Fort Morgan (20 page)

“
Is Sissy alive?” Sandy
asked in a voice too low for MJ to hear.

“
She’s in between,”
Delphie said as if the question was asked of her.

“
Is Sissy alive?” Aden
asked MJ.

“
Barely,” MJ said in a low
tone. He leaned into the webcam. “Her lung collapsed and she’s lost
a lot of blood. She coded here, but they got her going
again.”

MJ shook his head.

“
She’s tough, that Sissy,”
MJ said. “If I were to give it my guess? I’d say she’ll be dancing
in six months.”

“
So the bullet didn’t hit
her spine?” Aden asked.

“
Bullets,” MJ said. “I
could be wrong, but I don’t think so. No major organs, either.
Lucky break.”

MJ nodded.

“
She was carrying this
heavy bag,” MJ said. “Her laundry from school, I think. It got
stuck in the car, and she was kind of twisted when he
fired.”

MJ pointed to how the bullets when through
Sissy. He nodded.

“
I’m sorry,” MJ said. “I
failed you — and Sissy. I know Ivan feels the same way.”

“
They came after us here,”
Aden said. “Delphie says that they came after Charlie, too. It
looks like they hit Heather.”

Aden nodded. MJ scowled.

“
Bigger plan,” MJ said.
“Just never occurred to me that there was a bigger plan. I’m
sorry.”

There was a voice in the background and MJ
looked up.

“
Noelle’s in the shower,”
he said. “Love to Honey and Maggie!”

The computer went dark.

“
What do we do?” Sandy
asked.

“
We have to trust that our
friends will pull through without us,” Delphie said.

Sandy broke down and cried.

Old
friends and family

Friday night — 8:15 p.m.

Phoenix, Arizona

Yvonne stared at herself in the large
bathroom mirror. She’d expected to look different. This morning,
she was a free person — the beloved wife of Rodney Smith and mother
to medical student Tanesha. Tonight, she was owned outright by
another horrible man. According to the financier, Rodney and
Tanesha were dead. She put her hand on her forehead.

She did not want to live without Rodney and
Tanesha.

She couldn’t wrap her mind around why she
wasn’t dead. Moments after killing Rodney, the financier waltzed
right past the Federal Agents assigned to protect her and Rodney.
The financier and his henchmen had taken her by the public elevator
to the penthouse suite. Inside the ridiculously palatial suite, the
financier gestured toward a rack of high-priced lingerie in her
size. He’d wanted her to clean up and then model the lingerie for
himself and his friends.

That’s it.

He hadn’t asked her what she wanted. He’d
just told her what to do. She’d gone from free woman to slave in
less than an hour.

She had nothing to live
for now. When she’d belonged to the Spider, she had counted down
the days to when Rodney’s prison sentence ended.
Someday
, he would get
out of prison.
Someday
, she and Rodney would live together.
Someday
, she’d be able to see
Tanesha as much as she wanted.

Someday
. Her whole reason for living had been tied up in
someday
. Her
someday
had come and
gone.

She had no reason for living now.

She knew that the financier had attacked her
friends at the Castle. She could hear them watching the news report
of someone killing Tanesha’s best friend, Heather. The financier
had arranged for that little painter, Noelle, and the ballerina,
Sissy, to be shot in New York City. He’d even tried to attack
Charlie at Seth’s house. The evil man was thrilled to learn that
Heather and Sissy were on their deathbeds.

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

“
Did you get lost?” one of
the henchmen asked.

“
Want to make sure I look
really nice,” Yvonne said to the door.

She swallowed hard. She stared at the
bathroom door, willing the financier to accept her response without
fuss. She heard the henchman relay her response. After a few
moments, the henchman returned.

“
Hurry up,” the henchman
said. “There’s a bunch of men here who need your
services.”

Yvonne nodded. The horrible man expected her
to have sex with all of the men, probably while the financier
orchestrated her every move. She couldn’t think of anything more
degrading. Still staring at the door, Yvonne took a step back and
ran into someone. Gasping, she whipped around.

She was staring at an exact replica of
herself.

Yvonne closed her eyes and wondered if she’d
been drugged. She hadn’t eaten anything the financier had offered.
She turned down the drinks. In fact, the only thing she’d had to
drink was water from the bathroom faucet. She picked up the glass
and looked at it.

When she looked back, her double had
transformed into a woman about her size wearing a pink tutu and
carrying a wand. Her skin was a lighter color. Her eyes were a
little bigger and her lips smaller. She had darker hair.

“
Mari,” the fairy said.
“I’m going to take your place.”

“
Shh!” Yvonne pointed to
the bathroom door.

“
Oh, they can’t hear us,”
Mari said. “In fact, why don’t you open the door?”

“
What?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Please,” Mari said. “I
wouldn’t lie to you. I’m Fin’s youngest sister, so I’m your aunt —
well great-aunt — but that makes me seem ancient. Plus, Ne Ne is my
best friend. We went to primary school together.”

“
What?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Open the door,” Mari
said.

Yvonne went to the door and peeked out.
Rodney was standing on the other side of the door. His face was
still bruised, but he seemed otherwise unhurt.

“
Yvie?” Rodney asked. He
glanced behind him where Abi was standing. “Is it really
her?”

“
Go on,” Mari said with a
saucy grin. “I’ve got this covered.”

Mari transformed into Yvonne. She gave
Yvonne a little push, and Yvonne flew into Rodney’s arms. The
bathroom door closed.

“
Yvie!” Rodney said and
held on tight. “I’ve been so worried! Are you all
right?”

“
Are we dead?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Dead?” Rodney
asked.

“
I heard you get shot!”
Yvonne said.

“
You heard a shot,” Rodney
said. “The police will find a pillow has been destroyed with a
shotgun.”

“
A pillow?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Abi was there,” Rodney
said.

“
I was so terrified and
upset!” Yvonne said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“
You’re too honest,” Abi
said. “You would have given the whole thing away.”

“
That’s probably right,”
Yvonne said.

She looked around and then scowled.

“
You sure we’re not in
heaven?” Yvonne asked. “This looks like our nice yellow
house.”

“
Your house,” Abi said. “I
arranged for the Wilsons to wake up at their home as well. They
think they flew in last night.”

Yvonne smiled.

“
The only catch is that
you have to stay here until Mari tells you it’s over,” Abi
said.

“
That doesn’t seem so
hard,” Yvonne smiled and then gasped. “Tannie!”

Yvonne began to cry.

“
She’s dead, Rodney,”
Yvonne said. “My beautiful, brilliant Tannie is gone.”

Yvonne wept into her hands.

“
Yvie!” Rodney gave her a
little shake. Yvonne looked up at him. “She was with Fin when the
man came to shoot her. She’s fine.”

“
Can I talk to her?”
Yvonne asked. “Make sure she’s okay?”

“
I’m sorry, Yvonne,” Abi
said. “You can’t.”

“
Because she’s dead and
you don’t want me to know?” Yvonne asked.

“
Because she and Fin had
to go take care of something,” Abi said.

“
Something?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Miss T’s friend Heather
was shot tonight,” Rodney said.

“
So horrible!” Yvonne’s
hands went to her heart.

“
They are at Olympia to
fight for her life,” Abi said.

“
Everyone connected to the
case with the financier was attacked today,” Rodney said. “Heather
was shot, you were captured, and. . .”

Rodney looked up at Abi.

“
You remember Sissy?” Abi
asked.

“
The little ballerina?”
Yvonne asked.

“
She was shot,” Abi said.
“That’s where I’m going when we’re done here. She needs a little
help.”

“
I heard that horrible man
make a toast to Sissy’s death,” Yvonne nodded. “You should go, make
sure she lives, just to spite him.”

Abi hugged Yvonne tight.

“
What’s going to happen
back. . . there?” Yvonne asked. “You know, with the
guy?”

“
Mari hates evil humans,”
Abi said. “She never got over not being able to help you before.
Whether you know it or not, she sees you as family. She’s going to
have a great time with those guys.”

Yvonne gave Abi a confused nod.

“
Now, you’ll stay inside?”
Abi asked. “Hide out for a while and keep from being
noticed?”

“
Yes ma’am,” Yvonne said.
“Until we hear from Mari.”

“
Good girl,” Abi
said.

She gave Yvonne a broad smile and shrank to
Fairy Corps size. With a wave, she disappeared. Rodney put his arm
around Yvonne.

“
Well?” he asked. “What
would you like to do?”

“
Take a long bath,” Yvonne
said.

“
I’ll get it ready,” he
said.

Grinning at her, he took her hand and they
went upstairs.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday mid-night — 12:15 a.m.

New York City, New York

The curtain around Sissy’s bed moved, and
Ivan startled. He’d charmed the night nurse into letting him stay
in this chair. He’d felt like a manipulative asshole, but there was
no way he was going to leave Sissy’s side. If he hadn’t been drunk
on sake and the promise of Sabrina, he would have protected Sissy.
He should have been her savior, not the pathetic man holding her
hand while she fought for her life. After MJ and Noelle left, he’d
planted himself in a chair by Sissy’s bed and refused to move.

He looked around to see what had awakened
him. Seeing nothing, he took in Sissy. She’d had surgery for her
wounds. They had been able to inflate her lung and put her into a
deep coma. The machine forced air into her lungs with rhythmic
precision. Mysterious fluids dripped in to her veins. And a
taunting blue dot bounced along on the screen.

Ivan sighed. When he leaned back in his
chair, he saw a large man standing at the end of Sissy’s bed.

“
Sorry,” Bruno, the
bodyguard, said in Russian, “I didn’t mean to disturb
you.”

“
Disturb?” Ivan asked in
Russian. “I am already disturbed.”

Bruno smiled.

“
I would have been here
earlier, but I was in the middle of something,” Bruno said. “The
boss said to tell you that this wasn’t your fault.”

“
Why are you here?” Ivan’s
voice rose with irritation. He was too distraught and too tired to
manage an appropriately respectful tone.

“
The boss is in your
debt,” Bruno said. “He wanted me to help you to settle some of the
debt.”

“
My debt?” Ivan placed his
hand on his chest. “What?”

“
You spoke to Anjelika
about bringing her father to the US. ‘Reunite your family,’ you
said,” Bruno said. When Ivan shrugged, Bruno smiled. “Her husband
brought us here because of you and. . .”

Bruno nodded to Sissy.

“
Anjelika was helping
Sissy get more drills, more practice,” Ivan said. “I. . .
I just said what was obvious.”

“
This is not your fault,”
Bruno said.

“
Whose is it then?” Ivan
asked. He shook his head. “I knew it was dangerous, but I still
arranged for us to go out.”

“
Why did you?” Bruno
asked

“
I felt badly,” Ivan said.
“She’s young and wants to have fun.”

“
Not because of Sabrina?”
Bruno asked.

Ivan shook his head. He never quite got used
to how the Bratva always seemed to have every detail of every
situation they were interested in. Bruno raised his eyebrows. And
Ivan shook his head.

“
I thought you didn’t mess
with ballerinas,” Bruno said. “You used to say they brought you bad
luck.”

“
I was right.” Ivan
gestured to Sissy, and Bruno smiled.

“
You should know,” Bruno
nodded. “There wasn’t anything you could have done. The job was for
a specific time. They would have gotten you no matter where you
were. Period.”

Ivan nodded to the information, but nothing
was going to change how he felt.

“
We didn’t know about it,”
Bruno said. “Or you would have been told at dinner.”