Investigating the Hottie (2 page)

Okay, so how long has she been working on this fake video? Christie is really starting to creep me out.
I smiled at her, trying to reach whatever was left behind those big green eyes. “My friend Lexi did a video of her and Hope Solo. It was really good. I’m glad you have a hobby Christie, but can we—” 

“You’re very hard to impress, Amanda.” She paused the TV and scrutinized me with a puzzled expression.

I held up my hands in what I hoped was a soothing gesture. “Right, so, can we just—”

“I don’t suppose I’d convince you by showing you a bunch of high tech gadgets.” She pulled a tablet and a cell phone from her purse.

“No. I’ve seen those before.” I removed my cell phone from my backpack. “See.”

“These aren’t ordinary ones—”

I took the cell phone from her hand and punched the numerical series for the menu. “Tracking device and a laser-guided tranquilizer dart. The tablet has a global positioning system, camera, microphone, and tear gas canister. Oh, and it can self-destruct.”

“Exactly!” She smiled triumphantly.

“Right. We learned to use them at Technology Camp last summer…”

“You learned to use them, but they aren’t available to just anybody. Technology Camp was part of your training.” She reached for the items and put them on the coffee table.

I rolled my eyes and quoted the pamphlet from memory. “Technology Camp was an initiative by the Conference of Southern Governors intended to increase interest in science among mainstream teenagers.”

“And how were you selected?” she prompted.

“I was randomly selected from a database of high school students.” I met her eyes, hoping for the best.

“And who paid for three weeks of computer training, room, and board for the thirty of you?” Her eyes didn’t flicker with obvious craziness.

“Some non-profit foundation?” I shifted in my seat. I was getting uncomfortable and it wasn’t the cushy sofa that freaked me out.

“That doesn’t strike you as odd?”

Ummm. “Not any stranger than my soccer team getting sponsored for that extreme endurance camp.”

“Right. And that grant your school received, the one for advanced foreign language programs so that you could continue your studies with native speakers and private tutors?” Her emerald eyes probed mine.

“Are you trying to say that all of that was GASI’s doing?”
Maybe I’m the crazy one.
 

She waved dismissively. “I spell it out actually. G. A. S. I.”

“I can see why.” I rolled my eyes.

“Anyway. Yes,” she said, crossing her arms. “That was us.”

“Why waste money training my whole soccer team or giving the whole school access to the foreign language programs?” I tried that probing thing she had used on me.

“It’s not a waste. It makes the government look good. Increased education spending, and all that.”

I guessed the probing thing wasn’t working. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

She reached out to tuck a strand of my shoulder-length hair behind my ear. “There wasn’t any need. The initial stages of the program were easy to complete without you knowing.”

“Right.” I scooted over on the couch a little further from her.

She grinned really big. “Hold it. I’ll prove it.” She set the laptop on her lap and typed on the keyboard for a few moments. Then, the television showed an aerial view of something. As she zoomed in, I saw my neighborhood. Soon I could make out my yard, my house, and my dad washing his car in the driveway. I guess his apartment didn’t have a convenient water hose.

“This is live, via satellite. We can’t use it long.” She glanced sideways at me.

My brother came out and cut through my mom’s flowerbeds to the driveway. Then, my mom and grandmother got in Mom’s car.

I was really freaking out, because I knew this was real. My grandmother had come to visit that morning, and she and Mom were supposed to go to a play tonight. Mom was wearing a dress, and so was Grandmother. And Grandmother never wore anything but jeans unless something special happened. “This is real.”

“Exactly,” she said, suddenly the picture of efficiency. “Mom looks nice in a dress. Anyone else you want to drop in on?”

“Fourth house on the left. See if you can get the back patio.” I stood up and walked closer to the TV.

Sure enough, she guided the satellite and focused in on my friend’s patio. It was really creepy that we could spy on people like this. Lexi was usually out there with her boyfriend, but I didn’t see her. Then, her brother walked out the back door, and was he…  Yep. He peed on the rhododendron. Gross.

“You win,” I said with a sigh. “You’re a spy.”

Chapter Two

I think I’d rather just have her be crazy.
“First, my parents’ marriage was a farce. Now, you’re a spy. Isn’t anything as it seems?” 

At least now I was getting her sympathetic gaze. “Growing up is hard, Amanda. But I think you’re ready. You have to learn to accept that some things just aren’t what they seem, but others are. Remember those Taylor Swift concert tickets you won on the radio?”

“Yeah?” The concert was amazing!

“You really won those.”

Not that comforting.
Did she know everything about me? 

My cell phone rang, and she motioned for me to go ahead and answer it.

It was my friend, Bridget. “Hey, Bridget.”

“Hi, Amanda,” she said in her usual cheerful tone. “How was your trip?”

“Interesting. What’s up?” I wasn’t ready to share my news yet. Plus, the possibility of death by firing squad didn’t appeal to me, and I hadn’t gotten a rundown of penalties for sloppy spy behavior yet.

“This is a little embarrassing, but I’m . . . Well, I’m watching my neighbor’s dog, and I’m supposed to feed it fried eggs.”

“The dog gets eggs?” What kind of person cooks for their dog? I started pacing.

My aunt took the laptop to the dining room table to give me privacy.

“Yeah,” Bridgett said, lowering her voice, “but I don’t know how to cook an egg.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. I mean I know that you crack it open and use a pan, but are you supposed to do something else with it?”

This conversation would have seemed weird to anyone else, but for me, it was reassuring. Same old Bridget. She had zero common sense, but she was a total brain when it came to school. “Okay. You use a frying pan, and you put a little butter or oil, or some non-stick spray in it.”

I heard her clunking around. “I’ve got vegetable oil.”

“Okay, put a little in the pan.” I tried to keep the image of Bridget cooking for some prissy poodle out of my head. Laughing would hurt her feelings.

Christie worked on her computer while I explained the complex process of frying an egg to a girl whose IQ was in the gifted range. The television screen went blank, and I figured Christie released the satellite.  

“Thanks, Amanda,” Bridget said.

“No problem.” I hung up. Some things really didn’t change.

My aunt turned to me and asked, “So, are you okay with this?”

My cell rang again. I answered, “What now? Bacon?”

“What?” a familiar voice asked. “Hon? It’s Dad.”

“Oh. Hi! I’m sorry. I thought you were… Oh never mind. Hi, Dad!” He probably thought flying had scrambled my brains.

“I just wanted to check in. Did your trip go okay?”

“Yep. I’m at Christie’s place now. We’re just, um, catching up.” I rolled my eyes for Christie’s benefit.

“Oh, good. I forgot to tell you to turn off your cell phone while you’re in New Jersey. Just keep it for emergencies. I can’t afford to pay roaming fees for you to chat with your friends.”

I should have known he could sense Bridget’s call tugging on his wallet all the way in Atlanta. “You mean calls, right? I can still text.” He’s not so bad, but he’s tight with the budget.

“I mean off. No texting.”

My fingers twitched and my chest constricted. I knew better than to argue. If I’d saved some babysitting money or allowance, I might have talked him out of it. I had deposited every last cent into my account for my car fund. “Okay. I will.”

“Thanks, hon. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Bye.”

I turned my phone off. “I guess he can’t afford the little extras now with the apartment to pay for.”

Christie frowned. “I’m sorry to dump more on you right now.”

“What if I don’t want to be part of GASI?” I put my cell back in my bag and sat down on the couch. Not that I wouldn’t. I mean, come on. But I’d like to have a choice.

“You don’t have to. I can delete your file, and it will be as if it never happened.”

“And if I want to? What then?” I crossed my legs and tried to relax.

“I have a mission for you this week. Relatively low level of danger. You can work on it while I’m working on my current assignment. Me and my,” she rolled her eyes, “partner will be ready to help if you need it.”

“Partner?”

She walked over and pushed a button on the dining room wall.

A panel slid open near the dining table, and I jumped at the sight of a tall, muscular man stepping out of the wall and into the room.

“You’re here.” He smiled and strode toward me.

“My partner, Nic. God help me,” Christie muttered. Then, she smiled a phony, too bright smile and said, “We were just talking about you.”

“I’m sure it was all good,” he responded, extending his hand for me to shake. His smile seemed genuine.

I took his hand and tried to make my handshake firm like my dad taught me. With those muscles rippling under his T-shirt, he could probably have turned my hand to dust. Nic was pretty nice looking, but way too old for me. He had to be at least Christie’s age.

“Nic Maxwell. It’s nice to meet you.” He released my hand and stared down at me with a bright white smile against his tanned skin. “You have a reputation for being easy to get along with. I’m hoping some of that will rub off on your aunt.”

“Very funny, Nicky.” Christie strolled over to sit next to me on the couch, hauling the laptop with her.

Nic didn’t even glance at Christie. His eyes met mine and he said, “It’s just Nic.” He jerked his head Christie’s way. “She doesn’t like working with a partner.”

“That isn’t true. I just haven’t found the right partner. I’m sure that there is someone out there who would be terrific to work with.” She sat back and crossed her ankle over her knee. “It just isn’t you.”

They sounded like they fought a lot. How did they get any work done?

“Or any of the five agents you ran off before me.” He rambled over to the table, swung a chair around, and sat.

“Why don’t you ask to be reassigned and we’ll give number seven a chance,” Christie suggested.

“I’m not going anywhere, Princess.” Nic glared at Christie, then shifted his gaze to me. “So, Amanda. Has Christie explained everything?”

I could feel Christie steaming over the Princess comment. “Not hardly,” I muttered.

“She didn’t believe me at first.”

“You aren’t very credible. I’ve always thought you have the look of a liar. It’s a wonder you have any success in this line of work.” He winked at me. Then, he turned back to Christie. “Have you gone over the assignment with her?”

“Not yet,” she said in an irritated tone.

“Good. And did you warn her about the apartment?”

“Not yet.” She rolled her eyes.

He stopped smiling and motioned over to the door he came through. “Basically, you need to be careful about what you touch. If there is a button or a switch, don’t touch it unless you’re sure what it does. If you need to get into my apartment, you can hit this panel. It’s better if we use this door instead of going outside. It wouldn’t do my cover much good to have an underage girl knocking at my door.” He shifted in his chair.

“Cover?”

Christie answered first. “I’m an event planner and publicist with the university.”

“And,” Nic smiled again. “I’m tending bar. I have to say that I’m making some great tips.”

Christie snorted. “From men no doubt.”

Nic ignored her so I did too. “What’s my cover?”

Christie ran her fingers through her short hair. “Niece of an event planner moving up here to start school,” she said, trying to make it sound exciting.

Fascinating. “Do you change covers a lot?”  I couldn’t imagine being a different person every week.

“As often as we move,” she answered.

“So you guys move around all the time? Doesn’t that get old?” Adventure was cool, but their lives sounded like chaos.

Nic’s smile faded. “It isn’t so bad if you like the people you’re working with.” His tone made it clear that didn’t include his current partner. “Besides, it’s all for a good cause. The work we do is important.”

Christie ignored Nic’s jab. “I love it, Amanda. I’d travel all the time if I could. I like to keep moving. This job suits me.”

“So you guys are working on two different cases, plus the one you want me to help with?”

Christie glanced at Nic. “We’re on the same case. It’s all related. Your assignment is totally separate though, and we’ll be monitoring you every step of the way.”

“Let’s brief her,” Nic suggested.

“That’s what we’re doing.” Christie hit some keys and a picture of a school appeared on the screen. “This is Princeton Academy, a private high school. We’re investigating one of the students. A young man with considerable talent for computers and hacking. We’d like for you to make contact with him. He doesn’t fit the profile, at all. And we try to be careful with minors. Once we get the ball rolling, the anti-terrorism laws can kick in, and it isn’t always pretty.”

 “Okay. So I buddy up with this computer nerd.” Didn’t sound so bad. “Then what?”

“Well, he isn’t exactly your typical computer nerd. In fact, his profile is very unusual.” She glanced at Nic.

“Why doesn’t he fit the profile?”

“He’s too social, too outgoing. And too well-rounded.  And his hacking has been rather unconventional.”

“Weird is more like it.” Nic came over to the couch and sat down. “A seventeen-year-old kid hacking into a matchmaking website and messing up the matches. It’s just not normal.”

Christie nodded in agreement. “He hacked into FindYourTrueLoveMatch.com and changed the program to make rather ridiculous matches. He also snooped around some other sites.”