her gaze to Petra and saw that she didnât either. However, Petra did give away her anxiety by cracking her knuckles.
Seconds passed. Music pounded the air. Ericâs gaze was as hard as his body as he shifted it to Amy and then Petra. The wind kicked up, flapping the fabric and shaking the metal frames holding it. Their eyes never left each otherâs.
Then Eric ducked his head and ran his fingers through his hair. âYeah, yeah. Weâll get him.â He looked at Petra. âIâll start working on it.â To Amy, hesaid, âThanks for the info. Act like you belong here so the spooks or whoever they are think you came for fun.â He seemed to appraise her. âYou could pass for a lesbian.â
She wanted to deck him, but he started to turn away. She grabbed his arm. âWait a minute. Youâre not leaving me out of this.â
He looked at her hand on his arm and then at her. After she pulled her hand away, he said, âThis is our business.â
âItâs mine, too. According to Lucas, Iâm one of you. An Offspring.â
Eric said, âInvolving you is problematic.â
âBecause of Cyrus? I told youââ
âIf what youâre telling us is true, youâre still too closely tied to him. He knows your habits, your weaknesses. That makes you a liability. Weâll take care of this on our own, but thank you for your interest.â
Youâve been excused, a voice whispered. You can go back to your cocoon of a life. Leave saving Lucas to them.
No! Instinctively she knew that together they could save him. That was more important than her safe little world. âYou need me. I can communicate with Lucas. Andâ¦I need you.â How she hated the plaintive sound of those last words.
Eric seemed to consider while the band on the other side of the stage butchered Janis Joplinâs âMe and Bobby McGee.â Then he said, âYou have to prove yourself. Trusting the wrong person can be dangerous for us. Look what happened to Lucas.â
Yeah, that stung, deepening her sense of guilt over causing his capture. âIt wasnât as though I turned himin. Fine, what do I do? Swallow a goldfish? Walk over coals?â
He crinkled his eyes at her sarcasm. âSomething useful. Get on Cyrusâs computer and get more Offspring names. At least if he catches you, he wonât kill you. Probably.â
God, the thought of that, that Cyrus would kill anyoneâ¦She didnât know that side of him, because he never talked about his work. âYou think the CIA is behind this?â She didnât want to think that.
âSince Cyrus is involved and heâs CIA, yes.â
âAll right. So how do I know when heâs logged on?â
âIâll let you know. The tricky part will be getting you out of there without your spy coming along.â
âI could take laundry down to the little building thatâs at the rear of the complex.â
âThat should work. Iâll call you and say, âPaul, blah blah whatever, and youâll play it off like itâs a wrong number. Pay close attention because what I tell you is going to indicate what kind of car I managed to get for you. Iâll park it behind the laundry building and put the key under the visor, but youâll have to be sneaky about getting to it.â
She wasnât going to ask how he would be getting the car. âIâll be sneaky.â
âAnd fast. Youâve got to get to Cyrusâs place pronto. System security will probably log him off if heâs inactive for long. Or he may log off when heâs done. Iâll come up with a way to distract him.â
Petra said, âIf heâs at the main page, itâll look like a Web site. Click on the link for âDARK MATTER.â At the left of that page thereâs a list of names with hyperlinks. Have you ever been to MySpace?â
Amy nodded. Sheâd checked it
Carolyn Faulkner, Abby Collier