Jinx (16 page)

18

‘I can’t believe you gave him a million dollars for that bracelet,” Carmen said ten minutes later as we headed for the van. “You didn’t even
try
to negotiate with him.”

“There was no point. He wasn’t going to get suckered again,” Lulu said. “He let Fiona buy him off with clothes last time because he has a thing for her alter ego, Fiera. He wasn’t going to let me get away with that too. Besides, he still gave me a discount. We are becoming regular customers of his, whether you like it or not. The man could retire on what we’ve spent on explosives in the past year. Sam should just put him on retainer. It’d be cheaper in the end.”

Carmen sighed. “I know, I know. I’ll get Sam to write you a check tonight after work.”

“Nonsense. I’m as much a part of the team as you are, even if I don’t dress up in a costume. Just write another glowing feature on Yee-haw! and we’ll call it even,” Lulu said. “They’ve really done wonders for me these past few months.”

Yee-haw! was a therapeutic riding program financed almost in its entirety by Lulu Lo and her illegal life of crime and computer hacking. She’d been one of the program’s clients for years and was forever expounding on its virtues. In fact, getting publicity for Yee-haw! was one of Lulu’s main passions in life—along with Henry, computers, and making groan-inducing puns all the time.

We left Jasper behind with plenty of aspirin and promised to check on him later. Then, Lulu and Carmen drove me home. Or at least, they started to.

Carmen sat in the driver’s seat, but she didn’t crank the engine. “Maybe we should rethink our plan about taking you home, Bella. If Prism is anything like Malefica, she won’t stop until she’s got the sapphire. She’ll be sure to sic Hangman on you again if she thinks there’s even the slightest chance you have it or know where it is. She might even kidnap you and try to trade you for the sapphire. Then, we’d be right back where we started.”

The plan the superheroes and I had come up with to keep Hangman away from me had been to let Lulu spread the word via her shady contacts that the Fearless Five had recovered the Star Sapphire from Debonair—and for the superheroes to announce it themselves on SNN. If I didn’t have the stone, then there was no reason for the villains to come after me. At least, that was the theory. You could never really tell what ubervillains were going to do.

“Why don’t you guys just return the sapphire to the museum?” I said.

“Why would we want to do that?” Lulu asked. “That’s just stupid.”

I shook my head. “If Hangman and Prism want the sapphire to power their laser, they’ll have to try to steal it from the museum again. When they do, the Fearless Five can be there ready and waiting. You guys can capture the ubervillains, keep them from taking the sapphire, and save the city all in a single night.”

I might not like superheroes and ubervillains, but I sure as hell could think and plot like one.

“And what happens if the ubervillains get past us?” Carmen asked.

“You guys are the Fearless Five. Surely that won’t happen.”

Carmen gave me a look. “You should know by now not to take anything for granted—or to be too confident.”

Truer words were never spoken, but I persisted. I didn’t want to sit in the Fearless Five headquarters until they managed to capture Hangman. I’d be bored to tears. And probably have an allergic reaction to all that spandex. Besides, if I was tucked away in a supersecret superhero lair, I wouldn’t be able to see Debonair again. And I wanted to.

Or did I? Did I really want to see the handsome thief? Just because we’d had a hot one-night stand didn’t mean he cared about me. Or that he’d even want to see me again. He’d probably had a couple more sexual encounters since our night together. Hell, maybe even a dozen, if the rumors about him were true.

But part of me still wanted to see him. Wanted to know more about him. Wanted to know if he’d felt anything at all for me besides lust—because I’d definitely felt something for him. It wasn’t love, but there was a soft spot in my heart for the thief now—even if he’d seduced his way into my good graces and bed. Plus, he kept saving my life. It was really hard to be angry with a guy when he did that.

After another ten minutes of arguing, I convinced Carmen to drive me home. I thought about pressing her into looking into Debonair’s real identity, but that would be pushing it. Tomorrow. I’d ask her tomorrow. It was well into the afternoon now, and all I wanted to do was go home and pretend like everything was normal. Like I hadn’t spent the last few days on the roller coaster ride of a lifetime.

Carmen drove across town and turned the van onto Lucky Way. An abundance of Cypress trees and Spanish moss flanked the wide street, swaying like strands of green-gray hair in the fall breeze. Smooth, perfect, manicured lawns led up from the road, and mansion after mansion stood tall in the quiet, subdued neighborhood. Sun bounced off the roofs of the BMWs, Aston Martins, and other pricey cars parked at the top of the winding driveways. Everything was the same as the last time I’d seen it, but the street and houses looked different to me. They looked . . . smaller somehow, less intimidating.

Carmen turned into the driveway, and the wrought iron gates swung open at her approach. I leaned forward in my seat, and the Bulluci mansion came into view. Red-tile roof, stone arches, balconies, tall, narrow windows. The house wasn’t nearly as large or impressive as Sublime or Brilliance, but seeing it always gave me a sense of peace. It was home, and I was glad to be back.

Carmen parked the van in front of the house, and the three of us got out.

“No valets?” Lulu asked. “No butlers to greet us?”

“We never really had any. And none at all since Fiona and Johnny hooked up. They didn’t want to take the risk of someone asking why Fiona eats the way she does,” I explained, taking a key from my stained purse and sliding it into the front door, which was embossed with a giant
B
.

We stepped inside. My eyes traced over the tile floors, the high ceilings, the familiar furnishings embellished with angels and halos and wings. I let out a long breath. Home. This was where I belonged. Not in the Fearless Five headquarters. Not in Jasper’s bomb lab. And definitely not in the Lair of Seduction.

“Grandfather? Where are you?” I called out.

A loud
thump
sounded, followed by some sort of banging noise and a low moan.

“What was that?” I asked.

Panic pulsed through my body, shooting my hair to new heights. Had Hangman broken into the mansion like he’d done at Jasper’s brownstone? Was he in here now? Hurting my grandfather, torturing Bobby to get him to tell the ubervillain where I or even the sapphire was?

“Bella, wait—”

Carmen started to say something, but I rushed deeper into the house. My power surged. My foot hit a rug in one of the entryways and threatened to go out from under me. But I focused, willing myself not to fall, and somehow, I turned my skid into a long, smooth slide. The rug hit a doorjamb and stopped. I leapt off and kept going.

The odd noises seemed to be coming from the downstairs living room. I picked up a small wooden chair by the door, stepped inside, and pulled it over my shoulder, ready to crash it down on Hangman’s basketball-sized head.

I didn’t see anyone in the room, but more sounds came from the direction of the sofa. Hangman probably had my grandfather pinned down on the floor, crushing the life out of him, just like he’d tried to do to me.

Nobody was hurting my family again. Nobody. Especially not some ubervillain hell-bent on taking over Bigtime. I drew in a breath, careened around the edge of the sofa, and raised the chair up high.

And found my grandfather in a very interesting position—with a woman.

19

I stared at the tangled limbs with amazement and horror. I hadn’t known Bobby was that flexible. That anyone his age was that flexible. The lady he was with was also rather bendy. In all sorts of ways.

Finding my grandfather doing the nasty with his lady friend was not what I’d expected when I’d come into the room—it was far worse. My power pulsed again, and the raised chair suffered for it. The chair didn’t explode so much as I ripped it in two. The two legs I had my hands on snapped off from the rest of the frame, which plummeted to the floor. As my luck would have it, one of the legs I wasn’t holding on to banged into my knee before the other one stabbed my foot. Pain exploded in my toes, and I bit back a howl.

Carmen walked into the room a couple of seconds later, followed by Lulu. I hobbled around on one foot, trying to pretend I hadn’t just gotten an eyeful of bare, somewhat wrinkled flesh.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you—it wasn’t anything serious,” Carmen whispered.

Lulu peered over the back of the sofa and tilted her head to one side. “Looks pretty serious to me. Seriously kinky.”

I shooed the two of them outside and hopped back to the sofa.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat.

The two of them kept right on going like they were seventeen, instead of seventysomething.

“Ahem!”

They finally stopped what they were doing, and my grandfather looked over his shoulder at me.

“Oh, Bella! I didn’t hear you come in,” Bobby said, disengaging himself from the woman beneath him.

He could have been telling the truth. It was rather hard to hear when there were legs clamped over your ears. Bobby buttoned his shirt and drew back, giving me a look at his lady friend’s flushed face. I managed to keep my mouth from falling open. But just barely.

“Hello, Grace,” I said in the politest voice I could muster. “It’s lovely to, um, see you again.”

Grace adjusted her violet angora sweater over her shoulders, smoothed down her skirt, and sat up. “You too, Bella.”

Of course, I hadn’t expected to see quite so much of Grace Caleb at one time, but I wasn’t going to say that. It was better to pretend the last two minutes had never happened. Hell, that the last three days had never happened.

“I didn’t get a chance to tell you before, but the benefit was absolutely wonderful.” Grace’s voice was calm and serene as ever. From her smooth, even tone, you would have thought she and my grandfather hadn’t been doing anything more strenuous than playing canasta. “We raised more money than ever, which, sadly, we’re going to need now to repair the museum.”

“How is the museum? How many items were damaged? Was the wing completely destroyed?” I asked, ashamed that I hadn’t been by the museum yet to see the destruction for myself.

“At first glance, it looked catastrophic, but the damage wasn’t as bad as we feared,” Grace replied, pinning her silver hair back into place. “Several of the paintings and sculptures suffered fire and smoke damage, but Arthur says they can all be repaired. Of course, the roof was completely destroyed, along with part of one wall. Everyone keeps saying how lucky we were that the whole building wasn’t leveled.”

Grandfather gave me a knowing look, which I ignored.

“But the community has really pitched in. Several superheroes, including Swifte, the Invisible Ingénues, Pistol Pete, and Halitosis Hal, have been working to get the museum whipped into shape so it can open back up to the public as soon as possible . . .”

Grace loved the museum almost as much as I did. She launched into a detailed account of which items had been damaged and what was being done to repair them. I didn’t know if Grace was genuinely aware of what she was saying, or if she was just talking to fill the silence. She finally took a breath, and Grandfather interrupted her.

“You and Grace can chat more about the museum tomorrow. Grace is going to join us for dinner. Aren’t you, darling?” Bobby pressed a kiss to her wrinkled hand.

The older woman patted her coif of silver hair. A blush painted her cheeks a delicate pink. “Well, if you insist, Bobby.”

“I do insist,” he said, pressing another kiss to her hand. “And Bella does too. Don’t you, Bella?”

“Of course,” I murmured.

We made some more polite, meaningless, let’s-pretend-I-DIDN’T-SEE-YOU-TWO-HAVING-SEX chitchat. Thankfully, Grace announced she had a dinner date and had to go, ending the awkward torture session. We said our goodbyes, and Bobby offered to walk her out. They started whispering to each other as soon as they left the room. A giggle followed, followed by smacking noises that sounded suspiciously like French-kissing. My grandfather, French-kissing! The thought was almost too much to bear.

I gave Bobby and Grace a few minutes to get out of sight. Then, I left the living room and went looking for Carmen and Lulu. I found them in the kitchen, sitting at the table. Lulu had her laptop out, and she was scanning through the blueprints Jasper had given us. Bobby joined us several minutes later, his silver hair mussed and his shirt unbuttoned once more.

“Grace? Grace Caleb? She’s your mystery woman?” I asked my grandfather the second he stepped into the kitchen. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t think you’d approve,” Bobby replied.

“It’s not that I don’t approve. I just didn’t think she was your type.”

From our time together planning the museum benefit, I knew that Grace Caleb was a reserved, quiet sort of woman. She drank tea and baked blueberry scones and never said a bad word about anyone. She was quiet and shy and retiring. And she never went anywhere without her angora sweater and string of pearls. Grace even wore gloves on occasion. The frilly white kind with fifty-year-old lace.

She was nothing like my grandfather, who was loud and boisterous and full of life. Bobby liked to drink, all right, but tea wasn’t his beverage of choice. Try Brighton’s Best whiskey. He’d rather have chocolate cake than scones, and he always said exactly what was on his mind—whether you liked it or not. Hell, Bobby still occasionally borrowed my brother’s motorcycle and took it for a spin through the streets of Bigtime—in the middle of the night.

But everyone says opposites attract—and the two of them were definitely opposites. Besides, I couldn’t talk. I’d done the one thing I’d sworn never to do—get romantically involved with a superhero. If, of course, you considered a one-night stand any sort of real involvement. The jury was still out on that one.

Bobby’s face fell at my comment, making me feel about five inches tall. So, I added to my statement. I could never bear to see my grandfather sad or upset, especially when I was the cause of it.

“But she is a lovely woman, Grandfather. If she makes you happy, then I’m thrilled for both of you.”

Bobby smiled and squeezed my hand. “She does, Bella. Very much so.”

I opened my mouth to grill Bobby about how they’d met, how long they’d been together, and what her intentions were toward him.

“Hey, guys, come check this out,” Lulu cut me off. “I’ve pulled up the blueprints Jasper gave us.”

I filled Bobby in on what Jasper had told us, and we all crowded around Lulu’s laptop to get a look at Prism’s device. The computer hacker was right. It did look like something out of a James Bond movie—only much more sinister. The laser was about thirty feet long and resembled a bulldozer with a barrel on the end. Mirrors and power amplifiers and batteries decorated it from top to bottom. A seat in the middle of the device lay behind a control panel, and the whole cab section swiveled around so you could take aim at whatever you wanted to.

“This must be where the sapphire goes,” Lulu said, pointing to an empty, rounded space on the blueprints just inside the end of the barrel that delivered the laser. “She’s going to use it to increase the laser’s power and its range.”

“How catastrophic are we talking?” Carmen asked, her eyes fixed on the monitor.

“Let’s just say if I had a choice between the laser and Bella’s shiny new bracelet, I wouldn’t know which one to pick,” Lulu said. “This thing could do major, major damage to anything in its path. Cars, buildings, people. The heat would be so intense it would fry anyone within a foot of the beam.”

“Terrific. Just terrific,” Carmen muttered.

I shook my head. I’d never understood why ubervillains (and superheroes too) felt the need to create these elaborate contraptions. Gadgets, names, clothes, shoes. Simpler was always better. And why couldn’t they just use their maniacal genius for good or world peace? Even if there wasn’t any profit in it?

Carmen paced around the table. “All we have to do now is figure out what Prism’s going to do with the laser and where she’s hiding it. And that’s always the hardest part, unfortunately. Just when you think you’ve got things worked out, something unexpected happens—which makes everything else that much worse.”

Bobby looked at me. “Maybe you should go back to the Fearless Five headquarters, Bella, until this is all settled. Hangman is dangerous enough, but I really don’t like the sound of this Prism person.”

“I’m not going back,” I said. “I’ve already had this conversation with Carmen. It might be days or even weeks before the superheroes figure out what the ubervillains are up to. I can’t hide that long, and I don’t want to. These people have upset my life enough already. I won’t let them hold me hostage any longer. Don’t worry. I’ll be safe here with you.”

“But the Fearless Five can protect you. I can’t—not anymore. Not like I used to.”

Bobby’s green eyes clouded over, growing dark and sad and weary. Being Johnny Angel had been one of the most exhilarating times in my grandfather’s life, and he still missed it.

“Don’t worry, Grandfather,” I said, holding up my new bracelet. “I’ve got plenty of protection—enough to blow most of the city to smithereens. If Hangman or Prism comes anywhere near me, they’ll get a nasty surprise, one they won’t recover from.”

Of course, the down side was I probably wouldn’t recover either. No matter how lucky I was.

In the end, I convinced the others to let me stay home. Carmen and Lulu left to go back to the F5 library to further analyze the blueprints, leaving Grandfather and me alone in the house—albeit with an open line to the superheroes. Lulu rigged up some device so that all we had to do was whisper the word
help
anywhere in the house, and the Fearless Five would get the message and come immediately.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, though. No ubervillains crashed through the front door. No laser burned the house to the ground. No one made threatening phone calls telling me to give up the sapphire or else. All I got were the usual insistent requests from Kelly Caleb and the city’s other reporters for an exclusive interview on my horrific kidnapping and heroic rescue.

Johnny also called that afternoon.

“Hi, Johnny,” I said into the receiver.

“How did you know it was me?” My brother’s familiar voice filled my ear.

“Caller ID, of course. Your cell phone number popped up on the screen. Besides, Grandfather said you were going to call.”

“Well, I had to check up on my baby sister.” Johnny turned to more serious matters. “How are you, Bella? I know the last few days must have been rough, especially for you. Do you want me to come home?”

Johnny knew how much I hated the whole superhero-ubervillain lifestyle. He’d seen the stress I was under waiting up for my father and the toll it had taken on me over the years. But instead of pretending Angel didn’t exist, Johnny had gone a different route—he’d refused to take over being Angel from my father. It was the only thing the two of them had ever fought about. Like me, Johnny hadn’t wanted any part of heroes and villains. At least, not until our father had been murdered. That’s when my brother had suited up as Angel and gone out to track down his killers.

Now, Johnny occasionally roamed the streets as Angel, usually to watch Fiona’s back when she was out being Fiera. He liked the rush of being a sometimes hero, but he wasn’t obsessed with it like our father had been. I was glad Johnny wasn’t going to turn Angel into a full-time hobby, but I still worried about him on the nights he did go out.

“No, don’t come home,” I said. “Stay. Finish up your business, and enjoy your vacation.”

“Are you sure?” Johnny persisted.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m fine now. Physically, at least.”

“Why do you say that?”

I bit my lip, wishing I hadn’t said anything.

“Come on, Bella,” Johnny wheedled. “Tell me what’s wrong. This is your big brother here.”

I sighed. I’d never been good at hiding things, especially from Johnny. He knew me better than anyone. “I sort of . . . met someone.”

“That’s great, Bella. Although I’ll have to meet him before I give him the official big brother seal of approval,” Johnny joked.

“There’s a problem. He’s a superhero. More or less.”

“Ah.” Johnny’s voice rang with understanding. “That complicates things, doesn’t it? Especially for you.”

“Doesn’t it always?” I sniped.

“So, how serious is it?”

I hesitated. I wanted to tell Johnny it wasn’t serious at all. That it had been a one-time lapse of judgment on my part and nothing else. But for some reason, I couldn’t do that. I might be good at pretending things weren’t exactly what they seemed, but I tried not to out-and-out lie to myself. “I don’t know. It’s too soon to tell.”

“Well, superhero or not, he better treat you right. Or he’ll have to answer to me,” Johnny said. “And Angel.”

An image of Johnny mowing down Debonair with his motorcycle flashed through my mind. My brother beating up the man I’d slept with. That was just what I needed. Not. It was definitely time to change the subject.

“So, where are you at now? Are you having fun?”

“We’re having a wonderful time. We flew into Athens today. Fiona did a little sightseeing, while I met with some of our investors. Now, we’re back at the hotel. We just ordered room service.”

Dishes clinked and rattled in the background. “You mean Fiona ordered room service. How many meals did she get this time? Ten? Fifteen? Or everything on the menu times three?”

Johnny just laughed.