Exposed

by Judith Graves

  What was he to me? A ghost of what could be? A dream I wished I’d never had? Yet there he was, pushing at me. Real. Warm.

  Alive.

  “This…” I grabbed him by his hoodie, pulled him down and crushed my lips against his. Our teeth crashed together, and I moaned in frustration, easing the pressure enough for our mouths to move on each other. For a heartbeat, a really awkward thaa-thunk of time, I was the only one doing the kissing. Before I could pull away in complete embarrassment, Emmett’s lips moved under mine. Coaxing. Drawing me in. He’d changed my wild attack into something softer, deeper and way, way scarier.

  Our kiss ended as a smattering of applause echoed in the hall. I buried my face in Emmett’s neck. What was I thinking? That was exactly the problem. All I could do was feel. Pain. Desire. A yearning for more than I deserved.

  Supersize had wanted more too. Look where it had gotten him. In a body bag at the morgue.

  Diesel’s orders or not, his blood was on my hands.

  Ignoring the kids who’d stopped to observe our public demonstration of obsession, Emmett hugged me tightly. I savored the sensation of him all around me, then did what I had to.

  I slipped from his arms. “Please, just let me go.”

  And, he did.

  EIGHT

  I spent the rest of the afternoon topside, legs dangling over the edge of Laurier Secondary’s newly tarred roof, protected from view by some vents and a small alcove where the rest of the school met the gym wall. Below, the school parking lot was filled with vehicles and little else. Tucked high above the angst and issues of high school life, I came to terms with a lot of things.

  Things most other kids my age couldn’t even begin to imagine. There was no way to deny the truth.

  The family I thought I’d had…didn’t exist.

  Diesel had sent Supersize on a job he knew the kid couldn’t handle. All because his bosses were breathing down his neck and he needed to move more product. I finally saw Diesel clearly.

  He didn’t care about any of us. We were just commodities to be exploited as he saw fit. He might have saved me from life with my parents, but I’d just traded one toxic family for another.

  He gave all of us the illusion of safety, of freedom, so we’d never think of running away. How many more would fall under his spell? Waste their lives making him rich?

  A buzzing in my back pocket made me jump. If that was Diesel, I wasn’t sure how I’d sound. Stressed out? Suspicious? Out for revenge? But it wasn’t Diesel. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered anyway.

  “Raven, this is you, right? The climber? It’s Jo—you know, from the house the other night?”

  It took a second, but then I recognized the voice. It was the guy-girl who’d needed my help breaking into a house on that quiet cul-de-sac. Well, needed might be too strong a word, but still, I’d made sure she hadn’t done anything totally stupid.

  Like get herself caught.

  “Yeah, Jo, I remember.” Had to appreciate the idea of a name that worked whether she was guying or girling it up.

  “Good, that’s good. That’s great.” There was a brief pause. Then Jo spoke in a rush. “I need your help. There’s this guy at this school, and I need him to help me. Well, not him but his friend. He’s a hacker, and I need access to…well…stuff…and…”

  “Slow down, Jo. You’re not making any sense.” My brain hurt from trying to keep up with this one-sided conversation. “Just tell me three things: who’s the mark, what’s the objective, and what’s in it for me.”

  After a moment of panicked breaths, Jo gave me the information I needed. “I have to find a friend of mine. I think a corrupt cop has her. I don’t know what’s going to happen to her, but it can’t be good. Jace Wyatt knows a hacker who can get me the information I need, and if you help me get him on my side, someday I’ll return the favor.”

  I made some noncommittal noise. She’d kind of floored me. If moving cars was dangerous, going up against cops was suicide. Hadn’t I pegged her as trouble from the beginning? This wasn’t my fight. I had my own dragons to slay. Still, there was something about Jo that made me want to protect her. Like if I helped her, I’d be making up for my failure to ensure that Supersize was ready for all Diesel would throw at him.

  That was it. The reason I couldn’t get Supersize’s death out of my head.

  Guilt gnawed at me.

  “I’m serious, Raven.” Something in her voice made the no I was about to set free die in my throat. “I don’t have anyone else to ask. But I swear to you, I have to find Amanda. This is the only way.”

  I thought of Supersize, falling from the sky, screaming on the way down. He’d never have tried that climb if it weren’t for Diesel. And maybe I’d be taking Jo up on her offer to return the favor sooner than she expected.

  “Okay, I’ll help you. What’s the plan?”

  Jo filled me in, and I had to admit, her strategy was solid. Something about her desperation had me uttering words I never thought would leave my lips. “Look, Jo, if you ever need somewhere to crash, I have a safe place. A houseboat at the marina. It’s yours if you need it.” I ended the call before Jo could deflect my offer with one of her witty comebacks.

  I was filled with renewed resolve. Like Jo, I’d do whatever it took to get vengeance. If it meant cashing in on a few favors, so be it.

  Kat had risked a lot to tell me about Diesel. What if I hadn’t believed her? At least I wasn’t the only one who saw through Diesel’s facade. Were she and I enough to make a difference? Maybe not. A crazy plan began to form in my mind. Diesel had to be exposed.

  No more death.

  No more lies.

  And just maybe the skills Diesel used me for would ultimately take him down.

  From the inside out.

  I took out my cell phone and started tracking down everything I could find about a school called Bishops Prep.

  NINE

  Jo had been bouncing around like she’d sucked back a flat of energy drinks at the prospect of a different disguise. But the moment we set foot on the golf-green grounds of Bishops Prep the day after our enlightening phone call, she flatlined.

  If I had to go in alone, so be it. I could work some razzle-dazzle on the general nerd masses, but something told me having Jo present would bring swift results from our mark. She paused at the imposing double doors granting entry to the illustrious Bishops Prep.

  I nudged her shoulder. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” she squeaked out. “I’m fine.”

  “Yeah right.”

  “We gonna do this?”

  Oh, now she was going all gangsta. I choked back a laugh and scanned the text again. “Let’s go. Security patrols the halls every fifteen minutes.”

  “That’s what the student ids are for.”

  My lips twisted. This wasn’t as simple as making a fake id to go clubbing. Any kid with a hacked copy of Photoshop could do that. Bishops Prep id cards used embedded-chip technology. Students swiped them through specific access points—zones I’d researched and intended to avoid. The school had a reputation to uphold. Some of the country’s richest families trusted the cards to keep their darling brats safe and sound. Protected from abduction attempts, terrorist activity and unwanted pregnancies. Yet Jo wanted to walk boldly inside and put her forgeries to the test.

  “I know what I’m doing,” she said. “The ids will pass inspection.”

  If they didn’t, alarms would trip and we’d be on the run from the school’s version of Homeland Security. “They catch us and these uniforms won’t help,” I said.

  I shouldn’t have brought our current wardrobe to Jo’s attention. While I was channeling my inner naughty Catholic schoolgirl, Jo pulled at the short gray skirt, white shirt and red tie, looking as comfortable as a priest in drag.

  “Wish I could wear my regular clothes,” she said.

  “We have to blend in or security will kick us out for sure.” I watched as she tugged at the hemline of her skirt.
“Stop it.” I jabbed her ribs with my elbow. “You’re going to get us caught.”

  Seriously, the girl had nothing to worry about. Her ensemble suited her just fine—in fact, our mark just might melt in a pool of saliva at her feet. “You clean up nice,” I said.

  I didn’t have time to nurse Jo along. That had been my mistake with Supersize—taking things too slow. Not allowing him to trust his own abilities. We had to move. I put a hand to her back and pressed her forward. “Go.”

  Inside, I sucked in a few deep breaths, light-headed until my system adjusted. I had called on a friend to do some research. Big Bang—as he called himself—went to a cross-town private school and was only too happy to get me what I needed. His research had told us about some of the unusual perks at Bishops Prep. Like the crazy security and the enhanced air—an infusion of oxygen and nitrogen. And whoa. This place packed a punch. But our only choice was to meet with Jo’s mark face-to-face. She’d tried a few times, and he kept giving her the brush-off. Time to help Jo stand out and get noticed. Jo was used to staying in the background, but today I was pushing her out of her comfort zone and into the world of dude-you-can’t-avoid-me-any-longer.

  Jo took a few moments to steady herself, but finally she met my gaze. Her eyes were sort of glazed over. Time to rip off the Band-Aid. “You going to stand there or work?” I needed her sharp.

  My harsh tone seemed to snap her out of it. “Let’s go,” she said.

  I skimmed the text once more. “He should be in a part of the cafeteria called Lounge A. Down the hall, to the left.” I fired her a glare. She was such a newbie.

  We slipped down the hall and arrived at the cafeteria. For the socially awkward, it was the equivalent of the scary basement in every horror movie ever made. Jo looked about to lose it. “You need a minute?”

  “No,” she gasped.

  “Let’s go.”

  We weaved through the crowd. I spotted a few banners mounted on the walls. They weren’t for the usual football and basketball championships, but for year after year of zone and provincial rankings in brainiac events like robotics, chess tournaments, young inventors. No wonder Big Bang hadn’t had to do much digging to get me the information I’d needed about Bishops Prep’s security and layout. I’d asked him for information about his school’s fiercest competition. He probably had backup servers filled with all kinds of obscure details.

  “See him?” Jo’s voice, low and tense.

  I frowned and eyed the largest throng of kids gathered around a few tables. We were close—I knew it. “Go right. I’ll go left. He’s got to be here.”

  We spotted him at the same time. He was staring down some nerdling over a chessboard, surrounded by card-carrying members of the four-eyes club. I’d never seen so many spectacles outside an optical store.

  Jo’s nerves were getting the better of her. “How do you want to play this?” she asked as I moved up beside her.

  I grinned. “Bond him.”

  Jo blinked. “Bond?”

  “James Bond.” I shrugged. “Bond-girl him.”

  “You think that’ll work?”

  “He’s a guy, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” She sounded uncertain.

  “You go left, I’ll go right. Angel and devil. Got it?”

  She frowned. “Like good girl, bad girl?”

  I laughed. “More like bad Bond girl”—I jerked a thumb in her direction—“and badder Bond girl”—I pointed both thumbs at myself.

  We parted ways, and I moved through the crowd, sexing it up for the boys with a bit of sass to my stride. They ate it up. I grinned back at them.

  We flanked Jace, closing in on him in unison.

  I put my hand on his right shoulder. Jo did the same to his left. A hush settled over the crowd, and an audible gulp came from the kid across the table.

  I bent close, pretending to whisper sweet nothings into his ear.

  And let him have it.

  “Well, hello there, Clark Kent…I mean Jace. It’s your two-for-one package deal of kryptonite dropping in for a little 3-D face time.” While he barely spared me a glance, his eyes flickered with awareness as Jo shoved her chest into his shoulder. She was really pulling out all the stops, managing to do more than look the part. I think she was actually getting into it. She too began to whisper in Jace’s ear, draping her body around his like a second skin. For a girl who spent most of her time dressed as a boy, she had some serious moves.

  Frankly, I was impressed.

  So was Jace’s opponent, who appeared to be struggling to breathe, his eyes nearly popping from his skull as he watched us from across the board. He dropped his white knight in a kamikaze move that made me cringe.

  “Sorry to interrupt your little game,” I told Jace. “I know you probably wanted to win fair and square. Isn’t it amazing the damage a bit of girl power can do?” I let out a low laugh for the gaping crowd. Jace barely noticed. He kept giving Jo furtive glances when she turned her head away. “Jo thinks you’re some kind of kindred spirit,” I said. “She might even be interested in you. And you’d like that. I can tell. We both know I’m not the one getting you hot and bothered right now.”

  His gaze met Jo’s for a long moment. While he was distracted, I swiped one of his fallen rooks from the edge of the table.

  “She’s a sweet kid,” I continued, smiling now that I had the advantage. Jace’s eyes narrowed. He could tell I was up to something. “So you just sit there and hear her out, or I will slip one of your captured pieces on the board and get you disqualified for cheating.”

  TEN

  We left Bishops Prep with a deal on the table. Jace would get the goods for Jo, and he’d also help me. Jo took the deal at face value, but then, she was new to such negotiations, and I’d been navigating around Diesel for years. If we were going to be putting our lives on the line, I needed more dirt on Jace. The guy with his little hacker friend, Bentley, was a giant mystery box I had to crack open.

  Later that night I scaled the wrought-iron fence that surrounded the Wyatt property. It was one thing to get Jo on Jace’s radar, but Diesel had taught me well. I didn’t do anything for anyone if there wasn’t something in it for me. And what I wanted Jace for was personal—I hadn’t let Jo in on the fact that I had more than helping her in mind when I acted as her wingman.

  The last thing I needed was her asking a million questions and getting in my face when it was her own neck she should be worrying about. I couldn’t stomach the thought of another innocent kid getting mixed up in this mess. And possibly getting seriously hurt. Jace and his hacker were another breed—one I could relate to—flawed and more of the criminal persuasion. We knew what we were getting into and accepted the risks.

  I began my descent, mindful of the security cameras dotting the fenceposts. I’d reached the side door to the four-car garage and was just about to start working on the lock when a deep voice cut through the night.

  “Stop right there. I have a gun.”

  I started to hold up my hands, then laughed and dropped them to my hips. “No you don’t. Anyone with a gun doesn’t need to announce to the world that he has one.” I spun to face Jace. He stood on the driveway, still wearing his prep-school uniform. He held a broom like he was about to crack a home run with the mother of all dust balls—my head.

  I squinted at the broom.

  Jace squinted at me, and recognition slid over his face, like he’d spotted a spider on the floor. One he thought he’d already stomped on. “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Roll out the welcome wagon, why don’t you. Wait a minute.” I let out another laugh. “Is that a freaking Quidditch broom?” I put my hands back up in the air. “I come in peace. No need to bring out the magic.”

  Jace stared at the makeshift weapon in his hands. He tossed the broom aside. Its bristles caught on the manicured bushes lining the driveway, and the broom dangled a few feet off the ground.

  Like maybe it did have the power of flight.

  “That�
�s not mine.” He crossed his arms defensively across his chest.

  “Ri-ight,” I drawled.

  “What are you doing here? No one has this address.”

  “That’s not exactly true. Your school records say you’re living in the penthouse suite of a high-rise downtown, and yet it sits practically empty. This place, where you spend most of your time when you’re not strong-arming your way through a chess game, was a bit tougher to find, but not mission impossible.” I smiled.

  Jace smiled back. “That would be really great, if my home were some secret fortress of solitude. But it’s just a house.”

  “A really big, gigantic house that you were trying to keep a secret. I think that qualifies.”

  A scowl replaced Jace’s smile. “I don’t know what you want, but I’m not interested. Get the hell off my property.” He turned on his heel and started for the house. His easy dismissal of me had my back up.

  I got down to business.

  “Someone I cared about died. But he’s dead, and I’ll never see him again. And the worst thing is…it was my fault.” My voice was soft, but my words hit Jace like a hook snags a fish. Reeling him in. His steps slowed. He turned to face me. Walked back toward me until only a few feet separated us. “I told him to trust a man the way I did. Blindly. The man—Diesel—was like a father to me. To them. But it was all a lie.”

  “I know what it’s like to be lied to.” Jace’s fists clenched at his sides.

  “I thought you might.”

  “So what do you want to do about it?”

  “There are others like me, kids who put their faith in Diesel. They need to know what he really is. That’s what I want. Him. Exposed.” I held out the list I’d prepared. “These are the few who made it out.” I gave a low laugh. “Or so he said. He set them free, let them lead normal lives, and they never looked back.” I swallowed hard. “I need to know they’re safe. I’ve given you everything I know about them. What they let slip about their lives before, bits of their real names, real lives. If you and your hacker friend could find them…”