02 Seekers by Lynnie Purcell

of trust in this Serenity. Are Jackson and her really that good of friends?”
    “Not really,” he admitted.
    “Okay…” I crossed my arms. “Then why do you trust her?”
    “Because we have no other choice,” he replied. His face told me he didn’t like the idea any more than I did.
    “Uh-huh.” I started pacing. “When do you have to go?” I asked.
    “Tomorrow morning I meet Serenity then she’s going to arrange a meeting with her contact. She has to make it look like she’s not involved, though. They know her down here.”
    “It sounds so Jason Bourne-ish,” I said.
    I looked at the alarm clock by the bed and realized that ‘tomorrow’ wasn’t that far off. Then, I would be stuck with only Margaret and Jackson for company. I wasn’t looking forward to it. For multiple reasons.
    “It’s much more confusing than any movie,” Daniel said. “And a lot less certain the heroes are going to live.”
    That was a great thing to mention on the eve of his departure…I stopped pacing and stared him down, his words scaring me. “You’re going to be careful.”
    He stood and took my hands. His eyes bored into mine. “I am going to be more than careful.
    Careful is going to be jealous about how cautious I will be. It’s going to look at me and go, ‘Man I wish I was that safe about things!’”
    I smiled. “That was the lamest assuring I have ever heard.” I slipped his arms around my waist.
    “But I accept, provided you mean it.”
    “I do.”
    “Good, cause I’ll find you if you don’t,” I promised.
    He smiled and bent forward to kiss me. Just as our lips met, the door linking our room with the central room of the suite burst open. Standing in the middle of the doorway was an extremely irritated Margaret. And beside her, looking for all the world as if we had never parted, was a grinning, smug, Alex.

Chapter 5
    “Alex?” I asked more shocked to see my best friend than I had ever thought I could be.
    “This place is fraking awesome. I thought you guys would be holed up in a sleazy hotel peering out the blinds or something. This is totally opposite of that. Way cool,” she said. She threw her bag on the bed and smiled at the room, approving of the décor.
    Margaret was less inclined to smile, but that was just Margaret. “She could have been followed,”
    Margaret told Daniel as if he were the only one in the room.
    “If she was followed, we were followed,” Daniel said. “You should probably check.”
    Margaret nodded and, with an extra glare at Alex, left the room.
    “I’m more concerned about how Alex got here then if she were followed,” I said. “What the
    heck?” I asked her.
    Alex shrugged as if finding me was nothing. “I rode the bus.”
    “I mean how you found us here in this hotel,” I said.
    “I came to New Orleans then I just sort of…” She pointed to her belly. “Followed my gut…and there you were. I was starting to get a little worried, because of the dark. Oh! Cable TV! Yay.”
    I snatched the remote out of her hand before she could turn the TV on. Daniel and I both crossed our arms and stared at her. She got the message.
    “I wasn’t going to stay behind and let you guys do all the world saving. The fact that you didn’t even offer me the chance to come along was very hurtful, by the way. I mean, really!” She
    paused thoughtfully. “I made a choice. I’m not going to sit idly by and let my best friends risk their necks. Not when I could do something.”
    “‘Something’? You mean run away and follow us down here?” I asked, figuring she hadn’t asked Sam for permission to come.
    “The same ‘something’ you’re doing,” she pointed out. “I have as much a right to hunt down bad Watchers as you do.” Her blue eyes blazed with determination. I knew the look, and I knew there was no reasoning with that look.
    I turned to Daniel for his opinion. His face was thoughtful, but, when he caught my eye, he held up his hands. “This is yours,” he