Chapter 10

 

 

“And how would you know that, little sister?” Drew asked mildly, her tone easy and clearly not upset with Kelly at all.

“You’re the Shadow,” Kelly whispered almost inaudibly and closed her eyes, unwilling to look at Drew. “The CIA’s been looking for you for years, which I’m sure is no surprise to you. I… I… I think… I think maybe it’s better if I actually demonstrate how I know, not just explain it. I want you to know this is something I’ve never told another living soul. Please don’t…don’t…” Kelly opened her eyes and actually looked a little ill.

“Beautiful girl.” Drew’s voice was still easy and kind. “I think maybe you didn’t understand when Riley told you we were family. Family means family, Kel. The fact that you’re telling me you’ve never told another living soul what you’re about to tell us, means you sensed we were family even before you actually knew who we were. Riles?”

“Baby.” Riley actually lifted Kelly up out of her chair and put her in her lap, banding her arms tightly around Kelly’s body and kissing her on the forehead. “Drew is absolutely right. Just like she would protect you with her last breath, it’s clearly evident you would do the same for us. We have no secrets between each other, princesa. Whatever you need to tell us, you need to feel free to do so without any worries whatsoever. Okay?”

“Okay,” Kelly whispered. She took a deep breath and settled herself more firmly into Riley’s lap, then closed her eyes and let herself go limp as a look of extreme concentration crossed her face.

“It was December of last year.” Three months prior. “I’d just found out that Mary-Kate Villin from Grayson Financial, where Rowan used to work, had been attacked and beaten. I suspected that fuck, Dino Coravani, had been involved, but I didn’t know for sure, so I went up to the hospital to see what I could find out. When I got there, I saw this really handsome butch at the end of the hallway by the nurses’ station. For some reason, I knew she wasn’t just an ordinary visitor. She was there for Mary-Kate, but she didn’t seem inclined to visit. It’s like she was on a fact-finding mission, just like I was.”

Kelly opened her eyes and smiled tentatively at Kennedy.

“It was you, Kenn. You had on gray wool slacks, a black button-down shirt, a black winter coat with a gray scarf around your neck, and black boots. Your coat was unbuttoned and your scarf ends were hanging down. You were carrying a pair of black leather gloves in your left hand, and there was a bandage on the index finger of your right hand, as if you had cut yourself.”

You could hear a pin drop.

“Jesus fuck,” Kennedy muttered, running a hand through her short, dark brown hair in shock. “Right on the money, little sis.”

“Since it was winter and the weather was freezing, I had my hair all stuffed up under a plain stocking cap—so you couldn’t see the color—and a nondescript jacket, with jeans. I had colored contacts in so my eyes appeared brown. I was standing in the hallway, pretending to read the notices on a bulletin board, when you passed me by. You glanced at me, then continued on down the hallway without stopping. You went right around the corner into one of those little rooms where the vending machines were. There was no one in there, except you, and I could hear you pull out your phone to make a phone call. I slipped across the hallway to listen right outside the vending machine area. I sensed that, for some reason, what you were going to say was important.”

Kelly looked directly at Kennedy. “Teagan had called you, so you called her back. You told her that Mary-Kate had been beaten up pretty badly by Dino Coravani so he could find out where Rowan had gone, but they expected her to make a full recovery. And you were pissed, Kenn. You still didn’t know for certain what exactly had happened, but you made the comment that maybe Drew—the Shadow—also needed to descend down into Purgatory and start digging from her end. At that point, I didn’t want to get caught eavesdropping by you, so I moved much further up the hallway to a spot where it would have been impossible for me to overhear your conversation. I pretended to read the notices there until you came out and retraced your steps down the hallway.

“You stopped about ten feet past me to wrap your scarf around your neck, button your coat, and put on your gloves. You got even more pissed because the Band-Aid on your right index finger got caught on the lining of your right glove as you were trying to put it on. So, you ripped the Band-Aid off, put the glove on, and continued making your way down the hallway.

“I left because I didn’t want to hang around anymore, and I figured I would just come back the next day when I knew you were gone.” Kelly blew out a huge breath. “I spent the rest of that night in my hotel room, doing some research through some clandestine channels so my forensic trail couldn’t be traced. I wanted to know who the Shadow was. What I found didn’t exactly convince me to let those numbfucks at the CIA in on the secret.”

The room was deathly silent.

“Little sis,” Drew said soothingly. “Everything is perfectly okay, I promise you. Other than the fact that Trill might have a fucking heart attack because of what we’ve just seen you do, it’s all good, honey. And you are beyond amazing. I hope you know that.”

“Okay,” Kelly whispered again. “As long as you’re sure, Drew. I never want you to feel like the Seven can’t trust me.”

“On the contrary, Kel. If anything, this has proven to me exactly what kind of a woman you truly are. We’re really lucky to have you, don’t you know that?” Drew’s gorgeous smile held affection and trust. Then Drew turned and looked at Blake. “Top that, motherfucker,” she said, smirking. The entire team roared, the tension broken again, and Kelly shook her head in amusement.

“I’m Blake Seibert.” Blake had auburn hair, pale green eyes with flecks of gold, and a mischievous smile. “Since these grandstanding fuckers had to steal my thunder, we’ll keep this low-key. Be prepared to be amazed anyway.” Kelly laughed as Riley and the rest of the Seven groaned.

“My team and I run Utopia, which is our lab simulator. We’ve designed realistic combat simulators with full-size, first-person shooters that allow us to simulate weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective. Our associates run through mock drills in our lab. We test their speed, their reaction time, and their accuracy against the sim models. We’ve also been able to simulate marksmanship qualifications using Utopia. I have to tell you our beloved Rowan almost crapped her drawers the first time the sim went hot and she was standing smack dab in the middle of it.”

Kelly snickered with love for her big sister, wishing she could have been there to see that.

“But Rowan rallied nicely and even surprised the shit out of Bryn and me with a move Teagan and Remy had shown her.” Blake looked suitably impressed. “Incidentally, Remy is the APS associate from Teagan’s crew who guarded Clem during all the shit with that asshole, Coravani. She’s also Teag’s second.”

Kelly nodded, already aware that Clem and Remy were dating.

“That’s it for the short version of what each crew does, princesa. Now, we just need to schedule long visits with each one of these assholes. I don’t think the order makes any difference.”

“I’m going to volunteer to be Kelly’s running partner for now,” Casey said. “I think we need two or three of us in rotation so that we can switch off on our long-distance days.

“Kel, I suspect you don’t typically do half marathon-length runs and prefer to keep yours under ten miles, right?”

“Uh, try more like six to eight miles, dude. I’m not a masochist like you all clearly are.” Kelly rolled her eyes. “Whoever is running with me is just going to have to keep going when I’m ready to quit.”

“No, those will just be the days we do a short run because we’ve got MMA or Krav Maga or other gym work planned.” Casey paused, considering. “That’ll work. We usually start around 4:30 in the morning, but I’m not going to subject you to that, Kel. Is six a.m. too early for you?”

“Crazy people,” Kelly huffed under her breath, sounding so much like Rowan that Riley and the Seven burst out laughing. “No, actually six o’clock is fine. Five-thirty or six o’clock is typically what time I start myself, depending on what’s going on. I can even do five o’clock every day if that will be better for you.”

“No, princesa, we’ll give these lazy fuckers a vacation and make six o’clock our start time.” Riley smirked as the Seven simultaneously flipped her off. “Now, I believe we have a tour to complete. We’ll start in the employee lounge and take it from there.”