Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(63)
Author: Gena Showalter

Once, Rome would have said that to me. Once, Rome would have cared that intensely.

I sighed, then told him where I was. Maybe a mistake, maybe not. But Rome wasn’t here to talk to about it. I’d had to make a decision, good or bad, and my gut told me this was the right thing to do. I needed all the help I could get, and right now Jean-Luc was more of an asset than an enemy.

"Don’t go anywhere until I get there. All right? I told one of my friends to follow you, but I haven’t heard from him. That’s not like him."

"No one followed me last night." Rome would have sensed it.

"The Multiplier can be in eleven different places at once. That’s why he’s the best tracker in the business. You wouldn’t have known he was behind you. Or in front of you, beside you. I promise." The Multiplier? One through Eleven, I realized with shock. Now I knew why they’d been so curious about Rome. "I met him. Them. Whatever. Tall, puppy-dog eyes. Eleven guys living in one body."

"That’s him. I met him on a job. He can irritate the hell out of you, but he’s harmless. But wait. You met with him?"

"Yeah, and I’m supposed to meet him, them, whatever, at nine tonight. He told me he’d tell me about Desert Gal."

There was a beat of silence. "Meet with him? Again?"

"Yeah."

"He was never supposed to make contact with you," Jean-Luc said tightly. "This doesn’t make sense, but I’ll find out what’s going on. I’ll be there in an hour. Less than an hour." Determination radiated from his voice. Click.

I stared at the phone. God, what a mess. And where the hell was Rome? I wondered for the millionth time. Don’t worry about that now. You’ve got things to do. I dialed John’s number. He didn’t answer, so I left him a message telling him to put a tail on Reese. Then I searched the bed for a note from Rome, but didn’t find anything. I quickly phoned my voice mail to check for messages that had been left while I’d been talking to Jean-Luc. There were two. My entire body tensed as the first one played.

"Miss Jamison, this is Dr. Becket. I just wanted you to know Tanner woke up. He’s doing famously.

Better than we’d expected. In fact, he’s trying to leave." A loud beep suddenly rang in the background.

Muttering followed. "You can’t do that, Mr. Bradshaw. You have to – " Click.

Tanner was up and around. I’d known that through Jean-Luc, but hearing it live and practically in person solidified the knowledge and deepened my relief, my joy.

I was smiling as the second message began to play. "Belle. Oh, God." It was Sherridan. Again, my body tensed. Hearing her worried voice caused tears to fill my eyes. "Cody’s taken us. Bastard grabbed us when we tried to run. He’s working with Desert Witch now and I – "

"That’s enough, Curls," a harsh, unfamiliar female voice said. "Come and get her, Wonder Girl. If you’re strong enough." There was a crackle of static. The line went dead.

Sherridan was alive and well. That, like Tanner’s recovery, was news for celebration. Desert Hag expected me to come after her. That was a challenge I would not refuse. Cody, I was unsure about. Was he really working for the enemy or still helping us and staying true to his undercover character?

I lumbered to shaky legs and padded into the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth – and discovered a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt in a bag on the counter, and boots on the floor. In my size. So Rome had done some shopping. What he hadn’t bought me, however, was underwear.

Was that code for go without it? Probably.

I took a quick shower, a bit of my hair dye washing out, dressed (minus underwear) and picked through the weapons left over in Rome’s arsenal. I tried to strap several small blades to my wrists and ankles but couldn’t cinch them tight enough and ended up dropping them so many times I finally gave up and lifted the bigger knives. They were heavier and easier to hold. Those I fit through my belt loops. I even sheathed the mini-Taser in my back pocket. I knew the damage the thing could do. After all, I’d once stopped Rome in his tracks with it.

I didn’t want to risk carrying the revolver. One, I didn’t know where to store it. Two, I wasn’t that great a shot. Most of my training had hinged on my powers. Powers, it turned out, I didn’t really know how to wield on my own.

I’d worked with Tanner and I’d worked with Rome, but never really worked with myself, alone. What would happen if I had to go into battle without either man? It was time I learned to take care of myself.

Until then…I looked at the gun, chewed on my bottom lip. Carefully I placed it in my purse. Just in case.

Then I waited. Paced. And waited. Paced. Rome never showed up, never called. I phoned him three times. Left messages twice.

Jean-Luc didn’t show up within the hour as promised, either.

Finally, I decided not to wait any longer for either of them. I was an agent, I could damn well make a few decisions and kick some ass on my own. So just before heading out, I phoned John a second time, and this time he answered.

"Got your message," he said, deadly calm. "I’ll take care of it." Reese would be in lockup within the hour, I suspected. "That’s not why I’m calling this time. When was the last time you heard from Rome?"

"Last night. He told me about Lexis and Sherridan."

"He didn’t call this morning?"

"No. Why? Did something happen?"

I was beginning to think that it had. This wasn’t like Rome. Whatever he thought of me, he would not have wanted me, a fellow agent, to worry. He would not have wanted to risk my going out on my own.

He would not have wanted to risk someone getting to me while he was away. "I – " A hard knock sounded at the door. Rome? "I’ve got to go," I told John and hung up, stuffing the cell in my pocket. I rushed to the door and looked through the peephole.

A man with sandy hair and dark eyes that were somehow familiar looked back at me. Because you saw them, kind of, two days ago. Wow. Just two days? Seemed like forever had already passed.

Jean-Luc was here. My hand shook as I opened the door. Is this smart? What are you doing?

But nothing bad happened when the door was completely open, only air between me and the man who had stolen my lover’s memories. Jean-Luc was a little over six feet tall and smelled of pine. He wore all black and held a bag. Probably filled with weapons. That was so…Rome.

My chest constricted.

"Belle." His expression was grim, his cheeks cut and bruised, but his eyes were burning, filled with longing and passion and even dread. "You look as beautiful as always." As always. Eerie words from him, a man I’d seen only once before, and that for the barest of seconds.