The Nexus Series: Books 1-3 (31 page)

Jill laughed and
pushed her plate in front of Dizzie.  “And I know you’re trying to
distract me again, by the way.”

“What?  No!” 
Dizzie insisted.

“Don’t give me
that.”

“Oh, all
right.  I don’t want you worried about whatever nonsense Corey and Amber
are chatting about over there.”

“It looks pretty
serious.”

“Everything’s
serious to Corey,” Dizzie muttered with a mouthful of shrimp.  “I mean,
don’t get me wrong, I love Cor.  But he’s just like so uptight sometimes.”

Jill kept
watching them.   “I’m not sure I believe you.”

Dizzie looked at
her, bug-eyed.  “You seriously don’t think Corey’s uptight?”

“I mean I’m not
sure I believe you about Amber—what you said a few nights ago.  There’s no
way she’s intimidated by me.”

“Oh, that.” 
Dizzie shrugged, forking another shrimp into her mouth.  “I’m just telling
it like I see it.”

“You
really
think so?”

“I already said
so.”

“But she doesn’t
need to feel weird around me!”

Dizzie held up
her hands.  “So make her feel not-weird around you!”

“How do I do
that?”

“I don’t
know.  What would you want her to do to make you feel not-weird around
her?”

“I’ll have to
think about it.”  Jill’s eyes wandered back to Amber and Corey’s table.

Dizzie put down
her fork exasperatedly.  “Here, I’ll tell you what they’re saying so you
can stop obsessing about it.”  Corey was talking now, and Dizzie mimicked
him in the deepest voice she could muster.  “‘Amber, my dear, don’t you
understand?  We simply can’t become romantically involved.  We’re
co-workers.  It’s expressly against department policy.  And you know
I’d sooner take my own life than violate department policy.’”  Amber
replied, and Dizzie’s voice became comically soprano.  “‘But Corey, you’re
just so rugged and manly!  I can’t go on like this.  If you won’t
date me, one of us will have to quit!’  ‘Well, it will have to be you; I
need this job.’  ‘Forget it!  I need it more.’  ‘No, clearly I
do.’  ‘No I do!’  ‘Nope.’  ‘Yes!’  ‘No.’  ‘Yes
infinity!’”

Jill doubled over
in her seat trying to suppress a laugh.

Dizzie pushed the
shrimp back in front of Jill.  “Get that away from me or I’ll finish it.”

Jill frowned at
the plate.  “You pretty much already did.”

“Sorry.  You
want me to go get you some more?  Because I can totally go get you some
more.”

“Diz, I’m just
kidding!  Have a few more bites if you want to.  And thanks, by the
way.”

“For what?”

“Being a nuisance
again.”

“Oh, no
problem!  Any time.”

Jill took one
last glance down toward Corey and Amber.  Bradley was just now approaching
their table holding an enormous cookie.  They sat back from each other and
acted like they hadn’t been saying anything important.

THE
dress hung from a hook at the top of her closet door back at her dorm
room.  Jill sat on the edge of her bed and stared at it.

It just wasn’t
her style.

Was it? 
Dizzie had thought so.

Formal parties in
general weren’t her style.  Tomorrow would be awkward.  She’d never
even had a manicure or pedicure.  She had been to a real salon—once. 
Her mom had taken her to get her hair done on her eleventh birthday.  That
night they went to an Italian restaurant.  Jill got spaghetti and
meatballs, and spilled marinara sauce on her white blouse.  She’d felt bad
at first.  But literally one second later her mom spilled
alfredo
sauce on her black blouse, and they both laughed so
hard they cried.

She didn’t
remember taking the dress off the hook, but she was holding it now, feeling the
smooth, satiny material.

Before she knew
it she was trying it on again, studying herself in the full-length mirror in
one corner of her room.

Dizzie burst into
the room just then.  She had a bad habit of not knocking.  “Hey, I’ve
got your—”  She stopped and smiled.

Jill looked down
in embarrassment.  “Uh, I just...I actually might need a different
size.  I’m not sure this one....”

“Stop it. 
It’s the perfect size!” said Dizzie.  Her expression got serious. 
“Jill, listen.  I’m really sorry your first time at a formal party has to
be undercover for a mission.  It stinks.”

Jill
shrugged.  “Hey, at least I’m finally making it to one of these things at
all, right?”

Dizzie shook her
head.  “You should have been taken on all kinds of dates by all kinds of
boys by now.”

“Oh, I don’t know
about that.”

“Well, at least a
couple
dates, then.”

“Maybe,” Jill
said uncertainly.  She gestured to the document Dizzie was holding. 
“What’s that?”

“Oh, right. 
I came to get you to sign this.  It’s the reimbursement form for your
dress.”

Jill looked her
reflection up and down once more.  “Do you think it would be okay if I
just bought it myself?”

“You don’t want
the department to pay for it?  It’s for a mission.”

“I know. 
But I kind of want to feel like it’s mine, you know?”

“It’ll be yours
even if the department pays.”

“I guess
so.  But it will seem more like it actually belongs to me if I buy it—like
it’s not just for my cover on a job.  Does that make sense?”

Dizzie
smiled.  “It so does!”  She tore the document in half dramatically.

“Besides,” Jill
added, still looking in the mirror, “maybe I’m starting to think of this more
as a night out than a mission.”

JILL
actually found herself enjoying their trip to the salon the next day. 
She, Dizzie, and Amber laughed and chatted with the friendly middle-aged women
who did their hair and nails.  Dizzie helped Jill make a decision as they
flipped through a book of potential hairstyles, then helped her pick the right
shade of red for her nails.

That afternoon
Dizzie helped Jill with her makeup too.  Jill couldn’t remember the last
time she’d worn makeup.  “You don’t need much,” Dizzie said
jealously.  “You’ve got a great complexion—lucky!”

The two of them
stood in front of the mirror in the dorm locker room.  Jill felt like she
was looking at a stranger.  Even the light layer of makeup made her face
look pretty different.  Her black hair was pulled back with a few curled
locks hanging loose.  “I’ve never looked in the mirror so much in my
life.  It’s like I’ve turned into an egomaniac.”

“Hey,” insisted
Dizzie, adding a little more glittery eye-shadow to her own face, “it’s not
egotistical to get prettied-up for a party!”  Her hair was even wilder
than usual, with a few streaks dyed pink for good measure.  “By the way,
have you already picked your jewelry for the evening?”

Jill
swallowed.  “Jewelry?  I didn’t even really think about—”

“I was hoping you
hadn’t!” said Dizzie.  She reached into her cosmetics case and pulled out
a silver necklace with a small butterfly charm.  Next she pulled out
matching earrings.  “I brought these for you.  They seemed like you.”

Jill took the
necklace and earrings in her hands.  “They’re perfect.  Are you
sure...?”

“Keep them,”
Dizzie insisted.  “They’ve been sitting in my jewelry box collecting
dust.”

“Thank you,” Jill
whispered.  “Thank you for everything, Diz.”

Dizzie gave a
dismissive wave.  “I hardly did anything.”  She zipped the case
closed with a flourish and smiled at the mirror.  “Look at us!” she said
with a whistle.  “Watch out, all you single guys; we’re
gonna
take this party by storm!”

Jill smiled, but
her mind was already focusing more on the job and less on the gala.  Her
heart started beating a little faster like it always did just before a
mission. 
And watch out, Professor Valentine
, she thought to
herself.

18

THEY
pulled up to the
Corriander
Building in a rented
skylimo
and stepped out into the courtyard.  Guests
were lined up before the glass-walled entrance.

Jill looked at
her invitation.  “Time to see if our forgeries are a success.”

“They’ll work,”
Dizzie said confidently.

“We’ll go first
and make sure,” said Corey.  His tux had a white jacket.  He and
Amber looked like the prom king and queen.

“I’m heading to
the side entrance to meet the rest of the band,” said Dizzie.

“Break a leg, or
whatever,” said Bradley.

Jerry had come
with them in the limo.  He and Jill were left alone for the moment. 
They stepped next to a fountain in the courtyard.

“How do you
feel?” asked Jill.

“This is way too
formal for me,” muttered Jerry.  He’d looked anxious the entire ride over.

“Me too,” said
Jill.

“You look great,
though!”

She smiled. 
“So do you.”

“Thanks.” 
She’d sent him a picture of her dress, and he rented a tux with a matching red
tie.

Jill glanced
toward the doors.  “Looks like the invitations worked.  Corey and
Amber are in.”

“Cool, let’s get
in line.”

When they got to
the doors, two huge guys in black suits greeted them.  One was watching
his computer screen.  Jill knew he was looking to see if the invitations
checked out.

Jerry leaned
close to Jill.  “Not your average campus security types, are they?”

“Part of Dr.
Valentine’s personal bodyguard,” Jill replied softly.

Jerry
paled.  “He has his own personal bodyguard?”

Jill
nodded.  “More evidence that he’s a part of Sketch’s ring.”

“Enjoy your
evening,” the guard with the computer said with a nod.

“Thanks,” Jerry
said with a forced smile.

They went up a
few steps and inside the huge glass doors.

Jill felt like
she had just stepped onto a movie set.  Railed edges of the building’s upper
stories overlooked the huge ballroom area.  Abstract glass chandeliers
hung from the ceiling thirty meters above.    Everyone was
impeccably dressed.  A few vested men walked around with trays of drinks
and appetizers.  Behind the chatter was the music of a string quartet
playing in the corner.  Dizzie and her fellow band members were setting up
on the stage to one side.

Jerry idly
grabbed an appetizer from the tray of a passing server and jammed it
immediately into his mouth.  “Yikes, what is this?” he sputtered with a
gag.

“Didn’t you at
least take a casual glance at what you were about to eat?” Jill asked him with
a chuckle.

“It tastes like a
bad fungus.”  He ran a shaky hand around the fringe of his fro.

She put a hand on
his shoulder.  “Relax, Jerry.”

“Easy for you to
say.  I’m not used to this.  I mean, it’s one thing to do a little
hacking or write a little program that’s not quite legal, but breaking into a
museum vault...”

“Don’t worry,
everything will be fine!  Anyway, your part’s easy enough.  I’m way
more likely to get caught than you are.”

Jerry glanced at
the floor.  “Maybe that makes me nervous too.”

She smiled. 
“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“How about
neither of us gets caught?”

“Okay, deal.”

THE
string
quartet withdrew after a few minutes.  In startling contrast, the Lawn
Flamingos took the stage and entertained the mostly college-aged crowd with a
few chandelier-shaking tunes.  If Jill didn’t exactly enjoy the music she
did enjoy watching Dizzie beam and bounce up and down as she played her
guitar.  She wore a metallic silver dress with pink sequins in the shape
of a flamingo up one side.

Next there was a
brief break in the program.  People mingled casually.

“Okay,” Jill told
Amber, “time for Phase One.  The professor’s that way.”

Amber nodded and
began weaving her way through the crowd.

Dr. Valentine
seemed to be dominating the conversation in a little circle of people near the
stage.  A couple faculty members and several female students were
apparently thoroughly amused by whatever he’d just said.  He smiled and
took a drink from his goblet.

Amber passed the
edge of the circle right across from him.  She watched until she’d caught
his eye.

He knit his brows
and frowned at her.

“Professor,” she
said with a nod.

An instant later
she’d disappeared back into the crowd.

“Something wrong,
Michael?” another professor in the circle asked.

Dr. Valentine
scratched his head.  “I could have sworn I recognized...”

JILL
and Amber met Corey, Bradley, and Jerry G at the back of the room.  The MC
had just stepped on stage and was suggesting that the guests find their tables
and have a seat since it was about time for tonight’s speaker.

During the
shuffle before the speech, Corey quietly led the way down the hallway toward
the restrooms.  Making sure no one saw them they passed the restrooms and
turned down the rear passage of the building.  They descended the
switchback stairs at the end of the passage.

At the bottom of
the stairs was a small, dark room.  In the dim light they could see a
massive round metal door set in wall across from them.

The vault.

Corey crossed the
room and turned down a small, unlit passage.  “We wait here.”

THE
guests applauded as the evening’s guest speaker, Professor Someone-or-other,
took the stage.  “You know,” he began, “tonight reminds me that we don’t
just know how to learn here at
Davarius
.”  He
paused dramatically.  “We also know how to party.”

There was some
obligatory laughter and a clap or two.

At his table near
the back of the ballroom Dr. Valentine rolled his eyes.  “The man is
insufferable,” he muttered.

“Professor?”
someone whispered behind his chair.

He turned and saw
the girl who’d been playing the guitar for that atrocious band.  “Yes?”

“Sorry to bother
you during the speech, sir.”

“Oh, it’s no
bother, believe me.”  Was that supposed to be a flamingo on her dress?

“That’s a
relief.  I’m Beatrice, by the way.  You probably don’t know me. 
I’m one of like a million students in your Intro to the Metropolitan Satellite
Project survey class on Thursday nights.  You’re like the best professor
ever.  I love your humor and your knowledge and everything.  I mean,
I’m not a history major or anything, but—”

Dr. Valentine
glanced around awkwardly.  “Pardon me, Beatrice, but I believe we’re
distracting the other listeners.  Was there a particular reason you wanted
to speak with me?”

“Right,
right.  Sorry.  I just thought you should know that someone went
through that weird door at the bottom of the stairs over there—you know, the
door that looks like a bank vault or something?”

The professor sat
up straighter.  “Excuse me?”

“See, I thought I
heard it was like a storage area for valuable historical items, or something
like that.  So when I saw people going in there—”

“You’re saying
someone opened the round door?”

“Yeah, some
blonde girl in like a turquoise-
ish
dress, I
think.  I just happened to be passing by.  I was trying to find the
bathroom and I guess I got lost, and I saw her opening the door.  So
anyway, I just thought I should like let someone know—”

“And when was
this?”

“Like ten seconds
ago.  Okay, maybe more like thirty or something,
cuz
I had to come back up the stairs and—”

“Yes, yes, I
see.  Thank you for telling me, Beatrice.”

“Sure.”  The
girl smiled widely and vanished.

“I knew it,” the
professor hissed under his breath.  He stood from his table and slipped
away from the ballroom, signaling for the two big men in black suits to follow
him.

Dizzie smiled
satisfactorily to herself.  Phase Two accomplished.

JERRY
G crouched in the shadows with the others near the mouth of the hallway. 
He started holding his breath when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs
across the room.

It was the
professor, all right.  Dizzie had done her job.  Oh, great, he had
the two massive bodyguards with him.  He stepped up to the vault door and
punched a code on the console.  A loud click and hiss sounded as it
swiveled open.  “Come with me, gentlemen.”

The three of them
disappeared through the round door.

Jerry had sixty
seconds to work with.  He swallowed as he stepped into the room and dashed
as quietly as he could to the vault door’s console.

The others
watched pensively from the dark hallway.

Jerry scurried
back less than a minute later.  “Phase Three successfully completed. 
I overrode the system.  The new password is
Abracadabras
.”

 Bradley
scoffed.  “
Abracadabra
s
, plural? 
Are you serious?”

“It has to be
twelve characters long, okay?”

“Why not just
A-B-C-D-E-F—?”

“Shut up,
Bradley,” said Corey.  “Jerry, good work.”

“Thanks. 
I’m never doing anything like that again.”

“If you want to get
out of here now, feel free.”

“That’s really
tempting.”  Jerry looked over at Jill.  “But I think I’ll stick
around and see this thing through with you guys.”

“Cool. 
Jill, was Dizzie able to place the tracker on Valentine?”

“Apparently,”
said Jill, looking down at the screen of the mobile she’d pulled out of her
purse.  “Sherlock’s getting the layout of the vault’s interior and mapping
the professor’s path.  Looks like he’s stopping now.”

“Like clockwork,”
said Bradley.

“They’re on their
way back, now.”

The professor and
his escorts emerged from the vault a moment later.  “Search this entire
building for her,” he told them.  “This entire campus, if you have to.”

“Of course, sir.”

One of the big
guys accompanied the professor up the stairs back to the gala.  The other
big guy stepped into the dark hallway.

Two muffled shots
were fired.

He slumped to the
floor.

“Pretty sure my
stunner hit him first,” Bradley said from behind his raised weapon.

“Fine,” said
Corey, tucking his own gun back under his tux jacket.  “You need the hit
points more than I do anyway.”

“Hit
points?  What is this, a video game?”

“Girls,” said
Corey, “you’re up.”

“Phase Four,”
said Amber as she and Jill approached the vault.

“Want to do the
honors?” Jill offered.

“Sure.” 
Amber punched in
Abracadabras
on the vault
door’s console.  The same loud click and hiss sounded, and the door swung
open in front of them.

They stepped
inside.  The large room beyond the door contained rows and rows of large
metal drawers.  Each drawer bore a code or arrangement of seemingly random
letters and numbers.

Jill studied the
map of the room on her screen.  A red line showed Dr. Valentine’s path
through the maze.  “This way.”

They twisted and
turned among the storage units so many times that Amber lost all sense of
direction.

“Okay,” Jill said
finally, “here’s where he stopped.”

They were facing
a large storage unit with four drawers.

They found the
blueprints in the third drawer.

“Ready,” said
Amber, pulling a camera from her purse.

Jill took out a
large, laminated page—the first of many—and smoothed it out on the floor.

Amber snapped a
shot.  “Next.”

“THIS
is taking forever,” Bradley grumbled.

“There’re
probably several sheets to photograph,” said Corey.  “Be patient. 
Anyway it’s highly unlikely the professor will get wise.”

“So you don’t
think he’s upstairs getting reinforcements?” asked Jerry G.

“Then why are we
here?” muttered Bradley.

“Just in case,”
said Corey.

Jerry
frowned.  “So who is that coming down the stairs right now?”

The other two
drew their weapons and crouched in the dark hall.  It was more than one
set of footsteps that sounded from the stairs.

The professor
stepped into the room again.  “Well, well!” he said, seeing the open vault
door, “it appears I was right to return with the cavalry.”  He smiled to
himself.

Behind him were
no fewer than six members of his bodyguard.  They weren’t smiling.