High-Caliber Concealer by Bethany Maines

Author:Bethany Maines
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: cia, mystery, action, espionage, heroine, spy, actionadventure, feminist, carrie mae
Publisher: Bethany Maines

August XV

Republican Pamphlets

Nikki plunked a load of dishes into the sink and took a deep breath. It was times like this that she missed her Dad. She remembered him as a gregarious charmer who always seemed to have the right thing to say. She remembered a lot more laughing at the dinner table when he had been around.

Nikki scrubbed extra hard a dish in the sink and wondered if Nell would have been a different kind of mother if Phillipe had been a different kind of father.

“Well, this seems to be going well,” said Jane carrying in a stack of plates.

Nikki stared at her in disbelief. Sometimes she thought Jane existed in a parallel universe. “My mother is offering to show my boyfriend my junior high photos. Jenny is draped over my ex-boyfriend, which would be a lot less annoying if he didn’t look so happy about it. And Ellen and my grandmother are attempting to discuss ammunition using mime, since they don’t want my mother to notice.”

“I know! It was adorable.”

“That part was adorable, but nothing else.”

“I don’t know why you’re so uptight,” said Jane. “We can all handle ourselves around Z’ev, and aside from my gaff about Canada at dinner—which, I guess is why I shouldn’t be out in the field—I don’t think we’re in danger of exposing ourselves.”

“You got too relaxed,” said Nikki, tiptoeing to the kitchen door and checked the hall. She could hear voices from the living room and the clatter of dishes from the dining room. “You’ll do better next time. Besides, it’s not you I’m worried about. It’s Z’ev and Jackson. Jackson is a straight arrow and can’t lie at all.”

Jane paused in scraping the plates and stood up, putting one hand on her hip. “And what does he have to lie about?”

“Well, we may have kissed,” whispered Nikki.

“Oh, my God. Seriously? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I was planning on calling everyone tomorrow, but then you all arrived.”

“No wonder you’re trying to keep Jenny’s boobs in check. OK, well, I think –” Whatever Jane had been about to say was cut off by an angry squawk from Nikki.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Nikki ran to the kitchen window where she could see Milt scrutinizing the cars in the driveway. She ran to the junk drawer and yanked it open, but her grandmother’s gun was no longer in residence. Storming into the dining room, she found Jackson gathering up the glasses.

“Do you know where Peg put her gun?”

“She told you about that thing, huh? I think she moved it somewhere before your mom arrived.”

“What about you? You own a gun, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Where is it? In the truck? Give me the keys.” Nikki held out her hand for the keys.

“All my guns are at home,” answered Jackson, backing up a pace.

“What’re they doing at home?”

“It’s not hunting season and I didn’t think I’d need to be packing heat at a family dinner party.”

“But you’ve got something else, don’t you? Knife, something. I know you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.