Reyna dragged her defeated body upstairs and found Meghan pacing back and forth in front of the closed door. “What’s going on?”
“There you are!” she cried.
“I’m not late.”
“It’s not that. Have you seen Jodie?”
“No? I thought she was with you.”
“I’ve searched high and low. She wasn’t in our room when I went to sleep. She didn’t sleep in her bed. All of her clothes are gone. I don’t know what to do.” Meghan bit her lip. “Reyna, I think she left.”
Her heart sank at the words. She thought that she had gotten through to Jodie. She knew their time in Visage was remarkably different, but they were each other’s rock. The only ones who really knew what the other had endured. And she had just left?
“How is that possible?” Reyna asked.
“I think she snuck out behind the security team last night. I don’t know any other way she could have gotten out.”
“She told me she wanted to leave,” Reyna said with despair. “I thought I’d convinced her to stay.”
“This isn’t your fault, but—I don’t know how to find her.”
Reyna considered where her brave friend would disappear to. “She went to find June,” Reyna answered.
“Oh,” Meghan said, releasing her breath in a huff as if it made sense. “Of course she did. We found an old address for her cousin right before the raid. We were going to check it out to make sure it was safe and to see if she still lived there, but we couldn’t spare the resources yet. And now…” Meghan shook her head.
“I know. Now we’re screwed.” Reyna frowned. “We have to go after her.”
“We’re needed here, and she doesn’t trust anyone else.” Meghan ran a hand through her braids. “Hell, she doesn’t trust me. I did everything I could.” A tear came into Meghan’s eye. “I don’t want her to get hurt out there.”
“We’ll have to find a way to get her back.”
“I know,” Meghan said, defeated. “I’ll talk to Sydney after the meeting, but with the huge defeat…I don’t know who we can spare.”
Reyna took her hand and squeezed. “We’ll find our girl, okay?”
Meghan nodded, straightening back to the operative Reyna had first met. Neither of them wanted to abandon their friend, but Jodie had chosen to leave at the worst possible moment. Who did they have that they could spare in the midst of this utter chaos and the moment when they were finally taking the fight to Visage and Harrington?
…
The plan came together over the next several days as they prepared for Penelope’s party. In endless meetings, they hammered out all the details. Every contingency. Every exit. Every single way things could go horribly wrong and blow up in her face. When she wasn’t in meetings, she was on the treadmill or in the firing range with Gabe. He’d given her a crash course in how to use a firearm. She was far from a pro in less than a week, but at least she could handle the weapon. She would never be faster or stronger than a vampire, but a gun could level the playing field a bit.
“It’s not going to kill them,” Gabe reminded her, adjusting her stance again. “But you’ll slow the fucker down.”
She fired again and again. She missed as often as she hit the target, but her accuracy was slowly improving.
“Aim for the biggest sections. Torso is going to be your best bet. Don’t try to get fancy. You want to keep them from reaching you or disable them enough to get away.” He corrected her arm. “Try again.”
So she did until everything ached.
“Good,” he said with a genuine smile. “Much better.”
Meghan popped her head into the firing range. “Gabe…”
Gabe grinned at Meghan. “Hey babe.”
Meghan rolled her eyes. “I need Reyna.”
“Guess that’s all the time we have,” he said, patting her back.
