“Perhaps.”
“I presume you have a tracking device on her? In the identification cards you gave her?”
I looked over sharply. Benicio nodded.
“Good,” Karl said. “I’ll want a GPS linked to that transmitter. I also want Hope to have a panic button, connected to me. Disguise it as something a young woman might carry in her pocket at all times-a coin, a mirror, lipstick, anything that won’t look suspicious.”
“Done.”
“I also want your assurance that if, at any time, I feel-” a glance my way, “-Hope and I feel she’s in imminent danger, she can abort and the debt is paid.”
I expected Benicio to balk, since there was nothing to stop us from pretending I felt endangered, but he simply said, “Agreed.” Maybe he trusted me. Or maybe Karl was right and Benicio knew I got more from this mission than the satisfaction of relieving a debt.
Benicio and Karl hashed out specifics. Then Benicio made a call downstairs to have us outfitted with Karl’s technological demands.
HOPE: BRUSH-OFF
As the technician explained to Karl how the GPS worked, I took a trip to the restroom. Coming back, I was waylaid by Carlos. He didn’t make any excuse for being in the laboratory wing, probably thinking I’d be flattered that he’d tracked me down.
He tried the same routine Troy had-I was new to the city and he could show me around. From Troy, though, the offer had been casual and friendly. If I’d taken him up on it and wanted nothing more than an escort, he’d be fine with that. With Carlos, there was no such subtlety.
“I’ll give you my card,” he said. “You want to go out, you call. I’ll show you a good time. Guaranteed.”
He extended the card. Before I could take it, it was snatched by a hand appearing around me.
“She’s not interested,” Karl said.
“I think she can tell me that herself.”
“She doesn’t need to. I just did. Now, if you’ll excuse us…”
Karl put his arm around my waist and led me away. When we reached the elevator, I slipped from his grasp.
“I thought you want me dating more supernaturals. What’s wrong with that one? He’s closer to my age, wealthy, gorgeous-”
“-with a reputation for leaving girls in worse shape than he finds them. And with your powers-”
“-he’s hoping I’d get off on it. I caught a few vision scraps, enough to know his reputation is warranted, which is why I stood for your ‘hands off my property’ routine.”
Karl grunted.
“Given the choice between insulting a Cabal son and letting him think I’m otherwise engaged, I’ll go with option B. But if you try that with anyone else, you’ll get a very different reaction.”
I said it lightly, teasing him, and expected a retort, but he just watched the floors of the elevator count down, then stepped off when the doors opened.
“YOU DIDN’T GIVE me much of a choice in there,” I said as we walked down the street. “I didn’t want to argue in front of Benicio. But I don’t need-”
“-protection. I believe I’ve heard this before.”
I kept my tone even. “If you want to repay the debt, that’s fine. You go off and do your thing, I’ll hang out here and do mine, and we’ll say you protected me. No one will be the wiser.”
He turned a corner so sharply that I went another three steps before realizing he wasn’t beside me, and had to backtrack.
“I’m just saying you don’t need to protect me. I don’t need it, and I don’t really want it.”
“And you think I do? You think I like having to drop everything and fly out to Miami to see what kind of trouble you’re getting into this time? You think I’m looking forward to spending the next few days skulking in shadows keeping an eye on you?”
I stumble-stepped, stunned, then stopped.
“You don’t have a choice,” he said, back to me, still walking. “And, apparently, neither do I.”
He jaywalked across the road and strode away. I stared after him, unable to believe what I’d heard. I’d never asked for his protection. He was the one who chased after me, fretted about me and hovered over me. I wanted to go after him. To pound on his back and shout, “How dare you!”
Self-centered, arrogant bastard.
What a shock.
I turned and headed back to the main road, managing a graceful exit, should he turn to see it. But I knew he wouldn’t.
I HADN’T FOUND a cab yet when my cell phone rang. I scrambled to grab it, eager even when I didn’t want to be. Then I realized it was the gang phone.
“Hey,” Jaz said when I answered.
“Hey, yourself,” I said with a genuine smile. “I was going to call you this morning, but I don’t have your number.”
“It should be on your phone. Rodriguez-”
“-programmed it in. Okay, I feel like an idiot. I completely forgot.”
“No problem. I’d have called earlier, but I didn’t want to wake you. Figured you might be a little rough after the tequila.”
“A little.”
“Anyway, uh, I wanted to call and say I’m sorry about last night.”
“You? If apologies are due, they should come from me. It’s just-well, after the problems with my folks, I freaked out.”
Pause. My heart started hammering. Did he doubt my story? I instinctively tried to read his vibes but, of course, I couldn’t over the phone.
“I’m sure there was a problem with your parents,” he said finally. “I know what that’s like. But, well, I wouldn’t blame you if you went outside last night, got some fresh air, cleared your head and realized that going back in wasn’t what you wanted.”
“No, that’s not-”
“I was pushing it. Pushing hard. I could tell the tequila was going to your head, and I took advantage of that. I was riding high, not just on the booze. After a big job I get…pumped, I guess you’d say. I got carried away.”
“You weren’t the only one. In fact, I’m pretty sure I started things. But, yes, it was a little…public, after I thought about it.”
“Which is cool with me. Would a private lunch be more your style, then?”
I smiled. “It would.”
He gave me an address where I could meet him in an hour, just enough time to change, put on the watch he’d given me and slide back into being Faith Edmonds.
JAZ TOOK ME to an upscale tapas bar with the assurance, as we walked in, that he was buying. Obviously, Faith could afford a nice meal, but he seemed to think it was only polite to announce that he was paying when he’d made an expensive choice. From the way he grinned as we walked in, his arm around me, he was happy to be taking me to a place he considered more my style.