Touch (Denazen #1)(65)

“It wasn’t Mercy, it was me.”

“I didn’t know that at the time. I believed. All I could think about was what they’d do to you.”

I swiveled the chair around and took his hands in mine. “I’m fine. You’re fine.”

“We’re both fine,” he said, planting a quick kiss on my cheek.

I nodded. “We are. And once I get Alex and my mom out of there, we can put this whole mess behind us. Maybe after we get settled, I can take you to see a real movie. None of that dancing stuff. A movie at an IMAX theater. One with lots of explosives. Guys love seeing things blow up, right?”

The printer stopped. I leaned back, Kale’s hand still in mine, and picked up the sheets. Skimming them, I smiled. Perfect. One last thing to do.

Opening the browser, I pulled up Craigslist. Searching the ads, I was relieved to find there weren’t many new weird ones. In fact, there were only two. One for lessons on how to raise cattle and the other claiming to teach llama training.

“Are these people supposed to be home soon?”

I folded the list and stuffed it in my back pocket. Grabbing a pen from the other end of the desk, I wrote both numbers on the back of my hand. “Nope, why?”

“’Cause someone’s here.”

I went to the window and cursed. The Rinaldis had obviously replaced Brandt. I grabbed Kale’s hand. “Hurry, we need to leave.”

§

We hit the pay phone in front of the Blueberry Bean, leaning in close as people skirted around us on the busy sidewalk. The first ad—the one about cattle raising—remarkably turned out to be legit. As I dialed the second, I said a silent prayer.

“I’m calling about your Craigslist ad. The one about llama training?”

“How many llamas do you own?”

“Um, two?” I replied. I had no clue what the magic number was.

A long pause on the other end. Not good. “I’m sorry. That’s too many.”

“This is Dez Cross,” I said quietly into the receiver. Pleaseplease please let this be the right ad. Then, for good measure I added, “I have the information Ginger wanted.”

The man on the other end hesitated for a moment. It seemed to take forever, but finally he gave me an address and hung up.

“We’re in,” I said, turning to Kale. “Let’s see what we have here and then we’ll head over and see Ginger.”

Hanging out in front of the Bean was a bad idea. Too public. So I tugged Kale’s shirt and nodded to the side of the building. Once we were in the shadows, I pulled the pages from my pocket. There were only three sheets of names, the rest of the bulk was something else. An email. From my dad to someone named Vincent.

The party is the perfect setup. Crowded and loud, we should have no problems. My sources have confirmed that both targets will be present. I also expect to handle a small problem that has recently come to light. I’ve discovered the instigator of our recent rash of disobedience. I will deal with it.

Party?

Underneath it was Vincent’s reply, dated two days ago.

This is very good news—and on top of your other surprise, too. I must congratulate you. I’ve been told Supremacy is now fully operational. You have my go-ahead on the party, Cross. I think this will work. Who will you send?

Next page. Another email.

Thank you. I am very pleased about Supremacy. I was beginning to lose hope. As for the party, I have the perfect group. I’m thinking about sending Alex Mojourn along with Sueshanna Odell. I understand it would be Alex’s first assignment, but he knows this crowd and I feel it could work to the advantage of our goal to send someone familiar. I have someone hunting down the party’s location as we speak.

“Oh my God,” I breathed.

“What’s wrong?” Kale jumped to his feet, head swiveling from side to side.

“The file.” I waved the papers. “It has information on where Mom’s going to be. Alex too!”

“Where?” Kale sounded hopeful.

I flipped to the next page—the last one.

Then it’s settled. The day after this Sumrun, we should have two new Sixes in our stable and the problems with insubordination should be quelled.





25


The bouncer outside the party winked as we went inside. The same guy I’d promised to wait for the first time we’d come here. Good to know he wasn’t holding any grudges.

Without Alex, I didn’t know where to find Ginger. After about twenty minutes of searching, though, I spotted Dax in the corner talking to a tall, thin blonde. We moved along the outside edge of the room—it was less crowded and made Kale feel better—on our way to Dax.

He saw us approaching and parted ways with the blonde, greeting us with a friendly smile and wave. “Nice to see you two again. And in one piece.”

“Same,” I said, smiling. “How’s Mona doing?”

He sighed. “She’s stopped screaming at night, and sometimes we think we can see a small spark of recognition in her eyes.” He shook his head. “But she’s not much better than when you last saw her. She doesn’t speak except to call out for her sister.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We still have hope, though. In time, she might come out of it.”