Color Blind (34 page)

Yancy’s eyes narrowed. “Of course not.”

“It’s settled, then. Yancy’ll stay, hang with Zane tomorrow. Nobody will be the wiser,” Hank said.

“You don’t think there’s a chance of Sebastian remembering this is one of the people he might’ve
shot?
” Zane piped up.

Jenna locked eyes with Yancy. He sent a lot across that fierce look, but the main thing was
do this.

“No. I don’t think he knows who any of those people were,” Jenna answered. “His aim isn’t that good.”

•   •   •

H
ank’s phone rang almost the moment they got back in the SUV. He put Saleda on speaker.

“Eva Delaney?” Hank asked.

“Grogan spoke to her all right,” Saleda replied. “Sending an agent to her house now. Grogan called her, pretended to be another volunteer for tomorrow. Told Eva he was supposed to pick Zane up at the Roger’s Road Emporium so they could hash out details. Eva argued, said
she
was picking Zane up at the abandoned grocery on Wilshire, that Zane had been out with some guy. Grogan acted confused, didn’t realize Zane was on a date. Eva told him she hadn’t met the guy, but Zane recruited him for tomorrow, so they’d have one more. Then Thadius told her not to worry, he would give Zane a ride. Said he was in the Wilshire neighborhood and could swing by and pick her up.”

“Get a car to the old Wilshire grocery store ASAP,” Hank said.

“Already on it,” Saleda replied.

Hank hung up. “Be nice if tomorrow could be anticlimactic.”

“You think Grogan caught up with Sebastian already?” Jenna asked.

“Don’t know. You doubt it?”

“Zane made it home safe and sound. I wouldn’t think Sebastian would hang around after Zane got in the taxi.”

“True. Unless Grogan was lying in wait and followed Sebastian after Zane left? Thadius isn’t into killing innocents, after all.”

Jenna shrugged. “No way to know until tomorrow.”

They pulled into Jenna’s apartment complex.

“You want me to come up?” Hank asked.

Jenna already had one foot out the door. “No, thanks. Charley’s probably home by now.”

“I’m surprised you’re staying.”

“Me, too.”

She hurried across the lot to her door, climbed the stairs. She shoved her key in the lock, turned it, and rushed inside. She closed the door behind her, bolted it. If Charley came home, he could call her to let him in.

Shadows slithered across the walls, moonbeams eerie through the blinds. So weird, coming home to a dark apartment. She hadn’t done this in years. Someone was always up: Dad making a pot of coffee and walking with Ayana, Charley writing music in the living room under the lamp.

Ayana was probably fast asleep by now, warm and cozy in her porta-crib, gently sucking her pink pacifier. God, Jenna ached so much to be near her.

In the bathroom, Jenna twisted the shower knobs and pulled the curtain closed to keep the spray confined to the tub. She closed the door and flipped the bolt. She might be the only person in this building with bolts on every door
inside
her apartment.

Her phone dinged with a text message. Yancy.

Checking in to make sure you made it home okay.

Jenna smiled and typed back.
You were worried about me?

After a few seconds, the text chimed again.
Nah. Just didn’t want to be left to face the crazies tomorrow with only Hank at my back. He’d push me toward the bullets.

Jenna typed back.
Have no fear. I’ll back you up. Gotta run-shower.

She laid her phone back on the counter, turned to step into the tub. The text alert went off again.
Damn you, Yancy.

Jenna picked up her phone. It said:
So, what color is your towel? *wink wink*

She bit her lip.
Of all the things people ask about colors, I think that’s the first time anyone’s asked me about a towel, Yancy Vogul.

Jenna stood holding her phone now, stark naked, waiting for his reply.
Ding.

I think light blue would be a nice towel on you. Unless you have some freaky color association with towels I don’t know about.

Despite herself, Jenna giggled. She wrote back:
Nope. No towel associations. Light blue works fine for me. Good night, Yancy . . .

Ding.
Good night, little blue. ;-)

Jenna grinned. She put down her phone and climbed into the shower. The spray beat down on the knots in her neck, warm and delicious. Tomorrow would be hell. Thadius Grogan knew Sebastian would be at the rally, so he’d go after him. Sebastian’s target was the rally itself. Both Thadius
and
Sebastian were Jenna’s targets. A giant battle royale set so the victor would be whoever lucked out. At this point, Jenna had no idea who to expect that to be. Crazy thing was, Isaac Keaton probably wasn’t even sure, either.

She squirted shampoo into her hand, lathered it in the tangles of her hair. Sure, Isaac had some contempt for a weakling like Sebastian, but in a way, it would be part of the fun of it for Isaac. In a way, by pitting Sebastian up against a worthy opponent like Thadius, he was testing his own skill in training and preparing Sebastian. He’d set up this little cat and mouse game, and he’d probably get some sick pleasure knowing that at any moment it could go either way.

And whatever else Isaac was, he was confident. He had to have been reasonably sure the two of them would make it to the rally, if only because he had controlled the level of information Thadius Grogan had access to, through Howie Dumas, just enough that he knew it would take them a while to come head to head. Could Thadius get to Sebastian before that? Sure. But a gamemaster like Isaac Keaton who thought himself flawless in his planning wouldn’t assume so. And for Isaac, really, anything that happened from here on out was a win in his book. No matter who did what at this point or what chaos went down, he had caused it. He had lorded power over these people, pulled the puppets’ strings so that ultimately he had been the only one truly in control of their destinies. Whatever happened to any of them would all be at his mercy, exactly how he would like it.

Suds dripped from her hair and fell to the tub floor. This would be a crapshoot, all right. They had Zane, but whether or not she could lead them to Sebastian depended on Sebastian’s own plans. If Jenna, Hank, Yancy, and the team had any karma going for them, they’d find Sebastian and he’d show them his plan in time for them to stop it.

Even though they didn’t know what Sebastian was up to, Thadius was the
real
wild card. Grogan would want Sebastian no matter the cost. The profile said Grogan was in pain, probably so much pain that he didn’t care about
anything
but making Sebastian pay. In fact, Thadius might very well
expect
to go down in the process.

For so long, Jenna thought she had it bad, what with how her life had gone. But really, she still had her dad, Charley, and a beautiful little girl. Thadius didn’t have anything—anyone—to live for. Wife gone, daughter killed.
That
was pain.

Jenna was going through a rough time with Claudia out and her family stashed away, but hard times passed. Keeping Ayana safe mattered most, and as long as they didn’t know where Claudia was, Ayana’s well-being took precedence.

What if they never found Claudia? What would she do? Hide Ayana forever? Stay away forever?

Jenna had to stay away, though. Claudia had plenty of reasons to come after Jenna. Her mother might go after Ayana to hurt
Jenna
, but at the end of the day, it was Jenna whom Claudia wanted.

Right?

The question was moot. Jenna knew it the same way she knew a lot of things. The same way she knew her mother.

It wouldn’t be long before Claudia and Jenna would come head to head. The calm before the storm. Sooner or later, Claudia would surface, and when she did, Jenna had to make sure the woman could never hurt her family again.

T
he next morning, Jenna stood with Hank in a storefront on the block shut down for the vigil for killer Fordham Beach. The place was something like a Thanksgiving Day parade minus the giant Bart Simpson and Garfield balloons. People ate hot dogs and carried signs that said things like,
THE DEATH PENALTY ADDS MORE MURDER
and
HATE DOESN’T HEAL
. Kids too young to know what they were wearing were dressed in T-shirts with Beach’s face and the words,
HE HAS A KID LIKE ME
.

Behind barricades set up on the other side of the block a different group of people hunkered, and they held signs, too. One lady behind the barricade wore a neon shirt that proclaimed
JUSTICE FOR KAREN
. Jenna assumed Karen was the name of Beach’s victim.

Then again, maybe Karen had nothing to do with Beach, and Beach just represented everything the protesting woman hated. Who knew.

“No chance we’re spotting Sebastian at random here,” Jenna mumbled. Not like she’d expected to be able to, but the thought of not having to put Zane in the position appealed to her.

“Nope. We’ll have Zane call. Yancy has a headset. We’re good to go,” Hank replied.

They’d met Zane in the wee hours of the morning to brief her, get her ready. Zane would start the day stationed at the volunteer booth, Yancy alongside her. Yancy wouldn’t be able to tag along with her everywhere, but he’d blend in well enough to try to keep them posted.

Thadius Grogan’s whereabouts were an entirely different matter. The BAU team had given his photo to all the agents working the rally, but other than that, they had no way to find him. They’d sent agents to search the area near the grocery store where Zane was supposed to have been picked up just in case, but no sign of Grogan. Whether he’d ever ridden that way to try to head off Sebastian or if he’d thought today’s rally was the better option was anyone’s guess. But since Thadius’s kills were about as subtle as the smell of pot in Zane’s father’s apartment, the fact that they hadn’t found a dead Sebastian anywhere near the grocery store told them the two men had yet to run into each other. This meant today, the best plan of attack was to keep a sharp eye out and hope when they found Sebastian, they’d find Thadius, too. Hopefully before
Thadius
found
Sebastian
.

Jenna and Hank’s vantage point—an abandoned storefront at the corner of the first block after the main entrance to the vigil—gave them a limited view of three blocks in either direction of the street closed off for the event. It might not have been so limited if not for the thick crowd. All in all, a remarkable turnout for a murderer’s vigil in rural, middle-of-bumfuck-nowhere, Florida.

From where Jenna and Hank were, they could see the table Zane ran where volunteers passed out bottled water, bananas, and fliers. Zane herself disappeared from view depending on foot traffic, but that was why Yancy was at the table. A sniper waited in the loft above them, and he could cover most of the area within the blocks of the rally. A second sniper on the west corner covered his only blind spot.

“What time is it?” Jenna asked for the fifth time.

“Five more minutes,” Hank replied.

She glanced in the binoculars again, spotted Yancy. He looked natural, maybe more natural than she’d have been able to come across. Calm or not, watching him made Jenna’s heart flutter. She didn’t like that he had less protection than her Kevlar gave
her
. Hank had forced Yancy to check his Ruger at the surveillance van, dead set against a gun in that crowd, even given the circumstances. Jenna and Yancy had both protested, but the fact was, they were still
invited in
by the FBI. The Feds’ word was law.

No suspicious vehicles so far, no abandoned suitcases. Everything progressed as if this was just any other rally.

In about four more minutes, though, if Sebastian hadn’t contacted Zane, she would call him. Big risk, since Zane didn’t need to come across as too anxious. But there was a point at which they’d have to know where Sebastian was.

Two blocks away, a band jammed on the Frito-Lay-sponsored stage. If nothing else, the drums matched Jenna’s mood, pounding and building.

Jenna’s phone buzzed. Irv. Normally, she wouldn’t answer in this situation, but the color of traffic cones flashed in, the same color she’d seen every time a “Breaking News” bulletin came on TV since she was young. Irv knew she was at the rally. Something must be up for him to call now.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ve been going through some chat transcripts on Land of Valor, and I’m pretty sure I found our friend Isaac.”

“Oh yeah?” If there was anything to trump her surveillance of the events outside, it was this.

“Yup. A goddamned warlock. Like you predicted, other guys pointed out his monopoly of Sebastian. Sometimes seemed like he was wooing him.”

“Name?”

“Ain’t that the question of the year? Account’s listed under Rover McPhee, if that tells you anything. Prepaid cards only.”