Blowback (The Black Cipher Files Book 1) (32 page)

Johnny shook his head, No.

“Hey, babe. I have a present for you in my bag.” He unzipped the bag and pulled out the bug wand. “Trust me. You’re gonna love it.”

“What is that?”

I strong armed Bella, wrapping my hand over her mouth and my arm around her waist from behind. A part of me wept as I realized my fantasies of a reunion with my sister were just that. Wishful fantasy.

This travesty of a hug was as close to Bella as I was likely to get. Ever.

Her body tensed as Johnny quietly and efficiently checked the room, while Lucas looked for hidden cameras.

“It’s clean.”

Interesting. With the amount of buzzing between Lucas and I, it surprised me the room wasn’t bugged.

I held on for one more second then let my sister go.

“What the hell is going on?” Her voice and her posture were considerably subdued. She’d finally clued in, something was seriously wrong.

“I’m sorry.” Johnny apologized to Bella as he unzipped his bag and put the bug wand away. “I never meant--”

“Who are you working for?” I repeated the question.

Johnny shot a glance at Bella. “I...can’t say.”

“Protection or recruitment?” I balled my fists and stepped toward him.

Johnny looked at me, then Lucas. “Protection.”

“Okay.” That was something. Protection. “Any problems?”

“No. As a matter of fact, nothing at all. I think I’m about to be pulled.”

“Why?”

Bella was absolutely silent, staring at Johnny in confusion. He wouldn’t return her gaze as he said, “It was only supposed to be a short term thing. The assignment actually went a little longer than I’d originally been told.”

“You’re sure there was no recruitment directive.”

“Positive. Protection only.”

A frigid chill scuttled up my spine. Had I compromised Bella’s safety by coming here? Had my concern for her overridden good sense and years of training?

Lucas rested his hand on my shoulder. The heat of his palm warming my frozen body.

“You’re protecting me?” Bella dropped into an overstuffed chair with giant cabbage roses.

Johnny cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

I looked away from their private conversation. Johnny was in deep shit, which was fine with me. We were in the living room. The walls were painted a cheerful pink. The chairs were puffy, upholstered with a floral pattern. What caught my attention was the bookshelves. There were lots of biographies. Some of the same ones I had read.

“Is Donald your real name?”

“Uh, no.”

“What is it?”

“I...can’t say.”

“Won’t, you mean.” Bella shot him a bitter look.

“Can’t. Bella. I’m sorry.” Johnny eased onto the puffy arm of Bella’s chair and threaded his fingers through hers. “I want to, but--”

“So what was the last two weeks?” she spat.

“I really like you--”

“Sorry to interrupt your lovefest, but I need to ask you,” I jabbed a finger at Johnny/Donald, “some questions about Staci Grant.”

I blocked out Bella’s reaction to me. I blocked out her rejection and the invisible wounds. And I focused only on the one thing I could do. Protect Bella.

THIRTY-FIVE

Johnny’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t know any Staci Grant.”

“Cut the crap.” I bent down until I was eye level with him. “Who was the woman who checked you out of the hospital? And is she the one who recruited you?”

Johnny looked at Lucas for help. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. Lucas stood with his legs apart, arms crossed over his chest.

Johnny sighed. “Staci Grant. She’s the one who wanted me to watch over Bella.”

I kept perfectly still, my gaze unwavering. “The real Staci Grant is dead.”

Johnny frowned at me. “Then who was that in the hospital?”

“You tell me. Staci Grant died weeks ago in Afghanistan.” I let that fact sink in. “Have you ever met in person before?”

“No.” He kept his eyes steady on mine and I actually believed him. He hadn’t shifted his body or his gaze away.

I could lie without compunction but somehow I didn’t think Johnny Wishbone was there yet.

“What did she look like?”

“About your height, light skin for a black woman.”

“She’s white.”

Johnny shook his head. “This woman is definitely black, probably a mix though. She had dark curly hair, but not kinky like a ‘fro.”

“Eyes?”

“Deep brown.”

“Shape. Color can be changed.”

“Oh, right.” He looked flustered--as well he should. “Deep set, slight tilt.”

“Why did she hire you?”

“She said Bella might be in danger but she was still working on why.”

“Why you?”

“She said I was as ready as she could afford and trust.”

“What was the plan?”

“She was going to eliminate the threat and then Bella would be safe.”

Ironic that the Staci Grant impersonator was trying to keep Bella safe. Why? “Do you have a contact number?”

“No. She calls me.”

“Next time--get a number,” Lucas said. “And call me on my cell. We need to talk to her.”

Johnny nodded.

“Something to remember, kid. Never trust anyone. Not even your friends.”

I could see Lucas’s words hit Johnny. “So this was just a test?”

“If it was a test, you failed,” I said. “You gave up information.”

Lucas looked at Johnny. “Call your mother. Explain something.”

“Your mother?” Bella’s voice rose. She snatched her fingers away.

Johnny frowned. “I left a note.”

“Where?” Lucas asked.

“In the hospital bed.” Johnny glanced at Bella. “I said I needed to get away for a few weeks and not to worry.”

“She didn’t get it.”

“It’s just a few weeks. It’s not a big deal.” The kid said with the arrogance only youth can pull off.

“It is if she files a missing persons with the police.”

Realization dawned. “That’s why you tracked me down.”

“Yeah. This isn’t a game.”

“I thought it was a test.”

“And if you pass, what happens?” Lucas asked.

“I go to the next level.”

“What does that mean?”

“She recommends me for all of the testing, evaluations, and a training class.”

I didn’t give a shit about his career path. “She show you any i.d.?”

“Uh, no.” Johnny had the smarts to look embarrassed.

So this stranger impersonating Staci Grant, without i.d. to back up her claim, had asked him to look after Bella. Even if, in some bizarre twist, his recruiter was actually Staci Grant, their contact didn’t make any sense. Staci identified the recruits. Someone else made contact so Staci’s cover stayed intact.

Unless his operation was supposed to be the first contact of recruitment for Bella. “If you try to bring my sister along with you, I will hunt you down. Are we clear?”

Johnny swallowed audibly. “Yeah.”

Bella jumped up from the floral chair and glared at all of us. “I am in control of my own destiny. No one tells me where to go or what to do.”

“Consider yourself lucky you have a choice.” I averted my gaze to the fireplace. The mantel was littered with pictures. In all sizes and colors, pictures crowded the ornate strip of wood. Pictures of our family. Pictures I hadn’t seen in thirteen years.

Lucas put a hand on my arm. “It’s time to go.”

“I know.” I wanted to stay, to make sure nothing ever hurt her. But I wouldn’t be welcome.

The itchy, twitchy feeling was back. We needed to split. Johnny was here. And Lucas and I would be close.

I said to Bella, “I have to leave.”

“You’re good at that,” Bella said bitterly. She twisted away from me, her arms wrapped tightly at her waist. “Leave.”

I had one last chance. “I thought you never go away angry.”

Bella whirled around. “You...spied on me? How dare you!”

I stared hard at my sister for one long moment, taking in her straight streaked blond hair, clear innocent skin, and eyes the same color and shape as my father’s, sparking with anger all the way down to her bare feet and her pale pink toenails.

Suddenly everything I’d done, every action I’d taken for the last thirteen years seemed wrong with no way to go back and change it. Even if I wanted to. I’d done everything for her. “I did what I had to do.”

Lucas’s hand was warm and comforting on my arm, as if he knew how difficult those words were. He alone understood the sacrifices I’d made for my sister.

I shot Johnny a hard look. “Keep her safe.”

“He’s not staying here either!” Bella yelped.

Johnny started, “Bella, wait, let me explain....”

“It’s either him or me,” I barked in a hard voice. I wasn’t leaving her alone.

She wouldn’t even look at me, her lips scrunched in a pout. “Him.”

Her choice had been easy and automatic--no hesitation at all. She didn’t want me. I’d take out that pain and examine it later but right now I had to get out.

We’d sit in the car and watch for the rest of the night. Bella was fine. John Wishbone had been watching over her and he’d seen no threat.

I walked out the door, knowing I’d never be back.

Stopping on the steps, I remembered the last time I’d been at the farm, when I’d been ten, maybe eleven. I still remembered the way the wraparound porch welcomed visitors, the way the white picket fence curled around a yard filled with flowers and statues and fountains, the way the birds twittered and the fireflies buzzed lazily in the twilight.

I remembered playing hide and seek with my brother in the summertime, scrunching under the heavy stone benches in the gazebo or squeezing between the raspberry vines and the fence.

I rubbed my arms gently.

The scratches from those long ago days had hurt. Now I understood those angry red slashes were simple wounds that healed easily. It was the scrapes and scars you couldn’t see that hurt the most.

Lucas drove away from the house, along the winding drive. “You okay?”

“Fine.”

“We’ll sit and watch the house.”

“Yeah.”

He parked in the same spot, about two miles in distance and a lifetime in experience, as we had less than an hour ago. Half hour tops. Amazing how little time it takes for your heart to shatter.

I leaned back against the head rest, stared at the grey fabric ceiling of the rental. Maybe I should have tried to argue my case to Bella, but explaining my actions contradicted the way I’d lived for the past thirteen years. And I really don’t think it would have made any difference.

“Don’t.” I heard his voice through a fog. “She’ll understand when she’s older.”

I laughed bitterly.

Lucas leaned toward me, his hand on mine, staring intently at me. Willing me to believe. “At least she’ll have the chance to grow old. Because of you.”

Right. Focus on the salvageable.

I closed my eyes, closed him out.

“You did everything you could. She isn’t going to comprehend the sacrifices you made right now. She’s still just a kid. A kid who got to experience a full childhood.”

Lucas’s arguments made sense but I remembered her face as she raged about being an orphan. The rough anguish in her voice. Maybe I hadn’t done the right thing.

I’d never know.

The roaring in my head grew. Until I realized, it wasn’t my head. I snapped my eyes open as Lucas whipped around.

Shit.

Each action seemed to flash and freeze, like watching motion through a strobe light.

An SUV barreled up the driveway going at least sixty.

Lucas was already turning on the engine.

Four black clad figures, heads covered with balaclavas, spilled out and ran toward the house.

We roared down the hill, the farm house was out of sight for seconds, then came back into view.

A flash bang boomed and flared. The front door swung open.

Our engine strained, ripping the shocks as we took the dips too fast.

They carried the limp bodies of Bella and Johnny out of the house, rolled them into the van.

No blood. No blood.

“Probably tranqs,” Lucas said grimly.

The SUV sped down the driveway.

“Standard training exercise from the Farm.” In exercises they didn’t use live rounds.

Lucas swerved onto the narrow driveway.

The SUV barreled towards us, headlights blinding.

We drove straight at them on the narrow road.

“In a game of chicken we’re going to lose,” Lucas commented.

“I know.”

A weapon appeared outside the passenger window aimed straight at us.

“I’m going to have to give soon.”

I thought of Bella and Johnny rolled in the back like sacks of garbage and how they would fly if we hit. “Go now.”

Lucas jammed on the brakes and swerved to the right.

The muzzle of the weapon flashed twice.

No sound. Silencer. But the bullets were real.

“Shot the tires.” The car jerked, his forearm muscles straining to hold it steady as the car bumped over a tree root.

I heard the thud as his head hit the roof of the car.

We clipped the side of a tree. My head slammed into the windshield.

I lay against the seat, my head resting on the cool glass of the passenger door, in the grip of fear so intense it left me immobile, watching the SUV speed away in the side mirror hanging awkwardly from the car.

I couldn’t do any more than stare in horror as the SUV disappeared. Could it be that in trying to protect my sister, I’d done the exact opposite?

They had Bella.

THIRTY-SIX

Rage howled through me.

I didn’t even realize I was screaming until Lucas laid his hand on my shoulder. “Jamie. Stop.”

He unclipped the seatbelt, ran his hands over my body. “Are you okay?”

“Did I cause this?”

“I don’t know.”

“We didn’t leave any tracks.”

“Shit. You’re bleeding.”

I swatted his fingers away from a lump on my forehead. A warm trail of blood trickled down the side of my face. “We’ve got to see if they left a ransom note.”

“Honey. They don’t want ransom,” he said gently. Lucas opened the driver’s door and eased out.

“They have to want something.” And whatever it was I would move the universe to give it to them and get Bella back.