Undercover with the Hottie (Investigating the Hottie) (12 page)

“Sorry, guys,” I said.

“We'll get to your apologies later, Amanda,” Christie said.

“I was apologizing to them. I figure I'll be apologizing to you and Nic from the time they leave until sometime early Monday morning.” We'd definitely be begging for forgiveness for days.  

Nic almost quirked a smile. Maybe there was hope for us after all.

“Wouldn't it just be easier for us to help you?” Sidney asked. “I mean we might as well. Then you'd know what we were up to, and maybe we could make a difference.”

“We'll discuss it, Sidney,” Christie said. “But don't get your hopes up. You're a minor, and despite the example set by Will and Amanda tonight, operatives are highly trained and the risks involved cannot be taken lightly.”

“I'm almost eighteen,” Leah said. “And Logan already is.”

“We'll discuss it,” Nic said. “In the meantime, please keep this to yourselves. Remember that somebody you know may well be the enemy here. If not someone you know, then perhaps their parents, or their coworkers. This isn't a game. This truly is life or death.”

I wasn't sure where we stood when the three neighbors filed out of the loft. They didn't seem happy.

I went over and joined Will on the sofa. Since we were going to get chewed out anyway, I reached for his hand. Holding his hand felt good, but the truth was that I was horrified at our mistake. Could I be a spy and date Will?

Neither of us spoke, and the adults were talking quietly in the kitchen area.

“I feel like such a loser,” Will said.

I squeezed his hand. “I know.”

“Too bad we didn't do that thing with the oozing zit. I think it might have helped.”

Too exhausted to laugh, I smiled. “The stress from this will probably doom my complexion for weeks, months even.”

“Assuming we live that long,” he muttered.

“We still have our brass knuckles,” I said.

“Only for self-defense,” he said. “And we can't use them on Grandma.”

“Of course not,” I agreed.

Finally, Nic and Christie came over and sat on the sofa across from us. Grandma stood nearby.

“We aren't going to discuss this until morning,” Nic said. “We need more time, and frankly, you deserve to be miserable with the guilt and uncertainty.”

He didn't pull any punches.

“Go upstairs and get in bed.”  Christie sighed. “I know you won't sleep, but stay in your rooms.”

“We do need to verify that Sidney was the only person who saw anything tonight. Is there any way that someone else saw you kissing?”  Nic waited for our answer.

“Nobody else,” Will assured him.

“We were in a room alone, and Leah had already confirmed that there were no active cameras in the house during the party.”

“Thank God for small favors,” Grandma said.

“We'll see you two in the morning. It's Saturday, and Christie is scheduled to make contact with Smith. If things work out, we'll probably have you two spend the day with the teens.”

Will stood, and I stood too. There didn't seem any point in saying it again, but I did anyway. “We are so sorry.”

“Oh, and leave your phones,” Nic instructed.

I pulled the phone from my pocket and set it on the coffee table. Will set his beside mine.

I followed Will upstairs and we shared a brief hug before going into our respective rooms.

What a disaster.

Chapter Eleven

Two hours later, I was wide awake. My stomach churned with acid, and I wanted nothing more than another hug from Will.

I made it another ninety minutes. It was either sneak down the hall to talk to Will or pull my hair out, one strand at a time.

I crept to the door and opened it an inch. The loft was dark except for light over the stove and light filtering out from the bathrooms. I dared to open it wider and peeked around. I couldn't see much, and I didn't hear anyone moving around. Everyone must be asleep. I moved into the hall and took slow, deliberate steps in the direction of Will's room. After about five steps, my foot bumped into something.

What in the world?

A light clicked on near the floor and I could see that Nic was laying on an air mattress in the hall.

“What are you doing?” I hissed. “Are you sleeping in the hall?”

“We've been taking turns all week,” he said. “You didn't think we'd take a chance on you two sneaking into each others rooms, did you?”

“Oh! We would never!”

“Amanda, that's exactly what you're doing right now.”

“I can't sleep!”

“Go back to bed, and I won't tell Christie.”  He rolled back over and clicked off the light.

Good grief. “You could at least wait until I got back to my room before you turned out the light.”

“I could,” he said.

I felt my way down the hall to my door. Then I went in and slammed the door. I know it was childish, but so was refusing to leave the light on for me.

I crawled back into the bed, hugged a pillow to my chest, and closed my eyes.

Part of me, the part that didn't back down from a challenge, wanted to wait until Nic was sleeping and try again. Now that I knew he was there, I had a shot at getting past him. I wouldn't mind seeing the shock on Nic's face when I outwitted him. The part of me that was sane and rational knew I was already in enough trouble. And also that a sleeping Nic could be deadly if he didn't realize who was sneaking around him. Yeah, I didn't need to prove anything. It was enough to know that I could do it, if I so chose.

I didn't want to get up the next morning. I hadn't slept but a few hours, and I was disappointed in myself. Not to mention that I was still in line to get chewed out.

Someone finally knocked on my door.

“Come in,” I growled.

Will peeked around the door. “Are you awake?”

“Not willingly,” I said, pulling a pillow over my head.

“It isn't like you to hide from this.”

“I'm making some changes in how I approach life.”

He surprised me by laughing. “Get up, psycho. Until you do, we're both in limbo, and I need to know what is going to happen.”

“You are assuming that I care.”

“I know you care,” he said, his voice husky.

I heard him moving closer.

“Either admit you care about me and get out of bed, or I'll tickle you until you do.”  

I screeched as I scrambled out of bed and then ran for the bathroom.

Will kept laughing after I closed the door and locked it. I couldn't stop laughing either. Even if they kicked me out of GASI for being so inept, meeting Will made everything worth it.

After brushing my hair, my teeth, washing my face, and throwing on some shorts and a T-shirt, I ran downstairs. I was the last one there. I went over to the coffee pot and poured a mug for myself. I added a ton of sugar and milk, because I don't actually like coffee. Then I went to sit at the kitchen table with everyone else.

“We've decided that we'll deal with any disciplinary ramifications from your behavior after the mission is completed.”  Christie gave me a stern look. “We think that limiting your GASI contacts to just the three of us may have been a mistake. We'd like to expand your contact base and your handlers.” She glanced at Nic. “It isn't unfathomable that dealing mainly with close family members has given an impression that less than one-hundred percent commitment to the Agency is acceptable.”

“I'm sorry. What?” Will asked.

“Christie! Do you think that I'm not trying my hardest just because you are my aunt? Or because I don't respect you and Nic? Because I do. I don't know whether to be angry or heartbroken that you'd think that of me.”

“And me,” Will said.

“Of me and Will. Of us.”

“Regardless,” Nic said. “We are going to make some changes after this mission.”

My stomach threatened to rebel at the evidence of Christie's disappointment in me.

Grandma laid a hand on my arm. “It's okay, sweetie. Trust can be regained.”

Will cleared his throat, and I realized he was upset about this as well. “So,” he said, “what about the current mission? How does this change things? Can we use Logan and his sisters, or not?”

He asked good questions, and if I focused on the mission maybe I could keep it together.

“We are still a go on this mission,” Nic said. “We've made some great inroads with surveillance. We identified some suspicious activity overnight.”

Really? “What?” I asked.

“We've identified several likely meetings among high level officials at the UN. These occurred off site at odd hours. The analysts are pursuing those leads now.”

“We aren't helping with that?” Will asked.

“No,” Nic said. “I'm going to provide support for Christie to check on Smith. Grandma will be monitoring you guys. We want you to hang out with the neighbors today. You can move faster through the teen crowd with their help. The only thing they are authorized to do is introduce you to people and facilitate having those teens use the chargers. They are not to challenge anyone in any way and they are not to act in any way inconsistently with their normal behavior.”  Nic stopped and pointed to me and Will. “Those teens are your responsibility. Your primary mission is to keep Logan, Leah, and Sidney out of trouble. The surveillance is now your secondary mission.”

Oh, wow.

Grandma said, “In addition we will be getting updates from the analyst teams throughout the day. We may need to redirect your efforts. I'll be texting the two of you. One of you will touch base by phone after each text.”

“Did you make any plans for today before things fell apart last night?” Nic asked.

Will shook his head. “No.”

“Why don't you two start texting and see what you can get going. We need you out there socializing.”  Christie hesitated. “And by socializing, I mean with the other teenagers. I do not mean with each other.”

Oh crud. She went there again.

I didn't try to answer. I wasn't sure I could say anything without sounding snippy.

“We hear you loud and clear,” Will said. He looked over at me for support, but I didn't give him any. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “So, point made. We totally get it.”

Christie continued to stare at him.

He cleared his throat. “We are on board. Completely.”

A bead of sweat formed on his forehead, and I realized I wasn't being fair. I took a deep breath and said, “We get it, Christie. No worries.”

“Now that that's settled,” Grandma said, pushing her chair back and standing, “I'll whip up some eggs and pancakes while you two start texting.”

Grandma wasn't the kind of Grandma who cooked well. She was more that drum pounding, computer hacking, trouble maker type of grandmother. I didn't want her eggs any more than I'd want eggs I cooked myself.

“Don't be silly,” Nic said, his voice strained. “I'll cook. It's my turn.”  He stood and went over to the counter.

Grandma winked at me.

Oh yeah. She'd done that on purpose. But I was fine with that because Nic actually could cook.

“Why don't you two get in touch with your friends?” Grandma whispered with a sympathetic look in her eye.

“On it,” Will said.

I left my coffee and went to sit with him on the couch, one of us at each end.

I texted Leah and Sidney to see what they were doing.

Leah: Come over.

Sidney: Come here.

Lifting my gaze to Will, I said, “They want us to come over.”

He nodded. “I know. Logan said they already have some people there.”

“Go on over,” Christie suggested. “We'll call when breakfast is ready. If you can find out what the plans are, we'll have a head start on preparations.”

“We need our contacts in.”  I looked down at my pale legs. “And I need jeans.”

Fifteen minutes later, we knocked on the door at the loft next door.

“Yay,” Sidney said, hugging each of us in greeting.

This wasn't the Sidney we'd freaked out last night.

“Um, hi, Sidney. Good to see you too,” Will said.

She took our hands and pulled us through the door. “We're just starting to decide what to do today. And,” she leaned toward us and said in a loud whisper, “apparently West drove Daphne home last night, so we are all excited to grill them when they show up.”

“Really? West and Daphne? Surely not.”

“Why not?” Will asked. “He was into her.”

I wrinkled my nose. “He was? How did I miss that?”

“Hey, guys,” Logan said. “We're going to do something today that gets you guys out into the city. You haven't seen anything yet, and that's ridiculous.”

Oh, good. They weren't mad at us.

“Like where?” I asked.

“I know,” Ethan said. “Times Square. We can go down and sign confetti. They have a wishing wall, and then they'll drop the confetti with our wishes on it on New Year's Eve.”

I glanced at Will. The Times Square thing was a pretty weird coincidence. Did he have a reason for going?

“I've always wanted to do that,” Sidney said.

“We can do that online,” April said. “Where it's warm. And then they print it and cut it up and release it over Times Square too. Same thing.”

“It's not really the same,” I said. “I think it might be fun to go write on the actual confetti.”

“We should go,” Genesis said, with a sneer in my direction. “I'll bet Amanda is dying for some Applebee's and Aeropostale to remind her of home.”

What had I done to her? Besides Applebee's was good. And I knew lots of people who wore Aeropostale.

“You do realize that when you insult Amanda, you're insulting Will too,” Leah said.

From the blank look and the rapid blinking, I was pretty sure she hadn't realized.

“Should we do Times Square or Rockefeller Center?” Leah asked.

“I forgot about Rockefeller Center. That would be fun, too,” Logan said.

“Sure, if your dream is to hug Al Roker,” Genesis said.

“What is wrong with you, Genesis? You are being so rude!”

“I'm just not a fan of the Today show,” she whined.

“There's a ton of stuff to do there,” Sidney said. “Ice skating, and the tree is amazing!”

“We could do both,” Logan said.

“Let's do Times Square today and Rockefeller on Monday,” Ethan said.