White Knights

by Julie Moffett

  For a while, I sat, blindly staring at my computer and thinking. My father worked for the NSA? If so, why hadn’t anyone mentioned that? Did my mom know? Was it a state secret or something?

  My head was spinning, so I decided to relax on the bed for a few minutes. The next thing I knew, I woke up with my mom sitting beside me. It was dark in my room, but light spilled in from the hallway.

  “Mom?” I said, sitting up in alarm. “What happened?”

  She smoothed my hair down. “What happened is I came home from work to find you sound asleep. You’ve been burning the candle at both ends, so I let you sleep. Your dinner is in the fridge. Would you like me to warm it up?”

  I rubbed my eyes and pushed the hair off my shoulders. “What time is it?”

  “Nine o’clock.”

  “Nine o’clock?” My mouth dropped open. “I slept three hours?”

  “You’re exhausted.” My mom put her hand on my shoulder. “Are you feeling okay, Angel? You seem so driven lately. I know you’re taking this accident with Mr. Matthews very hard.”

  I struggled to sit up, then reached over and snapped on the lamp. Both my mom and I blinked in the harsh light.

  I shielded my eyes for a moment. “I guess I was more tired than I thought.”

  She patted my arm. “I’m glad you got some rest.”

  I tugged on my blanket, pulling it up on my knees. “Mom, can I ask you a question? Did Dad work for the government?”

  She looked at me curiously. “Why would you ask that?”

  “I’m just wondering.”

  “No. Your dad worked for King’s Security. You know that.”

  “He never worked for the NSA?”

  Her eyes gave her away. Surprise, concern, but also…fear. My heart sank. She was hiding something from me.

  “Angel, he worked for King’s Security as an engineering analyst.”

  “Mom, I know you’re not telling me something. Who was Dad?”

  Her chin came up and her expression tightened. “He was a wonderful man who loved his family very much. He wouldn’t want this for you—this obsession with finding him. I don’t want this for you either. Please, drop it.”

  I twisted a corner of the blanket between my fingers and said nothing. I wouldn’t lie to my mom.

  After a moment, she sighed. “You’re headed to college next year. Your whole life is in front of you. It’s time to focus on what’s ahead of you, not on what’s behind, okay? It’s time to move on.”

  I lifted my gaze. “Then why are you still wearing your wedding ring?”

  “This is not about me. I’m asking you from the bottom of my heart to leave your father in the past.”

  “I can’t,” I finally said. “Mom, I can’t and I won’t.”

  She sighed, then stood and leaned over to kiss the top of my head. “You’re a lot like your father. I’m always here if you need me, okay?”

  I needed her now, to tell me the truth, to tell me what really happened to my father. But since that wasn’t going to happen, I nodded. “Thanks.”

  A bit later I came out for dinner. We ate and talked as if we’d never had the conversation about Dad. After we did the dishes together, Mom watched television while finished my homework and went to bed…again. Before I turned out the light, I checked my phone and email. Thankfully, I had no earth-shattering texts from either Wally or Frankie. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

  That night when I slept, I dreamed I was being chased by a shadowed figure of a man. When he ran into the light, it wasn’t my father as I’d expected, just a horde of prosthetic legs. I woke gasping and unrested.

  I needed answers, and fast.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  ISAAC REMINGTON

  NSA Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland

  Isaac got the alert when he was in his daily morning briefing. He excused himself from the meeting, left the building, and drove to the parking lot of a local Mexican restaurant before pulling out his burner phone and ringing his contact.

  “What’s so urgent?” he snapped as soon as his call was answered.

  “Sorry, sir. A few hours ago, a penetration attempt was made at one of our satellite offices, King’s Security. It’s where the Avenger worked before he disappeared. The hack was traced back to Wallace Harris, one of the classmates of the daughter and the kid responsible for the DoD hack.”

  Frustration and rage swept through him. “Who the heck are these kids?”

  “No worries, sir. The penetration was unsuccessful, but Harris deduced enough information from the attempt to identify the agency. A subsequent phone call from Harris to the girl confirms he informed her of the association. She has not yet attempted her own penetration or taken any other steps to follow up on this discovery. But this means she is now aware of a possible association of her father to the agency.”

  Isaac’s initial dismay faded, and his mouth stretched into a smile. “Good. That may work for us. Is the honeypot ready to go?”

  “Yes. We uploaded the bogus content last night. That was the hardest part—finding unclassified information that appears to be relevant, but not too helpful. We don’t want her suspicious.”

  “Given how thorough she seems to be, it shouldn’t take too long for her to find the bread crumbs that will lead her to the pot.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I always am.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  ANGEL SINCLAIR

  Unfortunately for me, things went from bad to worse at school.

  Wally and Frankie were waiting by my locker as usual. Frankie’s hair was styled in two braids and dotted with green and white beads. I surprised myself by barely thinking twice about it.

  “How many powdered-sugar bullets were you guys able to make last night?” I asked, spinning the combination lock. “I’m in for helping tonight as needed.”

  “No need.” Frankie held up her hands, as did Wally. They were stained red. “We finished. Two hundred and forty-two bullets. Half red, half gray. Wally and I are a great team.”

  I was impressed. “How long did it take you?”

  “About five hours. I ate dinner at Wally’s and he brought me home at ten. His family is so nice. Now my parents—and his—think we’re dating since we’re together so often. I let them think that, because it’s better than telling them the alternative.”

  She had a point. What would they tell their parents—“Sorry, Mom and Dad, we aren’t really dating, we’re busy hacking into police departments, hospitals, and tech companies to save our vice principal”?

  I lifted my hands. “It is what it is.”

  She smiled. “Exactly.”

  Frankie continually surprised me. I don’t think I’d ever met anyone so…easygoing. Did anything ever upset her?

  Wally rubbed his shoulder. “Well, I hate to be a downer, but I feel it’s my duty to point out that I checked the nothingbutthetruth.com website last night.”

  I let out a loud sigh. “Now what?”

  “This.” He took out his cell phone and pulled up the website. The lead story’s bold headline read Teenagers Look for Clues at BioLimbs for Answers to Vice Principal’s Accident.

  My mouth dropped open in shock. “What? Are you kidding me?”

  “I wish.”

  I quickly scanned the article. It mentioned Wally, me, and Frankie by name, mentioning we’d gone to BioLimbs to try to pin the blame for the accident on the company instead of Mr. Matthews. It wasn’t far from the truth, but how was this possible?

  “Who knew we went there?” My mind was racing. “Who’s spying on us?”

  “I don’t know.” Wally stuck the phone back in his pocket. “This totally sucks, though, and it’s not going to help Mr. Matthews’s case at all.”

  Red-hot anger flooded me. This had to stop. I clenched my jaw. “When did the article go up, Wally?”

  “I’m not sure. I noticed it after one o’clock last night. What are we going to do, Angel?”

&n
bsp; “I’m going to bring it down. Right now.”

  Frankie’s eyes widened. “But…we have class.”

  “I’m skipping. Wally, give me the keys to your car.”

  An alarmed expression crossed his face. “Why? You don’t even have a driver’s license.”

  “I’m not going to drive your car. I’m going to sit in it and do some work.”

  It took Wally a minute to get there. “You’re going to hack in my car?”

  “Yes.”

  Wally leaned back against the lockers. “It won’t stay down, Angel.”

  “I know, and I don’t care. But it will last at least seven hours while the owner of the website is in school. And it will serve as a warning.”

  “Owner?” Wally looked puzzled. “You know who the owner of the website is?”

  “There is only one person this could be,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Nic Nerezza.”

  When I’m determined, it’s amazing how quickly and efficiently I can get things done. I’d have to break into the school system later and reset my absence as being present, but that wouldn’t be a problem. I was more interested in seeing how quickly my handiwork—bringing down the website—was noticed.

  It happened faster than I expected.

  Nic ran into me when I was on my way to lunch. “You just did something really stupid.” He was furious, his different-colored eyes flashing with pure hate. I had no idea what I’d ever done to this guy to deserve this kind of malice. “How dare you.”

  “How dare I what?”

  “I know it was you. You took the website down.”

  “What website?” I hoped my expression looked innocent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He jabbed a finger at me. “It won’t stay down. It’ll be back up by dinner.”

  I lifted my shoulders in a show of nonchalance. But inside anger started to burn hot. “I’m flattered you think me capable of bringing down a website. You made my day.”

  Nic’s eyes narrowed. He was so angry red spots had appeared on his cheeks. “How did you know it was mine?”

  I figured my cheeks had red spots of their own. “I don’t know what you’re referring to, but if it’s a website that spouts lies, misinformation, and loads of crap, it’s easy to conclude it would have your fingerprints all over it.”

  He leaned toward me, literally seething. “You can’t stop me. I can play this game better than you.”

  “It’s not a game, Nic. It’s a person’s life. It’s time to stop this deranged competition you think we’re having. I’m willing to offer a truce.”

  He blinked, his expression wary. “Such as?”

  “You want to be valedictorian? Fine. It’s yours. I abdicate.”

  He laughed in disbelief. “You expect me to believe that? You want it more than me.”

  “No, I don’t. Honestly, I’m not even trying. If I gave my academics even one-tenth of my effort, you’d be blown to kingdom come. But I’m willing to continue the pretense and even ease back to let you slip past, if you do something for me in return.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What?”

  “Take down your stupid website and keep it down. Stop stalking my friends and me. That’s it. Pretty simple.”

  “What kind of deal is that?” He spread his hands. “You think I’d go for that? I know what this is all about. You’re scared.”

  “I don’t have time for this. Please, stop already. It’s pathetic and beyond sad. I already said you could be valedictorian.”

  “You don’t have to give it to me. I’ll earn it. You can forget about your stupid deal.”

  He stormed away, slamming a fist against a half-open locker and causing it to bang shut and then pop open again.

  Wow. I sure did have a way with people.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  ANGEL SINCLAIR

  I was shaking with anger by the time I got my lunch and sat at the table. Frankie and Wally were already eating.

  “You’re dope. No, better than dope.” Wally wagged a french fry at me. “You are the geek princess. Even I’m amazed by what you did, and I’m an excellent hacker. You’ll have to spill how you did it.”

  “That’s a discussion for another time. What’s important is that Nic knows it was me. He just confronted me about it in the hallway. He’s beyond pissed.”

  “How did he know it was you?” Frankie asked in astonishment. “Do you hackers have a weird kind of telepathy?”

  “No, Frankie. It’s a feeling I got when I reviewed the code, not to mention the content. Nic has a style. I have a style. After giving it some thought, I knew it was Nic, just as he knew it was me. This whole stupid obsession he has with me and wanting to be smarter is dragging Mr. Matthews down. It must stop. Now.”

  “I agree. But how?” Wally spun his fork in the middle of what sort of looked like spaghetti. “He’ll have the website up again by this evening.”

  “I know.” The anger, effort, and mental drive drained out of me. I was exhausted—mentally and physically. I hadn’t stopped Nic, but I’d given him fair warning, which was more than he’d ever done for me. “But now he’s going to have to take more precautions, be more on guard. That’s going to take time. Time we need to figure out how to help Mr. Matthews.”

  Frankie stabbed some canned green beans. “Well, when I was in the office this morning, Ms. Eder told Headmistress Swanson that she’s going to visit him after school.”

  I sat up straight. “We have to talk to him first.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’ll ask him if he’s guilty. If he says yes, she’ll fire him. She’ll have to fire him.”

  “But he already told the police he did it.”

  “He can’t be held accountable for what he said when he was under the influence of narcotics. At least, I hope not. We all know he didn’t do it on purpose. Who’s with me?”

  “I’m in, of course,” Frankie said, eating the rest of the beans off her fork. “My mom never expects me home after school these days anyway. Especially now that I’m dating Wally.”

  “You’re not dating Wally,” I said. “You’re fictitiously dating Wally.”

  “Whatever.” Frankie shrugged.

  “I’m cool with fictitious dating.” Wally grinned. “It’s the most dating I’ve ever done before. It looks like we’re going to the hospital after school.”

  “Not after school,” I said. “Before school ends. We must get there before Headmistress Swanson. We’ll leave before the last class of the day starts.”

  Wally and Frankie looked at me as if I’d grown two heads. I got their shock. They weren’t the skipping-school kind of students. I wasn’t, either. Today would be the first day I’d ever skipped a class in my life, and now I was going to make it three classes in one day.

  Who had I become?

  Frankie studied me. “You want me to skip PE?”

  “Yes.”

  She considered and then shrugged. “Okay, I can be a rebel. Wally, you’re coming, too, right?”

  “If you’re there, babe, I’m in, too.”

  I winced. “Guys, knock it off.”

  They started laughing, but Wally pointed his finger at me. “I’m giving you a heads-up. If we get in trouble, we’re blaming it on you.”

  “Fine. I’ll take one for the team.”

  We split up, with Wally going one way and Frankie and I heading down the same hallway.

  “Frankie, can I ask you a question?” I suddenly stopped, causing Frankie to pass me and then turn around to look at me curiously.

  “Sure. Go ahead.”

  I fidgeted with the strap of my backpack. “You’re not really dating Wally as part of the fake-dating thing, are you?” I winced as the words came out. Maybe she’d tell me it was none of my business. This friend thing was getting more complicated by the minute.

  She stared at me, puzzled. “Angel, are you asking me if I like Wally in a romantic way?”

  “Yes!” I blew out a breath. “Wow.
You make it sound so simple when you say it like that. I ask because I’m not good at figuring out nonverbal stuff like that. Are you pretending to date or are you pretending to pretend because you secretly like each other? It’s too confusing for me to process. If you’re really a couple, could you let me know? I can still pretend it’s fake, if that would appropriate.”

  She blinked and then laughed. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. We are just friends, Angel. Why? Do you like Wally?”

  “Of course I like Wally. I mean, not in a romantic way. He doesn’t feel that way about me, either. But he’s a great guy.”

  “He is. I’m glad we’re all friends.”

  “Me, too.”

  Now that the supreme awkwardness of that discussion was over, I had one less thing to be anxious about, although skipping school was a pretty big deal for someone like me. Even though the decision had been made, I was nervous for the rest of the day. Even Colt sensed something was wrong in chemistry.

  “Angel, is everything all right?” he whispered during the lecture. “You seem edgy.”

  I almost jumped out of my seat. I hadn’t heard a word the teacher had said. For a moment, I thought he’d called on me. But Colt was just asking about my well-being, so my heart calmed a bit.

  “I’m fine. Thanks for asking. I’m thinking…about stuff.”

  He didn’t talk to me much after that, which was fine with me. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to carry on much of a conversation anyway. As soon as the bell rang, I bolted out of the classroom. Colt probably thought I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had.

  I met Frankie and Wally at my locker as planned. Wally looked anxious. “I hope my mom doesn’t find out I skipped. I’ll get in a lot of trouble.”

  “It’s for a good cause,” Frankie reassured him. She looked at me. “Right, Angel?”

  “Right.” I had a twinge of worry that I was dragging them to the dark side. But in the scheme of things, it was important. We slipped out one of the school’s side doors and almost ran to Wally’s car. If guilt could kill, all three of us would be dead.

  Once we were on the way to the hospital, I gave them the entire replay of my conversation with Nic before lunch.