by Jody Klaire
It knocked her off her course so I pressed the advantage. “Don’t fail my kids or I’ll come looking for you.”
Owens ran her hand through her hair, then did something I wasn’t expecting. She dropped her gaze like Frei did around Jäger. “Loud and clear.”
I blinked a few times. The watch on her wrist. A Rolex. The same Rolex. “Good.”
Stunned, I strode out, and slammed the door behind me.
I needed to find Frei. I needed to figure out a way that we could remove Renee from the line of fire.
Fake, lying and as hurt as I’d been by her, I’d lived through the pain Yannick had inflicted on her. There was no way I was letting anyone hurt her again. I’d promised her that. Just because she was mean, didn’t mean I had to be. It was my job after all.
I loved her.
Like my mother, like my father, like all the folks who were so fallible and human. I loved them. I didn’t always like them a whole lot but loving them meant I’d keep them safe.
I WALKED INTO the villa and frowned at the array of weird gadgets on the table.
“You need to eat, shower, and be ready for Jäger. He doesn’t like people being late.” She had some kind of ordinance map on the table. “You want him in a good mood.”
“Do I?” I was hoping she’d give me a way to wriggle out of it, not offer her blessing.
“Yes.”
“Help.” I waved my arms in the air. “I need your help, not tips on wooing him.”
She tapped the stool beside her and I trundled over to it. “He’s got a proposition. It may not be what you think.” She pointed with a pen to something on her map. “I’ll be ready to get you out if you need me.”
“How?”
She smiled. “Trust me. I’ll get you out if you need me to.”
I stared at the stuff on the table. “What is all this?”
“This,” she said, picking up one piece, “is how I’m going to be able to remotely access Jäger’s computer.”
That was lost on me.
“You are going to plant the device for me.”
Oh great. “And how do I do that?”
She turned it over. “You attach it under the desk. It will stick on. That’s it.”
I eyed it. I weren’t sure how that could work. “Ain’t he gonna see me?”
She nodded. “Unless he’s distracted.”
“Oh no.” I wagged my finger. “There is no way I can pull that—”
“You don’t have to do anything more.” Frei took my hands in hers. “Just plant the device and then press this twice.” She handed me another weird looking thing that resembled one of them USB drives Renee used.
“You know I don’t do good with technology.”
“It will work. Try it.”
I pressed the little thing. A light flashed on Frei’s cell.
“Oh dear, looks like there’s a report of a fire in the gym. Better go and get Samson.” She flashed a smile.
“Won’t he know?”
She shook her head. “Smoke canister.”
“No, I mean won’t he know I am hustling him?” Jäger would see through it, I was sure. I couldn’t pull it off. No way.
“You can feign sorrow at having to leave and you’ll be way too busy to find time for him.”
I folded my arms. “Like he’ll believe that.”
“He will because it will be the truth.” She tapped the devices. “Shower, change, move.”
I got off the stool, not sure why I inspired such confidence. “I ain’t got the first clue how to act.”
“Like the incredible agent you are.”
I stared at her. “Huh?”
“The last time you had to work alone, you saved a town from a killer, kept the local law enforcement safe, got your commander out, rescued victims from an avalanche, and gave a young boy a shot at a happy home life.”
That sounded impressive and not quite what happened. “But—”
“In Oppidum you rode that bike up the mountain to lead us to Sam. You took him on and kept your father alive until support arrived. You are one of the finest agents I’ve ever met.” She nodded. “You’ve been watching the best undercover agent in Renee. You’re implementing my training. You got this, Lorelei.”
I did? I did. I could do this. I nodded. Yeah, I could do this.
Chapter 37
WITH THE DEVICE Frei wanted me to plant in the pocket of my jeans, I tucked in my shirt as I trudged out of my villa.
I’d never wanted to just sit in the quadrant before but right now I was finding the stonework on the path pretty fascinating. Frei believed in me and I didn’t want to let her down.
“Samson, wait.” Renee.
I turned to see her hurrying over like she was on a mission and tensed.
“Great,” I muttered under my breath. Another argument would really help my nerves. “Can I help you, Worthington?”
She nodded. “Let me walk with you for a minute . . . please.”
What could I say, no?
She took in my outfit and offered a tight, awkward smile. “You look nice.”
I sighed. It was the only shirt I owned. She’d bought me the outfit back when I thought she cared.
“He has a proposition for me.” It sounded wrong coming from my mouth. “Don’t ask.”
“Oh.” She looked as happy about it as I did. “So that . . . so what I saw was real.”
“You didn’t think anybody would rate me either, huh?” I felt like I was talking to a stranger. It felt so hard, so uncomfortable.
“Jäger is handsome.” She blew out a breath.
“Yeah, sure . . . a real looker.” I eyed her, wondering why she was asking dumb questions. She’d seen me talking to him. “So?”
Renee glanced around us. “Why do you think she’s the Unsub?”
Ah, so it was about Owens. Should have figured. I sucked in the disappointment that she might have been making sure I was okay or even saying hello.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. She didn’t care, how much clearer did I need that spelled out to me?
“Rolex. She’s after the POIs.”
“Her watch?” Renee pursed her lips. “Anyone could have a watch like it, it could get stolen. There’s too many reasons why—”
“You ain’t gonna listen to me anyway.” I let out a long sigh as we headed up the steps to the building. “That would involve you caring ’bout me.”
Renee’s brow dipped but I held up my hand. I couldn’t cope with her moods anymore. “Don’t bother.”
I headed inside and let the door shut between me and her. I knew she stood staring at me but I guess my patience when I was hurt was a whole lot thinner.
RENEE WATCHED THE door shut in her face with an aching thud in her heart. She couldn’t understand why Aeron would still have it in her mind that she didn’t care. What did she want that would confirm it?
She watched Aeron disappear down the corridor, the glass showing only her reflection. She had messed up, she’d said stupid things but she’d sent Franny to tell her she needed help and got some strange volley of abuse for it.
Unless.
Renee stared up at the sky. Unless Franny got the message mixed up. She was a child. How was she supposed to know the importance of getting it right?
It didn’t explain the major freak out Aeron threw at her the other night. How had Aeron got her wires so crossed and even if she had, why was she so bothered about Owens? It wasn’t as if she didn’t know about Renee. It wasn’t as if it was something she had a problem with.
Unless she did.
Renee shook her head. “Nan, if I’m not crazy and you are around, I could do with a pep talk.”
She glanced around her. The quadrant was empty. It wasn’t like the rest of the staff were sane. The longer she was here, the more she realized the inmates in Serenity had less issues.
“You yelled, Blondie.”
Renee jumped and gripped her chest. So Nan was talking to her. Weird, weird and freaky.
“Er . . . Shorty . . . is distraught, she thinks I don’t care.” She sounded like a schoolchild herself. She felt like one. “I can’t make sense around her. When I talk, it feels like they aren’t my words.”
Renee felt a swoosh of air against her and followed it. It felt as though Nan had an arm around her, leading her inside the building.
“You are feelin’ the same as what Shorty had to go through. Trying to fight through the mass of other folks feelings ain’t an easy skill.” Nan swooshed to Renee’s other side. “That’s why she worries so much about letting folks in. She don’t know if it’s her thinkin’ or theirs.”
Renee bit her lip. She passed Harrison’s office, thankful it was empty. The building was quiet. She didn’t have a reason to be in there but she couldn’t find the sense to turn around and walk back out. “So the insults I was hurling at them?”
“No doubt there’s a lot of folks around you who are bitter and mad.”
There were. Renee was convinced Owens was one of those people. Regardless of what Aeron thought. The moment she told Renee about Owens, she’d listened. She’d watched her. She was keeping Owens as close as she could so she’d know when to move. There were too many places, too many ways to hide students in the school, which Renee couldn’t get to without raising the alarm.
Her best bet at protecting the POIs was to watch the Unsub. Aeron said it was her, Renee was following it. She was following Owens . . . by tracker.
“Why is it worse when I try talking to her?” Renee slunk against the wall, knowing Jäger’s office was further along around the corner. She heard Aeron’s sneakers squeaking as she walked.
“Same reason you ain’t havin’ a lot of luck with Icy,” Nan said. Renee felt her beside her. “You love ’em. That means your feelings, and the feelings of all the folks around you, overload you like they used to Shorty.”
“In Serenity?”
Nan hummed her agreement.
In Serenity. Aeron had shut herself off. Renee had tried to follow how Aeron had coped. She’d tried to relax, using weights, running . . . that had made her fitter, not saner. Her attempt at reconnecting with the cello had made her realize how rusty she was.
“How did she get through it?”
“Other than friends?”
Renee nodded. She stared up at the ceiling. Although part of her wriggled with jealousy, she’d seen the worry in Aeron’s eyes. Concern overrode what personal hurt she felt. Aeron needed her help. She knew that somehow but to help, she needed to find a way to cope.
“Armor.”
Renee sighed. “I know about the passage. I’ve tried visualizing it but I’m not good with my imagination.”
Nan breezed around as if ushering her forward. Renee moved to the corner. Aeron stood outside the door, staring at it.
“Concentrate on her. What you see, Blondie?”
Renee focused. Something shimmered around Aeron, it shimmered like it was baying at her to flee. Aeron glanced her way. Their eyes met.
“Pain . . . worry . . . she’s worried?” Renee held Aeron’s gaze. She nodded with every ounce of support and confidence she could.
“You can do this,” she whispered. “I believe you can.”
Aeron’s eyes flickered with recognition. Jäger opened the door and frowned when he noticed he wasn’t the subject of Aeron’s focus.
He narrowed his eyes, cleared his throat, and motioned to his office. Aeron turned and shoved her shoulders back, her worries trailing behind her like muddy snow.
“Nan, how do I shield myself?” She needed to find Owens. She needed to know about Jäger.
“Same way you just told her you had faith in her,” Nan said, her voice fading. “Love.”
Chapter 38
RENEE’S PRESENCE HAD shaken me. I was trying not to let it show as I took a seat on the side of Jäger’s desk. Unlike when she had talked to me, when she had been so strange and awkward. I’d felt her watching me. I’d felt her and Nan. When I’d met her eyes, I’d seen warmth. I’d seen every ounce of care, of love, and concern shine from her.
You can do this. I believe you can.
I was sure she as good as whispered it in my ear. Was it my imagination or was she trying to show me something? I sighed. I needed my burdens back. I needed to be me. I needed to figure out how I could bug Jäger’s office and not get caught.
“Your group is making people talk.” Jäger strolled around to his side and slunk into a large leather desk chair. His computer sat to the side but he didn’t look like the academic sort.
“What people?” I tried keeping my voice level but I was rattled. My whole brain seemed content to try and figure out Renee.
“Buyers.” He smiled that leery smile of his. “I don’t think most gave them a chance.”
“If Owens had her way, they wouldn’t.” Bitter, angry, and fed up, I couldn’t forget the flash of the Rolex, of her wine glass on the table in Renee’s place.
“She’s a stickler for standards, very true.” He pulled a decanter from in front of him, filled up a whiskey glass, and offered it to me.
I shook my head. No way was I drinking paint stripper. “She’ll get a stick shoved somewhere if she even thinks about touching my group.” I flashed him a charming smile. “If I put work in, it pays off or someone gets hurt.”
My mood certainly worked with the cover. I might have believed myself.
“She told me you threatened her,” Jäger said with pride in his eyes.
Oh great, it was an endearing trait. “Good. Did it work?”
He sipped on his whiskey. He didn’t take ice like Frei, I wondered why. “Suitably scared. I told her it was wise to listen to you.”
The irony that I had more backup from him than Renee jarred me. Then Renee’s words filtered in and seemed to launch the anger out of the park. Did she believe in me, really?
Jäger was watching me. I knew I needed to account for the frown making my forehead ache. “Not swayed by the professor’s good looks?”
He laughed but it didn’t sound genuine, it sounded, and felt . . . off. “If there’s one thing I avoid, it’s a woman who has her brain wired the wrong way.”
My forehead ached more as I tried figuring out his meaning. “Wrong way?”
He waved it off. “Don’t you worry yourself about it. You’re not one of them.”
It sounded good natured but the hairs on my arms prickled. I could feel how dominant he thought he was. His eyes held an unyielding glint. He was enjoying the challenge . . . of what I wasn’t sure but I wanted to climb through the window.
I flicked my gaze around his office, not knowing how to respond. It was huge and dark. Deep dark wood, dark muddy-colored walls, and a large rug of some kind under the desk and chairs over the tiles. Oh, and dim lights. You’d think that he could have afforded better lighting. He either was making a statement about all the white walls in the academy or he liked scaring visitors with his decor. His words had felt like a question or an accusation but I couldn’t figure out what that meant.
“You good at martial arts, huh?” I nodded to a trophy of some kind in a glass box. Jäger strolled over to it and ran his hands over the glass, his back to me.
“My first,” he purred to it. Guess he had a thing for brass.
I fumbled the device out of my pocket and slid it under the desk. I had to hold it to make it stick.
“Competition?” I leaned onto my knee with the other hand as if I was intrigued.
“Something like that.” He laughed.
I let the device go. It dropped away and I just managed to catch it. What was wrong with the stupid thing? “Tell me about it. It sounds important to you.”
Jäger glanced at me as I clamped my fist shut to hide the device. “You don’t want to hear my war stories.”
“You’re a lot more interesting than Owens.”
His eyes flickered with amusement and he turned back to the trophy. “I was a boy. My father sent me over there despite the fact I wa
s too young . . .”
I felt the device heating up and opened my hand. It was the alarm one, not the one I needed to plant. I bit my lip as it tried searing my fingers off and dropped it on the floor. I shoved my foot over it but my fingers were red raw. There went any chance of Frei riding to my rescue.
“It took years of course . . . years of their brutal training . . .” Jäger continued to babble on. I fished in my pocket, with my good hand, for the right device, hoping it wasn’t going to scorch my skin.
I fumbled with it and it dropped and slid under the desk. I wanted to cry. “Did you hear that?”
Jäger turned, pausing mid flow to frown at me. “What?”
“In the hall. Sounded like somebody smashing glass.” I turned as if I could hear something.
“There is?” He pulled his radio off his belt, demanding answers as he strode over to the door. “Wait there,” he shot my way. It didn’t sound much like a request, and he disappeared outside.
I dove under the desk, grabbed the device, shoved it up against the underside, and scrambled to stick the melted one back in my pocket.
Click.
I breathed out a breath, let the device go, and tried extracting myself from underneath the desk, smacking my head on the way out.
I closed my eyes. I needed help. I had no escape. Who was going to get me out of the office now? “Nan, I know you’re mad at me but I really need your help.”
“Shorty?”
I turned. I’d never been happier to hear Nan than I was right then. “Thank God.”
“You got yourself in a pickle?”
I nodded. “I’m trying to do the right thing. I am trying to help the students get out but I’m stuck. It’s all messed up.”
I felt a breeze tickle me as Nan breezed over to my side. I’d missed her being around. “Shorty, he ain’t the kind of guy you should fool around with.”
“You think?” She was more distant than usual, her presence was fading fast. “What do I do?”
“You got the tools already, use ’em.” She faded further. “You’re doing great. Your grandpa says hi.”
She vanished.
I glared into thin air. What kinda help was that?