She’d lost the ability to separate herself from duty and right now
she had lost all sense of logic and reason.
“Are you going to try that with me too?” Her tone was cold, flat,
and bored but she knew her temper would show through her eyes.
Renee was too busy staring after Aeron.
That’s right, drive her off, you idiot.
“Keeping your job may be difficult should you alienate the boss’s
pet.” She hoped Renee would still remember that she was a CIG agent.
“Doubt you would be safe if the boss saw you digging your claws
into her.”
There was jealousy, then there was insanity. Ursula would ignore
them both, for now.
“I’d say that
Samson’s
actions would make anyone proud.”
Renee met her eyes but Ursula remained still, impassive, unmoved,
at least on the outside.
“Paying for a girl’s medical bills in spite of the fact she knew
her all of five seconds, I would say any boss would stand by her.”
Renee’s eyes widened. “She did what?”
“I failed.” Ursula’s voice was still calm and level. She slammed
down the feelings bubbling to the surface. “She broke her neck.”
“Then why didn’t she just . . .” Renee shoved her hands in her
pant suit pockets. “Do her thing.”
What did Renee think she was, a slot machine?
“Didn’t you see what happened to her the last time?” She blew out
a breath. “Didn’t it drill some sense into that hard head of yours?”
“It doesn’t happen every time.”
Ursula pushed off the wall. “You’re an idiot.”
Renee’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I am? Why? Because I’m not reveling in
a return to my criminal past?”
Renee one-oh-one. When cornered, make everybody else feel like crap.
“At least one of us remembers who we are.”
“Should I be checking my handbag?”
Rage ignited. Ursula slammed Renee against the pillar. Renee’s
eyes widened. She had no idea just how strong Ursula could be when pushed.
Long, slow breaths. Ursula shut her eyes, trying to calm herself.
She had to be the better person. She had to be the one to back off.
“I have work to do. I suggest you do the same.”
She let go and turned back to the building. It was worrying how
her temper had flared. Worrying that Renee had wanted to push her buttons.
“That’s it, walk away, you’re good at that.”
Ursula shut her eyes as she held the door handle. Renee was acting
like a jealous, spoiled brat. She was no better than the hormone addled kids
all around them.
She’d been as reasonable back then, before she wandered off into
Yannick’s clutches. Hardheaded, immature, and spoiled. Ursula felt her jaw
clench.
“Get back to work, professor, before you find yourself looking for
another job.” Her tone oozed the command and she knew Renee’s inbuilt reaction
would be to obey.
If there was an agent still lurking under the chaos of hormones.
Ursula didn’t look back but strolled inside past the students
still deep in their routine. She walked into her office and threw the sticks
from the popsicles in the trash.
She was more irritated at herself than Renee. Irritated that Renee
was being so clouded by . . . something . . . that she couldn’t see the truth
anymore. Didn’t any of the things they’d been through tell Renee anything? What
was her deal?
What was she jealous of anyway?
Ursula running off with Aeron?
It was nonsensical.
Was she that blind? Even if she did feel anything for Aeron in
such a way, which was crazy, did Renee think she’d be that cunning, that cold?
What kind of a callous snake did Renee think she was?
Ursula slumped down into her seat. She shut her eyes, breathing
through the hurt, the frustration. Emotions complicated things.
Emotional reactions were unprofessional.
She was the boss. She had to be better than that.
And . . . she’d slammed Renee up against a pillar.
“Not clever. Not freaking clever.” She shook her head at herself
and pulled out her cell phone.
Renee was worried that she would “steal” Aeron’s affection. Why
the stubborn pig-headed woman couldn’t see that Aeron had enough affection to
go around, she didn’t know.
Ursula sighed, the lingering pulses of anger still thudded through
her fingertips.
Renee was worried about stealing. Ursula tapped the call button
and closed her eyes. Nice to know how much Renee thought of her.
Chapter 28
I PUSHED MYSELF hard in the gym even though it wasn’t a clever
thing to do, but I was so pent-up. Renee hadn’t bothered to follow me and I was
thankful because I didn’t know how I could look at her right now. So I pushed
and pumped until sweat was dribbling from me and my legs felt like Jell-O.
What was her problem?
I would never say something about the things so personal to her so
why did she launch something like that at me?
How could she go from the hero I’d known back in Oppidum to the
nasty piece of work she’d been outside?
I pushed, pumped, and sweated, one rep after the other until calm
came with exhaustion.
Renee was too hard to figure out. I half wished I could forget I’d
ever met her but I knew that was the hurt. I knew that was a defense mechanism.
She made my head ache.
I hauled myself up and headed toward the villa.
Owens rounded the corner with a scowl on her face. I heaved out a
breath.
“Riley, what did you say to Roberta?” she barked at me like I
should be scared of her.
She ain’t Roberta, idiot
.
I looked up to the heavens. Today’s meditation had been the line,
“You lead me beside still waters, you refresh my soul.” I tried focusing on it
to find some sense of calm. If I didn’t I’d flatten Owens and then Jäger would
have another excuse to visit.
I tried to picture calmness. Breathe in and out like I did for the
exercises. A funny image of Frei’s group doing “grasshopper” yoga pinged into
my mind.
“She had a problem with Locks.” I breathed in calmness, out with
stress, grasshopper yoga, Mrs. Stein doing grasshopper yoga.
Ooh, no, not a nice thought. No Mrs. Stein. Frei and the
mini-thieves.
“I lost my temper when she got all high and mighty that Locks’ kid
got hurt.” My voice sounded serene even when I wasn’t.
“Roberta said that?” Owens looked surprised. She glanced back to
the block she and Renee taught from. She didn’t know the first thing about the
woman she was defending.
“Yeah. Threw an insult or two at me.” An odd sense of calm drifted
over me. I was thankful it was working. “You want to be her puppy dog. Fine.” I
cracked my back out and groaned with relief. “Look before you leap. Some folks
are shallower than they appear.”
Owens frowned. Her shirt stuck to her in the heat, she had
mini-muscles. In fact my wrist looked bigger than them. Her high cheekbones
were rosy in the sun. “What is that meant to mean?”
“She’s a prickly pain in the butt and if she pushes me, you don’t
want to be in my way.”
Owens put her hand on the back of her neck. Her watch caught my
eye.
Rolex. The Rolex I’d seen in my vision.
Panic thumped into life.
Miranda and Kevin.
That
Rolex.
Owens was in the right place. She taught them both with Renee. Was
that why she was sucking up to her?
“Prickly?”
I tried to keep my breathing slow and steady. Did Renee know she
was being hustled? “Yeah, you not noticed the violent temper?”
Violent, really violent but if Owens laid a hand on her Renee
would be the least of her worries. As if by command, Renee strode toward us.
I weren’t up for another fight but I had to let her know, somehow,
that Owens weren’t genuine.
“There a problem here?” she snapped, not even looking at me.
“Yeah. I got
issue
with Owens. Her
watch
is ugly.”
It was a long shot that Renee would follow my drift but I had to try. “It’s a
horrible
vision
.”
POI,
I thought, hoping that our freaky connection still existed.
She
is after the POIs
.
Renee’s eyes flickered.
She scowled and the odd flashed words,
you’re just jealous,
flickered
in my head. “It’s a nice watch. Perhaps, unlike you, Nikki has more taste . . .
and class.”
Ouch. Nice to know that Ivy League snobs stuck together. “Either
way, it would be dumb to get
fooled
. It ain’t even genuine.”
Owens frowned up at me. “It certainly well is.”
“About as genuine as your dental work.” I glared back and stepped toward
her. “FYI it’s garish.”
“What would you know?” Renee’s stance was protective toward Owens.
The sudden sadness hit me and I sighed. I was done with this. I
was done with the hassle. “I got something way better than some paid-for social
graces.”
“What’s that,
Samson
?” Renee shot as I walked away.
I turned and lowered my guard, letting the pain show. “A heart,” I
whispered as my voice cracked. “A broken one.”
FREI WAS WAITING for me as I stomped inside. Her icy blue eyes
were filled with concern. There was something about them that stuck out, in a
good way. Folks in magazines with a lot of gizmos to help had eyes like hers.
“Are you okay?” Her first question when I got home was always how
I was.
She wanted to listen, she cared.
“I feel like I just had my insides ripped out.” My chin wobbled
and I sucked in the air with a shudder. I needed to forget mean people and
focus on my task. We had kids to get out of there. “Owens is going to abduct
Kevin and Miranda.”
Frei raised her white blonde eyebrows. I wasn’t quite sure if it
was because I was stood staring at her, if I looked set to dissolve into tears
any second, or my nugget of information.
“She’s a jerk, Aeron. Let her cool off.” Frei pulled a carton of
ice cream and a spoon from behind her back. “Might help with the hurt.”
“Doubt it. Not unless I can throw it at her.” I rubbed a trembling
hand over my face. “She’s being fooled, again, and she’s oblivious.”
I shook my head at how blind she was being. “I told her Owens was
after the POIs and she told me I was jealous . . .” I huffed out a breath.
“Jealous of what?”
I wandered over to the sofa and slumped down. “Then, she got
nasty. Like Sam did. I can’t figure out why I made her hate me so bad.”
“You haven’t done anything.” Frei sat in her chair and held out
the spoon and carton. “Her issues go deeper than you. You’re close to her.
Maybe she didn’t know about Owens.” She blew out her own breath. “Renee’s ego
is a force to be reckoned with.”
So I’d stuck her nose out of joint by doing my job. “How so?” I
took the ice cream and spoon with a mumbled, “Thanks.”
Frei relaxed back in her chair. I noticed she too had a carton of
ice cream and spoon on her side table. “Renee is a product of an elitist
upbringing. She was spoiled. The daughter of a national hero who had looks,
brains, and charm.” Frei smiled, a wry smile. “She’s matured a lot, her heart
is good.” She shoved her spoon in her carton. “Sometimes she’s still a snobby
smart-ass.”
“Sounds like she was a pain when you met her.” I shoveled a
spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. Groaning, I relaxed back into the sofa.
Cookie flavor.
Frei chuckled. “Let’s just say that I once told her the POI she
was protecting was the Unsub. She was convinced Lilia had seen this POI. She
saw facts, figures, in simple black and white.” Frei let out a groan of delight
herself. “I was just a two-bit thief who wasn’t worth listening to.”
“But?” I opened my eyes.
Frei stared into her carton. “She was lucky I got her out.”
I leaned forward. “But I thought you said that she rescued you?”
Frei nodded. “She did. I found that the annoying, stuck-up blonde
who kept irritating me had wriggled her way inside. It was illuminating to
realize I actually cared about someone. She’s still like an annoying younger
sister.”
It was a fair summary of Renee. When she got something in her hard
head, it was like pulling teeth to dislodge it. She made mules look like
pushovers.
“Either way, with that nasty temper of hers, she ain’t gonna
listen to reason.” I took in another taste of delicious cookie goodness. “That
means Owens could hurt her and the kids.”
“She might be compromised . . . might . . . but don’t count her
out.” Frei munched away, the ice cream starting to get the same treatment as
the popsicles. “She might just be digging for information and be angry we think
she hasn’t learned.”
I waved my spoon in the air. “She said she never wined or dined
nobody for information.”
Frei’s lips spread into a slow smile, then she chuckled. “She does
a far better job. She crawls inside their affections and can get the truth out
of anyone.”
“Ain’t that the same thing?”
Frei tilted her head from side to side as she thought about it.
“One is quicker but Renee’s way is a lot more productive . . . and dangerous.
Yannick being a case in point.” She sighed. “People get far more deeply hurt by
her methods.”
“Like me.” I savored each bite of the creamy cold yumminess. It
did make me feel a little better, not much, but a little.
“No, whatever is going on in her head, Aeron,” Frei drew me to
look at her, “she cares about you.” Her gaze intensified. “She’s just a hard
woman to love sometimes.”
“Forget love,” I muttered. “I’m finding it hard to like her right
now.”
Frei tapped her carton with her spoon. “Then eat more ice cream.”
I did as told. “This how you cope with her grumpiness?”
Frei shrugged. “That . . . and other stuff.” She concentrated on
eating too much. She knew I was waiting for an elaboration on “other stuff,”
but she kept on eating.
“She was mad at you too, wasn’t she?” I wasn’t the only one eating
ice cream. “You couldn’t have stopped that girl getting hurt. You’re doing your
best.”
Shock twinkled away in her eyes. “She was . . . she is . . . mad
at me. It is my fault. I will feel responsible no matter what anyone says.”
“I get that. Product of caring,” I managed around a mouthful. “If
you weren’t here trying, these kids wouldn’t stand a chance. Quit beating
yourself up.”
She raised her eyebrows.
I nodded. “Yeah that’s an order . . . or . . .”
Frei raised her eyebrows higher.
“Or I’ll mess your hair up.”
Her smile vanished. “That’s mean.”
I chuckled around a spoonful. “My middle name here, don’t you
forget it.”
Frei licked her spoon and threw it back into the carton. It
sounded empty. “I’m a terrible friend.”
That curveball had me dangling my spoon from my mouth with a
“huh?”
Had I fallen asleep and missed something?
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me. Don’t rate me too much.”
She placed the empty carton on the side table.
“Too late.” I finished my own ice cream, quite sad that there was
no more cookie to make me feel better. “I rate you up with the best.”
“You shouldn’t.” Her voice was quiet as she stared at the floor.
“I’m just—”
“I take you as I see you, remember?” I could feel something
swirling in her mood. I couldn’t see her aura but I could feel it for some
reason. “What’s past is past. Don’t make me feel like I ain’t worth your time
and we’ll be just fine.”
“Noted.” She glanced at the refrigerator. “We should eat dinner.”
“Guess so.”
Frei chuckled at my sad tone. “What do you feel like?” She
stretched out and got to her feet. “You’re staying put before you start. You
need fluids and food. Don’t think I don’t know you took out your anger on the
benches.”
I did feel a bit spaced out. Maybe she was right. Frei wandered to
the fridge and handed a bottle of water over the counter to me. “I vote salad,
quick and healthy.”
I pulled a face, which made her smirk and put her ice cold hands
from the bottle on the side of my neck. I yelped and she laughed a laugh that
sounded like it had come from deep in her stomach.
“You drink your water and eat your salad. There may be more where
that came from.” She nodded to the empty carton.
Boy, didn’t that get my attention. “Done.” I cracked open the
bottle and drained it.
Frei laughed. “I’ll have to write that down. Will work for ice
cream.”
“
Cookie
ice cream.”
Frei smiled at me. “Good thing I can bake cookies too.”
I gripped hold of the edge of the counter like a kid bouncing up
and down in a sweetshop. “Are you kidding me?” I sounded like a kid too. I
hadn’t eaten cookies since Nan passed.
“This is me, Lorelei. I don’t have a sense of humor, remember?”
She set about her task of washing vegetables.
“You didn’t let me know who you were underneath before.” I gazed
up at her as she washed, too tired to move a muscle to help. “I like knowing
you.”
She glanced my way with a warm smile. “
Ebenfalls
.”