Hmm, sounded pretty vague, like there might be more to it.
“Frankie Board.” The guy beside me introduced himself. “I excel in electronics. I was arrested for breaking into museums and banks and dismantling their security systems.” He shrugged. “Did it for fun. Never stole anything.”
I liked Frankie immediately. With his goatee and tattoo, the kind that looks like thorns encircling the upper arm, he seemed more suited for riding a Harley-Davidson than being an electronics specialist. Cute, too.
“Your turn, Kelly,” TL prompted.
Everybody’s eyes focused on me, and my stomach flopped over.
“Hi, my name’s Kelly Ja—Spree, and I’m here because of my computer skills. I system government hacked.” Jeez, I hate when I do that. I shook my head. “I mean, I hacked into the government’s main computer system.”
Sissy-the-Goth-chemist snorted. Again. “You? You look like you should be a Victoria’s Secret model.” She turned to TL. “Sure you got the right person here?”
Molly cracked her knuckles, still wearing her sweet smile. “Ya know, Sissy, if you don’t shut your pie hole, I’ll shut it for ya.”
And these girls are going to be roommates? Sheesh.
TL calmly put his hand in the air. “Enough. Let me remind you, this is your life now. There is no going back. These people are your family now. Whether you like it or not, you’re going to have to learn to live with each other. I am your guardian. I am legally responsible for each of you until you turn eighteen. For some of you, that’s two years away. Don’t mess with me. Because if you do, you will regret it.”
I swallowed hard as he delivered the threat and glanced around the table. Everybody appeared to be as shell-shocked as I felt. Even Sissy, amazingly enough.
“We’re going to take a few minutes,” TL continued, “and get to know each other, then we’ll begin today’s lesson.”
Frankie turned to me. “So, genius girl, you hacked into the government?”
I smiled. David had called me genius girl, too.
Molly leaned around Frankie. “Genius girl? Hey, we should call you GiGi for short.”
Frankie nodded. “I like it.”
GiGi? I liked it, too. I already had a nickname and two people who seemed to genuinely like me. Maybe this hadn’t been such a bad decision I’d made, giving up my identity and joining these Specialists.
Conversation around me buzzed. I didn’t say anything. Didn’t trust myself to not sound like a dork. As I listened, my thoughts wandered back to David. Where was he right now? In class? I peeked up at TL and found him staring right at me. His expression softened almost to a slight smile, as if to say, See, you’re fitting in.
Did TL know the secret in David’s past? Would he tell me if he did?
Frankie nudged my arm. “So, do you miss your friends?”
Friends? I almost laughed. I didn’t have friends. I had my books, my laptop, my inventions . . . my solitude. I had never fit in. I tested out of eighth grade at age nine, graduated high school at thirteen, and was supposed to graduate college this year. I knew guys my age couldn’t relate, but I didn’t begrudge them. Adults couldn’t relate, either. Most of them treated me like a rare specimen, giving me polite respect.
“So do ya?”
“Sure,” I lied.
TL stood up. “Today is Friday. On Monday, all of you, except Kelly—GiGi—will begin attending San Belden High.”
I smiled at his use of my new nickname. Funny how it made me feel at home.
“Why doesn’t she have to go?” Sissy asked.
“Because GiGi has already completed high school and will be graduating college soon. She’ll be attending the University of San Belden.”
Not sure how they transferred me midsemester. But they’re the IPNC, they could do anything. Right?
TL began walking around the room, placing folders in front of each of us. “Understand that your public education is part of your training. It’s socializing; learning to, quite frankly, lie to others about your past, current situation, and future. Each of you will wear a detection device for monitoring. The device resembles a small bandage, but it’s woven with a series of wires. Some of the wires serve as GPS—a global positioning system—keeping track of your coordinates. Others serve as audio monitors. Everything you say and do will be recorded.”
“You mean even when we take a, um, go to the bathroom, you’ll know?” This came from Frankie.
“Correct.”
They’ll know I’m on the toilet?
TL placed a red file in front of me. “Inside these folders you will find your backstory. Memorize the information. Know it. You will be tested on this two days from now. You’ll also see instructions for using the elevator to this level, Sub Four. And your code names. Each of you has been issued one based on your specialty. You will use these anytime we are communicating while in mission mode. If you choose to use them around the ranch, that is up to you. I encourage you to do so to get used to calling each other by these names. Do not use them while in public. Molly, our martial artist, will be Bruiser. Joe, our clairvoyant, is Mystic. Darren, our linguist, will be Parrot. Sissy, our chemist, is Beaker. Frankie, our electrician, will be Wirenut. And Kelly, our computer whiz, was code named Data. But we’re going to change that to GiGi.”
I smiled. I liked GiGi much better.
Joe/Mystic raised his hand. “TL, how long will we be expected to wear the detection devices?”
Good question, because I really did not want them knowing when I was using the bathroom.
“Until I feel confident you’ll do fine without it.” A knock on the door interrupted him. He opened it and turned back to us. “Now, I’d like to introduce you to your mentors. They are the original Specialists. Things have gone so well with them that the IPNC decided to do another program. You are the Specialists Team Two.”
Erin walked in and smiled at the group. Then a girl strolled in. Nineteen, twenty, maybe twenty-one. A guy followed her, looking like the same age, then another girl. They filed in one by one, all sizes and shapes, much like my own team. Six in all.
The last guy walked in, his dark hair and face partially hidden by the girl in front of him. For some reason, I got this odd queasy feeling. He stepped to the side into plain view and looked straight at me. My stomach did one huge swirl.
David?
[3]
TL nodded to Team One. “This is Erin, Piper, Adam, Tina, Curtis, and David. Their code names are in your folders. They are here to get you acclimated to the ranch and answer any questions. Now on to . . .”
I sat through the meeting with the Specialists and TL, but didn’t hear a word that was said. With a stoic look on his face, David stood against the wall behind Sissy/Beaker, listening to TL. I wished he had chosen a spot behind me so I wouldn’t be distracted by all the staring I was doing. He didn’t once glance in my direction and seemed to hang on TL’s every word.
My thoughts tumbled forward, backward, and from side to side as I replayed the last two months in my head. David’s friendliness, interest, and acceptance. The trust he had placed in me with his adoption secret, if he really even had a secret.
He’d said smart chicks were cool.
What if he really did use me for my brains? Manipulating me into hacking the government’s system.
And how did TL factor into all this? Making me feel comfortable, warm, and at ease. Appealing to my sense of family and belonging with the Specialists offer. I’d trusted him.
Recalling everything left me even more confused. If David worked with the Specialists, what had been his assignment at East Iowa University? TL must have known David and I attended the same college. Why hadn’t TL told me? What about Mike Share, David’s father? True story or not? Was David even his real name? How long had he been a Specialist? What illegal thing had he done to be recruited?
I wanted to groan at the confusion going on in my brain. I felt betrayed and alone again. I needed answers.
�
��That’s it for this morning,” TL said as he closed his file.
I brought my wandering thoughts back to attention.
“Lunch is in fifteen minutes in the dining hall,” he continued. “At one o’clock, we will meet in the barn for our afternoon session. Wear something you don’t mind sweating in. We’re adjourned. I’ll let you all get acquainted.”
TL strode from the room, and conversation immediately buzzed around me.
Molly/Bruiser threw her pencil into her folder. “Hey, Erin, what do they usually feed you guys in here?”
Darren/Parrot knocked on the table to get Frankie/Wirenut’s attention. “Think we’re meeting in the stables to ride horses?”
Mystic raised his hand. “Excuse me, anybody know where the highest point is on the ranch? I need to meditate, and I can only do that on a full moon. And there is a full moon tonight.”
Beaker folded her arms. “I’m a vegetarian. If they feed us meat for lunch, I won’t eat it.”
I chanced one last peek at David. He was deep in conversation with Tina. Jealousy twinged inside me at seeing him speak to another girl. My reaction irritated me. I had no reason to be jealous, and I didn’t want to be.
I pushed back from the table and quietly left the room. Not a single person followed me. They were all too busy talking and getting to know one another. I didn’t want to seem rude or anything, but I’d never been the socializing type, and I wasn’t in the mood to start now.
I made my way around the high-tech workroom, now sitting empty. Down a corridor to the left sat a series of closed doors. I imagined as the days and weeks rolled by I would learn what lay behind them.
Coming to a stop at the elevator, I referenced the instructions in my folder. I punched in my personal code, placed my hand on the fingerprint identification panel, then rode the car four floors up to the ground level.
The elevator opened, and I stepped out. The door disappeared back into the wall, revealing the mountainous mural.
I headed right toward my room. Thank God Bruiser would be one of my roommates. I’d lose a few brain cells if it were only me and the Goth chick, Beaker.
Opening the second door on the right, I walked in. My suitcase sat exactly where Erin had left it. Three twin-size, beige blanketed beds lined the peach-colored walls. A corkboard hung above each bed. I supposed our personal decorations would go there. The one in the middle had a piece of paper tacked to it with my name printed on it. That must be my bed. A four-drawer, white dresser separated each bed from the next. A closet stretched along the back wall. There was plenty of extra space in the long room for at least ten more beds.
In the back corner, another door hung open. I crossed the room and peeked inside. A bathroom with three sinks, three toilet stalls, and three curtained-off showers. It had peach-colored walls like the bedroom, but white tile flooring instead of beige carpet. It reminded me of a smaller version of my college dorm facilities.
Clean and sparse. Just the necessities. It disappointed me a little. I’d hoped it would be homier.
After rummaging through my bag and popping a cherry lollipop into my mouth, I sat on the edge of my bed, pulled my laptop from its case, and cranked it up.
“Not hungry?”
My stomach spun at the sound of David’s voice, but I didn’t look toward the door. “No,” I answered flatly.
“You need to eat. It’ll be six o’clock before they serve dinner.”
I pulled the lollipop from my mouth and placed it on its wrapper on my dresser. “I’m not hungry.”
An awkward moment of silence passed as I pretended to work on my laptop. What did he want?
He cleared his throat. “Feel free to put your clothes away. I’m only saying so because I noticed you never unpacked back at East Iowa.”
“I’ll get around to it,” I fibbed.
I learned a long time ago that unpacking was a waste of time. Things inevitably changed. I averaged a new foster home about every six months, for a variety of reasons: I got too old and didn’t match the Klines’ “cute little angel” profile; Mrs. Von Harv turned up pregnant and didn’t need a foster kid anymore; the Julians thought my blond hair and long legs distracted their precious little Alberto. The list went on and on and on.
David entered my room and sat on the bed beside mine. His cologne floated over me, and I resisted the urge to inhale deeply.
He blew out a long breath. “I know you’re mad at me.”
No, not really. Confused, yes, and definitely feeling deceived.
“GiGi—”
“Don’t call me that,” I immediately snapped. Okay, maybe I was a little mad. I’d never been so direct about my feelings until this moment. It felt surprisingly good.
“You were my first solo mission,” he blurted out.
I looked away from my laptop and into his brown eyes. I saw compassion there, and sorrow, even though I didn’t want to. “What are you talking about?” I couldn’t help the edgy tone in my voice.
“TL sent me to East Iowa University for you. I was supposed to befriend you, gain your trust, and get you to hack the government’s main computer system.”
My heart clanged so hard I couldn’t think straight. “I—I—I don’t understand.”
“I lied to you about my dad. I had to convince you to hack the system so TL could recruit you for the Specialists. It was a test to see if you had the computer skills he thought you did.”
A test? “Why didn’t he just ask me?”
“To hack the system?”
I nodded.
“Would you have?”
I paused. “No.”
“There’s the answer to your question.”
I stared at David as questions spiraled through my brain, making me even more confused than before. “You said he sent you for me. How did he know about me?”
“That’s a question you need to ask him.”
“Did he do the same to all the others? Test them?”
David shook his head. “Only you. The others more than proved their specialties on their own. Got arrested in the process. But you? You wouldn’t mess up. You never did anything wrong. TL needed a chance to see your level of expertise, and he needed you to do something wrong because he knew he wanted you on the team.”
“So then this assignment to the Specialists in exchange for juvenile detention is a fake. I was set up. I can walk out of here right now and TL can’t stop me.” Anger boiled inside me as I recalled my arrest.
The way I’d been treated by the agents. Sitting in the freezing jail cell. Deprived of food, water, and a bathroom. For no other reason than that TL wanted me for the Specialists. I’d been manipulated and used.
And David had only pretended to like me.
He reached across the short distance and touched my shoulder, instantly putting warmth there. “I need you to understand you were an assignment for me. At first. But as I got to know you, our friendship became real. I hated lying to you, but I knew it would all come out eventually.”
I shrugged off his hand, ignoring the hurt I saw in his reaction. “True friends don’t lie to each other. I can’t trust you. For all I know, you’re lying to me right now.”
He nodded, his expression flattening to blankness as he dropped his gaze to his lap. “I understand you’re angry.” He brought his eyes up to mine. “Please don’t leave, though. We truly are a family here. And TL’s great. You’ll see that if you stick around.”
Disregarding the twinge of desire to stay, I forged ahead with the questions. “What about you? What’s your specialty? Why are you here with the Specialists?”
“I’m sort of a jack of all trades. Know the eighteen levels of the government’s system, nine of which you hacked through?”
I nodded.
“My dad created those.”
Too stunned to do much of anything, I simply stared at him.
“He was abducted ten years ago. One week before my eighth birthday. He’s the only person in the world who knows all eightee
n levels. He programmed a computer chip with the information shortly before his abduction.”
“Where’s the chip?”
“Nobody knows. My dad hid it.”
“Who kidnapped him?”
David shrugged. “Another unanswered question.”
“Is he still alive?”
“I hope so,” David whispered.
I wanted to reach out and comfort him, to tell him I understood how it felt to lose a parent, but I stopped myself. For all I knew this might be another lie.
“I grew up here on this ranch. Originally it was a home for boys and girls whose parents worked for the government. A safe house to protect the children of the nation’s highest agents. Now it’s home base for the Specialists. Local people think it’s a foster home.”
“What about your mother?”
“Never knew her. She left when I was a baby.”
Again, I tapped down the desire to comfort. I didn’t know what to believe, who to trust.
“We’re all a bunch of homeless kids here,” David continued, “everybody for a different reason. We all have unique backgrounds, some with juvie records, some not. The one thing we have in common, though, is our need for a family. We are each other’s family.” He touched my shoulder again. “Please stay.”
I glanced down at my laptop as his heartfelt request echoed through my ears. Seconds later he quietly got up and left the room. He’d come across just as sincere back at East Iowa University. Always attentive. Checking in on me. Seeming hurt and lost as he lied to my face so I’d hack the government’s system. I’d been lied to before, many times. By social workers appearing to be concerned.
Sweetie, you’ll love this house.
Little one, no more moving around.
Darling, this is the last place for you.
I couldn’t stay here surrounded by lies and false identities. This wasn’t me. I couldn’t hurt people on purpose, manipulate them, deceive them.
I pushed off my bed and hurried from the room. I needed to find TL.
With my heart racing, I walked across the dining hall straight toward TL. Beside him sat David, but I ignored him and kept my focus steady, concentrating on not tripping. In my peripheral vision, I saw the other Specialists and some adults I assumed were agents glance at me as I passed in front of them. It might have been my imagination, but I swore a hush fell over the room.
Model Spy Page 3
