Unfortunately, their next game, and the final one of the day, wasn’t nearly as fun. It was against a team called Missfits Fastpitch and the Missfits’ pitcher was amazing. Her name was Paige Parker and she was a tall, thin girl with long, brown hair. Over the years, Kiana had faced a lot of pitchers but she had never faced anyone who could throw as hard as Paige. The ball sounded like it was exploding every time it hit the catcher’s mitt. And if the velocity wasn’t enough, Paige also had pinpoint precision and could aim the ball exactly where she wanted it to go.
“This girl is the real deal,” Kiana said as she watched Paige warm up.
“Tell me about it,” Stacy said. “The last time we faced her, she struck me out three times. It was brutal.”
Stacy wasn’t kidding. Paige was completely overpowering and she struck out the LadyCats’ first six batters, including Kiana. Kiana managed to foul one pitch away but the other two blazed by her so fast she could barely see them.
So the game was pretty much a disaster from the start. The Missfits took the lead in the third inning when their shortstop hit a double, scoring a runner from first, and they scored two more runs in the fourth when their first baseman hit a single to the gap in left center. In the meantime, Paige continued to blow the LadyCats’ batters down, one by one. Veronica managed to get a single off of her in the fourth inning, to break up the potential no-hitter, but that was the best they could do and the final score was 3-0.
Overall, though, Kiana was still pretty happy. Two wins in three games was pretty good, and to her it just felt good to get back on a field and play some games again.
But then something completely unexpected happened. Kiana had just rounded up her belongings and packed them into her softball bag, and she was walking toward the parking lot where Michael and Christine were waiting for her, when she heard a voice from a few feet away.
“Amanda? Is that you?”
Kiana froze in her tracks. Amanda was a name she had not heard for a long time.
She turned and her eyes got big as she realized who was speaking. It was a player from one of the California teams that was participating in the tournament. Kiana recognized her instantly. Her name was Taylor Danielson and they had been teammates a few years back when they had both played for a team called the Orange County Ladybugs. They had never been super good friends and they had only known each other for one season, since they had moved onto different teams the following year, but even so, it was clearly her.
“I can’t believe it,” Taylor said. “Everyone said you died. Something about a car accident.”
Kiana was instantly torn. She really wanted to talk to Taylor and ask her how her friends in southern California were doing, but then she remembered she couldn’t. Doing so was a security breach that could jeopardize her new identity. And if her new identity was jeopardized, she might be forced to get a new one, and then she and Michael would be forced to move again (which was something she absolutely did not want to do).
“The other girls aren’t going to believe this,” Taylor said. “I can’t wait to tell them.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled her cell phone out.
Kiana had to think on her feet.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“I can’t wait to tell the other girls. Back home. They’re gonna flip when they find out you’re alive. But of course they’re probably not going to believe me at first. We’ll have to send them a photo.”
“Back home? What do you mean?”
“Anaheim. Where we’re from.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m from Seattle. I’ve lived here my entire life. My name is Kiana.”
There was a long, awkward silence as Taylor stood there, looking at her with a dumbfounded expression on her face. It was clear she was confused, and for a few brief seconds Kiana was convinced she wasn’t going to buy it. But finally, and much to Kiana’s delight, she did.
“That’s amazing. You look just like a girl I used to know. Her name was Amanda Anderson. The two of you could have been twins.”
Kiana was instantly relieved but she tried to stay cool and not give anything away. “I must have a common face. I’ve had the same thing happen a couple of times before.”
Taylor shook her head. It was obvious she was still mystified. “You sound like her, too.”
Kiana shrugged. “Sorry. I’m not her. And I really need to be going. My dad is waiting for me.”
“Okay. Sorry if I bugged you.”
“No problem.”
Kiana slipped her bag over her shoulder and hurried off as fast as she could. She didn’t want to be around Taylor any longer than she had to. She felt terrible about lying to her and she knew the longer their conversation continued, the more lies she would have to tell.
That was one of the few things Kiana hated about being a secret agent. You had to lie to people, sometimes frequently, and sometimes those people were your friends.
Chapter 25
Pavel Voronov stood in his compound’s main research laboratory, which was located underground, directly below one of the compound’s largest warehouses. The room was brightly lit and filled with medical and research equipment, including several cylindrical glass canisters on the far wall that were filled with human bodies. Dr. Charles Zander, who had arrived at the complex two weeks earlier, stood in the middle of the room near an operating table. Several assistants, including a nurse and two medical technicians, stood to his sides. Zander was a tall, thin man with disheveled hair and a thick, gray beard. His most distinguishing feature was his head, which appeared to be much too big for his body. Voronov watched wide-eyed as Zander continued his most recent experiment. Strapped to the operating table was a wiry man named Enrico Rosales. Enrico had once been part of the local work force that had helped build Voronov’s compound, but now that the compound had been completed he was serving a new and, as far as Voronov and Zander were concerned, much more useful purpose.
But he wasn’t doing it voluntarily. He had been captured by Voronov’s assistant, Dimitri Nikitin, the day before and brought to the laboratory specifically for the day’s experiment.
Zander held a large syringe in one hand. It was filled with a thick, gray liquid and it had a long needle attached to one end. He lowered it to Enrico’s arm and prepared to inject it. The minute it got near Enrico’s skin, Enrico started to panic and he thrashed about madly, pleading desperately in Spanish for his life.
He hadn’t volunteered for the experiment and he knew nothing about it, but even so he knew enough to know nothing good was going to come of it.
Unfortunately, his pleas fell on deaf ears. Zander smiled, then said one thing in response. “Don’t worry, my friend. The pain will not last for long.”
Much to Enrico’s dismay, Zander injected the syringe’s contents, then stepped back to observe the results. At first, it seemed as though nothing had happened and Enrico was greatly relieved. Ever so slowly, he calmed down and he stopped thrashing about. A small, thankful smile formed on his lips.
Voronov’s response was completely different. “What’s going on? Why isn’t it working?”
“I’m still in the process of perfecting it,” Zander said. “It may take a while to work its way through his bloodstream. I thought it would be quicker but there are many factors to -”
He never got a chance to finish his sentence. Without warning, Enrico’s eyes glazed over and his entire body went rigid. Saliva started to drip from the corners of his mouth, his eyes went closed, and he started to moan as though he were experiencing intense waves of pain. Less than a minute after that, seizures began. He started to flop around on the table and he screamed loudly, painfully as he did.
And then he died. As quickly as it all began, it stopped, and he lay there, completely motionless. The medical monitoring equipment hooked to him started to whine loudly and the one that monitored his heartbeat showed a flatline on its uppermost display.
“Excellent,” Voronov said.
“Excellent indeed. How much longer?”
“It’s hard to say,” Zander responded. “The earlier attempts, at least the successful ones, took anywhere from five to fifteen minutes.”
“How many have been successful?”
“Roughly half. But the percentage is getting better with each subsequent attempt. I assure you, Mr. Voronov, a few more weeks and I will have the formula perfected just the way you want.”
The two men turned their attention back to Enrico and waited silently for what would happen next. Much to their delight, their time was not wasted, not in the least. Approximately ten minutes after Enrico died, the most amazing thing happened.
He opened his eyes.
The minute he began moving, both men turned their attention to the medical monitoring equipment. As before, and despite the fact Enrico was moving about, the equipment showed a flatline.
Zander turned to Voronov. There was a triumphant, wicked smile on his face. His voice was filled with excitement as he said, “Long live the undead.”
Chapter 26
Kiana hated to admit it but she was a stalker. After her disastrous date with Tyler, she had decided she needed to try some more with Jacen, since he was the boy she really liked, so she decided to give Stacy’s idea some additional attempts. As such, she nonchalantly followed Jacen around school all week, trying to stay close enough to him so he would finally get a chance to talk to her and (hopefully) ask her out. And, finally, after what seemed like dozens of fruitless attempts, it worked.
Well, kinda.
It was their lunch break and he was sitting with some of his friends at a table in the school’s cafeteria, and Kiana was standing a few feet away, facing the other direction, pretending she was texting something to her friends. In reality, she was just watching the reflection on the face of the phone to see if he had noticed her. Much to her delight, he looked over, thought about it for a couple of seconds, then stood up and walked over to her.
“Kiana. We’ve never formally met. I’m Jacen.”
Her heart raced the second he said her name. She couldn’t believe it. They were finally talking. Now if only she had something worthwhile to say to him in response.
“Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”
It was a little bland but it was the best she could do at the time.
“Likewise. I just wanted to say, I know you’ve probably heard this a lot already, but anyway, that was great what you did with Brett. He was a huge problem around here before you came along.”
“No problem. It was nothing. And you know what I always say, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
She regretted it the minute she said it. It was so corny. What had she been thinking? If it had been possible, she would have kicked herself in the head right there on the spot.
But Jacen didn’t seem to care.
“Brett is a completely different person now. Look.”
He pointed at Brett who was sitting on the far side of the cafeteria with a bunch of the band members, talking. One of them, a really smart kid named Rory Stevens, was helping him with a math assignment.
“That would have never happened a month ago,” Jacen said. “I heard he’s even been going around apologizing to people. Admitting he was a complete jerk and offering to make it up to them.”
“Really?” That was news to Kiana.
“No one’s certain why. Some people think he’s finally realized the error of his ways and is trying to make up for it. Others say you kicked him so hard you finally knocked some sense into his big, dumb head. Either way, it’s made this school a much better place and we’re all grateful.”
They stood there for a second and it was actually somewhat awkward. Kiana wanted to say something, but she was petrified she was going to say something stupid again. She cringed every time she thought about her last statement. But then she realized she had to say something and she had to say it quickly, otherwise she might never get another chance. And for a brief second, it looked like Jacen was going to say something more, but then, much to Kiana’s chagrin, it looked like he was going to turn and leave.
She realized that was her big chance, and maybe it was going to be her only chance. If she didn’t do something then, she would regret it for the rest of her life. No matter how hard it was, no matter how badly she might bite her lip in the process, she was going to say it.
“Would you go to dinner with me?”
She had never felt so relieved in her entire life. It had been extremely difficult, and she had basically had to force the words out of her mouth, but she had somehow, miraculously, managed to say it.
But then she realized something. At the very same moment she had spoken, Jacen had spoken, too. And he had said the exact same thing she had said.
Both of their eyes got big as they realized what had happened. And as they realized it, they both said, “Yes.”
And then they both said, “When?”
And then they both said, “Where?”
And then they started laughing.
To someone on the outside looking in, it probably looked pretty stupid, and it was undoubtedly one of the strangest, most awkward conversations in the history of the world, but Kiana didn’t care. After all, she wasn’t going for style points. All she was trying to do was get a date with Jacen.
Finally, when they stopped laughing at themselves, things started to calm down and smooth out a little. Jacen spoke first. “You can probably tell I’m not like a lot of guys. I’m not very good at this type of thing. I’ve never been very good when it comes to asking people out.”
“I’m not very good at it either,” Kiana said. “You can probably tell.”
He smiled. “To be perfectly honest, I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while, but I just didn’t have the courage. You’re so famous around here, and so popular, I just assumed you’d want to go out with a football player or a rich kid.”
“I don’t like football players or rich kids. Well, no, wait, I do, really, but I like you better. I’ve wanted to ask you out forever. Actually I wanted you to ask me, but either way is fine.”
“Is that why you’ve been following me around all week?”
Kiana’s heart stopped. “You knew about that? You could tell I was following you around?”
“It took me a while but it wasn’t too hard to figure out. Every time I turned around there you were, standing with your back to me, texting.”
Kiana felt her cheeks get red. She had rarely been so embarrassed. She couldn’t believe he had figured it out. “Please take note I don’t normally stalk people. You’re the only one ever.”
He grinned. “I’m honored. But I’d be even more honored if you’d go out to dinner with me on Friday. There’s this little place in Snohomish I’ve wanted to try, everyone says it’s amazing. It’s called -”
She was so excited she didn’t even let him finish.
“I’d love to.”
He laughed. “I didn’t tell you its name yet.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’d love to go.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up at your place at 6:00 pm if that’s okay.”
“It’s perfect.”
He was about to turn away, to return to the table with his friends, but he hesitated. There was a small glint of concern in his eyes.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“There have been stories going around about your date last week with Tyler. Apparently something happened and he ended up peeing his pants.”
Kiana’s eyes got big. She couldn’t believe he knew about that. How had he found out? Tyler must have said something because she hadn’t mentioned a thing to anyone.
“You have nothing to worry about. I don’t usually make my dates pee their pants.”
He nodded but he still didn’t look completely reassured. “Okay. I just wanted to make sure. It’s kinda strange you know?”
At that, they parted ways, and as Kiana walked back to the table wher
e her friends sat she could not have been happier. She couldn’t believe it but against all of the odds she had finally done it.
She had gotten a date with the boy of her dreams.
Chapter 27
Jacen picked Kiana up for their date at 6:00 pm on Friday evening and took her to a restaurant called the Trail’s End Taphouse. It was a nice place in a nearby town called Snohomish, which was about fifteen minutes east of Mill Creek. The restaurant was festive and absolutely packed so they had to wait for about twenty minutes to be seated. Finally they got a table on the far side of the room, near the entrance to the kitchen. They ordered some appetizers and drinks to start things, then got their meals about ten minutes later. Kiana ordered the salmon with mashed potatoes and it was heavenly. The salmon was perfectly cooked and it melted in her mouth, and the mashed potatoes were flavored with garlic and butter, which to her was a combination made in heaven. Jacen ordered a chicken breast with a side of broccoli and carrots.
“I heard the chef here used to work at one of the fancy restaurants in downtown Seattle,” he said. “He’s world-class.”
“I can tell,” Kiana said. “These mashed potatoes are to die for. How is your chicken breast?”
“It’s excellent. But then again, I’ve always liked breasts.”
His eyes got big the minute he recognized what he had said.
“I meant chicken breasts. Not women’s breasts. But then again, I like those, too. I guess.”
There was a look of complete disbelief in his eyes. Clearly, he couldn’t believe what he had just said.
Kiana Cruise Page 12