“Unusual activity?” the man on the bed asked. “You mean like a mortal walking around with two specters by his side?”
Queen Victoria and Porter both turned simultaneously to the man.
“What?” he asked. “I saw it earlier in the park. Weirdest thing.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Covent Garden, London
The phone went once more to voicemail.
“Shit.” Jennie was feeling some real fear creep in now. She had been trying to reach the others since they had arrived back at her place, and there was still no answer.
“Doesn’t she ever sleep?” George asked Baxter while Jennie busied herself around the bar and occasionally hit re-dial on the phone.
“Oh, she does,” Baxter told him. “Not as much as regular people, but if you don’t give her some time alone with her blanky and pacifier, she’ll get real cranky.”
Jennie looked over her glasses at them both. “I can hear you, you know?”
Baxter grinned. “I know.”
They had spent the majority of the night talking to George and discovering all they could find out about the current plans of the queen.
Stationed out in Piccadilly Square, his knowledge was fairly limited, although he did inform Jennie he had been called into the palace on several occasions recently to discuss items on the political agenda.
Even in death, politics never stopped. Although the queen reigned sovereign, many matters and decisions fell down to the Paranormal Government. These were diplomats who argued and researched the topics which most affected the day-to-day lives of specters.
Mostly these were matters of poltergeists, traitors, dealing with new specters, and sometimes turf wars. Every now and then, discussions regarding interactions with mortals within their realm would arise. These would often coincide with the adjournment of the mortal British government each year when they took their recesses from the House of Commons. Secret delegates would convene with the Paranormal Government and discuss matters arising which may affect the spectral world and vice versa.
“There was an emergency cabinet meeting last night. I’m afraid your name was brought up in the conversation,” George told Jennie.
“So, the mortal government is going to be after me, too?” Jennie said. “Splendid.”
George nodded solemnly. “You are a matter of international interest to the spectral world, and since you have dual citizenship, that matter also affects you the mortal world.”
“Dual citizenship?” Baxter asked.
“Existing in the mortal and spectral worlds,” George clarified.
Baxter nodded. “Ah. I see. Never heard it put that way before.”
Jennie stood up and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, that’s fantastic. A dual-pronged approach. They’ll find us in a matter of minutes. We don’t stand a fucking chance.”
Baxter laughed, then trailed off when he realized Jennie wasn’t joking. “Hold on, since when have you been one to look at things negatively?”
Jennie shook her head. “Didn’t you hear him, Bax? It’s not just the spectral world who’ll be looking for us now. Police, intelligence agents, every damn fucker and his dog will be trying to sniff us out soon. If what they said to the cabinet was half as bad as I’m thinking it was…” She turned to George for confirmation.
He nodded.
Jennie sighed. “Then we don’t have a shot. Don’t you get it? We caused a disturbance in the US and set a sheet of smoke across the whole of Times Square—in their eyes, that’s a terrorist action right there. Now they know we’re gunning for royalty, and it’s not just one queen who lives in Buckingham Palace. There’s Elizabeth, too.”
“To be fair,” George interjected, raising a finger. “Queen Elizabeth is currently out of the city visiting her property in Sandringham.”
He turned to Baxter. “She always goes there at this time of year. Lovely lawns, great nature walks, it really is a beautiful place to go.”
Jennie looked at him incredulously. “Who cares where she is?”
George held up his hands. “I’m just saying, it’ll lower some of the attention.”
Jennie clapped her hands. “Well, there we are, then. We’ll be fine. Now I won’t have to go in all guns blazing, destroying every single fucker who steps in my way.”
Baxter rose and grabbed Jennie’s shoulders. She resisted at first, then curiosity took over and she stared into his ghostly eyes. “Jennie…” He smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Baxter slapped Jennie hard.
His face dropped when he realized his hand had gone straight through Jennie’s head without making contact.
“Are you kidding me?” she seethed, rematerializing when she let go of Baxter’s energy. “Slapping me? Really?”
Baxter shrugged. “I thought it might change your state. Help you wake up and realize there’s always another way around.”
Jennie punched Baxter in the stomach.
He lost his balance and fell backward, thumping into the chair and nearly toppling it over. “I suppose I deserved that.”
George chuckled warily.
“Surprise attacks are only ever going to end badly for the person springing them on me,” Jennie told him. “I appreciate the sentiment, Bax, but we really need something to come to light. Something that’ll help us bypass all the guards and sentinels and get into her chambers undetected. Without the aid of the wraiths, my options are becoming more and more volatile.”
“Volatile?” George echoed. “Oh, I don’t like that. I’d rather not make too much of a mess if possible.”
“This whole thing is already a mess,” Jennie retorted. “Didn’t you get that from our talk? And, you know what? The minute they realize you’re gone again, they’ll be looking for you. Wondering where you’ve gone and getting suspicious.” She ran a hand down her face.
“I don’t care about that anymore,” George replied hotly. “I’m with you, Jennie. I’m here to help.”
“Then keep doing what you’re doing,” Jennie told him. “Go back to your post. If anyone asks, say you saw me, and you followed my trail but lost me. Send them off my scent and cause a disturbance. We’ll figure out the rest.”
George gave a slow nod, then vanished from the room.
“What about the others?” Baxter asked. “What do you think happened to them?”
“I suppose we’ll find out soon enough,” Jennie hazarded. “If they’ve been captured, the court is hardly going to keep that quiet, are they?” She grabbed a travel bottle and filled it with one of her pre-mixed cocktails. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’m going stir crazy down below.”
Baxter tossed the wig over to Jennie. “Don’t forget this.”
She was about to place the wig back on her head when Carolyn appeared through the door with an excited look on her face. “Don’t worry about that. We’ve got a better way to disguise yourself.”
London Underground
The tube was busy, but not its usual rush-hour chaos. Beside Jennie, a man read a newspaper, two teenage girls with headphones blaring tinny music were standing nearby, and across from her, Lupe was sitting next to a man with a pocket-sized dog asleep on his lap.
Jennie nodded at Lupe. He had been staring at her in disbelief for the last half hour as they traveled from the Victoria Line to the Northern Line.
“It’s getting a little old,” she complained in a deep voice that was most unlike her own. “Stop staring.”
Lupe didn’t. Neither could Baxter, Carolyn, or Feng Mian. The specters stood nearby, invisible to everyone else around them, as did the man and woman who had introduced themselves as Angus and Paige. A tendril of energy connected Jenny to the man with the square jaw.
Jennie ducked her head forward and caught a glimpse of her reflection in the train window, the dark tunnels behind creating a near-perfect mirror.
I had no idea how good I would look as a man.
Hampstead Heath,
London
They left the train station and walked through a well-to-do area of London. Roads were clean, and pavements were wide. Gardens were well-kept, and the houses here were huge compared to the tiny apartments in the inner city.
“I’ve always appreciated a well-trimmed bush,” Angus quipped as they strode past a house with a hedge cut into the shape of a dolphin.
“These places are niiice,” Carolyn cooed, lingering longer than the others at one particular front garden with a round fountain and flowers blooming in a variety of colors and shapes. “How much does one of these go for?”
“About nineteen million sterling,” Jennie replied without hesitation.
Carolyn’s jaw dropped. “How do you know that?”
“A few years back, I looked into investing in property and went shopping out this way. I decided to go for something else in the end.”
“Your pad is nice,” Baxter told her.
“Thanks,” Jennie replied. “I wasn’t angling for compliments, but okay.”
Angus turned to Paige. “I’m starting to wish we’d insisted on coming inside now.”
“No, you don’t,” Jennie replied. “If you had been brought into my place, and not kept several streets away, it’s likely I would’ve shot you on entry.”
Angus laughed.
Jennie didn’t.
They came upon a house bordered by redbrick walls topped with spiked metal railings. A large, wrought-iron gate with an electric keypad was fixed in the wall. A security camera looked down from the top of the railing.
Jennie gave the place a quick search for any unwanted eyes, pleased to feel that at least at the edge of the city, security wasn’t so tight.
Not that they would’ve recognized her, looking like a more tan version of Ashton Kutcher.
Jennie took a breath and muttered, “It’s showtime.”
She focused on her connection with Angus and extracted herself from his power, choosing instead to connect now with Paige.
“Ooh, that’s uncomfortable,” Paige exclaimed.
Angus grinned. “Tickles, doesn’t it?”
“That’s one word for it,” Paige replied. “You know you don’t have to choose a specifically gendered specter to turn into that person?”
Jennie shrugged, standing before them in the form of a beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair. Her lips were plump and red, and her mascara was smeared. She wore a close-fitting black shirt that revealed her cleavage, and denim shorts.
She pressed the button, and a screeching buzz rang out.
A few seconds later, something clicked, and a man’s voice came over the speaker.
“May I help you?”
Now was the time to put Jennie’s love for the theater into action. “Please, sir. I’m sorry to disturb you, but I didn’t know what else to do, and now I’m… My boyfriend, he… Oh, I can’t believe I’m telling a stranger this, but he…he hit me, and I just ran without thinking.” She broke down into unintelligible sobs. “I don’t suppose I could borrow your phone?”
The camera swiveled on the railing. Lupe remained on the other side of the street, hidden behind a wall with Feng Mian and Carolyn beside him.
Another few moments passed before the man replied, his voice breathy and ancient. “Of course, dear. Come on in.”
The gate swung open as Jennie straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes. The camera revolved and followed her along the path and up toward the house.
Lupe ducked close to the wall and dashed in before the gates had a chance to close, remaining out of view of the camera. He skirted the garden and looked for a location to spy on the action indoors.
The house was incredible from the outside. Jennie headed up the path with Paige and the other specters right behind her. The pristine red front door swung open to reveal a man in his late fifties, with a thick pair of glasses and swept-back, silver hair.
He wore a purple satin robe and his gray chest curls sprang out through the V below his neck. Despite the fact that it was now mid-morning and the sleepy cul-de-sac had started to wake, he was still in his pajama pants, too.
The man eyed Jennie’s disguise for just a second too long. “Come in, dear,” he invited. “It sounds like you’ve had a dreadful time.”
If the outside of the house was a mansion, the inside was a palace. English oak floors ran through the place, floor-to-ceiling oil paintings lined the hallway walls. He ushered Jennie into the living room, where he motioned toward a luxurious sofa and took a seat on an armchair beside her. The living room showcased a bookshelf that ran the length of the room and held a variety of contemporary novels mixed in with what were clearly ancient tomes.
“I can’t thank you enough for this…” Jennie sniveled, looking at the man expectantly.
“Jensen.” Jensen offered a hand.
“Rita,” Jennie replied, ignoring the scoffs from the specters chuckling behind their hands.
Paige and Angus looked at each other, confused.
Jensen smiled. “Well, Rita. The phone is on the table beside you, feel free to make any calls you wish to. I’ve just put the kettle on, so I’ll make us both a nice strong cup of tea to help settle those nerves.” He reached over and tapped her bare thigh with his hand. They were clammy and cold. “Then you can tell me all about what happened if you want to.”
He rose without waiting for an answer, his eyes lingering longer than was comfortable on Jennie’s chest.
There was a look in his eyes Jennie had seen a thousand times before. Jennie instructed Baxter to follow Jensen when he left the room.
Baxter remained several paces behind Jensen as he navigated through several rooms into a kitchen larger than Baxter had ever seen.
Jensen switched on the kettle and waited, the sound of bubbling covering his muttering. “What do you know? Who needs a dating app when there’s a gorgeous twenty-year-old wandering around my house?” He sneered. “Must be my lucky day.”
He rooted through cupboards, found two cups, and popped a tea bag in each. Baxter waited patiently by the wall, studying every movement of the older man.
He was in decent shape. His shoulders were broad, his wrinkles were few, and his eyes were an Arctic blue that would make any lady swoon.
But that didn’t counter the predatory vibe oozing from Jensen. Even less so when the man crossed over to a cupboard filled with various medicines and popped two small white capsules from their packet.
Jensen looked over his shoulder and chuckled darkly as he dropped both pills into one cup. At one point, he looked straight through Baxter, who froze despite a hundred years of death, terrified he might suddenly appear material and get caught in the act.
Satisfied he was still alone, Jensen called, “Is everything okay in there? I hope you like your tea strong.”
He filled the cups with steaming water.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Hampstead Heath, London
Jennie held the phone to her ear and pretended someone was on the other end. She muttered phrases such as, “That’d be amazing, I can’t thank you enough,” and, “Honestly, Mum, I never saw it coming,” while the specters got to work searching the house to find the location of the saber.
She placed the receiver down when she heard the footsteps coming down the hallway.
“Everything okay, dear?” Jensen asked, carrying a small tray with two cups and saucers and a round tin of biscuits. “Manage to get through to someone?”
“My mother has offered to let me stay with her for a while.” Jennie choked up. “I can’t believe it. Four years together, and I’m right back where I started. All alone…” Tears tracked down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe her acting skills.
When was the last time you cried on cue? You’ve still got it, girl!
Jensen hopped over to sit next to Jennie and once more placed a hand on her leg. The other arm he draped over the back of the sofa behind her. “That sounds awful, Rita. The thing you’ve got to remember is that young lads are
the same, just useless scum who are powered by nothing more than their own testosterone. You seem like a lovely young girl. You don’t deserve to be treated that way.”
Jennie batted her eyelashes. “You really think so?”
“I do.” Jensen shuffled closer. “I know I’m just some strange old man you’ve happened on today, but I can tell that you’re too intelligent and kind to be treated badly by someone like that.”
Jennie smiled. “Thank you.”
Jensen gave a warm smile in return. “You know, I have a daughter your age.”
“You do?” Jennie asked.
If Baxter hadn’t have been mouthing and communicating exactly what Jensen had done behind his head, Jennie might actually have believed he was a nice guy.
Jensen nodded. “I’ll give you the same advice I once gave her when she was in a similar situation. Never trust men your own age.”
“Oh, and I suppose men get more honest as they get older?” Jennie asked coyly, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
“As a matter of fact, they do,” Jensen told her.
Baxter shook his head emphatically.
“You get to a certain age, and you just see the young, attractive ladies, like yourself, as one of your own kin. Girls to protect from the venomous and disgusting guys in the world.” Jensen moved his arm around Jennie’s shoulder and pulled her toward him. She allowed it, for now. “You’ll be okay, dear. Don’t you worry. We’ll get you to your mother’s, and you’ll be okay. There’s nothing more to worry about. It’s over.”
Jennie rolled her eyes, then pretended to cry into his shoulder. With her face pressed into his chest, he couldn’t see that her features did not express the emotions she conveyed.
After a few more theatrical sobs, Jennie couldn’t take the creep factor of Jensen sniffing her hair. She withdrew and wiped her eyes. “Thank you so much for your hospitality. I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t have answered.”
Rogue, Renegade And Rebel (In Her Paranormal Majesty’s Secret Service Book 1) Page 49