“Yeah. Reagan had an assistant, a nurse. She wasn’t there all the time. Maybe two or three. Late forties, blond hair with bad roots and blue eyes.”
“A name?” Though she could have told Cleo herself.
Cleo thought for a second. “Stand…no, Stone.”
Darcy’s features pulled taut. She looked at Jack and stood.
“You’ve made a connection,” Jack said.
“Yes, to Athena. Betsy Stone is the Academy’s nurse.”
“You need to warn your friends.”
“I will when we get home, but first we have to get Cleo to a safe place. She’s the only one so far who can confirm that there were surrogates and they were connected to Betsy Stone and Dr. Reagan.”
Jack stared down at her, his hands on her arms. “You need to contact the police.”
“I can’t. Not yet. It’s not up to me alone, Jack. The Cassandras have to be told all this first. But I have to get Cleo into hiding.”
He agreed, reluctantly. “I didn’t want that badge back, anyway.”
“Oh, jeez, Jack. Don’t get involved if it will ruin you.”
“We’re in this together now, baby.” He rubbed her arms, his voice low, almost intimate. “Your friends, these Cassandras, they know about what Maurice did to you?”
“They hadn’t back then. Only Rainy did. I was too ashamed to admit it or get them involved. I think they’ve guessed, though. Kayla knows some of it. Alex, too, I think.”
“You need to talk to them, baby. They’re your friends.”
“I—I will.”
“I’ll be there if you want.”
She smiled, touched. “Thanks, Jack. But that will wait. We have to get organized. I need the case out of the back of my trunk.”
“Makeup?”
She nodded and started dialing the network. She looked at Cleo. “We have to get you hidden, deep. You can’t go back to your apartment.”
“What about money? I have money.”
“Got an ATM card?” Jack asked and Cleo nodded. “Give me the number and I’ll draw out money for you. They’ll be looking for you two, not me.”
Cleo handed it over. “I’m trusting you with my savings.” She gave him an amount to take out.
“I’ll be back in a few, there’s a machine downstairs.” Jack slipped on a jacket, then kissed Darcy.
“Get some clothes, Jack, men’s clothing, too. I can’t disguise her well, but we can make it less obvious that she’s a showgirl.”
Jack glanced at Cleo’s long legs and short skirt. “That will take some doing. I won’t be long.”
When she locked the door after him, Cleo said, “He’s cute. You love him?”
She blinked. “I don’t know.” Did she?
“He loves you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He never questioned you, doubted you, and now he’s risking his life for you. Girl, that’s love.”
Darcy allowed herself a small smile, then went to work, packing everything up and dialing the network again. She couldn’t get anyone to answer and there wasn’t a machine to leave a message. She wished Jack would return, but she knew he had to go someplace else for the clothes besides the hotel stores. Armani wasn’t in the budget.
“It’s hard to believe that someone wants to kill me because I had a baby.”
Darcy related. There was nothing more horrifying than to know that someone actually wanted you dead. It had a startling effect, making her want to fight the very idea. She hoped Cleo was ready to do the same. There was no turning back. Whoever had taken the baby was willing to kill to keep it quiet. Rainy had been the first to pay the price. As far as Darcy could see, they were all becoming expendable.
Someone jiggled the door handle. Darcy stilled, moving to peer through the peephole. She couldn’t see anyone, but a shadow moved against the far wall. As if the person knew he’d be seen through the peephole. She drew her knife, wishing there was a window. Someone pushed on the handle and Darcy looked again. A figure moved away.
It wasn’t Jack, but he was big.
She backed away from the door, tense. She heard something in the room next door and thought, had they just misjudged the room number?
“Why are you doing this for me?” Cleo said softly.
Darcy pressed her ear to the wall, listening. No sound. “Because you’re in trouble. You don’t deserve to be, you had a baby thinking it was for some childless couple and you got the rotten end of the deal.”
“There is something else you two are not saying, though. Or you wouldn’t have come looking for me. I think I have a right to know the whole story.”
“Yes, you’re right, you do deserve to know, but it’s dangerous,” Darcy said. She looked out the peephole, saw nothing and stepped away.
“They want to kill me. How much more dangerous could it get?”
“I see your point.” Darcy told her about Rainy, and the discovery of the egg mining. Cleo’s eyes widened as she filled her in on the Athena Academy grads’ theory.
“I had this woman’s child? This Rainy Miller Carrington?”
“Unless there are more women who were used, it’s entirely possible you could have given birth to a child created from her eggs. Eggs that were fertilized with some man’s sperm.”
“And you think they killed her because she found out these people had taken her eggs when she was a kid?”
“No doubt about it.”
“Jesus Christ,” she muttered. “What did they do with the baby? Hell, she’d have to be about twenty years old now.”
“I don’t know. My friends and I are all looking into this, but we’ve barely scratched the surface. I’m going to hide you, Cleo, but you have to stay connected to only me. When we do learn the truth, we might need you to testify. You cool with that?”
Cleo snapped her fingers and did what Darcy referred to as “the home girl head slide.” “In a heartbeat.”
An unexpected rap on the door startled them, and they both froze. Darcy grabbed her knife, and whispered, “Get back out of sight.”
Cleo went into the bathroom, closing the door.
With her knife behind her back, she looked through the peephole, expecting housekeeping. She got Jack.
She opened the door.
He looked at the knife. “You need a gun.” He pushed his way in.
“I hate them. Besides, they look better on you.”
Darcy went to the bathroom, letting Cleo out. Jack handed the bags to Cleo, then an envelope of money and her cards. Cleo smiled, but counted it, checked it against the receipt. Jack was amused.
Cleo sifted through the clothes, holding them against herself to check the size. “Decent,” she said, then folded them.
“Get changed,” Darcy said, then to Jack, “Where’s the makeup kit?”
“Couldn’t get to it and it won’t matter, we’re getting out of here now. I spotted company downstairs. Someone was asking about her.”
“Someone just tried the doorknob. I thought it was housekeeping.”
“I’m betting it wasn’t.”
Darcy trusted his judgment.
“I’m checked out, we take the bags and get lost, fast. Did you contact the network?”
“I can’t get anyone to answer.” It was making her nervous.
When Cleo came out, they were ready.
“We go down the back stairs to the garage floor,” Jack said.
Darcy agreed. “Were they headed up here?”
“They got an ID on her, so yeah. We have about two minutes before they’re on this floor.” Jack looked out into the hall. “We have to make a run for it.”
“Oh, jeez,” Cleo said, tucked behind them.
“There’s a stairwell to the left. I want you to go first, then Cleo. I’ll be right behind you. Go to my car, I’ll come back for yours later.”
With her knives in easy access, Darcy stepped out. She looked left and right, then to Jack. He pushed them both ahead. “Go, go.”
They trotted d
own the steps, the echo in the stairwell making too much noise. They had to cover several floors and by the time they reached the last they were breathing hard and sweating. The bags felt like boulders.
Cleo jumped the last four steps.
Jack peered through the small wired-glass window leading to the parking area. “I’m parked in the far corner near the service elevator.” Jack opened the door, motioning to them and the women stepped out, heading straight to the car. Jack pinched the key ring, the car locks sprang and headlights blazed bright in the darkness. “Hurry, ladies!”
Darcy tossed the cases in beside Cleo, as Jack slid behind the wheel and started the engine. Locking her seat belt, she looked in the rearview mirror and saw two men, running, aiming guns.
“Oh, no, Jack. Move!” One was the man who’d attacked her!
“I see them. How’d the little bastard get out of jail already? Get down.”
Throwing the car in reverse, Jack hit the car alarm, the loud, constant pulse echoing through the parking garage as he backed out. He clipped a parked car, shifted, then slammed his foot on the gas. Gunshots blasted, one plunking into the side of the car.
“Cleo!” Jack swerved the car. “Cleo!”
Darcy twisted in the seat. “She’s okay, Jack.”
“Oh, God, the bullet’s in the door, right beside me!”
“Dammit, who are these people?” Darcy snapped.
Jack handed her his gun. “If they shoot, shoot back. Aim low, at the tires.”
Darcy swallowed, taking the gun, and glanced in the side mirrors. A black sedan was damn near kissing the bumper. Jack took a curve and gunned the engine harder, bouncing up the car-lined corridor, the bottom of the car hitting the pavement and sending up a burst of sparks. The car fishtailed to the right, and he corrected, the vehicle swerving before it lurched out of the garage and into the street like Jonah spit from the whale.
Cars swerved to avoid them and he headed toward the highway. It was the only way they could lose them.
“Shoot!”
Darcy opened the window, leaning out.
This is not as easy as it looks on TV, she thought. She pulled the trigger and the car behind them swerved hard.
Jack jammed on the gas and Darcy fell back into the seat.
Cleo was looking out the back window and slowly brought her gaze to Darcy. “Nice shot, girl.”
Darcy handed Jack back the gun as if it was infected.
“Well, we know one thing,” Jack said.
Darcy looked at him. His gaze was shooting all over, the mirrors, the road, then her. “Whoever orchestrated Rainy Miller’s death is out to make certain no one knows why.”
Chapter 13
T he egg mining conspiracy, as Darcy had come think of it, knew where Cleo had been all this time. They’d watched her, noticed who she’d spoken with and Darcy realized that contacting Tony “Touchy” Feeley had put them on Cleo’s trail again. And on hers.
Darcy could kick herself.
She’d hidden from Maurice, kept much of her life from her Athena sisters and now she was on the verge of losing everything. More people would be hurt, she thought with a glance at Cleo asleep in the seat behind her.
Jack seemed to sense her anxiety and reached out, covered her hand and squeezed. “We’ll make it.”
Darcy could only nod, then pulled out her cell and dialed one of her contacts. She didn’t have time for the safe house. It was too far away. She had to hide Cleo tonight. She couldn’t risk a tail to her home, her business. She waited for Steve or Krissie Bishop to pick up.
“I have a package.”
“Jeez, Piper, don’t you ever rest?” Steve said, grouchy.
“Life happens all the time,” she said and regretted her waspish tone. “Sorry. This is major. My package has to go deep. Now.”
Behind her, Cleo roused, listening.
“No, I don’t have time for the usual routes. Or a good cover.” She listened as Steven Bishop gave her options. They would take her under if she got Cleo to the change point, a warehouse that Steve and Krissie had set up to house women while Steve made new IDs for them.
Darcy checked her watch, then glanced at the mileage road sign. “In the late afternoon. It will take me that long and I have to cover my tracks. Great.” She cut the line, laying the phone on the console.
“Whazzup, girl?”
Darcy met Jack’s gaze, then looked at Cleo. “I’m going to hide you for a while. You won’t be able to work, but these people will help you stay safe.”
“I need to work, Piper.”
Darcy didn’t correct her name. The less anyone knew, the better. “I know, but consider that your life is at risk. Make a choice.”
Cleo sighed hard. “You’re right. But doing nothing’s going to make me crazy. What can I contribute?”
“What are you good at?”
“Besides shaking my ass to music, not much.”
Jack laughed shortly and kept driving. “Ass shaking is a good living I hear,” he said.
“Yeah, but I have money now. I’ve saved for years. I wanted to marry, retire and have my own babies.”
Darcy smiled sympathetically. Regardless of the circumstances of the pregnancy, it couldn’t have been easy losing the child, especially knowing that people ruthless enough to cut her wrists had the baby.
“It’ll be all right, Cleo. We’ll find the child and get the bastards who hurt you.”
“You think?” Cleo scoffed, not at all convinced.
“I know.” Determination strengthened her tone. “But you can’t touch the rest of your money or go home after today, or they’ll know. Maybe we can get someone to go back if there’s something important you need, but for now, all ties have to be cut. I can’t be certain but I have a feeling these people have their fingers in networks that I can’t even imagine.”
Cleo shifted, sighing. “Well, I’m good with computers.”
“Really? You don’t strike me as the computer-geek type.”
“Hey, geeks are cool.” She flashed her a smile. “I didn’t go out much, so yeah, I can find my way around a computer.”
“Good, but don’t touch your accounts, credit cards, nothing. You won’t need to. My friends will put you to work, trust me.”
Cleo nodded, agreeing to the terms that would change her entire life for God knew how long.
Jack drove without stopping. Darcy made a call to the Bishops and directed Jack to a warehouse. As they approached, the huge door rolled up. Once they were inside, it shut and the lights came on. Krissie and Steven Bishop walked out.
Darcy and Jack climbed out. Steve was walking toward her till he saw Jack and stopped short.
“Turner?”
“Hello, Bishop.”
Darcy frowned between the two men. Steve Bishop was an ex-cop. His wife had been a dispatcher. They were the heartbeat of the network, moving women from here to the safe houses. The last time she’d seen them was with Mary Jo.
“You know each other?” Darcy asked.
Jack slid her a glance. “Yeah. We went to the academy together. I’m not on the force anymore, Steve.”
“How’d she get you into this?”
“Osmosis, I guess.” Jack winked at Darcy.
Cleo climbed out, looking around and drawing attention. Darcy introduced her.
Bright and always cheery, Krissie nudged past her husband, saying, “You can stay with us, help out here till we can move deeper. There is no place safer right now, Cleo. We’ll give you a new identity, but I think it’s best if you stay out of sight.” She glanced at Darcy for confirmation, then looked back at Cleo. “Sorry, but as a woman, you’re just too tall to go around unnoticed.”
Darcy didn’t tell the Bishops that Cleo was a showgirl. That was Cleo’s choice. All they knew was that Cleo had to hide, yet had to be accessible to Darcy. She didn’t give details, yet she was certain Alex or Kayla would want to interview Cleo, and knowing Tory, she’d want to document the entire investigation. It was
safer if only Darcy knew where Cleo was.
“You okay with that?” Darcy said to Cleo.
“Anything is better than dead, thank you.”
Darcy smiled, then looked at Steve. “By the way, Cleo knows computers.”
He clutched his chest. “Woman after my own heart.”
Krissie groaned. “Oh goody, another one who talks in megabytes.”
Smiling, Steve nodded toward the setup in the loft. “Come on, let’s get you a new identity, and I’ll show you around.”
Jack moved up beside Darcy and she looked at him. “So this is how you get it all done, the fake IDs?”
“Yeah. There are a few more stations like this, but this is where the most work is done. Are you mad?”
“No, but I can see several violations from here.”
She groaned. “I know, Jack. Why do you think I wanted to keep you out of this?”
“I understand, but it scares the hell out of me that you take risks like this.”
Cleo walked toward them and stared at Darcy. “You okay?” Darcy asked.
“Thanks. I feel safe for the first time in a long while.” Cleo reached out, hugging Darcy and nearly bringing her off the floor. “Thank you so much. I’d be dead without your help, and I won’t forget that.”
Darcy held tight, liking the woman and praying this all worked out before anyone else got hurt. “Do what they say, Cleo,” she said when they parted. Her eyes burned. “If they need to move you somewhere else, do it. This is my number.” She gave her another card with her number. “Memorize it. And if you need me or think anyone’s getting close, call me. I’ll come to you.”
“My own personal cavalry, huh?” Cleo pushed the card inside her bra.
Darcy smiled, reaching for Jack’s hand. “You could say so.”
“You and your friends will keep looking for the child?”
“Yeah, we will.” Whether the child Cleo had carried was Rainy’s or not didn’t matter right now. Matching up DNA when and if they found the girl would give them the answer. But it was the conspiracy, the entire manipulation of Athena Academy, its resources and the students, that needed to be uncovered. The trouble she’d encountered already told Darcy that this was more widespread than any of them thought. There could be other babies…well grown women or men now, that had been created by these people. The biggest question still was, why?
Alias Page 15
