Prank Wars (42 page)

I fumbled with Thanh’s cell phone. “What do you have for dessert?” I asked the waitress. I found the settings on Thanh’s phone, setting them on auto-answer. The waitress tried to adjust her tray to give me the menu from the front pocket of her apron. I nodded at Byron. “Hold that tray for her, will you?”

“You can’t,” she started.

I gave Byron a look and he acted the distraction, reaching for her tray. My fingers joined his on the tray and I slipped Thanh’s cell phone under the pile of napkins next to Sandra’s plate. “Actually,” I said. “I guess I’m not that hungry for dessert.”

The waitress popped her gum in surprise. After looking from Byron to me, she left us to give Sandra her order. Byron let out a breath. “What did you just do?”

“Bugging them. Give me your phone.” With a questioning look, he dug out his iPhone and handed it to me. I inspected it. The usual Ski-Utah screensaver was gone. It wasn’t the one I returned to him at the gym. “Where’s your other phone?” I asked.

“The CIA supplied me with this one when the other came up missing. Just one of the perks.”

I turned it over in my hand. “Did Hölle give you this?”

“Madeleine!”

“Sorry. What’s Thanh’s number?” Treating me to an incredulous look, he gave it to me anyway. I punched it in. “Her phone will automatically answer our call,” I explained. “Then you can listen to everything they say. It’s our usual phone tampering protocol.”

“And you don’t think Sandra will find Thanh’s phone in her food?”

“Are you kidding? That girl doesn’t eat.” I pressed send, calling Thanh’s phone then gave it back to Byron, muting our side of the conversation.

He held it to his ear. After a moment of breathless silence, he grinned. “We could use someone like you on the team.”

“Lucky for you I’m available tonight.”

With his free hand, he pulled out his other iPhone with the Ski Utah screensaver, typed his new number into the contacts, and passed it off to me. “I’m under
your new boyfriend
,” he told me in altered tones. That forced a jittery smile out of me. I slid it into my pocket.

“Thanh’s still alive,” Byron reported under his breath. “Hölle has her hidden away somewhere.” He leaned against the table, kneading the back of his neck while concentrating on the conversation. The length of his lashes hid the worried expression in his eyes until he glanced up at the door. They clouded with resignation. “A hostile’s at your six o’clock. He’s blocking the exit.” This time I refrained from looking behind me. Byron took a steadying breath. “He’s the same guy who grabbed you an hour ago. We need a distraction to get you past him.” Loud laughter interrupted us from Cameron’s booth. Byron’s eyes gravitated to them.

“No!” Even I had my limits. “How am I supposed to…?”

“Pull a honeypot. Use your feminine wiles.”

“You know I don’t have any of those.”

He looked distracted, listening in on Sandra’s conversation. “C’mon, Mad. It’s just an operational cover. You got any toilet paper on you?”

This was beginning to sound suspiciously like a Muppet scheme. “Toilet paper?”

“Call your ex and threaten his car with it. Anything to get him running out of here. Then sneak out with him and get the cops for me.” Byron was still caught up with the hostile’s negotiations on the other line. “Thanh’s not talking,” he reported. “There’s still a piece missing from the device. She won’t tell them where it is.”

I took a deep breath, trying to gather my nerves. If I didn’t bring in Cameron, Thanh could die. I didn’t even want to think about what might happen to Byron. How could I get Cameron’s cooperation? I knew him better than anyone else. He was lazy, selfish, thoughtless, and wouldn’t hesitate to leave a female in danger. I didn’t really have much to work with. He used other people’s money, had no independent thought, he liked to eat…he really liked to eat. How was I going to get him out of here?

Byron still watched me expectantly. “Tell him it was a wager.”

I straightened in shock, but it gave me the glimmer of an idea. “I can’t be with you,” I said to Byron in a louder voice. “My heart belongs to someone else. It will always be Cameron.
Cameron Hornberger
. I’m sorry...Jeremy.”

Byron adjusted the phone on his ear. “He doesn’t know you exist,” he growled a reminder.

Ah yes. I was still Suzy Q Miller. “Well, he’s still a great guy, cool and...and...hot. I just can’t stop thinking about…Cameron. This will never work between us, Jeremy. I’m sorry.”

The table next to us went silent. Byron bit his lip. “But he doesn’t want you, and I want you.” He slipped me his keys. Too bad we couldn’t switch wigs too. Cameron always liked the blondes better, but I had the advantage of being female, breathing and hopelessly in love. Maybe like last time, Cameron wouldn’t recognize me.

“It isn’t fair to you,” I told Byron. “Just…forget about me.” I stood up. I saw Cameron’s stiff shadow on the screen that separated us. He didn’t move. The giggly girl let out another nervous giggle across the wall. After a moment of melodramatic waiting, Cameron stretched to his feet. He tried to loudly signal his friends back, but they followed behind him, nice and tacky just like I hoped they would.

Byron blew me his signature kiss with two fingers as I passed. It gave me courage, and I turned from him, edging behind the wall away from Eric. His monster of an assassin still waited by the door. The face paint was mostly rubbed off—especially around his red eyes where I got him with the perfume. Stepping closer, I knew where I had seen him before.
Dune Guy.
He had been leaving my apartment with Eric a few weeks ago, just before I found that threatening note on Thanh’s door. I must’ve caught the two after plotting with Sandra to steal her control box. It was ironic that I had been right about them from the beginning. They were dirty spies—playing much deeper than I thought.

Cameron approached me, towering over me. He was possibly the same height as this assassin, just not as bulky. His leather wristband dangled fashionably from his wrist. He cleared his throat, but before he could talk, I stepped away from him. He took another step. I took another one, closer to the assassin and the exit. My skin tingled with fear. It had been a long time since I had appreciated Cameron this much. He had always been tall and strong, even though I couldn’t imagine him fighting
anyone
unless he was backed into a corner. Maybe I could find one.

“You coming from a costume party?”

I swiveled to him and played nervously with my fingers. Cameron was always good at introductions. Getting him to stay was the hard part. “I couldn’t really enjoy it.” I tried to make my voice sound unlike mine, but natural. It was harder than I imagined. He had no problem with the act, and it was easy enough to lead him to the door with me. I wondered what seething girl he was leaving behind to foot the bill.

“Who are you supposed to be?” he asked.

I beamed at him, wondering why he couldn’t figure out it was me—maybe because I looked too happy to see him. “Who do you want me to be?”

“You.”

Did he recognize me? A chill ran through me, and I willed him not to give away my cover. We were past Eric’s strange sidekick and I nudged the door open to escape. Cameron pushed his shoulder against it, stopping me from going outside. “I’ve wanted to talk to you for a long time now.”

The blood drained from my face.
Dune Guy
would catch on any second. The smell of old lady perfume was strong on him. “Outside,” I managed to whisper.

Cameron’s muscular arm brushed against my bare one and he shoved the door open, letting me through. “Outside it is.” His eyes backed up his words. Cameron sounded like a man caught up in the moment. Byron was going to pay for this. We reached freedom in the parking lot, and I rested my hands on my cargo pockets, taking quick breaths. One glance behind Cameron told me that
Dune Guy
wasn’t after us.

“I was talking about a different Cameron Hornberger,” I hurriedly told him.

He grinned. “Uh huh. So, that was you at
Battle of the Bands
, wasn’t it?”

“Look.” I readjusted Byron’s keys in my hands, not sure how to talk myself out of this one. Despite my tough words, I wasn’t cruel enough to give him the wager line. Something inside me still cared for Cameron. Maybe I could just run away. “Um,” I managed to get out. “I don’t really want to go out again.”

“Whoa, whoa.” He held his big hands up. “Who said anything about going out?”

I laughed in embarrassment. “Well, good. I guess that’s settled then.”

For once he looked subdued. “You do know what today is, don’t you?”

Everything lurched uncomfortably in my stomach. Of course I knew. June 6th. I had dreaded this day the moment we broke up, though now the actual day threatened to erase its significance from my memory. “Yeah, weird, huh?” I muttered almost to myself. I turned from him, making my way to Byron’s Suburban.

The girls piled out the door after Cameron as he watched me slip away. He looked a little confused. “Where are you going?”

“To save the world.” I ripped my red wig off, blowing out my cheeks to release the tension. “Thanks Cameron. I couldn’t have done it without you.” I unlocked the door on Byron’s Suburban, my heartbeat out of control. The girls talked loudly now, casting me looks of amusement, pity, jealousy. One of them brushed against a silver BMW and screamed.

She scrambled into Cameron’s arms. Despite the awkwardness, he laughed, looking pleased in his role of protector—especially in front of me. She was a pretty little blonde and judging by the sound of her high-pitched scream, she was the giggler. “I thought I heard something from that car,” she cried. “It sounded like a cat.”

A cat?
Instead of getting in, I closed Byron’s door and peered through the windows of the silver BMW. There was nothing, except—I heard it again. It was in the trunk. This car was Eric’s. “Thanh!” I whispered. The muffled sound got louder. It had to be her. I picked up a rock.

“What are you doin—?” Before Cameron could stop me, I smashed the window in on the driver’s side and pulled off one of my layers of shirts, wrapping it protectively around my arm. “Stop!” he shouted.

I ignored him, thrusting my hand into the car to find the trunk release. The trunk popped and I rushed around the BMW. Thanh lay motionless inside, looking like a page ripped out of time. She wore the same skinny jeans and rumpled baby doll top from the night she was taken. Her eyes were big and her mouth was covered with duct tape. The ends of it had rolled up and she made a sad little moan. I pulled it off gingerly, knowing it would hurt. She gasped for air. Tears streamed down her face and I hugged her small body close. “Thanh, are you okay?”

Cameron looked more confused than ever. The girls huddled around us, most of them at a loss for words. “Should we call the police?” one of them asked.

I peeled off the duct tape from Thanh’s wrists. She caught her breath in fear, her eyes darting to something behind my shoulder. I turned in time to see Eric running for us in a full sprint. I shrunk back, pulling Thanh behind me. “Get away from her,” I shouted. There had to be something to fight him with, but what if he had a gun? I couldn’t let him take her again.

I forced myself not to close my eyes at the coming impact just as Cameron stepped in front of us, shielding us with his body. “Get back,” he told Eric in a commanding voice. It even impressed me. I heard a shout and then a scuffle. I peered around Cameron’s broad shoulder, seeing Byron—the hick—tackle Eric to the hard pavement. Eric hit his head hard. I pulled out my old lady perfume from my pocket.

“Wait!” Thanh’s fingers were free and they scraped over me.

I patted her arm, trying to ease her painful grip. “Don’t worry. We’ve got this.”

Eric tried to scramble free, but Byron had him. Cameron and his girls watched in shock. Byron wrestled Eric to the ground, and dragged out cuffs from his jeans. I jumped next to the two with my weapon in hand. Byron shot me a look that tried to pin me down too. “Oh no, you don’t. Not the perfume again!”

“Stop!” Thanh rushed past me and threw herself over Eric, almost tackling me in the process. “Don’t hurt him.” Byron squinted up at her, confused, his blonde wig askew. She let out a wracked sob when she recognized him. “You’ve got the wrong guy, Byron! It’s Eric!”

“He…he kidnapped you,” I tried to explain. It came out lame.

“No! No! He was helping me.” She hugged Eric desperately.

Eric tried to reassure her by squeezing her hand. It was the only part of him free. “Thanh. Don’t worry about me.”

Byron scrambled to his knees, allowing Thanh to free Eric, but he still looked like he might tackle him again. “He’s my boyfriend,” Thanh explained. “He saved my life.”

Our eyes went to Eric and he licked his dry lips. “They said they’d kill her if I didn’t give them the control box. I had to do it. I’m sorry. I did everything I could, but I made a deal…for her.”

Thanh wouldn’t let him go. Byron’s eyes went to me. “That might explain why Eric didn’t kill you, Madeleine.”

“Yeah, but…”
Two timer!
Why did Eric have to flirt with me to get what he wanted? Had his feelings for me gotten the best of him? No. Probably not. My cheeks burned at the betrayal. Maybe it was my natural distrust, but I couldn’t let it go. “Okay Eric, why was she in your trunk?”