Prank Wars

by Fowers, Stephanie

  I froze. Was that a date—or? “I’m busy. I have something that belongs to Thanh and I need to return it to her.”

  “What’s that?”

  I got a call from Kali on the other line, and smiled viciously. Revenge was sweet. “Just a sec, Byron. I have to get this.” I clicked over, hoping my music was just as annoying as his.

  “I’m stuck,” she said.

  “Really? How bad?”

  “Pretty bad. There’s this guy and we sorta dated a couple of months ago and we, like, never officially broke up ’cause we never officially went out, ya know? And I told him I’d call him back, but I haven’t. And he tried to call me and I didn’t pick up and he texted me tons and now he’s here, so…”

  I leaned my head back in exasperation. “Where’s Byron?”

  “Brick Oven. He got out of his car and went in. There was no one with him and he didn’t take the phone off his ear the whole time. Maybe he’s meeting someone inside. Look, I’m parked outside. There’s seriously no way I can get out with that guy hanging around.”

  I sighed. Normally, a decoy like this was Lord Byron’s handiwork, but even this was too brilliant for him. This was just pure dumb luck. “Just go into the restaurant and if this guy sees you, just act stupid. It’s not that hard.”

  “I’m not stupid, Mad, okay? Thanks a lot!” She hung up on me. She seemed pretty sensitive about that lately.

  I clicked off on her line and gradually became aware of the restaurant sounds on the other line again, but there was no talking. It was either a really boring date or Byron knew I was back. “You there?” I asked him.

  “Yeah. Hey, I think I might see Thanh later on tonight. Why don’t you just let me deliver whatever it is you want to give her?”

  “Deliver what?” I asked.

  “Whatever it is that belongs to her.”

  “No, don’t go to all that trouble. You’re on a date.” He didn’t deny or confirm. We were going nowhere, and yet, I got the germ of an idea. “Maybe I can drop her stuff off at her lab?”

  It seemed like he was holding his breath. “You could.”

  “I could just leave what she wants under the doormat.” He was silent. It was like setting a trap for a particularly clumsy and stupid bear...a dangerous bear. “By the way, what’s your favorite food?” I asked.

  “Pizza.” Not Chinese, huh? Sandra knew nothing about him. “Why?”

  “No reason.” I saw a shadow streak past the glass window on the dryer. With every ounce of control I had, I kept myself from recoiling. Whatever the reflection was, the actual thing was behind me. I felt my back arch at the danger. Maybe it was Tory, but what if it wasn’t? Whoever had been in Thanh’s apartment knew who I was. He had been in my apartment and took that backpack and now he was mad. What if he couldn’t wait until tonight to take me out? I watched the figure through the glass. It streaked towards me. I screamed and jerked around. Eric jumped back, almost dropping his laundry.

  “Eric!” I stood up. “I thought you were Tory. Sorry! I’m so sorry!”

  He smiled, wearily setting his laundry down by his Nikes. He looked like one of my soldiers in his green cargo pants. “You really don’t like her, do you?”

  “Of course I like her.”

  “Mad! What’s going on?” Byron asked. I remembered belatedly that he was on the line.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just Eric. Gotta go.”

  “Madeleine, wait.”

  “Hey, tell Thanh where I’m putting that stuff she’s missing, okay?” I hung up on him. Byron would be officially out of the way when he searched for the keys under the doormat. As if I would ever leave them out in the open. He wasn’t dealing with nursery kids anymore.

  “Hey.” Eric began throwing his clothes into the washer. “You’re not talking about the same Thanh I work with, are you?”

  And that’s when he had my full attention. Now I knew the reason behind Eric and my surreptitious meeting. It was destiny. He was the only way I could help Thanh. I stepped in front of him, blocking him from going anywhere. “Your lab? You work in the same lab. You do experiments in your lab. All of you.”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  Maybe that’s where the keys belonged, to something in there. “You lock up your experiments?”

  He watched me like I was crazy, but his lip curled up. At least he was enjoying this. “Yeah, we don’t want anyone getting into our stuff. Some of us are working on some pretty intense stuff.”

  Thanh’s keys fit somewhere in there. She was a grad student, wasn’t she? She was working on experiments. Could that be what these people wanted? Whatever these keys opened could be what these bad guys were looking for. If I could get to it first, I’d have something to negotiate with to get Thanh back. “Take me to your lab,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “Top secret.”

  “Oh no.” Eric backed away, but his dancing eyes betrayed him. I could tell I still amused him—at least that. “Don’t get me involved in this.”

  “Please!” I tried to think of a good way to get him to do it. Feminine wiles were beyond me. Before I started begging, my phone vibrated and I got a text from Kali. I could use a few flirting tips from her. Unfortunately I couldn’t text fast enough to ask. I scanned through her message: “I’ve got Byron in sight. He’s on a date with Sandra.”

  I almost dropped the phone. Sandra had been defensive about him. Still none of this made sense. It didn’t fit his cover at all....unless he was regular old Byron on a regular old date. My heart fell. No. If that was true, player Byron was better than the alternative. It just didn’t feel better. Sandra didn’t like him for real. He didn’t really like her. Why was I feeling this jealousy? I mean, I couldn’t have planned it better if I had ordered Sandra on the assignment myself…if he even needed to be distracted.

  I slanted a look at Eric, knowing I had to figure this out. “This isn’t part of a prank war. I’ve been missing my purse since I went up to your lab. I think it’s still there.”

  Eric smirked at me. For some reason, he didn’t seem to believe me, but after a moment, he nodded. “Just as soon as I put my laundry in.” He gave a cheerful laugh. “Don’t try anything funny, Madeleine.”

  What was that supposed to mean?

  Chapter Four

  Day 113

  1932 hours

  “What I see is not what you see.”

  —Madeleine’s War Journal Entry (Tuesday, June 5th).

  Tory, of all people who should believe this wasn’t some stupid prank war anymore, was still in the testing center. I texted her and told her to get over here. She probably wouldn’t get it until it was too late. Curse chemistry. I texted Lizzie to hurry with the twins, Kali to bring my car back, Sandra to keep Byron busy. Oh yeah, I’m onto you, Sandra. Pretty much I was going solo on this mission—well, besides Eric’s company, and he had no idea what danger we were in. I slung my backpack over my shoulder, wondering how to keep it that way. The squeaks of our shoes against the marble staircase broke the silence on our way through the Eyring building, past the dinosaurs, the vortex cannon, the wave-a-tron.

  The setting sun of this frustrating day filled the windows with orange and pink light, but was extinguished the farther down we went to Eric’s underground lab. I avoided his eyes as I worked out my strategy. Searching the lab like I was looking for my purse could only take me so far, especially when I started testing out the keys on everything I could find. Far too soon, we reached the lab. Instead of opening it, Eric rounded on me. “Are you really missing your purse?” His voice echoed through the empty hall.

  I could lie or— “Why else would I force you to come all this way?”

  “I was hoping it was an excuse to get me alone.”

  I tried not to shake my head so violently. In a different world where I liked to exercise and I was a lot better at flirting that might be possible. Eric was very attractive. His smile was infectious, and his strong hand was over mine. Wait. It was. He turned my hand over in his. H
is hazel eyes probed mine and I couldn’t look away. He leaned closer and I could smell his familiar scent; it drew me in. He rubbed his thumb over my fingers. “Do you have a problem with this?” I wasn’t sure. “You’re fascinating,” he said. “Do you know that? What are you doing tonight?”

  I was getting killed. I tried to pull away without hurting his feelings. “I’m not doing anything if I can’t find my purse.”

  “Don’t worry.” He smiled with perfect teeth. “I’ll pay.”

  For what? I laughed nervously. “We’ll talk who pays after we get this door open.” I was proud of my noncommittal answer, but I think it only encouraged him. His arm rested on the door behind me, his blue sleeve tightened over his bicep. He seemed very big all of a sudden. I twisted the knob behind me, but it was locked. I felt claustrophobic. “Don’t you have the keys?” I asked. “We should go inside.”

  “That might give us a little more privacy.”

  Wait. No! The femme fatale act just wasn’t working for me. “Look, I really don’t have time right now. If you could just get this door open ...”

  “Oh, I think I’m missing my keys,” he said in a lazy voice. “You don’t happen to have an extra set, do you?” Well, I had the ones that belonged to Thanh, but that hardly counted. I studied his amused face. He had no intention of letting me in, did he? Was this his idea of cute? Well, it was annoying.

  “Ah lovely. I see you’re in good hands.” I recognized that low sarcastic tone—and the faint accent. I peered over Eric’s arm. Byron was breathing hard like he had run a far distance to get here. He didn’t look like a spy, just a regular college student in white tee and jeans, so why was my pulse reacting this way? He was supposed to be with Sandra. He was probably really dangerous. Not probably—he was, so he needed to stop affecting me like this. “Having some trouble?” he asked. Now that he had us in sight, Byron slowed, coming towards us like the most relaxed guy in the world.

  After one glance at Eric’s dark expression, I kinda wished Byron would hurry. “Yeah, my purse is in the lab. Eric was going to let me in, but he forgot his keys.”

  “Hmm.” Byron leaned over the both of us, which made things a little crowded. “Do you mind?”

  Much to my relief, Eric jerked away from me. Super arch-villain or not, Byron was my knight in shining armor. I tried not to show how glad I was to see him. He would probably kill me along with Eric once he got what he wanted—though looking at his familiar face, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.

  Eric glared at Byron, not happy with the third wheel. I couldn’t explain myself, so I avoided talking. Byron studied the number lock to the side of us. Before I could suggest some possible number combinations to break the code, he ripped the number pad open and found a key behind it. My eyes almost jolted out of their sockets. “How did you know that was there?” I asked.

  “Janitorial job. These things are all over the place.”

  Yeah, right! I didn’t question him though. Byron was getting me inside and away from Eric and for now that was all I cared about. He unlocked the door and let us in. Strangely enough, Eric wasn’t making a fuss. I saw the confusion on his face. He wasn’t the only one. Byron was helping me, so what was the catch? We wandered inside Eric’s lab while I tried to figure out where and how to start. The room was stifling hot. Eric planted his feet firmly in the doorway. “Do you see your purse, Madeleine?”

  Byron turned to me with a knowing look. “This is about Thanh, isn’t it?”

  I shrugged. Of course it was. “Why the interest, Byron? You wouldn’t happen to know where she is?”

  “Not really.” He didn’t bother to bring up my lies about seeing her earlier. “She didn’t show up to our study group today. That’s not like her.”

  “When did you have a study group?” I had been tracking him all day. There had been no pit stop at the school.

  “Early.”

  “What time?” I checked under a stack of papers and opened the filing cabinet. Byron hesitated then smiled. Now he knew I was onto him. I stuck my ear next to the wall, listening. “You’re dating Sandra again, I see.”

  “Yeah, about that.” He leaned his fist against the desk. “Should I be concerned? Kali is stuck in your car right now. She hasn’t left it for a while.”

  Eric’s fingers dug into the door handle. “What’s going on?”

  “Byron’s an idiot,” I explained.

  Byron didn’t look insulted. “Never listen to Mad, she’s a consummate liar.” I brushed past him, trying to find what I was looking for. I landed on the ground, searching under the desk. Byron didn’t bother to help. He glanced over at Eric. “Where’s your research?”

  “Top secret,” Eric reminded him with an arrogant lift of his shoulders.

  Byron smirked. I popped away from the desk, trying to imagine what those bad guys wanted. What did Thanh have that they didn’t? I lifted up a Book of Mormon from the shelf. No, nice thought though.

  Byron passed me and tapped me on the forehead. “Hurry up. We’re on a tight schedule.” I scowled in response.

  “Are you sure it’s in here?” Eric complained.

  I waved at my flushed face. “It’s getting hot,” I muttered.

  Byron laughed. “Would you like me to leave?”

  “Yeah,” I said, “…and get a fan while you’re at it! Why don’t you help me instead of just standing around?”

  “Help you find what?”

  “Her purse,” Eric answered in a hard voice.

  I wandered back to the desk. “Maybe your lab partners thought the purse belonged to Thanh,” I mumbled out an excuse for such a thorough search, “—and they put it in here.” I opened the drawers, but there was nothing that looked like it needed to be opened with a key. No fake bottoms or backs to the drawers either.

  “Are you sure about this?” Eric asked.

  Even though I was terrified of him moments before, I was beginning to feel sorry for him. Watching me run around his lab like a rat had to make him nervous. “Oh, it’s in here,” I said. “That’s what Thanh said.”

  “Before she was taken.” Byron was clearly enjoying this.

  “Taken?” Eric seemed surprised. “What?”

  I glared at Byron. My hands rested on the safe sealed to the wall. It was the same one Byron had discovered the last time we were here. Now it held new meaning. I searched for the lock. “That’s an amazing hiding place for a purse,” Byron said with a caustic grin.

  “Actually, Thanh asked me to pick something up for her while I was here, and I’m just…” My fingers wrapped around a wire coming from the box.

  “What? No!” Eric tried to stop me. “You’ll set off an alarm.”

  “That’s very unlikely.”

  An alarm went off above us. Loud and whining. It echoed through the hall. Eric stepped back, anger making his arms stiff. “Wow,” Byron muttered, “what were the odds of that?”

  I wrestled with my backpack, pulling out Thanh’s keys. This had to be what we were looking for. I fumbled through the ring, picking out the most elaborate key. It was one of those electromagnetic keys, so no amount of picking would ever get it open. I found the lock and shoved it in. The alarm cut off and the door to the safe swung open. Byron whistled.

  Eric watched me with a new respect. “How did you know that would work?”

  “Um, Thanh told me to use the keys to get her stuff for her,” I re-explained. No one seemed to be listening. They were studying what was in the safe. It looked like a control box of sorts, lots of buttons, and gauges that I’d never be able to figure out. I knew so little about it that I felt like a caveman, but it would save Thanh. The drop-off was tonight and now I had something to bargain with…unless Byron tried to wrestle the box from me. I wasn’t sure how to get it past him.

  “What’s that?” Eric asked.

  “Don’t know. Don’t care.” I reached for it.

  “No, no, no,” Eric warned. “What are you doing? You don’t even know what that is.”
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br />   Byron watched him carefully. “Do you?”

  Eric didn’t answer. That meant he didn’t. He would be safe from Byron for now. I took a deep breath. Whatever this thing was, I’d have to take a chance to get it out of here. “Thanh trusts me with it, so…”

  Eric narrowed a look at me. “Are you sure?”

  “When have I ever lied to you?” Plenty of times. It was just a rhetorical question really. I carefully pulled out the control box. It was pretty light, considering. If my backpack could handle my physics and Shakespeare books together, it could handle this. I wrapped my gym clothes around it as padding and gently placed it into my backpack, zipping it shut. I closed the safe, hoping no one would discover what I had done until Thanh was home. I took a deep breath, and stood up. Byron didn’t move from my path. If he wanted to play the concerned card, I’d make him play it, especially since Eric was here and could stop him from stealing it from me. “It’s evidence,” I whispered to him. “Now we can call the cops.”

  “I barely believe you,” he said under his breath. “You need more evidence before taking…”

  I stared at him. He believed me? Well, if he was behind all this, he should, but if he wasn’t? I was touched. Eric cleared his throat. “You can’t leave until I clear this. I’m sorry, Madeleine.” Eric slid Thanh’s backpack off my shoulder.

  It was all I could do not to rip it from him and make my escape, but Byron’s presence put the odds against me. I had been so close. “Clear it?” I asked Eric.

  “With Thanh.”

  I exchanged glances with Byron. He didn’t seem worried. “Let him make the call. It’s better this way.”

  I abandoned Byron to follow Eric into the other room, but I couldn’t get between him and the backpack. Aggression emanated from him. I had never seen Eric this way—then again; I had never pushed him this hard either. Eric ripped Thanh’s number off the wall and set the backpack on a hard-backed chair a little too hard. There didn’t seem to be any other way out of this room besides the door we’d come through. I couldn’t think how to outsmart Eric either. Pleading wouldn’t do any good. Eric’s cold eyes told me that. As for the truth, who would believe it? Eric dialed Thanh’s number and I cringed, realizing her cell phone was in my backpack. The pocket was about to go off. I waited a moment, but it didn’t ring. The thing had finally died. It was my last shred of luck.