“Get it, Regent?” I asked him, “The bank robbery was a distraction for the local capes, so Coil could be sure to get away with taking the kid.  We played a part in that. We made that happen.”

Hoo boy.

The Protectorate proper out of town, the Wards fighting the Undersiders… not much resistance left against Coil. That’s why he needed them to do a job at such a precise time, too, without caring all that much what that job would entail.

Hell, maybe that’s why there were so many Wards there compared to what they were expecting – in an effort to distract as many of them as possible, Coil himself reported the ongoing robbery and played up the threat?

Damn, I’m not sure they should stay with Coil anymore.

I hugged my arms tighter against my body, “He’s keeping her strung out so she’ll cooperate, give him his numbers.”

“I don’t think-”

“Shut up,” I cut Regent off.  “Just shut up.  I- I can’t argue with you on this.  Please.”

Yeah, if Taylor’s right, this is extremely shitty.

He stopped.  I looked at the others.  Grue had his arms folded, and was standing very still.  Bitch just had her usual angry look.  Tattletale looked pale, even for the single lightbulb’s worth of light we had in the stairwell.  She wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Is that why she went pale? Because she suddenly Knew how the girl was being treated?

“You’d know if you watched the news,” I told Regent, “If you read the paper.  I hate that I have to explain this, when I don’t even want to think about it.  She’s the missing kid.  Remember our bank robbery?  How we were weren’t even front page news because an amber alert took priority?  That was her.  Dinah Alcott.”

Damn.

Well… at least we got a name, eh?

The revulsion and anger that was welling up in my chest and throat made me want to throw up, hit something, right there.  Some of that emotion, a lot of it, was directed at myself.  I looked to Tattletale, “Tell me I’m wrong.  Please?”

I… don’t think she can. Without lying, anyway.

She broke eye contact, which was answer enough.

Yeah.