“Everything quiet around here?” Angela asked, but there was a twinkle in her big green eyes, as if she’d guessed that Jake’s and my reunion had been anything but quiet.
“Oh, yeah,” Jake said, a lift at the corner of his mouth seeming to suggest that he understood exactly what she’d been asking.
Luckily, no one expected me to give any gory details, not with my brother standing right there and listening to the exchange with slightly raised eyebrows.
“I slept like the dead,” I volunteered. “And this morning, we went out and had a great breakfast.”
“Sounds like your outlook on life has definitely improved,” Connor said, and I nodded.
“I’m doing much better today,” I told him. “Thank you again for coming to my rescue — and for somehow getting my stuff.”
I still didn’t know exactly how they’d managed it, but when I’d gotten ready that morning, I found all my clothes hanging in the closet and my toiletries safely stowed in the master bath. Maybe at some point, I’d stop being amazed by my brother and sister-in-law’s apparently boundless talents. I sure hadn’t gotten there yet.
Connor looked almost uncomfortable, as if he thought I was being overly grateful for something he’d taken as a matter of course. “Like we would have done anything else. You’re family, Addie — never forget that.”
Not much chance of that, when everything and everyone around me seemed intent on reminding me that I was now a part of the Wilcox witch clan, no longer the rootless girl who wandered from place to place, trying to escape a reality that wouldn’t let her go. And that was okay. Honestly, after a lifetime of never feeling as if I fit in anywhere, it was nice to be surrounded by people who only wanted me to be myself.
The doorbell rang again. This time, the arrival was Jake’s brother Jeremy, who tilted his head at me in a casual way, acknowledging my presence without making a big deal about it.
“Hey, Addie.”
“Hey, Jeremy. Thanks for cracking the surveillance system at the SED.”
A lift of his shoulders. “No biggie. Actually, I’m sort of annoyed with myself that it took so long.”
I wanted to tell him it was kind of amazing how he’d cracked such a secure system in less than forty-eight hours, then decided to let it go. Not that I’d ever take Jeremy’s astonishing computer talents for granted — it was still hard for me to believe just one person could manage so much on his own — but I knew he pushed himself hard and probably wouldn’t be reassured by my compliments.
“You got it in the end,” I said. “That’s the important thing.”
Another shrug from Jeremy, and Jake said, “I figured we’d all sit down at the dining room table. There’s iced tea and water, and I can make coffee if anyone wants it.”
“Tea is great,” Angela told him.
It turned out everyone wanted tea, so Jake and I poured for those present, and then Margot and Lucas showed up, followed by Laurel a minute or two later. She looked a little puzzled, as if she could tell events had been moving so quickly that no one had had a chance to get her caught up on everything that had happened. Well, I hoped our meeting would help her get filled in on all the details.
Eventually, we were all seated with our beverage of choice in front of us — although I could tell Lucas probably would have been happier with a mimosa or a Bloody Mary. To be honest, I wouldn’t have turned down a glass of white wine right about then. Although I’d met everyone in the room before, this was the first time I’d faced them en masse, so to speak, and I found it a little overwhelming to be surrounded by so many Wilcoxes at once. And okay, I knew that Margot and Angela weren’t Wilcoxes by blood, but they were married to Wilcoxes, so that amounted to roughly the same thing.
I told myself I had no real reason to be nervous. After all, I had Jake at my side, and everyone there probably wanted the same thing I did — to live a quiet life in Flagstaff without any worry about what Randall Lenz might attempt next.
To my surprise, Jeremy spoke first. His fingers tapped against the glass of iced tea in front of him, and I noticed how he didn’t quite meet anyone’s gaze, as if he didn’t really like having to talk in front of such a large audience but knew he needed to provide some important information.
“I was able to scrub your images from the facility’s surveillance recordings,” he said. “So, even though Lenz got a good look at you, there’s no real physical evidence he can use to back up his personal observations.”
“That’s great news,” Connor said. He offered all of us a reassuring smile. “I was worried about that, even though I knew it was a risk we’d have to take.”
Jeremy settled against the back of his chair, looking relieved that he’d managed to deliver his message and now only had to worry about some back-and-forth with the primus. “No, about all Lenz can do is call in a sketch artist or something, and that’s probably not going to help much. It’s one thing when you already have a suspect in mind and need some corroboration from a witness. In this case, he’d be trying to match a sketch to a database of the entire U.S. population. I doubt that’s going to work.”
No, probably not. Of course, Randall Lenz knew exactly what I looked like, but with Jeremy’s dutiful little algorithms chasing down my likeness wherever it appeared so it could be scrubbed before it popped up on someone’s radar, I didn’t think I had much to worry about on that front. And since it seemed that the memory wipe Connor and Angela had performed on him was still holding, I also didn’t have to worry about him suddenly recalling my connection to Flagstaff and making a beeline for the mountain town.
“So, we’re in the clear?” Angela asked.
“As far as I can tell,” Jeremy replied. “They’re doing their damnedest to kick me out of their system, but my countermeasures knock out their countermeasures before they can take hold, and so I can still get a pretty good read on what’s happening behind the scenes. Right now, they don’t have anything to go on, except that a trio of unknown intruders somehow managed to get past all their security and then vanish into thin air with one of their test subjects. I think as long as we all lie low for a while, we should be able to skate out the other side without any problem.”
Next to me, Jake shifted in his chair. “Does that mean I can go back to being Jake Wilcox?”
“I’d wait a while,” Jeremy said. “Just because we’ve managed to give them the slip so far doesn’t mean we should get careless. I know it’s a pain not being able to use your debit card or whatever, but if it’s that big a problem, just have Bethany get the bank to issue a dummy card under your alias. That’ll hold you until we know you’re definitely in the clear.”
I glanced up at Jake, trying not to frown. What alias? Clearly, I’d missed out on a lot, and Jake hadn’t had time to bring me up to speed because we’d been focused on other things…like figuring out what exactly a future together was going to look like. I had to surmise that Jake must have been forced to create some sort of false identity for himself to keep Randall Lenz off the scent. Now that I thought about it, Jake had used cash when we went out to eat in Riverton, and also to buy gas. At the time, I hadn’t paid much attention, since we had far more important matters to contend with, but I realized he must have been using cash to avoid leaving any kind of electronic trail that could be traced.
Not for the first time, I thought of all the havoc I’d caused in his life, all the measures he’d had to take to keep me and the rest of his family safe. Not that anyone could say it was my fault — I was more than happy to lay the blame at Randall Lenz’s feet — but still….
“Okay,” Jake said. “I’ll text Bethany and see what she can do. It’s no big deal.”
“And I can get some cash for you,” I broke in, thinking of all the money Connor had set up for me from an inheritance I hadn’t even known about until a few weeks earlier. Then I paused and sent Jeremy a worried glance. “Or…can I? Connor set up some accounts for me under ‘Adara Wilcox,’ but….”
“They kn
ow about those,” Jeremy told me. “So, that’s really not a good idea.”
“It’s fine,” Connor said. Unlike the rest of us, he didn’t appear too worried by the situation. “The bulk of the money hasn’t even been transferred yet. Tomorrow morning, I’ll go to the bank and withdraw a chunk of cash. You’ll need to keep it at the house, since obviously, it won’t do you any good to put it in your own accounts, but at least that way, you’ll have something to work with.”
“That sounds good,” Jake said. His posture appeared a lot more relaxed after Connor made the offer, and he looked over at me briefly and gave me a reassuring smile. “I have a safe for important papers, so we’ll just keep it in there.”
I wanted to smile back at him, but once again, pangs of guilt assailed me. They were all acting as if this was just a temporary inconvenience and nothing more, but what if it wasn’t? What if he was forced to keep hiding from Randall Lenz for months…for years? What if Jake would have to end up legally changing his name in order to keep Lenz and the SED off his trail?
What if I would be compelled to do the very same thing?
They’re just names, I told myself. They’re not…us.
Which was true, and yet I didn’t much relish the idea of having to spend the rest of my life in the witchy equivalent of the witness protection program. But the alternative was far, far worse, and I knew I’d suck it up and do whatever was necessary to ensure a safe and happy life with Jake in Flagstaff.
“This is all temporary,” he said then, and reached under the table to give my hand a quick squeeze. “We just have to be careful for a while until all this gets sorted out.”
That time, I forced a smile. Since I couldn’t see myself, I had no idea whether it looked as manufactured to everyone else as it felt to me.
“It’s going to be fine,” Lucas said. He and Margot had been silent up until that point, probably because they didn’t have a lot to contribute, but apparently, he’d decided that I needed further reassurance. “Maybe all we really need to do is have a sit-down with this Agent Lenz and tell him a few home truths about himself.”
Laurel stared at her cousin as if he’d just lost his mind. “You’re joking, right? That guy is dangerous.”
I was inclined to agree with her. At the same time, she hadn’t been present when we’d discussed the possibility of Randall Lenz being a warlock, and I guessed it was time to bring her up to speed. “Lucas thinks Agent Lenz might be one of us,” I said.
Her dark, arched brows lifted in shock, and she gazed at him blankly. “You think he’s a Wilcox?”
“No,” Lucas said calmly. “I think he’s a warlock. I definitely got a ping off him when he confronted us at the SED facility last night. Everyone else thinks I’m nuts, but….” The words trailed off there, and he gave an eloquent shrug as he lifted his glass of iced tea and took a sip.
Jeremy also looked sort of gobsmacked, which made me think no one had thought to discuss that particular tidbit with him. Voice flat, he said, “So, what…you want to sit him down and tell him he’s a warlock, and hope that’ll be enough to get him to give up the whole thing and come sing ‘Kumbaya’ with us?”
Put that way, the whole thing did sound sort of ludicrous. And honestly, I didn’t know what to think. Lucas had no reason to be lying about whatever it was that he’d felt from Randall Lenz…and neither did Genoveva Castillo, who claimed to have experienced basically the same thing.
But they didn’t know the man in question. Maybe I didn’t, either. Not really. I’d had far more face-to-face time with him than anyone else present, however, and even if we somehow managed to concoct a plan that would allow me — or Connor, or Angela — to approach him and explain that he might be a bit more than an ordinary human, I had no reason to think he’d believe a single word of it. No, he’d be much more likely to dismiss any of our arguments as some kind of crazy strategy to get him to back off from me and the Wilcox clan in general.
“I think we should do whatever we can to stay as far away from him as possible,” I said. “Even if what you felt is true, Lucas, he’s never going to believe it. Not for a second.”
Margot tilted her elegant dark head. Once again, I was struck by the contrast between her and the easygoing, “what, me worry?” Lucas, and I had to wonder how two opposites like them had ever ended up together. I didn’t have time to puzzle through that conundrum, however, because she remarked, “You seem very sure of that, Addie. While I know you have your own reasons for never wanting to deal with him, do you really think it’s fair to deprive Agent Lenz of something that might very well be his birthright?”
Anger flared within me, even as I told myself that Margot was asking a fair enough question. She could look at the situation coolly because she didn’t have any personal involvement. If Randall Lenz actually was a warlock, was it right to withhold that information from him, allow him to continue his life thinking he was no different from the rest of the normal population?
I didn’t have an answer to that question. The anger I felt for him told me one thing, but my brain was thinking something very different.
“And I’m not sure it’s fair for you to ask Addie that question,” Jake broke in, his tone abrupt. Obviously, he was all too willing to go to the mat for me when I didn’t know whether or not I should try to defend myself. “The guy killed her mother.”
Margot’s eyes flashed dark fire. “I’m well aware of the situation. He did a terrible thing…probably lots of terrible things. I’m not disputing any of that. I’m only asking whether we’re all okay with allowing someone who might be witch-kind to remain ignorant of that knowledge. I think it’s something we might want to consider before we make any other decisions.”
An uncomfortable silence fell. Laurel’s face was full of righteous anger on my behalf, and I didn’t have to guess what her opinion on the matter might be. Connor and Angela were a bit harder to read; although I thought I saw sympathy in their expressions, if the faint frown that pulled my brother’s brows together and the way his wife’s mouth pursed slightly were any indication, they seemed to be having a difficult time seeing the problem in purely black and white terms.
It was Connor who spoke at last. Maybe Angela knew it was his call, just because the Wilcoxes were his clan and he’d have to make the final decision. “A big part of me would like to let Agent Lenz just rot,” he said. “But….” A breath escaped my brother’s lips, and he went on, sounding very tired, “But the whole reason you came up with Trident Enterprises, Jake, was so we could reach out to witches and warlocks who didn’t know anything about who they were or where they came from. If we don’t do the same for Randall Lenz, then aren’t we being just a little hypocritical?”
Jake still held my hand under the table, out of sight. He let go then, placing his hands on the tabletop. “I don’t think so. We’re just being careful. Like Addie said, the guy isn’t going to believe a word of it anyway.”
“Why not?” Margot asked. Her cool dark gaze met Jake’s. “After all, the man clearly is ready to believe in the fantastical, or he wouldn’t be heading up a program that specifically seeks out people with extraordinary abilities.”
“Because he thinks he’s dealing with some sort of extra-sensory stuff,” I told her, since Jake’s mouth tightened, and he appeared unsure as to the best way to respond to her comment. “They want to measure those abilities and test them, teach people how to control them. He doesn’t believe that any of it is magic. He thinks it all comes from untapped abilities in our brains.”
“Still,” she argued, “he has to have a fairly open mind, or he wouldn’t be working in that field at all. There are many civilians who are so close-minded about the whole thing that they’ll deny the evidence of their own eyes if it better fits their worldview.”
As much as I wished I could poke holes in her assertion, I knew she was right. Randall Lenz wanted to believe on some level, or he would have pursued a different line of work. For all I knew, maybe he’d detected trace
s of his own power over the years, and that was what had made him focus on seeking out others with gifts far beyond what was considered normal.
If our hypothesis was true and it turned out that somehow my lightning attack had awakened Randall Lenz’s magical talent, then he must be wrestling with the same problem that had tormented me for more than ten years, of having a strange and unruly gift with no way to control it. As much as I hated him for what he’d done to my mother, could I live with myself if I condemned him to a lifetime of fighting something he couldn’t see and didn’t understand?
As soon as I asked that question of myself, I knew the answer. It wasn’t one I wanted to acknowledge, and yet I understood that I had to face it, no matter what happened.
Jake must have detected some shift in my posture or expression, because he sent me a worried look. “You don’t owe Randall Lenz a damn thing,” he said, his tone fierce.
Maybe I didn’t. And yet…and yet, I knew I owed this to myself.
“We have to help him,” I said softly, then glanced around at everyone else gathered at the table. “Now we just have to figure out how.”
15
He stared down at the sketches he’d composed when he got home from work that evening. At any other time, he might have stayed late to see if Dawson could come up with anything helpful about their hacker or the trio of strangers who’d abducted Adara Grant, but he knew he was tired…and possibly a little more rattled by his confrontation with Wallace Bryant than he wanted to admit.
Now a glass of single-malt scotch sat on the table next to the sketches, a half-eaten sandwich from his favorite deli resting on a plate a little farther away. Randall Lenz reached for the scotch, took a swallow, and set the glass back down.
He didn’t know why those faces haunted him so. Somewhere deep within, he seemed to recognize that they held greater significance than simply being Adara Grant’s kidnappers, but his tired brain didn’t seem able to grasp the pattern.
Winds of Change Page 16
