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“Natches?” Flicking her a questioning look, Gypsy efficiently navigated the curvy mountain road that led to the interstate.
“Yeah. ” Piper could feel that sense of freedom slowly disintegrating.
“Not hardly. ” Gypsy grimaced. “Picking you up might piss him off at me, but calling him and letting him know would only add a shadow of distrust to my name if he ever actually meets me. ”
Neither the resignation in Gypsy’s voice, nor her explanation, made sense.
“What do you mean?” Piper shook her head. “Wouldn’t it be the other way? He wouldn’t trust you if he learned you had helped me? Wouldn’t he trust you more if you contacted him?”
“Doesn’t work that way. ” The other woman rejected the suggestion, her expression still a bit stiff, with an air of secretiveness. “I promised I’d help you before I knew who your cousin was. You don’t appear to be in any trouble, and my own sources verified how protective your brother and cousins are. If I called him without cause, no matter how much he would love to know where you are and who you’re with, then he’d count that as a betrayal of confidence. I’d be deemed untrustworthy, unless you were in trouble. ” She threw Piper a quick, amused look. “Are you in trouble?”
“No trouble,” Piper promised her, breathing out a sigh of relief. “I just don’t need company, you know?”
She hoped Gypsy understood. Just as she hoped the other woman didn’t call Natches later.
“Sometimes a girl just has to do what a girl has to do. And sometimes she just has to do it alone,” Gypsy agreed as the lights from the dash emphasized the unsmiling expression she wore.
“Exactly,” Piper stated. “The New York fashion scene isn’t a place where any of them would get along well. It would be like placing a herd of bulls in a roomful of china. Forget the china shop. They would raze the shop and head for the warehouse. ”
Gypsy gave a small, surprised laugh at the description before her amusement was quickly pulled back.
“I’ve heard that about Natche. ” She gave a light laugh. “He was a legend in Afghanistan while he was there. One of the best damned snipers the Marines had, and better at covert intelligence than he had any right to be. ”
Yeah, that sounded like Natches.
“How do you know him?” Piper asked. “Are you with Homeland Security, too?” That would be just her luck.
“Not hardly. ” Gypsy’s lips tilted into a crooked smile. “I was with the Marines myself. Many of Natches’s missions in Afghanistan and Iran are used as training points now. ”
Piper had heard Tim mention that several times, while Natches seemed rather proud of it.
“What are you going to do when they find out you’re gone, then?” Gypsy asked as Piper stared into the darkness and wondered what the trip would have been like with Jed.
“Hopefully, they won’t find out,” she stated irritably. “Because, trust me, New York City would never be the same if those three showed up there. ”
She shuddered to even imagine the chaos the Mackay cousins could still manage to create.
“Best-laid plans and all that,” Gypsy pointed out. “Surely you have a plan, just in case?”
“I’m a Mackay; what do you think?” She grinned back at her friend’s sister.
“I think you have one,” Gypsy reflected. “But I think you’re not so sure of it, and I think you’re really afraid it won’t work. ”
“And what makes you think that?” Unfortunately, she was right.
“Six years in the military. The last two in the investigative side of the military police. I can hear it in your voice, and I can see it in your face. You’re a piss-poor liar, aren’t you, Piper Mackay?”
“Unfortunately, that’s far too close to the truth,” Piper agreed.
It didn’t surprise her to learn Gypsy Seavers was some sort of investigator. She had that air of secretiveness and quiet watchfulness. “I left Mom a note. She’ll find it in the morning, and I begged her not to say anything. And for the first time in my life I lied to my mother. I told her I needed to get away from the male portion of the family and I was staying with friends. ” She grimaced at the lie. “What she’ll actually end up doing is anyone’s guess. ”
“And how long do you think it will take for your brother and cousins to find you?” Rueful amusement reflected in Gypsy’s voice.
They would find her far too soon if she didn’t get very lucky.
“Let’s hope it takes a while,” Piper suggested, terribly afrai
d that if she wasn’t very, very lucky, then her brother and cousins would find her far too quickly.
