Vengeful Bounty by Jillian Kidd Page A

I’d keep my eyes and ears open and try not to worry, because worrying killed awareness like a clanging metal bell in a quiet meditation room.
    My body ached in the way that only sleeping completely crooked could make it ache. I stretched out the kinks as best as I could. While I started a load of laundry, I turned on the Bounty Hunter Channel and looked for any new faces and/or notices of recent tip-off’s.
    I didn’t care if I had to travel to other states. I had gotten lucky with my last couple of catches. They’d been really close to home. And living in a big city provided that for you a lot of the time.
    Rogue and I had been all over the US, however. He was a great traveling dog, didn’t pee in the car, and generally slept while we were on the road. The last spot we “vacationed” for a couple weeks was in the suburbs of San Francisco, California. Beautiful place. A middle-aged Vietnamese woman rented out a little cottage with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge. During our stay, I’d managed to hit all the great museums by day, but by night I was wearing a brown wig and sporting fake tattoos as I made myself a regular in one of the skuzziest downtown bars of the city.
    That particular time, I’d been going after a woman—Shawneese Richards. She headed an illegal drug operation that focused on snaring teenage boys. She had a group of good-looking gals that would scout out the boys at parties and get them hooked on an updated version of Heroin called “Hero-Inside.” Basically, it made the user feel like Superman, but one had to keep the supply flowing or the ground he walked on started to feel like Kryptonite.
    I passed a couple of tests, and then I was brought before Shawneese to become one of her recruiters. By that time, I had found out everything from her blood type to where she was staying in hiding. Quite by accident, I ended up spotting her vehicle weaving around the road one very late night, so I followed her to a gas station, where she had to take a piss. When she came out, she met me and the barrel of my gun. She sobered up fast enough, but she tried to run. Stupid move. I shot her in the foot. That particular paycheck had allowed me to put down some deposits on my apartment.
    But from the looks of it, there weren’t any tips or any new Fish that I could find right now. Just as well. It was also highly unusual for me to catch two baddies so close together. A bounty hunter went months at a time with nothing. I’d had to eat ramen noodles for weeks on end before finally making a catch and getting paid.
    I’d be fine for now, and speaking of the cash flow, I really needed to spend some of it on some necessities. Rogue needed food and I needed toiletries.
    I tossed my washed clothes into the drier, then left Rogue asleep in his little bed as I sped to the grocery store. No worries about being late for dinner with Jackson. I still had plenty of time.
    * * *
    â€œJenny, I can’t talk right now, I’m already running late!” I said to the TV monitor as I ran in front of it, attempting to put on high heel shoes and brush my teeth at the same time.
    â€œOh, fine,” she said. “But you had better tell me how it goes tonight!”
    â€œI will, I will.”
    I’d pulled the sides of my hair back into sparkling clips. I donned a little black dress Mom would’ve been proud of. For heaven’s sake, I had
some
fashion sense. So what if it happened to be eclectic? Little black dress here, plaid scarf there. I had no intention of wearing anything like my black dress to meet her. For one, it was one of my favorite treasures that I’d actually spent a little money on, and I wasn’t going to wear it around her to be tarnished by her vibes. I would find something really artistic and gaudy from a thrift store for her. Who knew? I might even make her throw up on herself. I’d make sure to bring a camera just in