Pilar smiled. “Mmm. It certainly is.”

Miguel glowered at her. “Don’t even start. I don’t need to know what the hell goes on between you two.”

“Oh, poor you.”

“Yeah, poor me!”

Back at the hotel, they retired to their adjacent rooms. In the hallway, Loup looked sharply at Miguel. “Promise you’ll behave? You won’t sneak out and try to get laid?”

“Yeah.” He gave her a wry look. “I promise.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re thanking me?” Miguel shook his head. “You really are a little freak.”

“Love you too.”

He chuckled and went into his room.

In their room after they’d washed up for the night, Pilar sighed and slid her arms around Loup’s neck. “Jesus, baby,” she murmured. “What a day, huh? What a long, fucking, scary day.”

“Was it really scary?”

“Yes.” Pilar kissed her, maneuvering her backward. “It was.”

“I’m sorry.” They fell onto the bed, Loup on top.

“I know,” Pilar whispered, wrapping her legs around her waist. “I do. I’m just really glad we’re both here and alive right now.”

“Me too.”

The cheap bedsprings squeaked fiercely in protest. And through the thin dividing wall between the rooms, the sound of Miguel’s TV was audible.

“Goddamnit!” Pilar clutched Loup’s ass, fingers digging into her flesh. “Hold still. You think he can hear?”

“Do you care?”

“No! Yes!”

“Really?” Loup rocked her hips.

Pilar caught her breath. “No!” The bedsprings squeaked and there was a disgruntled thump on the wall. “Yeah, okay, I do,” she admitted hastily. “Let’s play a game, huh? Who can make the other get off moving the least.” She tangled one hand in Loup’s hair, tugging it. “And you have to stay where you are. No doing that hummingbird thing with your tongue. That’s just not fair.”

Loup smiled, one hand gliding between them. “I’ll win anyway.”

“Cocky, cocky!”

“Nuh-uh.” She shook her head. “ ’Cause you’ve got that spot…”

“What about your ears?” Pilar blew softly into Loup’s left ear, licking her earlobe. “So cute and round, and oh, so sensitive…”

Loup squirmed, but managed to achieve her goal. After that, it was all about her considerable manual dexterity.

“Oh, that spot!” Pilar’s back arched, drawing another squeal of protest from the bedsprings. “Jesus! Okay, okay, you win!”

There was a loud pounding that made the dividing wall shudder. Through it came the sound of Miguel’s muffled, irritated voice. “Cut it out, you goddamn fuck-bunnies!”

“Don’t you dare stop now!” Pilar warned Loup.

She smiled again. “Believe me, I wasn’t planning on it.”

FORTY-TWO

It was a long, long road trip.

On the second day they got a call from Geordie Davies informing them that the band had been detained on arrival at the airport in Washington and questioned by federal authorities regarding the whereabouts of Pilar Mendez and Guadalupe Herrera.

“So that’s it, then,” Pilar murmured. “We’re officially fugitives. And they’re threatening to yank the permit for the concert.”

Loup concentrated on the road. “Does he think they’re gonna?”

“No.” She shook her head. “It’s gotten too much publicity. He thinks they’re afraid it will create more if they’re banned from playing.” She was quiet a moment. “Loup, Geordie wants to know if you’re willing to do interviews now. He’s got all kinds of inquiries. But if you go public…” Her voice trailed off.

Loup stole a quick glance at her. “I know.”

Pilar looked away. “No one knows where we are. You could still go into hiding. We’d just need to come up with a new identity for you, figure out a way to get you out of the country. Magnus helped us once; maybe he’d do it again if we agreed to come back to work for him after Miguel and I testify.”

Her heart constricted painfully in her chest. “Pilar… I think it’s too late. You and Miguel, Geordie, the boys, the senator… there are too many people involved, and you could all get in a lot of trouble if you try to hide me.” She shook her head. “We’ve gone too far to turn back now.”

Pilar sighed. “I figured. I kinda knew it all along. But I had to say it.”

“If you don’t want me to—”

“Of course I don’t! But I know you, Loup.” Pilar looked back at her with quiet sorrow in her gaze. “And I’m not gonna make the same mistake twice, okay? If I ask you not to do this, I’d be asking you not to be you. It’s like Rand’s song, you know? I’d just be putting you in a different kind of cage.”

Loup swallowed, her throat tight. “Thanks.”

“I’ll tell Geordie to coordinate with Senator Ballantine’s office.” Pilar picked up her Dataphone. “Might as well go big.”

“I don’t get it,” Miguel grumbled. “Loup, you don’t have to do this! Pilar and I can testify.”

“About Outpost, yeah. But you can’t testify on behalf of GMOs.”

“What makes you think they’re gonna let you?”

Loup shrugged. “I have to try.”

“Goddamn hero complex.” He scowled at Pilar. “I can’t believe you’re letting her do this.”

“Oh, says the guy who helped her train for the fucking boxing match that got her taken into custody in the first place,” she retorted.

“That was different!”

“Why? Because you got a ticket north out of it?”

“Don’t get on your high horse with me, sweetheart!” Miguel growled. “And don’t try to tell me you always had her best interests in mind. I was there when you broke Loup’s heart, remember? I was the one who stuck around to pick up the pieces.”

“Actually, you got me falling-down drunk and hit on me, Mig,” Loup said mildly. “Then you bailed on me after I said no.”

“Yeah, but I came back.”

“Yeah, you did. Eventually.” She rubbed the faint scar on her eyebrow. “Miguel, Pilar’s right. And I might have beat Johnson that day in the ring, but I didn’t really win the fight, you know?”

He gave her a dour look. “You got out. You beat the system. You were free, Loup!”

“Not really.” She shook her head. “Not knowing everyone I cared about was still there, and I could never go home. Not knowing there are people like me who can never have lives of their own because they’re considered government fucking property.” Loup sighed. “Look, I’m here. It’s right, okay? It’s the right thing to do.”

“I still think you’re a goddamn idiot.”

Miguel continued to grumble all the way across the country. He grumbled across New Mexico and northern Texas, across Oklahoma and Arkansas and into Tennessee. When he wasn’t grumbling about Loup’s intentions, he grumbled about the distance and the boredom, the discomfort of the rental car, the cheap hotels, the greasy diners.

“He’s driving me crazy!” Pilar complained when they were alone. “How can you stand it?”

“I just let it wash over me,” Loup said absently, reading the news feeds. “I’ve had a lot of practice. It’s only because he’s worried. Hey, these hearings are starting to get a lot of press.”

“I’m worried, too, you know.”

“I know.” She looked up in surprise. “Pilar, hey! Don’t cry.”

“I’m not!” Pilar dashed impatiently at her tears and sat down on the bed beside her. “I’m just… I’m trying to be strong, okay? And I think I’m doing a pretty damn good job this time. But just so you know, I’m absolutely terrified inside.”

Loup put her arms around her. “I know.”

Pilar sniffled. “Stupid goddamn hero complex. I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Miguel fucking Garza.”

“Are you?”

“No,” she said after a long moment. “No, I get it, I do. And I think deep down, Mig does, too. He cares a lot about you. I think knowing you’d escaped gave him strength to do the right thing himself. And now he’s pissed that you’re gonna get caught after all. And pissed at himself that it’s sort of his fault.”

“That sounds about right,” Loup said.

Pilar kissed her cheek. “Okay, baby. I’ll try to keep it together. And I’ll try not to let Mig drive me nuts. Let’s go find someplace to eat that won’t offend his allegedly refined palate.”

“Okay. I love you, you know. More than anything. If you want me to—”

“I know.” Pilar kissed her again. “Now shut up.”

Four days before the hearings were scheduled to begin and three days before Kate’s concert, they pulled into the safe house in northern Virginia, a pleasant country estate an hour or so from Washington D.C. An attractive woman in a nicely tailored business suit met them in the driveway.

“Mr. Garza,” she said in a neutral tone as Miguel climbed out of the rental car.

He grinned at her. “Ms. Westfield.”

“And you must be Loup Garron and Pilar Ecchevarria.” Her expression softened. “My Lord! You poor things must be exhausted. What an ordeal!”

“We’re okay,” Loup said.

“Stiff, mostly.” Pilar, who’d driven the last stretch, rolled her neck.

“Oh, don’t let those sweet, innocent faces fool you, Janine,” Miguel said laconically. “They’re tougher than they look. Loup can drop a man twice her size with a single punch and that sex kitten beside her is entirely too comfortable with a gun. But I’ve gotta say, they got me out of Vegas while your boss’s Reform Caucus was twiddling its thumbs and dithering about blackmail.”