I laughed. “Fair enough. At least the cows and horses will be safe.”
The gates opened then, and we drove through. The garage rolled open as we drove up to the house. Price pulled in next to Dalton’s SUV. He and Taylor had beaten us back. Arnow pressed the button to close the garage door and came down the three steps from the house to look inside the back of the Jeep.
“That’s the mother of all nulls? It’s ridiculous.”
“It holds a lot of magic, and it was convenient. A client gave it to me as a thank-you for a trace job.”
“I don’t think he meant it as a thank-you. That thing is atrocious.”
“It’s cute.”
“Which only proves you lack taste. Not that we needed more proof.”
“You’re just pissed because you don’t have one.”
“Right. That’s it. I desperately want a rusty piece of junk made out of nuts, bolts, spark plugs, wrenches, and whatever else the so-called artist scrounged out of the dump. Is that a bedpan?”
“Yep. Clever how he cut it in half and attached it with the butter knives, isn’t it?”
“That’s one word for it.”
“If you’re lucky, I’ll get you one for Christmas.”
Arnow groaned. “Please don’t. I’ll have to pay to get it hauled away.”
“I think I’m going to have fun redecorating Savannah’s house. I’ll bet it would look great decked out in garage-sale chic,” I said, grinning at her. “We could put up tapestries of ‘Dogs Playing Poker’ and—oh! A velvet Elvis.”
Price chuckled.
Arnow scowled. “You do that and I promise Savannah will crawl out of the grave and haunt you until the end of your days.”
“I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”
“You also don’t have the sense God gave goldfish,” she retorted before marching back into the house.
“I hate it when she gets the last word,” I said, sighing. I did notice Arnow now wore FBI-issue navy cargo pants and a pair of tennis shoes.
“Depending on where we go, we might have to stop at a Walmart and find her some boots,” I said, then giggled at the idea of Arnow shopping in a discount store. The woman would likely go into seizures at the mere touch of off-the-rack discount clothing. Heck, she’d probably curl up and die just walking in the door.
“Not the hill you want to die on,” Price said wryly as we both got out. “And trust me, she’d kill you for that.”
“Might be worth it.”
“You really do like to live dangerously.”
“You’re only just figuring that out? Where have you been the past couple of months?”
“In a lovesick haze, apparently.”
“I must be spectacular, then, if you didn’t notice all the pain, suffering, and general mayhem.”
By then we were at the door to the house. Price stopped me in the doorway, snatching a quick kiss. “Spectacular pain in the ass,” he murmured against my ear, and then went inside.
I also hated when he got the last word.
EVERYBODY HAD gathered in the living room, including Taylor and Dalton. The mouthwatering scent of pizza permeated the room, and my stomach cramped.
“Pizza?” I asked hopefully.
“We stopped for it. I’ll get you some,” Taylor said.
“I could use seconds,” Leo said. “And another beer.”
“Then get off your ass and get them yourself,” came Taylor’s tart reply.
The furniture had been pushed back to allow Jamie and Leo to render Savannah’s compound in 3-D according to Arnow’s descriptions. Piles of pots and pans were heaped beside the fireplace, along with the scattered detritus of all the things they’d already stripped of metal.
“A couple of Barbies and you two could have a good time,” I said, examining the metal model. “That’s amazing. Is it accurate?”
“No, I lied and everything is skewed.” Arnow glared at me. “Of course it’s accurate.”
Okay, I’ll admit. That one was dumb. Someone hand me a stupid sign. “I meant is it complete? Are you all done with Arnow? We should get going. As soon as we eat,” I amended.
“What time is it?”
“Just after midnight,” Patti replied.
“Then eat fast and we can grab a couple hours’ sleep,” Price said.
I didn’t argue. I’d had maybe four hours’ sleep in the last couple of days. I wasn’t turning down a nap. “Okay.”
“Okay?” he repeated. Like me being reasonable was surprising. Shocking even.
“That’s what I said.”
I grabbed a beer and the plate Taylor had made me from the kitchen and plopped down on the big sectional couch. Price fetched his own meal and sat beside me, his thigh snugged up to mine.
The others went back to planning, Leo and Jamie making additions and filling in details on the model as they talked. From what I could tell, they had things well in hand. Taylor and Dalton offered the most suggestions for how to proceed. Patti made a list of what would be needed from the Seedy Seven.
“The key will be getting inside and getting the security web back working before anybody else can come in,” Dalton said. “It would help to know what kind of numbers we’re working with and what talents.”
Arnow took a pen, paper, and her phone. She scrolled through her contacts, stopping to write down numbers. She handed the page to Dalton. “Those are the contacts for Savannah’s lieutenants. You can text them your questions.”
“Not Savannah’s anymore,” Taylor said.
Arnow growled. “Fine. Riley’s lieutenants, then.”
“Ours,” I corrected. “All of us. You’re just as much a part of this as we are.”
That surprised her. She froze a moment, and then gave a faint nod.
“Anyhow, I like the Seedy Seven for them. Or maybe the Seven Dwarfs. Though can they all be Grumpy?” Leo said.
“Seedy Seven?” Patti snorted. “That’s the one.” Her gaze dropped to my empty plate. “Time for you to hit the hay.” She took my plate and Price’s, then pointed imperiously toward the stairs. “Go.”
“You’ll wake us in two hours?”
“I won’t let you oversleep,” Arnow said.
I hesitated, then nodded. She knew better than I did that time was of the essence.
The master bedroom was at the end of the hall. It had a giant bed and an attached bathroom. I went to wash my hands and face, and found packages of toothbrushes and toothpaste in the top drawer between the double sinks. I handed Price a brush and then went about cleaning the fur off my teeth.
I peeled down to my underwear and tee shirt and slid in between the sheets, yelping at the chilled linen. Flannel had been too much to ask for. Price stripped to his birthday suit and climbed in beside me. He snuggled me against his warmth, dropping a light kiss on my lips. It was a testament to how tired I was that I only considered jumping his bones for a second before deciding I’d rather sleep.
“I’ve missed this,” I said, “more than you know.” It seemed like a hundred years since he let me sleep with him.
“Trust me, I know,” he said, pushing my hair away and nibbling down my neck to my shoulder.
My body flamed hot, and I pinched my thighs together. “If you don’t stop that we won’t be getting any sleep,” I said.
He sighed, his breath fluttering across my cheek. “Since when are you the voice of reason?”
I laughed. “Next time we have a couple of weeks alone in a mountain retreat, you’ll know better than to keep running away from me.” I wiggled my hips where they nestled against him. I felt his cock harden.
He tightened his arm around my waist. “Stop that.”
“You started it.”
“And I’m ending it. Did I say yo
u were the voice of reason? I was wrong.”
I laughed softly and twisted my head to kiss the inside of his arm pillowing my head, then settled down to sleep.
Chapter 22
Riley
DAWN FOUND US on Highway 133. The trace from the ping-pong balls led east. Since Arnow’s people had disappeared in Denver, I was hoping that’s where the trace would lead us and not to France or Egypt or somewhere equally as difficult.
“She’d want to keep them pretty close so she could produce them easily,” I said, more to convince myself than anything else. But if she used travellers to move them, Savannah could have stashed them anywhere on the planet and still had easy access.
We fell silent a few minutes.
“Do you think they’ve started yet?” I asked. Arnow had woken us up just before 5:00 a.m. Activating the null at 3:00 a.m. like I’d first told the Seedy Seven hadn’t been feasible with the plan Taylor, Leo, Patti, Jamie, and Dalton had devised. I couldn’t complain about the extra sleep, but everybody else had gone to rendezvous with the Seedy Seven before we woke up. I was annoyed I hadn’t had a chance to see them before they left. I’d texted when we got on the road, but it wasn’t the same.
“Maybe,” Arnow said. “They had to go over the plan with the seven and then get their troops in place. They wanted the cover of darkness if they could get things going by then.” She shrugged. “We’ll hear soon enough.”
I chewed my lower lip. Worry twisted my stomach and made the coffee I’d drunk boil up my throat. I swallowed.
My phone rang. I snatched it up, looking at the screen. Cass.
“You’re up early,” I said by way of greeting.
“I’m up late,” the other woman corrected. “Been trying to reach you. Finally got ahold of Ben at the diner and got your new number.”
I winced. “Sorry. I meant to let you know.”
“You’ve had other things to deal with. I’ve called to add to your problems.”
Foreboding tightened my chest. “What’s wrong?”
“You know Touray had his head messed with, right?”
I glanced at Price, who frowned back at me. “Yeah. He’s okay, now, right?”
“I—maybe. Maybe not. I want to scan him again in a day or so, see if I can dig a little deeper. There was a lot of damage and I had a tough time seeing past it. That’s why I’m calling. Even though Touray remembers a woman working on him, I could swear it was your father.”
“Vernon?” I clenched my hand on my phone. “Why do you say that?”
“That’s the problem. It’s nothing all that concrete, just a feeling. The work, even though it was entirely different, reminded me of what he did to you. Same sort of vibe. He’s had a chance to learn a whole lot of new tricks in the last ten years, so it’s not surprising the technique would be different. But it still felt like him.”
“You’re saying my father is on Tyrell’s payroll,” I said slowly.
Price jerked the wheel and steadied it.
“I’m saying that I think he’s the one who messed with Touray’s mind.”
“For Tyrell.”
“Seems like a reasonable conclusion.”
“Shit.”
“I thought you should know.”
“Did you tell Touray?”
She hesitated. “No. I thought you and Price should know first. Can you see what he wants me to do about his brother? If there’s more your father’s done—and there is, since Touray remembers the dreamer being a woman—then likely there’re land mines waiting, just like Vernon left in your head. Touray’s also working with your father against Tyrell, isn’t he? I mean, that’s what he was thinking when I did the scan. But if Vernon is working for Tyrell, too—”
I could hear the silent shrug.
“I’ll talk to Price. In the meantime, maybe you should go to ground. If Vernon finds out that you know what he’s up to, he’s likely to come after you.”
“I’d like to see him try.”
“Cass, I’m serious. He’s bad news.”
“So am I. Don’t worry about me.”
Since I wasn’t going to win the argument, I gave up. Hopefully she was right. “All right. Thanks for the heads-up. Oh, and you should probably know that we’re trying to take over Savannah’s organization before Touray or anybody else can.”
For once, I’d made Cass speechless. I could hear her sputter. “You’re what?” she shrieked when she scraped her wits together.
“I’m pretty sure you heard me,” I said, unable to help my smile. It wasn’t often anybody caught Cass off balance.
“That’s—you’re—since when? Why?” Then just as quickly. “Never mind. I got it. You’re afraid your father is coming after you and your family, and you want to have the means to protect yourselves, especially now that he’s allied with Touray. Not a bad idea, but can you pull it off?”
I filled her in on our activities.
“Might work. Maybe I should go lend a hand. I mean, you do plan to let me join up with you, don’t you? Did my invitation get lost in the mail or something?”
“I wasn’t sure you’d want to. You like being an independent contractor.”
She was silent a moment. “You’re the only person in the world I trust completely,” she said finally. “I don’t want to be on the outside.”
“Then you’re in,” I said, stupid tears welling in my eyes, my throat clogging with emotion. Wonder, mostly. Shock, too. “I’ll text you Taylor’s number. She and Dalton are running the invasion.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?”
“Yep.”
“Where are you?”
“Heading out of town. On a trace. If we can find who I’m looking for, we’ll have a chance to win Savannah’s team to our side.”
“Price is with you?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Stupid to push him away. You’re made for each other.”
“So he tells me.”
“He gets to be right once in a while. Kick him in the ass for me. I’ll talk to you later.”
She hung up.
“What’s wrong?” Price asked as I lowered my phone.
I didn’t prevaricate. “Pull over, first. It’s not good news and it’s safer for all of us if you’re outside when you hear it.”
He gave me a sidelong glance to see if I was serious. When he saw that I was, his mouth tightened, grooves digging deep around his lips. He slowed and jerked over onto the shoulder, shutting off the engine and hitting the parking break.
I launched myself out of the door and went around to the front. He met me. Arnow got out and stood behind me. I got right to the point.
“Cass thinks Vernon’s the one who tampered with your brother’s mind for Tyrell,” I said baldly. “If that’s true, then Vernon works for Tyrell.”
Price didn’t react as I’d expected. He remained stoically calm. “What makes her think Vernon did it? That doesn’t match Gregg’s memory.”
“She said that it feels like what Vernon did to me. She said there’s so much raw damage that she can’t be sure right now. She wants to go in again to see if she can find out more.”
Price was silent as he absorbed that. Abruptly he walked away, crossing the road. I wanted to follow, but I wanted to give him a chance to collect himself, too. I waited.
“What’s your father’s game?” Arnow said, coming to stand beside me.
The air started to churn, picking at my hair and biting through my jeans. Price stood stiffly, looking out over serried ridges painted pink and orange in the dawn light.
“I have no idea.”
“If he’s working for Tyrell, then why is he supplying resources to help Touray fight against their boss?”
“That’s the question.
Maybe he’s like Touray. Maybe he doesn’t like working for Tyrell and is plotting a way out.” I couldn’t believe it was as simple as that. Not with Vernon.
I kept my eyes on Price. He stood like a statue, but all around us the trees started to toss and moan as an angry wind swept through their crowns. On the ground, powdery snow skirled and danced over the road.
“Is he going to be okay?” Arnow asked.
“You mean, is he going to lose control and kill us? Maybe.” I climbed up on the hood of the Wrangler and sat with my legs dangling over the front. The heat from the engine warmed me.
“Comforting.” Arnow climbed up beside me. “Did you bring popcorn?”
I almost choked and swiveled to look at her. “Was that an actual joke? Did you rupture anything? Should we call for an ambulance? Hit you with a defibrillator? Oh, tell me I can hook you up and shock you. Please, Mom? I’ll be super good and I won’t ask for anything next Christmas. I promise.” I held three fingers up in a Scout promise sign.
She slanted me a disgusted look. “One day someone is going to wrap your face in duct tape.”
“You just can’t handle the truth.”
“I’m not sure you’ve ever met the truth.”
I opened my eyes innocently. “Of course I have. We’re friends with benefits.”
That broke her. She snorted and smiled.
I bumped my shoulder into hers in odd camaraderie and turned to watch Price again.
The truth was, I wasn’t worried. He wasn’t going to let us get hurt. His control had been growing, and like me, he was too stubborn to risk hurting people he cared about.
The wind intensified, the eye we sat inside shrinking. Snow, rocks, and other debris spun up off the ground, turning the walls of the tornado murky. I remembered I needed to send Cass Taylor’s cell number and did so. I wanted to text Taylor myself, but she didn’t need me bugging her. She had her hands full.
“Do you think they can do it?” I asked Arnow. “Take Savannah’s compound, I mean.”
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