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The passenger door of his RV opened and Silided into the seat next to his
He made it a point not to look at her and distract hi-stor attention
"This is the place?" she asked
"Yes I can feel the portal they’re building"
"Handy trick"
He spared her a quick glance Her dark hair was pulled back and bound at the nape of her neck with a barrette Power shimmered froure out what kind of ic the hair adornment held
"The device is nearly complete"
"How nearly?" she asked
"No way for me to be sure Days? Hours?"
"Give me a minute to scout the place out When I’ve found a way in, I’ll corabbed her arm Hot leather and firht the urge to let his fingers wander He’d spent thousands of hours touching leather, enjoying its texture and suppleness, but never before had any surface intrigued him half as much as what lay beneath her biker’s jacket
Simone stared at his hand as if she couldn’t believe he’d dared to touch her
It took him a second to steady his voice so it wouldn’t come out as a prepubescent squeak "Do you think I’ness to restrain an armed woman seems to support the theory"
He lifted his hand, but settled it on the back of her seat--close enough to stop her if she tried to bolt again "You weren’t going to scout You were going in there alone"
A se of her ether You’ll never be able to pick out the ha else in there that’s iic within an object?"
"My skills tend to leanto the Fractogasts Only power"
She glanced away, and he saw her slender throat o if we’re going to do this We need the cover of darkness The hu by the in with me, I’ll need to kno to hide you"
He held out his hand, palm up "Take my hand When you activate the invisibility power, I’ll vanish, just like your clothes and everything else attached to you"
"That’s it? That’s the big trick?"
Marcus shrugged "Touch first, activate second If you weren’t such a loner, you would have already figured it out by now Not ood eapons?"
"Just one It’s in the back"
"Then get it If things go bad, you’re going to need it While you do, I’ to set up our safety net"
"Safety net?"
She waved away his question "It’s a need-to-know kind of thing, and you don’t"
"Just hurry up We’re running out of time"
3
Simone couldn’t help but think of her dead husband as she scouted for the best entrance The building beloas crawling with human shells--those drained of life They sha liasts
Jeremy had been a shell just like them, and no matter how many times she told herself what she’d done would have been what he wanted, she still felt sick every ti into the body of the man she’d loved
A deep sense of loss flowed over her, leaving behind a fresh layer of anger No e never faded Time was supposed to heal all wounds, but her brain otten any easier to bear All she’d ed to do was hide it better Shove it down Pretend she’d gotten over it
It was the only way to survive in her desolate neorld, where everything that mattered had been ripped from her Who wanted to hire a thief as always just one heartbeat away froain, h to hire a professional thief didn’t give a shit how unstable she was so long as she got the job done
Which she did Every time And this one would be no different
After she finished setting up their safety net, she hurried back to the RV on top of the hill and lifted her binoculars
Red lights flickered below before steadying out in a constant glow once more
Simone knehat that flickersqueezed dry of every spark of h thehts to flicker