She watched Jack’s profile intently. He was as beautiful as he’d been the last time she’d seen him, when they’d said their temporary—or so they’d thought—goodbyes. More so.
How could he look better than she remembered? They’d been in college the last time she’d held him, made plans with him—
Stop it.
Jack had been Alpha tall and more filled out than many of the other males their age. Even so, he was clearly a man now. Taller. Heavier. He carried himself with assurance, not swagger. He was also more tempting than she had expected.
“Just get straight to it,” he muttered. Like he wanted their twenty-four-hour date to be over already. She’d thought that if he wanted to know why she’d left him five years ago, it would mean he still cared about her. She’d been willing to risk harsh punishment from the Paladin Cabal and Quell-don to give him what truth she could, willing to risk the problems it might causeher when she returned to Alpha-Prime and her duty. Apparently, he didn’t care.
She swallowed bitter regret.
“I have been tasked with a very important—” she paused, gathering her inner warrior-girl strength “—errandis what I’ll call this for now.”
“Errand?” he scoffed, as if he disliked her word choice. Sure. He would probably dislike everything she said from this day forward.
“Yes. Errand. There is more than one step to this errand, but I won’t know what those might be until the first task is completed.”
“Fine, I’ll play along. What is the first task for yourerrand?”
“It’s something I’m hoping you specifically can help me with, starting tonight. I need you to accompany me on a short trip.”
That made him turn his head and look at her. “A short trip? Tonight? How short?” His furrowed gaze said the trip better be less than twenty-four hours.
“I need you to accompany me to Suspicion, Minnesota, and help me get an appointment with the Secret Keeper as soon as possible. Time is of the essence.”
Jack tilted his head back and laughed out loud, sounding genuinely amused. “You have got to be kidding me. Beyond the fact you shouldn’t even know about Suspicion, Minnesota, or the Secret Keeper, what makes you think I can get you in to see him after taking a ‘short trip’ there? Which, trust me, would not be at all short.”
“I know your brother, Diesel Grey, the Fearless Leader of the Big Bang Truck Stop, has a relationship with the Secret Keeper. I know that you and your brothers all take turns goingup to meet with the Secret Keeper regularly, since you found out about Suspicion, Minnesota, and the Lost Colony.”
Jack looked surprised that she seemed to know so much information that was largely restricted to Diesel’s inner circle. His expression flattened. “And how do you know all that?”
She shrugged. “Can’t say.”
His gaze narrowed. “Can’t or won’t?”
She pushed out an exasperated sigh. “Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if I’m doing any favors for you—and that’s debatable—I want to know what the overall plan is. I want to know in advance about all the nitty-gritty details regarding this errand you have in store for me before I decide whether to help you or not.”
Whetherhe’d help her or not?
Hehadto help her. He just had to.
Madelaine closed her eyes to think. She could not outline her entire plan to him. She didn’t yet know all of the tasks she faced. Quell-don had given her an old envelope with a message written on parchment that said she had to go to Earth—specifically, Alienn, Arkansas—and find a way to get in to see the Secret Keeper in Suspicion, Minnesota. He’d told her little else before handing her the keys to a ship called thePaladin Seekerand sending her on her way.
This mission was partly a madman’s scavenger hunt, where she had to go to the first place to find or receive a package that would lead her to the next package and so on until she’d acquired all of the pieces.
In fact, a madmanhadset this entire scheme up when he stole something vitally important, broke it into pieces and scattered them across at least three galaxies so he could force a ransom from Alpha-Prime and other powerful planets.
While the horrible person who had done this terrible thing had been caught, he had not given over all the information needed to piece together the universe-saving device it was her mission to reassemble. He had been uncooperative, delivering the vital information in dribs and drabs over the past decade, hoping to get himself a better deal. She thought he should spend the rest of his life in a gulag, but no one asked her.
The elaborate search-and-recover operation Madelaine had been tasked with was the Paladin Cabal’s best idea to keep anyone else from stealing the important device. The theory was that if the pieces were kept scattered until needed, no one person could hold the device for ransom again.
Part of her job involved figuring some things out as she went along. She hoped she was up to the task.
