the door.
“Well, first, you can be my lookout,”
Remy said, gesturing for her to go ahead
of her. “There are only a few people
who know who I am, and I don’t want
them to see me. Not because I don’t trust
them, but just until I figure out what to
do.”
Cat stopped halfway down the flight
of steps and turned to look up at Remy.
“You’re not thinking about turning
yourself over to the Strangers, are you?”
“Not unless it’s my only choice,” she
replied. “But if it’s an option between
all of Envy getting blown up or me going
with them . . . the choice is easy.” There
was strain around her mouth despite the
certainty of her words.
Cat shook her head. “No. We’ll find
another way.” A determined energy
filled her. This was something she could
do. Something worthwhile. A way to
change things, make them different . . .
make up for not getting there in time to
save Rick. A life for a life.
A chill of understanding caught her
by surprise. Was this what she’d been
waiting for? Something to do, to set
things right?
Cat decided at that moment there was
no way she was letting Remington Truth
offer herself up as a sacrifice. Anyone
who was even
talking
about doing so
had to be worth helping.
“So,” Remy said. She started down
the steps, forcing Cat to continue on as
well. “I need you to keep an eye out for
anyone who’d recognize me.”
“I guess that would include everyone
who was in with Flo yesterday? Ana and
Zoë and the rest? And I think I met
Simon and Elliott too . . . do they know
you?”
“Right,” Remy said. “Yes, they do
know me. And there are a few other
people who might recognize me. One is
named Ian Marck. I definitely don’t want
to run into him. I have to find a place to
hide out in the meantime.”
“You could stay in the room I have,”
Cat offered. “It’s just me and my dad,
and he’s busy right now.” She wanted to
tell Remy about the Resistance, and that
Dad was involved . . . but it wasn’t her
information to tell. She didn’t want to
put her father at risk.
They’d gone down several flights of
steps, with Remy describing the man
named Ian Marck as well as she could.
“And then there’s the mayor. You know
who he is, right? From onstage last
night?”
“How could I miss him? He is wixy
hot
,” Cat said with a grin. “A little old
for me, but definitely worth noticing—in
a different way than that creepy albino
guy who was checking me out. Anyway,”
she said, feeling a little foolish. This
wasn’t the time to be drooling over men.
Good thing she didn’t mention the über-
hot dark-haired guy who’d come up to
stand right next to her last night when her
dad was up onstage.
H e
was someone
she’d been hoping to run into again, now
that the chaos was over. “What’s the
matter?” she said when she realized
Remy had gone stock-still, five steps
above her. Even Dantès recognized his
mistress’s concern, for he gave a short
little yip.
“Did you say ‘albino’?”
“Yes. It’s not that I have anything
against them,” she added hastily. “I
mean, I don’t care if they have—”
“Never mind that,” Remy said,
urgency and fear in her expression. “You
saw him here? In Envy? Was he with
anyone? Was he alone? What did he
look like?”
“Yes, he was still here this morning.
I saw him when we were cleaning up the
rubble. He was with a woman. She was
kind of skanky looking with white-blond
hair in little—I don’t know what you
want to call them—
things,
like short
ponytails all over her head.
Crap.
You
know them? This is bad, isn’t it?”
“I should go back,” Remy said,
spinning on the stairs. “If they’re here, I
need to tell Vaughn. And get somewhere
where they can’t find me. They’re the
ones—they have to be the ones—who
told the Strangers where I am. And that I
have—” She stopped abruptly.
“You can stay in my room,” Cat
offered, wondering what she’d been
about to say. She had . . . what? “It’s just
me and my dad, and he’s . . . busy right
now. No one would think to look for you
there. Plus . . . how would you get back
into the mayor’s place? The door was
locked, wasn’t it?”
Remy bit her lip. “Damn. True. Okay.
Wait.
” She stopped, held her hands out
in front of her as if telling herself to
pause. “I’m not going to go running off
and hiding from them. I’ve been running
for twenty years. It’s time I took control
of things.”
Cat smiled, that spike of adrenaline
back. “I like the way you think. I’ll do
whatever I can to help, Remy.”
The other woman gave her a brief
smile. “Well, you say that now . . . but
this could be dangerous. And you don’t
even know me.” Her blue eyes fastened
on Cat, serious and intent.
“I need something to do,” Cat told
her. “Something to do with my life. I’ve
been feeling lost and empty for a while.”
To her embarrassment, her voice
cracked. “So what’s the plan?”
“We find the albino and the woman.
And we get some answers.”
T
hirty-two hours
It was, Remy reflected, better to have
that awful deadline to focus her mind on,
to keep herself sharp. For, despite all of
the other problems she faced, her
thoughts kept wanting to slide back to
Wyatt . . . and the fact that she’d never
see him again. And that she wanted him
here, to help her. To give his flat, terse,
no-nonsense advice.
Her eyes stung and she squeezed
them shut tightly. No. Not now.
For some reason, Cat reminded her
of Wyatt. Maybe it was her no-nonsense
manner. Or the way she interacted with
Dantès. Or maybe it was just simple
transference—her confidant in Wyatt
was gone, and Cat happened to be the
next possible candidate.
Either way, she knew she’d have to
deal with her feelings for Wyatt
eventually . . . but right now she kept
telling herself there was a more urgent
matter at hand. People’s lives were in
danger and she was the catalyst for it all.
She had to be the one to find the
solution, because she was the only one
who knew the whole story. And she was
the only one who could make the
decision for her own future—one that
was now entwined with that of an entire
city’s.
Step by step. Little by little. Take
your time, figure it out. You have time.
You have time.
Remy waited with Dantès in Cat’s
room while their hastily assembled plan
was put into action. It would likely
work, but she would have been much
more comfortable being the one walking
up to Lacey and sticking a gun into her
side than allowing Cat to do it.
But it had been Cat’s idea—simple
and ballsy—and Remy couldn’t take the
chance of being seen while she was
looking for the bounty hunter. And Cat,
who’d never met Lacey, could literally
walk up to her without the woman
knowing she was a threat . . . it was just
a matter of finding the right moment,
when the bounty hunter was alone, and
letting her feel the gun Cat held beneath
her sweater.
So once again Remy knew she could
do nothing but sit and wait and see if the
plan succeeded.
The firearm was one good thing—a
stroke of luck, really. She’d acquired it
from Vaughn’s apartment. After he left,
she’d been busy, searching for anything
she could find that might help her decide
whose side he was really on. She found
the handgun—a Glock, just like one
she’d had when she was with Ian—and
some ammunition in a hidden space in
the back of one of his dresser drawers.
Likely he hadn’t anticipated her being in
his bedroom, but when Marley arrived
unexpectedly, that was where she’d
gone. And that was how she had the
chance to be nosy.
And now she sat, petting Dantès,
letting her mind run over those events
and the last few days . . . avoiding only
the knowledge that she’d never be kissed
again the way Wyatt had kissed her.
Who else, she thought with the faintest,
saddest of smiles, would kiss so
arrogantly and sensually at the same
time? Who else would be kissing the
hell out of her at the same time as he was
fighting himself from doing so?
She wished she’d had more of a
chance to talk to him. To understand
what went on in that mind of his. To ask
for his advice. To be embraced and
touched . . . and feel safe. Even if it was
only for a moment. Even if it was only
an illusion.
Wyatt. I hope you’re at peace now.
When the knock came, Remy stilled,
her heart pounding. She made a firm
gesture to Dantès not to make a sound.
This is it. Or, at least, it’s something.
She went silently to the door to look
through the peephole.
Lacey’s furious face, awkward and
bulbous through the tiny spherical
window, glared up at her. And behind
Lacey stood Cat, a grin on her own
countenance.
With a gust of relief, Remy opened
the door and Cat fairly shoved Lacey
into the room.
As soon as the bounty hunter saw
Remy, she bared her teeth in fury.
Despite the gun, she would have lunged
toward her as Cat turned to close the
door but for Dantès, who growled.
That was all he needed to do to stop
Lacey in her tracks.
“Dantès,
guard,”
Remy
said,
gesturing to their guest. She smiled
humorlessly at her former abductor. “He
won’t attack unless I give him the
command. Or unless you make a move to
hurt me. So I suggest you take a seat and
make yourself comfortable.”
Lacey had no choice but to comply,
and gave Remy a look of loathing before
sitting in the chair at which Cat pointed.
But as she sat, an odd expression
crossed Lacey’s face, and she clapped a
hand to her chest as Remy heard—or felt
—the faintest sizzling
pop.
“What the
fuck
,” Lacey exclaimed,
frantically looking around the room.
“What’s—oh hell
no
,” she breathed,
curling her fingers tighter into the shirt
she wore. Remy realized the bounty
hunter was gripping herself at exactly the
location of her crystal, which was
hidden by a black leather vest that did
not have its usual peephole.
“You
do
have it,” she said, looking at
Remy.
Her
expression
was
a
combination of greed and fear. “After all
these years, all the searching—”
She cut herself off with a groan as
Remy asked, “What are you talking
about?”
“The Mother crystal,” Lacey panted.
“It’s here. It’s right here. And it’s . . .”
She was still clutching her shirt, but her
face had gone gray and pale as Remy
watched, thinking the bounty hunter
either an amazing actress or in great
agony.
Cat
was
watching,
too,
with
confusion and surprise, but still held the
gun. And now the faint smattering of
freckles stood out more sharply in her
face. “I’ll keep her covered, Remy, if
you want to take a look and help her.”
She moved close enough that the gun
barrel was pointed right at Lacey’s head.
Remy nodded. Her new partner was
too smart to take any chances. By now
Lacey was collapsed in her chair, trying
to breathe. Her face was slick with
sweat and she continued to grip the stiff
vest that obscured her crystal.