Twice as Hot (35 page)

I
tried to process it all. One, Jean-Luc could take memories from one person and
simply give them to someone else. Without touching them, since he’d never been
allowed near Vincent. Wow. Two, he knew Desert Gal intimately. “Tell me
everything. Please.” I couldn’t keep the urgency from my voice.

“She
likes to blend into both societies, civilian and paranormal, and does her best
to keep her respective identities completely separate. The former she uses for
monetary gain and to secretly stalk her prey. The latter she uses to commit her
crimes. To steal what she covets, to kill those who are in her way, to capture
people like us. Her thirst for power is unsurpassed.

“But
most of all,” he continued, “she hates you. Thinks you took her father from
her.”

“What?
How?” To my knowledge, I had never encountered her or her dad.

“He
liked you better than her, that’s all I know. Well, that, and pride is
everything to her. She has to be the best at everything, own the finest things,
and, like I said, be the most powerful.”

“But…but
who the hell is her dad?” Could he have been one of the scrims I’d helped PSI
put away over the past months?

“In
the memories I viewed, she only thought of him as Dad or Daddy, so I don’t have
a clear sense of his identity. And at the time, I had no idea who you were.
Where are you, Belle?” he asked gently. “Give me your exact location. Please.
It’ll save time.”

To
tell or not to tell? Rome would freak if I did. But Jean-Luc was the best lead
we had. “Why do you want to know?”

“I
want to keep you safe.”

“Does
that mean you want to help me fight bad guys?”

“No,
but I will if I must. Anything to keep you safe,” he said fiercely. “You’re my
everything.”

Knowing
someone cared about me
that
much, even though that affection stemmed
from something false and wrong and couldn’t possibly be real, was a dangerous
temptation wrapped in a pretty pink box. 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. “Thank you.”

“May
I?” he asked politely, motioning inside the room with a tilt of his chin.

I
stepped out of the way. He was a stranger to me, but he knew what it was like
to make love to me. I knew nothing about him. Well, not true. I now knew he
used the same soap as Rome. Wild and primal and enough to make me close my eyes
and savor the familiar scent.

He
sailed past me. “Sorry it took me so long. I invaded a few heads, trying to
find out what was going on with The Multiplier.”

“And?”
I shut the door, sealing us inside. Alone, together. My trembling hadn’t
stopped but had only increased. A glaze of ice formed over my chest, my arms.

“I
can’t believe the bastard betrayed me. And I never saw it coming. We’ve been
friends for years, stayed in touch whenever possible…we’d shared stories about
our pasts…Damn it! I trusted him.”

I
tensed, the ice spreading to my legs. I drew my arms around my middle.

Concern
darkened Jean-Luc’s handsome face, and he stepped toward me, arms reaching.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for my anger to scare you.”

I
stepped back. “Don’t come near me,” I said. “I don’t want to ice you. You’ll be
immobilized for hours. And it wasn’t your anger that did me in. I’m afraid of
what you’re going to tell me next.”

He
stopped, dropping his hands to his sides. “Rome can temper your emotions, can’t
he? But I can’t.” Sadness fell like a curtain over his handsome features.
“Should I wait to tell you what I found out, then?”

I
shook my head, hair slapping at my cheeks. “I have to know, so I can calm
myself.” I’d wanted to practice doing so, and now it looked like I’d have my
chance.

He
gave a stiff nod. “All right, then. The Multiplier has Rome and wants you, and
when he gets you, he plans to sell you both to Desert Gal.”

A
few of the brothers
will be around the hotel, on the lookout.

A
few of the brothers will be inside, watching, waiting.

Rome
will not be in the room with you. They will have hidden him somewhere else.

Over
and over Jean-Luc’s warnings drifted through my mind as I strode through the
Holland Hotel lobby. At reception, I asked for Matthew Brooks’s room
number—618.

The
wristwatch Jean-Luc had given me showed it was 8:53. I was riding the elevator
up to the sixth floor and though I was alone, it felt like a thousand pairs of
eyes were watching my every move, a thousand arms ready to reach out and grab
me.

Jean-Luc
knew what was going down because he’d found one of the brothers, peeked into
his mind and then stolen the memory of their meeting. At first, The Multiplier
had simply planned to bag me when I reached the room, a room he’d rented just
for me, then use me to lure Rome into a trap. But Rome, with his ear always to
the ground, learned of their intent first and tried to stop them. Alone. He
hadn’t trusted anyone else in the area, I guess, and hadn’t wanted to wait for
those he did trust to get here.

Somehow,
the brothers had gotten the better of him.

Now
they only needed me to complete their plan.

“Why
didn’t they just grab me at the club?” I’d asked Jean-Luc.

“Because
they would have had to fight both you and Rome, and fighting isn’t their strong
suit. From what you’ve told me about the club, I can assume they wanted to get
you drunk, abscond with you while you weren’t operating at full capacity and
force Rome to come to them. But even though they failed with you, Rome fell
right into their hands.”

My
palms were sweating, but thankfully, they weren’t icing. Yet. I tried to
concentrate only on Jean-Luc’s words, not my emotions. Success depended on me.

First,
I was going to find out where they’d hidden Rome. The brother Jean-Luc invaded
hadn’t possessed that information. Then I was going to ice those stupid
brothers and send them to John, who would most likely make sure they spent the rest
of their lives rotting in Chateau Villain.