Vieux Carré Voodoo (21 page)

“What the fuck—” I spluttered as two black-clad figures
leaped through the doorway.

“Drop the gun,” one of them said.

Colin’s gun fell to the floor.

“Who the hell are you?” I gasped out.

Colin turned and looked at me. “It’s the Ninja Lesbians.”

STRENGTH

Love is always stronger than hate

Surely, I hadn’t heard that right—I must be in shock.

He did not just say
ninja lesbians.
Did he
?

Without moving my head, I stole a glance at him out of the
corner of my eyes. Despite the fact my French doors had just been kicked in, my
mind registered that he seemed relaxed—too relaxed, given the situation.
Shouldn’t we be ducking for cover? Shouldn’t he be pulling his own weapon?

What the
fuck
was going on?

Eternal seeming seconds passed as we all stared at each
other. I focused on getting control of my thoughts as the two black-clad figures
kept their guns aimed at us.
Stay calm,
I said to myself as I slowed my
breathing and tried to bring my heart rate under control. They hadn’t fired
right away, so maybe they weren’t here to kill us, after all.

My eyes narrowed a bit as I watched the intruders. They were
wearing tight hoods over their heads. Only their eyes were exposed. Their bodies
were concealed in tight black bodysuits made from some material that hugged
every inch of their bodies—and I realized they were most definitely women. There
was no mistaking those curves. The one on my right was slightly shorter than the
one on my left. Each was holding a gigantic-looking gun in her right hand.

I really hate looking down the barrel of a gun. It’s
something you never really get used to, no matter how often it happens. And no
matter how fast I could dive, I wasn’t faster than a speeding bullet.

There was no place to dive anyway. We were both standing in
the open. Colin might be able to launch himself over the couch, but he wasn’t
moving.

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the shots I was
certain were going to follow.

Instead, the one to my left said, in a thick Middle Eastern
accent, “Abram? What the hell are you doing here?”

I sighed inwardly, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.
Of course they know each other,
I thought.
Can this day get any
crazier?

They both lowered their guns. The one on my right reached up
with her free hand and pulled the hood off. Long, thick chestnut brown hair fell
loose. Whatever I was expecting to see once the hood pulled free, it sure as
hell wasn’t one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. Her face was
heart-shaped, with prominent cheekbones and a sharp chin that gave her a bit of
a feline look. Her almond-shaped eyes were a gorgeous shade of green, and her
lashes were long and thick. Her nose was petite and perfectly centered in her
face. Her skin was smooth and creamy. Her red lips slowly spread into a
delighted smile, lighting up her entire face. She tucked her gun back into a
shoulder holster and she started moving with a squeal of delight. In four steps
she bounded across the room and threw her arms around Colin in a bear hug, her
legs going around his waist as she buried her face in his neck. Colin laughed
and threw his own arms around her, spinning her around.

“Would someone,” I said, exasperated, “explain to me what
the hell is going on? Who the hell are you people, and what are you doing here?”

The other one yanked her own hood off. She was older, with a
mop of brown curls cut short. She was more striking than pretty. Her face was
rounder, and not as perfectly proportioned. But her brown eyes were larger, and
became warmer as she smiled at me and rolled her eyes. “Pay them no mind,” she
said. She had an accent that sounded Middle Eastern to me, although she didn’t
look Semitic. “They do this every time they see each other.” She wearily waved
her gun. “It’s becomes tiresome. They’re like children. Try to get used to it.”
She sighed and holstered her gun. “Of course, it’s been years and I am still not
used to it.”

“Oh, relax, Rhoda,” the other said, kissing Colin on the
cheek. She jumped off him lightly, landing without making a sound. Her English
was flawless, although I thought I detected a bit of a Texas twang. She held out
her hand to me. “So sorry about the entrance. I’m Lindy, and this is my partner,
Rhoda.” Her green eyes widened, and she turned back to Colin. “Oh my God, oh my
God!” She gestured at me, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her voice bubbling
with excitement. “Is this—is this
the
Scotty?” She looked back at me.
Her smile was so wide it had to hurt. “Are you Scotty? Please tell me you’re
Scotty!”

Before I could say anything, Colin grinned at her. “The one
and only.”

In one gazelle-like bound she had her arms around me and
kissed my cheek. She was squeezing me so tight I could barely breathe, and her
large firm breasts were pressed against my chest. She smelled of Chanel, and I
felt a little dizzy. It was a bit on the surreal side. Just a few moments
earlier she’d been holding a gun on me and now she was squeezing the life out of
me in one of the tightest bear hugs I’d ever felt. She was incredibly strong,
even though she looked slender.

“I can’t
breathe
,”
I finally managed to
gasp out when it started to seem like she was never going to let go. I looked
over her shoulder at Rhoda, who was also smiling.

“Sorry.” She let me go, and I gulped in air. “I’m just
so
excited to
finally
meet you! My God, we’ve
heard
so much about you—I was starting to think Abram was making you up, no one could
be that perfect, you know what I mean, and look at you, you’re even cuter than
he said, which I didn’t think possible, you know he is kind of prone to
exaggeration, and if I weren’t a lesbian I’d—”

“Down, girl.” Colin interrupted her. He was grinning from
ear to ear. “Give him a chance to recover from that dramatic entrance.” He
gestured to my wrecked French doors. “Was that really necessary?”

“Sorry about that.” Rhoda plopped down on the sofa. “We
didn’t know what we’d find here, so we figured no one would expect us to come in
through the windows—” She shrugged and looked back over at the broken glass
twinkling in the sunlight on my floor. “We’ll replace them, of course.”

“Of course.” I shook my head, which was starting to hurt
again. I walked over and closed the shutters, latching them. “At least it isn’t
raining.” I grabbed a broom from the hall closet and started sweeping up the
broken glass. Lindy bounded over and took the broom from me. She beamed at me
with that thousand-watt smile. “Let me. It’s the least I can do.”

“She likes to clean,” Rhoda said with a shrug.

As I watched her methodically get every sliver and splinter
of glass into the dustpan, I thought,
When the shock wears off I’m probably
going to be really, really pissed.

I walked back into the living room. “So, what were you
expecting to find here?” I collapsed into my armchair. The headache was getting
worse. It didn’t help that I was exhausted. “That warranted breaking in? And how
did you get on my balcony in the first place?”

“From the roof,” Rhoda replied. She exchanged a look with
Colin I didn’t like. “We’ve been following the Wolf—”

“The Wolf?” I interrupted. “Who is the Wolf?”

Colin whistled. “Levi was the Wolf! Of course! That makes
sense!” He started pacing. “How long have you been following him?”

“We got a tip he was here in New Orleans.” Rhoda gave him
another strange look. “We’d followed him to Ohio a few months ago, but we lost
him. So, we followed up on the tip and came here a few days ago, and spotted him
on the street.” She shrugged. “We followed him and found he was living in this
building. We’ve kept an eye on him ever since.”

“Did you kill him?” I blurted out.

They all three looked at me. Rhoda pursed her lips and said
in a rather chilly tone, “Of course we did not. We had no reason to kill him. He
was worth more to us alive than dead.”

“But if you were following him, then you must know who
killed him.”

Rhoda shook her head. “No, we do not.”

Colin’s eyes narrowed and he gave me a look I think meant
let me do the questioning here.

Irritated, I bit my lip and glared back at him. He ignored
me, and said, “Why don’t you start at the beginning? Why were you on his trail
to begin with?”

Lindy winked at me and plopped down on the couch next to
Rhoda, leaning into her. Rhoda put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her on
the cheek. “What are you doing here, Abram?” Lindy ran her fingers through her
luxuriant hair, changing the subject. “No one told us you were here. Are you
working the same case as we are?”

“Hold on just a minute,” I said, struggling to control the
irritation and anger I could feel rising. “Just who exactly are you two,
anyway?” My voice was shaking.
Stay calm, Scotty.
“You can’t just break
in here, point a gun at us and—”

Colin threw his head back and laughed.

I wanted to slug him.

He wiped at his eyes. “Scotty, these are two of the best
agents the Mossad has to offer. Rhoda Sapirstein and I went through Mossad
training together,” Rhoda inclined her head to me, “and Lindy Zielinsky—she was
in my first class when I worked as a trainer for the Mossad.”

“He introduced us to each other,” Lindy kissed Rhoda’s cheek
again, “for which I will be forever grateful.”

“In the business they’re known as the Ninja Lesbians—”

“Don’t listen to him, Scotty.” Rhoda interrupted him. “He is
the only one who calls us that.” She gave me a wicked grin that chilled me a
little bit. “He’s a horrible tease—but you probably already know that.”

I bit my lower lip and started counting to ten in my head.
Colin saw the look on my face and winked at me. Surprisingly enough, that didn’t
make me any happier. “Why are the two of you here in New Orleans?” he said
hastily. “Why were you on the trail of the Wolf?”

“Who the hell is the Wolf!” I exploded. “I want some
answers!” I gestured to my shattered French doors. “You break in here, point
guns at us—”

“Calm down, Scotty,” Colin said in a patronizing tone that
made me want to throw something at him. I closed my eyes and focused on my
breathing. “No one knows his real name, or where he’s from—where he was from.
He’s a master thief. Sometimes he works for someone else, sometimes he works on
his own.” He frowned. “You’re certain he was the Wolf?”

“Reliable intelligence,” Lindy replied, placing her right
leg over Rhoda’s. “We got the word that the Wolf had been hired to find Kali’s
Eye. And given what’s going on in Pleshiwar right now—well, it is not in our
national interests for Kali’s Eye to fall into the wrong hands. We couldn’t find
out who he was working for—whether it was an individual who just wanted to
possess the Eye, or if it was one of our enemies.” She shrugged. “Our orders
were to follow him and take the Eye from him if he found it.” She smiled at me.
“Such a small world—who knew he’d been living upstairs from Scotty?” I wasn’t
sure how I felt about being referred to as a thing, but just bit my lip and
didn’t say anything. “Had we known you were on the same trail, Abram, we
certainly would have made contact. Better to work together, right? Since we have
the same objective.”

Colin’s face was expressionless, and I raised an eyebrow.
They’re assuming Colin has the same final objective as they do.

I may not be a highly skilled agent trained by the Mossad,
but even I could see that assumption could prove to be a costly mistake. “And
what,” I said, keeping my voice as calm as I could, keeping my eyes on Colin,
“is that objective?”

“That control of the Pleshiwarian uranium is in the right
hands, of course.” Rhoda crossed her legs casually. “That is why you are here,
right?” She winked at me. “Why else would there be all this international
interest in the stolen eye of an idol from a remote little mountain country
nobody has heard of?” She leaned forward. “Obviously, who has control of that
uranium is of vital interest to our country, Abram. It cannot be allowed to fall
into the hands of our enemies.”

“Obviously,” he replied. “Why else would Tel Aviv risk
having agents operating within the United States?” He sat down on the arm of my
chair. “Does Tel Aviv care who finds the sapphire, as long as it winds up in the
correct hands afterward?”

“Politics.” Lindy waved her hand. “They bore me. Scotty,
would you mind if I made some coffee?” She punctuated it with a yawn. “I’m
seriously under-caffeinated.”

“Scotty can make it,” Colin said, and as I opened my mouth
to protest he pinched me—hard. I glared at him, and his only response was to
move his eyes in the direction of the kitchen. Okay, he wanted me out of the
room.

He better not have bruised my leg
, I thought
angrily.

Rubbing my leg, I stood up and walked into the kitchen.
Lindy followed me and hopped up on my kitchen counter as I filled the pot with
water from the tap. “Thank you.” She smiled at me, yawning again. “I should
probably break my caffeine addiction, but I haven’t slept in almost twenty-four
hours.”

“I know the feeling,” I replied sourly, scooping coffee into
a filter. I poured the water in and switched it on.

“We’re truly sorry about the doors,” Lindy said, petting my
shoulder. “But we knew the Wolf was killed and tossed down onto your balcony. We
assumed there must be some kind of link between you and the Wolf—” She shrugged.
“And the element of surprise always works.”

“Give me a break,” I snapped as I got two mugs down. “If you
were watching, you had to see Colin come in with me. You knew he was here all
along.” I smiled at her. “And I don’t believe for a minute you believe he’s on
the same side as you.”