[center][color=teal][h2]Jessamyn "Jess" Bailey[/h2][/color][/center]

Five years ago, Jess hadn't imagined satisfaction could make her skin crawl. Now, though, that triumphant feeling was someone else's, and it was surely for the wrong reasons.

She glanced at the man again in time to glimpse a nod. Another telltale sign. Without a word, she disappeared after Roxy through the crowded room. Keeping a look out for any other suspicious-looking people, she drew closer to the anchor. Large groups were something she still had to get used to, and would have been unsettling enough even without the threat that shadowed her and Roxy.

On the surface, it was a perfectly normal scene. People sat gathered around tables, the smell of coffee and the buzz of chatter filling the air. Yet for the two of them, things were anything but normal. And, with a sinking feeling, Jess acknowledged that her reaction just now could have made everything a whole lot worse.