No one told her how many pieces there were, but Quell-don believed there were fewer than ten.
That was her only guidance.
Once she’d gathered all the pieces, she would find out where she had to take them for assembly and, ultimately, where she needed to be to stop something catastrophic from happening. That was all she knew about her dire errand.
Madelaine’s quest started with a visit to Suspicion to meet with the Secret Keeper, a man she’d never heard of until her last briefing.
Jack, apparently annoyed by the time she’d stood there with her eyes closed, mulling what she could tell him about the mission, snapped, “Tick-tock!”
Her lids popped open. “All right. I’ll tell you what I can but I can’t share every detail. At least not yet.”
He frowned as she took a step in his direction. “I promise to tell you all I know, but as I said, even I don’t know everything. Yet. When I find out, I’ll tell you. It’s the best I can do.”
Madelaine took one more step closer. His familiar, tantalizing scent hit her like a brick to the face, shattering the very essence of her soul.
She sucked in a deep breath, did her best to ignore how great he smelled, and said, “The only thing I know for certain at this point is that I must get a meeting with the Secret Keeper as soon as possible. In theory, I’ll receive something that will lead me to the next task I need to complete and so on.”
“That’s quite an interestingerrand,” he said, sounding grudgingly intrigued.
“Yes.”Don’t I know it.
Jack turned his whole body to face her, and she was glad to see his anger seemed to be fading. “Look, I don’t know if I can get you in to see the Secret Keeper, even if we could get to Suspicion and back in twenty-four hours, which we can’t. It’s a sixteen-hour drive up there one way.”
“We can’t fly?”
“Nope.” His sardonic look said he thought she should know that.
Madelaine shook her head. She’d been away from Earth too long. She’d forgotten the basics. Right.
The Alphas living on Earth were all hiding in plain sight from the human inhabitants. Any kind of flight in a non-human craft was risky business and typically not ever allowed without yards of paperwork. She was certain this would not qualify, even if she was interested in seeking permission from the powers that operated the Big Bang Truck Stop. She was not. They were not even supposed to know she was in Alienn.
Driving was the only sanctioned mode of transportation on Earth for Alphas. And even for a drive, sheshouldseek special dispensation from the belowstairs security folks in the Big Bang Truck Stop. She was not going to ask.
Quell-don told her she had special privileges as a member of the Paladin Cabal that meant she could circumvent the local leadership, if need be. She couldn’t take the chance that they wouldn’t respect the secrecy of what she was doing. She hoped Jack wouldn’t tell them.
“But you could get me up there withinourtwenty-four-hour time limit, right?”
“In theory.”
“Okay. That’s good enough for me.”
“Except that I haven’t agreed to this crazy plan of yours yet. And it would be unlikely that I could get a special meeting with the Secret Keeper.”
“Why? Don’t you have regularly scheduled meetings?”
“Yes. And the regular meeting happened a week ago. The next one won’t be for another month.”
Madelaine internally slumped. She needed that meeting with the Secret Keeper. Couldn’t go any further without it. She also couldn’t wait a month. She looked deeply into Jack’s eyes. “Are you certain the meeting was a week ago?”
He met her gaze but seemed less impacted by their shared stare. “Yes. Because I was the one who went up there.”
Madelaine closed the distance between them until she almost touched him. He didn’t move a muscle. “What would it take?”
“What?”
“What do I need to promise, ensure, or spend in order for you to take me up there to meet with the Secret Keeper as soon as possible?” Her time was critically limited, according to the Paladin Cabal.
A clock was ticking somewhere and she couldn’t let that alarm go off before she gathered all the pieces, had them assembled and delivered to the final destination. She just couldn’t.
