Payback (7 page)

Instantly Anthony was on his back. Yana knelt beside him. She lowered her face to his. And then she was kissing him. And he was kissing her back. He didn’t want to. But his lips, his tongue, they weren’t under his control.

“Oh my God,” Anthony heard Rae cry out. “Oh my God, what are you doing?”

He couldn’t answer. Al he could do was keep kissing Yana. Bile splashed up his throat and into his mouth. He hoped Yana co uld taste it, that it would disgust her. But she cupped his face in his hands and kept on kissing him. Deeper. Harder.

“This is sick. This is just sick. Get out of my sight, both of you,” Rae yel ed.

Didn’t she understand? How could she think that he’d be doing this wil ingly? What did she think he was?

Yana pul ed her lips away from Anthony’s and smiled down at him, her breath hot against her face. “She thinks you’re a loser, Anthony, that’s what she thinks,” Yana whispered. “And she’s right. You can’t even protect her from me.”

Yana leaned in closer so that her lips were brushing against his with each word. “I own you.” She ran her finger through his hair.

Then he felt her nails scratching against his scalp. Digging. “I own you,” Yana repeated. And her fingers plunged through his scalp, broke through the bone of his skul , and clawed into the flesh of his brain.

Anthony let out a shriek of agony. Yana grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “What’s wrong? Anthony, what’s wrong?”

Wait. That wasn’t Yana’s voice. It was Rae’s.

Anthony opened his eyes and saw Rae staring down at him. “That must have been one bad nightmare,” she said, brushing his sweaty hair off his forehead.

“Yeah,” Anthony answered.

“Want to tel me about it?” Rae asked.

“No,” Anthony blurted. “No. I’m okay. You should go back to sleep.”

Rae returned to her bed. Anthony rol ed onto his side and faced the window. There was no way he was going back to sleep to night. He wasn’t taking his eyes off that window. He wasn’t even going to friggin’ blink. Because Yana was wrong-or the Yana in his dream was wrong. Anthony
could
protect Rae. Could and would. Or he’d die trying.

“Mandy and I were al over Atlanta Underground. And nothing,” Jesse Beven said. He ate the last of his Chick Filet curly fries and started in on Anthony’s, as usual. If the kid wasn’t kind of his honorary brother, Anthony would’ve had to deck him.

“A bunch of the people who worked in the stores knew Yana or had at least seen her around. But not in the last few days,”

Mandy added. “You two have any luck?” she asked Rae.

“We got nada,” Rae said. She picked up a fry, started to take a bite, then let it fal back onto her plate. Her face was pale, and there were dark smudges under her eyes. This was getting to her. Big time.

“Hey, finding out where she isn’t isn’t nada,” Anthony answered. Rae, Mandy, and Jesse al looked at him like he was a friggin’

idiot. Which he was. A friggin’ cheerleader idiot. There was no point in pretending they weren’t in deep crap here. That wasn’t go ing to help Rae.

“So, what next?” Mandy asked. She grabbed a napkin and leaned toward Jesse, going for the streak of ketchup on his chin.

Then she froze and reached for her Dr. Pepper, like that’s what she’d been going for al along. A blush was working its way up her neck. Anthony glanced at Jesse. He was blushing, too.

Rae gave him a kick under the table, and when he looked at her, she smiled in a way that told him she’d noticed the little Jesse-and-Mandy minidrama, too. Man, Anthony’d never heard Jesse even mention a girl before-except for that actress who played Meadow Soprano. Jesse was obsessed with her. But an actual girl he’d actual y met… Jesse definitely hadn’t ever gone there before.

“Um, what’re we doing now?” Mandy asked again.

“Yana goes to the stores in Little Five Points a lot,” Rae answered. “And I guess we could check out the Happy Burger, where she works. There are probably a few places around there that she hangs out.”

“Anthony and I wil take the Burger,” Jesse volunteered.

Mandy’s mouth opened, like she wanted to say something, but she just took another sip of her soda.
Why doesn’t he want to te
am up with her again?
Anthony wondered.

“So Mandy and I wil go to Little Five Points. You want to meet back here in a couple of hours?” Rae asked. She met Anthony’s gaze, and it was like she knew exactly what he was thinking, knew exactly how freaked out he was about the idea of her being anywhere without him. “Remember, nobody’s going to approach Yana,” she said. “If any of us see her, we get everybody toget her and make a plan before we do
anything.
”

Anthony leaned into Rae. “You sure you don’t want me to come with you? Mandy and Jesse-”

“I think it wil be fine,” Rae cut in, giving him another look that seemed to say there was a good reason for Jesse to go with Ant hony instead of Mandy and she knew what it was. “I’l be okay. You can’t be with me every second.”

Jesse licked his finger and poked around on his plate, gathering up al the microscopic fry bits. “Ready to rol ?” he asked Ant hony. He licked the fry bits off his finger. Classic Jesse.

“Yeah.” Anthony stood up. “See you back here,” he told Rae. Like by saying it, it would absolutely be true. Like the words would actual y make it absolutely impossible for anything bad to happen to her that would stop her from meeting him. Like freakin’ ma gic. “See you back here,” he repeated. He couldn’t stop himself. Then, before he could say it five or ten or a hundred more ti mes, he strode out of Chick Filet, Jesse right behind him.

They got in the car, and Anthony headed for the Happy Burger. He didn’t think Yana would be there. Who would hang around work if they didn’t have to? But maybe she had a friend at the place who would have some ideas about where Yana might be.

And Anthony’d rather be doing things that didn’t have much of a chance of working than doing nothing.

“Um,” Jesse said. That was it. Just
um.

“What?” Anthony asked.

Jesse started drumming on the dashboard. “You going to go see that Jim Carrey flick?”

“I’m not going to spend any time sitting in a dark place staring in one direction while a homicidal psycho is on the loose,” Ant hony told him. He hadn’t meant to sound so pissed off. But what was Jesse thinking?

“Yeah. Right,” Jesse said. He stopped drumming and flicked on the radio. A couple of songs went by, then Jesse started up again. “Um.”

“Spit it out,” Anthony told him.

“Do you think Mandy would like that movie, the Jim Carrey one?” Jesse asked, staring out the window like he’d never seen a si dewalk or trees or people before. Like they were freakin’ fascinating.

“Looks funny,” Anthony answered. “But gross. You real y want to be sitting next to a girl watching something that’s ninety percent fart jokes?”

“I didn’t say I wanted to go with her,” Jesse protested, turning back toward Anthony. “I was just asking if you thought she’d like it.”

Anthony narrowed his eyes at him. “Okay,” Jesse said. “Okay, I was thinking about asking her to go with me.” He turned back to ward the window. “So what do you think?”

Anthony paused. A few weeks ago his first response would probably have been that Mandy was way out of Jesse’s league.

He’d seen where Mandy lived. A girl like that usual y didn’t go out with a guy who’d been forced to go to group therapy because he kept setting things on fire. But girls like Rae didn’t usual y go for guys like Anthony, either. And besides-Mandy seemed pretty cool, not like someone who would care about al that stupid crap.

“Bad idea?” Jesse asked when Anthony didn’t say anything.

“No, you should go for it,” Anthony answered. “I mean, maybe choose more of a chick-friendly movie. But you should do it.” Ant hony grinned. “I think she liiikes you,” he teased as he pul ed into the left lane. The Happy Burger was coming up.

“Look!” Jesse cried. He grabbed Anthony’s arm so hard that Anthony almost lost control of the wheel. “Yel ow VW coming out of the Happy Burger lot. Could be Yana’s.”

“I’m on it.” Anthony shot a glance at the oncoming traffic, then pul ed a U and started after the Bug. He tried to get a glimpse of the driver, but he was blocked.

“She’s changing lanes. She’s gonna turn,” Jesse said.

Anthony switched into the right lane, ignoring the honks coming from behind him. He was sure that if it was Yana up there, she’d seen him by now. But he didn’t care. Yeah, they’d agreed not to approach Yana without a plan, but he couldn’t let her get away.

The yel ow Bug made a right onto a residential street. No other cars were in sight. Good. Anthony put on the gas. The yel ow Bug sped up, too. “You’re not getting away from me,” he muttered. He floored it. He pul ed up alongside the Bug. If he had to, he’d jerk his car in front of hers. He didn’t care if the Bug hit them-as long as it stopped Yana. “It’s not her!” Jesse shouted. “It’s some guy.” Anthony let up on the gas. He pul ed over to the curb and stopped. His nerves felt like he’d spent the afternoon get ting fried in an electric chair. “Where the hel is she?” he burst out. And worse-what did she have planned for Rae?

It felt bizarre being back in Atlanta. It was like it was a place she’d lived in a long time ago. Like one of the dozen of crap holes her dad had dragged her to. Not like the place she lived now. Not like home.

Yana started walking faster.
Once you do what you’ve got to do, you can live wherever you want. You can leave Atlanta be
hind.

Yeah, right. As if she’d have a choice about whether or not to leave town after she’d gotten her revenge. She’d have to leave be cause there would be a whole platoon of people hunting her down, wanting to shoot her down like she was some kind of rabid dog.

I might never make it out of Atlanta alive,
she thought. But it wasn’t like she cared that much. If they kil ed her-fine, whatever.

As long as she got to do her kil ing first.

Yana broke into a trot. She was so close. She just wanted to get there and do it.
Get there. Do it. Get there. Do it.
The thoughts repeated over and over in her mind to the rhythm of her footfal s. She turned the corner. This was it. This was the block. She was so, so close.

“For you, Mom,” Yana whispered as she started across the Wilton Center parking lot.

A guy fel in step beside her, probably around sixteen, Asian, spiky black hair. “I’d say, judging by the musculature and general attitude, kickboxing,” he said.

“Do I know you?” Yana asked. Why was he talking to her? God, al she wanted was to get inside. Get there. Do it.

“No, but you should. I’m Sam,” he answered. “So was I right? Are you here for kickboxing class?”

Yana stopped walking. “No,” she told him.

“Hmmm. Have you gone the other way, perhaps? Decided to deal with your aggression with a meditation class?” Sam asked.

“The reason I stopped walking wasn’t so you’d keep trying to hit on me. It was so you’d go away. Just so you know,” Yana said.

She crossed her arms and waited. She couldn’t do what she had to do with this freak trotting after her.

Sam laughed. She noticed that the skin underneath his chin was loose and jiggly, even though he wasn’t at al overweight.

Skinny, actual y. “I’m not hitting on you,” he protested. “Your pheromones just don’t cal out to mine-no offense. I’m sure lots of guys go for your type.”

Bul . Yana knew when a guy was checking her out, and Sam was checking her out.

“You ever heard that expression, ‘When the student is ready, the teacher appears’?” Sam went on. Like she actual y cared what he had to say. He didn’t wait for her to respond. “Wel , I think you’re ready, so-” He stretched out his arms in a here-I-am gesture.

Enough. She’d been waiting most of her life for this moment. She wasn’t going to let freakboy slow her down. Get there. Do it.

Get there. Do it. It was as if her heart was speaking those words as it beat.

Take a walk around the block. Now.
She hurled the thought at Sam. And he turned on his heel and left her. Final y.

Yana locked her eyes on the front doors of the Wilton Center and didn’t look away until she’d reached them. In this place, down in their little rat hole in the basement, were the government bastards who had kil ed her mother. Yana pushed her way through the doors and headed straight to the stairs. She knew right where to go, thanks to that visit she’d made here with Rae.

Rae. God. Even thinking about her was like drinking acid.
I could have killed her. I could have killed her, when she’s just like
me.
Yana shoved the thought away. Now wasn’t the time. If she made it out of here alive, then she could apologize to Rae. Yana snorted. Yeah, right. An apology would make everything al better. Maybe she should go al out and cough up two bucks for a Hal lmark card. Because that would definitely make the fact that Yana tried to make Anthony feed Rae rat poison forgivable.

Yana reached the door leading to the stairs. She twisted the knob. The door was locked. Not a problem. Yana walked directly to the closest classroom. She stuck her head in, ignoring the senior citizens making col ages. “I need you to unlock the door to the basement stairs,” she said. She repeated the words in a thought bul et to the teacher’s head.
I need you to unlock the door
to the basement stairs.

“I don’t have the key,” the teacher answered.

“Who does?” Yana asked.
Tell me.

“The security guy. In the room at the end of the hal . The door on the left,” the teacher said, massaging her temples with her fin gers.

“Thanks.” Yana marched down to the security station. The beefy guard didn’t look happy to see her. Guess he didn’t want to miss any of the
Sex and the City
rerun he had on one of the TVs he was supposed to be monitoring.
Unlock the door to the ba
sement stairs.
Beefy guard stood up with a grunt and obediently headed toward the stairs. “Good boy,” Yana muttered as she fol lowed him.

Come on, come on, come on,
she thought as he reached the door and started fumbling with the mess of keys on his key ring.