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he was there. One of the best damned snipers the Marines had, and better at
     covert intelligence than he had any right to be.”
    Yeah, that sounded like Natches.
    “How do you know him?” Piper asked. “Are you with Homeland Security, too?” That would
     be just her luck.
    “Not hardly.” Gypsy’s lips tilted into a crooked smile. “I was with the Marines myself.
     Many of Natches’s missions in Afghanistan and Iran are used as training points now.”
    Piper had heard Tim mention that several times, while Natches seemed rather proud
     of it.
    “What are you going to do when they find out you’re gone, then?” Gypsy asked as Piper
     stared into the darkness and wondered what the trip would have been like with Jed.
    “Hopefully, they won’t find out,” she stated irritably. “Because, trust me, New York
     City would never be the same if those three showed up there.”
    She shuddered to even imagine the chaos the Mackay cousins could still manage to create.
    “Best-laid plans and all that,” Gypsy pointed out. “Surely you have a plan, just in
     case?”
    “I’m a Mackay; what do you think?” She grinned back at her friend’s sister.
    “I think you have one,” Gypsy reflected. “But I think you’re not so sure of it, and
     I think you’re really afraid it won’t work.”
    “And what makes you think that?” Unfortunately, she was right.
    “Six years in the military. The last two in the investigative side of the military
     police. I can hear it in your voice, and I can see it in your face. You’re a piss-poor
     liar, aren’t you, Piper Mackay?”
    “Unfortunately, that’s far too close to the truth,” Piper agreed.
    It didn’t surprise her to learn Gypsy Seavers was some sort of investigator. She had
     that air of secretiveness and quiet watchfulness. “I left Mom a note. She’ll find
     it in the morning, and I begged her not to say anything. And for the first time in
     my life I lied to my mother. I told her I needed to get away from the male portion
     of the family and I was staying with friends.” She grimaced at the lie. “What she’ll
     actually end up doing is anyone’s guess.”
    “And how long do you think it will take for your brother and cousins to find you?”
     Rueful amusement reflected in Gypsy’s voice.
    They would find her far too soon if she didn’t get very lucky.
    “Let’s hope it takes a while,” Piper suggested, terribly afraid that if she wasn’t
     very, very lucky, then her brother and cousins would find her far too quickly.
    * * *
    “What the hell do you mean, she’s not here?” Dawg rubbed his hand along the back of
     his neck in irritation as he faced Mercedes the next morning, barely holding back
     a glare. He needed to talk to Piper about what had happened the night before. Catching
     her with Jed Booker had reminded him all over again of what had happened with Eve
     the summer before. He didn’t want another sister in danger because of her association
     with one of Timothy’s agents. He also didn’t want her endangered because she was trying
     to hide it from him. And he definitely didn’t want to piss Mercedes off as he tried
     to find out where the hell she had gone.
    Timothy, the quarrelsome little bastard, got all kinds of out of sorts if he managed
     to upset Mercedes over her “babies.” But he’d be damned if those sisters of his weren’t
     going to drive him to drink.
    Their antics were making him seriously consider a nunnery for his daughter.
    “Dawg, give her a break,” Mercedes ordered, though her voice was calm as she moved
     around the kitchen and cleaned up from that morning’s breakfast preparations. “You’ve
     hounded her, Lyrica, and Zoey for almost a year now. Everywhere they go, everything
     they do, and everyone they talk to is reported back to you so you can fuss at them
     over their friends, potential dates, and acquaintances. I warned you last year they
     were going to get sick of it. Piper just got fed up