Chase (11 page)

Megan's face scrunched up in confusion. “That's Jake Montone's locker,” she said. “Yours is downstairs.”

Tatiana had to concentrate to keep from rolling her
eyes. Of course. How could she have forgotten the many times that Megan had tracked her down at her locker to chat and giggle and exchange lipsticks? Not only that, but
Megan was completely obsessed with Jake.
She probably knew not only where his locker was, but his combination, his favorite food in the cafeteria, and the number of freckles on his arms.

“Okay, you caught me,” Tatiana said, thinking quickly. If Megan kept such a keen eye on Jake, then she would notice when he found the note in the morning, and she was smart enough to put two and two together and realize Tatiana had left it. It was time to tell a version of the truth. “I was leaving a note for Jake.”

Megan's eyes lit up with interest. She walked over to a locker a few doors down and started spinning the lock.

“Really?” she said provocatively. “You and Jake Montone, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tatiana said, forcing a blush to her cheeks. “But . . . don't tell anyone, okay?” she added. “I mean, I think Gaia sort of has a crush on him and I wouldn't want her to find out that I was here . . . .”

“Please,” Megan said. “Like I would really talk to Gaia Moore.”

That, at least, was one thing Tatiana had going for her in this whole mess. Megan might love to gossip,
but she'd rather wear
acid-washed jeans
to school than be caught talking to Gaia. And even if she did tell all her friends about the note, the news would never get back to Ms. Moore. No one bothered to let the girl in on anything.

“So . . . have you guys . . . you know . . . ?” Megan said, her interested tone barely masking her jealousy.

Tatiana smiled. There would be
no harm
in having a little fun with the girl.

“I will say that the boy is not shy,” Tatiana said with a loaded grin. “And that whole phrase about the size of a guy's shoe . . . ? Totally true.”

Megan groaned and blushed the color of Tatiana's hidden wig. “You're so bad!” she said.

You have no idea
, Tatiana thought. “See you around,” she said, fluttering her fingers at Megan. Then she turned and strode out of the school, hoping the girl would, for once, keep her big mouth shut.

How
could I have been so careless? If my mother could see what I have done in the past few days, she would be in shock. I am not acting like the daughter she taught so well. I am not following procedure. I should have made sure there was no one left in the school to catch me. I should never have taken that car on the street. But I know why I have become this way. I know why I keep stepping away from protocol.

I have to save my mother. And I am letting my emotions cloud my judgment. It only makes it worse that Gaia is involved. More emotions. More clouds.

I must take a step back and make sure I do not make any more errors. I must go over every inch of my plan and strengthen the weak links. Because this is one mission I cannot afford to lose.

I am my mother's daughter, and I have to start thinking like her. If our positions were reversed and I was the one who
was taken, she would have found me by now. She would not have let anyone or anything stand in her way. Gaia would have talked, and she would be lying dead right now with a bullet between her eyes. My mother and I would be together.

And that is all I want. I want us to be together, and I want Gaia dead. Jake is my only hope. I have to play this just right. And I will. I will play it like my mother would play it. I will be cold, I will be smart, I will be ruthless. I will be her.

And I will win. I must.

From:
X22

To:
Y

Subject:
URGENT!

Our techs have picked up heavy activity from the private account of subject L. Subject L has been reactivated. Situation needs immediate attention. How is this possible? Please advise.

From:
Y

To:
X22

Subject:
Re: URGENT!

This is not possible. Subject L has not been reactivated. Unknown agent must have broken his password, which we, I remind you, have yet to do. We must locate this agent, get the information, and terminate the agent. I have already assigned B team to the search. In the meantime, continue to monitor account activity.

Repeat: It is not possible that subject L has been reactivated.

How had everything gotten so complicated?

Epiphany

WHEN GAIA LEFT JAKE'S APARTMENT
over an hour later, she was reveling in the contentment brought on by a good meal. Her stomach was full, her head was clear, and she was filled with a sudden sense of purpose. Watching Jake and his dad participating in the familial conversation over dinner had left Gaia with an intense need to be around people she cared about. Unfortunately, she'd managed to either alienate or completely lose track of every last one of them. But there was one person she might still be able to make things right with.

She swung a brown bag of leftovers as she pushed open the door of Dmitri's apartment building.
It was time to talk to Sam.

He's had a few days to cool off
, Gaia reasoned with herself as the elevator zipped skyward.
And he understands what my life is like. He has to understand why my first instinct is always to be suspicious . . . .

Of course, none of her reasoning could erase the memory of the destroyed expression Sam had worn when she'd accused him of setting her up for an assassination attempt. He had looked as betrayed as she had felt when a hail of gunfire was opened up on her.

Yeah. He may take a little convincing
, Gaia thought, hoping for the best as she rang the doorbell. Maybe she could bribe him with Dr. Montone's leftovers.

She heard footsteps, too heavy to be Dmitri's, and held her breath. She could practically
feel
Sam looking through the peephole at her. Hear him breathing. She counted silently while he thought over whether or not he wanted to open the door.

One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . .

Oh, come on, it can't be
that
hard to decide.

Nine . . . ten . . . eleven . . .

Gaia shifted from foot to foot and felt her body start to grow warm with embarrassment and anger. How could he leave her hanging like this? She felt like a complete and total idiot. Like the dork who went to the hot girl's house to pick up his dream date for the prom, only to find out she had already left with the quarterback and it was all
a big joke on him.

Twenty-one . . . twenty-two . . .

This was completely uncalled for.

“Sam? I know you're there!” she said finally.

The door opened, causing Gaia's heart to skip an excited beat, and she braced herself for the wary look that was sure to be on Sam's face. But no one was there. She pushed the door until it hit the wall and saw Sam's back retreating toward the living room. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and followed him. This was going to be harder than she thought.

When she got to the living room, Sam was shoving notebooks, pens, and a baseball cap, among other
things, into his backpack. Gaia waited for him to acknowledge her. He didn't.

“Sam, look, I—”

“Dmitri's not here,” he said, immersed in his frantic, rather violent packing. “He took off this morning. Said he'd be gone for a few days. Something about . . . staying under the radar.”

Gaia barely had the wherewithal to assess this statement. She was too busy noticing how much concentration Sam was putting into not looking at her.

“I'm here to talk to you,” Gaia said, reddening.

“Well, you'd better come back another time, then, because I'm on my way out,” Sam replied. He zipped up his bag and finally looked at her, though his eyes were so hard, she could barely tell if they were focusing on anything at all.

Wow. He wasn't making this easy. The last words she could imagine herself uttering in the face of such coldness were
I'm sorry.
It was pretty clear they were just going to ricochet right off
his icy exterior.
He started to brush past her, and Gaia reflexively grabbed his shoulder.

“Wait!” she blurted, realizing that if she was going to get out an apology, it would have to be fast. “Sam, I wanted to say . . . I'm sorry.”

Okay, that was weird. Usually she had to rev up for a good fifteen minutes before she could actually speak those words.

“Yeah, you told me that already,” Sam said flatly, yanking his arm away. She felt like he had slapped her right in the face.

“Sam, you have to try to understand,” Gaia told him, the area around her heart roiling with heat and emotion. “I just . . . I never know who I can trust. You know that I—”

“You should have known you could trust me,” Sam spat, his eyes still hard. “After everything I've been through for you . . . .” He tipped back his head and groaned. “I am not going to do this,” he snapped, his words piercing Gaia's heart. “I've had enough. ‘I'm sorry' is just not gonna cut it, Gaia.”

“Then what will?” Gaia asked.

Sam took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don't know. I don't know if anything ever will.”

The huge meal Gaia had eaten started to rebel against her stomach the moment Sam turned his back on her and grabbed his jacket off a coatrack in the corner. She swallowed hard before speaking.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Out,” he said, pulling on his jacket.

“Sam, I don't know if that's a good idea,” Gaia said, trying to ignore the emotion coming off him like a tidal wave. “I mean, you might not . . . be . . . safe . . . .”

She trailed off as she realized that she was actually living with the one and only person who Sam was hiding from. Which meant that she was technically harboring
his enemy. But then, he was Oliver, not Loki, so she wasn't really doing anything wrong per se. Gaia shook her head slightly to try to straighten it all out.
How had everything gotten so complicated?

“I can't just sit in this apartment for the rest of my life, either,” Sam said, his voice full of accusation. The underlying meaning:
“And I wouldn't have to if it wasn't for you.”

Gaia couldn't argue. After all, she knew where his former captor was and what he was doing at this very moment. She was pretty sure he would actually be quite safe out on the streets. She turned away from him and put her things down on the coffee table.

“Okay, so where are you going?” she asked, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her cargo pants.

“I found out there's some guy down in Alphabet City who might be able to get me a copy of my license so I can get access to my bank account and stuff,” Sam said. “I can't keep living off of Dmitri . . . .”

Gaia suddenly felt stunned, like she'd just been in a head-on collision and time had stopped and she was just coming to. Everything Sam had said after the words
Alphabet City
was completely lost in the ether.

Alphabet City
—the words scrolled across her mind.

AlphaBet City.

AlphaBet City . . . SH.

Alphabet City safe house.

That was it. It had to be. The key she'd found at the
apartment must be the key to a safe house that Natasha had set up in Alphabet City, the semiseedy area downtown east of the Village.

“Gaia? Why the hell are you looking at me like that?” Sam asked suddenly, yanking Gaia out of her mental happy dance.

Gaia snapped her mouth shut. She realized that she hadn't been listening to a word Sam had said. She was too busy having her
epiphany.
She looked at him, her face aglow with triumph. She could have kissed him for sparking the breakthrough she'd just had, but under the circumstances she was sure a kiss would go over about as well as a solid punch to the gut. Besides, she was anti-spontaneous kissing by nature.

“I have to go,” she said, as close to giddy as she'd ever been in her life.

She grabbed up her bags and bustled by a stunned Sam, racing for the door. Sam was not going to forgive her now—from what he'd told her, he might never forgive her. But as much as she wanted him back in her life, she was going to have to deal with that later. Right now she was one step closer to finding Tatiana, and that took her one step closer to finding her dad. Armed with this new information, she had to get back to the Seventy-second Street apartment and make sure there was nothing she had missed.

She scrambled through the doorway
and decided to take the stairs.

The Spy Game

BY THE TIME GAIA RETURNED TO THE
brownstone later that night, all traces of her earlier optimism had been swept under the rug, taken out to the trash, and hauled off to a landfill in Staten Island. So what if she figured out what
ABCSH
stood for. What could she do with that information—knock on every apartment door in Alphabet City until Tatiana answered? Still, she forced herself to climb all three flights of stairs to Oliver's office. Maybe he'd have some good news for her to relighten her mood.

“I'm . . . back,” Gaia said, trudging into the dark room and falling into the old moldy couch against the wall next to Oliver's desk. He sat hunched over his keyboard, the green glow of the computer screen
casting an eerie array of shadows across his face.
The tiny square of the screen's reflection danced in his eyes as he scanned the information he'd just brought up.