Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(78)

"But most of all," he continued, "she hates you. Thinks you took her father from her."

"What? How?" To my knowledge, I had never encountered her or her dad.

"He liked you better than her, that's all I know. Well, that, and pride is everything to her. She has to be the best at everything, own the finest things, and, like I said, be the most powerful."

"But...but who the hell is her dad?" Could he have been one of the scrims I'd helped PSI put away over the past months?

"In the memories I viewed, she only thought of him as Dad or Daddy, so I don't have a clear sense of his identity. And at the time, I had no idea who you were. Where are you, Belle?" he asked gently. "Give me your exact location. Please. It'll save time."

To tell or not to tell? Rome would freak if I did. But Jean-Luc was the best lead we had. "Why do you want to know?"

"I want to keep you safe."

"Does that mean you want to help me fight bad guys?"

"No, but I will if I must. Anything to keep you safe," he said fiercely. "You're my everything." Knowing someone cared about me that much, even though that affection stemmed from something false and wrong and couldn't possibly be real, was a dangerous temptation wrapped in a pretty pink box.

Once, Rome would have said that to me. Once, Rome would have cared that intensely.

I sighed, then told him where I was. Maybe a mistake, maybe not. But Rome wasn't here to talk to about it. I'd had to make a decision, good or bad, and my gut told me this was the right thing to do. I needed all the help I could get, and right now Jean-Luc was more of an asset than an enemy.

"Don't go anywhere until I get there. All right? I told one of my friends to follow you, but I haven't heard from him. That's not like him."

"No one followed me last night." Rome would have sensed it.

"The Multiplier can be in eleven different places at once. That's why he's the best tracker in the business. You wouldn't have known he was behind you. Or in front of you, beside you. I promise." The Multiplier? One through Eleven, I realized with shock. Now I knew why they'd been so curious about Rome. "I met him. Them. Whatever. Tall, puppy-dog eyes. Eleven guys living in one body."

"That's him. I met him on a job. He can irritate the hell out of you, but he's harmless. But wait. You met with him?"

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to meet him, them, whatever, at nine tonight. He told me he'd tell me about Desert Gal."

There was a beat of silence. "Meet with him? Again?"

"Yeah."

"He was never supposed to make contact with you," Jean-Luc said tightly. "This doesn't make sense, but I'll find out what's going on. I'll be there in an hour. Less than an hour." Determination radiated from his voice. Click.

I stared at the phone. God, what a mess. And where the hell was Rome? I wondered for the millionth time. Don't worry about that now. You've got things to do. I dialed John's number. He didn't answer, so I left him a message telling him to put a tail on Reese. Then I searched the bed for a note from Rome, but didn't find anything. I quickly phoned my voice mail to check for messages that had been left while I'd been talking to Jean-Luc. There were two. My entire body tensed as the first one played.

"Miss Jamison, this is Dr. Becket. I just wanted you to know Tanner woke up. He's doing famously.

Better than we'd expected. In fact, he's trying to leave." A loud beep suddenly rang in the background.

Muttering followed. "You can't do that, Mr. Bradshaw. You have to - " Click.

Tanner was up and around. I'd known that through Jean-Luc, but hearing it live and practically in person solidified the knowledge and deepened my relief, my joy.

I was smiling as the second message began to play. "Belle. Oh, God." It was Sherridan. Again, my body tensed. Hearing her worried voice caused tears to fill my eyes. "Cody's taken us. Bastard grabbed us when we tried to run. He's working with Desert Witch now and I - "

"That's enough, Curls," a harsh, unfamiliar female voice said. "Come and get her, Wonder Girl. If you're strong enough." There was a crackle of static. The line went dead.

Sherridan was alive and well. That, like Tanner's recovery, was news for celebration. Desert Hag expected me to come after her. That was a challenge I would not refuse. Cody, I was unsure about. Was he really working for the enemy or still helping us and staying true to his undercover character?

I lumbered to shaky legs and padded into the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth - and discovered a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt in a bag on the counter, and boots on the floor. In my size. So Rome had done some shopping. What he hadn't bought me, however, was underwear.

Was that code for go without it? Probably.

I took a quick shower, a bit of my hair dye washing out, dressed (minus underwear) and picked through the weapons left over in Rome's arsenal. I tried to strap several small blades to my wrists and ankles but couldn't cinch them tight enough and ended up dropping them so many times I finally gave up and lifted the bigger knives. They were heavier and easier to hold. Those I fit through my belt loops. I even sheathed the mini-Taser in my back pocket. I knew the damage the thing could do. After all, I'd once stopped Rome in his tracks with it.