Wilder shook his head. "Nope. Got a parry to get to."

"Ah, yes." LaFavre reached in his pocket and pulled out a small package, without taking his eyes off the girl. "Present this with my compliments to the young lady."

Wilder took it. "Okay," he said, confused.

"How do I get hold of you?" LaFavre said, and then the girl spun onto her back, legs spread wide, and clamped them down on LaFavre's head, just like the pole, as he slid the bill under the side of her G-string.

"Call one-eight-hundred-clusterfuck," Wilder said, not sure LaFavre could hear.

"That bad?" The voice was muffled.

"Could be worse," Wilder said as he remembered Lucy. "You got my Satphone number. Use that."

The girl undamped and moved on to her next victim. "I got it," LaFavre said, looking a little dazed, his aviator glasses askew on his face.

A voice cut through the thumping music: "Hey, asshole."

Wilder twisted his head and blinked at the five-foot-tall, abnormally big-busted, red-haired fireball who was glaring at LaFavre, now straightening his sunglasses. How the hell does she keep from tipping over? Wilder wondered.

"Ahh, Ginny baby," LaFavre said in his deepest accent, matching it with a smile Wilder envied. Now that was a reassuring smile.

But it didn't work. "Don't 'Ginny baby' me, you shit," the tiny girl said, leaning forward, apparently not caring that her massive breasts fell out of her sheer robe. Post-Althea, Wilder was not impressed. He was more concerned that the tattooed bouncer was edging closer, trying to listen in.

LaFavre dug into his pocket and pulled out a roll of bills. "I got a dime here and-"

"You owe me five dimes," Ginny countered. "I told you not to come by if you didn't have it all."

"A down payment," LaFavre said.

Ginny went past Wilder as if he weren't there and shoved her breasts into LaFavre's face. "You wanted them, you pay for them. That was the deal."

Wilder was puzzled for a second, then the lightbulb went on as Ginny smashed LaFavre's face into her cleavage. "That's your last touch until you pay in full," Ginny said, relieving LaFavre of the roll of money.

She bounced off, Tattoo Man edged back, and Wilder stared at LaFavre, who seemed pretty happy about handing a thousand dollars to a woman who had just called him an asshole.

LaFavre smiled. "She's something, is she not?"

Althea would have had LaFavre's life savings in ten minutes, Wilder thought, as he nodded in what he hoped was lecherous agreement. He tried to find the right word. "Unbelievable." That seemed to cover it.

"Worth every cent," LaFavre went on. "I look on them as an investment in her future." He pointed. Ginny took the stage, and within a minute was doing things that made Wilder reconsider-perhaps Ginny could teach Althea a thing or two. The music pounded behind her and Wilder caught a snatch of the lyric: "In these shoes?" Shoes. He thought of Lucy in those red boots up there on stage. Wonder Woman. Now that he'd pay money to see.

LaFavre leaned over as Ginny writhed along the edge of the stage, gathering money in her G-string from the slack-jawed men lining it. When she got to LaFavre he slid a twenty among the sweat-soaked greenbacks already stuffed there. "Do the pole, baby," LaFavre begged.

Ginny gave LaFavre a look that reminded Wilder of some of the ones that had been directed at him lately. "There's no money on the pole, dumb shit."

Excellent logic, Wilder thought, and also time for him to be going. He stood up and shook LaFavre's hand. "Thanks. I owe you."

LaFavre's eyes were on Ginny and his investments, now moving away. "Well, we are all supposed to be on the same side, but if this blows up, I never talked to you, I don't know you, and I disavow that you were even born."

"Good to know you got my back," Wilder said, knowing LaFavre wasn't hearing anything anymore.

If the terrorists ever hired Ginny, the free world was screwed.

Chapter 12

Lucy caught the last shuttle back to base camp, so tired she sat with her head on the back of the seat, letting it bounce as the shuttle went over the ruts. Too much tension last night, too much tension all day, and then making a fool of herself over Wilder in front of the whole cast and crew-

"I need sleep," she said as the bus pulled into base camp and then opened her eyes when she realized she'd said it out loud.

Nobody paid any attention.

Okay, she thought, as she got off the bus and headed for the camper. Check on Daisy, find Gloom, drive the camper back to the hotel, take a shower to get the dust off, then a hot bath so you can sleep…

She opened the camper door and Pepper said, "Hooray, Aunt Lucy is here! The party can start!" and beamed, her WonderWear a bright splotch against the white camper curtains.

"Party!" Lucy said, trying desperately to sound excited. "This is-" She stopped as she caught sight of Daisy, sitting in one of the swivel chairs beside Pepper, her generous figure making the most of her size-small WonderWear. "Wow," she said and started to laugh.

"Laugh while you can, Monkey Girl," Daisy said. "Your Wonder-Wear awaits." She tossed a gold-painted rope across to her. "Do not forget the Lasso of Truth. We are nothing without our lassos."

"Put it on, Aunt Lucy," Pepper said, and Lucy laughed again and climbed into the camper.

She dropped the rope on the table and stripped off her jeans, shirt, and tank top. Then she pulled on the blue-starred pants and red camisole with the double gold Ws over her underwear. "What do you think?" she said to them as she went back to the dinette.

Daisy burst out laughing.

"You look wonderful," Pepper said. "We all look wonderful."

Lucy slid into the swivel chair next to her, trying to forget her dreams of a hot bath. "So we need cake, right?"

"Gloom is bringing it," Pepper said importantly. "With a surprise."

"Gloom's surprises are excellent," Lucy said.

"And J.T. is coming."

"Good for J.T.," Lucy said, feeling more cheerful. "So what happens at a Wonder Woman party?"

"Well, we can talk about Wonder Woman," Pepper said. "We can each say something we know about her."

"I know something," Daisy said, bringing up a paper bag from under the table. "Or at least Estelle in wardrobe knows something." She took three gold lame headbands out of the bag, each with a big red star glued in the middle.

"Crowns!" Pepper said, achieving ecstasy on the spot. She spread them out and took the smallest one. "They go on like this," she said, shoving the crown over her head, the elastic strip in back so that the lame went across her forehead.

"Like that." Lucy watched Daisy pull hers on. "You look very cute in that," she said with a straight face.

"Uh huh," Daisy said. "Put your crown on, Aunt Lucy."

"Take your braid down first," Pepper said.

Lucy pulled the tie from the end of her braid and shook her hair loose. Then she pulled the headband on.

"You know," Daisy said, "you actually kind of look like her."

"You do" Pepper said. "Go see yourself."

Lucy got up and opened the door to the tiny bathroom. Her hair color was right, but the rest, not so much. "Nope. I don't think Wonder Woman is ever going to look like she's thirty-four." She turned back to Daisy. "You know, I used to think her uniform was sort of…" She shot a glance at Pepper, who waited to hear. "Not… fashionable."

Pepper frowned, as if she wasn't sure what that meant but she didn't like it.

"But I was wrong," Lucy said, keeping an eye on her. I his thing has immense possibilities." She put her hands on her hips. "I'm feeling very powerful. Shazaam!"

"No,' Pepper said. "Wonder Woman says, 'Sufferin' Sappho.' "

"You're kidding," Lucy said, while Daisy tried to stifle a laugh.

"I can show you." Pepper pulled one of the comics out of the pile of loot on the table.

"It's okay." Lucy went back to the dinette and sat down, yanking her WonderWear down as she sat, wondering if Wonder Woman had the same problem with wedgies. "I believe you. Sufferin' Sappho! It has a ring to it."

"I'm certainly going to be using it from now on," Daisy said, her cheeks pink. She still looked tired, but she also looked ten years younger than she had the night before, and Lucy relaxed and thought, The hell with a hot bath.

"You need your boots back on," Pepper said. "See?" She stuck out her rain-booted foot.

Lucy looked at Daisy. "Your mama doesn't-"

Daisy stuck out her red rain-booted foot from the other side of the table. "Go put those boots on. Aunt Lucy."

"Right." Lucy went back to the bed to boot up.

"And music!" Pepper yelled, and Lucy leaned over to the iPod dock and punched up Kirsty MacColl again until "They Don't Know" began to play.

"Remember when we used to dance to this?" Lucy asked, not knowing if Pepper would, it had been so long.

"Yes!" Pepper said, and as Lucy sat on the bed to pull on her boots, she came into the little hallway and began to bop to the music in her red rubber rain boots and Wonder Wear, looking like a very strange, very happy little go-go dancer.

Lucy laughed, she couldn't help it, and the last of her tension went away. She shoved her foot into the second boot and got up to dance, too.

Pepper had her eyes closed, bouncing on her boots, belting out, "We've got nothin' to lose," while she rocked her shoulders back and forth. Lucy caught her hands and she opened her eyes and smiled up, delighted, and they danced in the cramped little hall, the way they hadn't since Pepper had been tiny. God, I've missed her, Lucy thought, holding Pepper's hand up so she could pirouette. I can't let them go again. She looked up and saw Daisy biting her lip, her eyes bright, as Pepper sang, "Bay-bee!" on the turn, and she smiled at her sister and got the old Daisy smile back. Then Pepper belted out the next line, and Lucy danced her down toward the bed and back to the table, laughing with her, completely in love with her niece again, wondering how she could ever have let her family go.

Kirsty had just finished when somebody knocked on the camper door.

"Maybe it's J.T.!" Pepper said breathlessly as she yanked down her camisole. "I invited him."

"That would be fun," Daisy said, looking at Lucy, her face split with a grin.

Oh, God, no, Lucy thought just as breathless, yanking down her own camisole. Arguably, she was dressed, but still-

Daisy got her big yellow straw hat and held it in front of her as she opened the door.

"Oh, it's Bryce," Pepper said, just one shade short of rude in her disappointment.

Bryce looked in at Daisy, stunned. Then he caught sight of Lucy and his jaw dropped.

"Hello, Bryce," Lucy said, not bothering to cover up. Even if she could have blocked his view of the camisole and pants, there'd still be the tiara and boots to explain.

Bryce let his eyes go from Lucy to Pepper to Daisy. "Is this some kind of club?"

"Yes," Pepper said. "It's a Wonder Woman club."

"Oh." Bryce nodded as if that made complete sense. Which it probably did. If there had been a Superman club, Bryce would have been the first one there in blue tights.

"It's for girls," Pepper said. "But you can come if you want."

"Nope," Bryce said. "I understand about girls only." He looked at Lucy. "Could I talk to you for just a second? Alone."

"Is that okay, Pepper?" Lucy said.

"Just for a second," Pepper said. "The cake isn't here yet anyway."

"Good point," Lucy said and reached back for her white shirt before she went out the camper door.

"Great outfit," Bryce said, when they were standing in the twilight outside the camper and she'd shrugged on her shirt.

"Thank you." Lucy pulled her shirt closed across her camisole. "So what can I do for you?"

"That thing today with J.T." Bryce shifted nervously. "Saving me when the rope broke."

Lucy nodded encouragingly, thinking, Go away, Bryce.

"That was really something."

"The man's good," Lucy agreed.

Bryce sighed in relief. "So you're not mad at him anymore."

"Mad at him?" Lucy frowned. "Oh, yesterday. The bar fight."

"That wasn't his fault," Bryce said, evidently alarmed by the look on her face.