Diana Rowland - How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back

“Yeah, it’s cool,” I replied with a shrug.

“What happened with Jane?” he asked before I could feel too awkward.

“She’s on board,” I said. Crap. He might go right back to being mad at me after this.

“Okay, good,” he said, sounding relieved. “How did you leave it with her? She’s staying away from the Sabers, right?”

“Erm, no, I’m still with her, at her hotel,” I said. “And, she’s on board. Like, totally.” I fought to keep my shoulders down and totally unhunched.

Brian remained silent, and I had the weirdest sense that if he’d known my middle name he’d be using my full and proper legal name like a mama calling a misbehaving kid downstairs to face the music.

“It’s about damn time,” he finally said.

My knees actually wobbled briefly. “Oh, shit, really?” I plopped down into a nearby chair. “I thought you’d want to kill me.” Kind of like Victor probably wanted to do. Did Brian even know he was a zombie? Probably, I realized, since Pietro had arranged the security for Jane.

“She’s needed to know for a while now, in my opinion,” he said. “Mr. Ivanov made me swear I wouldn’t tell her.”

“Yeah, well, luckily I have no damn judgment,” I said. “Anyway, she wants to know how she can help.”

“Since she knows, she needs to cover her ass,” he replied. “I don’t know what the Sabers have planned, but anything she can do to create a political counteroffensive to Saberton’s interests would be called for. Something she can hold ready if needed.”

“Right. Hang on.” I covered the phone and repeated it to Jane. Her eyes went hard, and she nodded.

“I’ll take care of it,” she replied with an edge to her words that made me extremely glad she still liked me. Jaw set, she stood, moved to the office, then began making calls.

After that, Brian wanted to talk to Victor. I handed the phone over, and Victor moved far enough away that I couldn’t hear him. Judging by the dark looks he shot my way I had no doubt he was tattling about my accidental outing of him. Damn. That was a bad fuckup on my part, and it could’ve been really ugly. A few minutes later Victor returned and handed my phone back.

“He wants to talk to you again,” he said. I wasn’t sure, but I thought that maybe he wasn’t glaring quite as hard at me.

“Hey, Brian.” I grimaced. “I guess he told you about my latest fuckup?”

“Yes, he did,” Brian replied. “It’s serious, but I don’t need to tell you that. You’re a smart woman. He says you need training, and I told him you weren’t security or an operative. But here you are, in the thick of a huge crisis.”

I turned toward the window. “I’m trying my best,” I said, voice cracking.

“I know you are,” he said gently. “Shit happens sometimes to all of us. Say the wrong thing. Do the wrong thing. Make the wrong choice. All you can do is learn from it and move on.”

I fought back a sniffle, warmed. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Thank you , Angel, for what you’re doing. You didn’t have to put yourself out there like this.”

The warmth continued to spread like a tingly hug. “Yeah, I did.”

“Exactly,” he said, a smile in his voice. “That’s what makes you you . Once we get out of this shit, we’ll make sure you have the basics. More if you want it.”

A vision of my sensei ’s pained face swam through my head. “Sure,” I said. “If you think you’re up for it.”

“Bring it on,” he said with a low snort.

“Thanks, Brian. I’m really glad you’re not a bad guy anymore.”

He laughed. “Me too.” And with that he hung up.

Feeling about a thousand times better about everything, I turned back to see Jane still on her phone in the office and Victor standing by the sofa, with arms folded over his chest, silently regarding me.

“I’m sorry I outed you,” I said, grimacing. “I swear I didn’t mean to.”

Some of the tension in his jaw eased, and he gave a slight nod. “Understood.”

Jane returned from the office, set her cell phone on the coffee table, then flopped onto the sofa with a sigh. I held back a grin. She’s a flopper too!

“There’s more to do, but the groundwork is laid,” she said. Barely a second later her phone buzzed on the coffee table. She sat up and glanced at it, then narrowed her eyes at the caller ID. “Damn it. It’s that horrible woman. At this hour.”

There was only one horrible woman she could mean. “Answer it,” I said quickly, before she could send it to voicemail.

Jane hesitated, then hit the answer button and lifted the phone to her ear. “Jane Pennington,” she said with total calm.

Silence for a second, then, “Jane! It’s Nicole Saber,” I heard clearly, and there was no mistaking the surprise in her voice. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t expect you to answer. The event ended a short while ago, and I thought I’d call and leave you a message. I was worried after you left so suddenly and wanted to wish you well. I do hope you’re feeling better?”

Jane’s smile was frosty, but none of it showed in her voice. “Why yes. I think it was simply a touch of jet lag. I’ll be right as rain after a good night’s sleep.”

“I’m so glad to hear it. I’d love to take you to an early lunch tomorrow so that we can continue our conversation. Racchelli’s Cucina Italiana at eleven?”

“Lunch would be lovely, but I think my calendar is booked. I’ll check.” She lowered the phone and covered the mouthpiece, looked out the window with zero move to check her calendar.

I made frantic motions. Do it , I mouthed. Yes! Take the lunch!

Jane gave me an Are you inSANE? look, at which time we proceeded to go through a silent yes no yes no back and forth, with me growing increasingly more frantic in my motions.

Finally Jane threw up her hands in defeat and returned the phone to her ear. “It seems my ten o’clock appointment cancelled,” she said. “How fortuitous.”

I grinned in triumph, but Jane simply rolled her eyes, which only made me grin more.

“Excellent,” Nicole all but crowed. “I’ll see you then.”

As soon as Jane hung up I made a couple of fist pumps in the air. “This is perfect,” I said. “She’s going to lay down a threat about hurting Pietro, and we—I mean you —can simply tell her to cut to the chase.”

Comprehension dawned on her face. “Take the wind out of her sails.”

“And then we have the advantage.”

After nowhere near enough sleep, I once again allowed Naomi to dress me as she pleased, this time in jeans that fit me like a glove, long sleeved black shirt, and boots made for kicking butt. I was almost starting to like being her personal Barbie doll. However, I had a feeling Nicole Saber would probably have a different B word in mind when I showed up uninvited to the lunch meeting.

Since having Jane pick me up at The Fairbourne would be like waving a big flag and shouting, “Yo! Saberton peeps. You can find us right here!” Philip accompanied me to a pre-arranged meeting place near Battery Park, and carefully didn’t laugh when I knocked my breath out on the subway turnstile after I forgot to swipe my MetroCard.

A black sedan with government plates pulled up to the curb only a few minutes after we arrived, and a back window rolled down to reveal Jane. As I moved toward her, a black Escalade that reminded me of Pietro’s vehicles slid in behind the sedan, and I damn near had a heart attack until I caught sight of Victor in the passenger seat. Made sense that Victor would be in a position to keep an eye on everything, and it was likely easier to do so from a shadowing vehicle.