“I see that,” Adri said, peering over her glasses.
“Look,” M went on, “it’s my job to keep anything bad from happening to you.”
“Well, you’re wasting your time with me,” Prince Xander said. He jumped up onto an elevated platform, striding along fearlessly, as if he weren’t five feet off the ground. “I’m famous and I like to speak my mind. If I had a pound for every threat made against my life, I could take all of you to space with me.”
“Are you serious?” Cam asked excitedly. “I could hitch a ride on a fully orbital commercial spacecraft?”
Prince Xander frowned as if to say I was obviously kidding. Cam visibly deflated. “Right. You were just making a point.”
“All I need is for you to stay alive long enough to get on that flight,” M said. “So please, let me just take you somewhere safer than this.”
“That’s what this is all about?” the prince asked, combing his fingers through his wavy brown hair. “I was planning on spending the afternoon in my hotel suite, but I guess I could spend it with four sharp, cute girls instead. Jillian, my things.”
He jumped down from the platform as his assistant, Jillian, frantically pulled things together. His bodyguard stepped forward in an effort to derail this potential train wreck. “Sir—it’ll be a clearance nightmare to transport you.”
Jillian nodded her head, totally agreeing with him. “Yes, Your Highness. With the launch tonight, I really don’t think you should—”
“Go in my spacesuit?” he asked while unzipping, revealing his white tank top and jeans. “I agree. Now, what are we waiting for? Ring my driver. Gather my luggage. We’re going to party, Maywood Glen–style!” The bodyguard and Jillian followed, exceptionally displeased.
Adri, Bry, and Cam quickly followed them out the door, unable to believe their luck. Prince Xander was goofy, fun, and totally adorbs. Was this British prince really going to hang out with them all afternoon?
We got him to hang with us. Now we get down to work, thought M. It was their responsibility to keep him safe until he made it onto the spacecraft. She’d have to watch out for that black car, and whoever made the threat against the prince, and try to figure out why they’d made it, and then anticipate what would come next, all while monitoring three new recruits who weren’t adequately trained in the field.
So basically she’d have to do everything.
No pressure, right?
* A DATE WITH PRINCE CHARMING
Chapter Seven
T.N.S.S.H.*
Prince Xander took a slow lap around Bryden’s living room, drinking in the ceramic plate collectibles and the cozy family photos sitting above the entertainment center. There was a bowl of fruit on the coffee table, a few hand-painted vases Bryden’s mom had made, and Mr. Bandweth’s favorite green armchair, which no one else was allowed to sit in. The prince immediately sat in it.
“Not exactly the local hot spot I was expecting…” he murmured regretfully.
“Oh, gee, sorry there aren’t velvet footstools and funny court jesters to entertain you,” M said snidely. Just then, Jillian walked in carrying one of the prince’s travel footstools—he liked her to bring it wherever he went. “Okay, I was half wrong.”
McKeyla knew the prince wanted them to take him to some fancy club or sleek lounge, but they couldn’t risk being in public with only six hours until the launch. Bryden’s house was on the way to the launch site, her parents weren’t home, and no one would expect to find a prince there. It was as safe as an unofficial safe house could get.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” M said, pulling out her notebook, “I have life-and-death matters to tend to. Meaning your life.”
“Right, got that.” The prince smirked, as if he didn’t quite believe her.
Bry took a deep breath and stepped forward, still a little starstruck. “Hiiiii. This is my house. Bryden Bandweth. We met back at the training facility a while back? You remember, right? Or maybe not. I don’t know. And now I’m just wasting what little time you have left here. If only I could control-alt-delete…” she said under her breath as she turned away in embarrassment.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Adrienne Attoms!” Adri said, stepping toward the prince. “Growing up in Spain, I traveled to London all the time. I love everything British except the food. Terribly bland! Bleh!”
“Rubbish,” he protested.
“Exactly! It does taste like garbage!”
“Who cares about food?” Cam interjected. “We should be discussing the spacecraft’s thrust-to-weight ratio! Happen to know what that is?”
The prince just shrugged. “All I know is that they’re going to blast me into the sky”—he made rocket sounds while shooting his hand like it was a spaceship blasting off—“where I’ll film my most epic online video. Then they’ll bring me back down to Earth.”
“Bringing you back down to Earth would be a good thing,” M muttered under her breath. Then she glanced up, realizing everyone had heard that and was now staring at her. “Uh, I mean, ’cause everyone will miss you so much down here!” she said, faking enthusiasm.
The prince just ignored her. “Isn’t there anything fun to do around here?” he said, glancing around the humdrum room.
Bry lit up with a fresh idea. “Ever see someone play bananas like a piano?” Bry asked, her voice bubbly.
The prince looked confused. Bry grabbed three bananas out of the fruit bowl and brought them over to her soundboard on the table. “You never know when you need to hook something up. Like now.” Bry quickly wired up the bananas so that every time you touched one, a different note sounded. She’d learned to play everything from “Heart and Soul” to “Chopsticks”—well, that was pretty much the playlist: “Heart and Soul” and “Chopsticks.”
“Musical bananas, this is genius,” cried the prince, delighted by the distraction.
Bry beamed, so pleased that the prince liked it.
M turned to her notebook. She asked A.D.I.S.N. to collect more data about the launch. “NOV8 has uncovered information regarding the prince’s flight trajectory,” A.D.I.S.N. said, then asked suspiciously, “Hey, what’s that noise? Are you having a party? You didn’t invite me?”
“It’s not a party, A.D.I.S.N. It’s a banana piano lesson,” M reassured her. It was kind of crazy. Sometimes A.D.I.S.N. acted like a real, jealous friend. (Honestly, her only friend—it was hard to make friends when she moved after every mission.) A.D.I.S.N. got upset if McKeyla didn’t bring her everywhere she went, and she was constantly reminding her that the new recruits were just that—recruits, not new friends.
“Ohhh,” A.D.I.S.N. said, relieved that there were only a few people there. “Our complete projection of the spaceflight index shows that, at its peak, the prince’s capsule will come in close proximity to a U.S. government cybersecurity satellite.”
“A government satellite?” M asked, a bit baffled. “What could that have to do with the threats?”
A.D.I.S.N. started to reply, but the noise level in the room drowned her out. The prince was jamming on the banana keyboard, rocking out to an improvised song.
“Bravo, bravo!” M said sarcastically. “Now, can you please play a quieter fruit? We’re running out of time and I really need to concentrate.”
Prince Xander flashed a mischievous smile. M thought he looked like a bratty little kid in his red-and-white-striped shirt, which he’d paired with a shirt with motorcycles on it. Had he really changed his outfit already since they left Space Inc.? Ridiculous, McKeyla thought. He pouted at her. “While I appreciate this whole cheeky-spy-girl vibe, I’m safe now, so why don’t you just join the fun and give it a rest?”
“Give it a rest?” M said. The prince was pushing her buttons. “Oh, I would, but for some reason I actually care about saving people’s lives, like yours. In fact, I dedicate my own life to studying everything from comparative science to covert operations to investigative methodology to anthropology—not the store—to microbiology, criminology, p
sychology, to just about any other -ology you can think of!”
For once, Prince Xander was speechless. He just stood there staring at her.
“I’m smart,” M said. “Get over it.”
At that moment, the sound of applause and cheers filtered into the room from the outside. Prince Xander looked confounded. “Okay, sure that was a good speech, but not quite applause-worthy.…”
McKeyla peered over the prince’s shoulder to check out the scene outside. A bunch of girls were standing on the front lawn and holding signs that read WE LOVE THE THRILLIONAIRE PRINCE! and MAKE ME YOUR SPACE PRINCESS!
“What are all these people doing here?” M asked worriedly, looking through the blinds.
Bry shrugged. “Beats me. I only posted that I was ‘Hanging out with a big-time celeb.’ I never said who it was or where.”
M crossed her arms over her chest. “NOV8 lesson number two: You don’t post from a safe house, because then it isn’t, you know, safe. Oh no!” M said as she peered outside.
Cam and Adri inched closer to the window, trying to see what M had seen.
“That’s that car again!” Bry said, pointing at the black sedan parked across the street. It was almost hidden by the shrieking fangirls searching for the prince.
M pulled out her notebook. “A.D.I.S.N.—our location has been compromised. I need you to find an official NOV8 safe house where nobody can find us.”
“For you … or for you and those girls?” A.D.I.S.N. asked pointedly.
“Now, A.D.I.S.N.!” M ordered.
The prince watched M as she paced. “Her notebook talks?” he said in disbelief.
Cam nodded. “Pretty sick, huh?”
As A.D.I.S.N. processed the request, the front door of the black sedan opened. A man in a trench coat and sunglasses stepped out and started walking straight toward the house. Bry would’ve been freaked out, but she was more horrified by his drab outfit.
“Where’s the love of color?” she muttered under her breath.
Just then, the man turned, looking right at them. The girls stiffened in fear. When he was almost at the lawn, his hand slipped inside his coat.
“He’s reaching for something!” Adri exclaimed.
“We should bolt,” added Bry.
“Quick, everyone,” M ordered. “Out the back.” She stayed behind at the window for a second, aiming her phone at him to take a close-up picture of his face, and then followed.
The girls darted through the house, Prince Xander and his bodyguard right behind them. Jillian struggled to wheel the prince’s luggage to the back door. The group ran around the side of the house and hopped into the SUV parked in the driveway. Bry and Adri helped Jillian load the luggage in the back, and they zoomed off down the street.
The man on the front lawn was surprised to hear the car doors slam and turned just in time to watch them leave.
The girls all peered out the back window as the man ran after the SUV. He kept waving his hands and yelling something they couldn’t hear.
M turned away and breathed a small sigh of relief. They had gotten the prince out of there and he was still safe.
Her mission was still a success … so far.
* THE NOT-SO-SAFE-HOUSE
Chapter Eight
A.R.D.A.*
The safe house had seen better days. M immediately went over to an ancient television to check the news reports.
“Look,” said Cam. “There are old cans of beans, dog kibble, and dust.”
Adri eyed a bunch of rusty cans in the corner. “Even I wouldn’t know what to do with all this, and I’m the best culinary chemist in America.”
“That’s a thing?” the bodyguard asked.
Adri frowned. “Why does everyone always ask me that?”
Prince Xander glanced around the dreary room. There were musty curtains covering every window. The walls were paneled with dark wood, and all the furniture smelled of mildew and dust. The prince was not pleased. This was not the party he had envisioned. “The fun times just keep getting better.…” He blew a big cloud of dust off a can of beans, making M cough.
“You’ll have plenty of fun in space,” M said, “if we can figure out who’s after you. We don’t have much time.”
“How can we help?” Bry asked.
McKeyla was momentarily annoyed but then thought better of it. Maybe they could help.
“Get your laptops and meet me in the dining room,” M instructed.
The girls spoke over one another.
“Absolutely!”
“Will do!”
Prince Xander crossed his arms over his chest. “Hold on there, chief. If you’re busy sleuthing and my staff is busy with various tasks, what am I supposed to do?”
“Oh right!” M said, pretending she cared. “We can’t have a bored blue blood. How ’bout you read a book?”
“I’ve already read one,” the prince replied.
“Guess what, there are more,” McKeyla retorted.
“I’m cool, not smart,” the prince said with a smirk.
“Fine, then isn’t there some space-training exercise you can do?” M asked, pulling her denim jacket closed. She couldn’t believe how hopeless the prince was. He couldn’t just make himself a snack, or play games on his phone, or watch television like a normal person would? Every minute of every day had to be filled with crazy excitement. It was like entertaining a toddler—one who had an awesome accent.
The prince glanced out the back window. “Sweet! There’s a pool. I can practice my water landings. Jillian, get my swim trunks!”
As he made a beeline into the yard, M glanced sideways at the recruits. “He’s going to drown, isn’t he? Adri, keep an eye on him.”
Adri nodded dutifully, following the prince out to the pool. Cam and Bry researched news articles online about the prince’s launch while McKeyla worked with A.D.I.S.N., pulling up the photo she took of their suspect. She zoomed in on his face and outfit, looking for possible clues. She noticed a familiar star logo on his coat.
“That dude’s car and his jacket had the same emblem on them,” M said.
“Plus he was creepy,” Cam said.
“Super creepy,” Bry added.
M pulled up NOV8’s image search, cutting and pasting the emblem inside. It started scanning through hundreds of images. After a few minutes, she had a match. “It appears the insignia in question is the corporate logo of an international cyber-security firm known as Black Star.”
“Black Star? Sounds dark and pointy,” Cam joked.
M scratched her head. She knew she’d heard that name somewhere, but where?
“Black Star…” she mumbled. “Isn’t that the company that just donated all those computers to Africa?”
“Maybe,” Bry said, pulling up several windows on her computer. There were hundreds of controversial articles related to the organization. “It seems like they’ve been in the news a ton.”
Bry opened a video of a recent press conference. A stern yet richly handsome man wearing a crisp blue suit stood behind the podium. FRANCOIS DARONE, CEO was displayed on the banner at the bottom of the screen.
“We’re pleased to announce the next phase in Black Star’s growth,” the commanding CEO stated. “This IPO affords us the resources to continue our commitment to the process of technology and the protection of our users’ private data. Thank you.”
As Mr. Darone talked, M spotted a familiar face in the background. “Wait, pause it! Right there! See that?”
“It’s the creepy guy!” Bry said.
M pulled Bry’s laptop toward her, cropping the frame so the image was just the man’s face. Then she inputted it into A.D.I.S.N.’s face-recognition program. The screen flashed through hundreds of passport photos, trying to match the man’s features to one in the database. Finally, it stopped on a picture very similar to the one they had. AARON MARKUS, it read.
Cam leaned in, reading his data. “Senior-level black ops? And now he’s chief director of operations for
Black Star.”
“Think, M, think.…” M said to herself. “Why would a major cyber-security company want to kidnap the prince or stop his flight?”
Cam and Bry also leaned in, studying the information. Bry was about to run a web search on him when they heard loud, thumping music coming from outside. The girls headed into the backyard to find the prince leisurely floating on a blue raft in the middle of the pool. There were a dozen people in the backyard, some dipping their feet in the water, others lying on the lounge chairs, drinking iced tea, or flirting with the prince. Inflatable palm trees and beach balls were scattered everywhere.
“What’s going on here?” M asked. “Where’s Adri?”
“The neighbors wanted to come over for a swim!” Prince Xander said, paddling around. “Couldn’t very well say no. That wouldn’t be a very neighborly thing to do. Well, at least I don’t think it is. I don’t have neighbors—I live in a castle.” He winked.
M balled her hands into fists. “Ugh! Keep a close eye on the party prince. I’m going to go find Adri.”
She took off through the house, trying to figure out (1) where Adri was and (2) why she wasn’t watching the prince like M had told her to. Now there were a dozen strangers hanging in the yard of an NOV8 safe house! Not only had he compromised the integrity of the house, but any one of them could also be working for Black Star! They were all complete strangers who hadn’t been properly screened. McKeyla was all about the rules, especially when civilian lives are at risk and she was the one in charge.
She turned a corner, running into Jillian, who was talking frantically on her cell, snapping, “I told you I’ll take care of it!” She hung up as soon as she saw M, her face pale. “Um, does the prince need something?” she stammered.
“Have you seen Adri?” M asked her. Jillian shook her head and M kept searching the other rooms of the house. No Adri. When she finally went back outside, she found Adri, Cam, and Bry huddled around a table filled with bowls of colorful liquid.
“Now I just pull the alginate strands out of the calcium lactate bath,” Adri narrated as she squirted one liquid into a bowl. She then held up long, thin strips of red noodles that had formed. “Molecular noodles! ¡Ya está!”
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