House of Cards (14 page)

Rae wanted to swat her on the back of the head. “Yes, thank you, but we had better head back all together.” She wanted to see if Riley’s shoulder was all right and if she needed to get a hold of Jennifer or get more of the ointment for him.

“No problem.” Luke stood.

Nic grabbed Molly by the elbow and began dragging her toward the exit before she could start babbling away. “Nice meeting you, Luke,” Nic called over his shoulder.

Rae didn’t miss him
hiss, “Ow!” and jerk his hand away from Molly. She owed him one. “Well, I should get going too then.” She tugged on her skirt.

“Do you have plans next Friday?” Luke pulled his phone out. “Maybe we could catch a movie or do dinner, or both… if you want.”

She nodded. “S-Sure.” That was part of the reason she had stayed behind and not left with Nic and Molly, right? She thought about Devon and a surge of guilt ran through her.

“I’ve saved your phone number, but I’m not sure how you spell your name.”

“R-A-E.” She watched him erase Raye and type Rae. “My last name’s Kerrigan if you want to add it.” She bit her lip.
Should I have told him that?
She waited for him to cringe or drop his phone and run away.

He didn’t even blink. “Cool,” he said. “With a K?”

She nodded, wishing the thunder rushing by her ears would mute. She pulled her phone out of her little jacket pocket and found where Molly had saved Luke’s name. “What about yours?”

“Fodder. F-O-D-D-E-R.”

Rae giggled.

Luke raised his eyebrows and gave her a questioning look.

“Has anyone teased you about that? You know, ‘Luke, I am your Fodder?’”

Luke laughed, a deep, pleasant sounding one. “Nope. You, my dear, are the very first.” He held his hand up. “Scout’s honor. I kid you not.”

She smiled. “Sorry.”
Why do I have to have the lamest sense of humor?

“Don’t be. That was a good one.” He stuffed his phone in his pocket.

Scratch that. I’m a little bit funny.
“I had better get going before they leave without me.”

“I can walk you out.”

Very chivalrous
. “Thanks, but I’m okay. I probably should hurry.” If Riley or any of them were using their tatù, the last thing she wanted was for Luke to see it.

“I’ll text you… or call you?”

Thinking of Riley’s shoulder distracted her again. “Sure.” She leaned forward and hugged him. Her face burned instantly again by her random action. She pulled quickly away. “See you.” She avoided looking him in the eye and dashed for the door. She had never had this awkward feeling with Devon. Ever. But it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Memory Work

The second Rae stepped out of the club, she raced to where Riley had parked his car. Nic, Charlie and Molly stood on the passenger side, their faces grim.

“What’s going on?” Rae skidded to a stop right beside them. “Where’s Riley?” She shifted and glanced behind Nic into the car. Riley wasn’t there.

Nic, using his thumb, pointed behind him and made a face as if to say, ‘don’t go over there.’

A retching sound erupted from near the boot of the car.  Riley stood, half keeled over, his face hidden by the trunk. The sound continued a few more times before he spat and slowly
straightened, leaning against his car for support. “Nic, you’re gonna have to drive home.” He lamely tossed his keys in Nic’s direction.

Rae walked over to him, being careful to stop far enough away to avoid smelling or seeing anything. “We need to get you to the infirmary.” She whispered, knowing pale and slightly green looking Riley would have no problem hearing her. “Your shoulder could be poisoning you. I am so sorry.”

Riley half smiled, his eyes glassy. “Shoulder’s fine. Totally healed.” He swallowed and grimaced. “I think I’ve got the freakin’ flu.” He leaned over again and heaved.

“Oh!” Rae stepped back. Thank goodness it wasn’t from his shoulder.
I’d better not catch it if I’m supposed to be doing some mission tomorrow. Just the sound of him heaving is making me nauseous.
She’d never been a sympathetic gagger and there was a good chance she never would be, but she didn’t think it was a good time to test the theory. She opened the car door to the back. “I think I’m just going to wait in here.”

“Me, too.” Molly squeezed in close behind. “Why don’t you come back here with us, Charlie? Put Riley in the front seat,
close to the window. Whenever he’s ready.”

Thankfully they drove back to Guilder without having to pull over for Riley. The guys helped him out of the car and toward Joist Hall, while the girls split off and headed to Aumbry House. Rae checked her watch.
Half past ten
. Not too late, but she had to meet Julian tomorrow at five and didn’t want to be worn out. Rae suddenly realized that she didn’t even know where exactly they were supposed to meet up. She assumed just outside of Aumbry, but now that she thought about it, she’d rather have confirmation. She could walk over to his dorm on the top floor of Joist, except that then she risked seeing Devon, who lived across the hall. She pulled her phone out as she and Molly trudged up the black and white marble stairs. She sent Julian a text arranging to meet him in the lobby of Aumbry at four forty-five.

“Texting Luuuu-ke?” Molly said his name in a sing-song fashion.

“Julian, actually.” Rae finished her message and sent it. “I’m going to be gone for a couple of days, can you email me any work I miss or whatever I need to read?”

“Sure.” Molly stared at her before finally speaking again when they reached the
top of the stairs. “PC stuff?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Just be careful.” Molly hugged her and headed down the hall to her room. “’Night, Rae.”

That’s it?
Rae expected the Spanish Inquisition from Molly, not a simple understanding with no questions.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Rae. Just enjoy it.
“’Night, Molls.” She unlocked her room and pushed the door open. It resisted slightly, so she pushed harder. The sound of crinkling and ripping paper made her pause. She slipped through the narrow opening and checked behind the door.

A manila envelope lay wedged slightly under the doorframe. She closed the door, locked it for safety, and picked up the package. The torn corner revealed papers and a note stuffed in, written on the back of a receipt.

She tore the envelope open and spread the information on her bed. The hand written note was from Jenn.

Rae, stopped by to drop this off and go over it with you. Apparently, a night out before your first big job is what you believe to be a good idea. Enclosed are the blueprints and information of what you need to retrieve. Know it like the back of your hand before tomorrow morning. Good-luck, Jenn.

“Crap!” Rae muttered. She grabbed her phone and started to write a text out to Jennifer. Halfway through she hit the delete button and erased the message. She really didn’t want to go through this yet again. She might be a straight A student and a quick study, but so far with Jenn, she hadn’t shown her best and it really got under her skin. Instead of apologizing for probably the billionth time, she decided to memorize everything, and show how competent she really was.

Unrolling the blueprint on the floor, she set books on the corners to keep it from curling, and found a comfortable spot to sit in so she could study it. She had a momentary wild thought about Molly bursting through the door to interrogate her about her mission, “Shoot!” She snapped her fingers and ran to the door to double check she had locked it, and closed her curtains, peering outside into the darkness at nothing. Even with her room on the top floor, there were tatùs that could fly, or shift, or who knew what else. She also changed out of her short miniskirt into a pair of jogging pants.

Feeling somewhat protected, safe, comfortable, and ready, she grabbed a blank notebook and pen to take notes, and began reading the map. The top corner had a legend titled LAMB. It took Rae a moment to realize the London Art Museum Building was the target. Her heart sped and felt like it suddenly decided to move to her throat. This was not a small job. This was huge.
What on earth are they doing sending me in on something like this?
Yet more reason not to trust anyone. What she needed to do was be more than ready for whatever might happen.

She studied the building, trying to memorize all the entrances, exits, elevators, shafts and anything that led to the outside of the building. The blueprint was just a map, but whatever the plan was, in the event that it went south, she wanted a picture of this map burned into her brain so she could hopefully improvise. The only problem was that she had no idea how in the world she was going to get in and out without setting off the alarms.
Ah! Those other papers must be the plan.

Crawling over to the bed, she reached for the folder and began reading the papers. According to the plans Julian would rig the alarm, and then, using his ability, help her get to the Tudor manuscript. She needed to retrieve page thirty-seven. In, out and on their way home within twenty minutes.

Easy peasy.
Ha!

Hours later, Rae had memorized everything in the file, had a complete mental image of the blueprint, and felt she had a pretty good grasp of every detail. The manual had basically covered every possible scenario, and how she should react to each situation.

She rubbed her eyes and then checked her watch as a long yawn escaped.
Three o’clock?
Where had the time gone
? Crap! I have to meet Julian outside Aumbry in two hours.
She grabbed her backpack and stuffed clothes, make up and iPod with its charger inside. She crawled on top of the sheets on her bed and set the alarm to go off in an hour and a half.

A moment later, or so it felt like, the annoying beep of her alarm woke her. Tempted to hit the snooze button, she groaned and kicked the covers off. Forcing herself out of bed, she slipped down the hall to shower, still managing to get herself dressed and down the stairs about five minutes before Julian would be there.

She had grabbed the folder with the information and hoped to go over it with Julian to make sure everything was in place.  The quietness of Aumbry House and her earliness had Rae wondering if she should sneak into the library to get the journal.

She pushed aside the thought when she noticed Julian waiting outside near the bottom of the stairs. She went out to meet him.

“Rae!” he whispered with a big smile on his face as he opened his arms to hug her.

She savored the warmth he offered and squeezed him back. “I missed you.”

He coughed. “B-Bit too tight.”

She dropped her arms. “Oops, sorry.” She mentally switched her tatù to the healing one, not realizing her body had tuned into Jennifer’s leopard tatù as she had descended down the stairs.
Maybe the healing will make up for my lack of sleep.
She yawned despite the thought.

“How are you doing?” The concern in his eyes showed her that he was referring to Devon.

She shrugged, let the toe of her black sneaker bounce against the pavement as she tried to figure out the right response.
Would he tell Devon? Or is Devon the one who’s asking?
“I’m okay. A bit surprised, a bit bummed, but I think I’ll be okay.”

He slipped his arm over her shoulders in big brother fashion. “Want me to beat him up for you?”

“Yes,” she joked, suddenly very glad Julian was the operative the Privy Council had chosen as her first partner. Maybe Carter had something to do with that. She might owe him her thanks after this.

He nodded toward the parking lot and they began walking in that direction. “How’s my baby doing?” He grinned, as if eager to change the subject. “You do realize the only reason I let you borrow my car is because I know you can afford to fix it now.”

Rae stuttered to a stop and faked a worried look on her face. “Who told you? It’s only a tiny ding… and the scratch I covered with matching nail polish. You can hardly see it now, just in the bright sun.”

“What?” Julian stumbled but quickly recovered as he increased his pace and began dragging her along. “What happened?”

Laughing, Rae struggled to keep up. “Nothing! I promise.”

He looked at her with raised eyebrows but continued to pull her along at nearly break-neck speed. “What?”

“Nothing happened. Your car is fine! I was just pulling your leg.”

They had reached the parking lot. Julian walked around his baby, inspecting every nook and cranny. He finally snorted and unlocked to doors. “Your jokes stink, Kerrigan.”

Rae didn’t miss the smile he tried to hide as he slipped inside the car. She got in the passenger seat. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me, too.” He started the engine and patted the dashboard when it gunned to life. “Now that we’re out of possible prying ears; how is everything? The PC’s, training, your mentor, school, even Molly. How is Molly?”

Rae settled into her seat. “Molls is good. She’s determined to set me up with Luke…” Her head shot up as she realized what she had just said. Julian cut in before she had a chance to recover.