Going Rogue (28 page)

“Oh, I’m sure it will work,” he said, letting my imagination run wild with all the painful possibilities that could occur if I didn’t get the door open.

It took less than a minute, but I scrubbed it open and it popped with a click. Dominic wasted no time in getting inside, forgetting to shut the door behind him in his haste. It was an empty room, half-finished with construction, the paint fumes strong and definitely not environmentally friendly. “Here,” I said, reaching into my pocket and thrusting the velvet bag at him. “Have fun with them.”

“You think it’s that easy?” Dominic asked, but he took the coins anyway, tucking them into his inside jacket pocket. “You think that’s all?” He grabbed my wrist harder and I felt the bones grind together. “You think you just humiliate me, break into my house, ruin my security? You lead me on a chase around the world and ruin everything I have made? Everything!”

I whimpered despite myself, but the pain wasn’t terrible. All I could really feel was anger, sheer, white-hot anger that coursed through me and numbed the hurt.

“You ruined everything I made!” I yelled at him. “That was my family, my home! You’re like a snake in the weeds.
You just take whatever it is you want and you don’t care who gets hurt! You tried to kill my family! You’re as terrible as Colton Hooper!”

The reaction was exactly what I wanted.

“Colton was an amateur!” Dominic seethed, his hand tight on my skin, so tight that I could feel it pull together, and I flattened myself against the wall. “He didn’t even realize what he had!”

“What, a job?” I baited him. “A job and a really bad plan to kidnap me?”

“Exactly!” Dominic spat. “That’s all he wanted. You! You were a child! What could you possibly do for him? He had an army at his disposal and he goes for a
girl.
” Dominic looked disgusted, his anger getting the better of him. My wrist was starting to burn with pain, but I ignored it.

“An army?”

“I kept telling him, mobilize! Mobilize!” Spittle was collecting in the corners of Dominic’s mouth, he was so impassioned. “Take these people and use them! You have their lives in your hands, sometimes literally! Stop wasting time on documents and CEOs and go for the money, the power!”

“And why didn’t he?” I asked, trying so hard not to wince. I sort of succeeded.

“Because he was scared.” Dominic sneered. “And weak. He didn’t know what he had, so I decided to show everyone what could be done.” His eyes were nearly spinning; he was drunk on the idea of the sort of power that was at his fingertips. “Colton turned the Collective into a joke. I’m here to fix it.”

“Pity you won’t succeed,” I replied. The anger was making my heart race and I could see the vein in Dominic’s neck pulsing. “It’s all over now,” I said. “Angelo never bluffs. You’re going up in flames.”

“As if I would go without taking you with me.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” I spat, then reached under my shirt, yanked hard on my necklace to break the chain, and twisted the knife in my fingers to bring it straight into Dominic’s cheek while driving my knee directly between his legs.

He almost sank to the ground, one hand going to his cheek as he dropped my wrist. “Help!” I cried as I turned and started running down the hall. “I’m an American tourist trapped by a madman!”

Within a minute, the second floor of the museum turned into an even bigger sea of humanity. Museum workers came running, followed by security, followed by Angelo, my parents, enough tourists to fill the Eiffel Tower for a week, Roux, Jesse, Ames, Élodie, Ryo, Zelda, and blessedly, the police.

“He attacked me!” I cried, putting on my best wounded face. “I was just here to see the
Mona Lisa
and he attacked me! This would have never happened in Boise!”

Roux, sensing that it was her time to shine, threw herself into her role. “My friend!” she cried. “She’s my friend, we’re from America! WHO IS THIS MADMAN?”

My father was arguing with the security guard, flashing his docent badge as Angelo spoke French with a police officer, showing his own credentials. “Are you all right?” Jesse
whispered, rushing to my side and grabbing my arm. “Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” I whispered back. “Go help Roux.” All I really wanted to do was hug him until my arms fell off, but there would be time for that later.

Right now, we still had a job to do.

Jesse immediately waded into the situation, raising his voice as Élodie came over and started to translate his words. “He says that you are an American and you have been mistreated,” she whispered as she pretended to console me. “And this sort of treatment will not stand! He has quite a gift for this language, do you know that?”

“He surprises me every day,” I whispered, trying not to let my love for him show.

“Now Angelo says that you got separated from the group,” she continued. “Your father says that this museum really needs to improve security or they will lose money—here, put on my sweater, you don’t look traumatized enough—and Jesse, good boyfriend that he is, is still making a scene. As is Roux, of course.”

I hid a quick smile as I tugged on Élodie’s cardigan. In the throng of people, I saw Ryo and Ames slip away, no doubt heading back to the tunnels. Zelda caught my eye and held up her phone, showing me a quick glance of the actual security cameras, then winked at me and disappeared behind the boys.

My father was really letting the security guard—who seemed humbled by the screwup—have it, and Roux was still going on as Jesse joined her, shouting in French at the
top of his lungs. “He just wants his beloved city to be safe for his friends,” Élodie translated. “This world is too precarious for such dangers!”

“My hero,” I murmured.

“Ow, my eye!” Jesse muttered quietly as he wrangled with Roux, who was trying to climb over him, her American angst in full effect.

“My friend could have died!” she wailed. “Will someone
please
think of the children?”

“Do they have Dominic?” I whispered to Élodie.

“Yes,” she whispered back. “In handcuffs.”

“Then go,” I told her. “I’m fine.”

Élodie nodded and pretended to go talk to some tourist. As soon as it was safe, she disappeared down the stairs. My mother caught my eye and I saw the emotion in hers before she too left behind Élodie. My heart twisted when I saw her leave, but just then my dad grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, still yelling in French.

“We will take her back to the group,” Angelo said in English to one of the police officers. “We do not want to press charges. She is fine.”

My dad’s fingers were tight on my arm and I could feel him shaking a little with emotion. “I’m fine,” I told the officer, but I was really saying it to my dad. “Can I see the woman with no arms now? I want to take a picture.”

“They are lying!” Dominic suddenly screamed. “They are thieves, all of them! They are liars! Angelo! Angelo, I swear I’ll kill you!”

“Delusional,” Angelo clucked. “Let’s get this young
lady back to her group, yes? Thank you, gentlemen. Too bad your security is not quite up to the same standards as your kindness.”

My father ushered me toward the stairs. “No elevator,” I whispered, and heard him laugh a little.

“Never,” he replied, and we hurried down the stairs; Roux, Jesse, my mom, and Angelo on our heels; did a quick loop past the
Venus de Milo
in case someone was watching; and then slipped out of the museum to the screams of Dominic Arment echoing behind us.

Two cars were outside this time and my father hustled me into the one that had Zelda behind the wheel. Roux, Jesse, and Angelo got into the one behind us, but I ran back just before Jesse climbed in and kissed him. “Good work,” he said, then kissed me back harder. “See you underground.”

“Chop chop!” I heard Zelda yell. She was smoking a cigarette, her lipstick staining the end, and I nodded at her as I got into the car, still a little flushed from the excitement and kissing Jesse. “Thanks for keeping an eye on me, Zel,” I said.

“
D’accord
,” she replied.

I crawled into the backseat, straight into the arms of my mother. She was weeping even before she saw me, and when she hugged me, I started to cry, too. “I was so worried!” She sobbed.

“I’m fine.” I sniffled against her shoulder. “I’m really okay.”

My father wrapped his arms around both of us, and
Zelda, obviously not one for sentiment, started the car and pulled away from the curb.

We sat hugging each other for a few moments before I sat up and wiped my eyes. “I’m fine,” I said. “I swear, we’re all okay. But where were you? What happened?”

My parents looked at each other over the top of my head. “We were destroying what’s left of the Collective,” my mother finally said, then shrugged a little. “We had been thinking about leaving for a while, ever since the Colton Hooper incident opened our eyes to what was really happening. But this solidified it for us.”

“Your mother destroyed the records of all the innocent spies who had worked there,” my dad continued. “We spoke to all of them, and those who hadn’t already left were ready to leave.”

“And those who wanted to stay, had a good reason,” my mom added. “They were working with Dominic, stealing money, trading arms, the list went on and on. I’m sure you’ll see it on the news, sweetie.”

“You think?” I said. My head was still spinning. “So … where do we live now? We can’t go back to the loft. What about school?”

“You can still go to school if you want,” my mom said. “I have a feeling that anyone who wants to hurt us or our family will be in police custody in about, oh, two hours or so.”

I sat back against my seat, trying to take it all in. “The Collective is over?” I finally asked. “For real?”

“It’s the realio dealio,” my dad said, reminding me that
even though I had missed him terribly, I hadn’t felt deprived over losing his truly terrible sense of humor.

“So what’s my name?” I asked. “Who am I?”

My mother smiled and pressed her mouth to the top of my head. “You are Maggie,” she whispered, “and you are wonderful.”

The car eventually pulled up near the Pantheon, back toward the same exit and entrance we had used three nights earlier, and Zelda parked it, then threw the keys into the river before following my parents and me into the tunnels.

“About this,” I said, as we moved the rolling tray. “We need to talk. You founded an underground society in Paris?”

My parents just smiled at each other. “You asked how we fell in love,” my dad said. “This was part of it.”

“We wouldn’t want you to think your parents were
cool
or anything.” My mom ruffled my hair, then dropped down into the tunnel like she had been doing it all her life.

Ryo and Élodie were there, along with Ames and Jesse, and Jesse grabbed me up in the tightest hug imaginable as soon as he saw me. “I was so worried!” he said. “Did he hurt you?”

“Just my wrist, a little,” I admitted, then kissed Jesse right in front of everyone, parents included. “You were amazing, did you know that?”

“No, you were.” He kissed me again, his hair tangled around my fingers.

“Ugh, smoochy smoochy, we get it,” Roux said as she dropped down into the tunnel, with Angelo close behind her. But her eyes softened when she saw Ames and she ran right into his arms, a huge smile on her face.

“Really?” my mom asked. “Roux and Ames?”

“You know Ames?” I cried.

“Everyone knows me!” Ames grinned, pulling away from Roux just long enough to shake my parents’ hands. “Lovely to finally meet you in person! Good work today!”

“Same to you,” my dad replied. “Be careful with Roux. She scares us.” But he winked at Roux and tapped her on the head.

“You’re only scared of my amazing crossword skills,” she retorted. “I missed you crazy kids, by the way. You owe me dinner.”

“Yes, Roux, we’ll get right on that.” My mom pretended to be annoyed, but I knew she would make it happen within the week.

“So now what happens?” Ryo asked. “Élodie and I are going to London for a while, I think. Or maybe Barcelona. We haven’t decided yet.”

“You’re not going to keep working here?” I asked. “But you still have so many things you want to do!”

“Here,” Angelo said. “Maybe these will help.” And he handed over two of the coins to Ryo.

Élodie gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “Angelo, no, we can’t!” she said. “Everyone is looking for these!”

“I had the fakes?” I cried.

“I figured once the police realized that Dominic had counterfeit coins, there would already be plenty of other charges to hold him.” Angelo shrugged. “We might as well donate to the arts, yes?”

Élodie threw her arms around Angelo’s neck, hugging him so tight that he gasped a little before laughing and patting her back. “Hold tight to them for a while,” he advised. “Just until things calm down. We can see what adventures they bring in the new year, perhaps.”

Ryo just shook his hand, pumping Angelo’s arm up and down like a well. “Thank you so, so much,” he said. “We can fix so many things, you don’t even know.”

“Oh, I have an idea about a few things that need fixing,” Angelo said cryptically. “But I believe our flight is leaving in a few hours so we can discuss that later.”

It seemed impossible to say good-bye to Ames and Ryo and Élodie, but I did reluctantly, hugging each of them as tightly as I could while trying not to cry. “You’re amazing,” I told them. “Really, it’s incredible.”

“Your family created our family so it makes sense,” Ryo said. “I guess we are family now.”

“Home is where your family is,” I agreed, then stepped back so Jesse could hug them good-bye, as well.

“I’m not going with you,” said a small voice, and I turned to see Roux standing next to Ames, both of their faces worried.

“Babes—” he started to say, but she cut him off.

“I’m not going back to New York,” she said. “I’m staying here in Paris.”

“What?” I asked. “Why? You can’t, we have to go home. School starts tomorrow.”

Roux just shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

“Roux, my love,” Angelo started to say, but Roux cut him off.

“I love you all, really, and I love New York, but there’s nothing for me there.” Her voice was getting wobbly, and I could see how tightly her fingers were intertwined with Ames’s. “I’m better here. I’m happier here. I go back to New York and it’s a cold house and people who call me ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ and …” She trailed off and I saw a tear slip down her cheek. “I don’t want that anymore. I want to be me, and I want to be with Ames.”