But Mira was aghast. “Tail them? What if we get caught?”
Jim waved one hand dismissively. “Aw, Uncle would never hurt us, Mira.”
“If he’s involved with a drug deal,” she pointed out, “he’s dealing with people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill a couple of kids who poked their noses into the wrong place.”
“Naw.” Jim was sure of himself now. A trenchcoat wouldn’t be dashing enough. How about a fedora? “Uncle would keep them under control. Look, it seems that Adrian Salas is their link to the gang at Rockton High. Now, does that guy look dangerous to you?” He put his hands on his hips, tilting his head at what he imagined would be the right angle if he had some rakish headgear.
“No,” she said, pursing her lips. “He just seems like a bit of a nerd.” Then her mouth firmed. “But if he’s working with a gang, then he’s our enemy. We’ve got to defeat him.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Jim with satisfaction. A fedora it was. “We’ll tail Adrian when he leaves the building after work, find out what he’s up to.”
Elisa
Elisa pulled her books from her locker in a daze that had persisted since yesterday morning. She had awakened, groggy and sluggish, to an empty apartment and a note from Adrian saying he would make sure Kim received proper treatment. She hadn’t been able to contact him since then.
She still couldn’t believe it.
He couldn’t be the Captain. Not Adrian. She needed to talk to him.
“Hey, Elisa!” Sumiko’s voice rose over the hubbub. “What’s up?”
Elisa pasted a smile on her face. “Not much. Just waiting on my early action college admissions. How’s things with you?” She was getting a lot better at pretending on a moment’s notice.
Sumiko shrugged. “I haven’t seen Adrian around much. He’s not sick, is he? Did you give him that terrible flu you got over December break?”
“He’s been visiting colleges. I haven’t seen him much either.”
Sumiko’s eyes pierced her. “There’s nothing wrong between the two of you, is there?”
Damn Sumiko. She was far too perceptive. What could Elisa say? Oh, nothing’s wrong, really, other than just finding out that Adrian might be a drug lord and murderer?
No. It couldn’t be.
“Sumiko, how much of what you told me about Tenebras is really true? I mean about all the killing.”
Sumiko laughed. “Aaand she changes the subject.”
“I was just worried. I heard gunshots outside my apartment a couple days ago.”
Her brows lowered. “I hope you’ve stopped doing your laundry at midnight, Elisa. You need to be more careful.”
“Are you going to answer my question?”
“What question?” Chloe strolled up to them, eating a cupcake. She licked icing off her fingers.
“Did you bring any for us?” Sumiko folded her arms.
Chloe grinned and waved an Apricot Apron bag. “You’re in luck.”
“Ooh, our carrot raisin cupcakes are my favorite.” Elisa’s mouth watered. “You know, Mrs. Rojas changed the recipe to use all my suggestions.”
“Mmmm,” Chloe said. “Well, whatever you did, it’s delicious.”
Sumiko groaned. “Don’t encourage her, Chloe, or she’s going to start nerding out about chemistry in cooking or how eggs are an efficient binder for methyl cellulose or something.”
Elisa frowned. Sumiko was talking nonsense. And she wasn’t too much of a cooking nerd, was she? Although, at lunch the day before she had gone on and on about the amazing properties of eggs.
“Okay, then, what were you talking about?” Chloe asked.
“How many of those wild rumors you were spouting about Tenebras last fall were true? Are there really mass murderers in our school?”
“Oh.” Chloe’s lips tightened. “I don’t really know. People say all sorts of things. I guess most of that stuff was kind of exaggerated.” She crumpled up the paper bag and stuffed it in her backpack. “I gotta go to class.” She headed off.
“See?” Sumiko said. “Chloe knows all the gossip and she’s not worried.”
Elisa wrinkled her forehead. It sounded a lot more like someone had been telling Chloe to keep quiet.
Was she getting too cynical and suspicious?
The bell rang, and Sumiko ran off to class. Elisa was late again, but she couldn’t bring herself to care too much about her attendance record these days.
She slammed her locker shut and almost ran straight into Mario, standing right behind her.
“Sorry!” Elisa’s muscles tensed, ready for flight.
He blocked her with his arm, a disturbing smile on his face. “No need to apologize, Elisa, especially since we’re such close friends.” He brought his face near to hers, and she shuddered. “I got something important to tell you.” His breath reeked of cigarettes and rotten meat, and she tried not to wince.
He leaned in further and she held her breath. “There’s something about your boyfriend you should know.”
Elisa’s heart banged against her chest. “What?”
“Nah, I won’t tell you.” He held up a hand to forestall her protest. “‘Cause you won’t believe me. Better show you directly.”
She gaped at him, unable to say a word.
He leaned in again, whispering. “Go to the basement, room B13, at two o’clock. There’s gonna be a meeting. You might find out something interesting.” With a final careless smirk, he walked away.
She stared after him. Mario was a dangerous bastard. She knew better than to trust him. Kim had said he was a traitor, but Adrian had dismissed the suspicion. Elisa gritted her teeth. She had to admit she was terrified.
But so what if it was a trap? She could take care of herself. Hadn’t Adrian himself taught her self-defense?
And where the fuck was he?
She jammed her book into her backpack and decided to follow up on Mario’s tip.
Keisha
Keisha paused at the dark doorway and pushed away another wave of dizziness. This was it: her chance to infiltrate Tenebras. It was all up to her and her wits now; she was going completely unarmed into the heart of gang territory.
She had asked Mario, “So what do you think? Can you get me in?”
Mario hemmed a bit. “I can get you an interview, but after that, it’ll be up to you. Sure you wanna do this? Captain decides against you, you’ll be killed right then and there.”
“I’m sure. Just tell me when.”
She strode into the shadowed room. A student was sitting in the darkness at one end, and Keisha could not see his face.
Coming closer, her jaw dropped in shock.
It was Mario.
“You!” she cried.
He lounged in the chair, sporting a wide grin that showed most of his teeth. “Yep, it was me all along. Fooled ya, didn’t I?”
Keisha gritted her teeth as a wave of disgust ran through her, but she kept her face impassive. “Yes, Captain, you fooled all of us.”
He sneered and cocked his head at her. “So tell me, why should I let a little girl like you join us? We value strength and power. Got no room for a girl who’s gonna need to put on lipstick or fix her hair every few minutes.”
Keisha glared. “I don’t care who the fuck you think you are, you bastard, but I’m no little girl. I can fight better than most of your men and can probably lick you too,” she spat. “Just give me a chance to prove it.” Fists on her hips, she stared straight into his eyes, level with hers even though he was sitting.
There was a long silence. She stood her ground, defiant.
Then his grin widened. “So, the midget has spunk. Maybe you might be useful to us after all.” The grin dropped away. “You got one chance. Your first assignment’ll be given to you later this week. If you succeed, you move to the next step in the initiation.” He grinned again. “Fail, and you’ll be made a plaything for the Blades. Not that that wouldn’t be fun too.”
Keisha’s defiant glare did not falter. “I won’t
fail.”
“Good. We’re always in need of competent members.” He lifted a hand and gazed idly at his fingernails. “For some reason, too many of them keep dying on us.” His sneer widened. “You’re dismissed.”
Jim
“Shhh!” Jim cautioned, sidling into the company parking lot as Mira shadowed him silently. He wore an old fedora and mirrored sunglasses. “And here’s the world-famous hard-boiled detective, Sneaky Jim, in ‘The Case of the Deadly Nerd,’” he announced. Mira rolled her eyes.
Although all the snow had melted, the air was still chilly. A high overcast of eggshell white hung over the city. A bright yellow sports car sat by itself in one corner of the lot. Jim continued his dialogue in an undertone. “Sneaky Jim was all over the nerd’s car like newsprint on day-old fish.”
Mira’s nostrils flared.
Jim adjusted his fedora, ducking and creeping from car to car as Mira trailed along behind him. “The criminal’s sports car stood out like a sore thumb in a barrel of bad apples.”
Mira choked. “You really need to work on your dialogue,” she whispered. “Be serious! We could get into real trouble.”
Jim tried the door handle and crowed. “Success! Jerk forgot to lock his car.” He preened. “Maybe I do have a future as a private detective.”
“Shhh!” It was Mira’s turn to hush him.
He took a moment to glare at her before carefully sliding into the tiny slot behind the passenger seat. He grunted. “It’s a good thing we’re pretty small. Ouch!” he complained as Mira folded herself on top of him. It was even colder inside the car than out in the open air, and the chilled leather of the seat made him shiver. “Geez, fatso, you really need to go on a diet. And here I thought you were good at hide and seek.”
The two of them waited in silence, crammed on top of each other. Adrian had been speaking with Uncle Eric about the final tasks of the day. He should get to his car any moment now.
Footsteps approached, and Jim and Mira almost stopped breathing. Someone opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat. From where Mira was lying, she could just barely catch a glimpse of thick brown hair. The driver started the car and drove off, accelerating and decelerating rapidly as he maneuvered through the city streets. Mira was thrown on top of Jim several times and barely managed to keep from grunting each time. One of his elbows poked into her ribs painfully.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the car slowed down and pulled into a parking spot. After the driver’s footsteps had faded away, Mira poked her head up, only to be yanked down by her brother. “Get down!” he hissed. Then he, too, poked up his head. “We’re at school!” he whispered. “Adrian’s heading to the back door. Let’s go!”
Keisha
In the basement room, Keisha assembled her team for a last-minute briefing. One of the bare light bulbs had burnt out, making the low-ceilinged room even gloomier. The furnace clanked in the background, casting a dull reddish glow over the faces surrounding her.
Mario had given her the room’s key for her mission. It would be empty for the next two hours.
It should be enough, she calculated, for her to bring the first stage to completion. She checked out her participants.
Vince scowled, the picture of a murderous brute. Adrian stood quietly in a corner, looking exactly like the mild, ineffectual scholar he was. Hopefully, he could act the part she had assigned him. At least he had a good memory and was reliable. He didn’t need to be the world’s best actor to fool people. He had brought in two other students to help. Keisha had shrugged. She had already gone so far off the rulebook it didn’t matter. Rory Fong leaned casually against the basement wall, fine dark hair hanging in his eyes, acting as though he belonged in this grim place.
Keisha’s glance flicked to Cesar Peralta, standing in the corner, his lips pressed tightly together. He had said not a word during her explanation, appearing almost disgusted by the whole procedure. But when she had quizzed him on his lines and role in the operation, he had recited it all back to her letter-perfect.
“Right,” Keisha said, “does anybody have any final questions?” There were none. She nodded. “Good, then everybody please take your places. Now we wait.”
Elisa
Elisa walked slowly down the long, dark hall at the far end of the school. Most of the ceiling lights in this part of the building were broken, and shattered glass piled up against the walls. The fluorescents sputtered over markings and dirt on the walls and floor. She rarely visited this part of the building. Her heart pounded as she passed the graffiti scrawled on one of the walls: three concentric diamonds, Tenebras’s symbol.
She remembered Mario’s warning; it now seemed so long ago. ”See that mark? That means it’s Tenebras territory and you should stay out. We own this school. You stay out of our way, you’ll be okay. But if you cross us—” He drew his finger across his throat. “Get it?”
Was Adrian really the Captain of Tenebras, a monster who would kill people who crossed him? No, he couldn’t be.
She rounded the corner. At the end of the hall, in the flickering light, Cesar stood in front of the double iron doors leading to the basement, braids hanging below his shoulders and over his powerful arms.
He stepped in front of the door, blocking her entrance. “You can’t go in there.”
Elisa wet her dry lips. “Please,” she said. At Cesar’s blank stare, she gathered up her resolve and lied again. She was doing it so often these days; she must be getting better at it. “Adrian told me to come. I’m just following his orders. You know who I am, right?” If Adrian truly had power in the gang, Cesar would let her in.
He eyed her for a few long moments, but finally swung the door open. “Go ahead,” he said, eyes flicking away from her.
She nodded her thanks and slipped inside. As she made her way down the stairs, voices rose from below. She stopped short on the landing. In the room below, a few people stood in a rough semi-circle around a slight figure with her head bowed: the new girl, Keisha Huston. Rory leaned on the back wall. But Elisa’s gaze was drawn to the far end of the room, where a black armchair sat upon a raised platform. Lounging in the chair, completely relaxed, sat Adrian. The faint light reflected off his glasses.
Elisa crept closer to listen.
27
Keisha
THE ONLY NOISE IN THE BASEMENT room was the slight shuffling of feet as the group took up their positions. Keisha stood in the center, near the furnace. Vince leaned against a wall, cleaning his nails with a switchblade. Adrian sat in the armchair at the end of the room, his chin propped on his knuckles. Rory waited silently at the far wall, arms folded. Cesar stood upstairs at the main entrance. The back door had been left unlocked and unguarded for Jim and Mira to sneak in.
It was crazy doing this with civilians, but Keisha didn’t have any choice. With the department’s budget cuts, they had been outsourcing manpower more and more. Even the department copywriter had been downsized. Keisha had had to write the dialogue herself. She wasn’t much of an author, and she suspected the lines sounded kind of hackneyed, but at least the students had been downright eager to help her out. She pushed down her momentary twinge of conscience by telling herself that it was unlikely that any violence would occur at this stage of the operation.
They waited. No one spoke as the long minutes went by. Then they heard stealthy footsteps creeping up from the back entrance.
It was their cue. Keisha nodded at Vince to begin.
“Got the latest shipment from Schwartz. He said that Holman was getting sloppy and almost had an accident in the lab. He sounded angry, but then he demanded more money.”
Adrian leaned forward and said, “That doesn’t sound too good. Rory, have you tested the shipment yet?”
“The quality of the latest batch isn’t up to par.” Rory snapped his blade shut. “I think it’s time we eliminated Schwartz and Holman. We have the formula, and they’re not useful anymore.”
Keisha said, “Now wait a min
ute. I agreed to work for you only because you promised there wouldn’t be any killing involved. I don’t want to be involved in murder.”
There was another soft shuffle of footsteps, this time from the stairs leading down from the main door. The faint sound was almost drowned out by Keisha’s voice.
Adrian said, “So, you no longer wish to be a courier for me, Keisha?” He shifted in his seat. “In that case, you’re no longer of any use to me. Kill her, Rory.”
“Aww, not my new bestie,” Rory ad-libbed mockingly. He moved forward, knife ready.
Adrian
There was a faint gasp from above, and Adrian glanced up at the sound. Silhouetted halfway down the steps, Elisa stood frozen in mid-step.
Without a second of hesitation, Adrian jumped from his chair and dashed up the stairs. “Elisa, what are you doing here?”
She stuttered, but nothing coherent came out of her mouth. Adrian steered her up the stairs, his lips in a stern line and a hand in the middle of her back. Elisa twisted and tried to see what was going on behind them, but he pushed her forward.
Before she could protest, they were out the door. Adrian’s gaze fell upon Cesar.
“Cesar,” he said, his voice heavy with menace, “I thought you were guarding the door.”
Cesar paled. “I—I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
Elisa flinched. “Adrian,” she asked, her voice squeaking, “you weren’t really ordering Rory to kill Keisha, were you?”
“Of course not. Nothing there was as it seems.” He ran his hand through her hair and brought his lips close to her ear. “You surely don’t think I would do anything like that, do you?”
“I—I don’t know, Adrian. I mean—” She glanced sidelong at Cesar. “I’ve heard the rumors about the Captain. I couldn’t believe they were about you, but…” Her pulse throbbed under the skin of her wrist, held loosely in his grip. He couldn’t tear his eyes off the struggle in her face.
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