In Plain Sight

by Sherryl Hancock

  “It must be a decent amount for them to have hunted you down like this,” Rayden said.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Quinn said sharply as she took a step toward the Director of the Division of Law Enforcement and head of the Bureau of Investigation. “Whatever she took would never cover what they fuckin’ did to her.”

  “Whoa,” Rayden said, holding up her hand. “We’re not saying that, Quinn. We’re trying to figure out exactly how desperate these people are likely to be to get their hands on her.”

  Quinn didn’t look assuaged, but she stepped back, nodding.

  “How much, Memphis?” Remington asked gently.

  “A million,” Memphis said.

  “Holy fucking shit…” Jericho breathed, shaking her head.

  Memphis’ eyes widened at Jericho’s exclamation.

  Jericho grimaced. “Sorry. So we can bet they’re pretty serious,” she said to the group at large. “Where are these people based, Memphis?” she asked, all business now.

  Memphis blinked a couple of times, surprised that the fact that she’d stolen a million dollars from The Family didn’t seem to matter to the police officers.

  “They’re out of Lebon, Texas, but they have businesses everywhere. They’re very connected, politically too.”

  Quinn tilted her head. “They picked up your scent in Texas, didn’t they?”

  Memphis closed her eyes, nodding. “The first message I got from them was just outside of Houston.”

  “Those fucking cops!” Quinn exclaimed. “Fucking bastards, can’t trust any of them,” she growled, then remembered she was standing in a room with four cops who were now looking at her with varied degrees of amusement on their faces. She smiled. “Uh… present company excepted, of course.”

  “Thanks,” Jericho murmured as she shook her head.

  “So they probably picked you up originally when they showed you at the match that night in New York,” Remington said, scowling. “And that was because of what you did for me with that track.”

  Memphis screwed up her lips in a grimace. “It’s not your fault. You had no idea who I was, or what.”

  “You are Cassidy Lassiter, aren’t you?” Remington said, her look direct.

  Memphis looked completely shocked. “How do you know that?” she breathed, terrified again.

  “Because we found a ‘Missing’ poster for you in Rocky Bend, Memphis,” Kieran said, putting her hand to Memphis’ back.

  Memphis looked back at Kieran, then at the rest of them. “You’ve been investigating me?” she said, her tone afraid.

  “We haven’t been investigating you,” Remington said. “We’ve been trying to figure out how we could help you. You’ve scared all of us to death lately.”

  Memphis looked at the group, seeing the look on their faces, the nods.

  She looked at Quinn, who said, “Yeah, little one, you really have.”

  Memphis looked at Remington, who nodded affirmation, and then back at Kieran, who also nodded.

  Wynter, who was sitting on the back of the sectional, reached over and hugged Memphis from behind. Xandy moved to sit between Memphis and Cody.

  “We love you,” Xandy said. “We just want to help you.”

  Memphis closed her eyes, breathing slowly. She’d never had this many people actually care about her before. The emotions welled up in her and suddenly she felt sick again. She was running to the bathroom to throw up again when Jet, Fadiyah, Lyric, and Savanna arrived. While Kieran waited outside the bathroom, Remington and the rest of the group brought the four up to speed.

  “Oh my God,” Savanna said, shaking her head. There were tears in her eyes. “That poor girl…”

  “Well, we need to do something, because they’re gonna come at her hard for that money,” Jericho said.

  “They’re out of state,” Rayden pointed out.

  “TRACE is multi-jurisdictional,” Lyric said, her expression determined.

  “Yes. Yes, it is,” Jericho said, smiling. “I think we should contact Midnight.”

  “Think she’ll get involved in something at this level?” Rayden asked.

  “Who do you think got me back to Iraq to rescue Fadi?” Jet said, grinning.

  “Seriously?” Rayden looked stunned.

  Jet nodded, as did Skyler.

  “Well, alright then,” Rayden said, grinning.

  “I’ll put in a call to Midnight. She’s in DC right now, though,” Jericho said.

  “Think we should pull in Joe and Mackie?” Remington said, looking over at Quinn.

  Quinn looked like she was considering it, but shook her head. “She’s already freaked out by men. I wouldn’t want to make it worse.”

  Remington nodded, thinking that Quinn was probably right.

  Everyone’s attention was drawn toward the front of the house when Kieran screamed Remington’s name. Remington and Quinn were running in an instant.

  “She passed out—there’s so much blood,” Kieran said, in tears.

  “Get Fadiyah,” Remington said as she moved to pick Memphis up. She carried her upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms and laid her down on the bed.

  Fadiyah appeared in the doorway.

  “Can you check her out?” Remington said. “She’s been throwing up so much lately…” Her voice trailed off as she shook her head.

  “I will check her,” Fadiyah said, smiling at Remington.

  “Kieran, stay in here with her,” Remington said. “Just in case she wakes up and freaks out, okay?”

  Kieran nodded, climbing onto the bed next to Memphis.

  Fadiyah examined Memphis, and with a few checks with one of the doctors she worked with, she determined that she probably wasn’t in any real danger.

  “We think it is likely exhaustion combined with the acid reflux from anxiety,” she reported.

  Remington nodded, looking greatly relieved. “Thank you,” she said, smiling at Fadiyah.

  “I know that you can help her,” Fadiyah said, her hands in Remington’s, her dark eyes sincere. “You are her guardian in this world.”

  Remington looked back at Fadiyah for a long moment, but then inclined her head to the younger woman. She knew that Fadiyah had lost her family in Iraq, and Jet had literally rescued her from being raped and murdered by ISIS. Fadiyah fully believed that there were guardians in the world and that Jet was hers, just as she believed that Remington was Memphis’.

  Memphis slept the entire night. Kieran stayed with her, holding her as she thought of everything she’d heard that evening. She understood so much more about Memphis’ behaviors now. She understood why she’d reacted the way she had in San Francisco when the man grabbed her. She also understood Memphis’ hate for any kind of religion or reference to God. It sickened Kieran that Memphis had been through so much at such a young age. The fact that Memphis had been so open to her emotionally was surprising, and it made Kieran more determined to do whatever it took to help her through all of this.

  Chapter 9

  After sleeping for twelve full hours, Memphis woke slowly. Kieran walked into the room as Memphis turned over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, a perplexed look on her face.

  Kieran went over to the bed, sitting down next to Memphis and reaching out to touch her face softly, her cornflower-blue eyes searching Memphis’.

  “How do you feel?” Kieran asked quietly.

  Memphis closed her eyes slowly, then opened them again. “Exposed,” she said simply.

  Kieran bit her lip, grimacing at the word. There had been a lot of discussion that morning about what should be done about Memphis’ situation. No decisions had been made yet. All anyone knew for sure was that they were going to protect Memphis from these people who were after her.

  “Remington and Wynter want us to stay here with them,” Kieran said, her thumb brushing Memphis’ cheek.

  Memphis looked back at her, her face expressionless. She finally nodded slowly. After a few minutes she turned over onto her side,
away from Kieran, and closed her eyes again. Kieran watched her for a while, then got up.

  Memphis slept all day, finally waking at six that night. The room was quiet. She turned over again and saw that Kieran wasn’t there. She heard her phone chime. Picking up the phone, she saw she had an email. She opened it and stared at the words.

  You need to come home, Cassidy. You need to get away from those Godless Whores before we have to take you from them.

  Attached to the email were pictures—pictures of Remington and Quinn at the track in Vegas, smiling and laughing; pictures of Xandy and Wynter on stage in another city; pictures of Kieran and Memphis kissing. There were pictures of Fadiyah and Jet, Skyler and Devin, Jericho and Zoey, and on and on. There were even pictures of Midnight Chevalier and her husband.

  Memphis closed her eyes slowly. She knew that she’d put all of her friends in danger by telling them about The Family. She knew how dangerous they could be; she’d heard enough stories about them getting to people years after they’d left. Steeling herself, she knew what she needed to do. She set her phone aside as Kieran walked into the room, smiling at seeing her awake.

  “You look well rested,” Kieran said as she sat down. She leaned down to kiss Memphis softly.

  Memphis smiled, reaching up to pull her back down to kiss her lips again.

  “How do you feel?” Kieran said as she lay down in Memphis’ arms.

  “Good,” Memphis said. “Better.”

  “That’s good.”

  “What I do want to do, though,” Memphis said, grinning mischievously, “is take you back to my house so I can show you how good I feel.”

  “Remington and Wynter want us to stay here,” Kieran reminded her.

  “I know, but I’m betting they checked out the house already, and did they find anything?”

  “Well, no, they didn’t find anything.”

  “I want to be home with my music and stuff. I have an alarm system,” Memphis said, her tone gently pleading as she ran her hand over Kieran’s side, her thumb brushing over her nipple.

  “Oh my, you are feeling better, aren’t you?” Kieran said, shivering at the contact.

  “Mmhmm… and you know how noisy you are…” Memphis smiled wickedly.

  “That’s your fault,” Kieran said, smiling too.

  “So come on. Let’s go.”

  It took some fast talking and a lot of promises, but Memphis and Kieran finally managed to convince Remington that they’d be okay. Remington told Memphis to call her when they got to the house, which they did, falling into bed right after that and making love for hours. Kieran made them some macaroni and cheese—all that was in the house at that point—and they ate before making love again.

  Memphis lay over Kieran, stroking her hair fondly, her eyes staring into Kieran’s. “Kier…” she said softly.

  “Hmm?” Kieran murmured tiredly.

  Memphis levered herself up on her elbow, looking down at Kieran. “I love you.”

  Kieran’s lips trembled as tears appeared in her eyes.

  Memphis pressed her lips together, her eyes softening. “I love you and I can see myself spending the rest of my life with you.”

  “Memphis…” Kieran breathed, her face alight with joy. “I love you. I’ve never loved anyone so much before in my life. I just never thought…” Her voice trailed off as she shook her head.

  Memphis kissed her lips then, whispering “I love you” against them over and over again. Kieran had never been so happy in her life. The one person in the world she wanted, wanted her too. She wrapped her arms around Memphis, hugging her to her.

  Memphis made love to her slowly, gently, and with so much tenderness it made Kieran feel incredibly special, and so loved it made her cry. They fell asleep then. It was two in the morning.

  Kieran felt Memphis shift out of bed, which roused her.

  “I’m gonna go work in the office,” Memphis said, kissing her softly. “I just got some new ideas…” she said, her voice trailing off. “I love you,” she whispered. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Kier. Just remember that.”

  Kieran smiled tiredly, nodding. “I love you,” she said, closing her eyes again.

  Memphis stood looking down at Kieran, forcing back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. She wanted to hold on to this moment, to seeing the woman she loved for probably the very last time. Forcing herself to move, she walked to the bedroom door, picking up the bag she’d packed quickly earlier and hidden in the hamper while Kieran made food. The one thing Memphis knew was that she couldn’t let The Family anywhere near her friends, and never anywhere near Kieran. She’d kill all of them before she let that happen.

  She used the manual release for the garage door, opening it by hand as quietly as possible. Putting the Porsche in neutral, she pushed it out of the garage and into the street. She started it then and drove away, partially blinded by the tears in her eyes but gritting her teeth in determination. She put her foot down on the gas hard. The Porsche leapt forward.

  When Kieran woke the next morning, she turned over and looked at the clock. It was 10:00 a.m. Memphis hadn’t come back to bed. Kieran smiled to herself; she figured she’d have to spend an hour working out the kink in Memphis’ neck from sleeping at her desk. She walked into the office, ready to give Memphis a hard time, but she wasn’t there. She went downstairs and looked in the kitchen, then out on the back patio, feeling a growing sense of dread. It took her another three minutes to check the garage. Memphis’ red Porsche was gone.

  Kieran ran back inside and called Remington on her house phone, practically hysterical. It took Remington a few minutes to calm Kieran enough to get anything that made sense out of her.

  “She’s gone, Remi!” Kieran finally managed to say.

  “Li nan ki sa?” Remington exclaimed in Creole, forgetting herself for a second. “I’m sorry. She’s what? Gone?” she said disbelievingly.

  “Yes,” Kieran said, crying. “She’s gone, Remi. I think she’s going there… Oh my God, they’ll kill her, Remi!”

  “Okay, okay, calm down. Did she leave you a note or anything?” Remington said even as she pulled out her cell phone and started texting the group, telling them to meet her at The Club at eleven.

  “I don’t know,” Kieran said, looking around the kitchen. Then she went back up to the bedroom.

  She saw Memphis’ cell phone sitting on the nightstand and instantly felt sick.

  “Oh God, Remi, she left her phone here. She’s not planning on coming back. Oh God…” Kieran breathed as she sat down on the bed, holding Memphis’ phone in her hand, tears streaming from her eyes.

  Her hand on the phone lit it up, and she realized that it wasn’t locked.

  “Remi, wait, she—she left her phone unlocked.” Kieran opened the phone and pulled up the history. “The last thing she looked at was email.”

  She touched the icon for Memphis’ email account.

  “Oh God, Remi…” she breathed.

  “What?” Remington said anxiously.

  “She got an email from The Family. It says, ‘You need to come home, Cassidy. You need to get away from those Godless Whores before we have to take you from them.’ And there are pictures attached. There are pictures of you and Quinn, and Xandy and Wynter… Oh God, of her and me kissing. There’s more… Oh God, Remi, they threatened us, and now she’s going to them to keep them from hurting us. We have to stop her!”

  Remington had to take slow, deep breaths to keep from screaming. Wynter saw her expression and hugged her, realizing she hadn’t heard anything good.

  “Kieran, Wynter and I will be there in half an hour. Be ready. I’m getting the group together at The Club—we need to plan our next move.”

  An hour and a half later they’d taken over the back patio of The Club. Millie had closed it off, wanting to do whatever she could to help Memphis.

  The group was sitting around a couple of tables, throwing out ideas as to what they could do. Harley and
Devin were working furiously on their computers, pulling up as much information as they could find on The Family, David Ronning, and the area of Lebon, Texas.

  “I say we just storm the fuckin’ place,” Quinn said, her expression serious.

  “Okay, but we aren’t the FBI and that ain’t Waco,” Jericho said, giving Quinn a quelling look. “We have to be smart about this.”

  “We aren’t playing games with fuckin’ red tape, Jericho, not this time,” Quinn snapped.

  “I’m not suggesting red tape,” Jericho replied mildly, even as Zoey squeezed her hand. “I’m saying, we go in guns blazing and we might get her killed.”

  Quinn quietened then. She knew she was just being reactive at this point, and Jericho was right.

  “We aren’t handling this officially,” Rayden put in, her look pointed.

  “Technically Lyric and Cody are the only ones that have any kind of jurisdiction,” Jet said. “And even that’s pretty remote, since Texas isn’t part of TRACE’s interstate agreement.”

  “Fuck jurisdiction,” Quinn muttered.

  “We’re not gonna get any official backing for this,” Cat said. “This is gonna be a rogue situation here.”

  “I’m okay with that,” Cody said.

  Lyric nodded. “Me too.”

  “Count me in,” Sebastian said.

  “Same here,” Kashena added.

  “I’ve already broken so many Internet security laws I’m probably going to jail anyway,” Harley said, grinning as her fingers flew over the keyboard.

  “I’m there,” Raine said, looking at Natalia. Natalia nodded agreement.

  “I didn’t mean to say I wasn’t goin’,” Jet said. “You know me—don’t just break the law, shatter ’em all to hell.”

  “Right up there with treaty and military law,” Skyler put, in grinning. “I’ll fly support wherever you need it. You need to put a Black Hawk up their ass, I’ll fly it.”

  “Or a Raptor,” Grayson put in, smiling.

  “Guess that means we’re in,” Rayden said, smiling at her wife.

  Jericho blew out her breath, looking at Zoey. “Your doctorate can support us, right?” she said with a grin.