Blindsided (6 page)

“Maybe…” He starts on a fresh page, making a clumsy attempt at a head. I almost want to ask if my skull is really that lumpy, but he’ll just glare at me. He looks at my face again, then back to the page. “I mean, we don’t have any real information for them, do we? I’ve never seen anything at the factory but twisted metal…though maybe some of that metal had traces of Radiasure. Who knows?”

I nod, thinking. “When Miles told me about the real formula, he said the public version was missing a top secret element. Whatever that is, any evidence would be at the factory, and if we saw it…even by accident…these people don’t strike me as the type who’d let witnesses go.”

Seth works on my eyes, which already seem too big for the head he drew. “I hate that you’re probably right, but it’d be seriously dangerous even to hide our tracks.”

“I know. Major Norton told me not to go out there anymore, like that wasn’t gonna make me curious.”

He snorts. “He told me that, too. I don’t think he’s the smartest guy around.”

“Clearly.”

“Let’s talk to The Pack about it. If they’re in, we’ll have enough people to cover our butts.”

I purse my lips, thinking. “I’d rather not put them at risk, though.”

“We’re all at—” Seth drops the pencil, and his eyes fill with terror. I turn to see what has him so freaked out and gasp. It’s like a nightmare, but this is all too real. The Phantom stands in my living room, seeming pleased with our surprise.

Chapter 8

The Phantom looks around before his eyes fall on me. “Is your mother not home yet?”

As scared as I am, I somehow find the strength to stand. “Why do you want to know?”

His laugh is quiet as he pulls a glowing blue pill from his pocket. He swallows the Radiasure dry, and I wonder if he took it just to intimidate me. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“How about you go back out and knock like a decent human being?” I put my hands on my hips. “Then I’ll answer my door and your question.”

“Fiona,” Seth hisses.

“Your boyfriend seems properly afraid of me.” The Phantom comes closer, his chin tipped up in a challenging gesture. “Why not you?”

I don’t have an answer that is more sophisticated than “instinct kicking in.” Every day of my life I’ve lived with fear—if I always gave into it I’d be nothing but a puddle of whimpering and shaking. “It’s not exactly the first time I’ve met someone with a terrifying ability who pops Radiasure like it’s nothing, is it?”

“This is true.” Another step closer, to the point that he’s almost in my personal bubble. “Speaking of extraordinary abilities, I’ll only ask one more time: Where’s your mother?”

“I’m not telling.”

“We’ll see about that.” Before I can react, The Phantom charges for me. I brace myself to be tackled, but instead am met with a cold sensation that makes my whole body shudder. That’s when I realize he’s walking right through me, and I let out an involuntary scream.

By the time I recover and turn around, The Phantom has a knife to Seth’s throat. I can’t breathe, can’t think, knowing how easy it would be for him to slice my boyfriend’s neck right open. “This boy seems to hang out with you a lot. I could get rid of him if you want.”

I force down the lump in my throat. There’s no other choice now. “Let him go. I’ll take you to her.”

“That’s better.” The Phantom lowers his knife and points toward the door. “Shall we?”

“Yes.” I hold out my hand to Seth. “Can I borrow your keys?”

Seth gives me the “you’re crazy” look, but he gives them to me anyway. “You’ll be back, right?”

“As long as she listens well,” The Phantom says. We go outside and get in Seth’s black truck. My skin crawls being so close to Juan’s most prized henchman, the feeling of him walking through me still too fresh in my mind.

I try to focus on driving, on the heat rippling the horizon and the deep blue of the late afternoon sky. Madison is still as small and boring as ever, but the stucco houses and rocky yards we pass have become a sign of home. As we hit Main Street, where the old diner, dry cleaners, bar, and other stores seem to be stuck in the seventies, a strange sense of responsibility comes over me.

This is
my
town.

No one touches
my
town.

My eyes go wide as I realize I sound just like my dad. Is this how it starts? People threaten the stuff you care about, and you go to whatever lengths necessary to keep it safe. As I pull into the bowling alley parking lot, I shake it off. It’s not the same thing—I’m only trying to stay out of harm’s way. And kind of failing so far.

The Superbowl looks like a disco inside, with nonstop flashing lights and loud, party music. I suppose the owners think this will make bowling seem less lame, but everyone knows it doesn’t work. Lucky for them, it’s the only entertaining place in town minus the pool. I’d go more often if The Pack wasn’t banned.

“She should be around here somewhere,” I say, scanning the shoe rental, snack bar, and small arcade section. Really hope she didn’t ditch out like a few days ago.

“Lauren McClean, working here…” The Phantom clucks his tongue. I can’t disagree with him. Mom, even as a non-criminal, is talented and smart and not exactly bowling alley material. “Such a shame.”

“Better honest money than illegal.” I walk down the main pathway, looking at each group of people in hope of finding her. People gape back at us, seeming horrified to see me with one of Juan’s tattooed men. I can hear the rumors now. Just when people were starting to be nice to me.

“Are you having trouble finding her?” The Phantom says when we reach the middle lanes. “Please don’t tell me this is a diversion—she hides now, you disappear at the first chance. This would make me very unhappy.”

I gulp, thinking of how quickly he went for his knife before. “No, that’s not it at all.”

“Better convince me.” The Phantom’s voice has lost all playfulness. He’s getting tired of batting at his prey, and I don’t want to know what happens then.

There’s only one place left to check. “She’s probably in the break room.”

I head that way as everyone else packs up and starts to leave. No one told them to get out of here, and yet it’s like they know not to be anywhere near Juan’s people if they can help it. When I open the door, Mom’s sitting at a round table with her phone in hand. She smiles when she sees me.

“Fiona! I didn’t know you’d be vi—” The moment Mom sees The Phantom come in, shock hits her face. Once it washes off, she pulls me behind her and glares at him. “How dare you use her to get to me.”

He raises an eyebrow. “I just want to discuss certain matters with you and your daughter. It’s not my fault you made it so difficult to locate you. I had to follow your little girl instead.”

My face goes red. “That’s why you were at the school?”

“Of course.” He sits at the flimsy card table and motions for us to do the same. “Let’s talk, ladies. That’s all I’m asking.”

Mom takes her seat again, looking like she has no idea what’s going on. I sit next to her, nervous and curious myself. “You wanna talk?” Mom says. “Fine. Talk.”

“I will make this very simple, Lauren,” The Phantom says. “Juan’s been watching you for a couple months now, so don’t think he doesn’t know why you’re here.”

“And why is that?” Mom asks without a hint of anything but indifference. I, on the other hand, am kind of disturbed about the idea of Juan keeping tabs on us for that long. But maybe I should consider us lucky that he didn’t pick up on it sooner.

The Phantom’s eyes narrow. “You know why.”

Mom shrugs. “Do I?”

I don’t think he can tell, but it’s clear to me that Mom’s baiting for information. Because obviously
we
don’t know what he’s thinking about us living here, but I get the sense it’s different from the truth.

“Let’s not play games. Every syndicate has this information, thanks to an assassination in China that has you O’Connells written all over it.”

I stifle a gasp. So Dad really went through with his mission to find the real Radiasure formula. Who did he send instead? Maybe I don’t want to know, because they’re probably dead. I hope they are, because it’d be worse if they were captured by another syndicate.

Mom raises an eyebrow, seeming just as surprised by this information as I am. “Looks like you do know everything.”

“Yup,” I add, because this works in our favor—obviously Juan doesn’t know we’re not working for Dad anymore. They must think we’re here to make Radiasure just like they are.

“So here’s how it’ll work.” The Phantom reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a slick black card. When the lights hit it, an image of a jaguar gleams back. “The Torres syndicate is willing to overlook your trespassing under one condition. If you agree—I get to give you three million dollars.”

Mom purses her lips. “Must be one hell of a condition.”

“All Juan asks is that you do nothing.” The Phantom puts the card on the table and slides it over. “You can do that, right?”

“You want us to ignore our orders? That’s it?” she asks.

He nods.

There has to be some kind of catch, though at the same time it does make sense. Juan wants to produce Radiasure first. Whoever does will clearly have the advantage. If we do nothing, that’s one less syndicate to worry about meddling. Except we’re not actually working for Dad…I frown, realizing there’s a bigger issue here.

“We do nothing, and you can promise our safety as long as we’re in your territory?” Mom asks.

“Of course.” The Phantom’s dark eyes gleam with anticipation. “What’s your answer?”

“We’ll do nothing, but you can have this back.” To my surprise, Mom slides the card to him. “Safety is enough. I don’t want to owe Juan anything.”

The Phantom takes it in his spindly hands. “You’re smarter than you look.”

“Don’t forget it.” Mom stands, and I follow her outside. I’m about to head back to Seth’s car when she bursts out laughing. Then she leans in to say, “Well, that was easy enough—we don’t even have orders to ignore! Looks like as long as we lie low we can sail past this mess scot-free.”

“Yeah,” I whisper, my mind reeling. Maybe we’re safer from Juan than I thought we could be, but I can’t escape one thought: Dad hasn’t sent a crew here to search the area. What could he be doing that is more important to him than reproducing Radiasure?

Chapter 9

At least Movie Night hasn’t changed much. Bea’s dad still makes amazing burgers. Her mom still prepares a spread of toppings. And of course there’s always fighting over which movie to watch. But her older brothers Joey and Tony haven’t come for a month because of demanding college classes. Plus, Bea and Brady are usually so distracted with each other they forget to protect me from Carlos.

“So, Fiona,” Carlos says as he sits next to me at the picnic table. I glare at Bea, who is giggling and flirting with Brady by the condiments. So much for backup. “How do you feel about polyamorous relationships?”

“I didn’t realize you knew such big words,” I reply.

Hector makes a sizzling sound. “Nice burn, Fi.”

“She’s avoiding the question,” Carlos says.

Seth pulls me closer. “Stop asking my girlfriend inappropriate stuff. We’re together, and that’s not about to change.”

“Plus I’m not interested in you.” I bite into my burger, which is filled with peppers and avocado and cheese.

The guys laugh, though Carlos does look a little hurt by the news. I almost feel bad, but I’ve learned the boy can’t take a hint or even a direct statement. Why he’s decided to fixate on me of all people I’ll never know.

“You need to move on, dude,” Hector says through a huge bite of burger, complete with barbecue sauce on his face. “There are tons more invisible girls out there for you to terrorize.”

I snort. “If only.”

After dinner, we spread blankets on the grass, set up the projector, and pick a movie. By the time we get everything ready it’s dark, thanks to the short winter days. Though it’s not freezing, it’s definitely cold enough that we huddle under blankets and drink cocoa.

Bea hops up as the opening credits begin, pulling out the one device I hate more than anything—a camera. “Smile, everyone!”

The camera flashes. I didn’t smile or even look at it, not like anyone will be able to tell. She takes a few more, and I have to restrain myself from yelling at her to stop. I know this is what normal people do, but I hate looking at my missing face next to everyone else.

Seth nudges me. “Is it really so bad?”

I’m not sure how to answer that when we’re surrounded by people who don’t know he can see me. It’s not like I can get into a lengthy discussion about how hollow and stupid those pictures make me feel. “Yeah, it is.”

“I’m sorry, Fi.” He puts his arm around me, and I try to concentrate on the movie. But Bea and Brady are laughing while they take pictures together, and envy flares inside me like a hot coal. I know they aren’t, and yet it feels like they’re rubbing their visibility in my face. Seth squeezes my shoulder. “Should I ask for the camera next? Seems like you’re distracted by it.”