Twice as Hot (11 page)

“Stealing?”
I blinked. “As in, see a pretty diamond ring in a store window, smash the
window, grab the ring and run?”

“You
nailed it.”

“I
see,” I said, but I didn’t. Not really. That just didn’t make sense. There was
no reason for Memory Man, or M-Squared, as I’d begun to think of him during
Cody’s rundown, to steal memories from Rome and Cody. Unless he’d wanted PSI
secrets? That made sense but didn’t fit. Both men remembered their time at PSI,
so those memories were intact. M-Squared had only taken memories of himself,
probably to keep his identity hidden, and me—well, and those specifically
associated with me.

My
brow furrowed in confusion. Why me? And why had M-Squared not taken Cody’s
memories of me? Why had he only taken Rome’s? What had made Rome’s memories of
me so special that he’d snatched them up rather than state secrets? Wasn’t like
I was a knockout. I was cute (or so I’d been told), with light brown hair,
hazel eyes and a trim physique running away from bad guys had given me. But I
was a B-cup on good days, didn’t usually wear anything besides jeans and
T-shirts and had a smart mouth. Oftentimes, people wanted to
forget
me.
(For proof, see every mention of Rome.) And speaking of Rome, how was I going
to remind him of why he loved me, even if I was glued to his side, when I
suddenly couldn’t think of a single redeemable thing about me?

What
a depressing day.

“I
think Pretty Boy, and then Desert Gal, planned to send Memory Man into PSI
headquarters, maybe let us capture and try and recruit him, all so he could
steal some of our memories,” Cody continued. “John’s specifically. But who
knows? Even with whatever they used to control him, they must not have fully
trusted him. He was locked up, after all.”

Dear
Lord. “Having him inside PSI, willing or not, would be a nightmare.”

“You
have no idea,” he muttered.

Yeah,
I did. John carried some of the biggest secrets in the world. Where scrims were
imprisoned, who worked undercover in the paranormal underground, where
agents—and their family members—lived. In the wrong hands, that kind of
information could place everyone I loved on some scrim’s kill list.

“So
why didn’t Memory Man take Rome’s PSI knowledge when he had the chance?” I
asked. “He left those memories alone.”

“Only
he knows the answer to that.” Pensive, Cody rubbed at his scalp. “With Desert
Gal now at the helm of the OASS empire, Pretty Boy’s plan to destroy us is
alive and well, even if Pretty Boy himself isn’t. We need to follow every lead,
not just focus on Memory Man. In those papers I mentioned, there was a
reference to Big Rocky Spring Water.”

“What
reference?”

“Some
sort of coded message, I think. ‘You’ll never be thirsty at Big Rocky.’”

Hard
to argue with that statement, no matter what secret message it might contain. I
loved me some Big Rocky. Fresh and crisp with no chemical aftertaste. “What
does a major water company have to do with those disgusting scrims? Could one
of the employees be a potential target? Or maybe an asset of some kind?”

“I
don’t know, but I plan to fly to their headquarters in Colorado and find out.”

I
didn’t have to ask how he’d get answers. His usual method was to sleep his way
through a company until he learned all he could about it and its employees.

Yet
another reason he shouldn’t be allowed near Sherridan. Even if he were dating
my friend, he wouldn’t walk away from a target’s bed if sleeping with her was
necessary.

“All
right. Hop a flight, but stay in contact with me. I want to know what you know,
when you know it. I’ll expect daily updates,” I added so that he couldn’t feign
ignorance later.

He
saluted me, the smart-ass. “Aye-aye, Captain. That was my plan, anyway. John
and I already talked.”

Of
course they had. John might have told me I was in charge of this case—to keep
me from threatening to quit,
again,
I’m sure—but I knew the truth. Even
though I held the title of Special Agent in Charge, Cody and Rome were the ones
calling the shots. In John’s eyes, at least. Still. I planned to do things my
way.

“Give
me your list of prisoners to interview,” I said. “I’ll do it for you.” Well,
Tanner and I would. Tanner, my human lie detector, would find the answers that
I, novice that I was, couldn’t hope to find with written, detailed instructions
and a GPS tracker.

“I’m
a few steps ahead of you, Wonder Girl. While you were arranging your flowers, I
stuffed the list in your purse.”

As
he spoke, a wicked gleam entered his eyes. What else had he done to my purse?
With Cody, a girl never knew.

The
front door creaked open, preventing me from asking. Footsteps echoed, and then
the door banged closed. Voices drifted into the kitchen.

“I
can’t believe you’d nail Lexis over Jessica Alba. Jessica’s hot!” Sherridan
said. “I’m not a lesbian, but even I’d do her.”

“Yeah,
but—wait. What? Details, woman,” Tanner said. “I need details. Start with how
you’d strip her and end with her smiling and saying thank you.”

Cody
groaned as though he were in pain. “Are you sure I can’t take her out?
Girl-on-girl crushes are my favorite, and I’d like to hear more about hers.”

Men!
“I’m sure,” I told him. More loudly, I called, “We’re in here.”

The
footsteps quickened. Then, “Oh, look at the pretties!” Sherridan cooed as she
brushed past me to smell the orchids. “Who sent? Rome? Has he finally come to
his senses, the jackass? Or maybe his amnesia has a silver lining. It wasn’t
like he was this considerate when he was using half his brain rather than none
of it.”

“I
wish, but no.” Bastard. “They’re from a secret admirer.”

“Maybe
Sherridan sent them,” Tanner said, leaning against the entry frame. Did my
heart good, seeing him so relaxed. “Since she’s into girls and all.”

Cody
gave another of those groans.

Both
Tanner and Sherridan faced him. Tanner nodded in acknowledgment. Sherridan
puckered her brow in confusion.

“Hey,”
she said in greeting. “I’m Sherridan, Belle’s friend. And you are…?”

Was
she serious? “Uh, Sherridan. You’ve met him. In John’s office. Even a few times
in passing before that.” I glanced from her to Cody, Cody to her. Her features
registered disbelief. His registered embarrassed irritation. “Remember?”

She
frowned, bit her bottom lip. “I’m drawing a blank. Are you sure he was in the
office?”

Was
everyone in my life destined to suddenly forget pieces of their own?

“I
was there,” Cody answered for me.

Ouch.
He sounded pissed.

“Sure,
sure, I, uh, recall now.” Sherridan laughed, probably to cover her lie, and
damn if it wasn’t a good look for her. Her cheeks glowed a rosy shade of pink,
and her blue eyes sparkled. Tall and curved as she was, she could have been a
goddess or an Amazon come to passionate life. Had to make her total disregard
hurt Cody’s ego.

He
turned to me. “I see we didn’t need to have this conversation after all.”

“What
conversation?” Tanner asked.

I
patted Cody’s cheek as I said, “I’ll tell you later, Crazy Bones.”

“Belle.”
It was a warning unlike any I’d heard from Cody before. “I thought we were
speaking in confidence.”

“When
did I ever give you that impression?” I said, all innocence. “I tell Tanner
everything.”

“Some
things a man likes to keep private.”

“Like
what?” Sherridan asked.

Cody
gritted his teeth. “I’m out of here. I’ll call you tomorrow, Belle. Maybe.” He
didn’t wait for my reply, but stalked from the kitchen, then the house, the
door slamming behind him.

“You
are such a liar,” Tanner said.

I
gasped in affront. “I told the truth! I
do
tell you everything.”

“Not
you. Her.” His gaze slid to Sherridan, who was squirming in place.

“What?”
she asked, projecting the same innocence I had.

“You
can’t fool Mr. Sensitive.” He’d chosen the name himself, and it always made me
laugh. “You totally remembered him.”

“You
did?” I stared at her, wide-eyed. How dumb was I, not to have known that? “You
sly little hooker, why’d you pretend you hadn’t? And don’t get me wrong. I’m
not complaining. I’m impressed.”

She
crossed her arms over her ample chest and grinned. “Clearly he’s a player. I
mean, I remember you told me he even romanced the silver foxes at your dad’s
assisted-living center when he was on guard duty.”

That
was true. When I first acquired my powers, Pretty Boy had used my family to try
and force me to work for him. Cody had been sent in as protection. But now that
PB was dead and my dad in an undisclosed location, no longer in need of
round-the-clock security, Cody had come back to PSI.

Thinking
of those dark days had me wondering if Pretty Boy had done something similar to
Memory Man, held his family over his head like the sword of Damocles. And if
Desert Gal had done—or would do—the same in PB’s place. Could that be the
reason M-Squared had taken Rome’s memories of me? At her behest, to save
someone he loved? Had she just wanted to torture me?

Maybe.
But Cody had said M-Squared hadn’t done what PB or DG had wanted most of the
time, which was why they’d kept him locked up for so long. So why would he
suddenly start obeying them? More than that, I doubted DG knew about me. We’d
never encountered each other, and I was new to this game. Unless she’d somehow
heard that I was working her case.

God,
this was confusing. I didn’t know what to believe. And really, when had I
become such a text-happy teenybopper? With all these acronyms, I was going to
need that Who’s Who reference guide Sherridan had mentioned.

“Are
you listening to me?” Sherridan asked. “Cody was romancing silver foxes, Belle.
Silver foxes. That clearly shows that as long as a woman is breathing, he’s
interested. So when I saw him checking me out in John’s office, well…I decided
to push him away before anything could get started. I know I date a lot of men,
but I’m looking for Mr. Right. He is
not
that person.”

Maybe
I hadn’t needed to warn Cody away, after all. I’d never seen Sherridan so
strong; she could have sent him away on her own, no problem. And had. Still. I
was grateful Cody was on his way out of town and her newfound strength wouldn’t
be tested daily. “I’m proud of you.”

She
beamed over at me, curls bouncing. “Thanks.”

“And
hey. Life’s gonna be nothing but roses for you. Lexis—”

“Bitch,”
Sherridan said at the same time as Tanner scowled.

“Yes,
well, that bitch said you’re going to get your greatest desire soon.”

Sherridan’s
eyes widened slowly, her mouth falling open in sync. Strangest expression
change I’d ever seen. “She’s never wrong about these things.”

“I
know,” I grumbled. “And I hate that that man-stealing tramp knows your greatest
desire but I don’t.”

She
didn’t take the hint. She placed her hands over her heart and twirled. “It’s
going to happen for me. It’s really going to happen.”

“What
is?” I asked outright. So much for subtlety.

Sherridan
stopped and grinned over at me. “I’m going to develop a superpower!”

Sherridan’s
words haunted me
all night. She knew how careful I had to be not to fry the entire world. She
knew my name was at the top of many agency hit lists. She knew I had to undergo
twice-weekly—sometimes daily—mandatory blood tests. She knew there was nothing
I could do about any of it unless I abandoned everyone I loved, ran off and
spent the rest of my life in hiding.

Having
powers was more a burden than a blessing. Why would she want that for herself?
And how could I stop it from happening?

Simple
fact was, I couldn’t. Never wrong, bitchy Lexis had assured us Sherridan would
acquire them and I’d never been able to stop Lexis’s visions from coming true
before. If I tried this time, I might destroy Sherridan’s newfound sense of
happiness and thereby her strength, dash her “greatest desire” and ruin our
friendship forever.

What
a freaking mess.

Was
Lexis right this
time, though? Maybe her future-seeing ability was on the fritz. I mean, I still
couldn’t picture another man winning my heart. Or me marrying said man.

Those
thoughts led to the flowers. Did the sender truly admire me or was it some kind
of joke? Maybe even a Trojan horse. Like maybe there was a camera in the vase,
so the bad guys would know when to attack.

See!
This was what being a superhero did to a person. Made them question everything.
Even flowers. And Sherridan wanted that?

Muttering
under my breath, I stumbled into the kitchen, grabbed the vase, stumbled
outside and chucked it, flowers and all, into the garbage. I went back to bed
but once again, my mind was too active to allow me to sleep.