Whispers in the Dark - Maya Banks [20]
Shea blew out her breath in frustration. I get it, okay? But here’s what you’re not considering. Say you find out it’s some private off-their-rocker group who know what we are and what we can do and they want us for their own nefarious purposes. So you figure this out and go to the police or the government or whoever.
What’s to stop them from deciding they want to exploit you? You could very well be trading one enemy for another, and if it is some private half-ass group who’s afraid of discovery, then good. That gives us an advantage. But if we go to the authorities and they decide they want to use us, what the hell do we do then?
Grace sighed. Damn it, I hate when you start making sense. That’s supposed to be my job as the older sister. Still, it doesn’t hurt to learn as much as we can about these assholes. We have to trust someone at some point, right? Or do we plan to spend the rest of our lives running?
Shea closed her eyes. I hope not. We’ll figure something out.
Grace touched Shea’s cheek and then pulled her into a fierce hug. We’ll beat this, Shea.
For once it was Grace offering comfort and encouragement.
CHAPTER 7
THERE was something to be said for big cities, but they still made her nervous. After ditching her car after the near miss in Kansas City, she’d decided to go with something a little more rugged. Just in case. Four-wheel drive. Something that could handle rough terrain if it came to that.
She’d really wanted to stay in Colorado, lose herself in some remote mountain area, but if she was tracked there, her escape possibilities were slim. And she knew little to nothing about roughing it. Her idea of camping was a nice hotel with room service and a spa.
Until Nathan was rescued and no longer needed her, she absolutely had to keep to areas that swallowed people up. Afterward, she could hopefully find a place that was quiet, big enough that she wouldn’t garner too many questions but small enough that she would know if her pursuers showed up.
And yeah, she’d prefer a place with an actual roof, working utilities and a bathroom so she wasn’t forced to do her thing behind a bush.
She’d start in California. Work her way up the coast, closer to where it all began. Maybe Grace was right in that they needed more information. If she could eventually get back to her parents’ house undetected, she could access the surveillance footage from when her parents were killed. Maybe by then it wouldn’t hurt quite so much. Maybe the distance would enable her to view the act with a critical eye.
She shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut at the idea of ever being able to be that analytical when it came to the monsters who’d killed her family.
That would come later. For now she had to concentrate on remaining safe and undetected.
First she checked into a dive motel, giving a fake name and a story about her purse being stolen with all her ID. The clerk hadn’t cared about anything other than her ability to pay, and when she produced cash, he gave her a key without question.
The next item on her agenda was to walk into a salon and undergo a radical change in her appearance. The hairdresser had been dubious about her decision to dye her honey blond hair dark brown, but she’d shrugged and done the job.
It wasn’t the first time Shea had dyed her hair. She’d changed her appearance every few months. Since she’d been back to blond in her last close call, she chose dark and she’d switch to the brown-colored contacts.
In other circumstances, it would have amused her that over the last year she’d been a redhead, a blonde, several