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W e arrived at our townhouse, and I hurried upstairs, Attack cat swatting at me as I flew past. Gertie followed me in hot pursuit.

I’d discovered Caiyan in my room. I had a feeling he hadn’t stopped by to see me after all. In fact, he’d looked surprised I was home.

“Gertie, I think it’s here, somewhere.” I looked under my bed and she went through my closet. Nothing. A sword wasn’t a small thing to hide.

I recalled the sliding noise from when he first arrived. It was the door to my shoe closet. I pushed the door sideways. Surely, I would have seen a sword in my shoe closet? I’ve opened and closed the closet several times in the past few weeks. There wasn’t a sword tucked between the shoes on the floor to ceiling shoe racks or hidden next to my collection of vintage hats on the shelves to the right.

I almost shut the closet door, when a corner of a black box on the floor under the bottom shelf of shoes caught my eye. I knelt and slid the box out from under the shelf. My Tom Ford over-the-knee designer boots. Caiyan had given them to me after I went on my first official mission with the WTF. “These are exquisite, like ye are.” His words echoed in my head.

I stored them flat so the soft, buttery leather wouldn’t crease. I loved those boots. I removed the lid, and a giddy smile broke out on my face. The gold gilded handle of the sword peeked out from under the top of my boot. I slid the sword from its hiding place and rested the heavy weapon on my thigh.

Gertie burst into the room. “He didn’t hide it in—you found it!”

The sword was weighty, the scabbard worn. “Oh, what stories you could tell.” I said as I stood and removed the tarnished blade from its housing. The steel reflected the light off the crystals dangling from my vintage chandelier overhead.

“It’s beautiful.” Gertie reached out and ran a hand over the gilt gold handle. “I read the gold was added after the war.”

I laid it onto the bed so we could examine the words engraved on the blade.

“What’s it say?” Gertie asked, peering closer.

It had been years since the sword had hung above the mantle in Mr. Raney’s farmhouse. Parts of the inscription were damaged, and I recalled the vandal from my trip to 1949. Caiyan had scuffed the blade before he took it from Mr. Raney. I could read the first word, FIND.

“Caiyan scratched the blade when he was at Mr. Raney’s house in Purley,” I explained to Gertie.

She leaned close to decipher the next word. “Why would he do that?”

“To make sure no one would ever read the sword. I don’t think he expected Mortas.”

“Do you think this word is key?” Gertie asked.

“The word looks longer than key. See how the letter starts here.” I pointed to the letter of the first word. It was scratched beyond recognition. My heart sank when I read the rest of the words.

“At something burg.” I looked at Gertie.

“Could be Vicksburg, or Williamsburg. Even Sharpsburg, but it looks longer than that one.” She tucked her bottom lip under her front teeth and inspected the words.

“Could be Gettysburg,” I said.

“Jen, you can’t go there. Didn’t you see the pictures in the book?”

“Gertie, it’s my job. If that’s where Caiyan goes, I need to go there, too.”

“What’s the rest of this? 1st something, and this here spells RW.”

“Who do ya think wrote the message on the sword?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

“How?” Gertie cocked a suspicious eyebrow at me.

“I know where he’s going to be, I just need the date.”

“Are you crazy? You can’t go to the wedding. Don’t you remember what happened the last time you showed up at a Mafuso wedding?”

“Yes, I saved your life.”

“Well, there was that, but you almost got killed doing it, and Marco got shot.”

“Gertie, I deserve an answer. I only have to get him away from the bitch from hell for a few minutes.”

“According to Brodie, there’s a buzz Satan’s bitch is insisting on a big wedding and reception at the house.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to upset you.”

I frowned at her. “I need to get the details, and I know just the guy to ask.”

My first call was to Jake. I had to inform him I had the sword.

There was no way I could laterally transport the sword to Gitmo. I plopped down in the overstuffed chair in my bedroom, pulled out my phone, and thumbed through to Jake’s number.

Gertie laid across my bed with a magnifying glass, trying to read the words on the blade.

I wondered how Caiyan had moved the sword to my house if his company’s private jet was under surveillance from both the WTF and the Mafusos. He must have chartered a plane. I doubted he flew commercial with a sword in tow, but Caiyan never ceased to amaze me.

“McCoy,” Jake answered hastily on the fourth ring.

“I found it,” I said. “I found the sword. It was in my closet this entire time.”

“Your closet?”

“Yep, in my boot box.”

Jake paused, possibly contemplating why Caiyan would put me in danger by hiding the sword in my house. I didn’t care. I was thrilled to find it before the Mafusos.

“I’m back in Dallas, but I’m a little tied up at the moment.”

I heard a woman’s voice in the background, and a muffled Jake responding to the woman.

When his voice came back on the line, he said, “Uhm, I’ll come by in the morning. And Jen…”

“Yes?”

“For god’s sake don’t tell anyone else you found it.”

“10-4.” I disconnected.

“Jake’s at his loft in Dallas. He’s coming over in the morning.” I told Gertie. “I think he had company.”

“Jake’s being very secretive about his new girlfriend,” she said.

“He can’t tell her about the WTF, maybe keeping her away from us is the best way to avoid the lies that come with his job.”

“Huh, I can keep a secret.” Gertie huffed.

“Me, too. He’s being overprotective, as usual.”

My second call was to Ace. If there was gossip in New York City, Ace knew about it.

“’ello doll,” he answered on the second ring.

“Ace, guess what, I found the sword!”

“Brilliant!”

“You can keep a secret, my ass,” Gertie mumbled under her breath.

Jake told me not to tell anyone, but he didn’t mean Ace, or did he? I bit my bottom lip.

“What does the sword say?” Ace asked me.

“It’s a bit hard to read. Caiyan scratched through the engraving on the blade.”

“Must be important if he damaged the intel.”

“Jake’s coming by tomorrow to check it out.”

“Another secret, down the toilet,” Gertie said.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “Ace, have you heard any news about the wedding?” I couldn’t bring myself to say Caiyan’s wedding.

“Everything’s so hush-hush. I’ve a friend who’s a wedding planner. He’s been pissin’ his knickers trying to get the job. As far as I know they haven’t set a date. Blimey, your Scot’s probably dragging his kilt-clad bum to remain a single man.”

My Scot. It was as if I viewed our relationship through a telescopic lens, moving further away from me every day until it became an unrecognizable tiny spec.

“I’m surprised they didn’t go to the justice of the peace and have a quick ceremony,” I said. “If the wedding was the next step in Caiyan’s master plan, you’d think he’d want it over with so he could move on to…whatever.”

I’d disposed of the idea this was all about his key. No way would he ditch me for his key. Or would he? My inner voice was whispering doubts in my ear.

“Gurl, no way. I heard through the grapevine, Mahlia demanded a formal wedding. She told Gian-Carlo if he forced her to marry Caiyan, she wanted the real deal.”

Forced? I couldn’t believe she wasn’t purring like a gloating tomcat who’d captured the mouse. The thought of Mahlia becoming Mrs. Caiyan McGregor made me ill.

“Surely they would have a date if they’re going to dump Caiyan in the past during the next moon cycle.” A surge of relief flooded me. If they didn’t tie the knot before the moon cycle, he wouldn’t be dropped in the middle of a major Civil War battle.

“Can’t be the July cycle if he’s going to the Civil War,” Ace interrupted my happy thoughts.

“Right. They don’t have time to plan the wedding,” I said, performing a wacky celebration dance.

“No, hon, your sexy Scot’s already been there.”

“Wait…What?”

“Well, yeah. He went to Gettysburg when he was on holiday from the WTF.”

“Are you sure?” Caiyan had mentioned there was a time he wasn’t working for the WTF, but her never told me about Gettysburg.

“One hundred percent. Caiyan left the WTF and went all maverick on us. Brodie baby and I had to chase his brigand behind all over that pigeonhole of a town. It’s a wonder I didn’t get me bum shot right out from under me.”

“Does Jake know?”

“I’m not sure. Caiyan had his knickers twisted over something stamped confidential by our fearless leaders.” Ace paused. “I remember because that was the trip your love bunny returned to us.”

“What do you mean?”

“We caught him by his shorthairs and brought him in.”

“You caught him?” I asked.

“Are you doubting Brodie’s mad skills? I was at the tail end of the capture. I transported him back to base.”

“I thought he returned on his own accord.”

“Doll, your Scot doesn’t do anything without a fight. As I recall, both men were pretty scuffed up, a real tantalizing testosterone smorgasbord.”

Silence filled the line. I didn’t know how to respond to the information Ace told me.

“Hon, you still there?”

“Yeah, just glad to hear Caiyan can’t go to Gettysburg.”

“If I ’ear any deets, I promise you’ll be the first one I call.”

“Thanks Ace.”

“Sure thing, hon.” We disconnected.

Smoke jumped on the bed next to Gertie and she gave him a scratch behind his ears. “Did I hear that correctly?” she asked me.

“Caiyan has already been to Gettysburg.” The news that Caiyan couldn’t go to Gettysburg should have been comforting, but something didn’t settle right with me.

“The next major battle that lines up with the moon cycle would be Fredericksburg,” Gertie said.

“When was that one?”

“December, 1862.”

“At least that gives us time to prepare.” And another five months without Caiyan. How long would he be married to Satan’s bitch before they dropped him in the past?

“Do you think she’ll keep her last name or take his?” I asked.

“Hyphenated, for sure,” Gertie said. “She’s not going to lose her Mafuso connection. I can’t believe this is happening. It should be me walking down that aisle.”

“You?”

“Yeah, I sort of envisioned we’d have a double wedding. I mean, Caiyan and Brodie are best friends. Wouldn’t it be romantic to have a double wedding?”

No. Gertie and Brodie were sunflowers, red-checkered tablecloths, beer, and barbecue. I envisioned escargot, champagne, white linen, and roses.

“It doesn’t matter. Caiyan, for whatever reason, has chosen Mahlia.” The reason had better be life changing because if he was only after his key, he could say goodbye to white roses, champagne, and Jennifer Cloud.