Talent to Burn (Hidden Talent #1) (10 page)

We approached the terminal, and Justine’s car pulled over. Jamie pulled in a few spaces back. She climbed out, retrieved her bag from the trunk, and waved the driver off.

“I’ll call you,” I said. I jumped out of the car, followed her into the terminal, and up to the check-in counters.

I didn’t want to get too close, so I got in line two people behind Justine. She checked her bag and I craned my neck frantically to see the tag on it. When she turned to head for security, I developed a sudden fascination in the TSA sign behind me. When I was sure she’d gone, I went back outside.

“That was easier than I expected,” I said into my phone.

“It usually is. Did you find out where she’s going?”

“The airport code was IAD.”

The phone line went silent, dead air on the line. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure. I don’t know where that is though—Iowa?”

“It’s Washington, DC.” Jamie sounded quiet.

“Does that mean something?”

“I’ll pick you up in five, same place I dropped you off.”

When I got back in the car Jamie said nothing, squinting out through the windshield into the sun. We drove away from the airport, and turned in the opposite direction from the Strip. The air conditioning labored in the heat as we headed out into the desert.

 
We traveled until we came to a rest stop, and Jamie pulled in. There was nobody here but us and the tumbleweeds, and the dirt road beneath the tires was riddled with potholes. The car trickled to a stop. Jamie got out and leaned against the wing of the car, arms folded, staring into space.

I walked around the car to stand in front of him. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t figure that out.” He rubbed both temples with his fingers. “That’s what has me worried.”

“What’s interesting about Washington, DC?”

He lifted his dark gaze to mine. “A couple of things. First, as you know, the Grey Institute is headquartered in Virginia.”

Now I understood why he’d turned pensive. Why would she go closer to the Institute? “I didn’t know that. When Eric and I were kids, we were in southern California, outside San Diego.”

Jamie nodded. “Their HQ is relatively new. I think there’s still a training center in San Diego, but they moved the head office to be closer to the seat of power. Easier for lobbying, for fulfilling defense contracts, all that kind of stuff.”

I thought of Ryder’s spiel about national security. It all made sense.

“Okay. What’s the other thing?”

“Second, Riverslea, the headquarters of the Order I work for, is in Potomac, Maryland, on the outskirts of DC. I live there, as do a bunch of other Talents.”

“Why would Justine be going to either of those places?” I had ideas, but I wanted to know what Jamie thought. Maybe his ideas were less disturbing than mine.

Jamie stared off into the distance, squinting at the desert sun. “I’m wondering if she’s meeting Eric there, or traveling on her own. Is he on his way back to the Institute, or does she think he might be? Unlikely that he’s on his way to Riverslea, but it’s possible. If I were Eric, the Institute is the last place I’d be headed.”

“Her trip could be completely unrelated.”

He nodded. “It could. But I have a bad feeling about this.”

I hitched myself up on the car wing beside him. The hot metal seared through my jeans, scorching even by the standard of the air out here, in contrast with the cold feeling in my heart about Justine’s destination. “What do you want to do?”

“Justine is the only lead we have on Eric at the moment. We don’t have any other ideas about where he might be, or who he might be with. I feel like there’s probably more here in Vegas we can work with, but I don’t know what it is. Hell, for all we know, he could still be here someplace.”

“We’ve got the medal,” I reminded him. “That’s a lead.”

“True.” Jamie leaned back next to me. “If we go to DC, there are people at the Order who could read it for us, which might help.”

Shit. Both of our leads pulled us toward DC, closer to the Grey Institute. I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to help Jamie on this mission while staying clear of the place.

I tried to get my brain back on track, puzzling at trying to figure out our next steps. “I wonder if the cops know anything about Justine.”

“They must—they talked to Eric’s buddy before we did.”

“But they didn’t find the card. They don’t know where she lives, or what her name is, I’ll bet. We could tell them.”

“Is this the same Cat that didn’t want to talk to the police—when was it—yesterday?” His mouth twitched up at one corner.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“Maybe a little. But you’ve given me an idea. We can take a look in her apartment.”

“Hey,” I said, jumping down from the car and stepping away. “Breaking into a burned-out building is one thing. Someone’s apartment? That’s different.” Running from the Greys, keeping a low profile with the cops, I was okay with that. Actively breaking laws—and the casualness with which Jamie treated them—took me way out of my comfort zone. If I did this, there’d be no going back to my dreams of a quiet, documented, normal life. I’d always be a criminal, even if we didn’t get caught.

Jamie fixed me with a glare. “Come on. What if Eric’s there? Or what if he has been there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t feel that comfortable with the idea. It crosses a pretty big line.” I felt stupid even saying it with him staring at me like that.

“I thought you were this big outlaw, on the run for your whole life. You’re surprising me, Cat. I’m trying to get the job done here.”

I curled up my fists by my sides. “Listen. I didn’t choose to go on the run, or to hide from the authorities. I’d like nothing more than to have a quiet, safe, law-abiding life in the suburbs. You’re a criminal. I am not that kind of person.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” he said abruptly, his face darkening. “Who you are, who you think you are, and who you want to be aren’t always the same thing.” He walked over and opened the passenger side door for me. “Are you coming on the lam? Or are you and your law-abiding alter ego going to wait for the bus?”

“Would you really leave me out here in the desert?” I asked. How much of a bad boy was he? Had I, like an idiot, put my life in the wrong man’s hands?

“Don’t be bloody stupid,” he said. “Of course not.” He walked away from the car, and came right up close to me, close enough I could feel his breath on my face. “Listen. You’ve said you want to help Eric. You’ve said you want to get the Greys off your back. You’ve come this far, broken into a crime scene, lied to the cops, run from Ryder. Why are you getting cold feet now?”

He put one hand on my shoulder. “Are you serious about this? Because I am. This is my mission, and I’ll do what needs doing to save Eric’s life or the lives of those around him. Whether that’s legal or not, I have to trust my judgment, and you’re going to have to trust it too. Are you ready for this, Cat? What are you prepared to do?”

His face softened as he saw the tears I blinked back frantically. He lifted one hand to brush a stray drop from below my eye. “It’s mighty dusty out here,” he said, and took a step back. Then he added, softly, “Are you in?”

I may have been a fool, but I knew he was right, on every count, much as it pained me to admit it to myself. It would be a cold day in hell before I said that to Jamie though.

“I’m coming,” I said between my teeth. “Let’s go break some goddamn laws.”

Chapter Eleven

Before I met Jamie, I’d never used a window to enter or exit a building in my life. This was the third time in as many days. This time we were going in rather than out, apparently.

Jamie got down on his knees in the stinky alley in front of me and held out his hands.

“Are you praying, or proposing?” As soon as it came out of my mouth, I regretted it. I crossed my arms, wishing I hadn’t said anything.

“I’m giving you a boost,” he said. “Come on.”

“I didn’t realize I’d have to go first,” I muttered, and stepped into his hands, now regretting the amount I’d eaten at breakfast. He thrust me upward and I grabbed hold of the bottom of the fire escape ladder, closed my eyes and yanked. It made a metallic cranking noise as it slid downward.

Jamie set me down like a china vase, and I stepped back and once again took hold of the ladder. In moments, we were up on the balcony outside the upstairs window.

“Do you think anyone heard the ladder?”

He shrugged. “There’s plenty of background noise from the street and the bars, and besides, there’s not much we can do about it if they did. Let’s try and be fast.” He tried to lift the window sash, his arms bulging in the sleeves of his tight black T-shirt. “It’s locked.”

“I guess we’re out of options then.” Relief washed through me.

He pulled a bandana out of his jeans pocket and began wrapping it around his hand. “Leather jacket would be better, but I left it in the car.”

I couldn’t believe it. “You’re not serious. Someone will hear glass breaking.”

“It won’t be any louder than the ladder.”

I dug for another reason to prevent the B in B&E. “You’ll hurt yourself. You’re still all covered in cuts from yesterday.”

Jamie tapped the side of his fist against the glass above the sash lock, once, twice, aiming, then slammed his hand through the window. Glass shattered. I flinched. My hands hurt just thinking about it.

“Are you insane? Are you okay?”

Without responding to either of my questions, he put his hand through the hole and flipped the lock, then slid the sash upward and climbed through. Then came tinkling noises, until finally he stuck his head back out.

“I cleared the glass from the sill. You ought to be fine. Come on.”

I took a deep breath and climbed over the windowsill into the darkened apartment. My boots crunched glass into the carpet. The shadows of furniture loomed against the walls. A pulse pounded in one eyelid, and my skin prickled with sweat.

Something moved to one side of the window and then the apartment became fully dark. I stopped dead. A small, brilliant light appeared, and I realized after a moment that Jamie had his LED flashlight out again. “Had to close the drapes,” he said. “No point in being any more obvious than we need to be.”

Rich, after all the noise we’d made getting in here.

He shone the light around the room. I could see the entire apartment from where I stood. A tiny kitchen took up one corner of the living area and someone had rigged curtains on a cord to close off the bed area. An open doorway led to a bathroom.

“I don’t see a lot in the way of personal possessions,” Jamie said. His voice surprised me in the dark. I expected whispers.

“Shhh,” I said.

His voice lowered, he said, “I’d be surprised if anyone can hear us in an old brick building like this one.”

Jamie shone the light around, illuminating a couch, shelves and a stool in the kitchen. A small TV. No books, no photos, no personal decorations. He pulled aside the “bedroom” curtains, garishly purple in the LED’s bright white light. The bed was full sized, made but plain.

“Looks like nobody lives here,” he said.

“Maybe she’s not planning on coming back.”

“Could be, and if everything she had here fit in that bag, she wasn’t here long.”

I’d worried about invading someone else’s space, but the apartment didn’t even smell like someone’s home. Empty in every sense of the word.

As I watched, Jamie checked the fridge, the pantry and the bathroom. Everything was empty.

“I guess she wasn’t much of a cook,” he said. “But I’m surprised there isn’t even a packet of ramen noodles or a moldy onion.”

The knock at the door froze us both in place. With a flick of his finger, Jamie plunged us into total darkness. My heart beat loudly in my ears and I strained to hear anything over it.

I jumped when he touched me, one hand on my arm, and then a finger pressed against my lips. I trembled against the warmth and thought about running, every prey instinct I had screaming at me to get out. My feet took a couple of steps of their own volition. Maybe I could make a run for the window.

I sensed quiet movement in the dark—a rustle, warm air moving—and then those hard arms went around me. The scent of him, clean, warm and masculine, filled my nostrils. His breath whispered over my mouth, and then came the brush of his lips on mine.

Perhaps he intended to calm me or to keep me from making a noise. Instead, every nerve sang in the darkness. His mouth opened my senses, warm and gentle against my own. I fell into the kiss, our lips opening, tongues gently stroking, my hands reaching to touch in the dark what I dared not in the daylight.

“Justine? Are you home?”

The kiss ended but his arms stayed around me, one hot hand stroking down my spine through my thin shirt. I held my breath. After a few moments, footsteps retreated down the stairs.

Jamie lowered his lips to my ear. They vibrated against my skin, making every hair on the back of my neck stand up. “They must have heard us walking around up here. Let’s go, quietly.” He stepped away and a moment later, the tiny flashlight came back on, camouflaging his face in the shadows.