Page 72 of Lure

“Still trying to put a plan together.” Irritation stroked through Voodoo’s tone.

“Maybe we’re making it too hard,” I offered and that got all of their attention.

“How so?” The sharp firing the pair of syllables from Bones demanded a response.

“You want to make menotstandout. That’s a good idea, but…what if instead of changing my hair, we add some colorful extensions. Maybe purple or blue or both. Feather them through the hair. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass, but doable. Then add some brighter cosmetics—like glitter and sparkle stuff.”

Four pairs of eyes riveted on me and all of them skeptical.

“We want you to blend in so people don’t look at you twice,” Alphabet almost sounded like he was apologizing to me and I felt bad for laughing.

“I get that, I really do. But the thing is…standing out a lot makes you almost as invisible as if you don’t stand out at all.”

A sweep of their expressions didn’t reveal any faith in that idea. Bones, however, folded his arms and focused on me. “Explain.”

“All right,” I said, before taking another long drink of the smoothie. It really was quite good. Licking the taste off my lips, I put the drink down and then spread my hands. “Everyone notices something different about other people, but most of us—at least here—are conditioned to look away, don’t stare, don’t comment, even when you video some altercation or whatever. People tend to avoid eye contact because horrors…” I clutched at my heart. “If you make eye contact, you might actually have to smile at that person or talk to them.”

They were still frowning.

“Look, guys do eye contact with a woman either by accident, because they want her to notice them, or they have noticed her. Then if she doesn’t respond, they get a couple of other reactions—most usual? ‘You should smile more,’ or ‘What’s wrong sweetheart? Where’s the smile?’” I rolled my eyes. “Lots of people make jokes about it, but until you’ve been told fifteen times in one day that you should smile more or worse, snarled and pursued and told to smile more, you won’t get it.”

“Someone has actually snarled that at you?” Voodoo’s tone dipped low and quiet.

“More than a few. Not the whole point right now,” I said, waving that off. We didn’t need to get bogged down in the weeds. “Bright hair colors, over the top cosmetics, even fun and fanciful clothes and jewelry are really popular. Do they get attention?Yes. But what do you think people see or say? Oh, did you see so and so at the airport? Or did you see that blue-haired chick? What about the lady with all the streaks?”

I spread my hands, eyebrows up as I glanced from one man to the other.

“They are looking at the plumage,” Lunchbox said slowly. “Like most people can’t describe what a peacock looks like, but they never miss the fan of feathers on a male. Most don’t even realize the femalesdon’thave the fan tail.”

“Exactly.” I snapped my fingers and pointed at him. “If you want me to disappear, then we just need to make them look at some part of me that isn’t associated with me at all. Adding the streaks, the glitter, and the fun clothes. Make me the peacock…”

“Then the rest of you fades.” Bones finished the thought. While he didn’t dismiss it all the way, he didn’t seem fully convinced. “What if someone locks eyes with you and sees your face? What then?”

“Not an unfair question.”

“Thank you.” His voice was dry as the desert, but I shrugged that off.

“Have you ever met a celebrity before? Or better, run into someone you knew from work, but you’re seeing someone else entirely and utterly out of context?”

“Context defines expectations.” Alphabet leaned back in his chair. “Guys from base, guys we used to work with—we were always in uniform or fatigues, drop them into civvies…”

“They don’t quitefitthe context.” Voodoo nodded. “That’s almost uncomfortable in its simplicity.”

I shrugged. “Too much noise. There’s so much media, whether it’s on our phones or on the wall screens around us or whatever. Then you throw in huge crowds of people all trying to get from point a to point b. You don’t go sightseeing in an airport. You’re going to drop your luggage, get through securityand get to the damn plane in time. You don’t notice other people unless they are in your way, and even then, you’re more likely to walk around them than focus on their looks.”

“Accepted,” Bones said after a protracted moment. “That doesn’t account for cameras and surveillance. What about the one person whodoesnotice you?”

“You already wanted to shift my features a little. Add a little weight to my face, maybe a beauty mark. If we do the contouring just right, it can help with the facial recognition, in theory it shouldn’t matter as long asImatch whatever identification I’m carrying.”

They weren’t dismissing it out of hand, but they were frowning. None of them liked it.

“It’s not perfect.” How could it be? I reclaimed my smoothie. “I don’t think anything can be perfect. You want to go to France, you don’t want me traveling as me—which is good cause I don’t actuallyhavemy passport or my driver’s license.” Or credit cards or anything else.

At some point, I would need to deal with that. My credit was probably already well on its way to being fucked and my apartment gone. For now? I could fix those things if I were alive to fix them.

“What do you need to do this?” Voodoo asked and I dug out my phone.

“Let me find some examples. I have no idea where you can get it all here, but maybe we can get most of it.” I settled down, taking sips of my smoothie while I searched. There was something about having a phone in my hand and actively looking for something that would help all of us.

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