Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

“Bastien tried to do the same,” Melanie said in the next stall, her voice full of amusement.

Laughing, Nicole swiftly doffed her clothes.

The navy pants fit well. So did the bulletproof vest, white shirt, and aqua smock. Network employees in the wardrobe department never failed to impress her with their ability to accurately assess a person’s size. Though she would rather not forgo her boots, Nicole replaced them with serviceable and very generic-looking black sneakers.

Even those fit perfectly.

She didn’t bother to fold her clothes before stuffing them—and her shoes—into the cloth bag provided. Once done, she thrust the curtain aside.

Standing with his back to her, Sean glanced over his shoulder.

She grinned. “I half-expected you to be bent over, mooning me.”

Laughing, he shook his head and stepped aside. He had already replaced his hunting blacks with navy blue pants, a white sport shirt, and an aqua smock identical to hers, all of which seemed to accentuate his broad shoulders and muscled chest.

Feigning irritation, she motioned to him. “How can something that makes me look frumpy make you look positively edible?”

He snorted. “If you think you look frumpy, you haven’t looked in a mirror.”

Melanie exited her stall and joined Bastien beside them, wearing slacks, a button-down shirt, and a white lab coat.

“What do we do now?” Sean asked.

All watched Nicole expectantly.

“Follow me.” She led them to a wall composed of wooden cubes stacked floor to ceiling. A small white strip adorned the lower edge of each with a whiteboard marker attached to it via hook and loop tape. Once she placed her bag of clothes and shoes into a cube, Nicole wrote her name beneath it with the marker. “So we can find our stuff easily when we return.”

While Sean, Melanie, and Bastien followed her example, she glanced around. Cliff and Rafe had left while she changed. But others had taken their place. Two men and two women garbed in cleaning crew uniforms sat on benches, tying their shoes. A fifth figure…

Nicole stared.

“Is that Jared?” Sean asked beside her.

“I think so.” The elder immortal had altered his appearance enough that she hadn’t recognized him at first.

Instead of his usual six feet ten inches, he now stood at five feet nine inches or thereabouts. Crow’s feet marred the skin beneath and beside his eyes while deep lines bracketed his mouth. Adding to his aged appearance, a plethora of gray hair peppered his short raven locks.

“Shape-shifting is so cool,” she murmured.

Like Melanie, Jared wore slacks, an oxford shirt, and a lab coat. He also still wore a scowl, which she suspected wouldn’t go away until Tessa returned to her network apartment.

When Nicole led the exodus from the changing room, the woman waiting outside the door handed her a black elastic hair tie. Melanie and Bastien received the same.

Nicole finger-combed her hair back from her face and used the elastic band to confine it in a ponytail. “How do I look?”

Sean smiled. “Beautiful.”

Knowing he was biased, she turned to Melanie. “Doc?”

Melanie finished pulling her hair into a ponytail and moved to stand in front of Nicole. “Looks good.” She tidied the sides a bit. “What about mine?”

Nicole smoothed a few strands that wanted to poke out. “You’re good.”

Sean looked at Bastien. “Do you want me to pretty up your ponytail?”

The immortal black sheep snorted. “Anyone who doesn’t like my hair can kiss my ass.” He turned to the woman holding the hair ties. “Where’s the armory?”

“This way, sir.” Spinning on her heel, the woman strode away.

Several minutes later, Nicole stuffed multiple EpiPen-like autoinjectors full of human sedatives in her pockets. She would’ve preferred 9mms and extra mags, but they were supposed to go in quietly and attract as little attention as possible.

When the woman caught her gazing longingly at the semiautomatics, she smiled. “Don’t worry. You’ll have two carts loaded with cleaning materials. Each will also contain hidden compartments that house a substantial arsenal should you need it.”

Nicole smiled with relief. “Here’s hoping we won’t.”

More team members joined them.

Darnell was notably absent. Perhaps he was already hard at work, knocking down firewalls or whatever security the facility’s servers had in place with a network hack.

Nicole shot the breeze with the others, focusing on Rafe and the four new-to-her network employees who would accompany them. Knowing your team was always a good thing. You worked better as a unit when you did.

Rafe asked them how Nick and Kayla were holding up. Nicole liked him. He seemed genuinely furious that someone was targeting his friend’s stepdaughter.

Personality-wise, the four network employees were what some would’ve deemed computer geeks, but they sure didn’t look like it. Instead of the stereotypical pasty complexions and scrawny or doughy bodies often bestowed upon nerdy types in movies and TV shows, these tech geniuses bore trim, athletic builds and toned muscles.

Perhaps the network in North Carolina wasn’t the only one that required all employees to exercise and train in self-defense to keep their bodies at optimum performance in case an emergency should arise.

An older man entered, interrupting their chitchat long enough to stand each one up against a white wall and take their picture.