Chapter 38
RENEE’S PRESENCE HAD shaken me. I was trying not to let it show as
I took a seat on the side of Jäger’s desk. Unlike when she had talked to me,
when she had been so strange and awkward. I’d
felt
her watching me. I’d
felt
her
and
Nan. When I’d met her eyes, I’d seen warmth. I’d seen every
ounce of care, of love, and concern shine from her.
You can do this. I believe you can
.
I was sure she as good as whispered it in my ear. Was it my
imagination or was she trying to show me something? I sighed. I needed my
burdens back. I needed to be me. I needed to figure out how I could bug Jäger’s
office and not get caught.
“Your group is making people talk.” Jäger strolled around to his
side and slunk into a large leather desk chair. His computer sat to the side
but he didn’t look like the academic sort.
“What people?” I tried keeping my voice level but I was rattled.
My whole brain seemed content to try and figure out Renee.
“Buyers.” He smiled that leery smile of his. “I don’t think most
gave them a chance.”
“If Owens had her way, they wouldn’t.” Bitter, angry, and fed up,
I couldn’t forget the flash of the Rolex, of her wine glass on the table in
Renee’s place.
“She’s a stickler for standards, very true.”
He pulled a decanter from in front of him, filled up a whiskey glass, and
offered it to me.
I shook my head. No way was I drinking paint stripper. “She’ll get
a stick shoved somewhere if she even thinks about touching my group.” I flashed
him a charming smile. “If I put work in, it pays off or someone gets hurt.”
My mood certainly worked with the cover. I might have believed
myself.
“She told me you threatened her,” Jäger said with pride in his
eyes.
Oh great, it was an endearing trait. “Good. Did it work?”
He sipped on his whiskey. He didn’t take ice like Frei, I wondered
why. “Suitably scared. I told her it was wise to listen to you.”
The irony that I had more backup from him than Renee jarred me.
Then Renee’s words filtered in and seemed to launch the anger out of the park.
Did she believe in me, really?
Jäger was watching me. I knew I needed to account for the frown
making my forehead ache. “Not swayed by the professor’s good looks?”
He laughed but it didn’t sound genuine, it
sounded, and felt . .
. off. “If there’s one thing I avoid, it’s a woman who has her
brain wired the wrong way.”
My forehead ached more as I tried figuring out his meaning. “Wrong
way?”
He waved it off. “Don’t you worry yourself about it. You’re not
one of them.”
It sounded good natured but the hairs on my arms prickled. I could
feel how dominant he thought he was. His eyes held an unyielding glint. He was
enjoying the challenge . . . of what I wasn’t sure but I wanted to climb
through the window.
I flicked my gaze around his office, not knowing how to respond.
It was huge and dark. Deep dark wood, dark muddy-colored walls, and a large rug
of some kind under the desk and chairs over the tiles. Oh, and dim lights.
You’d think that he could have afforded better lighting. He either was making a
statement about all the white walls in the academy or he liked scaring visitors
with his decor. His words had felt like a question or an accusation but I
couldn’t figure out
what
that meant.
“You good at martial arts, huh?” I nodded to a trophy of some kind
in a glass box. Jäger strolled over to it and ran his hands over the glass, his
back to me.
“My first,” he purred to it. Guess he had a thing for brass.
I fumbled the device out of my pocket and slid it under the desk.
I had to hold it to make it stick.
“Competition?” I leaned onto my knee with the other hand as if I
was intrigued.
“Something like that.” He laughed.
I let the device go. It dropped away and I just managed to catch
it. What was wrong with the stupid thing? “Tell me about it. It sounds
important to you.”
Jäger glanced at me as I clamped my fist shut to hide the device.
“You don’t want to hear my war stories.”
“You’re a lot more interesting than Owens.”
His eyes flickered with amusement and he turned back to the
trophy. “I was a boy. My father sent me over there despite the fact I was too
young . . .”
I felt the device heating up and opened my hand. It was the alarm
one, not the one I needed to plant. I bit my lip as it tried searing my fingers
off and dropped it on the floor. I shoved my foot over it but my fingers were
red raw. There went any chance of Frei riding to my rescue.
“It took years of course . . . years of their brutal training . .
.” Jäger continued to babble on. I fished in my pocket, with my good hand, for
the right device, hoping it wasn’t going to scorch my skin.
I fumbled with it and it dropped and slid under the desk. I wanted
to cry. “Did you hear that?”
Jäger turned, pausing mid flow to frown at me. “What?”
“In the hall. Sounded like somebody smashing glass.” I turned as
if I could hear something.
“There is?” He pulled his radio off his belt, demanding answers as
he strode over to the door. “Wait there,” he shot my way. It didn’t sound much
like a request, and he disappeared outside.
I dove under the desk, grabbed the device, shoved it up against
the underside, and scrambled to stick the melted one back in my pocket.
Click.
I breathed out a breath, let the device go, and tried extracting
myself from underneath the desk, smacking my head on the way out.
I closed my eyes. I needed help. I had no escape. Who was going to
get me out of the office now? “Nan, I know you’re mad at me but I really need
your help.”
“Shorty?”
I turned. I’d never been happier to hear Nan than I was right
then. “Thank God.”
“You got yourself in a pickle?”
I nodded. “I’m trying to do the right thing. I am trying to help
the students get out but I’m stuck. It’s all messed up.”
I felt a breeze tickle me as Nan breezed over to my side. I’d
missed her being around.
“Shorty, he ain’t the kind of guy you should fool
around with.”
“You think?” She was more distant than usual, her presence was
fading fast. “What do I do?”
“You got the tools already, use ’em.”
She faded further.
“You’re
doing great. Your grandpa says hi.”
She vanished.
I glared into thin air. What kinda help was that?
“Tools?” Frei always talked about tools.
“You have great hearing.” Jäger strode back in, shutting the door,
locking it, and heading back to his chair. “One of your group, the boy with
balance issues, seems to have put his foot through a glass panel.”
“Ian?” I tensed. He was always falling into things. “Is he
alright?”
Jäger raised an eyebrow. “You sound like you care.”
“I do.” I fixed him with a glare. “He is worth money to me.”
His eyes twinkled. “The panel is broken but he’s fine. It’s safety
glass. It costs.”
I waved that off, thankful that Ian was okay.
“As I said, impeccable hearing . . . he was in the boys’ dorm.”
Jäger was looking to me for an explanation.
“I didn’t hear that.” I hadn’t heard anything, I’d made it up.
Only, now I wasn’t sure if I had. “Sure there was nothin’ nearby?”
Jäger shook his head. “Nervous about something?”
I didn’t like that tone. It sent every hair on the back of my neck
into a frenzy. Tools. What tools? Did he know I’d planted the device?
“Why would I be?” I smiled. “I was enjoying hearing about the
tournament.” I stood up. “I should go check on Ian. Figure out how I can make
him worth more than the panel.”
Jäger moved around the desk and blocked my path to the door. “Why
waste your time on slaves?”
“They make money.” I went to move around but he blocked me again.
“But you haven’t heard my proposition yet.” Some women would find
his charming smile disarming but all it did was remind me of Sam.
“So shoot.” I looked at him like my mind was
on Ian. Like money was my focus, like my hands weren’t soaked through with
panic.
“A woman like you deserves a lot more than what a slave can buy
you.” He took my hand. Instead of feeling comforted, a creeping sense of unease
prickled up and down my arms.
Turn the conversation so the one negotiating thinks there is only
one option.
“They can buy me plenty.” I squeezed his hand, trying to tug it
free. “I just gotta assess the damage.”
“He’s nothing. Forget him.” I got a warning ripple from him so
acute I shuddered with it.
“He’s worth something.” I meant that in every sense. “I don’t want
to lose none of them.”
“You work too hard. Why not relax, let Harrison deal with it.” His
eyes trailed over my face and his smile made me think of sharks once more.
Tools. Think. Only one option. Anything.
Speak. “Wires crossed.”
I didn’t know what my mouth was saying again but I was going with
it.
Jäger narrowed his eyes. “What?”
Hope ignited. Wires crossed. He said that about Owens. What wires?
She was a bit neurotic sure, clingy, in fact she reminded me of a few of the
girls in Serenity.
My heart pounded.
That was it.
He thought she was crazy. It had to be.
“I was in a mental institution over a decade. What did you
expect?”
“So you had no choice. It’s not the same thing.” He moved toward
me. “It happens. They make you think that way.”
He was kinda right there. Even the sanest people lost a few screws
in those places. The staff proved that, they’d been crazier than us inmates.
“Professor Worthington confirmed it for me.” Renee had. I
was
institutionalized.
“Worthington?” He folded his arms. “She’s better than that.”
She said she’d taken classes in college. Renee could pull that
cover off.
“You seen her, she finds any excuse to talk to me.” I shrugged.
“She can’t help herself. I’m fascinating.”
All psychiatrists were alike in my eyes. I was speaking the truth.
They’d stick folks in specimen bottles if they could.
“You keep finding her too.” Jäger studied me.
“I like the attention, what can I say?” She was crazy, I was
crazy. I didn’t like to add that I was fast coming to the conclusion that it
might be a female thing.
“Explains why you’re so . . . unavailable.” He pulled his hand
free.
“That’s what she said.” And it hurt. Did I have it written across
my forehead?
He folded his arms. “Will you keep your distance from her?” He
fixed me with his searching gaze. “
Can
you?”
Renee? Not really, not even if I’d wanted to. We had to work
together. Why that was a problem, I didn’t understand. Maybe he was mad that I
needed help.
“I like her attention. She’s fun to tease.” I let a cocky grin
through because there was no way I could avoid Renee.
“I need to think about it.” He motioned to the doorway. “Leave.”
I didn’t need asking twice, I stumbled around him to the doorway
and yanked at the handle. He’d locked it. I took a long breath and turned the
lock with a trembling hand.
“There’s nothing I enjoy doing more than extracting the truth if I
feel there’s a need.” His threat rippled through me and twisted my gut into a
knot.
I stumbled out, shut the door behind me, and stared up at the
ceiling. My heart clattered in my chest, my knees were wobbling—my whole body
was wobbling.
There was something real off about that guy. Real wrong. I did my
best to be controlled as I walked past Harrison’s office and out into the
increasing wind.
I’d done it.
I’d planted the device and got out.
Task accomplished . . . somehow.
Chapter 39
IT WAS SO quiet in the villa that the ticking clock sounded like a
banging drum as Frei sat staring at me.
“Please say something.”
She cleared her throat. “He let you leave . . . just like that?”
“Yeah, I told him that I got my wires twisted or wrong.” I bit my
lip. “Renee said I was institutionalized. You know, wired wrong.”
Frei’s blonde brows raised in the middle. She looked at me from
under her wrinkled forehead. “And that’s what you said exactly . . . that you
were institutionalized?”
I’d said the first thing that popped into my head. I was
panicking. Undercover was not my thing. “No, I just said I had my wires wrong
like Owens.”
She blinked at me.
“I was in Serenity so it made sense.” Dread rolled through my gut.
I’d messed up. Frei was going to have to figure out a way to keep me out of
trouble. I sucked as an agent. Really sucked.
She didn’t frown, her eyes didn’t narrow. Instead her lips
twitched in a smile. Why was she smiling? “Anything else?”
“Yeah, I said that Renee helped me confirm it.” I stared at my
fingers now covered in bandages. “She said she’d taken a couple of psychology
classes in college. I knew she could pull it off if he asked her.”
Frei stifled a chuckle.
I frowned at her. “What?”
Her face contorted as she stifled more laughter. “What did he say
to that?”
“That he’d think about it.” I sighed. “I said I liked the
attention and like before, that I enjoyed teasing her.” I stared at the
counter. “I knew a couple of women in Serenity who were a lot like that. Owens
reminds me of them. I guess . . . I just thought he wouldn’t want that.”
She smiled. “It was quick thinking at least.”
“Jäger said he liked extracting the truth. Good thing it kinda
was, huh?” I shook my head, thinking for the first time it was lucky I’d been
locked up.
Frei took a deep breath, her brow furrowed again. “I’m not sure if
he—”
Someone thumped at the door.
Frei checked her laptop. “Renee.”
She got up and strode to the door. At least I could tell her to
her face what I’d said to Jäger. It would save her the walk over to throttle
me.
“You were right.” She stood in the doorway
with a glint in her eyes.
Frei and I exchanged a glance.
Renee stomped in and narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of the
bandages on my fingers.
“About?” Frei asked, closing the door behind her.
Neither of us was sure who she was talking to. Frei headed to the
drinks cabinet and poured two shots of whisky.
She handed Renee a glass who downed it in one.
“Owens.”
“Are you okay? Did she hurt you?” Every bit of anger or hurt I had
felt evaporated.
Renee met my eyes. “I’m fine, Aeron.” Her tone was cold. “As for
the kids she’s abducted, I’m not so sure.”
The way she said my name made me feel twelve
years old. She handed the glass back to Frei as if I wasn’t even in the room.
“POIs.”
Frei placed her glass down. “She get the drop on you?”
Renee shook her head. “She left a note. She said she had concerns
about the kids. Said she thought they were being trafficked. She wanted to take
them before someone else did.”
I folded my arms. “Who’d believe that line?”
Renee glared at me.
“She may be interested in selling them herself,” Frei said with a
look in my direction. I got that she wanted me to be calm. I got that I had to switch
off my feelings and be an agent now but Renee had started it.
“What is going on?” Renee folded her arms and looked from Frei to
me as if she deserved some kind of explanation.
“The vision I had involved things I didn’t understand.” I cleared
my throat. I would not feel like a child.
“
What
did you see.” Her eyes narrowed.
“She’s not at liberty to say,” Frei shot back. “All you need to
know is that Owens might be right. This could be a prep school which is a cover
for a trafficking operation.”
Renee stared up at the ceiling. “Hence Aeron acting like an
idiot.” She sighed. “Why didn’t either of you tell me?”
“Are you kidding me?”
Both of them stared at me.
“You say I’m acting like an idiot?” I threw my hands in the air.
“I’m not the one stomping around yelling at everyone.”
“Aeron,” Frei said in a cautious tone.
“No.” I scowled at Renee. “You’re a pain in the ass and if you
would have listened, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
My voice rang out and lingered in the room. I was loud when I got
worked up.
“You storm into my place and threaten Owens, you storm into class
and take over and you think I should listen to you?” Her hands were on her
hips.
Frei picked up her whiskey and sat in her chair.
“Yes,” I snapped.
“Why?”
“Because that’s
my
job. You don’t see nothin’.” I narrowed
my eyes at her. “Or you forget that I can read you too?”
She glared at me.
I glared right back.
Frei sipped her whiskey and tapped on her laptop.
Renee’s eyes twinkled in challenge. I was not backing down this
time. I wasn’t walking away. No, this time I was standing my ground.
“Fine.” She folded her arms. “Why would Owens want them out of the
academy?” She was all business now. “What would make her think it was a good
idea to fail them?”
I fought the urge to hurl a “duh,” her way. “Failing them means
they get sold off cheaper.”
She looked to Frei who nodded.
“This is such a mess.” Renee pinched her nose. I wasn’t sure if
she was on about the academy or us. She looked exhausted. She looked
overwhelmed.
“Owens isn’t trustworthy.” I didn’t know what was going on with
Renee and Owens. All I knew was that Owens
felt
strange. There was
something that didn’t fit.
“She’s ex-FBI. Ex-lead agent. Big case. Powerful parents had their
daughter abducted. Owens went in to get her. The kid was gone and the
kidnappers had the money and the child. She had a breakdown.” Renee sounded
like she was reeling off a list. “She’s been working here for five years. She
got a letter from one of the parents, Miranda’s mother. She is trying to get
her out.”
“Unless Owens has my kind of communication skills, I doubt that.”
Both of them looked at me.
Renee scowled. I was sick of her scowling. “What are you talking
about?”
“She died. Miranda has been at this school since she was small.
She was one of five children. I don’t know what happened to the others but she
was the youngest.” I stared down at my hands. “The violin is the only thing she
has.”
There were so many stories locked in my hands. I missed the
connection. I missed Nan, I missed being and feeling like me.
“Owens is being played?” Renee asked.
“Or is playing you,” Frei said. How many times had she said that
before I wondered?
“Why would she leave me a note? Why would she bother?” She fiddled
with her nails.
“Sam acted like he cared about me too,” I said as softly as I
could. She trusted folks, it wasn’t a bad trait. Like me, she kept trusting the
wrong ones.
Renee’s eyes turned icy. “Do not put Owens in the same sentence as
that man.”
“Why are you being so difficult?” I ran my hand through my hair. I
turned away from her, sure I was gonna haul something at her if I didn’t.
“You’re impossible to work with.”
“Me?” She stomped around until we stood face to face and glared up
at me. “I’m not the one threatening people.”
“I’m
supposed
to be a criminal. That’s my cover.” I felt
sweaty and flustered.
“Then it’s a stupid cover.”
I stepped toward her. We were almost nose to nose. “Not half as
stupid as messing around with folks you don’t know.”
“Says you.” Her eyes glinted. “I’m not the one visiting Jäger’s
office after curfew.”
“Says me.” I puffed out my chest. “Only thing I’m stupid for is
believing you cared.”
My hands shook. I spun on my heels and stormed up the stairs. I
threw my clothes into a pile and scrubbed my face before I stepped into the
shower.
The water poured over me, warm and soothing. It washed away the
frustrated tears but it didn’t wash away the hollowness that had caused them.
URSULA STARED AT the empty whiskey glass in her hand. Renee was
glowering away on the sofa.
She was not the Renee Black she knew at all. Fiery, yes, crazy
when in love, yes, but not this unhinged.
Had she lost it completely?
Lilia had said it would happen. She said they’d fall apart. The
more Aeron and Renee were near each other it would appear that the vision was
right.
Only the vision was wrong. She was certain of it. Now that it had
come to a head, she could do something about it.
Renee wanted an explanation. Ursula wasn’t going to give it to
her. “She tell you where she was taking them?”
“No.” Curt, cold, and pushing it. Like she was unable to control
herself.
“Any ideas?”
“No.”
Ursula refilled the glasses at the cabinet and placed one on the
coffee table on her way back to her chair. “Hit me with it, Renee. We have POIs
to find.”
“You two looked friendly.” Her anger bubbled in her gray eyes.
“Wasn’t she meant to be with Jäger?”
Not real jealousy. Not real anger. Renee was all over the place
emotionally.
“She was.”
Renee downed her shot. “Well, I don’t see him.”
“Because Aeron told him that something was going on . . . between
you.” Ursula sipped at her glass, the ice chinking.
Renee stared at her. Her hands fell into her lap as her mouth
dropped open. “What?”
“Jäger made a move.” Best that she left out the rest. “Aeron told
him that she was, in his words, wired wrong.”
Renee flinched.
“Aeron thought he meant mental illness.” She kept her voice level
and sipped her drink. She needed to be calm. “She told him you confirmed she
was wired wrong.”
It would have been funny if Aeron wasn’t so naïve.
Renee’s face drained of color. “I did enough digging to know he’s
not someone to lie to.”
Ursula knew full well what Renee had been doing. She’d been the
one censoring her online. The less she knew about him, the better. “She needs
your help. You’re hurting her.”
She nodded. “I am. I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
She put her head in her hands. “I don’t know, Urs. I can’t explain
it. I can hear things, like they are there. I keep thinking I can see Nan.” She
gripped her hair. “Every time everyone comes near me, I just feel so strung
out. Overloaded.” She shook her head. “Maybe I’ve lost it.”
Ursula glanced in the direction of the stairs and back to Renee.
“Maybe you’re just feeling what she does.”
“Excuse me?”
“Side effects.” She sipped her drink. “Aeron and Lilia in one
place means . . . ?”
Renee’s eyes lit up. “Fireworks. That’s why she stays away.” She
bit her lip. “You know?”
“Think with your heart, not your head.” She smiled. “The more you
hide and expend energy doing it, the more you’ll be angry with her for it.”
Renee stared at the floor. Ursula knew her words had helped. She
could see Renee’s shoulders relax.
“I had no right to talk to you like that,” Renee whispered.
“I had no right to lose my temper, forget it.” She stared at her
laptop. “So far, she has been an asset to you. She’s handled everything thrown
at her with ingenuity, grace. Even the girl in my class who was hurt . . .
she’s been incredible.”
She met Renee’s stormy eyes.
“You’d be proud of her.” She smiled. “She’s one fine agent.”
Renee smiled, the swirling mix of emotions flickered across her
face. “That’s high praise indeed.”
Ursula nodded. “She reminded me of you up on that roof.”
Renee gripped her empty glass. “I was two seconds away from going
to get her. That kid has a screw loose.”
“Agreed.”
“Is . . . is . . . she doing okay?” Renee stared at the stairs.
“No. Far from it. She thinks you were faking it. She thinks that
she’s just another POI to you.”
“I told her in St. Jude’s that wasn’t the case.” Renee sighed and
thumbed over the glass. “Surely she sees that I care. I can’t hide that I love
her
that
well.”
“Renee, you’ve been a bitch to her for months.”