Undercover with the Hottie (Investigating the Hottie) (13 page)

He really wanted to go out to Times Square. That was weird, right?

I met Will's gaze and he raised a brow.

If he were going for a nefarious reason, he would be better off going alone and flying under the radar. Wouldn't he?

While the others kept talking, I tried to puzzle this out. Maybe he wouldn't be better off by himself once he got there. If he needed to get into the Visitor's Center, he might be better off with a group of us. Hmmm. Will and I should keep an eye on him.

Will was saying something to me, and it took a moment to register. “Can we be ready in forty-five minutes?”

Oh, yes. “Yes.”

“We'll be back guys. We're supposed to have breakfast with the parents.”

“Wear something warm, Amanda,” Logan said.

Geez. That was so embarrassing.

Will turned back and glared at him. I smacked Will on the arm, and we went out the door.

While I jumped in the shower, Will filled them in on Ethan's suggestion so they could start planning for our trip to Times Square. I wouldn't have spent any time on hair and makeup at home, but I had to remember that it was part of my cover. I was moving here and would want to impress the guys. And I didn't particularly want to look like a corpse next to the other girls when Will was around.

I was chomping at the bit by the time I finished with hair and makeup. Eyeliner, blush, lip gloss, and go.

As soon as I got downstairs, Grandma announced, “I just got an update on the driver. He's being moved to a safe house. He'll be more secure there.”

“He recovered that fast?” Will asked. “After getting shot?”

She shook her head. “No. Not completely, but we sent a medical team with him.”

“Okay,” Christie said, “We don't have much time. The Visitor's Center may direct you through a metal detector and search your purses and backpacks. We don't want to risk sending in any monitoring devices that would send up red flags. You can have your contacts, and if you can get some video or photos of anything suspicious, just use your cell phone. Remember that we'll have photos of whatever you are looking at, so if you can take turns keeping an eye on him, do that. Try not to alert him though. In the meantime, we'll have the analysts check back through the data they captured from him yesterday.”  

“Is there really a chance that this guy is involved? It seems so far fetched,” Will said.

“It isn't likely, but it certainly isn't impossible either.”

“You or your friends may pick up on some unusual activity in the square. If so, text us. We have a support team in the area, and they'll have eyes on you as well,” she continued.

A knock at the door startled me, but Christie took it in stride. She went to the door and answered. A moment later, Sidney came in.

“Is everything okay?” I asked. “We have a few more minutes, right?”

“Oh, yeah. I just wanted to come over and see what you guys decided about us helping.”

“We can't let you have too much involvement,” Nic said, “but we can let you help distribute the phone chargers and also give us passwords to any wifi networks you have logged on to.”  

She smiled. “We can do that. We can keep introducing you guys to people too.”

I picked up the bag of chargers and took them over to her. “I am so sorry for putting you in that position last night. I know it must have been really, seriously disturbing to see that and think that we were brother and sister. I hope it doesn't scar you for life, and I hope you will forgive us for not being honest with you.”

“Actually,” Sidney said, her eyes darting to Will and back to me. “I was hoping you guys could do me a favor.”

“Sure! We can. What is it?” I said.

“Um.” She glanced at Will again, clutching the bag of chargers in both hands. “I was thinking that if, um, Will wouldn't mind.”  She took a deep breath. “If he would be okay with being my date for New Year's Eve. I mean pretending to be my date. Because I'm the youngest and most of those guys don't take me seriously.”  She was looking at the ground as she finished. “So if it isn't too much trouble, do you think we could do that?”

Awww. She was bright red from embarrassment. I had been almost as socially awkward as Sidney not long ago. Okay, fine. I was still that awkward.

I didn't know how to save her though. I couldn't answer for Will. “Oh, it's a good idea,” I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. I'm pretty sure I failed.

“I'd like to if it's okay with you all,” Will said. “Would it put her in any danger? Unless we have something we have to do on New Year's Eve.”

“I think we all want to support Sidney in her quest to be taken seriously by the older teens,” Christie said, “and it would be nice to undo some of the harm on her psyche from your misconduct yesterday.”

“We don't have an answer for you yet, Sidney,” Nic said. “We'll have to make sure we don't need to use Will for something that evening. However, you have my word that we will try.”

“We're having a party at Dad's, so if Will can, then he can just be my, um, my date to the party.”

Unable to stand it any longer, I reached out and hugged her.

“It sounds like fun,” Will said. “I hope we can do it.”

“Okay, thanks. Sorry to interrupt.”  Without looking at any of us again, she dashed to the door and let herself out.

“She's a brave little thing, isn't she?” Grandma said.

“She really is,” I said.

“We can probably make that happen for her,” Christie said. “For now, we need to get back to the plan for today.”

“Hang on,” Grandma said. “I just got a text that Smith left his house on foot carrying his gym bag.”

“Time to move,” Christie said, immediately changing gears. “I'll go grab my bag. Nic, how far away is the Town Car?”

Nic was already on his feet. “Two blocks. I'll pick you up out front.”  He stuck his phone in his pocket and picked up his keys. “Good luck today, you two. If we get this wrapped up quick, we'll come back to help Brenda monitor you and your friends.”

Grandma glanced at her tablet. “Go ahead and meet up with your friends. I want frequent texts today. And for crying out loud, keep your hands off each other.”

I reached for the knee-length leather coat I'd found in my closet and put it on. Will had his leather jacket. Grandma handed me gloves and a hat, and then wrapped a scarf around my neck herself.

Will reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “You going to be warm enough?”

“Yes. I will. I'm wearing actual pants, so that should make a difference. Plus, my entire behind is covered.”

He gave me that lopsided grin of his.

“And, Will?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks for asking.”

Chapter Twelve

We took the subway to Times Square. The trip seemed to take forever, and I nearly froze. Luckily I didn't start with the turbo-charged shivers.

There were ten of us since West and Daphne had arrived right before we left. Since they were holding hands, all attention was pretty much focused on their sudden relationship. I think Will and I could have kissed two or three times and nobody would have noticed.

Stepping out of the subway tunnel reminded me of walking on the roof with the wind threatening to blow me away. The day was cold, but bright and clear. Seeing sights that I'd only seen on television and movies proved more exciting than I predicted. I wouldn't have minded spending the day enjoying ourselves, but I had to keep in mind the odd coincidence of Ethan, an eighteen-year-old guy, wanting to write wishes on confetti at the very place we were concerned about the Secretary-General being on Tuesday night.

The digital billboards were dizzying in person. I couldn't imagine the impact at night.

“Come on, we need to go to the Visitor's Center first,” Leah said. “We'll probably have to stand in line.”

We stood in line forever. None of us minded though because we were having too much fun hanging out. Plus, Daphne was ridiculously easy to embarrass.

“Oh, hey,” West said. “They've got free wifi.”

“No way,” I said. “That's crazy.”  Did they plan to disable it during the New Year's Eve celebration? Should they?

West refused to call Daphne Scooby Snack, and he wouldn't let the other guys call her that either.

“Aww,” Leah said, watching West give Daphne a peck on the cheek. “You're like a cute little snack pack together like that.”

Will and Logan turned to each other and said, “Snack pack!”  Then they hooted in their ritual guy speak and high fived.

“No,” Daphne said, sounding almost panicked. “Please.”

“I move that the couple formerly known as West and Daphne hereafter be called Snack Pack!” Ethan shouted.

“Aye,” everybody else said.

“Motion passes,” he said.

“I need a smoke.” West pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket.

“Fine,” Daphne said, “but I'm not kissing an ashtray.”

“Come on, Daphne,” he groaned.

“Not negotiable,” she said, poking him in the chest with her finger.

He swore and put the pack back in his pocket.

In the next ten minutes, we managed to call them by their new nickname over a hundred times.

When we got inside the Embassy Theater building, we watched a five-minute news reel about the history of Times Square. The Embassy Theater was the first news reel theater when it started the trend in 1929.

Ethan didn't act at all suspicious while we were inside. He wrote his wish on the confetti like the rest of us. When it was my turn, I wanted to write something to help us succeed in our mission. I couldn't choose something obvious. Finally, I wrote, “To succeed.”

Daphne wrote, “For anybody who calls me Scooby snack or the snack pack to catch mono.”

“Um, Daphne,” Will said. “That's not really a wish. It's more of a curse.”

“How is it a curse when you each control the outcome?”

I didn't particularly want to cross that girl.

“What did you write, Sidney?” I asked.

She blushed. “I don't want to tell. If you tell, it won't come true, right?”

“Maybe,” I said. I figured she'd been embarrassed enough for one day.

Leah said, “I wished for world peace.”

I thought it was sweet, but Daphne, West, and April all groaned.

“Okay, Miss America,” Ethan said.

“What did you write then?” I asked, sounding as irked as I felt. “What was so important that you came all the way down here to write it on the wall?”  Oh, crud. I wasn't supposed to confront him.

Sidney jumped in and said, “Yeah, smarty pants. What was your brilliant wish?”

I sent subliminal thanks to her.

“Why is everybody jumping on me?” he asked. “I wasn't the only one who thought it was lame.”

“I thought it was a beautiful sentiment,” Sidney said.

“So seriously,” Will said. “What did everybody else write?”

“Mine is private,” Ethan said.

“What about you, Will?” Logan asked.

“I wished for next year to be as exceptional as this one.”  He looked at me as he said it.

Aww. Warmth spread through my chest.

I wanted to throw my arms around him, but I managed to control myself.

We had to move away from the wall to let others contribute. I stepped back from the others and looked at the wall for a few seconds, making sure to get a view of every piece of the colorful scraps of paper. Later, we could blow up the photo from my contact lens and search for Ethan's wish. Of course, I scowled. We could do better if we had a sample of his writing. I needed to make that happen.

“Can we eat yet?” April asked. “I'm starving!”

“Yes,” Logan said. “Let's eat. Then we can walk around and check everything out.”

During lunch, Will brought up guitar, and next thing we knew, we were hitting shop after shop on Music Row. We checked out the Fossil store next. Then, we hit the Levi's store, where two of the guys picked up some jeans. We hit a cheesy souvenir shop and the Hello Kitty store. The scent of chocolate in the Hershey store almost knocked me over. Yum.

“I want to live here,” Sidney said, while we drank the most amazing hot chocolate. “I bet you'd be happy all the time breathing in all this chocolate.”  

Then I bought a treat for Grandma, Nic, and Christie. I wasn't above buying their forgiveness.

“I'm going to buy some of this hot chocolate for the loft,” Will said as he went over to the corner.

I hadn't seen Ethan doing anything strange, other than buying something at the Hello Kitty store, but it turned out he had a little sister.

We finally stumbled back down to the subway and headed home. When we got to the loft, we all had red faces from the cold and the wind. I had managed to lose one of my gloves, but I hadn't let anybody know. I kept my hand in my pocket most of the way home. I didn't want to be the target of their teasing.

“Can you guys hang out? Or do you have to go home?” Logan asked as Will and I went to the door of our loft.

“We'll check,” Will said.

“We'll probably be over in an hour or so,” I said.

When we walked through the door, I expected to see Nic and Christie, but Grandma was sitting alone at the kitchen table.

“Hey,” I said.

Will went around and kissed her on the cheek. “I don't know if we learned anything, but we had a good time.”  He held up his Hershey bag. “And we brought you hot chocolate.”

She wasn't reacting to anything that Will said. “Grandma?”

She finally spoke. “Please sit down.”

Chapter Thirteen

The bottom dropped out of my stomach as we scrambled to sit. Had someone been shot? Or killed?

“Grandma, what happened?” Will asked, his hands fisted on the table.

“Your primary mission is no longer to watch the neighbors. We have a team working to monitor their safety. You have a new priority. Something went wrong this afternoon. Christie is missing.”

Christie. My stomach knotted into a ball and squeezed and squeezed.

“Nic waited in the car down the street while Christie went inside to tag the suspects phone. She was going to observe him after, if there was time. We don't know where she is. She disappeared. There wasn't a trace. She had tracking on her phone as well as a subcutaneous device.”