by Linda Grimes
“Hard to know stuff like that in advance,” I said. “Wel, I guess I better, um, head back to my hotel.”
Finaly looking in my direction, he squinted his eyes, pushed his glasses up, and said, “Hey, I’ve seen you before. This
afternoon at the hotel. You were coming out of one of the second-floor rooms when I was getting off the elevator.”
Huh? “Realy? This afternoon?”
“Yeah, only you were in other clothes. Modern ones. Guess it was before you changed.”
My first thought was, you’re delusional, kid. My second thought was, I just found Billy. He was trying to connect with Trey.
What better way than to be visible as Mina?
“Oh yeah. Right,” I said. “Say, are you heading back to the hotel now? Maybe we could walk together. I hate to admit it, but
I’m a little lost. No sense of direction.” I tacked on a self-deprecating shrug for good measure.
Kevin sat himself up a little taler, cleared his throat and said, “Sure. I’m not realy in the mood for more partying, anyway.” We
walked along in silence for a while, Kevin taking the lead. He was stil immersed in his cocoon of gloom, but I did catch him flitting
glances at my chest, so I suspected he’d pul himself out of the mire eventualy.
A short strol brought us to a four-story structure that fit right into the medieval town. The white facade had a pinkish cast in the
early-morning light, and the steeply pitched roof was lined with dormers. Looked like a nice hotel. Not that I’d expect anything
less from a place Bily would deign to stay.
“Would you like me to walk you to your room?” Kevin asked once we were inside, motivated perhaps by courtesy, or more
likely by loneliness. I looked around the gorgeous reception area, with its intricately carved wooden checkin desk and plastered
archways, pretending it wasn’t new to me.
“Wel, about that … see, my friend has the key, so I have to wait for hi—uh, her to get back. I’l sit here in the lobby. I’m sure
she won’t be much longer.” I just hoped the other Mina came along soon. I had to warn Bily about the Vikings before he found
himself snatched off the street with no idea about my previous contact with them.
“I’l wait with you,” Kevin offered magnanimously.
“No! I mean, that’s not at al necessary. You go on to bed.” Despite the sunrise, it was stil the middle of the night by the clock.
“Realy, I’l be fine here. Look—there’s a nice, comfy chair for me.”
I needed him to get gone, so I could slip out of Mina’s aura before I ran into my twin. I’d been afraid to drop her before,
because there was no way I could’ve explained being a different person if the Vikings had caught up to me during my thriling
getaway. Now they might find it odd to see another woman in clothes exactly like the ones they had provided for me, but they
couldn’t be certain there was a connection.
Kevin plopped down in an elegantly upholstered seat beneath a mural of a medieval outdoor scene. “No, the least I can do is
keep you company, since you waited for me to get out of the bushes, even after I didn’t let you use my phone. That was pretty
cool.” I suspected it was more that he didn’t have anything better to do, being without his cel phone, but I couldn’t say that.
Resigned, I parked myself next to him.
“So,” I said, turning my chair slightly so I could see out of a nearby window, “where are you and your friends from?”
He either said Indiana or Iowa, or maybe Idaho. Something with an “I” anyway. I wasn’t exactly paying attention, because
outside the window intermittent groups of tal, blond men kept walking by and I was fighting the urge to jump up and run the other
way. Stil, it would be rude to let him know his conversation was less than riveting, so I said, “Um, that’s nice. I’ve heard it’s realy
fun, er, there.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Fun,” he said. Then he added something about dentist offices and walking over hot coals, but a couple of the
Viking types from outside chose that moment to enter, so my heart attack got in the way of hearing him clearly. They weren’t Nils
and Per, but they might’ve been.
“Coals, dentist … yeah, I hear you. No fun at al.” I scanned the room for less open places to wait. The pair of men went to the
desk. Within a few minutes, an attendant came. They spoke to her in what sounded like Swedish—I’d have to be an idiot not to
recognize it by now—and she answered them in kind, handing them a piece of paper. One of them looked casualy over his
shoulder at me and Kevin, but his eyes didn’t linger. He puled a cel phone out of his pocket and spoke softly into it as they left
the lobby for the lounge.
I directed my attention back to Kevin. His mouth was stil moving and he didn’t appear confused, so I guessed our
conversation was going al right. I broke in. “Uh, excuse me, Kev—you don’t mind if I cal you Kev, do you? No? Thanks.
Listen, do you think if I asked at the desk, they’d let me back in my room, even without ID? I mean, if the girl there recognizes
me? I realy need to get some sleep.”
He looked a trifle disappointed, but said, “They might. It’s worth a shot.”
Apparently someone else thought so, too. Literaly. The bulet whizzed above my head and embedded itself in the wal behind
me, leaving me with a fine coating of plaster dust, and the running stag in the mural without a head.
I counted myself lucky it wasn’t the other way around.
Chapter 17
“Whoa! What was that?” Kevin jumped up, blocking me. Chivalrous I’m sure, but stupid. I grabbed his arm as I dove for the
floor, bringing him with me.
“Stay down!” I said, lifting my head only enough to get a gander at the door. It was closed. No one had come through it unless
they were invisible. I scanned the lobby; nobody there either. The person behind the desk had ducked. I looked more closely at
the window next to the door and saw the smal hole with a spiderweb of lines radiating from it. Okay. Somebody outside was
trying to shoot me. Or Kevin, I supposed, though that didn’t seem as likely.
“Kev, where’s your room?”
“Second floor, right down the hal from yours. Why? You wanna go there?”
A second bulet hit the wal, lower than the first. Now the stag was missing a leg. “Might be a good idea,” I said.
“Right.” He started roling sideways toward the stairwel. Kevin might not have been the sharpest crayon in the box when it
came to girls, but he knew how to make an exit. I folowed his example. My legs were so tangled in my dress by the time I got to
the door, I couldn’t crawl through it when he held it open for me. He grabbed my elbow and yanked me past him, giving my rear
a final shove over the threshold before he folowed me.
As soon as the door swung shut behind us, he helped me to my feet. I grappled with my dress, loosening its grip on my knees
and hauling the hem up to my thighs. There. That should make the stairs easier. I flew up half a flight, realized Kevin was
lagging, and looked back. He was standing on the bottom step, mouth agape, staring at Mina’s lovely limbs.
Geez. “Come on! We have to get to your room before they folow us.”
He gave himself a smal shake, like a poodle after a rain shower, and started climbing. “Yeah, right. I’m coming.”
That would explain the expression on your face, I thought wryly.
Kevin’s room was the third one down the corridor on the right. I tried not to watch while he fumbled in his pocket for the key,
giving him a chance to adjust himself without too much embarrassment. After
my recent experience with Benjamin, I empathized.
The room was larger than I expected, with a pair of twin beds, and a wing chair by the window. One of the beds was as
rumpled as the young man in front of me; the other was made with military precision. Either he occupied the room alone, or …
“That’s Philip’s,” Kevin said. “He’s kind of anal about neatness. Among other things.”
I shrugged. “Hey, don’t knock a clean-freak roommate. I had one in colege, and never once had to clean the bathroom
myself.”
“Yeah, that’s a plus. Philip’s my roommate back at State. If I toss my dirty clothes onto his side of the room, sometimes he’l
even do my laundry.”
I laughed. “I like the way you think, Kev.”
He grabbed a pile from the chair and tossed it onto Philip’s bed. “Sit. Please. Can I get you something to drink?”
I stayed by the door, listening for teltale footsteps. “Sure. Water, if you have it handy.”
He puled a plastic bottle out from under his bed. “It’s not exactly cold.”
“As long as it’s wet.” I gulped half the bottle. Escaping kidnappers was thirsty work.
Kevin stared at me. I could see the wheels turning behind his eyes.
I sighed. “Go ahead. Ask.”
“Okay,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
He sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on knees, chin in palm. “I got nothing better to do.”
Stil no noise from the halway, so I crossed to the window and checked the street below. Nobody hanging around with a gun. I
turned to Kevin and sat in the chair he had so thoughtfuly cleared.
“We-e-l,” I started, brain whirling madly to come up with something plausible. Best to keep it from Mina’s perspective, I
decided. “Look, I shouldn’t tel you this. It might not be safe for you to know.”
“Worse than getting shot at?” He had a point.
“They were shooting at me, not you. For now. If you hang around me, though, I can’t guarantee they won’t add you to their hit
list.” I pushed myself up from the chair. “In fact, I should probably get out of here right—”
Kevin stood and blocked the path to the door. “Come on. You have to tel me more than that. Maybe we should cal the
police.”
“Not feasible, Kev. The local cops would only complicate the situation.”
“What situation?” he persisted.
How could I explain something I wasn’t sure of myself? “Okay. Some Swedes kidnapped my fiancé.” Kevin’s face fel a little
at the mention of a fiancé, but he recovered nicely. “I’m not sure why. Maybe just for money—he’s got plenty—but nobody has
asked for a ransom. I came here because it’s the last place he was seen before he disappeared. Now I’m a target, too.”
“I stil think we better cal the police.”
“If we do that, they might kil Trey. I can’t risk it. Listen, I’m going to leave now. Pretend you never saw me, okay?”
The room door opened with a bang. Kevin and I dove for the floor between the twin beds at the same time. Luckily for me, he
landed first, or I would’ve been squashed like a bug.
Philip stroled in, folowed by the girls. They looked down at us, eyebrows rising in unison. The princess’s mouth dropped
open. “K-Kevin? What…? I mean, I thought … what about Em?” she wailed.
“Glad to see you’re recovering there, bro,” Philip said. Sardonic, straight up, with a twist of envy.
“This isn’t what you think,” I said, pushing myself off a dazed Kevin.
The princess’s hands perched on her hips and her voice hardened. “Here I thought you needed some psychic space to get over
that bitch Emmie, and you take up with the first slut you meet in Sweden!”
Ah. So that was the way the wind was blowing. I glanced at Kevin, who looked about as bewildered as a boy could.
“Listen, you two. I think you may have the wrong idea here—” I started.
“Ha!”
“Cool it, Jennifer. Let her talk,” Philip said, grabbing al the clothes from his bed and tossing them onto Kevin’s. He smoothed
his duvet, picked a piece of lint off it, and stepped back. The kid realy was too anal.
I stood up, leaving Kevin on the ground staring openmouthed up at Jennifer. Boys can be so oblivious.
After clearing my throat, I began again. “See, after we realized we were staying at the same hotel, Kevin kindly offered to walk
me back, and to wait with me until my roommate could bring me my key. While we were talking downstairs, some gunshots were
fired into the lobby, so we got out of there as fast as we could. Since I didn’t have my key, we came here. When you came in so
suddenly we were stil feeling a little skittish about the shooting, so we dove for cover. It’s simple, realy.” I looked at Kevin, trying
to signal that I didn’t want to go into the rest of it with his friends. Apparently, subtlety was wasted on him.
“Don’t forget to tel them about your kidnapped fiancé.”
Thanks, Kev. “Yeah, I was getting to that.”
Hope flared in Jennifer’s eyes—I guess the idea of the boy you like getting shot at is better than the idea of him hitting on some
strange woman—but Philip’s face maintained a healthy skepticism.
“Wel, you see—” I choked to a stop when I saw Mina’s face peek in through the doorway. “Bily!” I yelped. Panicking, I
pointed at my face and shook my head, wiling him to understand.
He got the hint, and puled out before the others saw him. When he poked his head back in a second later he was a completely
different woman. Same basic build, but redheaded, a little older and longer in the face, and absolutely gorgeous.
“Knock, knock. I’m looking for a friend of mine,” Bily said in a smoky voice.
I crossed to him at once. “Bily, there you are. I’ve been looking for you for hours. Guys, this is my roommate, um, Wilma.
Only she hates to be caled that—who wouldn’t?—so everyone cals her Bily. Right, Bily?”
“Right you are, darling. I’d sue my parents for saddling me with that name if I could, but it turns out the courts won’t alow
that.”
“Is she here supporting you through your ordeal? That is just so sweet!” Jennifer gushed. At least she no longer wanted to
assassinate me. That was something.
“Um, yes. That’s exactly what she’s doing—helping me find my fiancé. She’s had experience with kidnappings before.”
Bily looked sideways at me. “Yes, indeed. A friend in need, and al that. In fact, I have a few leads to discuss with you, so
maybe we should get back to our room. Ta, al.” He took my elbow and began backing toward the door.
“Wait,” Kevin said, finaly getting to his feet. “What if it’s not safe? Don’t we need to find out who shot at you?”
Again Bily stepped up, speaking rapidly as he continued puling me out of the room. “I’m on it. I’ve just been speaking with the
police—undercover, very hush-hush—and they are taking it from here. I saw them a few blocks away, chasing someone—the
shooter, no doubt. Thanks for looking after my friend. I’m sure everything wil be fine now. Go on about your vacation. See you
around.” He closed the door behind us and dragged me down the hal.
“My God, Ciel. What the hel are you doing here?” he said as soon as we were alone in his room.
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“I’m listening.”
I took a deep breath and filed him in on everything that had happened since we parted company back at my office, minus a
few insignificant details, like me maiming his car and Nils kissing me,
but I included pretty much everything else.
Bily looked impressed when I got to the part with the frying pan. “Beaned him, did you? Think you kiled him?”
“Oh, God—I hadn’t even thought of that! What if I did? I could be a murderer!” I felt a little sick.
“Nah. Self-defense. Justifiable homicide at worst.”
“Gee, thanks. I’l sleep ever so much better now,” I said, with a twist of my mouth.
“Don’t worry, cuz. It’s harder to kil somebody than you might think. He might only have permanent brain damage.”
I cut him a look. “Give me your phone. I’m caling Mark.”
“Can’t use a cel. Someone might be listening. Hey, how did you find my hotel? I didn’t even know where I was staying until I
got here.”
“Dumb luck. I bumped into Kevin and he recognized me as you. Told me I was staying here. I figured you must have been
playing Mina to find Trey.”
He shrugged. “It seemed the easiest way to get his attention. I’ve been al over this damn burg, trying to be as visible as I can.
Guess that’s pointless now, if you’re sure the Vikings have him.”
“Who knows? They seemed sure. And you’re lucky the Vikings didn’t snatch you off the street—Mina is not exactly the safest
face to wear in public anymore.”
“So drop her already,” he said, with a tug on my hair.
“Then my clothes won’t fit,” I grumped.
He kicked off his heels and reverted to himself, going from chic to preposterous in a blink of his lovely lashes. “You think you
have problems.” He grinned and began disrobing.
“Bily, I’m standing right here.”
“What? You don’t expect me to hang around in this dress, do you? For one thing, I’m about to split it.” He turned his back to
me. “Be a pal and unzip me.”
I complied, tugging hard on the zipper, which was strained almost to the breaking point. “What if our new buddies down the
hal pay an unexpected cal?”
“I’l switch back and they’l see a beautiful redhead in a generic hotel robe.” He shrugged and went to the closet. “Here’s one
for you, too. Change in the bathroom if your modesty insists.”
I caught the robe he tossed at me and did as he suggested. It was akin to slipping out of too-tight shoes—the relief was