Rose shifted uncomfortably in her chair, grateful no one could see her. “Um, you’re… You’re a little…” she stumbled, but then Keys filled in the word Rose struggled with.
“Old,” he said pointedly. “You’re older than the other women.”
Rose cringed, fearing for Keys’ life with that statement. Poison was a decade older than Rose, one of many reasons why the sisters never got along before Rose faked her death.
To her surprise, though, Poison did not snap at Keys or threaten retaliation. Instead, she jokingly asked, “Do I need to go tell Daddy Steel that you called meold?”
As Keys spluttered out his horror at the thought, Jack spoke over him. “Both of you will need to doll yourselves up—or down,” he corrected. “Add some muck, grime, maybe dye your hair a ridiculous color, wear something, uh, current. I’m sure you’ll pass for early twenties.”
Noticing the time, Rose cursed to herself and quickly thanked Keys and Jack, telling them she would be in touch before disconnecting both male hackers from the call. To Poison and Phoenix, she asked, “What IDs do you have on you? I don’t have time to create you full identities. I’ll have to override whatever you have on you.”
There was some rustling on the other end before Poison answered, “I don’t have a Michigan ID, but I do have an Ohio one. Cynthia Dreamer, spelled just how it sounds.”
“I have a Michigan,” Phoenix announced. “Hannah Carwillous. C-A-R-W-I-L-L-O-U-S.”
Rose wrote both down on a sticky note. “Got ’em. I’ll startworking on getting you backgrounds. These places won’t do a background check on you. They thrive on anonymity, but our perp might.”
“I’ll call Wendigo too,” Poison told Rose. “You said there are three shelters that all five went to. We’ll need a third UC.”
“What about me?” Kitty asked, though Rose wasn’t sure if that comment was directed at her or Poison.
Thankfully, Poison spoke because Rose didn’t have an answer for him. “Fairly certain I already answered that question. You have too much penis.”
Rose’s pencil snapped against the paper. Ugh, it was bad enough that she’d once overheard her sister having sex with another woman because both had forgotten to disconnect their communication line. She didnotneed to hear about Poison’s current love affair with Kitty. She didn’t give a damn that her sister was bisexual. Man or woman, who the fuck cared. Didn’t mean Rose wanted tohearit.
“Fuck yeah, I do.” The smugness in Kitty’s voice practically oozed over the call.
There was a tapping sound like someone wrapped their knuckles on something. “I’m sorry, I’m still trying to figure out who you are, other than being her boy toy,” Phoenix said.
“Depends on who you ask,” Kitty replied. “Cat Burglar Extraordinaire, Vibrator, Robin Hood, Kitty… I have so many names it’s hard to keep them all straight.”
“So you’re a crook?” Phoenix asked as something on Rose’s left monitor caught her eye. She quickly shot off a message. “Oh, good. I was thinking you were like her knight in shining armor or her bodyguard or something.”
Kitty laughed. “Never been accused of being a white knight before, but I won’t deny being the unknown man of her dreams.”
“More like a never-ending nightmare,” Poison grumbled with a snort.
“Fuck yeah, baby,” Kitty boastfully agreed. “I’ll be yourKnightmare, but only if you spell it with a ‘K’. I kind of like the idea of being the white knight who rescues you.”
Rose did not feel like she needed to be present for this conversation, but she was also used to working while being in the background. Generally, though, she had a bird’s eye view of wherever Poison was too. She knew the reason Phoenix had chosen that apartment, but that didn’t mean Rose liked it.
“You do realize there’s a code of chivalry white knights are supposed to follow? Includingno stealing.” Rose didn’t care how annoyed Poison sounded. If she didn’t have feelings for Kitty, she would have already left him behind.
“Rules are meant to be broken,” Kitty argued with ease. “Besides, no one ever suspects the white knight of evildoings. It’s like the perfect disguise! Now, while you two are going undercover as bait to attract a serial killer, what exactly is it that I’ll be doing?”
Before anyone answered him, Rose heard Phoenix’s wristwatch alert her. Seconds later, as Rose watched a black sedan disappear into a blind spot, she heard Phoenix murmur, “Right on time, fucker.”
A moment later, a single shot rang over the line. Rose watched another camera angle as the same black sedan went speeding straight into a light post, completely demolishing the front like the car was made of tinfoil.
Rose’s attention turned to the police scanner as Phoenix told the others, “We have eight minutes and forty-three seconds to get out of here. You’re free to sit there on your asses or you can help me wipe the place down. Your choice, but need I remind you that your DNA and fingerprints are now in here too.” Louder, she said to Rose, “Cryptic, it’s done. Make sure you transfer the funds.”
Like Poison, Phoenix did not know Rose’s identity. Whereas Poison came up with the name “MV”, short for Mystery Voice, Phoenix had been calling her “Cryptic” since their first phone call almost eight months ago.
“Thank you, Phoenix.”
Rose listened to Poison and Kitty scrambling to help Phoenix make a clean getaway.
“Dare I ask?” Poison finally said as they headed out of the complex seven and a half minutes later and directly into view of a camera Rose was able to monitor them on.
