Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,91

was code activated, she didn’t even have to meet the owner or whoever took care of renting the property to get the keys.

The place was just as much of a dump as it had looked in the photos, but it was clean, and the linens had been freshly laundered. Nevertheless, she’d used her trusty UV light sanitizer wand to eliminate any remaining germs before even putting her hand on the bed to check the mattress’s firmness.

Then, after taking a hot shower and scrubbing the last forty-eight hours off her body and hair, she’d crawled into bed and had a decent night’s sleep.

This morning, she’d woken up refreshed and had gotten straight to work searching for a car to buy.

Now that she had a private mode of transportation, she could go back to the mansion and find a good spot to spy on its inhabitants. Before she made a move, she was just going to watch the comings and goings and write down the license plates of the vehicles.

Eleanor grimaced. With her security clearance revoked and no access to government databases, that was not going to do her much good. She could call the various agencies and compel the receptionist or whoever was in charge to give her the information she needed, but that would take hours upon hours of waiting for someone to answer the phone on the other side.

Who had time for that?

She needed to find a good hacker and compel him or her to help her find the information she needed, but where was she going to find one?

Social isolation was nothing new to her, but this was different. She had no support system whatsoever and had no idea how to go about creating one for herself. Perhaps the guy who had originally supplied her with a bunch of fake identities would be a good start. He was a pro, and the documents he’d created for her years ago were still good today. He might know others in the shadow world, like hackers and surveillance experts.

Fortunately, money was not a problem. She had plenty.

67

Kalugal

Jacki poured the remainder of the coffee in the carafe into Kalugal’s mug. “I’m glad that we got to stay another day. Did you see how happy Atzil and Ruvon were this morning? They practically ran out of here to sit in the café and mingle some more.”

Rufsur hadn’t returned to the house at all and was probably the most grateful for the additional night he spent with Edna. Perhaps he’d arranged for that woman to drive by the house to prolong their stay?

It was a silly thought. Rufsur was a straightforward guy. If he wanted to stay one more night, he would have just asked. No subterfuge required. It was true what they said about people viewing others through the prism of their own characters.

Hiring a fake snoop was something that Kalugal would have done, not Rufsur.

Perhaps the reason for Kian’s mistrust was that under his holier than thou act he harbored nefarious plans, like luring all of Kalugal’s men away from him and leaving him without protection. Was he using the clan females as a honey trap? Did they know that they were being used?

So many questions and so few answers.

He grimaced. “Mingling is such a polite way to describe what they are actually doing.”

She sat next to him on the couch and tucked her feet under her. “Oh yeah? What would you call it?”

“Hunting. Although I’m not sure who is hunting whom, and it seems like neither side was successful. None of the clanswomen have taken the bait or caught either Atzil or Ruvon in their net.”

Jacki waved a hand. “They are not in a rush, and finding a mate is not the same as hunting for hookups in clubs. Both sides need to be careful in their selection.”

“I still wonder about Rufsur’s choice. I think that he fell for Edna only because she looks like that actress from Star Trek Picard.”

“Which one?”

“Narissa, of course. Didn’t you notice the resemblance? He’s been drooling over her the entire season and practically forcing me to watch the show with him.”

Rufsur had also roped Jacki and Ruvon into joining, and he had re-watched the first episodes with them until they’d gotten caught up.

Jacki huffed. “The evil Romulan spy? She doesn’t look like Edna. For starters, she’s much taller, and to be frank, she is also prettier. But she has a crazy look in her eyes, while Edna’s are full of wisdom and compassion.”

“Is that what