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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 3
in front of my eyes that was close enough to taste, felt the grasp of
the metal around my ankle and heard its rattle, then shuddered as
quietly as I could.
He held me to him as if he owned me, just the way Jensar had, but he
was nothing like Jensar. Or was he? And why would he want to hold me?
None of it made any sense, and my own reactions made the least sense
of all. The smartest thing to do would be to get out of there just as
fast as I possibly could. That way I just might stay sane.
Getting out of there rapidly proved to be less than a snap. Ringer
was already moving around in the sitting room when Val finally woke
up all the way, turned me loose, then went to get washed and dressed.
I sat up on my hip and looked at the ankle chain, thinking about
taking it off and trying my luck again, but Ringer must have been
tuned to the wrong wavelength. All I did was lift my ankle and jiggle
the chain as I considered it, but that little seemed to be enough.
"Forget it." Ringer's voice came from the doorway, and I looked up to
see him leaning against the doorjamb, his face still pale but looking
considerably better than it had. "You've got a lot coming to you for
what you did last night," he continued in a growl. "If that chain
comes off before I take it off, it'll all begin coming at once."
I stirred in annoyance at his tone and leaned back on my elbow. "How
long are you going to keep me like this?" I asked, only some of the
annoyance showing in my own tone.
"I'll keep you like that as long as I care to," he answered with a
snort, then came over to sit down on the far side of the bed. That
much closer I could see the satisfaction in him, and I wondered if it
had a source other than my being chained. He took time to stretch out
on the bed's edge and get comfortable before bringing his gaze back
to me.
"I had some words with the Council this morning," he commented, one
finger rubbing at his jaw. "They had just returned to session after
their lunch break, so I was put right through. I had a lot of time
for thinking last night, and they were very interested in my
thoughts. I pointed out that returning you to cadet grade would do us
little good if we sent you to 2 where everyone knows you and you know
everything about the place. Instead of it being a three month
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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 3
punishment, we'd be lucky if it lasted three days."
Ringer was still gazing at me blandly, everything he said no more
than conversation. I didn't know what point he was getting to unless
there were other Special Agents at 2. None of the Agents First Class
would get in my way, but none of them would try to help me either.
Special Agents bend regulations too often, and it wouldn't be fair to
involve someone of lower rank in our doings. Special Agents swing a
lot of weight, but Agents First Class don't.
"The Council was upset," Ringer continued, "but my suggestion calmed
them down. I asked why you just had to be demoted to cadet grade. Why
couldn't you really be made a cadet and started off at the Academy
all over again? That way there'd be no one around to help you walk
off, and you'd be in the middle of a system that was designed to keep
you where you were put. You know what? They liked the idea so much
they adopted it immediately."
I stared at him openmouthed, having trouble believing what I'd heard.
"But they can't do that," I blurted, shaking my head. "The Academy is
only for kids. I'm not a kid!"
"Take a look in a mirror," Ringer disagreed with a grin, pleased with
how his news had hit me. "The way you look now, most of those kids at
the Academy will be older than you. And if three months in Pete's
tender care doesn't teach you something, nothing in this universe
will."
He laughed at me then, showing how hard he'd worked to even the score
between us, and all I wanted to do was kill him. Being sent to the
Academy was infinitely worse than just being given cadet grade, and
if Ringer didn't know it then no one did. I started to crawl toward
him across the too wide bed, mad enough to go all the way, but the
chain on my ankle wasn't long enough. I couldn't get closer than an
arm's length away from him, and he lay comfortably in his spot,
knowing I couldn't reach him. I lay flat on my stomach, straining
toward him, but I just couldn't reach him.
"All you'd get out of that would be personal satisfaction and more
trouble than you've had yet," he told me softly, holding my stare.
"Damn it, Diana, when will you ever learn not to make things worse?"
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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 3
He made a sound of anger then and took himself off the bed, but I
didn't know what the hell he had to be angry about. I scrambled back
across the bed and began to examine the lock at my ankle, then cursed
aloud and threw a fist into the footboard. Most locks don't require a
special lock-pick - any small piece of metal will do - but if the
shape and design of the lock weren't just camouflage, I'd need a
magnetized pick to get it open.
I had that kind of lock-pick - in my luggage put away in the closet.
I could have asked Val to get me that small piece of luggage the
night before and he never would have known what he was getting for
me. But I'd let Ringer's upset convince me that waiting a short while
would be better. Now Ringer was walking toward that closet, opening
it and starting to pull things out, and all I could do was curse
again and yank at that damned chain.
"What's going on?" Val asked, standing in the doorway to the bathroom
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