“You know, if you wanted to dance with me again tonight, you could have just told me instead of acting the wallflower again.” He gave me a flirtatious look.
“When something works for me, I milk it.” Having him around was so convenient. It was easy not to look out of place. I counted the remaining marks with a quick glance around the room.
He chuckled. “I had a feeling you’re someone who always gets what she wants.”
“You had a feeling, huh?” I gave him a wry smile and checked for the three guys. They were still there. The one that had headed for the bathroom had returned. “Actually, I was hoping to get some fresh air.” I pretended to push on the door. “But they’ve successfully locked us in.”
He grabbed at his heart. “Oh, you wound me. You could have at least played along and boosted my ego.”
“I don’t think you need that, Carson. I have a feeling you’ve got ego to spare.” I tilted my head to the side.
“If you insist on dissing me, I may just have to show you the real me—lonely and scared.” He made an insecure face and looked at his feet.
This guy was funny. I liked him, and as much as I wanted to continue our friendly banter, I wanted to focus on the girls. From the audio feed in my ear, I could tell they were together, running now. Where could they be heading?
I laughed and pushed his shoulder. “I know and you know that person doesn’t exist, and even if he really did, I’d have to delay our meeting. You see, nature calls.” I whipped my head in the direction of the bathroom. It was quiet in there, which would make it easier to hear the girls.
The deejay’s voice filled the room. “Time to line up, boys and girls. The first of three line dances will start in twenty seconds.”
“Is he serious?” I asked, jaw on the floor. They did country line dances here?
“Totally.”
“What, do they change types of songs every five that are played?” I scoffed, disbelief taking over.
“No, but this guy loves to do a set of line dances whenever he comes here. It’s kinda fun,” he said, completely serious.
“No way.” I stared at him, sure my eyes were the size of pancakes. I took note of the three boys lining up to dance.
“We can’t just focus on our studies because we need a well-rounded experience here at Bell Academy.” He changed his voice to sound like the principal of the school, Mrs. Chatworth.
“We better hurry,” he said, grabbing my hand and looking pointedly at a group of kids hurrying onto the floor. “We want to be in the second row so that you can learn the steps.”
Before I could protest, he pulled me to the closest end of the line, making it just in time. I realized that while he was helping me a great deal with my cover, ditching him wouldn’t be easy. Country twang blared out of the speakers, and I followed along, watching the group in front of us to know what to do. Only one of the target boys remained. In the commotion of learning the dance, two had left. How long had they been gone?
I kept going the wrong way, bumping into Carson. He laughed every time. At least he was a good sport. It was hard to concentrate because all I could think about was the mission. I needed to get away for a minute to make sure the team knew exactly who had left. By the end of the second song, I found myself at the end of the line. Carson was turned, talking to the girl on his other side. I slipped off into the bathroom, counting everyone before I entered. Six of the seven kids were missing. Could the other two I’d seen and not been able to identify not be here tonight, or would they leave with the last of the three boys?
I was very much alone in the bathroom and went straight for the window, away from the booming music. I checked my watch monitor for Gina and turned up my earpiece to listen for Karina. The purple dot indicated that Gina wasn’t very far away, probably less than a few blocks. I pulled up the location. A parking garage. I gave the team a quick rundown on what I knew via text message, just to make sure they were up to speed.
Halluis was probably already following them. Hopefully, he’d have enough time to get the trackers on the cars before the girls were able to get them started. He’d have to be super fast once they climbed into the cars to hotwire them. I thought he had the hardest job on this operation.
“I can’t get it to start,” Karina’s voice whined in my ear. “It’s not like the one in the shop.”
“It has to be, Karina,” Gina whispered. “Try again.”
“You try, Gina. I can’t do it.”
I wanted to go help them. I could reach them in less than five minutes, and I had clothes to change into just outside the bathroom door in my go bag. I took a deep breath, fighting the urge to forget about watching for new thieves and tracking the ones we knew about. I mentally sent out good vibes to the girls in hopes it would help them be successful. I glanced up at the window. No. I would stay here. Stay on target. A couple of whispering girls came into the bathroom. I guessed the last country line dance was over. I stepped up to the sink and washed my hands at a snail’s pace.
All the while, I listened as Gina tried to get the car to start. No car sounds filled the air, only Gina’s grunting and Karina’s whining.
“Let’s forget this Camry. They must’ve done something to it. Let’s try the next one on the list,” Karina said.
I imagined them at a Camry, working to get it started. I knew Halluis was there, somewhere, watching them work and waiting for the right moment to place the tracker. I wondered if he also wanted to jump in and help them. I could imagine the stale oil and gas smells that most assuredly filled the air around them.
The two girls who’d entered the bathroom stepped up to the sinks and washed their hands, still whispering and not paying me any attention. I dried my hands as they dried theirs. Four more girls came in and made their way to the mirrors, primping and preening. I moved to a stall, acting as if I’d just entered the room before them. The two girls from earlier left out the door.
I wiped down the toilet and after putting a shield of TP on the toilet, I sat. The four girls’ squeals made it hard to hear. I looked up in the direction of the window. Maybe I should climb out for a little bit so that I could hear better. Finally, the girls left, and I had quiet again. I stayed where I was, not willing to chance getting caught climbing out the window.
“Seriously,” Karina said. “Let’s try the Accord. Maybe we’ll have better luck.” Moments later, there was the click of a lock giving way and the sound of a car door opening. Whew! They were in. But no sounds of the car starting came through the com. Not again. Come on girls.
“We never should’ve said we’d do this, Gina.” Karina started to cry. “S-Dub is going to kill us or something.” Sobs filled my earpiece, and my chest suddenly ached.
“No, he won’t,” Gina said. I could imagine her putting her arms around Karina. “We’ll just explain to him that we couldn’t do it. He’ll understand. It’s our first time, and we’ve only trained for a few days.”
“Amber?” A female voice called. I furrowed my brow. “Amber, are you in here?”
I bit the side of my lip. I’d been gone too long and someone had noticed. That someone had to be Carson. Good grief.
I stood up and pretended to fix my skirt. Without meaning to it was easy to catch glimpses of people in the stalls, and me sitting still on the toilet without my skirt hiked would definitely be suspect. “Yeah?” I called out, before flushing the toilet, making sure the TP wasn’t stuck to me anywhere. I saw a shadow fall over the gap as I listened to the girls in the garage. I stepped out of the stall.
“It’s been two weeks, but no!” Karina screeched. “He won’t. He’s the biggest jerk in the universe. You heard what he said about that person who was looking through the window yesterday. He said he’d kill anyone interfering with his operation, and I believe him.”
“Sorry,” the girl checking up on me said. “Carson was worried about you and sent me to check on you. Are you feeling all right?”
“He didn’t mean kill,” Gina said. �
�He just meant hurt. We just won’t get paid this time. It’ll be okay, you’ll see.”
I knew I had to answer, but I didn’t want to miss anything from the parking garage.
“What about the money? We need that!” Karina was in complete hysterics, and I wanted desperately to swoop in and save the day. I could play it off as a chance meeting. It would be so easy. But I couldn’t. The mission came first. In truth, I’d be putting myself and the girls in a lot of danger, and things could go very wrong. There was a pause in the conversation, so I took it.
“I think so.” The pause had been super long. “I felt a bit sick and needed to get out of there. It was getting so hot.”
“No kidding. We really should have a bigger venue.”
I made my way to the sink. She waited. I would have to go back out to the dance. How would I hear what was happening to the girls? I groaned inwardly as I washed and dried my hands. Blast that Carson. At any other moment, I would have praised his actions, but not today.
As I threw the wad of paper towel away, something came over the com. “What are you two doing?” I recognized the husky voice right off. It was Jericho. “You need to shut it. You want to wake up the whole area or something?”
I smiled at the girl who’d been sent to check on me. “Thanks for checking on me.”
“No problem. I’m Kirsten.” She wasn’t going to leave me. I really was going to have to go back to the dance. In anticipation, I used my phone to up the volume in my com as we walked out. Booming music hit my ears, but I focused on my com, mindlessly following Kirsten.
I nodded as I listened to the action in the garage. “What’s the problem?” It was Mikado. “We expected you fifteen minutes ago. S-Dub sent us to see what was taking so long.”
Four of the six car thieves were together. One was here. I spotted him at the far end of the dance floor. A twisted fear squeezed my gut. Were the girls safe? I counted everyone in the room. No one new had left. I guessed I wouldn’t be uncovering the two mystery thieves tonight. “We couldn’t get the cars to start,” Gina said. “They must have some anti-theft mechanism we haven’t learned about, yet.” I heard feet shuffling.
A car started. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jericho spit the words at them. I wondered if the girls were cowering or standing their ground. Most likely cowering.
Kirsten and I wove our way through the people dancing.
“What other car were you supposed to lift?” Mikado asked.
“That black Camry,” Gina said. I could imagine her pointing in the direction of the other car, her finger shaking.
We made it to Carson, who was dancing with a crowd of kids. “Ah, you are alive.” He smiled, and without a shred of explanation, I joined the dance, hoping it was an extended version of the song so that I could focus on the girls and not on conversation with anyone.
“Take the Honda to the drop off point, and hurry.” Jericho’s voice was menacing. “Somebody has probably already noticed your absence. This was sloppy work, you two.” The sound of a slap, a cry, and a gasp flew to my ears. I cringed and couldn’t hold back my own gasp, which I hid behind a fake cough as I covered my mouth. “Don’t ever let me catch you crying again.”
One of the girls sucked in a ragged breath. Had it been Jericho or Mikado who had hit one of them? Anger welled up inside me. They were worse than bullies. I wanted to go teach them a lesson. I had to consciously hold myself back from jumping out the window and going after them. The quiet hum of a car met my ears. The girls must have climbed into the Accord. I heard the engine get louder. They must have been leaving the garage. Quiet sobs broke through the hum. I could imagine Jericho and Mikado were right behind them in the black Camry.
I pretended to get a text and pulled out my phone. I texted the team that the cars were on the move. I hoped they were able to pick up on the feed from the girls, but just in case, I wanted to make sure they knew so they could follow them to their destination—the chop shop or the pier or wherever—even if the trackers failed again. The girls hadn’t mentioned anyone getting near the cars, so I assumed Halluis had been successful. I hoped he’d been able to get the trackers on. I wanted someone to watch out for those girls. What would Shareweather do to them?
When I’d finished my text, I yelled out to a questioning Carson, “Parents! They drive me crazy sometimes!”
“I hear ya!”
The song ended, and we moved toward the refreshment table. The sound of the slap repeated itself over and over in my mind. Apparently, someone, most likely Jericho, liked to pick on the weak. The nauseating feeling hit me that I would need to become buddy-buddy with him sooner or later. All his actions screamed sociopath, and I wanted to stay away from him at all costs. However, the truth hung before my face. If I hoped to get anywhere with this group, I couldn’t remain with the peons; I needed to be with the upper-level workers. I needed to unravel the hierarchy of this car-theft gang.
I tried to focus on the girls in the car, but it was getting increasingly more difficult.
Karina still cried, and Gina shushed her over and over again. “You can’t let him see you’re weak. Be strong.”
She blubbered over and over again, “We’ll be cigged.”
I figured I didn’t want to know what that meant.
“Karina,” Gina said, her voice firm. “Remember when that boy was trying to hurt you?”
Karina just continued to cry.
“You know, back home, out in the gardens?”
I could imagine Karina nodding.
“Remember how I ran and got Laron, and we made it so that boy’d never be able to hurt you? Well, this is one of those times again. You need to listen to me. Stop crying, and I will protect you. Haven’t I always protected you?”
Carson gave me a cup of punch, and I drank it in a slow, even manner, hoping to be able to hear more from Karina and Gina. A tremor quaked through me. S-Dub had better not do anything more to those girls. My entire body stiffened. The connection started to cut out the farther away they got from me. Jeremy and Ace would continue to listen in once I couldn’t. Karina was taking deep, long breaths when the feed cut out completely. I glanced at my go bag, wishing I could use it to follow the girls. Karina had listened to Gina. Maybe they would be okay. I had to hope.
Chapter 8
My cup was empty, and Carson took it and began to refill it without a word.
“Do you think doing nice things like getting me punch is going to put you in my good graces or something? You should know that I’m very hard to please.”
“You? No way.” He held the newly filled cup in front of me.
I chuckled and took the plastic red cup from him, bringing it to my lips and counting everyone once again. We moved away from the table as other kids approached. I glanced toward the door Karina had gone out and then to the bathroom door, hoping the girls would suddenly appear or I would hear something in my earpiece. But I knew it would still be a while before they could realistically show up. No one new had left the dance. I was beginning to think the phantom two guys were just that, phantoms.
“So. You were hiding?”
“Hiding?” I said, turning my body away from him. “I haven’t been hiding.”
“I lost track of you some time in the second country line dance. I couldn’t see you anywhere.”
“What are you, my own personal body guard?” The comment came out a lot harsher than I’d intended, and he leaned back but quickly recovered and played it off. I took a deep breath, trying to push away the worry I felt for Karina and Gina.
“Of course not. I only want to make sure you have fun tonight.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I’ve had fun tonight because of you.” I made myself smile.
“Really?” One corner of his mouth turned up, and his eyes seemed to shine.
“Absolutely.” I patted his upper arm. I needed something to distract me. I took it as a good sign that I hadn’t heard from Halluis or Ace. I figured that cou
ld only mean one thing, the com on the girls was still live. They were simply too far away still for me to hear anything.
A strange old slow song played—like ballroom dance music. It didn’t matter. I could keep track of who was there as we turned in a small circle. “It looks like we’re about to start another grand dancing adventure.” I walked purposefully to the dance floor. “You up for it?” I glanced over my shoulder at him.
He was grinning. “Of course. We’ll make dancing history.” He caught my arm and led me onto the dance floor. “Get it, history?”
Carson grabbed my hand with one of his and my waist with the other, effectively positioning us to slow dance the old-fashioned way or maybe even waltz. Once the music started though, he put the hand he was holding up on his shoulder, and his hand fell to my waist.
“I won’t even try to fake you out that I know how to dance to such Pride and Prejudice music, but I hope not to embarrass myself.”
Apparently they’d just finished a Pride and Prejudice unit in English and had held a ball of sorts last week. I bet it had been a laugh. We didn’t just move in a little circle, he added a somewhat sassy style to the dance that fit his personality. I couldn’t help but give him a truly genuine smile before starting my recount of the guests.
“Do you mock me, Miss Amber?” His pressed smile showed his dimples. “Something is distracting you.”
“I would never mock you.” I played along with his Darcy-esque tone, pulling out my best Lizzy Bennett impression. “But a girl must be allowed to have secrets, Mr. Carson. Otherwise, the world would be boring and static.” I winked and then glanced quickly toward the restroom door for the girls. It was kind of fun to pretend to be of another age, even in a tiny way like speaking.
He broke formation long enough to throw his head back and feign a laugh. He then quickly put his lips to my ear and said, “Caution, now. You threaten to win me over in a single night.” When he pulled back, his rough cheek brushed my skin, his lips only a whisper from mine.
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