“Well, if we’re moving forward with this,”he said, shooting Halluis a dirty look, “then I want you to beprepared. Come on, let’s run through a few scenarios before we sendyou off to school.”
I sighed inwardly, though I didn’t let myface show anything but patient compliance. Why wouldn’t he justtrust me?
For the next hour, he drilled me ondifferent scenarios, going over and over again what I should do,what I should say, how I should look. Finally, Halluis cut in.
“Look, Jeremy,” Halluis said. “There’s noway we can discuss every eventuality. It’s likely that nothing wetalked about will happen. Christy is more than capable. She’ll beable to figure it out.”
I turned to him and said, “Why, thank you,Halluis. Jeremy seems to always beat things into the ground.” Ishot Jeremy an exasperated look, but then felt bad for encouragingthe division between the two men. Still, it felt good to know hehad my back—and that he believed in me, too.
“I just want to help her be ready for themost likely problems. That’s all.”
Jeremy’s phone chimed. “That’s my cue toleave. I’ve got some stuff to do before the dinner.”
***
I had a hard time focusing on keeping up mycover during the school day—I was so preoccupied with my upcomingdinner with Viktor that I barely even registered a word any of myteachers said. At least I had Jericho’s party to excuse my lack ofconcentration. Every other kid who’d gone was fighting to stayawake all day, so the teachers, though frustrated, didn’t seemparticularly suspicious.
At lunch, I bypassed the tables with all thepopular kids like Mikado, Viktor, and Jericho to sit with Hank andhis friends. Carson was nowhere to be found once again. Much to mysurprise, both Gina and Karina joined us at lunch. If anythinglasting was to come from my stay at Bell, I hoped Gina and Karinawould find some friends. Hank and his gang swept them into theirgroup and didn’t look back.
Finally, the tedium of the school day wasover, and I headed back to the brownstone. As I changed, I gavemyself a pep talk that Viktor wasn’t creepy at all and that I couldhandle him. Someone knocked on my door right after I got dressed. Iopened it to find Jeremy standing there.
“Hi,” I said, somewhat awkwardly. We hadn’thad a one-on-one conversation since the night of the dance, and itfelt odd to be alone with him. The urge to pull him in for a hugwas strong, and to fight it, I shoved my hands into my pockets.“Did you need something?”
He leaned up against the doorjamb. “I justwanted to talk to you about this dinner tonight. I want you to bereally careful. This guy Viktor—I don’t like what I’ve been hearingon the audio feeds.”
I shuddered. “I know. I wish it wasn’tnecessary—he’s such a creep. But the more I learn about him, themore I think he’s probably involved. He could be the one to lead usto the car. I can’t pass up that chance.”
Jeremy sighed and ran his hand over hisface. “You know, Christy—I’m not sure it’s worth the risks you’retaking.”
“What do you mean?” I turned away from himand moved into my room to sit on the bed, hoping he’d come, too,and explain to me what was on his mind. But he stayed leaningagainst the doorjamb.
“It’s…” he started, but then shook his head.“It’s nothing. I just want you to be cautious. Extra cautious.There’s no reason to put yourself in any extra danger.”
I felt a little heat rise up in my chest,and I couldn’t keep the irritation out of my voice. “Jeremy, howmany times do I have to tell you, I signed up for danger? I knewwhat I was getting into. Can you just please trust me to handlemyself?”
He grimaced. “Of course. But you have a teamfor a reason. Halluis will be shadowing you, and he’s going to putsurveillance in Viktor’s car so we can follow and listen in. We’llalso try to get a tap on his phone. We haven’t been able to getinto Jericho’s yet, but cross your fingers Viktor’s will beeasier.
“I wish we could bug you, but I don’t wantto chance that anyone would discover you were wired. That would bedisastrous.” He tipped his head back to me. “Halluis will be closeat hand, but it will have to be up to him to step in if you’re indanger. You can’t signal him or call out to him in any way. Itwould ruin the mission if they discovered someone was watchingyou.”
“You think?” I said, fighting back the urgeto roll my eyes. To shake off my irritation, I got off the bed andgrabbed a pair of raggedy shoes to go with my jeans andT-shirt.
“Do I look like I’m financially challenged?”I threw my hands onto my hips and pushed my bottom lip out.“Really, I’m going for desperate. How’d I do?”
“You always look desperate to me, so…”
I punched him. “Thanks a lot!” I smiled, andhe grabbed me into a hug that quickly turned awkward.
With our faces too close, he said, “You’reamazing. You’ll do just fine.”
I pushed away, though it was harder to letgo than I expected. “What did you have to do last night?”
“I went to NY Division HQ and worked withthe computer guys to make sure your new past was all in place incase someone looks into it.”
Halluis had already set up my record—Jeremywas a bit of a micromanager, never satisfied that people actuallydid what they were supposed to when it came to me and my safety. Arush of frustration flooded me. It was fine for him to beprotective of me when I was in witness protection, but I was afull-fledged agent now. Why wouldn’t he just let me do my job? Iwanted to call him out on his behavior, but I held my tongue, ifonly barely. He was the mission leader, and things were going to bedone his way. If nothing else, I could at least show him that Icould follow orders. I’d prove to him I was every bit an agent, andnot a little girl needing to be
