Chapter 24
Jasmine was only too happy to book two extra rooms at the resort, one for Gabby’s mother and one for her ex-husband. If anything, Jasmine looked a little too delighted, like she’d tuned in to an episode of Jerry Springer and was waiting for the brawl to break out.
“Your mother?” Jasmine had asked. “And your ex?”
Gabby had nodded beatifically. “They just couldn’t let me get married without being here to support me.”
Jasmine had clasped her hand to her heart. “That’s beautiful.” With a confused look, she had asked, “How does George feel about it?”
“George is delighted,” Gabby lied through her teeth and smiled like she was running for office.
After securing a safe place to stay, Gabby stormed through the door of the cottage.
“Pack up, people. I got you all rooms.” They didn’t have time for talking through their feelings, so she said, “Mom, Phil—Markus and I joined a cult, changed our names, and we’re getting married.
Down here, we are Gia and George. Gabby and Markus are dead.
I don’t want to hear those names. I don’t want to hear any more questions about our decisions.
You are here through our good graces, and the minute you lose them, you will be uninvited. ”
Phil loudly cleared his throat again and said, “What’s with the G thing?”
“Markus and I joined Inner-G’s Ultimate G package. That means that they assigned us new names. I think they’re both great names. I’d appreciate it if you all respected them.”
“Your name already started with G,” Phil pointed out.
She inhaled sharply but answered in a calm tone, “No more questions. I’m Gia. This is George.” All she’d wanted was a couple of dates without mixing the family in—was that too much to ask?
“Sheridan.” Gabby looked at the psychic. “You are going to stay with my mom. It’s our best option at the moment.”
“Was George able to find my phone?” Sheridan asked.
“He’s working on that now.”
She and Markus were officially putting their careers on the line based on a psychic prediction and some weak circumstantial evidence.
Why Markus was going along with it so easily was beyond Gabby.
She should add it into the suspicious behavior column.
For her part, Gabby was doing it because she saw real fear in Sheridan’s eyes.
There was no way she was putting the woman on a plane in this state.
What if she got off in Washington and something happened to her? Gabby could never forgive herself.
Elena squinted and looked between Gabby and Sheridan Lane. She looked torn between complaining and celebrating the chance to cozy up to a minor celebrity.
“Mom, Sheridan needs your help because she’s trying to stay out of the way of the paparazzi. She doesn’t even want the butler to know she’s with you.”
“There’s a butler?” Elena’s eyes went big.
“Yes, it’s very nice here. Basically, you’re Sheridan’s bodyguard. She needs peace and quiet while she works on her… podcast. The paps found her in her private cottage this morning. She asked for our help.”
Her mom didn’t think to ask why Gabby felt responsible, or maybe she was just excited to be involved. Elena just gasped. “Poor dear! We’ll have a nice, private vacation.”
Sheridan listened to all of this without comment, clearly resigned to her fate.
There wasn’t even a standard operating procedure to cover what was happening here.
They were too far off the books, but Gabby knew what she was doing.
Her mom was the worst because she was relentless, but that same doggedness would make her a great protector.
If she committed to a task, she committed a thousand percent.
After this, she would probably be offered a Secret Service gig.
Phil couldn’t stop clearing his throat. Was he going to hawk a loogie? “So if Elena’s the bodyguard, what am I?”
“Just relax in your luxury suite. Don’t come out unless necessary.” She made it sound like a time-out, but maybe that’s what he needed. Gabby couldn’t have them wandering around the resort, blowing her cover.
“Mom, Phil, grab your things. Let’s get you checked in.
” Gabby walked them over to their rooms in the main resort and they took the elevator up to the third floor from the lobby.
Gabby waved at Lana as she walked by. Apparently, the news had spread because she ogled Phil and Gabby’s mom with a satisfied smirk.
Rule number one of working undercover was lying low and not becoming the biggest source of gossip. Oops.
The rooms were on par with the rest of the resort. They had ocean-view balconies, soaker tubs, and small kitchens. Gabby wouldn’t be able to get her mom out of here without a pry bar.
A moment after Gabby arrived with Phil and her mom, Markus arrived with Sheridan. He’d ferreted her in through a back staircase.
“Sheridan,” he said, “stay off the balcony and keep the blinds drawn.”
Sheridan nodded. “I’m ready to settle in.”
“But the view is so nice,” Elena said.
For a second, Gabby worried about putting her mom in danger. “He’s serious, Mom.”
“The paparazzi aren’t too good for open windows,” Markus said. “It’s the price of fame. And they try to get the ugliest pictures. They always publish the ones where you’re chewing.”
Nice touch, Markus. That might actually get her mom to keep the shades drawn.
“And Mom, you should stay in the room too. Keep away from classes or spaces where you might end up interacting with other guests. I need you to take care of Sheridan.”
“But—”
“No. I’ll come get you if you need to be anywhere.”
Elena’s expression hardened, but Gabby could not risk her mom blowing her cover. Having them here was bad enough, being here and causing trouble would make this mission unsalvageable.
After they’d settled everyone in, she and Markus took a collective sigh of relief in the halls outside the rooms. Markus destroyed the peace immediately when he said, “We should call Val.”
“She’ll fire us.” If she lost this job, she’d be back to square one. It’s not like she could put “former undercover spy” on her LinkedIn page. She was not letting her ex-husband show up, wreck the mission, or anything else.
“We can get this done. I believe in us.” She meant as a spy team.
He chortled. “I’m not there yet.”
“You were this morning.”
“There’s been some backsliding on that front.”
“What now?” Gabby asked. She didn’t mean the mission, but he said, “Seems like our mission is clear: find Sheridan’s phone and the person who broke into her cottage. They will likely be together.”
So they weren’t going to talk about their relationship. Fine.
“What do you think about Sheridan’s theory about President Simon trying to kill her?”
“It sounds paranoid. It’s not like he can ask the military to assassinate an American citizen, and I find it highly unlikely that he’s hired some kind of off-books assassin to do her in.”
“But if she has dirt on him—” It seemed like the president of the United States would be able to figure out a way to make that problem go away.
“It’s more likely that whoever wanted her phone was willing to scare her to get it.”
“I believe her.” Gabby just wanted to disagree with Markus.
With the way she was feeling at the moment, she had half a mind to head back to the room and write a report to Valentina about his secret meetings with Genesis.
Not that she had room to criticize anyone with Phil and her mom showing up on their mission.
Back in their cottage, she and Markus called Valentina. They were both relieved when she didn’t answer the phone. Instead, they sent her an email: “We will not be evacuating Sheridan at this time. The risk to her safety is greater in Washington than here. Will explain later.”
Valentina must have been in a meeting, but she had enough bandwidth to respond with a quick “WTF?”
“If there’s even a hint that things are getting out of hand, I’ll call for an evac,” Markus said.
“Fine.”
This morning had been so perfect, a fantasy, well, almost. A couple of hours later, and there was nowhere to turn.
Markus was standing at a deliberate distance from her, cold and unflinching.
They had skipped over all the usual arguments: the dishes, him leaving his laundry on the floor, or her stealing the covers.
Nope, straight to whether the president had taken out a hit on a psychic.
“How do we find this person who was after Sheridan?”
Markus shook his head. “No clue. Search everyone’s rooms for her phone.”
“Use Sheridan as bait?” Gabby suggested. “Or me in a brown wig.”
“I’ll figure something out. In the meantime, show yourself at one of the classes. It probably looks like three people have disappeared right now. We need to get out there and act like nothing unusual is happening.”
He was right. The next step in this mission: act normal.