“A car will do,” I say. I’ve got two days to get to this fight, and a car is much lower profile. “Especially if you have something not in your name.”
“One of those deals,” he says. “I’ll tell Pop.” He taps out a message on his phone. “You must be in a real jam.”
“Dangerous one at that. Should we drop you off?” I’m feeling concerned about defending a chopper if we’re attacked in the air by Vigilantes.
“I’m all in,” Colt says.
I watch out the window. Skies are still clear. Hopefully we’ll make it without incident.
13: Mia
I spend a few days cleaning the house, packing up my aunt’s clothes to donate, and sending off her death certificate to various banks and insurance companies to close out her estate. Soon I’ll have to prepare her house for sale.
I’ve spotted the mouse two more times. I went into town and bought an extra loaf of bread for him. Might as well make a friend. Sometimes I laugh and call myself Cinderella.
I might be going crazy.
Josh, one of the grocery sackers, asks me out on a date. I think my neighbor Shirley put him up to it. She came over later the same day wondering if anything special had happened in town.
I want to say, sure, I got abducted by a rogue spy, stripped in a field, and had my first orgasm in a pile of hay.
This Josh guy is okay. I probably should have said yes.
Shirley’s face fell when I said no, nothing happened.
I lie on my bed midafternoon one day, staring at the blue pantsuit hanging on the door of my closet. It’s pretty much the only thing that ties me to Jax now. I went to the library and boldly checked outFifty Shades of Greyin front of everyone. But I only got halfway through the first scenewhere Christian binds Ana and I had to stop. The longing got too much to bear.
I idly pick up a length of rope I keep by my bed. I’ve been practicing knots, over and over, tying everything I know and seeing if I can untie it again while bound. It’s become something of an obsession, creating slipknots on the banister, yanking them tight, then freeing myself one-handed.
If I ever see Jax again, I think I can tie him in a way that he can’t escape.
But I won’t ever know. It won’t happen.
I roll over and peer under the bed where I pushed Katya’s stolen shoes. I’ve been meaning to clean them, but I’m stupidly attached even to the mud on them.
They look like such ordinary shoes, but I know better. There’s no way a Phase One Trainee would have plain old sneakers.
I actually fired up Aunt Bea’s ancient television and put in one of the James Bond movies she was so fond of.Goldfinger. In it, Bond puts a tracking device in his shoe. That movie is sixty years old, and still, they were tracking spies in shoes!
I pick up one of the dirty white sneakers. I hope Katya didn’t get in trouble for losing them to me. Thinking about that makes me smile. She didn’t see that coming. I wish I could have told Jax what I did.
The outside of the shoe seems normal. Leather exterior, rubber sole. A stretchy band where shoelaces normally go makes it easy to remove, but keeps it securely in place when you’re wearing it.
I stick my hand inside. The interior is strange, cushioned by something unfamiliar. It almost flows against my hand, adjusting to the contours it encounters.
Like the seat in Colette’s car, I realize.
The very front tip of the shoe is hard. I pull my hand out and bang the shoe on the floor. Yes, steel or something is hidden inside. Makes sense, if you’re kicking in doors or fighting.
There’s a lot of space between the bottom of the inside of the shoe and the base of the shoe itself.
Suddenly I realize something. There could be things hidden in there. Chips. Weapons. Trackers. I try to pull the inside layer of the shoe out, but it is well attached.
I’m torn between destroying the shoe to see what’s inside, and keeping them intact. I pick up the other one to carry them to the kitchen, where I have some extra-strong shears, plus all the knives.
The pantry door is still open, the metal hatch shining on the floor. I did sweep up all the wood shards, but didn’t bother replacing the rug. There’s no one here to see what I’ve uncovered.
I wonder, if I destroy these shoes, will that bring the Vigilantes? It stands to reason that if they think one of their own has been harmed, they will come to investigate.
