smile almost as wolfish as Robi’s. “Someone wants you bad enough to send an Enforcer from Salina to collect you. I came down to tell you that he’ll be here tomorrow.”
    With that Batts turned and walked back along the cells to the outer door.
    “Pleasant dreams,” he said before shutting the door and locking it behind him.
    Robi stared after him for a long moment and then stuck out her tongue.
    “Is it true?” John asked. “What the sheriff said about your father?”
    Robi nodded. A sad smile traced the corners of her mouth.
    “He’s the best,” she said. “He taught me everything I know.”
    “Then how did they catch you?”
    “I needed some cash,” she said with a shrug. “So I found someone with a few pearls he didn’t really need.”
    The sisters at Saint Archimedes took great pains to teach their charges right from wrong. As a result, John didn’t approve of criminal activities, but he didn’t want Robi to stop talking, so he held his tongue. Still his disapproval must have shown on his face.
    “I was only going to take a couple,” she said, defensively. “Just enough to get by.”
    “What happened?”
    “The sneaky bastard covered the floor in front of the safe with a little rug that had some chemical soaked into it.” Her expression darkened. “The safe was filled with a heavier-than-air gas that activated the chemical in the rug and turned it into glue.”
    John was impressed. The man’s trap was simple but effective and all he