The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black: Book Three) by Spencer Baum Page A

the
world.”
    “You were homeless?”
    “We had a camper. My dad moved
us around a lot.”
    “Who’s we? You, your dad, your
mom--”
    “Not my mom. I never knew my
mom.”
    Ryan’s eyes opened wide.
    “Yes,” Nicky said. “The people I
live with in Potomac are not my real mother and father. My real parents are
dead. I don’t know how my mom died. My dad…”
    My dad was killed by a
vampire. Just say it, Nicky!
    She couldn’t. Something wasn’t
right. Something wasn’t right about any of this.
    It was good to tell Ryan. He
deserved to know the danger he was in. He deserved the truth. Why didn’t she
want to tell him?
    It was the wireless. As much as
she tried to tell herself the broken wireless on the plane was nothing,
something about it bugged her.
    On a private plane for one of
the girls wearing black, the newest, nicest, jet in the world, on a clear
night, and the wireless isn’t working. It doesn’t make sense.
    “It’s okay, Nicky,” Ryan said.
“You don’t have to tell me about your dad if it’s too hard.”
    “No, it’s not that, it’s--”
    It’s the questions spinning
in my head. Questions like, Who could arrange for the wireless to go down? Who
would benefit?
    “Hang on a second, Ryan,” she
said. “I just need to talk to Heather one more time.”
    “Talk to Heather? Can’t it wait
until we’ve finished this conversation?”
    “No, I’m sorry. It can’t.”
    Ryan gave her a look that was
becoming familiar. She had disappointed him.
    “I’m sorry, Ryan. I’ll be right
back.”
    “Take your time,” Ryan said. “I
think I’m gonna get some sleep.”
    “Ryan, I just need--”
    “No, forget it. You obviously
don’t want to talk about this now and I’m not going to make you.”
    “I do want…I mean, I…”
    She couldn’t even say the words
for fear they were just another lie. Did she really want to tell him? The more
she thought about it, the more it seemed like a bad idea, at least right now.
With no wireless, she had no idea what was happening on the ground, no clue how
things were going back at the mansion, where Gia and the rest were on a nightly
lookout for Melissa Mayhew.
    If something went wrong between
now and the end of the year, the vampires would round up all of Nicky’s
supporters and look in their minds. If that happened, Ryan’s best chance to
survive would be his own ignorance. The vampires would make him tell the truth.
They would learn he knew nothing about the mission. They would find a guy who
got involved because he liked Nicky Bloom. An innocent victim, strung along so
the Network could access his money.
    “I’ll be right back,” she said.
    Ryan shook his head and turned
away.
    Twenty minutes later, Nicky
having thoroughly grilled both Heather and the co-pilot about the wireless
situation, Nicky returned to the bed to find Ryan fast asleep. She lay down
next to him and let her hand fall into his.
    He interlaced his fingers with
hers.
    Hours later, Nicky having gotten
lost in the dream about the silver sphere and her mother, Heather opened one of
the blinds on the windows, allowing daylight to flood the cabin.
    “I’m so sorry to wake you,” she
said, “but the captain is beginning his final approach. You’ll need to get
strapped in your seats.”
    Nicky and Ryan said nothing as
they moved from the bed to the row of chairs on the wall. Nicky held up her
phone, waiting for the plane to get low enough to pick up a cell tower signal
from the ground.
    Right as they touched down, the
phone updated its time and location. Milan. 2:30 pm .
    A backlog of messages started
showing up. Turning her phone so Ryan couldn’t see the screen, Nicky brought up
a text message from Jill.
    Two words in the text jumped out
at her.
    Code Orange .
    “No,” she whispered. “Can’t be.”
    “Is everything okay?” Ryan
asked.
    Ignoring him, Nicky yanked up
the blind and pressed her face against the window. She scanned up and down the
runway. Nothing but clear