He heard a footstep, a crunch of gravel, and held his breath, telling himself not to peek. If it was his operative, he would know the protocol. There was no need to reveal himself if it was anyone else.
Noisy rustling in the garbage cans down the alley ensued, and Oliver knew he had time. Agent 322 wouldn’t enter if there was a homeless person rooting through the trash. He would have to wait it out.
Naturally, his thoughts turned to Gaia. He knew she didn’t fully trust him yet—had seen the way she looked at him with a protective veil over her eyes. She was probably wondering when Loki would resurface, whether she’d be able to tell the difference when he did, whether he already had. Oliver knew these suspicions were well founded—ingrained, even. He knew they were justified.
All he had to do now was erase them forever. He needed Gaia to trust him. She was all he had.
The banging and rustling stopped, and the footsteps gradually moved away. Oliver knew that the next few moments would decide his fate. If he could convince 322 that he was Loki, he would gain the information that would help Gaia. And once he had the information, she would know he was good. She would know that he lived to help her—that he was worthy of being called “uncle.”
If 322 didn’t believe him, however, all was lost.
More footsteps, quieter this time but authoritative. No timorous sneaking around. This was it. Oliver could feel it. A cold tingling sensation ran down his back. And there it was.
Scrape . . . scrape . . . scrape. The sound of a shoe sole being dragged carefully back and forth. The signal.
Oliver steeled himself and stepped out into the light.
“Boss,” 322 said. He stood a few yards away, dressed in head-to-toe black, a baseball cap pulled down over his brow, exposing nary a hair on his head. His eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses.
“The file,” Oliver said flatly.
322 produced a large envelope from behind his back. He took the few steps necessary to close the distance between him and Oliver and handed over the envelope. He then took two respectful steps back and stood at ease.
Loki slipped open the envelope and glanced inside. A few sheets of paper, an eight-by-ten photograph. A computer disk. He could hardly restrain himself from shaking the items out into his hand, but he found the strength. He cleared his throat and resealed the envelope.
“Good work,” he said.
His words seemed to open a floodgate within the operative. “Where’ve you been, boss? The organization is a wreck. There have been so many defections. . . . How did you escape?”
Oliver’s mind spun with possible explanations, lies, details. He could weave a plausible story in no time—one aspect of his CIA training that hadn’t deserted him. He was about to unleash a web of deceit when he caught himself. No. Wrong.
“That’s none of your concern,” he snapped, causing 322 to go pale. “There may have been defections, but you have proved your loyalty here today.” He tucked the envelope under his arm. “Your work will not go unnoticed. Now go.”
The operative let a bit of a smile escape his lips, then he nodded once and slipped out of the alley. Oliver breathed a long sigh of relief. He’d pulled it off.
Clutching the envelope to his breast, Oliver strode from the alley and turned his steps toward the subway. He would wait until he was home to open the envelope again. There he would be able to peruse the contents safely and, hopefully, rejoice over his success.
Giving the Eye
GAIA STARED AT MRS. BACKER AS SHE walked back and forth in front of the classroom, lecturing about the Battle of the Bulge. Whatever the teacher was saying, she was very excited about it—gesturing, pausing for drama, throwing in her own sound effects here and there. “Boom! Argh! Move the line! Move the line!” Gaia was sure she would be riveted if she could remotely focus on what the woman was saying.
But she couldn’t. All she could focus on was the fact that Jake had been staring at her for precisely thirty-nine minutes now without a break. He sat less than two feet away from her, and his eyes were riveted on her face, his chin resting on his arms, which were stacked on top of his desk. Greg Marshall’s sizable frame blocked Jake from Backer’s sight, making it all the easier for him to do this. To stare. To drive her totally stir-crazy.
What the hell did he know? And why was he giving her the eye? Had she been wrong to trust him?
Gaia turned her head away from Jake toward the windows on the other side of the room and froze. Ed. He was staring at her, too. The second she caught his eye, he glanced at Jake, reddened, then turned in his seat to face the front.
Oh, this is really fun, Gaia thought, her heart convulsing.
But she couldn’t deal with Ed’s feelings right now. She’d talked to him, and he knew how she felt. Besides, Jake’s unbreakable stare was a little too distracting to let her focus on anything else at that moment.
Gaia shifted in her seat, sitting up slightly and tapping her pen against the edge of her history book. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jake’s gaze follow her face. She colored slightly. What was this guy’s deal?
It occurred to her that if she were to go completely against her instincts and not trust Jake, then he and Tatiana could be scheming against her. It was totally plausible that Jake knew exactly where Tatiana was. That he knew what her next move would be. That he would help her make it.
All of which would completely suck, considering the fact that Gaia was just beginning to like the guy.
Gaia sighed and glanced at the clock. Just over a minute left. Backer seemed to be coming to the climax of the battle, swinging her arms up over her head and down, her eyes bulging as she ranted.
There was one other angle to consider here. Maybe Jake was just an innocent do-gooder. Maybe he was simply a good friend. Tatiana could be feeding him some line about an estrangement between herself and Gaia. She could be playing him like a harmonica. And maybe, just maybe, Jake just wanted to help. Maybe he thought he was helping—both her and Tatiana.
Maybe Jake was really just a good guy. Somehow that was the easiest scenario to believe.
The bell rang and Gaia stood up, sliding her books into her hand. She hadn’t taken one step when Jake’s fingers closed around her bicep. Ah. So this was going to go beyond ogling. Gaia saw Ed pause by the door, jealousy and concern flitting over his face before he ducked his head and slipped from the room. Gaia ignored the sour feeling in her chest over the hurt she was causing Ed and turned to face Jake. She could deal with her warring emotions later. For now she had to deal with all her other problems.
“Are you going to let me go?” Gaia asked.
Jake started to speak, then stopped himself. He released her arm and adjusted his books from one hand to the other and rested them against his hip, watching the exchange as if it took great care.
“What’s up?” Gaia asked, impatient.
Jake glanced at Mrs. Backer, who was straightening her desk at the front of the room. Then he tilted his head toward the door and started to move. Gaia followed him out into the crowded hallway, where he paused near the wall. He looked around, and Gaia did the same, then wished she hadn’t. Ed was standing right across from them against the other wall, talking to the same girl he’d attended the match with the day before. She had obviously been waiting for him outside of class. Ed glanced in Gaia and Jake’s direction, saw Gaia watching, then reached out and pushed the girl’s hair behind her ear.
It was a shameless act. He was trying to make Gaia jealous because he was jealous of Jake. Unfortunately, it was working.
Focus, Gaia told herself. You want Ed to move on. You practically told him to do this. You’ll get over it.
“Well?” she said to Jake impatiently.
Ed and the girl moved across the hall until they were standing right behind Jake. The girl started to twirl the lock on the locker about five feet away.
Perfect, Gaia thought sarcastically. Now Ed’s going to hear . . . whatever Jake’s going to say.
Jak
e lifted his chin and looked her right in the eye. “I was wondering if you’d meet me somewhere tonight,” he said.
He was tense. He blinked about a hundred times. He reached up and scratched over his ear. Telltale signs that there was more going on here than he was saying.
Gaia’s heart sank, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. This was it. Tatiana had gotten to him. Well, fine. At least she knew who her friends were, and at least it was almost over.
“Sure,” Gaia said with an easy smile. “Where do you want to go?”
From: Y
To: X22
Subject: Subject L
Reactivation confirmed. Major breach. Have assigned my personal team to subject L’s movements. This is a debacle. This is unacceptable. Any informant on the breakdown of communication in this matter will be rewarded.
The responsible parties will answer for this with their lives.
karate chop
If there was ever a time to play the superhero, this was it.
Ex
ED GLANCED AT HIS WATCH AS HE waited outside the rest rooms at the Union Square Theater. It was eight fifty-five. In five minutes Gaia was going to be meeting Jake a couple of blocks away to do . . . whatever it was they were going to do. And Kai was in the bathroom, taking a very long time.
“Come on, Kai,” Ed said under his breath. “What are you doing in there?”
The door opened and a pretty brunette walked out. She took the hand of one of the other guys waiting along the wall, and they walked toward the door together, laughing.
I’m evil, Ed thought, watching the happy couple. Kai asked me to go to a movie and I set the whole thing up at this specific theater at this specific time just so I could spy on Gaia and Jake. What kind of date am I?
Of course, Kai did live somewhere in this neighborhood, so it wasn’t like the choice of theater was out of her way. Plus he wasn’t totally certain that he and Kai were on a date. Maybe they were just two people hanging at the movies together. And if that was the case, he didn’t have to worry about the fact that he was obsessively stalking his ex.
Uh-huh. Sure.
“Hey!” Kai said, emerging from the bathroom. “Ready to go?”
“Uh . . . yeah,” Ed said glancing at his watch again. Maybe he should just bag it. Maybe he should walk out the front door of this theater and make a right instead of a left. Walk away from the address he’d overheard Jake give Gaia that afternoon.
But he knew he wouldn’t. He had to see what the two of them were doing. He had to know if she’d broken his heart just to date someone else.
“So, what did you think of the movie?” Kai asked as they pushed through the glass doors at the Union Square Theater and were accosted by the scent of roasting nuts and toasting pretzels from a nearby vendor.
“It was supremely bad,” Ed said, surprised at his own ability to make normal small talk when his heart was racing. “I mean, that was on par with Saving Silverman and Scooby-Doo.”
“You didn’t like Scooby-Doo?” Kai blurted, eyebrows raised.
“You did?” Ed asked over his shoulder as he crossed the street. “I just lost all respect for you.”
“Please! You have to leave some room for movies you can laugh at as well as with,” Kai replied, giggling. “There’s value in that.”
Ed tilted his head, trying not to be too obvious about looking around for a glimpse of Gaia or Jake. He was close enough to their meeting spot that he might catch one of them approaching.
“Huh. Never looked at it that way,” he said. “In that case, Episode Two is a classic and Hayden Christiansen is my favorite comedic actor.”
Kai laughed and skipped to catch up with him. She linked her arm through his, and Ed glanced down at her pink-gloved hand, surprised. Huh. So apparently this was a date. And he was happy to note that, even in his slightly neurotic state of mind, Kai’s gesture sent a little warm tingle through his arm.
Of course, the tingle was quickly followed by a massive wave of guilt. Kai was cool. She was talkative, happy, fun. She had this optimistic take on pretty much everything from the flatness of her soda (“Bubbles sometimes make me sneeze, which is, like, so rude in a movie theater”) to the fact that she’d stepped in gum (“At least the poor usher guy doesn’t have to scrape it up now”).
This was new and different. A girl who saw the good. A girl who touched him without a huge internal debate. A girl he could actually date instead of fruitlessly pursue to the point of exhaustion and ultimate multiple heart-breakings.
A girl who was too cool to be used in the way that Ed was currently using her. Ed paused in the middle of the sidewalk. That was it. He couldn’t do this to her. He wasn’t going to go looking for Gaia in the middle of his first date with Kai.
“Why are you stopping?” Kai asked.
Ed looked north toward the park. “I was thinking. . . . You want to go get something to eat at Coffee Shop or something?” Coffee Shop was on Fifteenth Street, in the opposite direction from the place Gaia and Jake were meeting. In the healthy direction.
“Actually, I kind of have to get home,” Kai said, wincing. “My mom’s a nutcase when it comes to school night curfews.”
Ed smiled and pulled her a little closer to him. “Well, then, I’ll walk you home,” he said. “Where’s your place again?”
“I’m on Sixth Avenue and Tenth,” Kai replied. “We can cut down here.”
She started off toward Eleventh Street, but Ed didn’t move. “Uh . . . why don’t we walk down Twelfth?” he asked.
“You feeling okay?” Kai asked. “Why go up to come back?”
Good question, Ed thought. Can’t answer, “Because if we go down Eleventh, we may see my ex with her new boyfriend, which I’ve just decided would be bad.”
“Come on,” Kai said, tugging at his arm. “I want to stop at the market down here, anyway, and stock up on gum.”
Just go. She’s going to think you’re a psycho, Ed told himself.
He fell into step with Kai and took the turn down Eleventh Street, his heart pounding, hoping his stall tactics had eaten up a few minutes. Maybe he had already missed the happy couple. Maybe he wouldn’t even have to see—
Gaia.
Ed stopped short, causing Kai to almost lose her footing, when he saw Gaia walking along the other side of the street. Her shoulders were slumped forward and her head was down, but her eyes were on high alert. She was staring at the door to a building a few doors up from her—a dojo—and she was tense.
She was definitely not in a nervous I’m-meeting-a-guy frame of mind. She was in a defensive I’m-watching-my-back frame of mind.
“What’s up?” Kai asked, her brow wrinkling. “Oh, no. Did those Sour Patch Kids just hit your stomach?”
“No. I’m all right,” Ed replied, ripping his eyes from Gaia long enough to give Kai a reassuring smile.
Gaia looked around her before ducking into the alley next to the dojo. Something was up. Ed could feel his Gaia-danger radar going off. This wasn’t a date—this was something else. Something not good. And Ed didn’t even register relief over the fact that she wasn’t in for a night of romance. His first instinct was to follow her—find out what was going on and whether he could help.
But where had that gotten him in the past? Almost killed a few times, that’s where. And all his interference ever did for Gaia was annoy her. She could handle herself. And she was meeting Jake here. He could protect her. Not that Ed could ever imagine Gaia needing protection.
“You sure you’re all right?” Kai asked skeptically. She popped her gum.
“I’m fine,” Ed replied. He turned his back on the dojo and started walking again. Kai leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder as they strolled, and Ed took a deep breath.
I’m fine, Ed repeated silently—firmly. I’m just moving on.
Yin–Yang
GAIA CLIMBED THE CEMENT STAIRS to the back door of the dojo, her thick-soled boots crunching through the thin layer of silt on the st
eps. As Jake had promised, the place was deserted—no classes battling it out inside, not a soul in sight. A fading yin-yang symbol was painted on the wooden door at the top of the stairs. Gaia pressed her ear against it and heard nothing. When she turned the knob, the door swung open easily.
The place was pitch black. Gaia stepped into the large, airy room, moving only inches from the door. It was freezing inside, as if someone had left the air conditioning on full blast, but the hair on Gaia’s neck wasn’t standing on end because of the chill. Someone was here—she could feel it.
“Jake?” she called out.
Before her question stopped echoing, someone grabbed her from behind. Her arms were pinned back, and as much as Gaia struggled, she couldn’t free herself.
So here it is, she thought. Ambush time. Apparently Tatiana had made herself some friends while she was on the lam. Some friends other than Jake.
“Ooh . . . feisty,” a growling voice said in her ear, accompanied by the thick stench of scotch.
Gaia wrinkled her nose in disgust and stopped trying to pull away. The guy seemed to like the struggling. And besides, she had a feeling he wasn’t going to kill her. Not just yet. Tatiana was here somewhere, and she was going to want to show herself to Gaia before she died. She was going to want to gloat over her victory.
Gaia’s assailant shoved her into a chair and proceeded to hold her down while some other person used thick ropes to bind her. Her hands were tied around the back of the chair, straining her arm muscles, and her ankles were each tied to a chair leg. As they worked, Gaia strained her ears to hear whether there were more people in the darkness, and there were. At least two—maybe more.
The two men stepped away from Gaia, satisfied that she was going nowhere, and the lights flickered on. Gaia blinked against the sudden brightness. When she was able to focus again, she saw that five men, mostly in jeans and distressed suede and leather, surrounded her, each with his own special sneer and each with his own special gun aimed at her face. A couple of them looked strong, and most of them had the glassy eyes of total drunks. Gaia looked past them to the thick black velvet curtains that lined the two side walls, and then the door to the dojo’s office opened and out walked Tatiana, her boots clicking on the polished wooden floor. She was wearing a short, dark wig, but it was definitely her.
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