by Jami Gray
Rabbit glared over his shoulder as he moved out of the doorway. “Watch where you’re poking that finger, sugar.”
“You moved, didn’t you?” Breezing by him, Jinx headed into the living room and gave a small finger wave. “Hi, Megan!”
I turned to find a heavy-eyed Megan coming up behind me.
She stopped at the mouth of the hall. “Hey, Jinx.” She changed course and met Jinx at the couch.
Rabbit closed and locked the front door, waiting until I set my stuff down inside the entryway. “Not plannin’ on sticking around?”
I shook my head. “I think it’s better to keep Megan tucked out of sight tonight.”
Rabbit stayed at my side as we headed into the living room, where the two women were talking quietly. “Probably for the best,” he agreed.
I bypassed Jinx, who had claimed the corner of the couch, and aimed for a seat close to Megan, the germ of an idea taking root. “Hey, Jinx.”
“Hey, Bishop,” the tawny haired woman shot back as Rabbit plopped down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She shot him an exasperated look before turning back to me.
When I went to sit, Megan drew her legs up, making room for me. I settled in and let her tuck her bare toes under my thigh. “You think you can do your thing on Megan and me?”
Jinx studied us both, her brown eyes calm but critical. “Do we have eyes on us?”
I shrugged. “Not sure, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” That seemed to be my theme for the night.
“You wanna be safe, you might want to consider catching some z’s, my man.” Rabbit played with the end of Jinx’s hair.
“I will as soon as we get under cover.”
“Did something happen?” Megan asked.
I patted her leg. “No, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
She studied my face, her brow creased as she bit her lower lip.
“What are you thinking?” Jinx asked, pulling my attention away from Megan.
I shared my suspicions with her, concluding, “So, I want to hole up somewhere with no link to any of us. If they’re watching the house, I don’t want them to know we’re leaving.”
All sense of Rabbit’s earlier playfulness was gone. “This is not good.”
“No,” I agreed. “It’s not, but there’s not much we can do about it tonight. For now, Megan and I both need some sleep. Once we meet with Rico, we should have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”
Jinx studied Megan as she tapped her fingers on the couch’s arm. “If she uses my hoodie, I can cover her from the front door to the car.” She turned to me, and her lips curved. “But making them think you’re Rabbit is a little more involved.”
“But it can be done?” Jinx’s ability to weave illusions wasn’t just cool as shit—it was also a critical weapon in our team’s arsenal. While it worked, for the most part, the success of her illusions tended to depend on the assumptions of the audience. If they expected to see Rabbit and Jinx leaving, then that was what they would see. Of course, if they were tailing us, all bets were off because Jinx had to be in visual range for the illusion to hold.
She raised a brow. “With a few adjustments, yeah.” She shifted her attention between me and Rabbit. “You got something like that?” She waved a hand at Rabbit’s navy zip-up hoodie.
Thinking of the hoodie sitting on top of my go bag in the foyer, I nodded. “Yeah, it’s black, not navy, though.”
“That’ll work, because no way is Rabbit’s jacket going to fit you,” Jinx said. Since Rabbit was built along the lines of lean and mean and I had heft to my shoulders, her concerns were valid. She leaned over, snatched Rabbit’s battered baseball cap off his head, and threw it at me. “Here.”
“Hey!” Rabbit tried to rescue his hat but missed. “Don’t be such a mean woman, Jinx,” he whined, his southern accent rolling in heavy. “That’s my lucky hat.”
Unmoved, Jinx just raised a brow. “If I’m going to pass Bishop off as you, I need a little help.”
I turned the cap around, my lips twitching at the manically grinning crawfish that decorated it. “Only Rabbit would wear this.”
Rabbit flipped me off. “Doncha lose my hat.”
Jinx gave a delicate snort as she stood up and shrugged off her hoodie, ignoring Rabbit’s theatrics. “Come on, Megan. Let’s hit the bathroom.”
Megan gave me a wide-eyed look of confusion but shoved the blanket aside and followed Jinx down the hall. I waited until the women disappeared into the bathroom before turning back to Rabbit, who was still watching them. When his attention came back to me, he asked, “How good are the odds they’ll hit here tonight?”
“High.” I braced my arms on my knees as I lowered my voice. “You and Jinx need to ghost as soon as you can.”
Rabbit grunted as he dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out a set of car keys. “You’re going to need these.” The keys flew threw the air, and I caught them. “You take care of my pretty girl, yeah?”
“Yeah.” I closed my hand around the keys to Rabbit’s beloved Dodge Charger. There was no use arguing. We needed wheels to get out of here, and taking my car was out of the question—to pull this whole illusion off, my Jeep had to stay in the driveway. It left me worried for Rabbit and Jinx, who would be stuck in the house like sacrificial lambs. “You got access to other wheels?”
He nodded. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine. Just get your woman undercover, man. I don’t like how hard they’ve been hounding her.”
“Yeah, me either.”
Rabbit was quiet for a long moment. “I’m not keen on having my privacy violated.” He met my gaze, and there was no missing his determined ruthlessness. “Think it might be time to turn the tables.”
After having shared my suspicions, I didn’t find his comment unexpected. We needed to switch from defense to offense because defense sucked ass. Poking around might rattle some bones, but if anyone could dig through the electronic shadows without ruffling feathers, it was Rabbit. Still… “Watch your step. Got a feeling we’re about to step into some serious shit.”
Rabbit’s grin was all teeth. “I’m thinking we’re already knee-deep and sinking fast, mon ami.”
Before I could respond, Jinx’s voice came from down the hall. “All right, ready to get this show on the road?”
I put Rabbit’s hat on and stood up. “Ready when you are.”
Turning, I watched the two women come down the hall. Megan wore Jinx’s pullover, the hood up and shadowing her face, the ends of her unbraided hair peeking around the edges. When Jinx stopped, Megan kept coming until she stood across from me with the couch between us, her hands buried in the hoodie’s front pockets.
She shot Jinx a worried look. “You sure they’ll think I’m you?”
Jinx gave her a genuine smile. “Yeah. We might have a couple of inches and few pounds of difference, but as long as you remember to keep your face away from the light, we can totally pull this off.”
Megan didn’t look convinced. Then again, short of her witnessing Jinx’s ability firsthand, skepticism was to be expected. I stepped over Rabbit’s legs and headed toward the foyer to get my jacket. I was shrugging into it, listening to Jinx give Megan pointers—“Keep your back to the street, head tilted downward, don’t talk, just wave, let Bishop take the outside position”—when Rabbit called my name.
“You got a contact number?” he asked.
Dropping to a crouch, I dug through my go bag and pulled out two burner phones. “Here.” I tossed one to Rabbit, who wasted no time powering it up. “Hit 1. That’s me.”
“Got it.” He tucked it into his back pocket. “Check in tomorrow once you touch base with Rico.”
I straightened and, following one of Jinx’s suggestions, pulled my duffle on like a backpack. “Copy.”
Jinx flicked off the main foyer light, leaving us backlit by the living room, before stopping at Rabbit’s side. She did a quick top to toe before dipping her chin in a little nod. �
��Right, time to move.”
I went over to Megan, who stood awkwardly off to the side of the front door, her smaller backpack cradled against her stomach, holding herself stiffly. Wrapping my free arm around her waist, I gave her a quick hug. “Hey, relax. Jinx has us covered.”
She bit her lip, opened her mouth, then closed it again and just nodded. Her shoulders relaxed fractionally.
“Watch your six, Bishop,” Rabbit said softly.
Meeting his dark eyes, I said, “Intend to.” I turned to Jinx. “Tell me when.”
She took a couple of deep breaths, her gaze focused on Megan and me. The only tell that Jinx was doing anything was the emergence of gold flecks in her brown eyes. They looked like miniature fireflies.
Next to me, Megan sucked in a startled breath, but that was all I caught before my ears filled with the cotton of an abrupt altitude change. By the time they cleared, Jinx’s eyes were back to their normal color. She brushed her hands together as if dusting them off. “Done.”
Megan looked at me, a frown marring her forehead, then told Jinx, “I don’t think it worked.”
Jinx laughed. “Do me a favor and close your eyes.” Once Megan’s lashes drifted down, Jinx continued. “Okay, now, before you open them, I want you to imagine Rabbit is standing next to you and Bishop is next to me.” She paused. “Got it?” When Megan nodded, Jinx said, “Good. Open your eyes and look.”
Megan looked at me, and her eyes widened. “Holy crap!” She blinked rapidly, frowned, and turned to Rabbit. When her attention went back to Jinx, she said, “It’s like some weird optical illusion. If I look straight on, I’d swear Bishop is there,” she pointed to Rabbit, then turned to me, “And this is Rabbit. But”—she turned back to Jinx—“standing like this, if I try to look without really looking, I can see bits and pieces of them.”
“That’s because you know on some level who’s who, but if you were just passing by or didn’t know for sure, you’d think—”
“That they’d switched places.” There was a bit of awe in Megan’s voice, and based upon the color rising in Jinx’s cheeks, she caught it. Megan gave Jinx an embarrassed smile. “That’s really freaking cool.”
“Umm, thanks.”
“No time to lollygag. Let’s get a move on,” Rabbit cut in and moved to the door. With his hand on the knob, he shot Megan a wink. “Showtime!”
In a matter of minutes, Megan and I were out the door, down the walk, and at Rabbit’s gray Dodge Charger. I popped the trunk and dumped the bag in it as Megan closed the passenger door behind her. My neck itched, a confirmation of my suspicions, but I didn’t look around as I went to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel.
Once we were behind the safety of tinted windows and backing out the drive, I scanned our surroundings in an effort to pinpoint our watchers. No luck. Looking back through the side window, I caught a disconcerting glimpse of my body turning and ushering what looked like Megan back into the house. Damn, Jinx is good.
I concentrated on getting out of the neighborhood while Megan sat, tense and silent, in the passenger seat. As we merged onto the freeway, I reached over and squeezed her knee. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” It came out shaky, but her next words were stronger. “Just trying to wrap my head around all of this.”
From the corner of my eye, I caught her movement as she lifted her hands to the hoodie, but when she stilled, I said, “Go ahead. I think we’re in the clear.”
She dropped the hood back and ran her hands through her hair, her tension easing as she resettled in her skin. “What Jinx did was…”
When she stopped, I offered, “Weird?”
“Cool.”
I smiled as I switched over to the middle lane. “Yeah, she’s damn impressive.”
It didn’t take long for Megan’s curiosity to get the better of her. “I’ve never heard of an ability like that.”
Figuring it was better to keep her distracted by the wonders of Jinx, I decided to elaborate. “You have, but most people pass it off as being good at disguises. The thing is, most of her abilities depend on the willingness of those watching to believe what they’re seeing, so she’s careful to work with expectations. She’s a hell of a mimic too.”
“Mimic?”
“Next time you get a chance, ask her to do her impression of Rabbit.” I shook my head. “She’s hell on wheels when she’s doing accents.”
Jinx could master more than accents. Given a chance to study a target, she could mimic vocal inflections and mannerisms with an uncanny precision. It might have been part of her ability, but it was also just her.
“It must come in real handy when she’s working undercover.”
It sounded like Megan’s imagination was running a mile a minute, which was better than worrying. She didn’t say anything more, and it wasn’t long before her curious quiet turned to a pensive quiet.
Since she wasn’t talking, I figured I’d better find out what rabbit hole she was wandering down. “What’s wrong?”
“Will Jinx and Rabbit be okay?”
Hearing the concern in her voice, I gave what reassurance I could. “They’ll be fine. They can handle themselves.”
I could feel her watching me, but I kept my eyes on the road. Finally she said, “That’s not really an answer.”
I risked looking away from the road to meet her gaze. “It’s the best I can give you.” Turning my attention back to driving, I tried to find something more to give her.
She finally sighed and changed the subject. “Can I ask where we’re going?”
Unfortunately, that was the one subject I wanted her to avoid. “You can ask.”
Her next question carried an edge. “Are you going to give me an answer?”
“Probably better if I don’t.” I wasn’t going to lie to her. “Megan, look, it’s better if you don’t know.”
“Because if I don’t know, then he can’t find out, right?”
I winced. Hearing my logic explained aloud didn’t make it any better. Nor could I miss the pain in her voice. “Until we can ensure that you can block him, it’s better this way.”
That explanation didn’t seem to help much either, because she turned away and faced her window. A few minutes later, I snuck a glance her way and wished I hadn’t. Silver streaks trailed down her cheeks.
The visual landed like a horse’s kick to my gut. My hands tightened on the wheel as I tried to concentrate on driving instead of my urge to strike out. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her, but whoever this sick fuck was, his game left me no choice. I had to keep her safe. One way or the other, I’d make him pay for this, too.
Chapter Thirteen
As grateful as I was that Bishop didn’t sugarcoat our current situation, it didn’t lessen the sting of hearing, yet again, that I wasn’t to be trusted. Closing my eyes, I drifted as Bishop drove us to his secret safety spot. Under the hurt, anger stirred, and I was grateful for it. I was sick and tired of being the weak point.
So stop.
That snarky inner voice sounded remarkably like Keelie, which was no surprise considering that she rarely, if ever, backed down from a fight. If she were here now, witnessing my pity party, she’d be in my face, telling me to put on my big-girl pants and get my shit together. And younger sister or not, she’d be right.
A quote from a favorite childhood story drifted up in my beleaguered brain: You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. Since I agreed with C. S. Lewis, starting now, I’d change the ending to one I wanted.
The truth was, to survive this, I needed to take an active part in my own damn rescue. That meant no more crying Woe is me because that got me nowhere and simply added to the weight everyone else was carrying.
If both Bishop and Wolf believed I was the proud new owner of a psychic ability, it had to be true. Although I’d made the choice to reach out for help, I had to be honest with myself and admit that I’d hoped I could turn this over to th
e colonel and Bishop and walk away, letting them handle the resulting mess.
I could no longer pretend that was an option. Bishop was right—it was time to shift the balance of power in this nerve-wracking game of hide-and-seek. So tomorrow, Ricochet was going to get a star pupil, and if I needed to play the part of the bait, so be it.
Lost in my thoughts, I totally missed Bishop coming to stop, until I felt his hand on my shoulder. “Megan, we’re here.”
I blinked my eyes open and lifted my head. When the muscles in my neck protested, I bit back a groan. “I’m awake.”
I was still waking up when he pulled back and opened his door. The unique scent of salt water, sand, and the nose-wrinkling odor of sea critters drifted inside the car. Following his example, I opened my door, grabbed my backpack, and got out. Fortunately, Jinx’s hoodie protected my skin from the chill of the cool night breeze.
Curious as to where we’d ended up, I looked around. We were in a midsize parking lot populated with a mix of family vehicles and the larger masses of homes on wheels for the seasoned travelers. Just behind those, I could make out the darker lines of roofs of what appeared to be small cabins clustered under trees that better fit the Northwest than San Diego’s coast. Completing my circle, I saw masts and hulls bobbing on the far side of the lot, while somewhere in the distance, the tide rose and fell against an unseen shore.
The nearby marina seem to be home to more modestly priced boats, not the sleek high-end beauties of the more popular marinas like Embarcadero and Mission Bay. Near the small buildings that probably housed the marina offices was a sign illuminated by two lights perched on top. Before I could read it, the muffled thump of the trunk closing brought my attention back to Bishop.
He slung his duffle bag over a shoulder. “Ready?”
Nodding, I turned toward him, and by my second step, realization struck me through my half-awake fog. I muttered a curse and dropped my gaze to the ground. Bishop hadn’t shared where we were going for a reason—the same reason that I needed to not be noticing things that would make this place easy to identify.
