10
“We’re talking about your mother right now, Eleanor,” Agent Sheldon says, like a question, like she’s worried I might be in shock.
“Yes, my mother,” I confirm. “Who is very much a follower, a puppet in my dad’s lifetime of games.”
“What are you trying to say?” Agent No Name asks.
I cross my arms. “I’m saying tell the judge in Charleston, the DA, whoever you need to that you’ve got an offer that you can’t refuse. Release my mom in exchange for my dad.”
Agent No Name looks impressed, whether it’s with my level of insanity or with the idea itself, I’m not sure.
“It’s not that simple, Eleanor,” Agent Sheldon says.
“Sure it is.” I lean against the door and look between the two agents. “Would you cut a deal with my mother? If she gave you enough information to put my father away for a decade? Would you offer her immunity?”
“Your mother won’t give us anything,” Sheldon says.
“That’s because she’s more loyal than I am.” And blinded by love.
Agent Sheldon stands there between the tiny table and the bed nearest the door studying me. I can practically see the wheels spinning inside her head, the arguments she must be having. Just when she starts to shake her head, Agent No Name clears his throat.
“Judge Kimball owes you a favor,” he says. “And remember the Livingston case? Same thing.”
“Except that the informant in that case was a thirty-two-year-old man,” Sheldon says, a bite to her tone. She doesn’t like this guy calling her out.
I happen to love it.
“Oh,” I say. “So men make better informants? I never thought of you as sexist, Agent Sheldon.”
She rolls her eyes.
“So we get consent from her legal guardian,” Agent No Name says.
My legal guardian is Aidan. He’ll love this. Not. But problem A before Z.
“Don’t get sucked down the rabbit hole of masterful teenage manipulation,” Agent Sheldon warns her partner. I offer both of them a grin. She did call me masterful. Sheldon glares in return. “There are several flaws in this plan. With the prosecution pinning all the past jobs on her mother, we’d need new evidence of her father’s illegal activity. Plus, she never told us where her father is,” Sheldon says. “She might not really know.”
Hello? I’m right here. “Yeah, I probably don’t know.”
“I probably don’t know, either,” Dominic says.
All three of us turn to look at him. In all my panic and plotting, I seriously forgot he was here. And despite the mischievous look he’s now wearing, I know Dominic doesn’t know anything. He was in the car when Oscar mentioned New York City.
I watch Sheldon watching him, both greed and concession alive on her face now. She’s cracking. She’s almost there. Her gaze shifts from Dominic to me and then back to him. “What exactly is your relationship?”
Yeah, that’s so not an easy question. “We go to school together.”
“Dominic DeLuca,” she says, her forehead wrinkling. “Did I see your name somewhere in the Simon Gilbert case file?”
The mischief and coolheaded attitude are lost in Dominic’s renewed panic. I look at him, trying to send a telepathic message. Miles told me, during one of our last defense lessons, that unless Sheldon had a valid reason for exploring his case, she wouldn’t have access to all the details of Simon Gilbert’s murder. It was outside her field office, outside her specialty, which are financial fraud and white-collar crimes not homicide. She might know some details, but she won’t know Dominic’s direct involvement.
“We’re classmates,” I tell Sheldon before Dominic either shuts down or confesses everything. “We have English together this year, biology last year. Sometimes we hang outside of class. Like last night. And we were both friends with Simon.”
I hold my breath while Sheldon rolls that around her big FBI brain. Finally she turns to Agent No Name and says, “Agent Sharp and I will take your proposal higher up and get back to you.”
“Agent Sharp, huh?” I say, looking at the No Name guy who now has a name. “I should probably ask to see your badge, since it’s our first meeting.”
“Next time,” Sheldon snaps, back to business. “We need to try to tail Oscar. Will you two be okay here?”
“Well, we’re supposed to be at school today—” Dominic starts, until I send him a look and he backtracks. “Forget school. I have no problem hanging out here all day. Tomorrow, too, if needed. Happy to serve my country.”
“Good,” Sheldon says. She gives Agent Sharp a nod, and his laptop is packed up seconds later. “We’ll be in touch.”
Once they’re out the door, I head over to the window and watch them leave. “I can have Harper call in for us at school in a little while.”
“Whatever,” Dominic mumbles, like he doesn’t care either way. “We’re not even doing anything today. I checked all my class syllabi online. Just assembly and review sessions for finals.”
I’m sort of impressed that he checked his class info, considering he’s kind of a slacker at school. And I was looking forward to those review sessions. “It’s probably best. Don’t think we can risk cramming you and Bret into the same hallway without compromising national security.”
Speaking of national security…
I drop to all fours on the ratty hotel carpet and search for listening devices Sheldon or Sharp may have left behind.
Dominic stares down at his hands. “Miles already gave me the same lecture before he took off for Turkey. And then Agent Lawren—Aidan stopped by yesterday… I’m trying, okay?”
My head bangs against the table, and I suppress a yelp before tilting the table to check the underside. After I deem the area clear of FBI surveillance, I take a seat at the table and try not to panic over the fact that I just made an offer to go undercover for the FBI. Not that it’s a sure thing. But Miles is going to… Well, I don’t know how he’ll react. He hates the part of my life that involves my family. It goes against everything he believes in. The worst thing I can do right now is try to keep this from him.
I grab my phone, find his number, and hit call. It goes straight to voicemail. He’s supposed to be back at school by now, so that means he’s probably in class. Can’t have cell phones in military school classes, I’m sure. But couldn’t he have answered my emergency text from earlier? “Hey, it’s me… Give me a call when you have a minute. It’s kind of important.”
“So what’s the deal with your dad?” Dominic prompts. “Where is this big job happening?”
I place my phone on the table and look over at him, debating whether I can trust him or not. He definitely proved trustworthy, surviving Sheldon’s visit.
“New York City,” I say before I can talk myself out of it.
He hesitates for a beat and then starts laughing. Like really laughing. Something I can’t remember ever hearing from him. “Seriously? Your dad is pulling a big con in New York City?”
“I mean, it’s definitely not our typical location, and I don’t know if he’s there yet—Oscar didn’t say.” I stare at him, bewildered. “Why is it funny?”
I’m sure plenty of cons happen in Manhattan. Just not by my family. Yet, anyway.
“You’re going on the trip, right?” He sits upright, his feet hitting the floor with a soft thud. “For January Session?”
January Session is a longtime tradition at Holden Prep. Last year, I didn’t start at the school until right after the January course, so I haven’t participated before. After fall semester finals prep week—this week—we won’t jump right into spring semester. Instead we have a three-week immersion course. All day, every day.
“No trip for me,” I tell Dominic. “I opted for ‘Holden a History.’ I’ve always wanted to learn more prep school ghost stories. I mean, who doesn’t?”
For juniors, there were thirty courses to choose from. Only ten of those are held on campus and don’t require an additional fee. I only briefly glanced at the off-campus options before ruling them out.
Dominic stares at me. “You’re kidding?”
I roll my eyes. “No, I’m not kidding. I opted for a free course that doesn’t require a passport. Because I have no money or passport.”
“Right.” He shakes his head, looking a little embarrassed. “I just thought—I mean Justice and Chantel are doing the Manhattan Arts and Culture Experience. Jacob and me, too. And Bret, I think.”
There’s a scowl on his face when he says Bret’s name, and I’m back to worrying about national security violations if the two of them don’t quit fighting in public.
“You don’t need a passport for this trip,” Dominic adds. “And I think someone canceled recently. That girl Eliza Shepherd? Her GPA isn’t high enough or something.”
“And yours is?”
He shrugs. “My dad donates to Holden all the time. They turn a blind eye more often than you know.”
More often than I know? What other trouble is he getting into?
And God, wouldn’t that be perfect? If I were in New York for the next three weeks. But every single one of those off-campus courses is at least three thousand dollars. It might as well be a million, because I’ll never get that kind of money without stealing it. Doubt the FBI would approve of me using stolen money in order to work for them.
We sit in silence for a while, but then just when I’m about to nod off sitting upright at the table, Dominic speaks. “What if I could get you on that trip? For free?”
“It’s likely more complicated than you think,” I say through a yawn. He starts to protest, but I stop him. “Were you thinking you could put it on your credit card and then deal with your parents when the bill comes back after the trip is over? Because Holden isn’t going to accept your paying for me without asking your parents.”
“Okay, let me clarify,” he says, all serious. “I was asking you what you would do if I could get you on the trip, like what is the next step, assuming you had the option to be in New York next week?”
Too tired to argue, I humor him. “I would say that we should leave this dump and let Oscar follow us so I can find out more from him. Manhattan is a big place, so I’ve heard. I’ll need him to tell me where my family’s home base is there.”
“Let Oscar follow us?” he repeats. “I thought the Feds were tailing him?”
“Nah, he’s too good. They won’t catch him. But he’ll find us quickly. There’s a tracker on your car.” I ignore the alarm on his face after hearing this. “I was planning on removing it before we went anywhere else. Disabling it right away only adds suspicion that we’re hiding out rather than just being where we planned to be.”
“Which would make him think that home is somewhere else and it’s a secret,” he says, understanding now.
“Exactly.”
“Okay, then.” Dominic jumps to his feet and reaches for his jacket at the end of the bed. “Let’s get out of here so Oscar can follow us. If we’re gonna get you on that trip, I’ve got lots of work to do to make that happen.”
I don’t leap to my feet as quickly as he did. There are still some looming questions. “What’s in this for you? Why are you helping me? I can get your scent off Oscar’s trail. You can go back to your life and forget this.”
He pauses near the door, scratches the back of his head. This seems to puzzle him as much as it does me. “I…I don’t know. Just want to help, I guess. It’s kind of my fault your boyfriend got kidnapped before, and then you got kidnapped trying to find him.”
Truth.
Confusing truth but still, he’s being honest.
“Plus,” he adds with a grin, “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, too, and I wouldn’t mind showing them off.”
“I can’t pay for this trip with stolen money or drug money or anything in that family,” I warn him, trying to guess all his possible tactics. I shake my head. “Never mind. As long as I don’t steal it, I don’t care what you do.”
A hint of a smile touches his mouth. “How about I just don’t tell you? Need-to-know or whatever?”
“Deal.” I reach for my own coat, nerves fluttering in my stomach. I’m really doing this. Assuming the FBI agrees to the deal. If I’m already in New York, I know they’ll agree. Sheldon wants my dad so much she was practically foaming at the mouth.
I don’t know what scares me more—getting inside this big con or seeing my father again.