Heart of an Assassin (Circle of Spies)

by Laura Pauling

  I’d been back home almost a month, and Iceman still haunted my dreams at night, turning me into a paranoid schizophrenic during the day. I would be minding my own business, when I would see several robed, Middle Eastern men walking my direction, who, at second glance were really only normal, everyday Montanans. Knives turned into large, curved swords, but only for a second. When things fell on the ground, they became heads seeping blood.

  On my last day in DC, Jeremy told me everything was all over. I just wished I could have seen Marybeth. I wanted to know what had happened to her. I would have called her if my parents would have let me. They said it cost too much and I should just email. I didn’t have her email. I wished I could talk to her about everything that had happened. Jeremy’s last letter had even told me the terrorist leader would soon be put to death for his crimes. Amazing how quickly people can be brought to justice behind the secret, closed doors of government. So why was my mind so unwilling to forget? I couldn’t rid it of the worry that some of the bad guys must have gotten away.

  Unfortunately, the amazing memories of Rick and Alex had a painful edge to them, too. After three weeks, neither Alex nor Rick had called. Alex hadn’t promised to, I guess, but he had said I was his. Why hadn’t he called if I was his? Rick, on the other hand, had told me he would call, and yet, he hadn’t. I couldn’t believe Rick, the most dependable, caring guy in the world, hadn’t at least tried to keep in touch.

  The crazy thing was, I would rather think of those two weeks in DC, with all their horror and gore, than focus on reality. Sure, I didn’t have Marybeth, the best roommate anyone could have, anymore to make me somehow look way better than ever before, but I did my best to let everyone see how I’d changed. None of it seemed to matter. I remained Christy Hadden—the smart social outcast.

  The bell rang.

  Crap. I had sat there the whole period. Mrs. Adams would kill me. I heard masses of people walk by the bathroom. My tailbone screamed as I stood. Sitting on a tiled floor, with all your weight on your tailbone for almost an hour and a half, was not a good thing. I limped to the sink, rubbing my behind. I looked at my face and washed my hands. I had to find a way to stand up to those girls.

  The loud sounds of crowds moving through the halls disappeared. I took a deep breath and made my way to the front doors of the high school. Unfortunately, a large group of the most popular and mean kids sat on the steps outside, working on a large banner for the last school stomp of the year. Their laughter carried through the open doors, and pangs of jealousy whipped through me.

  DC had shown me what it was like to have friends. Coming home and being alone again tore at my heart.

  I stopped and watched them until Janae, a pretty cheerleader, looked up the long set of stairs to the street and said, “Who’s that? He’s hot! No, he’s mega-hot!” Even I had to follow her gaze, up the almost-thousand steps to the street, where a black, shiny convertible BMW served as a leaning post for a smoking hot guy wearing trendy jeans, a t-shirt, and sunglasses.

  My heart pounded.

  It couldn’t be.

  He lifted those glasses and seemed to stare right at me, shifting and then standing up straight.

  “Is he looking at me?”Janae asked.

  “Maybe he’s looking at me,” a beautiful redhead said.

  “Or me,” said another callous classmate.

  They all stood up. I froze.

  Not a word for almost a month and there he stood at my high school in all his perfection? Almost immediately, my mind started playing tricks on me. The mean mind, with the mean voice.

  “It’s not him,” it said.

  I resisted the urge to run to him.

  “Don’t make a fool of yourself. It’s someone else. No one would come for you,” the voice continued.

  He leaned forward, squinting, and then a grin spread across his face.

  There was no doubting it now. My crazy head couldn’t make it less true. It was the most beautiful boy in the world. Alex McGinnis. Our eyes locked as he sprinted down the stairs. My lips curved into a smile. I still couldn’t move. My body simply refused to accept that he was here. My insides buzzed so fast I thought I might burst.

  Janae, now only feet from him on the sidewalk, said something to Alex I couldn’t hear. He walked right past her, without a glance, and pulled me into his arms.

  The silence was thick around us. I could feel the stares of all the girls as I focused on him. “Mmm” was all I heard from Alex as he lifted me into the air and spun me around, every fabulous feeling from DC flooding back, the horrors of earlier receding. I giggled, then drew in his spicy scent, while saying, “I can’t believe you’re here. What are you doing here?” When my feet hit the ground, our eyes locked once again and our hands found each other’s.

  “Isn’t it obvious? I came here for you,” he whispered in my ear.

  I thought I might burst. He was what I needed. Then the unthinkable happened. He kissed me. It wasn’t just a little kiss, either. It was one that makes you feel like you could die today and it wouldn’t matter. When he finally released me, he said, “At last.”

  He took a step back, looked me over, holding our hands out to our sides and said, “You look amazing!”

  My smile couldn’t have been any bigger. Goosebumps spotted my arms. He looked around at everyone gawking at us, opened his mouth like he was going to say something to them, then turned to me instead. “Should we go?”

  “Yeah.” Nothing else came to my mind. It was like it had stopped working. The girls next to us gasped.

  I could hear, but couldn’t understand the whispers of the girls below us as we walked up the almost never ending stairs back to the car.

  “They rent this kind of car here?” I asked as we stepped onto the sidewalk next to the convertible.

  “Of course. You can get anything for the right price.”

  He opened the door for me. After sitting, I looked down at the mean girls on the steps of the school, forcing myself not to watch Alex walk around to the driver’s side of the car. Not only were all eyes still on us, but now, the jaws of those snotty girls had dropped. I tried to suppress the chuckle of satisfaction that escaped my mouth as Alex’s door shut and he started the car. He took a deep breath, leaned in and kissed me, soft and gentle. “I’ve been waiting too long for this,” he whispered and kissed me again.

  My mind raced as my heart thudded. He pulled away from the curb. He had no idea how those seemingly innocent kisses could, and probably would, change my life forever. Two things were sure to happen.

  Number one. I would finally be accepted. No one could be kissed by a guy as perfect as Alex and not fit in with the popular kids. I had hoped just because of the changes I felt after what happened in DC, I could slip into a different social status, but that was a crazy dream. I was just beginning to accept I would always be seen as the plain-honest-straight-”A”-teacher’s-pet-who never broke a single rule, for the rest of my high school career, until the Kiss.

  Kiss that, Katie Lee.

  However, I couldn’t forget the second thing that was sure to happen because I was seen kissing a boy one week before my sixteenth birthday. I would be killed. Pure and simple. When word reached my parents that I had kissed a boy, and it would, (the dangers of living in a small town)—I would no longer be allowed to live. Of that, I was certain. My parents had a strict no-dating-before-you’re-sixteen policy and no doubt kissing someone on the steps of the school was a million times worse.

  “Where to?” Alex asked as we came to a light.

  Where to? Right. Where to? We couldn’t go to my house. My parents would flip that I had ridden in a car with a boy unsupervised. It wouldn’t be smart to go anywhere I could run into anyone I knew or that my family knew. Where could we go? Holter Lake popped into my head. We had gone there last week for a family outing and it had been quiet and almost deserted—the perfect place to hide out and catch up with Alex. This could be my only opportunity to be alone with him. “Uhh, the lake,
I guess.”

  “The lake, huh?” he said. “We should stop and pick some things up then.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “Uh, food and other stuff.” A big grin stretched across his face. “Where’s the nearest store?”

  I directed him to a shopping center not far from where we were, and he bought a couple blankets and a flashlight. I borrowed his phone to call my house to say I wouldn’t be coming home until late. My mom didn’t even ask what I was doing. I’m sure she was certain I wouldn’t be doing anything wrong. She even told me to have fun. The perks of being the “good girl.” I pushed the guilt I’d started to feel away. She should have asked me what I was going to do, right?

  Alex drove us to a grocery store deli and got a bunch of food. The more I thought about going to the lake, the more excited I got. To have Alex here with me was a dream come true.

  And yet, what was I doing? I had been so caught up in the brilliant moment of having Alex come for me, that I forgot that in DC I had decided to let him go and had chosen Rick. Alex wasn’t the best guy for me, after all. I didn’t do good things while I was with him. I looked at him singing along with the blaring music, driving casually, and holding my hand as the wind blew in my hair. I swallowed hard. The reality was that Alex was here. He had chosen me. Rick obviously hadn’t. Did that make it alright to be with Alex now? Why hadn’t Rick called or Alex for that matter? I glanced at Alex, wishing I had the courage to bring it up, but I didn’t want to ruin a minute of the time we had together.

  I’d never really thought he’d come for me. Could I have been wrong about him? Maybe this was a sign that I should’ve chosen Alex, that he was the better of the two guys for me. Goosebumps covered my arms as I thought about being with Alex. I wanted to see where things would go. Maybe it would be different, away from DC, and he would bring the best out in me. It was only one week until I was legal—in my parent’s eyes at least—and we could date for real.

  My heart pounded hard on my ribs. I had to give Alex another chance, but why did I feel wary, still? I took a deep breath and looked at him again. He must’ve felt my eyes on him, because he turned to me and smiled. Yes! This had to be the right decision. He was perfect, after all.

  End of chapter one

  If you’d like to read more of PROTECTED by Cindy M. Hogan, you’ll find the purchase links on the sidebar of her blog. Click here.

  Thanks for reading.

  About Laura Pauling

  Laura Pauling writes for all ages where the real and incredible combine in heart stopping adventures. She’d say that living her life of a suburban mom/author complete with minivan carpools, soccer games, and home-baked snicker doodles is really a cover for her exciting life of secret missions and covert operations, but she’d be lying.

  She loves living in New England with her husband and children. She has yet to find someone who can beat her in Boggle.

  She may or may not actually bake cookies.

  You decide.

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  Table of Contents

  One

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  Three

  Four

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