Page 21 of The Prince (Spy Girl 1)
He sighs, slides his arm around my waist, and gazes into my eyes. I take his face in my hands and give him a single kiss.
A kiss with more feeling than any kiss I've given him before. I keep my lips pressed against his for a long time. Our eyes are closed and our bodies still. It's intimate--all we can hear is the sound of our own hearts beating. Our kiss reminds me of when I'm in yoga class searching for inner peace. For me, it's illusive, because whenever I relax, I see my mother's face.
But in this moment, I know what it feels like--a strength and peace within yourself.
I open my eyes and whisper, "I care for you deeply, Lorenzo." I'm not pretending or manipulating. I truly mean every word.
Surprise appears in his eyes. I'm sure a lot of women have expressed their feelings for him, but he seems surprised that I have. So is his mother, who I almost forgot was in the room.
And, honestly, so am I.
After he agrees not to participate in the charity race, I feign exhaustion and am driven home. He gives me a lengthy kiss when he walks me to my door. I rake my hands through the curls at the nape of his neck, deepening the kiss and enjoying the feel of his hands roaming across my backside.
By the time I shut the door, it's nearly three in the morning.
I strip down, put on my robe, and go sit on the terrace for a moment while trying to assimilate today's events. From what I've learned about the Terra Project to the attempts on the Prince's life. The fact that, so far, I've managed to keep him alive. But at this rate, if we don't figure out quickly who is behind the attempts, one will eventually succeed.
And I don't want that.
For a lot of reasons.
A glint in the corner of the terrace catches my eye. I investigate, finding an old-fashioned cellular flip phone. I discover a note hidden inside that simply says, Call Me.
I take the phone into my closet and grab one of the makeup wipes I was given by the Kates that tests for bomb residue, and glide it over the phone, just in case, then take it down to the basement lab and analyze it.
Once I determine it's clean, I go back on my terrace and call the only stored number.
"Huntley?" a voice I immediately recognize as Terrance's says.
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to ask you a question, and I want your honest answer."
"Okay."
"Did you know your parents were spies before we talked the other day?"
"No, I did not."
"So do you think your parents wanted you to find out eventually?"
"I don't know."
"How did you get the watch? Did your dad give it to you before he died?"
"No. The Dean of Blackwood Academy gave it to me about a month later. I've worn it every day since. It's all I have left of him."
"And the locket?"
"No one knows about the locket. My mom gave it to me right before she died."
"What happened to your parents?"
"My mother was shot in front of me. Dad died by a car bomb. I got out."
"Then what?"
"I was sent to Blackwood."
"Immediately?"
"A week later."
"What's really on the memory card from the locket?"
"I don't know yet. I've been too busy trying to protect the Prince to find out."
"What were your parents' names?"
"Blake and Charlotte Cassleberry."
"And your real name?"
"I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you."
"Funny."
"Fine. My name was Calliope Ann Cassleberry."
"I think they wanted you to know, eventually."
"Who wanted me to know what? And why?"
He doesn't reply, just says, "Can you sneak out tonight and meet me?"
"You're still in town?"
"Of course, I am."
"Aren't you glad you didn't chip me now, Terrance?" I tease.
"The fitness room at my hotel is open twenty-four seven. There will be a keycard sitting outside. Meet me there in ten minutes. And take off your watch."
"Why?"
"It has a tracking device in it. I didn't remove it."
"So someone has been keeping an eye on me all this time?"
"I think they could be."
X X X
I pull a jacket over a workout bra and yoga pants, leave my watch under my pillow, throw on a ball cap, and exit through my terrace door.
The night is chilly, and you can practically taste the salt in the air.
With the moon lighting my short jog to the hotel, I get there quickly.
I use the key card to let myself in the hotel and am sure to tuck my head down so that my face is hidden from the security cameras in the hall, find the gym, and hop on an elliptical. My mind is going faster than the machine.
Fifty-two minutes later, Terrance finally shows up. He takes off his jacket, revealing a tank top and surprisingly buff arms and then gets on the elliptical next to me.
"You're late."
"I wanted to make sure neither of us was being followed. And I did some digging, for your parents' files and for yours."
"And?"
"When I searched your name--have you ever done that?"
"No."
"So you don't know that the Cassleberry family--including their fourteen-year-old daughter--were all killed in a car accident nearly eight years ago?"
"What?" He shows me the article. "Did they fake my death to keep me safe?"
"It appears that way. What did your dad tell you after your mom was killed?"
"That something bad happened with their company. That
we were going to leave the country. When we got in the car, it wouldn't start. He told me to get out of the car and run--and no matter what--not to stop running until I got to Uncle Sam's apartment. That he would take care of me."
"Uncle Sam?"
"He was a guy my dad was friends with. He wasn't my real uncle, but he lived a few blocks from my dad's office in a converted warehouse."
He stares at me. "As in the government, Uncle Sam?"
"I never even thought of that," I say, rubbing my temples. "Terrance, I'm on my first mission. I can't deal with all of this now."
"Tell me about how your mother was killed."
"It was just after dusk on a Wednesday night. I had been outside sitting up in a tree I liked to climb when she called me inside--weird, I just remembered that. Anyway, we were getting ready for bed when she heard a noise coming from the living room. She told me to hide in the closet, took the locket from around her neck, told me it was top secret, and that no matter what I heard I was not to come out. But then she screamed and I somehow knew she was in danger, so I got a gun out of my father's bedside table. I knew how to shoot, but I didn't plan to. I guess I thought I could give her the gun. Or maybe use it to threaten whoever was there." I close my eyes, reliving it. "When I got to the living room, she was on her knees and there was a man holding a gun to her head. He was yelling at her. Telling her to give him something. She had her head down, but was completely calm when she said she didn't have it. He slapped her. Told her she was going to die. She looked up and into the man's eyes, and that's when she noticed me standing behind him. She held my eyes and imperceptibly shook her head. I knew she wanted me to hide. I knew she didn't want him to see me. Her eyes were pleading. The man threatened her again and his finger twitched. I screamed. Pulled the trigger. Shot him in the left shoulder. But it was too late. He had fired and I watched as a little round hole formed in her forehead."
"Then what?" he asks, startling me and causing me to open my eyes.
"He turned around and pointed his gun at me. I'll never forget the shape of his gun. It was a suppressed Beretta Twenty-One Bobcat pistol--I learned that later at school. They had them at the shooting range along with the Walther PPK that was like my dad's."
"Keep going."
"Oh, yeah. Um, then the rest is sort of a blur. I shot at him again, hit his right arm and caused him to drop the gun. He lunged at me and knocked the gun out of my hand. I grabbed a long bamboo pole out of a decorative pot, used it as a weapon. I was already well-trained in martial arts. I hit his shoulder, which was bleeding all over the place. Then hit him in the head. He fell down. I dropped the stick and ran. He grabbed my foot as I ran by and knocked me down. I managed to kick him in the face and got out of the house. He followed me, yelled at me to stop, that he just wanted to talk to me. But I didn't stop. I ran as fast as I could down the street. He fired at me. Missed. I think I ducked behind a car, because I remember glass from the window raining down on me. Then I ran into the neighbor's yard, jumped the fence, ran down an alley and out to the main thoroughfare, where I stole a coat from a chair outside a cafe and calmly walked the two miles to my father's office."
