Page 22 of Run

Feeling marginally better, she continued to munch her way through the carbs. “I need clean clothes,” she grumbled around a mouthful of jam-filled sugary goodness.

“Your wish is my command.” Ryan jumped up, walked to the corner of the room, picked up a paper carrier bag, and offered it to her. “Julia made me go clothes shopping for everybody—with David’s credit card because he had better things to do with his time. Apparently, buying clothes is beneath James Bond.”

“Thanks.” She grabbed the bag and tipped its contents out onto the table. And promptly choked on her donut. “What isthis?” She held up a plain black T-shirt between the tips of her index finger and thumb.

“A T-shirt,” the fool said.

Elle stared at the pile of clothes in disgust. She had a choice of black or black. No cartoon figures. No sunny colors. No pithy slogans.

“Before you go all Xena on me,” Ryan said. “Remember, it’s a disguise. A geeky chick with blue hair is easy to spot, which is why there’s a box of hair dye in there too.”

Surprise, surprise, it was black.

If Ryan noticed her dismay, he didn’t let on. “I got you a pair of black Dr. Martens.” To her horror, he actually sounded pleased about that. “There’s eyeliner and toiletry stuff in there as well. I figured goth was about as far from fairy-rainbow as you could get, so I even tossed in a tube of black lipstick.” He spread his arms, a goofy grin on his face. “Am I a genius or what?”

“Or what,” she said as she shoved the clothes away from her. “Wearing this will suck the optimism right out of me.”

“While keeping you alive,” he pointed out. “You’re welcome.”

“It doesn’t exactly help me to blend with the general populace, though, does it? People are going to remember a goth almost as much as a blue-haired chick.” Which left her with a dilemma, as she couldn’t go back to her natural brown color either. That would only make her more recognizable to her father’s army. “I need to go blonde. I could totally rock a Marilyn Monroe look. What do you think?”

“I think I’m underappreciated,” he grumbled.

“Good, you’re up.” Julia bustled into the room. Unlike Elle, Julia wore a brand-new pair of gray dress pants teamed with a white blouse.

“Why didn’t you get a disguise for Julia?” Elle asked the moron.

“I did. She’s wearing trousers. When was the last time you saw her in trousers? Never. That’s when.” His smug self-congratulation was almost comical.

“Don’t worry.” Julia started a new pot of coffee. “The clothes Ryan bought are only for today. I’ve ordered more that will be delivered later.”

“They deliver, and you still made me go shopping?” Ryan was aghast.

“You were bored,” Julia said.

“What she means,” Elle translated, “is you were annoying. Which generally goes hand in hand with you being bored.”

“We did need clean clothes this morning,” Julia muttered, her focus on arranging the boxes of tea bags in alphabetical order. “We’re having a briefing in the living room in an hour. If you’ve learned anything new, could you send it to me before then?”

“Sorry, Julia, I don’t have anything else.” Elle helped herself to another donut. “I’m not even sure the info I gave you will be any use; most of it is years out of date. They changed how they communicate after I hacked them and took what I found with me when I ran.”

“Don’t worry.” Julia had moved on to organizing the contents of the fridge. “I’ve been cross-referencing what you gave me with the latest information the rest of the team’s getting from their contacts. We won’t use anything we can’t verify.”

“Okay.” Elle pushed up from the table, taking the ugly clothes with her. “I’m going to shower.”

“Use the one downstairs,” Julia said. “Joe’s in the upstairs bathroom.”

“Our next safe house needs more toilets,” Ryan said. “What am I supposed to do if I have to pee while everyone’s showering?”

Elle shook her head and pointed at the backyard. “Or you could hold it, you child.”

As she left the room, she heard Ryan say, “I don’t think the donuts helped her mood any. I’ll run to the shop and get some Snickers bars and energy drinks in case we need them.”

“Could you pick up a couple of whiteboards while you’re at it?” Julia said.

“Yeah.” Ryan sounded confused. “Because everybody knows there are whiteboards in the chocolate aisle…”

“Oh,” Julia said. “I need a data projector too.”