Keeping Me (Spy Chronicles Book 2)

by Scarlett Haven

  In the dining room, Bass is sitting at the table with an unopened box of pizza in front of him.

  “Pizza for breakfast?” I ask.

  How is there even a pizza place open this early?

  He opens the box and hands me a slice on a paper plate.

  “It's called breakfast pizza. And you haven't lived until you've had it,” he tells me.

  I look at the slice. It has bacon, egg, and cheese. The sauce is different, too. It looks kind of like some kind of cheese sauce.

  I guess people in St. Louis like cheese.

  I take a bite. Then I realize—this is amazing. Like... possibly the best thing I've ever eaten. It doesn't take me long to finish the slice and grab another one.

  “You know, it's fascinating watching you eat,” Bass says, from his chair.

  It's then that I realize I was still standing. I take a seat beside him in an attempt to not look crazy. Or more crazy than I already do.

  “Sorry,” I say. “I just... I'm not used to food yet. It doesn't seem real. Like, I'm worried I'll wake up and this will all have been a dream and I'll be back in Florida with... them. Or, maybe I’m worried that this will all stop and my dad will start starving me or something. It’s all too good to be true.”

  “Serenity, you're never going back there. Ever. I promise,” he says. “Eat. I swear I won't even be mad if you eat some of my half. And you don’t have to worry about your dad. He’s not like that. He loves you.”

  I grin, taking another bite. This time, I eat it a little slower, enjoying the taste.

  “So, where are we exactly?” I ask.

  “Missouri. Um... a town called St. Peters. It's part of St. Louis, I guess. But it's not too close to the city,” Bass says.

  “Can we go see the arch?” I ask.

  “Probably not. It's best to stay hidden out here,” he says. “Which reminds me.” He grabs a couple of pieces of paper from the table and hands them to me. “Our cover story.”

  “Serenity and Sebastian Olsen. Siblings,” I say. “We look nothing alike.”

  “I look nothing like my real sister either,” he says.

  “You have a sister?” I ask.

  “Yep. She's younger. She plans on going to med school when she’s older,” he answers, grinning proudly. I can tell he likes his sister. Of course he does. Why wouldn't he? Sebastian isn't the cold guy he pretends to be most of the time.

  I read through the papers while I eat. There is nothing too extravagant. Our cover story is that our parents got job offers in South Korea. It was too good to pass up. They let us stay in their apartment to finish college and they're paying our bills. We are both students at St. Charles Community College, where we definitely won't be attending classes, but somebody in our place will. I want to ask questions, but I've been doing this long enough to know that sometimes it's best to just go with it.

  “I guess I'm an only child, unless my dad has another kid somewhere that I don't know about,” I say. “I think that's why I like Gage so much. He's like a brother to me.”

  Saying his name out loud makes my chest hurt.

  I can't help but wonder if he's okay.

  “Will I get to see them again?” I ask.

  Sebastian doesn't need me to clarify. “Yeah. Soon, I'm sure.”

  I nod.

  Soon.

  Soon, this will all be over.

  Soon, I will have a new normal.

  Soon, Nolan will...

  Be caught?

  Die?

  No, I don't want him to die. I just want him to disappear and leave me alone. Which will probably never happen.

  I don't know what will happen, but whatever it is will change my life forever. Again. I just hope I'm prepared.

  Can you hit him for me?

  Sebastian is doing something on the computer and I'm sitting in a nearby chair, just watching him, when all the lights in the house go off. Sebastian jumps up, grabs my hand, and we go to my room. I follow him wordlessly, because I know whatever he’s doing he thinks it’s important enough that I need to be with him. It must not be a normal power outage. There is a fuse box in my closet. He checks them all, but none of the fuses are blown.

  There is mumbling in the hallway outside our apartment, so we go out to see what's going on. It's then that we learn that the whole building is without power.

  “Nolan?” I ask Sebastian, my voice quiet.

  “I don't know,” he answers, pulling me closer to him. We walk back inside our apartment and we go back to the computer room. He pulls out a tiny radio from the drawer and switches it on. He flips through the stations for a minute before he finds what he's looking for.

  “Massive power failures have been reported across St. Louis. Authorities aren't sure what's going on just yet, but the power company says it's the work of a cyberattack...”

  Sebastian switches off the radio.

  “It's Nolan. He knows we are in St. Louis,” he says. “But he doesn't know where. He's trying to lure us out.”

  There is a knock on the front door. Even in the darkness I can see that Bass is not happy about it.

  “Is it Nolan?” I ask, my heart accelerating in fear. “Did he find us?”

  He grabs my hand again and pulls me behind him, closer to the living room. When we get to the door, he looks out the peep hole and stays standing there. I hear a voice from the other side.

  “Just because you're beautiful and perfect, it's made you conceited,” the voice says.

  Not just any voice.

  It's Sander.

  Bass reaches up and opens the door and Sander steps in to the small apartment. I stare at him in shock, my mouth hanging open.

  What is he doing here?

  “You didn't think your dad would send you here without me, did you?” Sander asks.

  “I... how?”

  He wraps his arms around me and squeezes me tight. I have no choice but to embrace him back.

  “What was that?” I ask, when we back up. “What you said?”

  “Safe... word?” Sander answers. “It's a movie quote from...” he pauses. “Never mind. You've never seen it.”

  “So, why are you here?” Bass asks Sander, not sounding too happy about his cousin being here. “And who all is here?”

  “All of us,” Sander answers. “Except Gage. Looks like Nolan is in town, too. Guess we're all going to have one big reunion party.”

  My heart clinches at Gage’s name. “How is Gage? And my dad.”

  “Gage is going to be fine. Eventually. He's awake and talking. Asking for you. It'll take a while for him to recover, and then he has to start training again,” Sander answers. “And your dad is the one who sent me.”

  “But when we left there was no hope,” I say.

  Sander and Bass both laugh.

  “You just don't know your dad that well yet,” Sander says. “He’s the Chuck Norris of our world.”

  “Right,” I say, hating being reminded of the fact that I don’t know my father very well. And now, when I finally meet him, I have a crazy guy trying to kill me. Kidnap me. Whatever Nolan plans to do with me.

  “You’ll be back with your dad soon, Princess,” Sebastian says.

  He hasn’t called me that in a while. I think he’s doing it because Sander is here. Guess he doesn’t want anybody to know that he sort of likes me.

  “You already want to ditch me?” I ask. “What happened to training me and teaching me how to drive?”

  “That’s still happening,” he says.

  “Look at you two,” Sander says. “All getting along and stuff.”

  I look at Sander. “I’ll have you know that I am a great traveling companion.”

  “Yeah. As long as there was food in the car,” Bass says.

  Sander laughs. “I told you that she likes to eat.”

  “Guys, I think we’re ignoring the big picture here,” I say.

  They both look at me.

  “The electricity is off in all of the St. Louis area,”
I say, reminding them that we are standing in the dark. “What are we supposed to do about that? And what about Nolan? He’s here.”

  “It’s okay. We’ve got this,” Sander says, patting me on the back.

  “What’s the plan?” I ask.

  “It’s a need to know basis,” he says.

  “I think this is a need to know situation,” I say.

  “Sorry,” Sander says. “Orders. Your dad doesn’t want you knowing too much right now. He thinks it’ll scare you.”

  Ugh.

  I hate it when they leave me out of the plan. I know it’s not their fault. My dad is the one who ordered the information black-out on me. But it still infuriates me.

  “Serenity, trust me,” Bass says. “I won’t let Nolan get you.”

  “Don’t I deserve to know? This is all happening because of me,” I say.

  Bass looks at Sander.

  “Dude, no,” Sander says. “If you tell her anything, her dad will kill you. And you know he’s capable. Not even you are good enough to fight against it.”

  “I’ll deal with my father,” I say.

  “Let’s just say that if Nolan wants to lure us out, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” Bass says.

  “He doesn’t want you guys. He just wants me,” I say.

  “This isn’t about you, Princess,” he says. “It's about something so much bigger.”

  I stomp my foot. “I hate you right now.”

  “Back at ya,” Bass says.

  “I’d punch you, but I’m pretty sure it would hurt me a lot more than it would hurt you,” I say, then take a step closer to him. “But rest assured, Sebastian, I will learn how to fight. And when I do, I will punch you.”

  He laughs.

  LAUGHS.

  Which only makes me want to punch him more.

  “I’ll look forward to the day that you take me on in a fight. I have a feeling that I will enjoy it very much,” he says.

  I look at Sander. “Can you hit him for me?”

  Sander grins. “Gladly. After we take care of this Nolan situation.”

  “As if you could,” Bass says confidently.

  Maybe Sander couldn’t win against Sebastian. But he could definitely get a few good hits in.

  “Is my dad coming?” I ask.

  “Why? Do you not trust us?” Sander asks.

  “I trust you,” I say to Sander, then look at Bass. “I trust both of you. I just want to see my dad. Since, apparently, he is the only one who can tell me anything.”

  The lights flicker on for a second and then back off. Sander and Bass both look at each other.

  “Is that supposed to happen?” I ask.

  The lights come back on again, only this time they stay on.

  “Brett?” Bass asks Sander.

  Sander nods once. “Most likely.”

  “Brett? What about Brett?” I ask.

  “Now he’s going to know we’re here,” Bass says.

  “Wasn’t that the plan anyway?” Sander asks. “Look, whatever Brett, Jax, and Hunter are doing, they’re being smart about it. They trained at the same school we did, and trust me, they’re good.”

  “Are we going to see them soon?” I ask.

  I haven’t seen them since I was in the hospital, unless you count in passing while I was at the mall. I miss my friends. They, Nolan, Sander, and Gage were the first friends I ever made. I’ve hardly even gotten the chance to get to know them yet.

  “Very soon,” Sander says.

  “Call them,” Bass says.

  “You sure?” he asks.

  There they go. Talking in code again.

  “I’m sure,” Bass says. “They just answered the call to war. We have no choice now.”

  “How did they call war?” I ask.

  But nobody answers me. They never do. Sander pulls a phone out of his pocket and Bass pulls me over towards the couch.

  “You should sit,” he says.

  I do. Because when Bass says I need to do something, I don’t question. I just do it. There might be a million questions running through my head right now, all of which he has the answer to, but if I’ve learned anything from the guys it’s trust now, ask questions later.

  “The power... Nolan... he just knocked it out for the whole city?” I ask.

  “He did,” Bass answers.

  “And... Brett... somehow turned it back on?”

  He nods.

  “Okay,” I say, taking a breath. “And why is it bad that Brett turned the power back on?”

  “It’s not bad,” Bass answers. “It’s just... nobody else could’ve turned the power back on except for...”

  “Spy School,” I answer.

  “Exactly,” he answers. “Now Nolan has confirmation that we’re in St. Louis.”

  “And he will come after me?”

  “Yes,” Bass answers.

  It’s the most straightforward answer I’ve ever received from any of them, and it frightens me.

  Maybe I was better off not knowing.

  “But I’m here. And Sander. Brett, Jaxon, and Hunter are here, too,” Bass says. “But it’s not just us. Your dad...”

  Sebastian’s voice trails off and I realize what he's trying to say.

  “My dad got me thirty bodyguards to watch me at the mall,” I say. “I can only imagine what he’s done for this.”

  Bass just smiles. “I can’t say that I blame him.”

  “This is a good thing,” I say.

  At least, I hope it is.

  Protocol Lex Luthor.

  I’m sitting in a chair beside Brett in the computer room. Brett is typing faster than I can comprehend and only stops every once in a while to readjust his glasses. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody concentrate so hard.

  Sebastian and Sander are ‘patrolling the grounds,’ whatever that means. And Jaxon and Hunter will be here soon. I’m excited to have all the guys here, well, all except for Gage. And Nolan, but I can’t miss him. He’s a bad guy. He shot Gage and knocked me out. Not to mention the fact that he tried to kill my father.

  “What exactly are you doing?” I ask Brett.

  He stops typing and looks over at me. For a second, I think he forgot that I was there. He adjusts his glasses before answering. “I’m looking for a signature.”

  “A signature?”

  “Every computer leaves a signature. I’m trying to find the signature of who shut off the power,” Brett says.

  “But I thought it was Nolan,” I say.

  “It’s easy to come to that conclusion, but I want to make sure. To be honest, it’s not really his style,” he says. “I just want to one hundred percent know who we are dealing with before we take action.”

  He starts typing again and I alternate between the screen, the keyboard, and Brett’s face. He’s concentrating so hard.

  “Can you show me how to do that?” I ask.

  This time, he answers without stopping. “Sure. You have a lot to catch up on before you can graduate spy school.”

  “Well, you can teach me computers, Bass can teach me how to fight, and Jax can teach me how to drive fast,” I say.

  Brett laughs.

  “If I learn Swiss German, can I be on the team with you guys?” I ask.

  “If your dad lets you, yes,” he says. “I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I imagine the other guys would like you on the team, too. They like you.”

  “I like you guys, too,” I say.

  “Can’t say I’d blame you if you hated us,” Brett says. He glances at me for a second, but then he looks right back at the screen. “After what Nolan did, I would probably hate us too.”

  “It’s not your fault Nolan went all psycho,” I say.

  “We should have seen it coming,” he says. “There were signs, right? There had to be.”

  “You weren’t looking for them,” I say. “You had known Nolan since you were young. You were friends. He had never given you any reason not to trust him, so even if you saw s
igns of him going dark, you wouldn’t have noticed. I didn’t notice.”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t trained to noticed,” Brett says. “The guys... me... we all let our guard down. And Gage had to pay the price for us.”

  Hearing Gage’s name makes my heart hurt just a little bit.

  “Do you think we can go back home soon?” I ask. “I want to see Gage.”

  “Probably,” he answers. “Sebastian and Sander are unstoppable together. Everybody was shocked when Sander decided to join our team instead of teaming up with his cousin. But the two of them together will find Nolan. Well, I’ll find him. They’ll stop him.”

  “Are they going to kill him?” I ask.

  “Do you really want to know the answer to that?” Brett asks.

  Probably not. “No.”

  Brett stops typing, his mouth hanging open as he looks at the screen.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  He doesn’t answer me though. He just picks up his phone and calls somebody.

  “Get in here,” he says, to whoever is on the phone, then the locks his phone and continues to stare at the screen with his mouth hanging wide.

  “Brett, what’s wrong?” I ask.

  I hear the front door open and a few seconds later, Sander and Sebastian are in the room, both of them with panicked looks on their faces.

  “What’s wrong?” Sander asks.

  “It’s not Nolan,” Brett says. “And we need to leave. Now.”

  “Explain,” Sebastian says.

  Brett looks at me and then at the boys. “Protocol Lex Luthor.”

  Before the words are completely out of his mouth, Sebastian is running from the room. Brett jumps out of his chair and follows him.

  “What’s going on?” I ask Sander.

  “We don’t have time,” Sander says. “But I promise you’ll get answers soon.”

  He grabs my arm and pulls me towards the door. When we get there, Sebastian and Brett have all our luggage.

  Wow.

  He was prepared.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  But nobody answers. They’re just all rushing out the door, dragging me along. I have no idea what Protocol Lex Luthor is, but it sounds really scary.