“Did you get the reward money yet?” she asked.
“On Mandie, not the other one,” Bugs replied.
Midnight groaned. “I hope they don’t stiff us.”
Junebug’s lips curved in wry amusement. “I can always do an untraceable deduction from their bank account.”
“No.” Midnight shook her head. “If they pay the reward, they pay it. It was only a couple of hundred dollars, anyway,” she said with a jerk of her shoulder.
“Well, if you want to switch to finding missing dogs and cats, we could make a mint. I counted another ten new postings last night.”
Midnight wiggled her nose. “Animals are harder to catch, but we might have to. I promised Rebecca I would help the girls at her center.”
“She’s happy with what you’ve given, Mid,” Junebug replied.
“I know, but I’d like to help more. She helped us more than once when we were down and hungry. What did you do about Quest?” she asked, changing the subject.
Midnight moved aside the papers and placed an omelet in front of her sister who was now swiveling back and forth on the high-top stool instead of her office chair.
“The usual—IRS, FBI, sent video to all the news agencies, SDNY Attorney General, and transferred a healthy number of real estate properties to his soon-to-be ex-wife’s account,” she said.
Midnight placed her hand on her sister’s. Junebug looked up, grimaced, and quit moving her seat. It didn’t bother Midnight, but Junebug had asked her to use the silent method to help her control her constant need to move.
“Jam-man is looking for you,” Junebug blurted out, her cheeks rosy as she stared at her eggs, moving the sweet peppers around on her plate.
Of all the people she could have a crush on, of course it's another hacker, she thought.
“Why’s he looking for me?”
“He got into Albert Benning’s security system,” she said with a meaningful look. She swung her foot back and forth.
Midnight frowned. “That doesn’t mean he is looking for me. He could be working for Quest and trying to delete the evidence. It’s not like Quest knows you already sent it to everybody.”
“Nope, he’s looking for you. 'A mysterious woman who lives in the shadows and beats up bad guys',” Junebug replied with a snort of amusement.
Midnight ignored that and ate several bites of her omelet. She wasn’t worried. Her sister could run circles around any computer nerd in the world.
Bugs hummed to herself as she ate. Midnight touched her sister’s arm again.
“I love you, Junebug,” she said with a soft smile.
She got a crooked grin in reply.
“Why is Junayd trying to find me—and is it likely that he can?”
“Nope," Bugs shook her head, "but I can track him for you. Jam-man said Junayd is really upset,” she added.
“You and Jam-man need to get a life outside of computers.”
She was surprised when a pretty shade of pink touched her sister’s face again. Junebug seldom went anywhere. If she did, it was always at night and never without an escort. Midnight’s little sister was too beautiful, too naïve, and too smart for the rest of the world. She usually preferred the filter of a computer screen.
“I helped Idella and a prince the other day,” Junebug smugly commented.
“Mm, which prince?” Midnight asked.
“One of the Jawahir princes, of course,” Junebug replied.
Midnight looked up with a frown. “Which one?”
Junebug laughed, her eyes sparkling with delight. “You are interested in him.”
Midnight narrowed her eyes at Bug’s ‘I know more than you do’ expression and demanded, “Spill what you know or you’ll die a million deaths on the paintball field this weekend!”
“I’m getting better!” Junebug retorted. “The prince was Tarek Saif-Ad-Din. He’s the second in line. He and Idella are a thing now. Their wedding announcement was all over social media if you’d ever look.”
Midnight scowled. “I know about Idella and Tarek. I helped them in Simdan, remember? I was just curious if she was working with anyone else,” she defended.
“I don’t think Jameel and Junayd know about Dallas. They are the youngest in the royal family, by the way. Twin brothers. Oh, did you see that Aimee helped rescue the oldest brother? Wheels is going to be a princess! It’s a really small world,” Junebug said with a dreamy sigh.
Midnight paused. “You need to be careful, Bugs. The men Idella deals with aren’t the normal guys from around the block. These guys know what they are doing and they have the money to make bad things happen,” she warned in a soft, concerned voice.
Guilt ate at Midnight. She had never wanted her sister to know about Idella's hidden life, but that secret had been cracked years ago. What Bugs didn't know was that Midnight had killed people for Idella, and she'd done it recently. Midnight was going to keep that secret, even if it was the perfect way to scare Bugs away from this.
It wasn’t as if Junebug was unaware of the darker side of humanity. Lord knows, they both had seen and experienced it, but since moving here, Midnight had done everything she could to protect her sister from harsh realities. Telling Junebug that she had killed a couple of bad guys while acting as a bodyguard for Idella wasn’t something she wanted to brag about.
Junebug gave her another crooked smile. “Yeah, I know. I’m being careful." With that reassurance, the matter was settled in Bug's mind, so she continued with her usual information overload. "Did you know that there's a civil war going on in Simdan now? Apparently their long-lost king came back from the dead! Raja Hadi. I’ve done some work with him, actually, but he normally uses a different name. He works a lot with Idella. They’re some kind of bad-ass spies or something, like superheroes except they take jobs from the government. I’m glad you came back when you did.”
“Yeah, it was blowing up—literally—the night we left. Thanks for all your help," she added, "I’m not sure we all would have gotten out without you.”
“No problem. I like being able to help. It makes me feel like I’m making a difference in the world—like you do.” Junebug looked down at her plate with a smile that was slightly wistful.
Midnight studied her sister’s face for a moment before she stacked their empty plates, setting them aside, and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. Junebug had no idea just how much of a difference she made. Yes, she stayed hidden here where it was safe, but her reach extended far and wide, making it possible for Midnight, Idella, and countless others to help keep the world from imploding.
“Okay, what have you found out about these fascinating twins?” Midnight asked sardonically.
Junebug looked up and laughed with delight, her body in motion again. With the relish of a magician performing a magic trick, she gave a rambling recitation of things a nosy hacker could find out.
Midnight snorted. “Where’d you get all of these tasty tidbits?”
Junebug’s nose wiggled. “His credit card receipts. I swear we could have lived until we were both old cat ladies on what he has spent so far.”
“You’re allergic to cats.”