Vortex (40 page)

Emily laughed again and examined the little gummies resting in my palm. “Those look
just like micro-meals—” She stopped abruptly and glanced at me, her eyes growing bigger.
“Sorry. I’m not supposed to talk about that stuff.”

Stewart held up a small Gap bag and removed a blond-haired doll. “I found this last
night … you know …
downstairs
. There’s a dress and another outfit that would probably fit the mini-time traveler.”

I took the doll from Stewart and stared at it for a long minute. “This was Courtney’s.
Lily … that’s her name.”

Kendrick stood beside me, touching the doll’s dress. “It’s an American Girl doll.
I had this one, too. Obviously, I’d picked the one with my name.”

A tiny black mark on the plastic arm caught my eye and I started laughing. “I strapped
her to a Lego mine full of dynamite once and then wrote Courtney a ransom note.”

Kendrick snatched the doll from my hands and handed it to Emily. “Keep Lily away from
Jackson, would you?”

She took Emily into the bedroom to give her some real clothes and left Stewart and
me alone in the kitchen. “Is that all you found,
downstairs
?”

“Yeah.” She stared at me for a long, uncomfortable minute. “I think Collins was right …
about being careful not to be too
accommodating
to Agent Flynn…”

I let out a frustrated breath. “I figured you’d agree with that.”

“Would you just let me finish?” she snapped. I immediately nodded, waiting for her
to continue. “It’s about Holly … I checked up on her yesterday, like I said I would …
and when I said she was fine … when I texted you yesterday … I may have left out a
few details.”

My stomach started doing double flip-flops. “Like what?”

“Let’s just say … I think you should keep an eye on her … from a distance … not interference,
or you’re both dead.”

Regret was written all over her face, but I didn’t know if she regretted not telling
me sooner or caving and telling me now. Either way, I was grateful that we had become
close enough for her to go against her better judgment for my benefit. “Thanks, I
owe you.”

“Uh … yeah, you do.” She glanced at her watch. “I tapped her phone again. Blondie
should be at the NYU library later this afternoon and you should be there … regardless
of what’s going on with this freaky clone kid.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I
don’t know why … but it feels like everything’s connected … Holly, Agent Collins having
that picture, Emily, your dad and his MIA status, Marshall gone, too. I can’t put
my finger on it, but any second now, it’s just going to snap together somehow.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said, putting an arm around her, squeezing her shoulders.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

JUNE 21, 2009, 7:00
P.M.

After spending most of the day doing my assignments and covering for Kendrick so she
could stay with Emily, I wasn’t able to look for Holly until evening. I checked the
NYU library for Holly like Stewart had suggested. I saw the back of her head as soon
as I entered the section where she always sat, according to the reports. But Agent
Carter’s voice stopped me before I could get any closer. I pulled my baseball cap
farther down over my eyes and dove behind a shelf.

My phone vibrated and I quickly read the text from Stewart:
Is she there?

Yeah, but so is Carter
.

Damn. Take him out if you can. Only if he’s alone
.

Stewart texted me seconds later, before I had a chance to reply to the last message:
I’ll head your way now. Let me know if Carter leaves the building and I’ll take care
of him.

“You’ve got two strikes, Flynn … don’t screw up tonight,” Carter said.

Tonight?
What was happening tonight? Another mission?

“I’ve got the computer robot dude monitoring me. I don’t see why you need to be here,”
Holly snapped.

I peered through the tiny space between the top of the books and the shelf. Holly
had a laptop open in front of her and books and papers strewn all over the entire
six-person table. She and Carter had their backs to me, his chair right next to Holly’s.
“And I heard you got a D on your last calculus exam. If you’re really nice to me,
maybe I’ll tutor you.”

I had to fight off the disgusted groan I so badly wanted to let out.

“I’m only allowed to sleep three hours a night. How do you expect me to pass any test?”

I sent another text to Stewart:
Have you ever done sleep-deprivation training?

Yeah. It’s hell
.

Agent Carter leaned closer and Holly’s entire body stiffened. The reaction didn’t
just make me angry, this time … it worried me. A lot. Agent Collins had warned me
life would be bad for her, but Stewart hadn’t said anything about Carter this morning.

This must be what she had been keeping from me.

Holly furiously typed something on her computer and then turned back to the notebook
in front of her.

“I’ll tell you what, Flynn,” Carter said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You do
something for me, and I’ll let you off for the night.”

Oh, no … no way
. I nearly jumped out from behind the shelf, but a short blond woman breezed past
me and walked toward their table.

Katherine Flynn
.

“Mom!”

“Holly … I’ve been looking for you, calling. Finally the girl in the room next to
yours told me you might be here.” Katherine moved her eyes to Carter and then back
to Holly.

“This is Patrick,” Holly said mechanically. “We have a class together.”

“Nice to meet you,” Carter said, then he stood up and winked at Holly. “Don’t fall
asleep studying again. The librarian might start thinking you don’t have a place to
live.”

He waved good-bye and left them, heading toward the exit door. I was following him
before I even realized it. Anger pumping through every ounce of my blood. I nearly
laughed out loud when he turned down a deserted street.

Too easy
.

“Agent Carter … long time, no see,” I called.

He spun around immediately and narrowed his eyes at me. “Have you guys executed Collins
yet? How about the others?”

“Nope,” I said before lunging for his waist. Today I was fearless, mostly because
I had a spare injection of the drug I was supposed to have used on Collins last night
if he tried anything while we were alone together. One toss to the ground and I had
him stabbed with the needle, eyes rolling in the back of his head. I dragged him off
to the side and threw a couple garbage bags in front, to hide him a little. He’d be
out for twelve to fourteen hours. At least. I texted Stewart, letting her know his
location, as I walked back into the library.

When I returned to my hiding spot behind the bookshelf, Holly was typing quickly on
her laptop again, while Katherine waited impatiently. I decided to step out a little
farther and get a closer look.

“I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you in forever … things are so busy,” Holly said.

“Just come with me and get some dinner. You look terrible. How much weight have you
lost?” Katherine slid into the chair Carter had just abandoned and began riffling
through her purse. “I brought vitamins, to help you sleep and keep you from getting
those bad colds.”

Holly did look terrible. Beyond exhausted, and haunted by dark circles under her eyes.
She usually had a nice tan, but her skin was paler than I’d ever seen it, like she
hadn’t been out in the sun for a while. The conditions of our recent dark underground
entrapment hadn’t allowed me to see her clearly.

“I have to stay here … I got a D on my last calc test.” Holly’s voice shook a little.

Katherine didn’t miss that. She put her hands on her daughter’s face and examined
her carefully. “Please, honey … just tell me what’s going on with you. Is it Adam?
I think you need to talk to someone. You’re making yourself sick.”

Holly drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’ll talk to someone … a counselor
or therapist. You’re right, I need help.”

Apparently agent training could also be used to soothe worried mothers.

Katherine leaned forward and hugged her, so tight. “Thank you. Give me your room key
and I’ll get some groceries to put in your fridge.”

“Sure,” Holly said, but she didn’t let go. “I’m sorry … I just … I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, sweetheart, just take care of yourself. Promise?”

“I promise,” she said, then whispered, “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.” Katherine stood up and ran her hand over Holly’s ponytail. “I just
wish you could have waited until September to start school. It’s so much for you to
stress about.” She sighed and tried to smile. “Anyway, I’m coming back to check on
you tomorrow, all right?”

“Okay,” Holly said, handing over her spare room key.

The second Katherine had exited the building, Holly put her head down, burying her
face in her arms on the table. I saw her body shaking before I heard her crying. I
stood there for ten agonizing minutes, watching her cry and fighting the urge to walk
over there.

Eventually she stopped shaking and stopped making any sounds. Stewart had said I could
attempt to question her if she was alone. I moved closer and tapped her lightly on
the shoulder, preparing to run if she looked up, but she didn’t. A loud
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP
rang from the computer. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Holly didn’t even flinch.
I knelt down in front of it and saw the long chat that must have been going on the
whole time Holly had been sitting here.

That was the test. She had to keep answering questions all night long to prove she
had stayed awake.

7:08 P.M. SLEEP MONITOR:
How many individuals reside on your block?

I took about thirty seconds to review the residents of Holly’s neighborhood and then
quickly typed:

7:09 P.M. AGENT FLYNN:
28

I slid a chair over, placing it in front of the computer. Holly’s breaths were long
and deep now, and I hated the idea of waking her, knowing she was beyond exhausted.
But maybe I wouldn’t have to and could help her keep out of trouble, keep from getting
another strike against her.

The beeping had stopped and I scrolled back through the previous questions to get
an idea of what it might ask next. This was honestly the most ridiculous exercise
ever:

6:58 P.M. SLEEP MONITOR:
Name something you’ve recently learned about a team member.

7:00 P.M. AGENT FLYNN:
Agent Carter can’t keep his hands to himself.

6:48 P.M. SLEEP MONITOR:
Name something you’ve learned recently about your organization.

6:50 P.M. AGENT FLYNN:
Apparently, sexual harassment laws don’t apply to the CIA
.

It took a minute or two for the shock of her candid answers to wear off, then I snapped
into agent mode, analyzing the situation. From what it looked like, the questions
came every ten minutes, so she probably had ten minutes to answer them. The phone
was next to start making noise. Even though it was on vibrate, the whole table buzzed
and I snatched it up quickly before she woke up. Text message from Brian. Great.

Hey sexy, where u been?

I checked for Holly’s deep breathing, my fingers itching to type a reply.

Regretting losing my virginity to a guy with a 2 inch penis.
I quickly deleted the message before sending it and instead wrote,
Busy. School … stuff
.

Wanna talk?

I rolled my eyes. Of course he just had to be nice.
Bastard
. But really, how could I be jealous of Brian when I knew she couldn’t really tell
him what was wrong. She didn’t have anyone to talk to. I had Stewart and Kendrick.
But Holly was truly alone.

I sent a quick reply to Brian just in case her phone was being monitored, too:
Tomorrow?

Cool

Another question popped up on the screen and I set the phone down to respond before
the beeping started up again. It was an easy question asking about the people in her
current surroundings. I answered it in about thirty seconds and then slipped the notebook
out from underneath Holly’s arms. Her arms thudded against the table and I held my
breath, waiting for her to jump up. But she just mumbled something incoherent and
then started to snore quietly.

The ink had smeared a little on the page, probably from her tears, but I could still
read the essay she had been attempting to write for her required Freshman English
course. I vaguely remember doing this exact same assignment: WHO AM I?

Great topic for a CIA agent.

I’m not sure I can answer this question, but I’ll try. Every time I think about a
proper response, my mind drifts to other questions, like who I used to be, who I want
to be, and only sometimes can I bear to think about who I am right now. Five years
ago, I was the little freshman girl who took pity on a tall skinny boy, way too nice
to stand up for himself. I yanked a very inappropriate sign off his back, right in
the middle of the cafeteria on our first day of high school. From that point on, we
were best friends. I never doubted my loyalty to David, but getting older makes it
hard to tell who to be loyal to. Five years ago, it was crystal clear. Black and white.
Now, it’s so much more complicated.