“How? My keys are in your house.”
“I’ve got a talented family. Between the lot of them, they could’ve broken it down for parts, then put it back together again during our jaunt to Charlotte.”
When they drove up, her car was sitting in front of his house. Once they were inside, Jonah held out his hand for Clementine’s keys, but Tessa skirted around him. “I want her.”
“Huh?”
“I want to buy Clementine.”
“You drive a BMW.”
“Yes, but now I want a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird.”
“She’s my car.”
Good grief. Men really were possessive, weren’t they?
“Remember what you said? Winner of Steele Survivor gets to make the rules for twenty-four hours.” In fact, that was the reason he’d grudgingly agreed to let his family in on what was going on. Because she’d insisted on it. “Well, I’m making a rule that you have to sell that car to me.”
“She’s not at all your style.”
Tessa’s lips curved and she moved in on Jonah. By the wary look in his eyes, it was clear her smile was just as predatory as she’d intended. “What style is that? She’s flashy and I’m not? She’s fast and I’m not? She’s powerful and I’m not?”
“No, I—”
She poked him in the chest. “You think you know me. You think you have me all figured out. Put Tessa in her good-girl, head-shrinker box in the corner. You have no idea what I’m capable of, Jonah Steele. And the next time I have you naked, you’re going to find out just how flashy, fast, and powerful I am.”
A throat cleared behind Tessa.
They were here. His family.
Wanting to drop her hot face against Jonah’s chest, Tessa closed her eyes for a second to regain her equilibrium. Then she opened them and whispered to Jonah, “Please tell me it’s Reid again.”
At least then, she could contain her embarrassment. After all, he’d already gotten an eyeful of her goodies.
“I like this girl, baby brother.” Okay, not so bad. Just Micki, who’d seen her in her underwear.
“Finally, someone who can match wits with him.” If the flooring under her feet had suddenly turned to quicksand and sucked her under, Tessa would’ve died a happy woman. Because that last comment had come from Miss Joan.
And the totally smart-ass humor in Jonah’s eyes made Tessa want to…to…
“Breathe,” he whispered before pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Welcome to the Steele family.”
At his touch and his words, Tessa’s heart jumped. After a mere morning in their company, she was pretty sure she would love to be a part of this big, rowdy, crazy family.
She was still frozen, contemplating that turn of thoughts, when Jonah clapped his hands once. “If you want to know the whole story, let’s go into my cave.” He pointed, and Tessa turned to see his finger was directed at Reid. “And don’t touch anything unless I say you can.”
Not to be left out, Badger barked from his kennel, and Tessa carried him into Jonah’s tech cave. Inside, Jonah took over like the CEO he’d once been. He gave the group the low-down on what had happened with Tessa’s files, the game mods, and their dead-end field trip to see Carson Grimes.
“Who is this guy and what the hell does he want?” Reid asked.
“I’m running some theories around in my head,” Jonah said. “But—”
“He hasn’t been able to backtrack to him through the file-holding company’s network yet.” A sly smile on her face, Micki stretched out her hands as if she were about to go into the boxing ring. “But now I’m here.”
“It was more convoluted than you might think,” he grumbled.
“That’s just because you didn’t have the right woman working on the job.” She settled into one of the chairs and pulled a keyboard toward her.
Jonah did the same, and before Tessa’s eyes, they seemed to disappear into their own world. Miss Joan patted Tessa’s arm. “Don’t be concerned. Those two have been like that since the day they were born, somehow able to communicate, work in tandem, and block out everything around them.”
Reid snorted. “They used that superpower more than once to run roughshod over the grading system in school.”
Miss Joan’s mouth puckered up. “I don’t want to hear about it.”
“Gives you plausible deniability,” Tessa murmured.
“Exactly.”
Britt shoved his hands into the front pocket of his jeans. “Watching those two do their Wonder Twins act always makes me feel like some kinda weird voyeur. Maybe we should let them—”
“Fuck me.” The soft but heartfelt words came from Jonah. He slid a quick glance toward his mother. “Sorry, Mom.”
“What’s up?” Micki asked.
“Dickh…ah…dude sent me another modded game file via OnionShare.”
“Ooooh, let’s play.”
“Not sure I trust a file sent through the dark web.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t have an air-gapped machine you can use to install it on the phones.”
Now they were talking their own language.
Micki waved an arm at everyone standing around the room. “Peanut gallery needs to move along so Jonah and I can concentrate.”
The rest of the family began to shuffle out of the room, but Tessa hesitated. She liked Jonah’s sister—a great deal—but a sudden jealousy came over her. Being pushed out of something that had begun with her didn’t sit well.
“Not Tessa.” Jonah caught her by the wrist. “This is her gig, too.”
That eased the spot of envy in Tessa’s chest.
He fiddled with the goggles, doing whatever had to be done to run the game, while Tessa looked into them over his shoulder. The starting credits scrolled inside the goggles as they had before, but instead of launching the game itself, the character in the blue coat walked on-screen. His arms were crossed and he took a wide stance. Both defensive and aggressive.
Like last time, his face continued to morph—cycling through each person in the Steele clan and ending with Tessa’s head on the stocky male body, nothing like Carson Grimes’s lanky frame.
S/he smiled and it was the most gruesome thing Tessa had ever seen on her own face. “Today starts a new game in a new world.”
Jonah grabbed a gauntlet, desperately stabbing at the buttons like a new player who had no idea which controlled the game functions.
Meanwhile, the on-screen character said,
“As destructive as life,
As healing as death,
An arrow of strife.
Just as prone to bless.
It is all that is good,
Yet with an evil trend.
As it was at the beginning of all things,
It can also be the end.”
Then, as he had before, he turned and walked down a computer-generated representation of Steele Ridge’s Main Street. The scene slowly faded to black.
“Whoa,” Micki said. “That’s creepy.”
“Did you expect a fuzzy bunny?” Jonah let his head droop and rest against the back of his chair. “What the hell was that little ditty? Something about the beginning and the end.”
“Play it again,” Micki said.
When Jonah tried to restart the sequence, he had no luck. “Dammit.”
Tessa had been repeating the refrain in her head, and she recited it aloud, letting the words glide through and expand in her consciousness.
“Impressive,” Micki said. “How did you do that?”
“It’s a form of eidetic memory.”
“Like photographic?”
“Sort of, except it’s auditory.”
Micki chuckled and slapped Jonah on the arm. “You are so screwed. That means she’ll remember every idiotic thing you ever say.”
“It’s a riddle,” Tessa said as she listened to the words echoing inside her head. “Fire. It’s a riddle about fire.”
“He said a new game in a new world,” Micki mused.
“A world of fire.” Saying it aloud sent a shudder through Tessa. “And he was in Steele Ridge again, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What about the fire station? Could he be directing us there?”
“Little brother,” Micki said. “This one’s a keeper.”
It looked as if she’d received the Micki Steele seal of approval. And with the look of admiration and affection Jonah turned on her, Tessa almost believed he thought she was a keeper, too.
Jonah started for the door, but Tessa out-juked him. “Don’t even think about it. I’m going with you. Steele Survivor twenty-four-hour rule, remember?”
He could’ve danced around that some way, but now that she knew where his spare keys were, he had no doubt she’d simply follow him.
He’d have to wait to call the restaurant in Charlotte again to find out if the bartender had drummed up the martini guy’s name for him.
Micki stayed at his house to monitor anything else that might come through from the Mega Douche Modder. When he and Tessa left, Badger was happily sprawled across Micki’s lap like a sausage-sized blanket.
They headed to Steele Ridge’s single fire station with Tessa once again at Clementine’s wheel. He had a sinking feeling he’d never drive the car again.
“Do you think he wants you to play again?” she asked.
He was pretty damn sure the guy had a hard-on for jerking him around. “I brought all the equipment, just in case.”
When they pulled into the fire station parking lot, a trio of guys had the big engine pulled out of the bay and were polishing it to a gleaming shine. Jonah and Tessa got out of the car, and one of the firefighters turned to greet them.
“Look who the cat dragged in,” Cash said. “Hope you’re not planning to run around town knocking down more women.”
“What’re you doing here today?” Cash had been on duty yesterday and normally the firefighters worked twenty-four-hour shifts.
“Pulled a double. Traded with Callahan because his wife went into labor. First kid.” Cash folded the chamois cloth he’d been using. “Did you come for the package?”
“What package?”
“The one we found outside the station doors this morning. It has your name on it.”
The hair on the back of Jonah’s neck quivered. “Why the hell didn’t someone call me?”
“I planned to drop it by your place after my shift.”
Jonah clenched his jaw to keep from lashing out at his cousin. Cash couldn’t have known how important this might be. “Did you see who left it here?”
“Nah.” Cash scratched his ear. “We took a call about two this morning. Got back here around four. Didn’t see the box then. Wasn’t until the lieutenant came out to grab the paper at six-thirty that we found it. What the hell, man? Didn’t your fancy house come with a mailbox?”
“Where is it?”
Cash looked pointedly at Tessa, then shot a sharp glare at Jonah. “Things were too busy for chitchat yesterday, but maybe you could introduce me to your friend here.”
“Cash, this is Tessa. Tessa, this is my nosy cousin, Cash.”
“It’s a small town. Everyone is nosy here.” Cash laughed and waved for them to follow him into the bay and through a door into the interior of the station.
“So nice to meet another member of Jonah’s family,” Tessa said. “How big is the Steele crew, anyway?”
“If you count both my mom’s and dad’s sides, we have a cousin or two,” Jonah said.
“Or twenty.” Still chuckling, Cash led them to the kitchen where a small box sat on the countertop.
Jonah approached the box carefully and lifted it. Probably weighed less than a pound. Too light for a bomb? Reid would know for sure. “I’m gonna take this outside to the open grassy area behind the building.”
Cash’s easygoing expression tightened. “Why? What’s in it?”
“I’m not sure. Last time, it was VR goggles and some other stuff.”
“You had me worried there for a second.”
“Mind if I borrow a turnout suit and headgear?”
“Now I’m worried again.”
“It’s probably nothing,” Jonah said.
“You’re thinking bomb, aren’t you? We could call in a squad from Asheville.”
Something told Jonah they didn’t have time for that. Besides, whoever was toying with him and Tessa was enjoying the game too much to end it this way.
“Stay with Cash,” he told her.
“I don’t think so.”
Shit. He shot Cash a look, one that men all over the world knew. It was the take-care-of-my-woman nod. “Then at least stay inside the bay.”
“You said you’re going behind the building.”
“There’s an exterior door with a window at the back of the bay,” Cash told her. “You can watch him through that.”
From Tessa’s drawn eyebrows and downturned mouth, it was obvious she wasn’t happy about that solution. So Jonah carefully set the box aside and pulled her into his arms. Instinct shouted for him to get her the hell out of here. He loved that she was so strong, so resilient. But her strength warred with his need to protect her. “Please do this for me. If something happened to you, I would lose my mind.”
She reached up and skimmed her fingers down his cheek to linger at his lips. Last night, that same touch would’ve felt sexual. Today, it felt like something more. Something both comforting and dangerous. “Then how do you think I feel?”
If it was a fraction of what was inside him, they’d need more than a few minutes to discuss it. “We’re not finished with everything we started last night, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let this jackass interfere with that,” he whispered against her hair. Then he pressed a hard kiss to her lips and reluctantly released her to lift his chin at his cousin. “Let’s get me suited up.”
Ten minutes later, Jonah stared down into the box. He held up the contents so Cash and Tessa could see from inside that it was okay to come out.
Tessa busted through the door and came at him in a full-out run. “What is it?”
“From the male input jack and these silver electrodes, it seems like some kind of sensor shirt that can be plugged into the VR goggles.”
“That something you came up with?” Cash asked.
“No.” Because honestly, the thing looked rudimentary. But at least the modder had been busy building something interesting, which was more than Jonah could say about himself. “Haptic suits aren’t new, but no one’s perfected them yet. It takes a shitload of money to develop new tech like this. And investors don’t usually like companies to do R and D when it won’t pay for itself.”
Cash whistled. “So are you telling me someone one-upped the techie king?”
Not necessarily, but it did rub him wrong. Anyone could code a little old mobile app like Jonah’s. Maybe he should set his sights on something bigger…
No, it’s not about complexity. Or accolades. It’s about safety. Don’t forget that.
Tessa reached inside the box and opened a slip of paper.
“What’s it say?”
She slid a guarded look toward Cash. Whatever was on that piece of paper, she didn’t want his cousin to hear.
“Hey, Cash, can you give us a minute here?”
“There’s something fishy about this whole thing,” Cash grumbled. “Don’t do something else I’m gonna have to clean up.”
After he stalked back into the building, Tessa took a deep breath and dropped down to sit on the grass. “I think they’re instructions.”
Jonah scanned the paper over Tessa’s shoulder. It was another freaking riddle, this one not as obscure as the one they’d received via the modded game.
I am always hungry.
I must always be fed.
The finger I lick
Will soon turn red.
Below the riddle was a list.
La Belle Style?
Blues, Brews, & Books?
Tupelo Hill?
Only one will fall.
Only two will play.
If others join, all will pay.
The clock starts now.
Play or Die.
“Does that mean what I think it does?” Tessa’s voice held a tremor as she pulled out a cheap timer that had been obscured by the padding around the sensors.
Only two will play.
If others join, all will pay.
“It sounds like if we let anyone else know what’s going on, all the places will burn.” He grabbed the timer from Tessa. Thirty minutes.
The clock starts now. That motherfucker was watching them. Jonah jumped to his feet and turned in a circle, trying to get a bead on the person who obviously had eyeballs on them.
Jonah reached down, yanked Tessa up by the elbow, and shoved the car keys into her hand. “We have to go now.”
As they ran toward the car, Jonah was already plugging the sensor web into the goggles. God, please let this shit work. He yanked his T-shirt over his head, dropped it to the asphalt, and slid into the passenger seat. “We need to hit the closest locations first. Drive to Triple B,” he ordered.
He’d start there and work his way through them all. His fingers itched to call his brothers, but now that he knew this SOB was aware of his moves, he couldn’t afford to. He wiggled and wrestled his way into the sensors, almost tearing the wiring as he forced his arms through the armholes. Once he’d patted down the sensors, making sure each touched his skin, he pulled on the goggles and gauntlets.
“Please tell me you won’t jump anyone else,” Tessa said, her voice full of worry.
“I promise to use my words this time instead of assuming what I’m seeing is real.” The buildings on Main Street remained in real life order, although they took on the same abandoned quality as before. He pointed at Triple B, the bar and restaurant owned by Britt’s girlfriend, Randi. “Park by the front door.”
The car hadn’t stopped rolling when he shoved open the door and jumped out.
The sensors against his skin were vibrating and turning warmer as he strong-armed his way through Triple B’s door and found it full with the pre-happy hour crowd. Fuck. He didn’t have time to explain to Randi what was going on. Each second that ticked away could mean the difference between people living or becoming victims of this fucked-up game.
Stripping Bare (Steele Ridge Book 7) Page 19