SeductiveTracks (14 page)

“I know I’ll sound like a stick-in-the-mud,” Matt
interrupted, “but do be careful. You’re obviously a capable witch, but these
aren’t especially nice people we’re dealing with.”

Melissa let a pale hand flutter to her chest and she batted
her eyelashes in a dramatic, over-the-top fashion.

“Handsome, charming
and
protective,” she said.
“Kelly, darling, you’ve found a prince.”

Kelly laughed and leaned against Matt, pleased when he
wrapped his arm around her.

“He’s a gem,” she agreed, “and like I said, a good guy.
You’ll keep me updated? I’ll email your regular account with the latest
information when we learn more. Just keep your ear to the ground. It might all
be over before it really gets going if we can get an action plan rolling on our
end.”

“Oh, I’ll be the very soul of discretion,” Melissa assured
her and drained her glass. “Well, Kelly, I hope I can be of some further help.
Don’t be afraid to get in touch.”

Kelly smiled and rose as Melissa did. Matt reached out over
the coffee table and they shook hands once again.

“It was good to meet you, Melissa,” he said with an open
sincerity that was impossible to mistake for being fake or just pure manners.
Melissa winked at him and turned to Kelly as they walked back to the door.

“Oh, I do like him. He doesn’t have any shadier friends,
does he?” the blonde teased.

Kelly laughed and shook her head. “I’m not sure,” she replied,
“but I promise to keep my eyes peeled and you in mind. Thank you for coming
over, and take care of yourself.”

“Always do, darling,” Melissa replied with a saucy wink. The
two women exchanged a quick hug before Melissa left the apartment. Kelly closed
the door behind her and tilted her head at Matt as he walked over to her and
pushed her back against the door.

“I really don’t want to know,” he said, his dark-blue eyes
full of laughter and love. “Do I?”

“No,” Kelly replied with a laugh as she shook her head. “No,
you definitely do not.”

Matt dipped his head and kissed her until Kelly’s lungs
burned with the need for air and she had to open her mouth to pant softly. Her
hands had wound their way around his back and reached down to cup his ass.
Their hips had thrust up into each other, his half-hard erection grinding down
into her and teasing her.

With a groan, they separated, and Kelly ran a hand through
her short hair as she tried to steady her breathing. Matt drew in a deep
breath, held it for a moment before blowing it out and sucking in another. She
grinned, a little turned-on by how much she could affect him with a simple
kiss.

“I’ve never had such a problem with focus before,” he said.
Kelly chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

“I would apologize, but my ego and my inner female vixen
enjoy the reaction I elicit from you far too much to make it sound authentic,”
she explained. Matt eyed her, his dark-blue gaze making her nipples tighten in
reaction.

With a visible effort, he collected himself and ran his
fingers through his hair to push it back into place.

“Okay,” he said, his voice betraying the fact he was once
again attempting to be no-nonsense. “Last time we got a line on these guys was
for the Jolt, and it was because we managed to track down where the
manufacturer had their laboratory. By tracing the actual place they cooked the
drug, we could nail them down to a single, physical location and it helped us
immensely.”

“Do you think they would make the same sort of mistakes
again?” Kelly asked. “I mean, surely they’ll have worked out how you guys
caught them last time and will be sure to not make the exact same errors a
second time?”

Matt thought about it.

“Maybe,” he conceded. “We discovered them because although
they were working in a laboratory that wasn’t under a company name, we were
able to get them through the utilities billing sections. It wouldn’t be hard to
backtrack and work out how we traced them, and such a simple thing could easily
be rectified.”

“Plus they’re still a grass-roots organization,” Kelly
pointed out. “Since they’re not very structured yet, they might not need an
actual laboratory for the production just yet. They could easily be making tiny
samples and still refining the processes in someone’s garage or backyard
somewhere.”

Matt nodded, acknowledging the wisdom in her words. “That’s
true. Okay, we can’t repeat our success with the same method, then. So where
does that leave us?”

“Well,” Kelly suggested, “maybe you could just Track the
antidote itself?”

“I’d need the essence,” Matt replied. “Without knowing what
the antidote’s essence is like, it’s pretty much impossible for me to get a
reading on it and hone in on where it is.”

“But wouldn’t the antidote be a derivative of the drug Jolt
itself?” Kelly asked, feeling a trickle of excitement race through her blood.
Taking the idea and running with, it she continued.

“I mean, the two would have to be linked at an essential
level, since one is used to counteract the other.” She spoke faster as her
excitement grew. “Not only that, wherever the Jolt has been sold, for certain
that’s where the pushers will go to sell the antidote as well.”

“Hmm.” Matt pondered for a moment. “That, at least, does
make some sense.”

“So if we hang around where the Jolt has been pushed, at
those clubs you mentioned, then we’d certainly find this new stuff also being
sold, and you can get a proper reading on its essence from there!”

“And then?” Matt probed, his mind still turning over her
idea. Kelly laughed.

“Why, easy,” she said. “Then Shadow will steal a sample for
your captain and his magnificent team of laboratory analysts to probe and pull
to pieces. They can do whatever it is they need to do, and we save the day!”

Matt chuckled and shook his head in mock awe. “And you say
you don’t want to play on the good guy side of the fence.”

“I never actually said that,” Kelly protested, “I just
didn’t express a great, abiding desire to become some secret weapon and play on
a team.”

“Do you really not want to work for a crew?” Matt asked, his
tone pensive.

Kelly paused for a moment to think before she answered.
“I’ve never worked permanently in a team,” she started. “It would be something
different for me. Better in some ways, I admit, but I worry that it could also
be harder and less comfortable in others. When it’s just me, I don’t have to
compromise, ever. And I can make snap decisions and not worry about stepping on
other egos or doing anything except what suits myself.”

Matt nodded and Kelly shrugged, feeling selfish and
embarrassed.

“Honestly?” she continued, “the perks would be wonderful.
I’d get to have someone else to watch my ass and not be entirely responsible
for every little thing that could go wrong. Then there’s having another set of
eyes and ears to watch out for the variables and even just the simple camaraderie
and team dynamic. It’s a very lonely feeling being all by myself, but at the
same time I only have myself to please, so it’s not as if I need to worry about
other members of the team and their thoughts, opinions and feelings either.”

“I can understand all that,” Matt agreed as he dropped a
casual kiss onto the tip of her nose. “But you’ll find that in an elite team,
crews like the ones I’ve worked on in the past, even in the less compatible
teams, when someone has a specialty, within reason their word is gold. If you
have a Tracker and they say go left, the team goes left and doesn’t doubt or
question the command. If an Assassin says to hold off for five minutes because
the wind has changed, the team sits tight for another five minutes and waits—they
don’t bitch or moan or question that wizard. I don’t deny that many crews can
be full of egos, but unless someone is proven to be less than stellar, everyone
knows that even when the team is freshly put together, they’re there because
they rock at what they do.”

Kelly listened and thought about what Matt was telling her.

“So if a thief heard something unusual, couldn’t place
exactly what it was and decided to pull the pin on that night’s events, there
wouldn’t be fallout?” she asked, her tone reflecting her faint disbelief.

Matt shrugged a shoulder and scrunched his nose. “I couldn’t
say there’d be no fallout, “ he admitted, “but a master thief knows what
they’re about, and on a mission like that it wouldn’t be just some minor
backlash if the team were caught. Missions like these are frequently life and
death. You couldn’t be some nervous virgin who runs at every little creak and
groan, but if you’re on a mission yourself and would judge the prize not worth
the risk and would turn tail and leave, then chances are you’d need to do
precisely the same thing with a full crew at your disposal. It wouldn’t just be
your ass on the line but the whole team’s. People understand that.”

“Would your team understand that?” she asked, curious.

Matt grinned. “Babe, my current team is exceptional,” he
boasted. “If one of us is ready to pull the pin, the rest of us follow without
doubt. But you can’t always rely on having a team as cohesive and well-meshed
as my current one to work with. I’ve been really lucky this time around.”

Kelly bounced a little on the balls of her feet, then threw
her arms around Matt’s neck and kissed him hard on the mouth. They were going
to go to a club and possibly end the evening with a bit of thieving. Already
she could feel the blood beginning to pound in her veins as her excitement
built.

Even more wonderfully, this time she wouldn’t be working
alone. Matthias would be with her, by her side every step of the way. For the
first time ever, she could share this most private and sensual side of her nature
with someone and not have him cast her aside and brand her a criminal. That
thought alone was enough to make her wet with anticipation.

“We’re going to steal stuff,” she whispered against his full
lips, her own a scant inch away. Her breath was warm and she could taste his
breath as he expelled air. She all but panted her excitement. “We’re going to
steal something tonight. Maybe pick someone’s pocket or break into their car.
One way or the other, with any luck, tonight someone will lose something to us
and we’ll have the spoils of victory in our hot little hands.”

“That thought really turns you on, doesn’t it?” Matt said.
Kelly nodded vigorously.

“Oh, yeah,” she replied. “I can feel the adrenaline surging
already just at the thought of what we might do tonight.”

“Well, then,” he purred against her lips as he pressed
another kiss to her chin, “looks like you’re going to show me a good time when
night falls. I can hardly wait.”

Kelly stood in front of her open wardrobe and pondered what
to wear. They’d decided she should be in something that would blend from club
to club as they did a few rounds, but she was also trying to anticipate what
she might need for the next day or so as chances were good they would either
not get to bed until well into the following morning, or if they called it a
night and decided to try again the next evening they might end up at Matt’s
place tonight instead.

Kelly also needed to try to predict any tools she might need
from her kit. She had decided to pack a backpack, which would have to blend in
with her clubbing outfit but also carry any number of items. Since they were
flying blind here, she had no real idea what she might need, so part of her
wanted to err on the side of caution and just pack everything, but she knew
that wouldn’t work either.

“I’ll need my picks,” she said, more to herself than
Matthias, “and I might take one lightweight rope, just in case. Matt, do you
think—”

Her words were cut off by a double ring of the door buzzer.
After a brief pause it rang one more time and Kelly felt surprise zing through
her. It was a very old code between her and Liv, one they had used for years to
let each other know it was them.

“That’s Liv,” she remarked, startled. “I hope everything’s
okay. I wonder what she wants?”

“You can tell it’s Olivia?” Matt replied as he got up off
the bed and followed her into the main living area. Kelly threw him a grin over
her shoulder and pressed the release button without even bothering to check it
was her friend.

“It’s a series we’ve used since we were kids,” she explained
as she unlocked the door and opened it a crack so Liv could walk straight in
when she arrived. “Two quick knocks—or rings on the bell—then a pause, then one
more. Don’t ask me why that was the pattern, or even when we started using it.
Neither of us can remember.”

Kelly walked back into her bedroom and continued to stare at
her wardrobe. “Maybe if I start by packing the kit I’ll have a better idea of
what I need. Plus I can pack a spare bag with clothes and odds and ends we
might end up needing over the next couple of days. I’d rather cover my bases
than discover too late I need something and it’s back here tucked away
somewhere.”

“Maybe we should—”

Matt cut his words off as Olivia called out a hello from the
front door.

“We’re back here, Liv,” Kelly called and gave Matt a wry
grin of apology.

“We?” Olivia repeated, curiosity deepening her tone. “Don’t
tell me that you’ve finally—oh!”

Kelly struggled not to laugh as Olivia’s eyes boggled when
she saw it was Matthias in her bedroom, sitting on her bed looking calm and
casual as if he had lived there for years. He smirked a bit and Liv’s green
eyes flashed at Kelly with deep curiosity. Kelly took pity on her best friend
and shook her head.

“He knows,” she reassured her friend. “He knows I’m Shadow
and we’re actually about to go out tonight and look for this antidote. I might
even get to break into something and initiate Matt in what a thrill being
somewhere forbidden can be. He’s decided to walk on the shady side of the law
with me.”

“Actually, babe,” Matt replied with a hint of laughter in
his tone, “you’ll be the one walking on the side of law and order for the
evening.”

“Well, that’s as clear as mud,” Liv replied. She leaned
against the doorframe and wrapped her arms across her chest. “Explain, one or
both of you, please. Now.”

“Matt’s boss has sent him and Julian out to look for a
partial antidote to that new magically enhanced drug I told you about—Jolt. We
decided chances were good that the antidote would be sold in the same places
where Jolt is,” Kelly explained. “We know it mainly gets pushed in clubs,
though certainly only at the more high-end ones now it’s so difficult to obtain
and it’s gone underground. So we’re going to visit a few ritzy clubs and see if
we can find some samples of either the antidote or the Jolt itself and work out
what essence it has so Matt can Track it. If we end up needing to steal
something, all the better for me.”

“And you’re staring into your wardrobe because you have a
closet full of clothes and nothing suitable to wear?” Liv teased her.

Kelly snorted. “If I wanted something skimpy, sexy and
see-through I’d be raiding
your
closet,” she assured her friend. “No,
I’m trying to work out what on earth I might need over the next couple of days.
We have no real idea how long this might take and Matt has a place closer to
that side of the city so we’ll likely end up crashing at his apartment. So I
need my kit and a few changes of clothes and I was just starting to get myself
organized.”

“Well, you’ll be able to organize yourself better when you
hear the news I have to tell you,” Liv stated.

Kelly replaced the black leggings she had been looking over
and turned to face her best friend, curious. They’d had lunch just twenty-four
hours ago and—except for the news of how drop-dead handsome Liv had found
Julian and the curiosity of being questioned by a police officer and an
Enforcement officer—she hadn’t had anything much to share.

“What’s happened?” Kelly asked. “Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine.” Liv waved a hand. “I was over in
Chicago Heights earlier this morning. I visited some vice president of
accounting at one of the foundations who my boss is all chummy with who’d lost
an oil painting. Mr. Merrick, I believe. Anyway, I was returning this giant
ugly thing I’d Retrieved for him and I was helping his poor wife to get it back
into its ‘special place’ on the wall and I overheard him making this phone
call. If Julian and your guy there hadn’t spoken with me yesterday I wouldn’t
actually have understood half of what he said. I suppose that was why he wasn’t
worried to speak so blatantly in front of me. He only mentioned the name ‘Jolt’
once, but it was the antidote he seemed to be talking about.”

“This accountant was talking about this on the phone in
front of you and his wife?” Matt repeated, his tone high with surprise.

Liv nodded. “I know it sounds insane,” she admitted. “But
like I said, he was speaking in generalities. It wasn’t until we’d finished
hanging up the painting that it finally clicked why it all sounded so familiar.
Like I said, if you and Julian hadn’t explained so much to me, and barely a day
before I heard this conversation, there would have been no way I’d have put it
together.”

“Did he say where a sample might be?” Kelly asked. The hair
on the nape of her neck rose and she felt intrigued, a faint sense of magical
intuition stirring within her. Kelly was surprised—it was similar to what she
frequently experienced when a heist seemed to come together in that way that
indicated it was meant to be.

“No,” Liv admitted. “I’m not even certain he has a sample,
but he’s definitely in the loop there somewhere, possibly as one of the
investors or just an interested party. Heaven knows, Merrick has a boatload of
money to throw around.”

Kelly turned to face Matt and see what he thought about it
all.

“Melissa said they’d need cash to start up,” she reminded
him. Matthias nodded his head and looked pensive.

“And she pointed out that people like that would probably be
the ones who invested for a quick, rich yield,” he added.

“I can’t guarantee you’ll find anything,” Liv stressed.

Kelly smiled at her best friend. “But there’s something
else?” she hazarded, reading the glint of smugness in the redhead’s gaze.

Liv nodded and preened. “Mr. Merrick was so pleased at
having his stupid painting back that he boasted to me that he’s having a couple
of dozen of his ‘closest friends’ over for cocktails and drinks tonight,” Liv
gloated, pleased to share the icing on her cake. “It was why he was so insistent
that his wife and I had to hang the painting just so in its place of honor in
the study.”

“He’s hosting a party tonight?” Kelly reiterated, surprised
by the stroke of good fortune.

Parties were notorious for lax security. False alarms
occurred at least once or twice throughout the evening. Guests wandered about
and there were all sorts of distractions throughout the festivities that kept
usually precise and competent systems and security people off balance and
chasing their tails.

“Not just any old party,” Liv gushed. “He boasted about his
system, a Remington III, and how his guests would enjoy a banquet dinner and
cocktails before the grand unveiling at midnight.”

“Really?” Kelly paced a little as she ran through the
possibilities in her head. “You’re sure he was boasting to you and not just
throwing you a line to string you along? They’re really keeping everyone out of
the study until midnight? Or more likely a quarter to. It will take time to get
everyone set up exactly as he wants them if he’s going to make such a show of
it.”

“The man was trying to get in my pants,” Liv confirmed.
“We’d been flirting a little—nothing serious, you understand, just a bit of
banter. I thought it highly distasteful that he could be such a prick in front
of his wife, though she didn’t seem to care in the least. But yes, I’m
positive. He thought he was charming me and showing me how big his metaphorical
dick was. I strung him along ’cause I figured you’d be thinking what you so
obviously are.”

“Well, it’s a golden opportunity,” Kelly replied. “We’d be
crazy to miss it if it’s for real.”

“Are we really discussing breaking into the personal home
office of
the
Rafe Merrick?” Matthias clarified, sounding as if
something were strangling him. Kelly and Liv exchanged a quick, speaking
glance. Kelly crossed over to her wizard and took his hands in hers.

“This will be a perfect opportunity for us,” she said. “With
a party going on, security will be completely out of synch. People will be
milling around, there will be an amazing amount of noise, music, talking, drunk
people going off into side rooms for quickies with random other people… There
will be false alarms going off all over the place, and that’s assuming they
don’t simply switch the entire alarm system off.”

“Someone of Merrick’s wealth and standing is not going to
turn his entire Remington III system off,” Matt said, obviously not convinced.
Kelly released his hands, realizing she would need to be logical and
professional. Sweet-talking him would not be the right move here. This was her
area of expertise and Matthias needed not only to see it, but to accept it and
her recommendations.

“Probably not,” Kelly agreed, “but after the fourth or fifth
time the security detail has interrupted him during one of his pontificating
lectures to some rich client or family friend to tell him that the alarm in
section four has gone off again, or that there are two people fucking like
rabbits in the third floor bedroom and section eight has gone red and it’s
absolutely critical he disarm the code, please… Well, it’s quite possible
Merrick
will tell them to just turn the damn thing off and leave him be.”

Matthias stayed silent for a moment, clearly struck with the
logic and sound reasoning behind that statement.

“Moreover,” she continued as if she were explaining
something obvious to a colleague, “it’s always the last thing anyone expects.
All the guests are focused on their own thoughts. They want something from
Merrick or they need to be photographed by the journalists who’ve been invited
so they appear with so-and-so on the society pages tomorrow. Caterers and
musicians are scurrying about with a ten-foot list of impossible things to
accomplish and the host wants to show himself to the best advantage while
having a few drinks and enjoying himself.

“And that’s not even taking into account the fact that Mr.
and Mrs. Brown are having a huge argument and are on the brink of divorce,” she
continued, waving her hand to indicate she was using made-up, generic names to
prove her point. “Mrs. Jones is having an affair with Mr. Smith and sixteen
other inter-personal things are happening and that’s what the guests are
focusing on. People are so steeped in their own issues and their own evening
that they don’t notice one more guest. That’s assuming they bump into me. Nine
times out of ten I’m in and out of the house before anyone has even registered
someone who isn’t supposed to be on the premises is there.”

“And when they realize something is missing?” Matthias
asked, still not convinced.

Kelly shook her head. “If I was stealing the painting, I’d
never even consider doing it while they were having an unveiling party for it,”
she assured him. “It would be guaranteed to be noticed missing. We’ll be
looking in his safe for the drug. No way would he look for that during the
party. It would kill his reputation and very likely land him in serious hot
water socially. It will be the following day if not later before he realizes
anything is missing. Besides, it might not even be there. This is a scouting
mission.”

“And you really think this is the best time? You’d do this
if you were working on the case all by yourself?” Matthias said, though he
seemed to know now what her answer would be.

Kelly nodded and held her breath. Part of her knew that if
Matt couldn’t take her word on this, it would not work between them. They could
still work on their relationship, but she could not,
would
not work in
conjunction with someone who attempted to lay down the law to her in her area
of expertise.

Matthias looked into her eyes, and she tried to send him the
reassurance he appeared to seek. Whatever he was searching for, he seemed to
find it, for he nodded and the creases that had appeared on his brow cleared.

“Okay,” he said, “we’ll go in tonight. I presume I’ll have
to dig out my best suit if we’re to blend in should anyone come across us?”