Dress 2 Impress: A Jennifer Cloud Novel (Jennifer Cloud Series)

by Janet Leigh

  The bus had arrived just as the action was going down, and a bus full of people had their noses pressed to the windows.

  “Are y’all OK?” Gertie asked as we pulled her into our adrenaline-filled huddle. Red Riding Hood stood off to the left in the shadows of the night.

  “Now what do we do?” I asked Marco.

  The people on the bus saw me, but they didn’t get a look at everyone else. In the darkness of the street, I gave Red Riding Hood back her raincoat, and Marco asked her to tell the police she was the one who was attacked. He explained Gertie and I were deep under cover. The witnesses wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between us. She saw the whole thing go down and agreed, thanking us for saving her life.

  The driver radioed for the police, and they arrived in minutes with sirens blaring. They cuffed the man who had finally regained consciousness. The stare he gave me as they put him in the patrol car was pure evil. The police took our statements and started interviewing the twenty witnesses on the bus. I wasn’t sure our statements would hold up in court because we would not be found after tonight, but with all those witnesses, he would definitely get jail time. At least we’d saved Red Riding Hood.

  Gertie and I snuck off into the shadows, leaving Marco to handle the police. We walked down the street to the Avalon Club.

  “He got out, Jen,” Gertie said, as if she was reading my thoughts.

  I nodded and prayed Caiyan was safe. As we got closer, Gertie tugged on my sleeve and pointed to a man sitting curbside in front of the club. It was Caiyan. His head was bent down, resting on his knees. My heart skipped a beat as I ran across the street to him.

  “Caiyan,” I said.

  He raised his eyes to mine. “She had the driver pull over and kicked me oot of the car.” He opened his hands, and in his palm was his key. The blazing sun filled his hand, and the tiny blue diamonds that formed the rays of the sun blinked back at me. “She made me get out and threw my key at me. She told me if I was in love with ye, then I could just get the hell oot of her car and her life.”

  “You didn’t have a choice,” I said.

  “Aye, I did. I thought maybe I had changed fate.” He ran a hand through his hair, and I sat down beside him. “I thought maybe the accident wouldn’t happen. Ye see? That they would come into the club, and I could convince her to let me drive her home.” He shrugged. “As I got oot, the paparazzi saw me and started shouting and taking pictures. She told Pickles to get her the hell oot of there. They took off, with the paparazzi chasing them.”

  I knew at that moment her car had met the bridge wall on the Hollywood Freeway, just as the tabloids had reported before we made our journey to 1985.

  I put my hand on his shoulder, and a warm trickle of heat melted down my arm. He reached up and placed a hand over mine. “Ye really can’t change the past. No matter how hard ye try.”

  I thought about the Bus Stop Killer and wondered if we’d made a difference. What about the lives of all those women he had killed for the last twenty-eight years? Surely their lives would be changed. Jake was going to have plenty of recon to do on this mission.

  I stood and held out my hand. “Let’s go home. Campy is waiting for us back at the hotel.”

  Caiyan rose and pulled me into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have told ye aboot her before I left to help Campy.”

  “It’s all in the past,” I said, but I felt my heart take a step backward. I should be overjoyed. Caiyan was safe and he had said the three magic words, but all I felt was confusion. He loved me, but he was willing to die for her. The proof was in the pudding, as Mamma Bea always used to say. I needed to have some pudding.

  I took his key from his hands and secured it around his neck. The key gave off a swift blue glow, as they all do when they are connected to their owner. He ran a soft caress down my arm and interlocked my fingers with his. We walked hand in hand down the street to meet up with Gertie and Marco.

  I t was after two in the morning when we made it back to the hotel, and I was exhausted. I filled Caiyan in on the way about Campy’s decision to return home with us. Marco was unusually silent, and I felt a pang of guilt toward him.

  “Ye did good,” Caiyan said, raising my hand to his lips and kissing the tops of my fingers. We greeted Georgish as we entered the hotel and asked him for Campy’s room number. He gave it reluctantly. The penthouse. I should have known that’s where a boy band would stay. We took the elevator to the top and knocked on the door. Campy flung it open, saw Caiyan, and threw his arms around him.

  “I thought you were with Rocksanna. It’s all over the news,” he said. A streak of tears stained his face.

  “No, I’m here to take ye home.” He hugged the boy tight, and I couldn’t help it; my eyes pricked with tears.

  Everyone agreed our work here was done, and we were ready to go home. There was a small park behind the hotel. We made sure it was clear, and I called my vessel. Campy was a little put back that we wouldn’t let him travel alone, but because he wasn’t familiar with Gitmo, Caiyan thought I should transport him there. When my outhouse made an appearance, Campy burst into a fit of laughter.

  “Well what have you got, Mr. Fancy Pants?” I asked him.

  “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” Smart aleck. Caiyan’s training had already begun. First rule, never let anyone outside the WTF know your vessel. I broke that rule by accident, of course.

  Gertie, Campy, and I got in my vessel. Caiyan agreed to wait with a brooding Marco until I returned for him. I said, “Hanhepi,” and we were bounced along until I felt the outhouse land with a thunk. I opened the door, and Jake was standing in front of the transporter pad.

  “Great work, Jen,” he said as he saw Campy climb down. Aunt Itty was behind Jake and gave Campy a big hug followed by a stern lecture.

  “Caiyan is waiting for me to come back for Marco,” I said to Jake.

  He frowned and then nodded. “If you must.”

  Did he want me to leave them in the past? Men, geesh.

  I returned to my outhouse, and Gertie gave me a high five on the way. When I arrived back in 1985, I pushed out of the vessel and watched as Caiyan and Marco were swapping punches.

  “Ye no good Italian asshole,” Caiyan yelled as Marco threw a right hook into his ribs.

  “Scottish bastard, you don’t know a good thing when you’ve got one.” Caiyan threw a punch, and Marco dodged it and grabbed Caiyan around the waist. Both men went head over ass down a small hill.

  I used what Mamma Bea called the pig whistle. I put two fingers in my mouth and let out a loud screeching whistle. Normally, it would be followed by, “Here pig!” but I refrained. Both men stopped fighting and stood looking up the hill at me.

  “I’m going home—anyone want a ride?” I asked.

  Caiyan marched off, mumbling something about how he would find his own space. “Fucking dick.” There was no good-bye kiss or “see ye back at the base.” He just huffed off into the darkness.

  “What happened?” I asked Marco as he ascended the grassy hill toward me.

  “The asshole actually thought I might have made a play for you.”

  “You did make a play for me,” I said. And made me promise sex in exchange for helping me, I thought to myself as my inner voice started stretching her hamstrings in anticipation.

  Marco grinned.

  “What did you tell him?” I asked.

  “It was none of his damn business.” He smiled down at me. The dimple in his chin intensified. It was the first genuine smile I had seen since I kidnapped him two days ago. “I don’t want you to take me to Gitmo. I want to go home.”

  “But Jake said—”

  Marco cut me off. “I don’t give a fuck. I’m not WTF, and I want to go home.”

  It was the least I could do because I’d brought him against his will. “OK, to the rooftop
?” I asked, indicating Marco’s rooftop landing pad in his SoHo apartment building.

  “That’ll do.”

  We entered the vessel, and he said, “OK, Dorothy, click your heels and take me back to Kansas.”

  I said the magic word, and we were whisked away into the night.

  Chapter 20

  My vessel came to a halt. The cold air met us as we exited my vessel. It was snowing in New York, and tiny snowflakes fluttered down around us. Marco’s race car sat glowing against the fresh snow that covered the ground.

  I ran my hand across the tail fin, raking away a fresh pile of snow. “She’s really pretty,” I said.

  “Yep, my first love and hopefully not my last.” He looked deep into my eyes. The ice blue that made women flock to him like bees to honey melted the chill from the snow. I turned toward my vessel, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me in tight.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Just so you have something to think about.”

  He brought his lips down to meet mine, and fire rushed through my blood. We kissed until neither of us could stand the heat any longer.

  “What about our little agreement?” I asked when we broke apart.

  “Oh, I’ll collect when I’m ready,” he said with a smirk and released me to return to Gitmo.

  As I climbed out of my vessel, I noticed several other vessels were on the landing pads. It was the close of the moon cycle. Jake had other travelers besides me to worry about. He stood front and center waiting for me.

  “You have snow in your hair,” he said, pointing to my head.

  “Yep, I took Marco home.”

  “Damn it, Jen. This was our opportunity to talk him into joining the WTF.” Jake grimaced.

  “He wanted to go home, and I don’t think he has any plans on becoming a defender,” I said. “We’re lucky he doesn’t sue us for kidnapping him.”

  “Who is he going to sue?” Jake put his hands on his hips. “We don’t exist in the eyes of the government.”

  “Where is Caiyan?”

  “He is down in debriefing and getting his ass chewed out by General Potts for having a relationship with that rock star.”

  I raised an eyebrow in question.

  “Oh yeah, don’t think your playboy’s actions went unnoticed. He is in all the newspapers from 1985.”

  “He’s not my playboy,” I said, brushing the snow from my hair.

  “Let’s go. It’s your turn to add to the story.”

  I walked into the conference room. Gertie, Caiyan, Campy, Aunt Itty, and Pickles were seated around the table. A wave of relief washed over me as I saw Pickles. He’d survived the wreck as before. I smiled at Pickles. He smiled back, but something was different.

  “Jesus H. Christ, Miss Cloud!” General Potts bellowed. I jumped at his booming voice.

  What was he so upset about? We’d rescued Campy and Caiyan. We’d saved the life of an innocent girl. I also brought back, safely to be exact, everyone I was responsible for.

  The room went silent, and Pickles stood up. My eyes grew big. He was standing. There wasn’t a wheelchair in sight. That was it. He could walk. Then it hit me. He’d met his wife in rehab, and they had a child together. Did I ruin his life?

  “You can walk,” I said.

  “Yes, Miss Cloud,” General Potts boomed. “Do you realize all the problems you have caused this travel?”

  My head started to spin, and I felt the room go black. When I came to, Pickles and Jake were hovering over me. I was stretched out on the pleather sofa in the break room. “You fainted,” Jake said.

  I looked at Pickles. “Did I ruin your life?”

  “Nah, ya saved it,” he said, tapping his leg. It gave a metallic clank. “Instead of breaking me back, I lost a leg. I still went to rehab and met my wife.”

  “Thank goodness!” I said, sitting up.

  Jake clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “Do what?” I asked.

  “Go back in time. Mess things up and come out smelling like a rose.”

  Pickles smiled. “I can still play de futball with ma kid.”

  “Let’s go, Nancy Drew.” Jake pulled me to my feet. “General Potts still wants to speak to you. He promised not to yell.”

  After a few hours of debriefing, I was released. My ears hurt from the lecture we received for aiding in the capture of the Bus Stop Killer. Jake was going to be very busy the next few weeks researching the past victims and the chaos that might have surfaced from the butterfly effect of our choices.

  Caiyan and Campy were at the medical facility getting checked out because they had stayed through a time travel. Jake gave us the all clear to return home, but I was dragging my feet, hoping Caiyan would be released soon. Gertie and I had said our good-byes to just about everyone, and we were walking down the long hall to the hangar to go home.

  “What do you think they check when you stay overtime?” Gertie asked.

  “I don’t know, and I hope I never find out.” I cringed at the thought of having to stay in the past for more than three days. “I heard it’s pretty painful.”

  “Maybe Caiyan will need an anal probe.” Gertie giggled.

  “He would deserve one,” I said, still upset at his double standard. How could he possibly be angry with me for traveling with Marco, when he was doing who knows what with Rocksanna? We didn’t talk about the details of their little tryst, and I think it was better to keep it that way.

  “Since we have only been gone three hours our time,” Gertie asked, “what’s keeping him from going back now and rescuing the fair Rocksanna?”

  “It doesn’t work like that. The time portal opens when the moon is full, and when we travel, we only have until the moon begins to wane, about three days. Then we have to return, and the portal closes.”

  “I know all that, but now that we have returned, isn’t it like déjà vu?” As she was talking, her hands were emphasizing every word. “Isn’t the moon cycle still open?”

  “If we tried to go back now, we would end up at the same time we left,” I explained. “We would miss the accident. Technically, we lived those three days in the past, so we would have to wait until the next moon cycle to go back to that exact time. The WTF doesn’t allow us to travel unless they order it. I can’t see them allowing Caiyan to save her. They don’t like us screwing with the past, no matter what lives may be lost.”

  “I guess that’s why the general was so mad at us for stopping the Bus Stop Killer.”

  “Yes, they will have a lot of research to figure that one out. He killed so many women. Now they all have lives and probably families.”

  Gertie yawned. “This time travel stuff is so confusing.”

  I agreed. It didn’t make sense, but I didn’t make the rules. I was happy we returned as we did. I didn’t want to lose any of my present lifetime.

  We entered the hangar where the vessels were docked. Ace was sitting on my landing pad.

  “Ace!” Gertie skipped over to him. “Did you arrange for our double date?” she asked him. That girl never forgets a thing.

  “Don’t get your knickers in a wad. He should be here any second.”

  Jake entered the hangar. “I thought you left,” he said.

  “We were about to leave, but we decided to hang around and see how Brodie and Ace did on their travel.” OK, it was a little lie. I was waiting for Caiyan, but Jake didn’t need to know my lingering details.

  “Yeah, right,” he said, then looked at Ace. “What are you smiling about?”

  Ace looked very smug with himself, and a crack and a gurgle later Brodie’s bathtub appeared on the landing pad next to Ace’s photo booth.

  He leaped out of his vessel and grinned his megawatt smile.

  “Did you show them?” he asked Ace.

>   Ace smiled. “I was waiting on you, love.”

  Ace pulled a key from his pocket. It was beautiful. A Celtic pattern formed the chain, a thundercloud was on the medallion, and tiny blue diamonds fell from the cloud representing rain.

  “Where did that come from?” I asked.

  “I talked it off a wee Irish lass who was admired by a young but foolish future brigand,” Brodie bragged.

  “How did you get it back here?” asked Gertie.

  “A key is different,” Jake said. “It travels across the time barrier.”

  “Remember when Malia Mafuso abducted you and Jennifer’s ancestor’s key the last time you traveled?” Brodie asked.

  “Oh, that’s right,” Gertie said, batting her eyelashes at Brodie. Jeez.

  “Go ahead, touch it.” Ace held out the key, and I reached up and placed my hand over the stone. A small sound of thunder rang out.

  “It talks,” I said.

  “Yeah, it’s grand, right?” Brodie stated more than asked.

  “It’s only grand until the real owner comes looking for it,” Caiyan said as he joined our group.

  “Aw, laddie, don’t ruin our fun,” said Ace.

  “Yeah, I broke me nose protecting it from the Cracky clan.” Brodie massaged the bridge of his nose.

  “Both of you into debriefing,” Jake ordered. “The rest of you go home and get some rest.”

  Brodie gave Caiyan a man hug. “Glad ta have you home, mate.”

  “Good to be back,” Caiyan said, cutting his eyes to me.

  “Did you get the wee lad?” Ace asked.

  “Aye, Jen got him to return,” Caiyan said. “WTF wants to keep him for a week, get him acquainted with the program. Apparently someone told him he could be a secret agent.”

  All eyes turned toward me. I kicked at some imaginary dirt and shrugged.

  “Later, mates,” Brodie said and started to walk toward the exit.