The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black: Book Three) (30 page)

“I understand. But Jill, if I
leave, Nicky’s Coronation bid--”

“Nicky’s Coronation bid is over,
Annika. Kim Renwick may be an evil, conniving bitch, but she’s smart enough to
see the writing on the wall. When she told you Nicky doesn’t have a chance, she
was right. It’s no accident that this first Ransom clue is so hard. Renata
wants Nicky dead.”

“And Ryan?” Annika said,
shivering a bit as she spoke.

“Ryan was unlucky enough to be
with Nicky when they took her,” Jill said.

They sat in silence for a
minute, the truth of what Jill was saying settling in like a dark cloud over
the room. Everything they had worked for since the Masquerade was lost. The miracle
of Nicky Bloom’s Coronation bid was done.

Jill broke the silence, saying,
“Pack a bag the minute you have the passports, even if you have no intention of
using it for months.”

“Be ready at a moment’s notice,”
Annika said quietly, nodding her head.

“Your bag should be the bare
minimum of what you’ll need to survive until you’re settled into a new life,”
Jill said. “Some clothes, your passports, all these notes you’re taking
tonight, and lots of cash. You’ll be living cash only for months. Once you’ve
come to the final spot where you want to stay, the Network will help you access
your money in a way it can never be traced to you.”

“And then I need to hide the bag
somewhere no one can find it,” Annika said.

“Precisely.”

“Do you…you know...”

“Yes, I’ve had a getaway bag
packed for a long time,” Jill said. “Come here, I’ll show you.”

Jill led Annika into the closet,
grabbed the step stool to access the top shelf, and pulled down her bag.

“I actually sewed a patch in the
bottom of this bag,” Jill said, showing Annika how it works. “If someone opens
it from the top, it looks like I’ve just got a bunch of gym clothes in here. To
get at the good stuff, you have to know to open up the bottom.”

Jill pulled back the bottom
panel, giving Annika a quick peek of what was inside.

“Good gravy, Jill, how many
passports do you have in there?”

“Enough to get wherever I may
need to go,” Jill said. She closed the bag and put it back on the top shelf. As
she slid it into place, she accidently knocked down a ring she had been keeping
up there. Annika bent down to pick it up.

“Is this….this looks just like
Karmela’s ring,” Annika said, holding it up to the light.

“It is Karmela’s ring. It was
going to be my big plan for winning the Rose Ransom.”

“Huh? Karmela’s ring was going
to win the Rose Ransom?”

“After the Date Auction, I
pulled a fast one on Karmela. The old switcheroo. She doesn’t know it, but the
ring she’s wearing right now is a fake. I had an imitation made that had a
tracking device built into it.”

Annika let out a single, sharp
laugh. “You thought Karmela was going to be the princess! Oh, that would have
been so rich.”

Annika turned the ring over in
her fingers, admiring the engraving and the color of the stone.

“It’s a shame things didn’t work
out,” she said.

“You know, I really should find
a way to get the real ring back on Karmela’s finger,” Jill said. “It’s so
important to her and her family. It’s kind of awful what I did to her.”

“I’ll do it,” Annika said.
“Karmela and I have second period together. I’ll keep this ring with me and
find a way to switch it back. She’ll never know what happened.”

“Really, Annika. It’s okay. With
everything we’ve got going on--”

“I’m going to do it, end of
discussion” Annika said. “And if there’s anything else I can do to repay you
for all you’ve done, you let me know.”

“I think what’s most important
is that you and Shannon get someplace safe.”

Annika threw her arms around
Jill and pulled her close.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For
everything.”

A few minutes later, Jill opened
the front door for Annika and they said good night. Jill sat on the front porch
until Annika’s car turned out of the neighborhood. She came back inside and
lurched up the stairs, her legs heavy with exhaustion. When she got to her
room, she noticed the light was off.

She didn’t remember turning off
the light.

She reached inside the door and
hit the light switch. She saw him standing in the corner, silent as a shadow.

“Tarin,” she said. “Am I glad to
see you.”

“How did you get in here?” Jill
said.

“I didn’t want your friend to
see me, so I came through the back door,” said Tarin.

“But…”

Jill wanted to ask him how he
got the back door open, how he got onto the grounds, how he moved through the
house without anyone hearing him, how he didn’t trigger any of the alarms that
she knew were set because she had to disarm them to let Annika out.

She sighed and shook her head.
This was a guy who had found a way to get into Renata’s mansion and live
undercover as one of her slaves. He was the guy who snuck her into Renata’s
crypt, somehow having gotten his hands on Renata’s cell phone. The security at
Jill’s house was trivial to someone like Tarin.

“You want your keys back?” Jill
asked.

“Keys?” Tarin said.

“You left me alone in her crypt
with a set of keys. I held them in my hand all during the Rose Ransom
performance.”

“Where are they now?” Tarin
said.

“In the top drawer of my desk.”

“Leave them there. We are more
likely to get caught if I try to put them back at this point.”

Tarin reached down and lifted a
brown leather bag off the floor.

“I brought the laptop you used
in the hack,” he said.

“That’s good, I guess. What do
you want me to do with it?”

Tarin pulled the laptop out of
the bag and opened it on Jill’s desk. “The hack worked. I have access to
Renata’s phone on this machine, but something’s wrong. I need you to look at it
and tell me what you see.”

“Alright. Move out of the way so
I can have a look,” Jill said.

She sat in front of the laptop,
brought up the hack of Renata’s phone, and started clicking around. It was
perfect. They had complete access right in front of them.

“Everything looks good,” Jill
said. “Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“Because I’ve watched it for a
week and nothing has happened,” said Tarin. “We’re only getting the most boring
phone calls and emails. Billing from the party she just held, benign
correspondence with boring people, and a few games of Internet chess.”

“Maybe she’s had a boring week,”
said Jill.

“No, I know there’s more to
this. There is something we’re not seeing.”

“Tarin, I’m looking at this
phone—we’re seeing everything. Is it possible she has a second phone?”

“No. I’ve been watching her. One
phone for everything, even the conversations where she ducks away and speaks
softly.”

“Has she had one of those
conversations this week?”

“She’s had several, and I can’t
find any on the laptop. We’re not seeing everything. I need you to figure it
out.”

Jill rolled her eyes. Another
thing to add to her to-do list.

“It would be easier if I had
some help,” she said.

“I can’t help you with this. I
don’t know computers like you do.”

“It doesn’t have to be you. It
could be anybody. Where is everybody, Tarin?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve emailed everyone I know in
the Network, and no one is emailing me back. You’re the only person who is
talking to me.”

Tarin stood in place for a
moment. Jill looked up at him and saw a confused look on his face.

“Jill, your old mission is over.
Your contacts aren’t able to talk to you.”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“Code Orange,” said Tarin. “The
mission is done. Everyone fled. You are on a new mission now. I am your only
contact.”

“Are you saying nobody’s getting
my emails?”

“Of course they aren’t. We can’t
have you in contact with people who aren’t on your mission. You know how the
Network operates.”

Jill couldn’t believe her ears.

“Are you telling me that, all
week long, all those notes I sent…they’re just floating out into nothing?”

“I have no idea where they’re
going—computers are your thing, Jill, not mine—but I do know they’re not being
read. The Network has sealed you off for your own safety.”

“But that doesn’t make me any
safer. All this time I thought I had help out there, and it turns out I’m all
alone? How come nobody told me about this?”

“What is there to tell, Jill?
It’s standard protocol. Everyone in the Network operates in a tightly
controlled cell. Nobody knows anything they don’t need to know. It has to be
that way. The more connected we are, the greater the risk that we all get
exposed if a vampire catches any one of us. ”

“Yes, I understand all that, but
I needed help this week and no one was giving it to me! I was completely alone
out here!”

Tarin stepped close. He leaned
down and put his face right in front of Jill’s.

“You’re not alone,” he said.
“You and I are working together.”

There was an energy to his
presence. Hearing him say the words, his face inches from her own, Jill got a
sense of how this man was able to step into a vampire’s mansion and make
everyone believe he was who he claimed to be. There was so much confidence in
his voice, so much charisma…it was silly that a few words could make her feel
so much better, but they did.

I am not alone.

“We need more, Tarin,” she said.
She was calm now, her voice quiet. “We need support from the Network. A Network
agent and…a friend--”

“I know all about Nicky and
Ryan, and I’ll help you with the Ransom clue.”

“There isn’t any help you can
give,” Jill said. “The first clue is impossible to solve.”

“It’s not impossible,” Tarin
said. He spoke the words with such authority that Jill believed him. She felt a
surge of optimism just hearing his voice.

“But first, before we work on
that clue,” he continued. “I need you to help me with Renata’s phone. She is up
to something. It’s urgent that we figure out what it is.”

“I’m glad to help, Tarin. But
I’ve got a lot going on right now.”

“If I took the first Ransom clue
off your plate, then would you be able to help me?”

“Well yeah, but the first Ransom
clue--”

“I’ve already solved it,” said
Tarin. “Come with me.”

Tarin had a black sedan parked
on the other side of the street. Jill wondered if he stole the car from
Renata’s mansion, but said nothing. They were on assignment after all. If she
didn’t need to know, she didn’t need to ask.

He took her south on Highway
270, driving out of Potomac.

“You are correct to assume the
clue isn’t meant to be solved,” Tarin said. “Renata made it difficult on
purpose. But it isn’t impossible. Even though Renata’s intent is for the Rose
Ransom to go unpaid this year and for Nicky and Ryan to die, she has still
crafted a game for everyone to play. She can’t help herself. As an immortal,
it’s in her nature. She wants to treat all of you like her toys, and to her,
it’s fun to give a clue that has everyone chasing their own tails and proving
that they aren’t nearly as smart as she is. There is a solution to this clue,
but to figure it out, you have to think like a vampire. You have to put
yourself inside Renata’s mind.”

They crossed the river and Tarin
veered into an exit lane.

“So what is it then?” Jill said.
“Where are you taking me?”

“When fifty summers have
thickened your skin,” Tarin began, speaking in a sing-song voice, as if he were
a teacher about to give a lesson.

“Stop it. I am so, so tired and
I don’t want to think about the clue anymore,” said Jill. “Renata’s already
playing games with us. Just tell me the answer.”

“The answer is a cemetery,”
Tarin said.

As he spoke the words, he exited
the highway, driving them into a tree-lined suburb.

“A cemetery,” Jill said,
thinking about the clues.

It is here that you shall
find comfort, having found none in the mirror.

She laughed. “The clue is
telling us our only comfort is death?”

“You got it,” Tarin said. “It’s
a classic taunt from an immortal. You and everyone else in your class will grow
old and ugly, and will become so depressed about it you’d rather be dead.
That’s the message in the first Rose Ransom clue. While an immortal laughs at
death, a human is so miserable that eventually, death is a welcome escape.”

“Disgusting,” said Jill, shaking
her head.

“But typical,” said Tarin.
“Renata is the most twisted of all the immortals. She, more than any of them,
is in love with power. She crafted this first clue as a reminder of the
ultimate power she has as an immortal.”

“The power to cheat death,” Jill
said.

“Precisely.”

“What cemetery are we going to?”

“Meadowlark Memorial,” Tarin
said. “The preferred burial ground for DC’s elite, where a rich human can pay
tens of thousands of dollars to ensure their eternal resting place is among
dead celebrities, politicians, and business tycoons.”

“And you think the second clue
is in that cemetery.”

“I know it is, because I know
Renata.”

A few minutes later, Tarin
pulled through the front gates, which, strangely, were wide open even at this
late hour of the night. He parked on the edge of the grass and they stepped out
near a gaudy tombstone for someone named Frederick Gallagher.

There was a single rose sitting
atop his plot.

“Is this it?” Jill said. “Look
at the rose.”

She bent down to pick it up.

“Don’t bother with that,” Tarin
said. “There’s nothing special about this grave.”

“But the rose—if you’re so sure
the answer is in this cemetery, don’t you think there might be something
significant about this rose?”

“Look around you, Jill. You
haven’t seen the big picture yet.”

Look around me?
Jill
stood up and scanned the surrounding area. It was so dark she didn’t noticed
anything at first. A huge plot of land. Tall trees casting shadows in the
moonlight. Damp grass and fallen leaves stretching for acres in all directions.
Thousands of tombstones in orderly rows.

And then she saw it. It was like
her eyes needed to adjust to the darkness, needed to take it all in, before she
could see what was happening here.

She walked to the next grave
over, bent down, and picked up the rose sitting in front of the tombstone.

“They’re on every grave,” she
said. “A single rose on every one. What’s going on here?”

“It’s just like in the story,”
Tarin said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two small flashlights. He
gave one to Jill. “There are many roses in the kingdom. We have to find the
reddest one.”

“No,” Jill said. “There must be
a thousand graves here.”

Tarin clicked on his flashlight,
and aimed a bright, concentrated beam at the rose in front of the grave.

“If there are a thousand graves,
nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine have roses that look just like this one,” he said.
“One has the rose we’re looking for. It will be easy to spot.”

“How will we know? Is the flower
a deeper shade of red? Is it something we can see in the dark?”

“It will look nothing like these
roses. Believe me, you’ll know it when you see it. You start right here at this
grave and work your way across the cemetery. I’ll start at the other end. One
of us will find it.”

Jill turned on her flashlight and
aimed it at the rose.

“This is crazy,” she muttered.
“So completely nuts.”

She looked up. Tarin was already
gone.

“What the….where did he…?”

It was like he had vanished. No
sound of his footsteps running away. No sign of him anywhere. Jill shone her
flashlight across the graveyard, looking for him, and saw nothing but
tombstones.

Tombstones and roses
, she
thought.
A creepy old cemetery in the middle of the night, and now I’m by
myself.

She walked to the next grave and
aimed her light at the rose. Nothing special about it. A plain, ordinary flower
sitting in front of a tombstone for Lonnie McBride, 1907 – 1988. A normal rose
was sitting on the next grave too, and the next. She went down the entire row,
reading the names of the deceased, inspecting the roses on their graves. The
grass was damp under her feet. Piles of wet leaves collected between the
graves. A mist was forming in the air as they were now in the coldest part of
the night.

She found nothing special in the
first row she checked, or the second. The roses all looked the same; the
tombstones were nothing more than simple markers of death.

Of lives that came to an end.

By the third row, she found her
mind drifting to her friends that had died. Gia, Dante, and Kendall. Three
humans who gave everything to their cause, and died anonymous deaths. There
would be no tombstones for them. Their ashes were mixed with those of the
slaves who were cremated every night in Renata’s mansion, and tossed out with
the garbage.

She made it to the fourth row,
still having seen nothing unusual. She had passed hundreds of roses now, the
beam from her flashlight picking them out and then abandoning them to the
darkness.

She thought of Nicky and Ryan.
She was here tonight for them. She was looking for the clue in hopes that there
was still a chance for a miracle. Were they still alive? Were they actually
being held at the end of this trail of clues, waiting for someone to rescue
him? Or was it all a ruse? A clever game the immortals put together for their
own amusement, like everything else in the Coronation contest.

Jill had no doubt that Renata
enjoyed watching the senior class wander about in frustration, unable to solve
the clues, Nicky and Ryan’s friends powerless to save them.

The roses were beginning to
wilt. The petals were limp. The stems, soft.
That’s part of her game
,
Jill thought.
These roses are dead, just like the people underneath them.
Decaying in front of my eyes.