Logic Read Free Page A

Peacekeepers were going to shred them, and hopefully, she would make it out unscathed.
    The other three hostages were looking at her like she was insane, and to them, she probably was. Bebe waited, and the sudden silence outside indicated that someone was staging out there.
    The blast of electricity cut through the air in an arc that sizzled over her scalp by two inches. The other hostages dropped to the floor.
    Bebe blinked. This wasn’t peacekeeper procedure. “Oh, damn.”
    The robbers had been knocked back by the shock and were staggering to their feet. “What was that?”
    Bebe didn’t go limp fast enough. She was hauled to the chest of the guy who had hit her in the face and used her as a living shield.
    The door opened and a Guardian walked in. “Gentlemen, please let the lady go and we will take you into custody peacefully.”
    The jerk squeezed her tightly and said, “No, you are going to let us out of here and we may let this little one go when we choose to do so. Not before. I don’t care who you are.”
    That was it; she was not going to be hauled along like a demented dolly. Bebe reached up, grabbed his ears and made a wish.
    His scream echoed in the room, and three other Guardians came in to subdue the other robber while her captor threw her into a display case.
    The suit absorbed most of the damage, but she felt the glass slice along the collar and into her neck. “Damn it!”
    She let go of the robber’s ears and clapped a bloody hand over the small wound.
    Toyo, the Guardian who could fly, came up to her and knelt next to her. “Are you all right?”
    “A small wound and a black eye. I will be fine.”
    He picked her up and held her against his chest. Her inner teen swooned, but her adult side kicked her feet. “Not necessary. Please put me down.”
    Toyo laughed. “I am sorry. It is protocol. We have a med kit in our skimmer if that will help.”
    “Save it for the other guy. His ears are in all that glass.”
    He winced. “That was a very…effective move.”
    “Thank you. My self-defence instructor told me about it. I have to admit that it is effective, though I doubted that I could reach him for a moment.” She was carrying on this whole conversation with her bloody hand clutched against her neck, but she could feel her blood welling against her palm.
    Toyo carried her through the crowd and set her on the edge of the skimmer. He went to get a medical kit, and to her embarrassment, he looked at her black eye first.
    Another Guardian that she recognized as Rand came over and said, “If you would like, I can tend to your wound.”
    She blinked. “Um, no, that’s okay. If you could just leave me with the kit for a few minutes, I can fix it and you can be on your way.”
    Toyo and Rand looked at each other with amusement. Rand nodded and stepped into the skimmer.
    To Bebe’s shock, Rand grabbed her arms and pulled them away from her neck while Toyo moved in with the cleaning swabs.
    With the camouflage of the robber’s blood gone, Toyo and Rand got the full force of her scent. Rand’s hands clenched on her wrists, but she could actually see Toyo’s pupils expand.
    Her rescuer shuddered, and she watched his neck flex as he swallowed. His hands shook as he cleaned the slice on her neck and the mess she had made with the other male’s blood. Once he had cleaned her, he eased her suit open so he could get at the wound.
    Bebe was beyond embarrassed. Sweat was beading his brow by the time he sprayed her neck with synthetic skin.
    To her surprise, he scrubbed his hands immediately as well as did a good job of removing traces of her own blood from inside her neckline. When her scent had been contained, he relaxed a little.
    “Rand, you can let go of her now.”
    Bebe gasped as her arms were released. She flexed her shoulders a little and knew that her wrists would be bruised the next day.
    “Sorry, Toyo. That was…distracting.” Rand’s voice was wry.
    Toyo returned to put a regenerator