Skin Dive (5 page)
What the—
“Who is this?”
“My name is Mockingbird, and you have about five minutes to get out of the city.”
“This a fucking joke?”
Gillie watched him anxiously.
“It’s no joke.”
“How did you get this number?”
“Information is my game, T-89. You bought a phone—” He named the store. “There’s a traffic cam on the corner. I’ve known about you since before you destroyed the Exeter facility, and I’m very interested in your progress.”
“What the hell do you want, man?”
“I’m going to sum it up for you because time is short, and you have bigger problems. Rowan is dead. My agent, Shrike, killed him before he resigned. I run a crew of those united in common purpose.”
“And that would be?”
“Destroying the Foundation. I have an inside line on their strike team deployments, and based on their chatter, you just powered up. You’re on their radar now . . . they have one of ours. And she can track you since you zapped that ATM. For an outsider, the only way to stay hidden from Kestrel is not to do your thing at all.”
“There’s a retrieval team headed our way?
Fuck
.”
Fuck
.”
A little whimper escaped Gillie, and she bounced up onto her toes, as if to run. He steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.
Good thing I got more cash this time. It’ll have to last us until we find work.
But it had also given them away to their enemies.
Good thing I got more cash this time. It’ll have to last us until we find work.
But it had also given them away to their enemies.
“I can get you out of there, if you’re willing to come work for me.”
“Fuck you, buddy. I don’t take favors that come with strings attached.” Taye cut the call.
He snatched her hand and broke into a run. “We gotta make tracks.”
“They’re coming.” Her voice broke on a note of pure fear.
It was late afternoon, crawling toward evening, and people on the streets headed home from work. The cars on the street zoomed by at what seemed like incredible speed, compared to how fast they could move on foot.
Need a plan. Fuck. I wish I knew more about downtown Pittsburgh.
They drew glares and shouts as they wove through the crowd on the sidewalk.
Need a plan. Fuck. I wish I knew more about downtown Pittsburgh.
They drew glares and shouts as they wove through the crowd on the sidewalk.
“Don’t think about it. We ditched them in Virginia, and we can do it again.”
“What did he say exactly?”
“No time for that now.” But there was something she had to know for the sake of her sanity, though she would be mortified to realize he’d noticed how she whimpered in her sleep. “Rowan’s dead. You won’t be seeing him again. Ever.”
Her shocked but grateful expression almost stopped him in his tracks.
God, nobody should ever be that beautiful.
She was every lovely, wholesome thing he could never have.
So focus on the problem you’ve gotta solve. Five minutes. Think.
God, nobody should ever be that beautiful.
She was every lovely, wholesome thing he could never have.
So focus on the problem you’ve gotta solve. Five minutes. Think.
While they pelted through the throng, he heard raised voices behind. Running drew attention because people fled when they’d done something wrong. Still, it couldn’t be helped. He dragged Gillie around a corner, where the sidewalk opened to a pedestrian walkway. There were quaint shops, ice cream parlors, and little eateries set in remodeled pubs. None of these places would offer cover from a supernatural tracker.
The cell phone pinged. Taye dug it out—text message, unknown caller, with an address on Forbes.
Consider this a favor. Will shield your signal.
Attached to the text came a map, showing their position relative to where they needed to go, route traced in red.
Consider this a favor. Will shield your signal.
Attached to the text came a map, showing their position relative to where they needed to go, route traced in red.
He hesitated, not knowing if he wanted to accept a favor from someone who offered help with strings attached. Sometimes the price wound up being too high. But the Foundation goons were closing, and Gillie’s breath rasped in terrified sobs.
No, we got away. They’re not taking her.
Making the call, Taye made a sharp right and cut down an alley, where they came up against a chain link fence. Broad daylight, it shouldn’t have been frightening, but only that expanse of metal stood between them and sanctuary.
No, we got away. They’re not taking her.
Making the call, Taye made a sharp right and cut down an alley, where they came up against a chain link fence. Broad daylight, it shouldn’t have been frightening, but only that expanse of metal stood between them and sanctuary.
He cupped his hands and boosted Gillie with all his strength. She flew like a cheerleader, and then slammed hard on her landing. It took her precious seconds to steady, then climb over, and the sound of booted feet grew closer; shouted commands drowned the normal city sounds.
“I’m fine,” she called. “Get moving!”
But he waited until she swung over the top and climbed down before he took his running start and scrambled up himself. The thugs rounded the corner just as he hit the pavement.
“We have visual!”
“Take them alive. They’re too valuable to damage.”
Ain’t that a fucking relief.
Taye didn’t kid himself; there would come a time when those orders changed. But for now, the Foundation still wanted to recoup their investment.
Taye didn’t kid himself; there would come a time when those orders changed. But for now, the Foundation still wanted to recoup their investment.
“Step lively, Gillie-girl.”
Per the cell phone map, they were almost to Forbes. Tranq darts pinged the ground on the other side of the fence, but it was hard to shoot through chain link from a distance, and by the time the goons got to the fence, they were already on the way out of the alley on the other side.
Left turn.
The two of them ran like hell, breath coming in great gulps.
Left turn.
The two of them ran like hell, breath coming in great gulps.
And here we are.
The four-story building was a nondescript, cream-colored block with crumbling mortar. Hoping like hell he was doing the right thing, Taye dragged Gillie through the darkened doorway. Hands immediately pulled them into the first apartment on the right, studio-sized, but it wasn’t a residential setup. The place lacked furniture, and the walls had been painted with something that left them streaky.
The four-story building was a nondescript, cream-colored block with crumbling mortar. Hoping like hell he was doing the right thing, Taye dragged Gillie through the darkened doorway. Hands immediately pulled them into the first apartment on the right, studio-sized, but it wasn’t a residential setup. The place lacked furniture, and the walls had been painted with something that left them streaky.
The short, middle-aged man who’d grabbed him slid back a number of locks and a crossbar, then he turned. “I’m Finch . . . and this is our Pittsburgh bolt-hole. Mockingbird gave me the heads-up.”
“Won’t they find us here?” Gillie asked.
It was a good question. Tension kept Taye rigid, listening for signs of pursuit. But it was quiet, oddly so. The apartment itself had a single armchair upholstered in rust fabric and a small iron table with two chairs.
“Tungsten powder on the walls. Don’t ask me why, but it blocks Kestrel. Once you get inside the perimeter, she loses signal. From there, strike teams can only do a building-to-building search, and normal people tend to call the police if men in black attempt to enter their homes.”
“I would imagine.” Gillie sank down and folded her legs like a little kid. She rubbed the fibers back and forth on the speckled shag carpet; the pattern reminded him of bird eggs and was faintly hypnotic. At least, she watched her own fingers like she saw secrets hidden in the pile.
But even down-turned and half in shadow, her face showed pale, frightened. Shit, she deserved better than this. How the hell was he supposed to keep her safe? He’d only just gotten his mind back and he didn’t know if he’d ever had a knack for long-term planning.
“Just sit tight for a while. They’ll clear out, and then you can move on. But I guess Mockingbird said, to pass undetected if you don’t have access to our hiding places, you have to stop powering up. They’re looking for you two, hard. I figure you’ve gotta be worth big money.”
Taye stiffened and instinctively stepped closer to Gillie. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad . . . I wouldn’t roll on you for a billion bucks. It’s enough to know I’m keeping you out of Foundation hands.”
“You’re one of us,” Gillie realized aloud.
Finch snorted. “You make it sound like a cult. But, yeah. Anyway, I’ve got places to be. Stay as long as you like, until you think it’s safe. The door locks automatically.”
“Nice to meet you,” Gillie said politely.
Taye laughed as Finch headed out; he could always count on her to make him see the humor in any situation. She regarded him with a haughty tilt of her head. Still smiling, he dropped down on the floor beside her. Artificial light caught gold strands in her red curls, and she was so pretty when she smiled back at him that his breath stuck in his chest, leaving him with a tight and fearful ache.
She has a dimple in her left cheek.
He wanted to touch a fingertip to it; the gentle simplicity of that impulse surprised him. Her skin would be warm and satin-smooth, but if he started there, he wouldn’t stop.
She has a dimple in her left cheek.
He wanted to touch a fingertip to it; the gentle simplicity of that impulse surprised him. Her skin would be warm and satin-smooth, but if he started there, he wouldn’t stop.
It took him a moment to remember what he had to say. “Sorry I almost got us caught.”
“You didn’t know they had somebody who can detect us.”
“Yeah, well,” he muttered. “Excuses don’t matter. But I’ll do better, I promise.”
She went on, blue eyes implacable, “You absolutely can’t power up anymore. If we need money, we’ll find work, once we decide where to go.”
Good idea, as far as it went. “We’re limited to where buses can take us. And some terminals may ask for ID.”
“I’m not keen to spend forty hours on a Greyhound anyway,” she murmured.
Considering what the short trip from Altoona had been like, he had to agree. “He said we could hide here for a little while. Maybe you should get some sleep.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll watch over you.”
To his pleasure, she didn’t argue; instead she laid her head in his lap and closed her eyes. In the sweet silence, he listened to her breathe, realizing he had no happier moment socked away. For him, sitting in the dark on the floor with her offered the purest pleasure he’d ever known. When Taye felt sure she was out, he let himself touch the strands of hair cascading across his legs. She murmured softly, turning her cheek onto his thigh. His cock hardened from her warmth and proximity, but he didn’t mind the ache. It reminded him he was alive and capable of wanting her that much.
Sweet as summer honey, she was. And he’d do whatever it took to keep her that way.
ONE WEEK LATER DETROITGillie stood outside
McGinty’s Tavern for a full five minutes, hands in the pockets of her hoodie, while she worked up the courage to go in. Normal people did stuff like this all the time.
McGinty’s Tavern for a full five minutes, hands in the pockets of her hoodie, while she worked up the courage to go in. Normal people did stuff like this all the time.
It was a crumbling redbrick building with a green sign with tarnished brass letters. The windows were smoky, permitting no glimpse of what the inside would be like.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed through the door and snatched the “Help Wanted” sign from the window, then strode boldly toward the bar.
Begin as you mean to go on,
her mother always said. An ache sprang to life at the stray thought; she tried not to remember her parents or to wonder what became of them, lest the hurt become untenable. Gillie knew damn well she couldn’t look for them or contact them. That would paint a giant bull’s-eye on her parents’ back, presuming Rowan had lied, and they were still alive. She wouldn’t make them targets or let the Foundation use them to coerce her back into captivity.
Begin as you mean to go on,
her mother always said. An ache sprang to life at the stray thought; she tried not to remember her parents or to wonder what became of them, lest the hurt become untenable. Gillie knew damn well she couldn’t look for them or contact them. That would paint a giant bull’s-eye on her parents’ back, presuming Rowan had lied, and they were still alive. She wouldn’t make them targets or let the Foundation use them to coerce her back into captivity.
But today, the memory of her mother’s soft voice with its faint Cork accent gave her fortitude to do what she must. She took a quick look around: neon beer signs on the walls, turned off because it was daytime, dark wood, and various stains—not a lovely place, but one where people came to drink away their memories.
An elderly man turned at her approach and shook his head. “We’re closed, miss.”
“I know. I came about the job.” She placed the sign on the counter as if that gesture held the power to get her hired.
Bushy white brows shot skyward. “Dishwashing? It’s too dirty in there”—he pronounced it “thar,” with a jerk of his head toward the kitchen—“for a pretty mite like you.”
“Please. I really need the work . . . You don’t have to pay me much. I don’t even know what minimum wage is these days.”
The old man eyed her for a moment, as if trying to decide if she was on the level. In the new world Taye had told her about—where there were cameras on every street corner—maybe government men routinely tried to trap small business owners into proving they’d hire illegal employees. But Gillie gauged the precise moment he recognized the desperation in her threadbare secondhand jeans and the slightly too-large sweatshirt.
“You looking for a cash arrangement?” he asked.
“That’d be best. I’ll work hard, harder than anybody who ever walked through that door.”
A gruff laugh escaped him, then he turned and yelled toward the kitchen, “Hear that, you sons of bitches?” Facing her, he added, “It wouldn’t take much to beat this lot. I got one waitress, I tend bar, and Manny makes burgers and cheese fries for the drunks. You’d be on cleanup. You willing to bus tables, too?”
“I’ll do whatever work needs doing.”
“Bathrooms, dishes, floors?” He raised a brow like he expected her to argue.
The fact of the matter was, the money Taye had taken from the ATM in Pittsburgh wouldn’t keep them much longer. He’d rented a studio apartment, using most of it, so if one of them didn’t find a job, they’d starve. If he powered up again, the consequences would be worse.
She nodded. “I know how to mop, wipe tables, and push a broom.”
“Come back tonight. You’ll work from seven to three, five nights a week. Five dollars an hour, one meal included in your pay, if you can stand to eat Manny’s cooking.”
“I heard that!”
“Ignore him. Anyway, I’m Michael McGinty . . . you can call me Mick.”
Gillie extended her hand politely. “I’m—”
“Are you gonna lie to me?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Then I’ll save you some time and call you Red. Unless you mind.”
“No, that’s fine. I’ll be back at seven then. Thank you.”
It didn’t surprise her to find Taye waiting outside, even though she had asked him to let her do this by herself. He felt responsible for her, and she couldn’t seem to cure him of that impulse, no matter how much she insisted she wanted to make her own way. But at the moment, she was too pleased to have that argument again.
“I got the job.” She grinned up at him.
He opened his arms, offering a celebratory hug, and she wished his affection didn’t come with such labels on it. But she didn’t turn him down; instead she ran to him and let him swing her off her feet in a slow circle.
Once he set her back down and they fell in step heading back to the apartment, he said, “Me, too. I’m loading down at the docks.”
“Under the table?” she guessed.
“That’s the only work we’ll be able to find until I get us some new IDs.”
“Which will take money.”
There was an easy fix, of course. Taye wanted to gamble by using his ability and then bail before Kestrel could get a team to them. But Gillie wasn’t eager to risk capture again; they couldn’t be guaranteed of finding a safe hidey-hole again. She preferred to work and lay low. Living on their combined salaries, surely they could save enough to get new paperwork in time. They just had to take care until then.
“I’m working the day shift, but I’ll be able to pick you up at night.”
Gillie stifled a smile. “Thank you.”
“We need to talk about living arrangements—”
“Why?” She raised a brow. “It makes sense that we share the apartment. We need to save money, remember?”
He gave her a dark look, but didn’t argue.
That set the tone for the next couple of weeks. The work at McGinty’s was hard and unpleasant, as Mick had warned her, but she liked pulling her own weight, even when it involved mopping up someone’s drunken bender or plunging a toilet. By the time she finished at night, she was exhausted, but she always went home feeling like she’d earned her pay.
And she always found Taye waiting when she got off work. Though she’d never admit it, without him, she would have been frightened walking the blocks between the apartment and the bar. Half the time, the streetlights didn’t work, and sometimes men hung out on corners and on front stoops until all hours. With him beside her, they didn’t bother her.
Once they got home, she hung up her jacket and gave him the takeout container. She had gotten in the habit of asking Manny to make a burger or a steak to go. And he never charged her for it; she suspected he thought she ate the food herself, the following day. Since they both got fed once a day on the tavern’s dime, it cut down on the grocery bill.
“So . . .” Taye asked tiredly. “The outside world. Is it everything you dreamed?”
“Yes and no.” She sank down on the plaid couch and watched him stow tomorrow’s lunch in the small refrigerator. “I won’t claim I dreamed of escaping from Exeter to clean up after people, but doing this of my own free will is better than being Rowan’s prisoner.”
“No joke.”
Taye sat down beside her on the sofa. He stretched out, arm along the back, and she longed to curl into him. Gillie knew better, though. His boundaries didn’t extend to cuddling; by his definition, they were roommates by default, and he had no desire to get further tangled up with her.
Most days she tried to pretend it didn’t hurt. So she worked to bury the pain. Constantly.
After they moved in, she’d scrubbed the apartment thoroughly. Since it was furnished, it came with all the scents and stains of the previous tenants, who had not been careful housekeepers. Now the place was relatively clean, if threadbare and cramped. The Murphy bed helped with the lack of space; they didn’t pull it down unless someone needed to sleep.
Like right now.
But she wasn’t eager to end the rare moment where she had his complete attention. So she’d milk a few minutes more. “If you could do anything, what would that be?”
Go ahead. Dream big for me.
“I’d like to be rich,” he said. “Decadently so. With a private jet and my own island. Beautiful women to fan me and feed me grapes.”
Wow.
That was pretty far from her dream, so maybe he was right not to let them get closer. If that was what he really wanted, he’d never be happy with her. Gillie’s dreams were smaller and quieter—to find a job she enjoyed and eventually, start a family. Maybe it was because she had spent so much of her life alone, but she craved being surrounded by people who cared about her and needed her.
That was pretty far from her dream, so maybe he was right not to let them get closer. If that was what he really wanted, he’d never be happy with her. Gillie’s dreams were smaller and quieter—to find a job she enjoyed and eventually, start a family. Maybe it was because she had spent so much of her life alone, but she craved being surrounded by people who cared about her and needed her.
Or maybe he’s saying that to avoid letting you get to know him better.
“I don’t believe you,” she said, testing the insight.
When he cut her a surprised look, quickly veiled, she knew she was right. They were just empty words, a lock on the door he was determined not to open. Taye eyed her warily, as if suspecting she might be able to read his mind.
“How did you know?”
“It’s a generic dream, something anyone might say, but it doesn’t tell me about you.”
“There’s nothing to learn,” he muttered. “Haven’t you figured that out yet? I’m like one of those chocolate bunnies, nothing but air inside.”
She touched the blue ink on his forearm. “I know that’s not true.”
Taye studied her fingers on his skin, but he didn’t move away. “Yeah? Then why don’t I know how I got that tat? Or what it means.”
“It means Rowan hurt you. Not that there’s no substance to the man you are now.”
He pushed to his feet. “Aren’t you tired?”
That hint was subtle as a brick upside the head.
Yeah, I get it. Don’t get too close.
Yeah, I get it. Don’t get too close.
“Go ahead and make the bed,” she said aloud. “I’m taking a quick shower.”
When she came out in her pajamas, fifteen minutes later, he was already asleep. That didn’t surprise her; he had to be up in three hours. By this point, they had the routine down. He made more than she did, though not a lot. Between them, they earned seventeen-hundred sixty dollars a month, and this place cost four seventy-five. She’d worked out the public transportation system, taking the bus to Aldi once a week to do some grocery shopping. Twenty bucks went a long way there. By pinching pennies, they’d already saved a little, but they were still looking for someone who could hook them up with IDs.
Once you have papers and can register for college, or whatever, Taye will be gone.
Part of her wanted desperately to seduce him, provided she could figure out how. Living in close quarters hadn’t driven him mad with lust. They shared the bed because it was practical, but he’d never given any sign he wanted to take advantage.
Everything will change soon,
Gillie promised herself.
Gillie promised herself.
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