Page 61 of Beautiful Vengeance

“What if I want to punch her?” There was a good possibility she might.

“No punching. Just walk away.”

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered.

After their second cousin had sohelpfullyinterfered in all of this, they were taking every precaution for the meeting. Chloe, Heath, Eden and Zack were stationed two blocks away from the meeting point in case their paranoia was justified and this proved to be a trap of some sort. Having the other four as backup was overkill on top of having Jesse and Ty close by, but so be it.

“Okay, she got my message saying we’re going to be a bit late,” Amber said, still typing. The excuse gave them more time to watch the meeting point before approaching it. Just so there weren’t any last minute surprises when they went in.

Megan had lost track of the things Amber was working on at once. “And?”

“She said it’s fine and she’ll see us when we get there.”

A second later Amber suddenly stopped typing and stared hard at the screen. Megan glanced at her, worry bursting inside her when she saw her sister’s deep frown. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t… No,” she said slowly, then shook her head. “Nothing. Just ignore me.”

Megan scowled and punched her sister in the shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that.”

Ignoring her, Amber went back to typing. Currently she had three different screens open on Lady Ada, one of them searching up and comparing words from various sources.

Megan had no clue what network Amber had hacked into out here as they drove, but then she didn’t understand most of what her sister did with her tech. And in her opinion, it was a sign of just how desperate they were to discover who the Architect was that Amber had resorted to trying linguistic forensics as a tool to crack the mystery. It might have worked to bring the Unibomber down, but that didn’t mean it would help in this case.

All too soon they neared the outskirts of Coventry. Jesse pulled off the motorway and drove past the café Amber had chosen for the meeting. It was in a busy area close to several hotels, about a thirty-minute drive from the conference their aunt was attending in Birmingham.

“Busy place,” Jesse commented as he slowly drove past, giving them a good look at what they were dealing with.

Megan counted about a dozen bistro-style tables set out on the sidewalk. Only a handful were occupied, and no one sitting at them made Megan’s internal radar ping.

Jesse continued to the end of the block and made several turns in quick succession to make sure no one was following them. “See anything?” he asked Ty.

Ty checked his mirror again. “Nope. We’re good to go.” He got on his phone and called Zack to let the others know Megan and Amber were about to go in.

Jesse turned right at the next corner and pulled to the curb in front of some row houses. “You taking Lady Ada with you?” he said to Amber in a dry voice as Ty hopped out.

“No. So guard her with your life while I’m gone.”

“My life,” he agreed solemnly, taking it from her. Amber leaned between the front seats to kiss him, then got out.

Megan climbed out with fake glasses on and her hair tucked under a knit cap. She and Amber had disguised their appearances a bit to make facial recognition harder when the CCTVs in the area picked them up.

Shutting the door, she faced Ty. He was so damn good looking, he distracted her all the time. “Okay, wish us luck.” This was it. She just wanted this done with so she and Amber could lay this part of their past to rest and get on with the mission.

“You won’t need it, but good luck anyway.” His face softened with an easy smile. “Don’t worry. Jess and I’ve got your backs.” He drew her close to kiss her, then lowered his voice to a sensual rumble that made her toes curl in her boots. “Hurry back, Mrs. Bergstrom.”

It sill sounded weird, but she was grinning like an idiot as she walked up the sidewalk with her sister.

“Wipe that lovesick smile off your face and focus,” Amber said.

She shoved her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket, her weapon a comforting weight at the small of her back. “Iamfocused. I can smile and still be focused.” And she’d smile about her husband if she damn well wanted to.

They approached the café from the west, walking up the alley beside it. “We still good?” she murmured so Ty and Jesse could hear via her earpiece.

“Affirmative,” Ty answered.

“Mmm, I love it when you use military speak.”

Amber jabbed her with an elbow. “Now’s not the time.” She pulled her phone from her pocket to study it, probably having received an alert of some sort from her laptop.

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