Nikki ripped off the strip of duct tape and bared her teeth at the thug. “That’s for eating my donuts, asshole.” After one last hot, wrathful glare, she hurried to Cass and released her from the restraints. Together, they rushed to Sam’s side and circled him in a united front of feisty girl power.
Pricilla eyed the Lassiter siblings with obvious disdain before narrowing her focus on him. “Let today be a lesson. There will be no crossing me, Samael. I’ve granted you a second chance to prove your obedience. Don’t squander it, because there will be no third.” She gave a dismissive wave to her four goons. “See them to the door.”
Sam stooped and swiped Lucy from the ground. Adjusting his T-shirt, he tucked her into his holster as he, Cass and Nikki were herded to the entry. Awarding a mocking salute to the thugs, he followed his cousins out into the blazing sun.
Nikki was uncharacteristically quiet during the walk to the car. All of the bluster and fierceness she’d displayed in the mansion had evaporated. It wasn’t until she huddled in the backseat that she finally broke her moody silence. “God, I’m sorry, you guys,” she said in a small voice. “I never should have stopped by Pop’s place. Talk about stupid.”
So that was how Pricilla’s goons had grabbed Nikki. No doubt the second it became clear he’d broken the familiar link, Pris had staked out the Lassiter household in the off chance she’d find him through his relatives. Unfortunately, she’d been right.
Cass swiveled in her seat, her expression worried. “Mom and Dad…?”
“Weren’t home, thankfully. If something had happened to them too, I would never have forgiven myself.”
He twisted the key in the ignition, and the GTO’s engine roared to life. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. The important thing is you and Cass are safe now.”
Another hefty silence filled the interior of the vehicle. Feeling the weight of Nikki’s gaze lasering into the back of his head, he glanced in the rearview mirror and met her incredulous stare. He frowned. “What?”
“Who are you, and what have you done with Sam?”
Cass clicked her seat belt in place. “I’ve got to side with Nik on this one. You’re acting…considerably reasonable.”
“I can be reasonable.”
Cass’s russet eyebrows winged upward.
“Okay, so I have my grumpy moments, damn it.” As a matter of fact, he felt a helluva one coming on now. He shifted into reverse and gunned it out of the drive before swinging in the direction of home.
It really chapped his ass that Pricilla would now know where he lived, thanks to the despised tracking cuff. He’d worked hard at maintaining a low profile, and therefore keeping that aspect of his life under wraps. It’d been bad enough the council could demand his presence whenever the mood struck. He damn well didn’t want them physically showing up on his doorstep. The possibility of that souring his gut, he shot a scowl in the direction of his ankle, where the cold glint of metal peeked from the leg of his jeans. Glancing sideways, he caught Cass’s contemplative gaze.
“It’s strange Pricilla settled for slapping that on you.”
“No, it’s not. She’s hoping I’ll lead her to Marabella.”
Cass remained thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, makes sense. But why do you suppose she’s interested in her?”
He shrugged and returned his attention to the road. “I’d say that’s the million-dollar question.”
The fidgeting beat of Cass drumming her fingers on the armrest filled the air. “We have to go talk to her—Marabella.”
He jerked his gaze to Cass. “Want to run that by me again?”
“We need to find out why Pricilla is interested in her.”
“Like hell we do.”
Cass sighed. “Sam, don’t be difficult. She might be our best shot at getting to the bottom of all this.”
“Are you fucking nuts?” The prospect of laying eyes on Marabella again literally made his stomach clench. Unfortunately, it also made his dick stir with fond remembrance of their incredible night together. Desperation like a caged beast inside him, he latched onto the most obvious deterrent against agreeing to Cass’s asinine suggestion. “We’d be leading Pris straight to her. Not the slickest move ever.”
“That’s why we’re going to jury-rig your tracker.” Cass leaned forward and snatched her laptop from the floor. She flipped open the screen and booted up the system. “I was working out a plan earlier. I’m willing to bet that unit on your leg houses the same GPS software used in a pair of reaper cuffs. It’s a simple matter of switching the chip in your cuff with the one in Nikki’s. As long as Nik’s cuffs stay put in your house, Pricilla will be none the wiser.”
“Hey, that’s pretty smart.” Some of the misery had lifted from Nikki’s voice. “Assuming it’ll work, of course.”
“I’m ninety-nine percent certain it will.” Cass swung an arm behind her seat. “Let me see ’em.”
A metallic clank announced Nikki was in the process of removing her cuffs. A moment later the rear seat creaked as she scooted forward and passed the cuffs to her sister. Cass inspected the device and gave a considering hum. “Any chance either of you have something I could use to open the hardware dock?”
“Yeah, I keep a toolbox in the trunk.”
Cass pumped her fist in victory. “Awesome. Since we don’t have much time, why don’t you pull into the lot of that grocery store over there?”
He glanced toward where she was pointing to and dutifully swung the vehicle in that direction. After pulling into a spot bordered by a nice view-blocking RV, he climbed from the GTO and popped the trunk. While Cass rummaged in the toolbox, he kept a wary eye on the cars entering the parking lot. “I can damn well guarantee you Pris’s goons will have my house staked out within the hour. How the hell do you propose we sneak by them to go anywhere?”
“Easy. Nik’s teleport bracelet.”
“Uh, that’ll be a problem,” Nikki called through the open window. “I don’t have it. Pricilla does. Or at least I assume so. All I know is it was gone when I came to after her paid morons knocked me out.”
Cass swore beneath her breath. Twitching her nose, she pocketed the tiny screwdriver and needle-nose pliers she’d filched from the toolbox. “Okay, we’ll improvise for now. I’ll get the chips switched out, and Nik can drive back to your house while you and I hop a cab over to Marabella’s.”
He narrowed his eyes at Cass. “Your sister is not driving my car.”
She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the open passenger door. “She’ll take good care of it, I promise. Now sit.”
Slightly nauseated at the idea of Nikki behind the wheel of the Orange Bullet, he slumped onto the seat. While Cass unscrewed the hinge covering the hardware dock on Nikki’s reaper cuffs, he tried to block out horrific images of his car bursting into flames or wrapped around a telephone pole.
Giving a cluck of her tongue, Cass propped the device on the dash and hunkered next to his leg. “Safe to say your cuff’s been triggered with an alarm that’ll notify Pricilla if we even attempt to remove it. Hopefully I can reach the software without having to go that route.” She felt around on the underside of the metal lip and grinned. “Yes! This will be easy as pie.”
“Speaking of pie, I’m starved,” Nikki grumbled from the backseat. “That Hulk Hogan lookalike back at Pricilla’s ate our breakfast.”
“So we gathered.” Rolling her eyes, Cass pried open the latch on his cuff. She tapped his ankle. “Straighten your leg.” He complied with her request, and with the steady-fingered precision of a brain surgeon, she carefully removed the chip with the pliers. In less time than it took Nikki to lodge another complaint about being hungry, Cass switched both chips and screwed everything back into place. “Okay, now all that’s left is to pull up the Sat-link and make sure everything is hunky dory.”