the phone after the two of them added their responses to my own. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m exhausted.”
Scott grew a curious grin, one that cracked his ruddy face and made his eyes dance. “You can’t go to sleep just yet.”
“Pretty sure I can.” I rubbed my eyes. “And will.”
“No, no, no.” The smile was getting kind of creepy. “Do you realize what we’re carrying with us?”
“Guns and teenage angst?”
“Ha. No.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, dangling the new Directorate-issued driver’s license in front of my face. “Fake IDs that aren’t really fake.”
I let my jaw drop in disbelief. “What are you thinking?”
He smiled again, then turned forward in his seat and fastened the seatbelt with one hand while fiddling with the GPS with the other. “I’m thinking we find a hotel with a bar.”
I leaned back in my seat and draped my hand over my eyes. “Right. Because there’s no possible way this could go horrendously wrong.”
I kept my peace on the drive, even though I was questioning not only Scott’s level of responsibility but also his sanity. We found a hotel (with a bar across the street) and I shook my head as we pulled up.
Scott must have sensed my discomfort. “We all agree that the meta who’s doing this is probably far from here by now, right? If he keeps to the pattern?”
“Mighty big ‘if’,” I said with a shake of the head. “But probably.”
“So if we check into the hotel and then have maybe one or two drinks...”
I could tell by his smile he was already reveling in the freedom and there was little I could do to sway him. Still, I had to try. “What if Ariadne calls us after we’ve been drinking with a lead we need to pursue immediately? We’re screwed. We won’t even be able to drive anywhere.”
“I can drive.” Kat spoke, turning to face me. “I’m pretty drained from healing that clerk; I don’t think it’d be a great idea for me to drink right now. So if we get a call, I can drive while you guys sober up.”
“See?” Scott gave me a shrug of unworry that did little to assuage my concerns. “Got it covered.”
I grabbed my bag and opened the door. “Got it covered like what? Like you had Gavrikov covered?”
“You’re never gonna let me forget that, are you?” He was following behind, and I caught a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Not so long as he’s stuck in my skull, no.”
We checked in, getting two rooms. I started to suggest that Kat and I could stay in one room while Scott stayed in the other, but when I handed him the cards for his room he handed the other to her and I didn’t bother to argue. I preferred to stay by myself anyway.
We went up to the third floor where our rooms were side by side. “Meet out here in five and we’ll head down together,” he said.
“I think I’ll pass,” I said. “You guys go have a good time. I’m just gonna turn in; might as well have one of us be rested for the morning.”
“Come on, Sienna. We’ve been working our asses off for months, had Parks and Ariadne breathing down our necks, had all manner of shit go wrong, and now we have a chance to unwind. Don’t be so uptight.”
I took a deep breath before answering so I could avoid ripping his head off while we still had potentially weeks’ worth of road tripping ahead of us. “I’m not being uptight. I just don’t want to screw this up, okay?”
“I get it.” He let the smile recede into a smug, almost taunting expression. “It’s okay. I admire your restraint. You probably don’t even wonder what it feels like.”
I tensed, felt every muscle from my lower back up locking into place. “Wonder what what feels like?”
“Drinking.” His half-smile dissolved into a real one. “You haven’t wondered what it’s like? Your boyfriend goes out drinking sometimes, doesn’t he?”
I felt myself relax, but only a tenth of a percent. Dammit, I had thought he was talking about something far different, and it had let a wave of acid loose in my stomach, sending it roiling. “Yeah, Zack goes out drinking every now and again.” Usually when I’m busy, but he does it. Because he’s old enough.
“And you never felt curious or left behind?” He smiled, a little too innocently.
Damn his smile. I knew what he