Break Me Open (23 page)

"Oh I'm well aware. But you might pry open a lot more than that. If there really are Scorpions around, they might even recognize you."

"I want to help with the mission."

"Don't you get it," I said softly. "You
are
my mission."

It didn't earn me a kiss, but she sighed and went back to her books. I finished and went out the door, pausing to look back at her face scrunched under the yellow glow of the lamps. It must have been for longer than I thought, because she spotted me and shot a smile. A real honest one that told me she forgave me.

That was purpose enough for now.

I think I wouldn't have been so bold if the research was going anywhere. After a day and a half of poring through tomes of gene sequences and animal morphology though, my head was less swimming with ideas and more drowning under them. Trying to diagnose Ghost was way more difficult than my initial flash of insight had indicated. A dingy motel room with a window I couldn't even risk opening wasn’t really helping my focus.

Ghost and the others had been out most of the past couple days trying to fish up leads. And while it was kind of nice waiting around for my big man to come home and ravage me like some princess, after day two it was starting to feel more like a grounding.

"For your own protection," Ghost had said again, when he left this morning. "We can’t risk you being noticed."

That's what had given me the idea.

I read at the table, glancing out at anything that sounded like tires squealing into the lot. I flipped aimlessly through my animal physiology book, just scanning the pictures like I was in elementary school. It always seemed to land me on cats and often on the eye structure. That much, I had figured out in Ghost. All nocturnal creatures had an extra layer that allowed them to gather more light at night, at the expense of being reflective. Not really a problem before humans came along, but then we invented fire and the night could be bright again. That’s why cat eyes always appeared to glow in pictures.

What I couldn't figure out was if the scientists had transferred this sort of structure to Ghost or somehow gotten them to grow them organically with a genetic modification. On top of that, this nocturnal modification should have made fine detail - like say words - hard to see. Since Ghost could read just fine, they must have done some other tinkering on top. Somehow.

All I knew was that all of it should be medically impossible. If I had access to research papers I could investigate more, but this probably went beyond any unclassified material out there. Several mad geniuses had cobbled him together. I wasn't looking to repeat what they did. I just wanted to tune him up, but even that looked to be a long slog.

A dozen more pages passed, and I heard the growl. The wolfpack was back. My heart still leapt to see Ghost's massive form slip off his ride and head my way. He didn't look particularly energized, which meant another day wasted.

But this day wasn't over yet.

I rushed out and met him on the 2nd floor veranda, flying around him in a hug and a kiss. He dragged me up deeper into his mouth by my chin. The flurry of heat nearly melted my thoughts.

"No luck?" I said, tearing myself away.

"Not yet."

"Well, it's ok. Let's go for a walk."

"I just got back." He sounded weary, but his palm slid along the side of my body.

"We'll get to that," I said. "I need some sun first."

He shrugged, but scooped me around the waist and led me back downstairs. Trig and Spoke sat along the curb near the lobby, sucking at lit cigarettes. I would have loved to go on that walk first, maybe let Ghost settle, but I needed those two for support and this was the perfect chance. I steered Ghost their way as if we were going out to the road.

"I have something to propose," I said.

"You found out more about what they did?"

"No, not yet. Come on. I'm not that smart. "

He must have caught a faint whiff of where I was headed, cause his face darkened straight away. "What then?"

We were near Trig and Spoke. I tossed them a nod and got twin plumes of smoke in return. I stopped Ghost, then spoke loud and clear. "I know how we can find Gyro."

"Oh yeah?" Spoke asked. "How's that?" Ghost glared at him, but he shrugged. "Just asking."

The glare turned on me. "Fine. What's your idea?'

"Use me as bait."

"What? No."

" They still have a use for me. Just like you can use Gyro to break them up, they can use me to break the Wraiths up. That makes me valuable."

"Don't worry about none of that. We got a lead on a Scorp already," Spoke said. "We just got to find him and get him to talk."

Spoke was a smart guy. He knew that Ghost would want me safe and he was trying to help him out. But it wasn't enough. "She doesn't need to worry about any of that," Ghost said.

"Yeah, no. Course, man. Just saying."

"How are you so sure that this guy knows where Gyro is?" I asked. "If he doesn't and you... do whatever you do to him, then all you do is warn them you're after him."

The two guys in tow were giving me their full attention now. Even Ghost had gone glassy, which meant he was absorbing what I was saying. So I kept saying things.

"If they find me though, then they'll have to take me to Gyro. He's the brains right? He's the one who will convince me that I've got to talk."

Trig was looking away, not wanting to have to stand up for the truth I was preaching. That was fine. Spoke kept on listening but he looked troubled. Ghost didn't budge.

"If they want me to testify against you, then they'll have to bribe me. At most, they can threaten me. But they won't hurt me." This argument wasn't only for them, so I said it again. "They can't hurt me if they want me to speak."

Spoke started to speak, but he glanced to Ghost and stopped.

"And then what?" Ghost said. "We find Gyro quick, but now we've got to kidnap him and get you out safe."

He thought he had won.

"You don't have to bring him to the FBI," I said. "I'll bring them to him."

I held my phone into the air like it was some sort of sword. "If I turn this on, they'll come looking for me."

"So they find Gyro," Ghost said. "And they get you too. They get both clubs."

"Oh. Right." The three faces were on me, waiting, like I was an equal. I had nothing. "Well, I can't plan everything."

Ghost chuckled. "It was pretty good," he said. "Really fucking good start actually. But you need a good ending, and multiple options if things go to shit."

I sighed and kicked at some rubble. I hated feeling useless. "I'll come up with something better," I said.

"I hope you don't."

His shades were on, but his face bore down on mine, and I could tell he just wanted to wrap me up and carry me off somewhere safe. It didn't sound so bad if I thought about it.

"It really is fucking good."

We all turned to Trig. He was looking out at the blur of cars on the highway beyond, and speaking just barely loud enough to hear. "Really solid."

"What?" Ghost barked.

Trig lifted his head. "Her plan's pretty clever. You know, other than the very end."

"You're not suggesting we do this."

Trig's hands rose like a shield. "I'm not suggesting we do anything. I'm just saying it could work. All we have to do is get to her before the FBI does, and make sure Gyro is wrapped up real tight as a present."

"We could get there first. We are way closer than them," Spoke said.

"We're not handing her over to them," Ghost growled.

I wasn't exactly keen on being the prize in a gunfight between the two clubs, but it was true that neither side would want me dead. And maybe it was being cooped up in the hotel all day, or the tightness in Ghost's voice, but I wasn't going to sit this out.

"You can't decide that for me," I said.

"I can. And it's got nothing with you being my girl. You wanna call yourself a Wraith? Fine. Then I'm your VP. That's who's saying no."

"Are you saying you can't get me out?" I asked.

"Fuck, ain't no Scorpions got nothing on me," Spoke said. "Bikes are too obvious, but put me in a cage and I'll roll up on those bastards, get you and tear out without them even knowing."

"You willing to stake your life on that?" Ghost asked.

Spoke wasn't much younger than Ghost, but he was shorter and had a ton of untested faith in himself. He looked right up at his VP with a fierce bravado and said. "I am. I'll get us in and out wherever they are."

"Yeah, big shot. What happens if we roll in to a warehouse with a couple dozen Scorps?"

"They can't have that many, man," Trig said. "If there were that many around, we wouldn't have such trouble finding them."

Ghost's glare was breaking, and I could see weariness on him. This search really must not be going great at all. If things didn't go well, he might start spiking again. I couldn't let him do that.

"I can do it," I said again. "I'll show you where Gyro is, and you guys get me out."

The two guys looked at me, and then all at once we turned to Ghost. He went from face to face, settling on mine. His brows were raised almost in surrender, but I stood firm. Firmer than I felt, but as hard as I had to be for him.

"So it's 3 on 1 is that it?" he asked

"Thought this wasn't a democracy," I said.

He sighed. "Doesn't mean I can ignore a sound point."

Ghost turned so that we could only see each other. He held me by the shoulders, as if he were afraid to ever let go. "You sure you want to do this? Do you really want to do this?"

The night still hadn't fallen, but his eyes were alive in a different way, shining with intensity so hard that he seemed to be breaking out in a sweat. He never wanted me to be in this so deep. Never wanted to put me in danger. But he didn't want to hold me back either.

What he couldn't see was that it was now
us
in deep. It was
us
in danger. What use was my life if saving it got him imprisoned? Or worse.

"I don't
want
to do it," I said. "I have to."

His hands clenched tighter before he let go. He turned and faced the group. "Whatever happens to her, happens to us. Wherever she goes, so do we."

Trig and Spoke nodded grimly. Their eyes landed on mine then over each other. There was no shock in them anymore. No hint of the suspicion I had seen the past few days. I was a full-fledged member now. I was one of them.

I hoped I was ready.

I clenched the radio in my fist, just barely not shattering it. Aimless chatter played out of the speakers. The top of the cab loomed above me, black and starless. I was waiting, just outside the bar, and I couldn't even keep a lookout. My luminescent eyes would be easy to spot in the darkness, and if I wore shades to hide them, that would have looked pretty suspicious too.

We should have done it during the day, but it had taken a while for Spoke to find a car that he could borrow unnoticed. Taken a bit longer to get a burner phone for Katie. Her real one was powered up and buried into one of the heels of her shoes. It was transmitting her position right this moment. I had a tracking app on a GPS that I'd bought. She’d seen fit to share the story of the FBI trying to trace her to her house. She was right. It wouldn't be long before the feds came looking. This had to happen quick.