Nightingale

by Jennifer Estep

  “Not really,” I pointed out. “He’s convinced I know about it. Even if I tell him otherwise, he’d still torture and kill me trying to get me to tell him what I supposedly know.”

  “Well, yeah,” Talon admitted. “But I was trying not to upset you, to get you to look at the bright side of things.”

  “I’m not really a bright-side kind of gal. Besides, I want to know what’s going on. He said he’d been in my apartment looking for it and it wasn’t there. What kind of flash drive is Bandit after?”

  I couldn’t see Talon’s eyes through the tall blue visor, but I got the impression he was studying me carefully. “How much do you know about me?”

  The change of topic surprised me. “Just what I’ve read in The Exposé or seen on SNN. You’re a superhero. You use gadgets to help you fight evil. That’s it.”

  I also knew he liked Green Day and The Pretenders. Secretly listened to John Denver. And that he really liked it when I did that shimmy with my hips—well, I wasn’t going to go there. Talon’s sexual preferences were not part of this conversation.

  “Then you know Bandit is my archenemy. I’ve been trying to take him down for years.”

  I nodded.

  “But for all his bravado, Bandit is just a hired gun, no pun intended. He works for someone who calls himself Tycoon. Have you heard of him?”

  I nodded again. “Sure. Everybody has. He’s the big mob boss in Bigtime.”

  “I managed to pinpoint Tycoon’s main headquarters. It took me months, but I finally found where he was hiding,” Talon said. “A few nights ago, I broke inside. I was looking for Bandit, but I found something even better—Tycoon’s mainframe. The computer that houses all of the information about his organization. The drugs, the gambling, the money laundering, everything. I’d just hacked into the mainframe when someone discovered I had broken in. Before I left, I copied the information onto a flash drive, but Bandit and some of his lieutenants waylaid me in an alley, and Bandit shot me.”

  I thought back. That would have been Saturday, the night of the O’Hara party, when I’d found Talon blind and bleeding. “How did you get away?” I asked, playing the part of the naïve, innocent civilian.

  “Luckily, a woman was there,” Talon’s voice softened. “Her name is Nightingale. At least, that’s what I called her. She helped me get away from Bandit. She took me to her home and patched me up.”

  “So maybe she has the flash drive Bandit wants.” I rubbed my hands together, hoping he wouldn’t notice my trembling fingers. “Maybe she swiped it when you weren’t looking.”

  “I think she does have it,” Talon said. “But I don’t think she took it. At least, not on purpose.”

  “So, why don’t you just go get the drive from her?” My heart hammered in my chest, and my mouth went dry.

  His mouth twisted. “Because I don’t know who Nightingale really is. We didn’t exactly exchange contact information.”

  No, just bodily fluids.

  “She … left me before I could thank her for her help.”

  Yeah, I drugged you and left you in the convention center so you wouldn’t find out who I really was. That sentence dangled on the end of my tongue, but I clamped my mouth shut. I could never tell Talon the truth. He wouldn’t understand. Hell, I wasn’t sure that I understood.

  “Oh. So you don’t know anything about her?”

  His voice dropped to a whisper. “Just that she likes to sing. Nightingale has the most amazing voice I’ve ever heard.”

  The heat, the passion, in his tone, made my throat close up. I didn’t say anything. I had a hard enough time just breathing.

  Talon cleared his throat. “No, I don’t know anything about her. Nothing concrete, like her name or age or where she works.”

  Or the fact that she’s standing right in front of you.

  I closed my eyes. This was harder than I’d thought it would be. Especially when he talked about Wren, about me, like that. Like I was somebody he wanted to see again. Somebody he cared about.

  “But I’ve been looking for her.”

  My eyes snapped open, and I tried not to stagger back. “You—you have? Why?”

  “Lots of reasons,” he said. “I want to say thank you, of course. But even more than that, she was … kind to me. Kinder than anyone’s been in a long time.”

  His voice was casual, but there was a sharp undercurrent in it, longing tinged with desperation—or maybe that was me wanting to hear things. Wanting Talon to feel the things I’d felt.

  “I’ve gotten some information on Nightingale, even a photograph, but so far, it hasn’t led me anywhere.”

  I flashed back to the pictures and documents I’d seen on Wesley’s desk. The ones he’d been examining so intently. They couldn’t possibly be of … me, could they? Where would he have gotten my picture from?

  “What I don’t understand is why Bandit would confuse you with her,” Talon said.

  Reality bitch-slapped me in the face again.

  “Um … well … I was out late that night at an event. Maybe he saw me walking down the street or something.”

  A lame excuse at best, but he nodded, accepting it. “Possibly.”

  “But why would Bandit think Rascal belonged to him?”

  “Well, where did you get the dog from?”

  I supposed there was no harm in telling him the truth—about this. “My best friend Piper Perez found him in an alley downtown before the blizzard hit. She didn’t want to take him to the pound, but she’s allergic to dogs. So, she asked me to keep him while she finds him a home.”

  “I see. Well, that means something.”

  “What?”

  “Before I was discovered at Tycoon’s headquarters, I read about a project called Sunrise. I didn’t read enough to know exactly what’s it about, but it looked like Tycoon was experimenting with a radioactive drug—euphoridon. Testing it on cats and dogs. Certain breeds, like corgis.”

  Euphoridon. I recognized the name from SNN reports. It was Bigtime’s radioactive version of crack—only far more addictive and deadly. There was something familiar about the name Sunrise too, like I’d seen or heard it somewhere recently, but I focused on the last thing that Talon had said.

  “So what are you saying? That Rascal is some kind of superdog?” I asked. “No way. He’s just a puppy.”

  “You haven’t noticed anything strange about him? Nothing at all?”

  Well, there was his seemingly boundless energy and enormous appetite. But I thought that was because he was a growing puppy, rather than a superdog. The only really strange thing about Rascal was the way he seemed to understand exactly what I was saying, but Piper told me corgis were intelligent.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never had a dog before.”

  “You’ve never had a dog before?” Disbelief colored Talon’s voice.

  I grimaced. Now, I was getting that tone from a freaking superhero. Jeez. “No, I’ve never had a dog. I don’t do so well with animals. But what would the drug do to him?”

  “I’m not sure,” Talon said. “It would depend on the dosage and various other things. It might make him a little quicker, a little smarter than the average dog. But I’m not sure if Rascal is one of the dogs or not. I’d have to run some tests to find out. With your permission, I’ll draw some of his blood.”

  “Will it hurt him?” I asked, worried.

  “No. Just a little prick, and it will be done.” He turned back to his monitors. “But even with his blood, it doesn’t mean anything without the flash drive. I won’t even know what to look for.”

  “But what about Tycoon’s headquarters? Can’t you just break in again?”

  Talon hit some keys on his computer, and a burned out warehouse appeared on the monitors. “No. He razed the building that night. There’s nothing left.”

  My eyes flicked to my coat. The flash drive was probably still in there. All I had to do was show it to him, give him the information he needed—and reveal my secret.

&nbs
p; I stood there, wrestling with my desire to do the right thing and my need to remain anonymous. Talon hit a button, and the monitors faded to black.

  “Enough about this,” he said. “You’re probably tired and want to go home. Don’t worry. I’ll find some way to figure it out. I’m just sorry you got mixed up in the middle of it.”

  He looked at me, and I knew he was dismissing me. He’d done the brave thing, the right thing, the noble thing, and saved me from Bandit. Now, he was going to blindfold me and dump me in my apartment. Just like someone had dumped Rascal in the snow the other night. Just like I’d dumped Talon at the convention center. A vicious cycle, dumping.

  “I want to help you,” I blurted out, surprising myself as much as I did him.

  “Why would you want to do that?” he asked, puzzled. “This has nothing to do with you.”

  “Yes, it does. I mean Rascal is sort of my dog, for the moment anyway, and Bandit thinks I have what he wants. I want to help you find the flash drive. That’s the only way I’m ever going to be safe. Maybe your mystery woman didn’t take it. Maybe you just … dropped it somewhere. I could help you look for it.”

  “And what would you get out of it?” Talon asked.

  The chance to be close to you again. A chance to get you to see me. A chance for you to fall in love with me.

  Fall in love with me? Where had that nonsense come from? I was getting as starry-eyed and sentimental as Piper.

  I gritted my teeth. “Call me a good Samaritan. I don’t like ubervillains. I don’t like being threatened, and I hate people who are mean to animals. Besides, if you take out Bandit and Tycoon, those are two less villains I have to worry about crashing my parties.”

  He leaned back in his chair, measuring my words.

  I stuck out my hand before he could think about them too long because my story had as many holes in it as a piece of Swiss cheese. “What do you say? Partners?”

  Talon looked at my hand, then at me. After a moment, he nodded. “Partners.”

  We shook hands. His hard, calloused fingers covered mine, and I flashed back to that night in my apartment and the marvelous things he’d done with those fingers—things I ached for him to do again.

  Evidently, Talon didn’t feel anything because he dropped my hand, reached over, and hit a button on one of his computers. One of the monitors on the wall slid back, revealing a metal nozzle. Something clicked, and the nozzle spewed out blue gas.

  “What—what are you doing?” I asked, my voice slurring as the minty sleeping gas seeped into my lungs again.

  Talon stood. I tried to step back, but he caught my arms and held me fast.

  “I trust you, Abby, but not enough to let you see where you are. Don’t worry. I’ll take you and your dog to your friend’s house where you’ll be safe. I won’t let Bandit hurt you. I promise. I’ll be in touch soon.”

  “But, the flash drive …” I mumbled, trying to tell him I had it.

  “No buts. Sleep, Abby, just sleep,” Talon murmured.

  His voice was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed once more.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Something scraped my cheek. Something warm, wet, and sticky. Something that smelled like day-old puppy chow.

  I opened my eyes. Rascal stood on the sofa next to me, licking my face.

  “Hey, boy,” I mumbled, reaching up and scratching his ears.

  His tail thumped against my ribs, and he grunted with happiness. More tears gathered in my eyes. I was so happy to see him again, even if he might be a radioactive superpup.

  A shadow fell over me. I looked up and blinked. Piper’s concerned face came into focus.

  “Well, it’s about time you woke up,” she said.

  I sat up the rest of the way and scanned the room. Framed superhero posters brightened the walls. Shelves full of comic books, action figures, and plush toys reached from the floor to the ceiling. Life-size cardboard figures of Swifte, Wynter, and other heroes struck noble poses. I recognized Piper’s obscenely neat, clutter-free superhero-shrine living room.

  “How did I get here?” I asked.

  #

  We sat on the couch in front of the TV, Rascal snuggled between us. Over some hot chocolate, Piper filled me in on what had happened since Talon knocked me out. The superhero pounded on her door around two in the morning. She’d peered through the keyhole to find Talon standing outside, holding me in his arms, with Rascal hooked to a leash on Talon’s belt. Piper let him in, and the superhero put me on the couch before vanishing.

  “He said he’d saved you from an ubervillain. That you were fine and you’d wake up in a few hours,” Piper said, sipping her hot chocolate. “He was even nice enough to give me his autograph to add to my collection.”

  I glanced at the TV. Just after seven in the morning. The anchors on SNN did their usual early morning banter before sending things over to the news desk.

  “Now, you want to tell me what you did last night, Abby?” Piper asked. “I already know who you did.”

  “Shut up,” I growled. “It wasn’t like that.”

  Even though I’d wished it had been.

  I told her about Bandit confronting me on the street, then chasing me. How Talon had come to my rescue, taken me to his superhero lair, and agreed to let me help him find the missing flash drive.

  Piper’s brown eyes grew brighter with every word. “How romantic!” she squealed.

  I winced and gave her a pointed look.

  “Sorry. And they say chivalry is dead. Not when Talon’s around, it’s not.” Piper stared at me. “So, did you use this opportunity to tell him who you really are? That you’re his much-sought-after mystery lady? His one, his only Nightingale?”

  “Of course not,” I said, horrified she’d even suggest it.

  “You’re going about this all wrong, Abby.”

  Rascal rolled over. Piper sneezed and scratched his snow-white belly.

  “You should just tell Talon who you really are—and that you know his secret identity too. That way, the two of you can figure out what Bandit is up to together—and see if you have enough chemistry for more than a one-night stand. Besides, it’s not good to lie to people. It’s just not good karma.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve been looking at your Mr. Sage thought-a-day calendar again.”

  She shrugged and sniffled into a tissue. “We can all learn a thing or two from superheroes.”

  Piper lived her life like she was a superhero. She firmly believed in truth, justice, and all that jazz. Lying, fibbing, or telling half truths to make things easier wasn’t something Piper approved of, although she’d do it when absolutely necessary.

  “You should tell him, Abby,” she said, her voice softer. “I know how much you like him. You practically glow whenever you talk about him.”

  “I know, I know,” I muttered. “I do like him, but I just can’t bring myself to tell him the truth. That I’m Wren. What if he takes one look at me and wonders what he was thinking the other night? What if he’s like Ryan?”

  “Then Wesley’s not worth your time or energy—leather suit or no leather suit,” Piper pronounced.

  I bit my lip and looked away. On SNN, men dressed in white protective suits and masks hauled body bags out of an alley and put them into a van bearing the words Animal Control on the side.

  “Turn the TV up,” I said, my eyes fixed on the screen. “Right now.”

  Piper grabbed the remote and hit the volume button.

  “… And we go out to Kelly Caleb, who’s on the scene of a breaking story. Kelly, what’s the situation?” the anchor said.

  Kelly Caleb stared into the camera, her blue eyes dark and serious. “A city sanitation worker made a gruesome discovery this morning. While collecting trash from this alley, he stumbled across the bodies of about fifty cats and dogs, many of them only a few weeks old. Officials don’t know where the animals came from, but Chief Sean Newman of the Bigtime Police Department said they believe the bodies have b
een here for a few days, hidden by the snow ...”

  As Kelly provided more background on her story, the screen showed footage from earlier in the morning. The camera zoomed in on the body of a puppy who looked a lot like Rascal. The puppy’s eyes were closed, and it almost looked like it was sleeping. The sight sickened me.

  “That’s right around the block from my office, from Fiona’s store,” Piper said.

  “That’s where you found Rascal, isn’t it?” I whispered.

  The puppy barked at the sound of his name. I picked him up and hugged him to my chest.

  “How did you know?”

  I told her the rest of the story. How Talon had broken into Tycoon’s headquarters. How he’d discovered that the mob boss had been experimenting on animals. The interest Bandit had shown in Rascal and the puppy’s vicious reaction to him.

  Piper eyed the puppy, who’d decided to go to sleep in my arms. “And Talon thinks Rascal is one of those dogs?”

  I nodded. “He said he was going to take some blood to try to confirm it. Although he said he didn’t know if he could without the information on the flash drive.”

  “The drive you picked up in the alley.”

  I nodded.

  “Do you still have it?”

  “Let me check.”

  I handed Rascal to her. Piper sneezed violently three times, but the puppy slept on. I retrieved my coat and dug through the pockets. The silver flash drive was inside, just as I’d left it. I couldn’t quite believe that I still had it and that Talon hadn’t felt it when he’d put my coat back on my body.

  “Is that it?” Piper asked.

  I nodded.

  “Well, let’s see what’s on it, and why everyone wants it so badly.”

  #

  Piper flipped on her laptop, stuck the flash drive in the appropriate slot, and hit a few buttons. The computer’s gears ground together as the machine tried to read the flash drive. Piper typed in some commands. Numbers, letters, and other coded gibberish flashed on the screen, and a window popped up wanting a login and a password.

  She shook her head. “It’s encrypted. There’s no way I can open it.”