Page 59 of The Vigilante's Lover
Sam shakes his head. “Ain’t nobody got the clearance for that. Not even Sutherland himself.”
“Exactly. And it reminds me of another bit of tampering.”
“You mean Jovana and that dude you killed.”
“Singer,” I say grimly. His death still weighs on me. “Elroy Singer.”
“He was a punk anyway,” Sam says.
“Vigilante punk.”
“Still a punk.” Sam peers out the barn door. “We can’t stay long with her car. We’re too close to your rendezvous with the silo.”
“I assume they aren’t on to me since I jettisoned the Crybaby.”
“Am I good or am I good?” Sam’s teeth flash white in the dim barn. “You got a plan?”
“I’m planning to take Mia back to the safe house,” I tell him.
If she’ll go, I think silently. That girl is determined to stay on my tail. That’s why I pulled back in the hay when I realized she was a virgin. She’ll get attached, and I don’t need her as a liability with everything going on.
“Colette can do that,” Sam says. “Do we need to do one of your covert exits?”
I grunt out a short laugh. Sam has gotten me out of a lot of tight spots, and some of them have involved extricating myself from an overexuberant female.
“Maybe,” I say.
“She seemed a little miffed.”
“She has her heart set on going with me.”
“Ah,” Sam says. “Looks like she’s all dressed now.”
Colette and Mia come back in the barn. Colette tosses me a shirt and pushes the door a little wider to get more light in.
“Colette, I’m going to need you to take Mia back to the safe house,” I say, setting down the axe so I can dress.
“What?” Mia interjects. “I thought after —” She sputters out, not wanting to say what she did in hopes of earning a place with me.
“You thought wrong,” I say firmly. “Colette will see you home.” I slip on the shirt and start buttoning it. “Sam, I assume my car is all right for you to ride in for a while?”
“I’ll activate my secondary clone ID,” Sam says. “That’ll buy us some time.”
“Where are you going?” Colette asks. “Should I meet up with you?”
Mia looks from one to the other like she’s watching a tennis match. Her anger is about to turn to tears. I need out of here before that happens.
“We’ll let you know,” I say. “Sam will rig something up for communication.”
“I saw you lost both my Blackphone AND my Crybaby,” Sam says. “I’m not giving you anything good anymore.”
I clap him on the back. “Sure you will.” I head toward the door.
“You’re not even going to say good-bye?” Mia’s voice is tremulous.
Colette wraps her arm around Mia’s shoulders. “That rat isn’t worth the words,” she says. “Jax De Luca, I’m ashamed of you. This poor wretched girl.”
But Mia doesn’t like that either. She shrugs Colette away. “I’m not wretched, and I’m not a girl.”
