Halluis pulled it up, and I scanned itquickly. “There!” I shouted, pointing at one of the cars on thelist.
“The Mercedes S63?”
“Yes. Jericho said he had a hot date tonightwith a German model, one who usually dates a doctor. And look, youtagged this Mercedes—a German car—owned by Dr. Robert Madison.”
Ace shook his shaggy head, “I don’t know,Christy. That seems a bit of a stretch. It’s probably just acoincidence.”
“The kid’s just trying to look good for hisfriends—dating a model. Please,” Halluis snorted.
I held my ground. “No, listen—it wassomething he said. ‘The payoff is gonna be good.’ Somethingabout that phrase… it just isn’t sitting right with me.”
Halluis raised one eyebrow, his mustachemaking his face look exasperatingly smug.
I threw my hands in the air. “Fine—you guysthink it’s nothing? How about a wager, then?”
Halluis leaned back in his chair and crossedhis arms, eyeing me appraisingly. Ace just grinned, his boyish facealight with glee.
“Name your terms,” Halluis said.
“All right, here’s how it’s going to godown. Tonight, I’ll tail Jericho while you monitor the Mercedes.Ace, you'll monitor the operation from the van. If I’m wrong—ifJericho really does just have a date tonight and the car is nothingbut a snooze-fest—then I’ll eat those fried crickets and snails wesaw the other day in Chinatown.”
Ace’s grin widened.
“But if I’m right,” I quickly added, “Thenyou guys have to eat them—dressed up like sexy women.”
Halluis’s eyes flashed. “You’re on if you doit dressed up like a bum.”
“Fine.”
Ace looked from Halluis’s face to mine. “So,who’s going to tell our fearless leader?”
Chapter 2
A few hours later, we were all sittingaround our kitchen table in the brownstone townhouse Division hadprocured as our mission headquarters. There was an officialconference room in the brownstone, but more often than not we foundourselves hashing out important mission details around the tableover a meal. Jeremy McGinnis, my handler—the fearless leader Acehad mentioned—had brought a pizza, and we were now arguing over theevening’s particulars between bites.
It was insane to think that witnessing apolitical murder while on a school trip in D.C. three years ago hadbrought us together and propelled me into my life as a spy. I triednot to stare at the ropey muscles of his arms as he ate his pizza.A picture of him lying in a hospital bed after saving me from themurderer flashed through my mind.
Maybe it was the fact that he’d saved mylife more than once that made me feel such a strong connection tohim. His calm voice always calmed me, and something in his earnesteyes assured me. I stared at them until he noticed me looking. Iglanced away from him, pretending to look out the window, as hissexy, dark brown eyes fell on me. And when his hand brushed throughhis ever-so-perfectly rumpled light brown hair, I took a sharpbreath in and forced myself not to think about my own hand doingthat very thing.
“If you’re right and he’s involved with thecar thefts, we can’t risk him seeing you tail him. It wouldcompletely blow your cover at the school,” Jeremy said. Halluis andAce had agreed to keep the bet just between us and to actsupportive of the plan, and to my great relief Jeremy wasimmediately on board. That fact only slightly tempered myirritation at his objections to my tail.
“He won’t see me! Come on, Jeremy, I’m atrained operative, same as the rest of you. I know what I’mdoing.”
I watched his jaw tighten, the only outwardsign he gave that he was getting impatient. “It’s just not a riskI’m willing to take—he could catch a glimpse of you, just enough tomake him wary of you later when he meets you at school. It couldundermine your cover, and I just don’t think it’s worth it.”
“Don’t worry, Christy, we have thecar—you’re so certain it’s the target, all we need is a classicstake out. We don’t even need to tail the boy,” Halluis said, hiseyes wide in mock sincerity. I glared at him.
“I never said that,” Jeremy interjected,missing the sarcasm in Halluis’s tone. “I’ll tail Jericho.Halluis—you put a tracker on the car, which Ace can monitor fromthe van. Christy, you’ll be in position across the street, ready tostep in if anything goes wrong.” He saw my smile and held up awarning hand. “But mostly, your job is just to watch.”
“Got it, boss,” I grinned.
***
11:30 that night found me crouched in thesnow under some dense bushes, staring at Dr. Robert Madison’s coalblack Mercedes S63 through ill-fitting night vision goggles. Thestreet was dark—the street lights were inexplicably out—and I wasglad for the improved vision the goggles gave me, even if they werenearly as painful to wear as the surveillance headphones had been.The car was parked outside the good doctor’s mistress’sapartment—the fact that he was a cheater made me feel slightlybetter about simply watching as his car was stolen. Hopefullystolen, anyway.
“I’m not sure what I’m wishing for rightnow,” Halluis’s voice came over the com in my ear. Through thegoggles, I could see his black shape silhouetted in green, dartingunder the car to place the tracker. “On the one hand, it would belovely to see you eat crow on this one—or should I say, eatcrickets? But we need a break in this case.” He grunted as herolled out from under the car and slunk away. In a second he wasgone, ghost-like, to take up position in a nearby alley. “Am Icrazy to hope that you’re right?”
I was surprised to hear a little anxiety inhis normally flippant tone. He was actually hoping for this tosucceed, despite his skepticism. I smiled to myself. I was reallygrowing fond of these guys. This was my first time working with areal team, and it felt good.
“Less chatter on the line,” Jeremy’s voicecut in. “Everyone needs to be on alert.”
I could see Halluis’s eyes roll in my mind’seye, and I smiled again.
“Any movement, yet?” I asked quietly.
“Still watching his door. Nothing.”
I sighed inwardly. Could I have been wrongabout Jericho? The feeling I’d gotten was so strong—I just couldn’tshake it. Even now, with no movement on the car or on Jericho, Ihad this sense
