CHAPTER 22LIBERTY OR DEATH
DAMON
“Very few mongooses, however old and wise, care to follow a cobra into its hole. You never know when the hole may open out and give the cobra room to strike.”
I hadn’t thought of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi in years; perhaps the dark halls of the abandoned bank put me in mind of a snake’s burrow. The analogy fit; Jewel had had months, if not years, to explore this building. And she was certainly a snake.
I lost her quickly in the dark maze of desks and offices, but she hadn’t shaded. It was almost too dark for it, but more importantly, I could still smell her—Teya’s stolen perfume, blood and sweat and clothes worn a bit too long, the salty edge that differentiated Shadow from human, and the scent that was uniquely Jewel, soft and dusty with a hint of strawberry sh
