Watched

by Cindy M. Hogan

The Washington National Cathedral made us all feel like little ants once inside. The tour lasted about half an hour, and we learned all about its history. Patterned after the fourteenth century gothic style cathedrals in Europe, with its intricately carved wood and stone, and its detailed and vivid paintings, it tantalized the imagination. How they could build a place like this today let alone in the fourteenth century boggled the mind.

  We went up to the observation gallery and looked out at downtown D.C. The beautiful view lifted me. It was so different from what I was used to, especially with the little shops inside it. The lovely gardens took my breath away, but I couldn’t find the peace I wanted so badly.

  My thoughts kept turning to finding Jeremy. I had to tell him that the terrorists were not only watching us, but were warning me. Why not the others, too? They must know I’d talked to the FBI. But, if they knew, wouldn’t I be dead? They must at least suspect. Otherwise, why would they be singling me out? Could there be a mole in the FBI, and no information was safe? Then again, maybe they knew because Alex and I told them all they needed to know at the memorial.

  The Northeast section of town, where the National Shrine stood, was considered crime-ridden and dangerous, so I hurried inside and stayed close to the tour guide the whole time, hoping to avoid the possibility of witnessing any more crimes. I know, I know, I used to be all about excitement and change, but I wanted it to be the right kind of adventure, not like the ballroom.

  The National Shrine, one of the world’s largest churches, hosted a staggering one million visitors a year. Its stained glass windows sparkled beautifully in the light and the enormous building swallowed everything in its path.

  I sat in a pew and waited while everyone roamed around the building. It felt nice when Marybeth sat next to me.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” I answered.

  “Ever since you know what, I don’t like being alone.”

  “Me neither.”

  We sat in silence for a while, with Marybeth fidgeting and looking at me until I couldn’t stand the suspense any longer and said, “What is it Marybeth?”

  “I’m not supposed to tell.”

  “Not supposed to tell?” My mind went straight for Kira. Had she said bad things about me and told Marybeth to keep her mouth shut? “You can tell me, it won’t hurt my feelings.”

  “Well…” She stared at me intently.

  I was getting more mad at Kira as each second passed, and I didn’t even know if she had anything to do with the secret.

  “Look, if it has to do with Kira, just know that—”

  Marybeth interrupted me. “It doesn’t have to do with Kira.”

  I stared at her. All I could do was wait. I desperately wanted to know the secret, but didn’t want her to break a confidence.

  “I’ve got to tell someone,” she finally whispered. “I’m sure they wouldn’t care if I talked to you.”

  My heart froze. They? I should’ve told her not to tell me, but I wondered if the terrorists had tricked Marybeth into talking. Then again, she wouldn’t be here if they had. Right?

  She leaned in close and whispered right into my ear, “The FBI took me to their office yesterday.” Then she turned and stared at me, eyes wide.

  I’m sure my eyes matched hers. Questions ran through my brain at top speed. She seemed fine, excited even, to have talked to them. How did she hold it together? I thought she would be a total wreck after talking to them; all the scary memories surfacing again. But here she was, telling me about it, like it was some juicy gossip. Maybe talking to whoever she had really did diffuse it all or had I misjudged her? Should I confide in her now? That was the real question.

  I looked around, assessing the likelihood of a bug that let the terrorists hear us being in the Cathedral. I decided the probability was pretty low even though the FBI seemed to know our every move. She had broken the promise, not me. Surely, I could tell her. It would be wrong not to. It would be like lying to act surprised at her admission, right?

  She bumped me with her arm. “Did you hear me? The FBI read the letter and wanted some more information from me, so they picked me up yesterday. It was so cool. The FBI has been watching us, protecting us, since they got the letter. I feel safer now.”

  “They took me in, too.” I whispered, feeling lighter. I thought I would feel worse because I had broken my promise, but I guess the load of the secret was a heavier burden to bear than telling it.

  “No way. When? How?” Her questions gushed out.

  “Shhh! Remember, we aren’t supposed to talk about it.”

  “Oh, yeah. Well, I just had to tell you, so you would know, and feel safe and all.” She looked ashamed.

  “It’s okay. I was dying to tell someone, too. I was just too afraid to tell.”

  “I’m glad I told you.” Her smile lit up her face.

  “We can talk here, but remember, we shouldn’t bring it up again. They could be listening.” I smiled back.

  “Right. But, they know who the bad guys are and they are going to get them. They have a lot of evidence against them.”

  “Good.” I wondered if the terrorists were listening. If so, they had their two eye witnesses wrapped up and delivered. I swallowed hard, hoping they weren’t.

  I didn’t know what to say after that, and we sat in silence, relieved to know that someone else knew. I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell her about Iceman and the picture. I wondered if any of the others had been taken to the FBI office too or if they only took Marybeth and me because we witnessed the actual beheading. Then I remembered Alex’s question from earlier and wondered if he was trying to find out if they’d contacted me—because they had contacted him.

  We hadn’t sat long before we headed for the Spy Museum. Everyone was ready for some excitement after visiting the quiet churches. The two hour tour of the museum flew by. We then did this interactive spy operation, where we got to try some of the things that real spies have done. Spying was kinda cool with the right tools. It seemed exciting and it made me wonder what the good guys and bad guys were using to disguise themselves in order to spy on us. But, if I were in the FBI, I would have had the terrorists in custody already. Why were they still out there?

  “That was so cool,” Rick said as we left the Museum.

  “I loved it,” Kira said. “What’d you think, Christy?”

  She asked me? Wasn’t she mad anymore? Maybe she was just playing nice for Rick.

  “So much fun,” I answered. “Best thing we’ve done yet.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. I’d gotten my answer.

  Dinner satisfied my hunger, but my gut kept telling me I needed to find a way to tell Jeremy about the picture and seeing Iceman. I came to the conclusion, that it would be better to have them involved, especially if the bad guys were clued into the truth. So, I ate as fast as I could, in order to have time to write a quick note for the “college boys” before we went into the rec room.

  I scribbled the note in my room about Iceman giving me the photograph. I folded the note around the picture and put it into a box of Whoppers I had in our room. I took about half of the candy out for myself and left the rest in the box, then I all but ran to the rec room. It was empty though, and I sat on the sofa by the TV and thought about all the ways to get the candy box and its important contents to Jeremy.

  A little while later, Kira walked in with Rick, followed by Marybeth and Eugene. I loved having Marybeth back to herself again and having someone to confide in. She was a genuinely nice person, which, in my book, made her unfit for politics. I saw Rick scan the room and pause when he saw me. Kira was talking to him, and he kept nodding and taking small steps in my direction while Marybeth and Eugene played foosball.

  Josh, Summer, and Alex came rushing in all of a sudden.

  “We’re going to play another game,” Summer announced, breathing hard. Everyone watched her walk to the center of the room. We couldn’t help it, she mesmerized us. “It’s called
Sardines. Who’s played it before?”

  Everyone except Eugene and myself raised their hands. Again, I stood with the idiots in the crowd.

  “Good,” she said, looking at all of us. “It’s easy. I’m sure you’ll catch on fast. This is how you play. One person is it and hides somewhere in the hotel. Everyone tries to find the person who is it. When you find him, you smash into him like you were packed in a sardine can and you stay that way until everyone else is smashed in. The last one to get there is it the next game. Everyone understand?”

  She stood there shining, a large, expectant grin on her face. I had to resist the urge to clap. I had no idea where she came up with all these games. Maybe they were popular people games or maybe they were just games that took more than two or three people to play. I’d never had more than two to three friends to play with anyway.

  “Oh,” she added, “no hiding in the lobby, and we only have forty-five minutes to find whoever is it. It’s 8:05 now, so at 8:50 the first round will be over. Home base will be my room. Let’s go.”

  Her room? No. I had to be here when the FBI guys came. I might miss them if I left. I had to get them the message today. It couldn’t wait.

  “You comin’?” Rick asked, holding the door open for me.

  I almost said no, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. I clenched my fists and forced myself to say, “Yeah, I’m comin’.”

  “Great,” he said. “Where were you after dinner, by the way? One minute you were eating and the next you were gone.”

  “I had to hurry upstairs to my room and write a letter before we came down here, so I ate really fast.”

  “Oh,” he said, nodding his head with a curious look on his face. He probably wondered whom I was writing to, but I didn’t offer. Kira stood there, just outside the door, glaring at me again.

  I walked as fast as I could to Summer’s room, so that I could get back to the rec room as soon as possible. Kira and Rick followed. We crowded into her single room, which, like Alex’s, was bigger than Marybeth’s and my double room, and it was nicer. The perks of the rich. Josh had volunteered to be the first person to be it. He ran off to hide, and Summer shut her door behind him. He only had four minutes.

  Four minutes? That was a lifetime to me at that moment, and staring at the clock didn’t make the time go faster. If anything, ten minutes must have passed before the clock showed three had passed. Was it working? I asked Eugene how long it had been.

  “Three minutes and fifteen seconds,” he replied.

  I moved toward the door, hoping I could be the first one out of it.

  “Time!” Summer yelled.

  I scampered out of her room, clutching the Whopper box and heading straight for the rec room. Please, please, I pleaded, don’t let Jeremy and Nathan be gone. I took a deep breath as I twisted and pushed on the door knob to the rec room. I looked around. No one was there. Maybe they hadn’t come yet. I almost sat on the couch, when I thought I should probably see if Josh was hidden away somewhere in the room. I searched it on the fly and found myself alone. I plopped down on the sofa in front of the TV.

  I sunk down into the soft couch; it felt like I was sitting on a feather bed. I tried to relax but couldn’t keep my eyes from being stuck on the door. Seeing the door move a hair, I sat upright. Rick peeked in.

  “No one here, huh?” he said lamely, still holding onto the door.

  “Nope. Just me.”

  “Well, I didn’t mean no one, I meant—“

  “I know what you meant,” I interrupted. “It’s okay.” Was it my imagination or did he seem out-of-sorts? He was never like this.

  Rick let the door swing shut and moved in my direction. I half expected Kira to follow him in, but she didn’t. I started to stand up but then he sat beside me, taking away my momentum, so I stayed seated. He was touching me again. Could he like me? No one had ever liked me. Is this how guys act when they like someone? Was Kira right to be jealous?

  His hands curled in his lap, and he fidgeted. Awkward. I looked at him, then he looked at me. I looked away and so did he. I wanted the silly, uncomfortable game to end. I just didn’t know how to end it. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings if he did like me, and I didn’t want him to think I thought he liked me when he didn’t. What a mess.

  “Christy.” He broke the miserable silence. He looked vulnerable somehow.

  “Yeah,” I said, eager to move on.

  “I was wondering—”

  Whatever he wanted to say, I wasn’t going to hear it , because two handsome college boys entered the room. Just the guys I had hoped for and needed. The FBI. I heard the Whoppers move around in their box and looked down to see that my hands trembled, making the Whoppers jump.

  “Where is everyone?” Nathan asked.

  “Playing a game,” I said. “Do you want to play?”

  “Depends. What game?”

  “It’s called Sardines.”

  “Sardines?” Nathan snickered and looked at Jeremy. They both looked at Rick and me and said, “OOOh.”

  Was there a joke I’d missed? I didn’t get it. “Well?” I finally said.

  “Sure, we’ll play,” Nathan said, all smiles.

  “Great! Have you played before?” I stood and walked toward them.

  “Oh, yeah.” Nathan said, his voice was funny, like he knew something I didn’t. It bugged me.

  “Great,” I said, ignoring his tone, still heading in their direction. “Summer set the rules, of course.” They both let out a small laugh. “No hiding in the lobby and each round ends at forty-five minutes.”

  “Forty-five minutes?” Nathan said, his mischievous smile broadened. “Wow, that’s the longest I’ve ever heard a round going.”

  “Am I missing something?” I finally asked, looking up at them.

  Neither one answered; they just smiled, shaking their heads back and forth.

  I raised the Whopper box and looked at Jeremy with wide eyes, and then looked at the box of Whoppers. He looked at me and squinted slightly. I repeated my eye movements.

  “Whoppers? I haven’t had Whoppers in years,” Jeremy said.

  “Here, have some,” I said. He held out his hand and I poured some in. “You too, Nathan?”

  “Sure.”

  “Me too,” Rick said.

  I’d almost forgotten he was there because I was so focused on getting the box into Jeremy’s hands. I gave Rick a few Whoppers, and I saw that Jeremy had finished his. He held out his hand for some more, and I handed him the box giving him “the look” once more.

  “There’s only a few left. You can have the rest,” I said as calmly as possible. The fact was, my insides jumped up and down. I’d finally gotten the info to Jeremy! This spy stuff was fun.

  “Guess we’d better go look for the others,” Nathan suggested.

  “Yeah,” I said, feeling much better now.

  I watched Jeremy shake the last few Whoppers into his hand and then shake the box as I walked through the door behind Nathan. Then I heard a clunk. What? Did he throw the box away? My head whipped around, and I looked at Jeremy. His hands were empty.

  Oh, no! This was not happening! Hadn’t he seen my signals? All that hard work for nothing. Maybe I should have been more obvious. I felt like I was walking in quicksand, but Jeremy gently pushed me forward.

  Eugene walked toward us from the opposite end of the hall.

  “No one in the rec room, huh?”

  “Nope,” Nathan said.

  “Bummer,” Eugene said. “Guess I’ll keep looking. I’ve cleared all the floors below this one, so go up, guys.”

  He turned around and headed back to the stairs. We went for the elevator, Nathan pushing the up button on the wall. I felt Rick’s arm against mine. My arm heated up. I forced myself not to look at him.

  When the doors to the elevator opened, we all laughed. Alex pressed against Josh. Summer pushed up against both Josh and Alex and only after searching, did I see Marybeth squished between Josh and Alex. Na
than rammed himself against Alex, Jeremy piled on Nathan and Rick grabbed my arm and pulled me into the mix. Rick’s arms surrounded me and his body pressed hard against mine. I could hardly breathe, but I sputtered out a laugh anyway. I wondered where Kira was and heard the doors close.

  We all heard Summer’s stifled voice, “Is everyone here?”

  Someone yelled, “Eugene’s not, he went up the stairs.”

  “Then he’s it,” Summer said. “Game over!”

  With those words, the mass of arms and legs started to untangle itself. Rick hadn’t loosened his body-hold on me, and I started to wonder if he would. He leaned his chin on my shoulder. Pressure came from behind me and like a bomb exploded, we were shoved against the closed doors. I pried myself loose, turning around, meeting Alex’s gaze, which had traveled from my face to Rick’s and back again. I turned my head and looked at Rick, who looked past me at Alex, a grin on his face. When I looked back at Alex, he’d turned and moved away.

  I wanted to reach out and grab him, but, of course, I was too chicken. Crap! I didn’t want Alex to think Rick and I were together. Twice now, it had looked that way. If I’d seen what he had, I’d think we were together, too. Ugh!

  “Push the door open button,” someone said.

  Jeremy pushed it and everyone around me tumbled out and, laughing, headed for Summer’s room once more. I was the last one out, but I wasn’t laughing.

  Mrs. J. came down the hall, obviously headed for the rec room. She stopped when she saw us flood out of the elevator.

  “Tomorrow’s a long day. You all need your rest. Heck, I need my rest. It’s nine o’clock, so, head for bed, please.” She didn’t walk away like she usually did. She stood there in the hallway waiting for all of us to go back to our rooms. Jeremy and Nathan got back into the elevator. Marybeth and I went to my room and shut the door. While Marybeth sat on her bed, telling about how she had found Josh and Summer first and how they had been making-out in the elevator, I leaned against the door, willing Mrs. J. to leave our hallway quickly. I finally understood why Nathan and Jeremy thought playing sardines was so funny. It was a hook-up game. Duh! I closed my eyes, trying to hear the rest of the story while listening for clues that Mrs. J. was gone. I had to get that Whopper box from the trash.

  I placed my ear against the door but heard no sounds, so I reached for the door knob and pushed lightly. “Just a minute, Marybeth,” I said. Peeking out the open door, I could see no one. Whew! I pulled the door all the way open and walked out.

  “Where are you going?” Marybeth asked.

  “I forgot something in the rec room. I’ll be right back.”

  I hurried down the hall as if my life depended on it and pulled the door open. I reached into the trash can. I stopped short when I realized that the can was empty. The box was gone.

  CHAPTER TWELVE