She took the small package. “Thank you.”

  Wirenut clasped her hand. “Katarina, what’s going on?”

  She swallowed. “My father…my father…”

  Oh, God, no. Had her father died?

  “My father saw us together at the marketplace yesterday and got really mad. I’m sorry.” A tear slid down her cheek. “He doesn’t want me to see you again.”

  In silence, we continued on to pick up the rental car, then TL, and now here I sat, idly staring out the open passenger window as TL drove up the coast to our destination. Warm, salty air flowed through the car, through my body, relaxing me a little. Clear aqua water spanned to eternity on my right, and jagged cliffs boxed us in on the left. I’d never been one to sit and “smell the roses,” as they say, but this part of Rissala was definitely the most beautiful place I’d ever seen.

  Wirenut sat in the backseat studying the mansion’s schematics and the private island the mansion occupied.

  He hadn’t said a word about Katarina. He had to be thinking about her, though. I’d asked him a few hours ago if he was okay. He’d simply nodded and continued analyzing the blueprints. I supposed it was good he had something to occupy his brain.

  “Okay,” Wirenut called over the wind. “I’m ready.”

  We rolled up our windows, and TL cranked on the air. I turned in my seat to listen.

  Wirenut tapped his legal pad. “This mansion’s locked down tight. But I’ve figured it out. There’s an invisible fence surrounding the private island. The fence is located in the water. The only way in is to swim under it.”

  TL adjusted the rearview mirror. “How far down?”

  “Hundred feet.”

  A hundred feet? I’d had only a couple of diving lessons back at the ranch as part of our PT. But that’d been in a twenty-five-foot-deep pool. A hundred feet? That was really far down.

  “You’ll do fine,” TL reassured me, as if sensing my wandering, I’m-starting-to-freak-out thoughts.

  “There’s only one location we can swim under,” Wirenut continued. “The opening is located on the west side, fifty feet off the island’s shore. Once we’re through the invisible fence, we have to scale the east wall of the mansion. There’re only five windows on the east side. We’ll have to climb between the fourth and fifth windows. Once we’re on the roof, we’ll rappel down through the fifth chimney into the mansion. According to the X-rayed image GiGi pulled up last night, we’ll be in the room where the sword is located.”

  Wow. As always, very thorough.

  TL turned off the coastal highway onto a dirt road. “Good work.”

  “One last thing.” Wirenut pressed the off button on his handheld, electronic schematics. “With this particular security setup, one misstep rigs the mansion to explode.”

  Explode?

  Hours later, TL pulled into a marina parking lot. “Whatever I say or do, you two play along with it.”

  Wirenut and I nodded.

  I held up my finger. “Can we talk about the exploding thing again?”

  Both guys sighed. “GiGi, you’ll do fine.”

  They’d said that about a zillion times since Wirenut mentioned it. Their not-this-again, chorused answer made me smile. They knew me too well.

  TL slid the keys from the ignition. “Give GiGi and me a second.”

  With a nod, Wirenut exited the car.

  TL turned to me. “Under no circumstances do you show any recognition of the person we’re about to see. Understand?”

  “Who are we about to see?”

  “Do you understand?”

  I hated when he didn’t answer my questions. “Yes, sir.”

  TL opened his door and climbed out. “Get your stuff, kids. It’s going to be a fuuun day.”

  Kids?

  Beside us a couple with twin boys pulled towels, fishing rods, duffel bags, and other vacationy things from their car. Other than them and us, the marina parking lot sat empty.

  TL popped the trunk. He handed a cooler to Wirenut. “Carry that. We got some yummy munchies in there.”

  When had we gotten a cooler? And “yummy munchies”? TL would never in a million years say “yummy munchies.”

  Wirenut must have thought so, too, because he laughed.

  TL ruffled Wirenut’s hair. “Whatcha laughing at, sport? It’s going to be a beee-uuu-ti-ful day.” He tossed a couple of backpacks at me. “Carry those for me, girlie girl.”

  Sport? Girlie girl? I tried not to laugh.

  Slinging diving bags over his shoulder, TL slammed the trunk. “Glory be, it’s magnificent here. Maybe we’ll see some of those enooormous stingrays.”

  He led the way across the marina parking lot and onto a wooden path. Trees bordered both sides and opened to a rocky beach. The path led to a dock that stretched out over the water.

  TL pointed off to the right. “Look at that water. Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous in your life?”

  Wirenut cut a quick glance in my direction, and we shared a smile. TL was never this talkative or happy.

  “Well, have you?”

  “No,” Wirenut quickly responded. “Never have.”

  We came to the end of the dock, where a rickety wooden boat floated, tied off. Behind us, the parking-lot family boarded a safer-looking one.

  TL sat his dive bags down. “Here we go. Doesn’t look like much. But we’re going to have tooons of fun.”

  Shielding my eyes from the early-afternoon sun, I surveyed the twenty-five-foot weather-beaten boat. It didn’t appear as if it could float, much less take us safely five kilometers to the private island and mansion.

  A crash-bang echoed from the small pilothouse, followed by a string of curses. Dressed in filthy overalls, a woman stumbled out, rubbing her ball-cap-covered head.

  She snorted, hacked her throat, and spit.

  Nasty.

  She took off her cap. Long, greasy, black hair fell down her back. Scratching her scalp, she looked up at the three of us and stretched her lips into a toothless grin.

  I froze. Nalani?

  What was TL’s wife doing here? The last time I’d seen her, we’d been in Ushbania running for our lives. She hadn’t looked anything like she did now. She’d had teeth. And manners. And clean hair. She’d been beautiful.

  Nalani put her cap back on. “Welcome aboard, maties. Mi casa es su casa.” She snorted a laugh. “That’s Spanish, not Rissalan.”

  TL tossed her the dive bags. “We’re sooo excited. My name’s Tim. That’s Stan holding the cooler and Dana with the backpacks.”

  Wirenut and I waved. Well, I waved. Wirenut nodded because of the cooler. I tried to catch Nalani’s eye, but she was completely in role. A stranger to us. Someone we’d hired for the day.

  Nalani saluted. “Call me captain. Now get on board. Times a wastin’. We’re shoving off in one minute.”

  She disappeared into the pilothouse. The engine sputtered to life a second later. We loaded our things, untied the boat, and motored away from the dock.

  I stood beside Wirenut, watching the rocky beach disappear until only water surrounded us. An unsettled feeling weighed down my stomach, and I thought back all those years to the plane crash I’d been in with my parents. All the water. Swimming. Crying for them…

  Sighing at the memory, I glanced over my shoulder to the pilothouse. TL stood just inside the door, staring at Nalani’s back as she drove the boat. My heart ached for him. For both of them. It had in Ushbania, too. Their covers prohibited them from interacting like a couple.

  He took a step into the pilothouse, peering over her shoulder. His fingers trailed across her lower back as he pretended interest in the boat’s control panel. He shifted a little closer, and, although I couldn’t see real well, I thought he kissed her on the neck.

  I wondered, as I had before, why they weren’t together. Why didn’t she live at the ranch with us? Why did they even get married?

  For hours we zigzagged the coast, pretending to sightsee, each time getting a little closer to the private island. Anyone who might be watching, listening, or have us on radar would assume we were just another group of tourists.

  Sitting in the distance, the small island stretched about a half mile long and a quarter mile wide. The centuries-old stone mansion occupied roughly half the island. It stood dark and spooky on the horizon. According to my research, no one lived in the mansion. It was owned by the country of Rissala and rented out for special occasions.

  Not that stolen neurotoxin was considered a special occasion.

  The sun slipped into darkness. Nalani cut the engine and dropped the anchor.

  Wirenut handed me an apple and a cheese sandwich. “Eat this. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.” He sat down beside me, dangling his feet over the side of the boat. “The captain works for us, doesn’t she?”

  Biting into my apple, I shrugged. In Ushbania I’d been the only one who didn’t know Nalani was on our side. I hadn’t suspected anything and didn’t find out until the very end that she was one of us.

  Silly to admit, but I liked being in the know this time around.

  Clearly, though, Wirenut was more perceptive than me.

  We finished our food and continued sitting, patiently waiting, staring at the dark water until TL touched our backs.

  He tapped two fingers to his left shoulder. Time to go.

  Behind him, Nalani opened the cooler, revealing equipment piled inside. She handed Wirenut and me black Velcro belts. “Tool belt. Strap these to your thighs so they’re hidden.”

  Leaning in, Wirenut smiled. “I knew she worked for us,” he whispered.

  In our wet suits, we flutter-kicked our way through the dark ocean. Wirenut first, me second, and TL brought up the rear.

  With our rebreathers, no bubbles trailed upward. Water plugged my ears, permitting me to hear only my heartbeat and slow deep breaths.

  Wirenut extended his arms out to his sides, indicating in ten seconds we would pass through the opening in the invisible fence.

  Through my night goggles, I kept my vision focused on Wirenut’s fins. One misstep rigs the mansion to explode.

  Talk about pressure.

  We made it through the fence and continued underwater around the island to the east side. The sandy ocean floor rose gradually until we swam in only ten feet of depth. Our slow ascent decompressed our bodies.

  We exited the water and stripped our diving gear, then piled it on the sliver of rocky beach.

  Still in our wet suits, we jogged over the flat rocks to the mansion’s east wall. Between the fourth and fifth windows, Wirenut gazed up five stories to the roof. He leaned to the right a little and tilted his head.

  He placed his ear against the wall, moved a few feet to the left and listened there, then went back to his original spot. From his vest he pulled four pressurized suction cups. Two he strapped to his knees and two he held in his hands. TL and I did the same. Air release controlled the suction, allowing for silent attachment and release. They worked on any surface.

  Wirenut turned to us, touched his eye, and held up one finger. Watch closely. One at a time.

  TL and I nodded. Wirenut suctioned onto the stone and began a spiderlike crawl. Left arm, left leg. Right arm, right leg. I scrutinized his form, memorizing his technique and rhythm. At the third story he scooted to the right and continued crawling. At the fifth story he moved back to his original spot.

  He made it to the roof and signaled for me.

  One misstep rigs the mansion to explode.

  With a deep breath I suctioned onto the wall.

  [9]

  Trying to be a spider crawling up five stories of stone was not as easy as Wirenut made it look.

  A week after my Ushbanian mission, I’d seen him using these suction cups at the ranch. I’d played around with them on the side of our two-story, wooden barn, more for fun than anything. But that time wasn’t anything like right now.

  Wood versus stone. Big difference.

  Two stories versus five. Another big difference.

  You’d think I’d have learned by now to expect the unexpected. Maybe years into this secret-agent thing, I’d be so experienced nothing would faze me.

  Like TL.

  At the third story I stopped to catch my breath. Shutting my eyes, I inhaled the musty scent of stone and blew out slowly through my mouth. Again in deeply through my nose and out my mouth. Like TL had taught me.

  Gradually, my thumping heart stilled to a normal putter. Only two more stories to go.

  Bruiser would have no problem scaling this wall. She’d already be on the roof doing back flips or some such thing.

  I opened my eyes to moldy, moist stone. Ignoring my shaky, fatigued muscles, I used my thumb to depress the button on my right suction cup. A tiny puff of air indicated that the seal was broken. I moved my hand farther up the wall and reattached.

  I scooted to the right like I’d seen Wirenut do and then back to the left at the fifth story. Mere feet from the roof, I stopped, my breath rushing in and out, and tilted my head back. My entire body screamed with exertion as I met Wirenut’s eyes.

  He lay belly down on the mansion’s roof, his hand stretching out toward me. I inched a little farther up, and he latched onto my forearm.

  Oh, thank God. I’d thought I was in better shape.

  With a stifled grunt, he tugged me onto the roof, and I rolled onto my back, gasping for air.

  “Shhh,” he reminded me.

  Staring at the night sky, I focused on the half moon and concentrated on steadying my breath and heart.

  Exhale.

  Inhale.

  Exhale.

  Inhale.

  TL quietly stepped up beside me, breathing normally. As if he’d gone for a leisurely stroll in the park.

  I definitely needed more physical training.

  Never thought I’d actually think those words.

  Swallowing to moisten my dehydrated mouth, I got to my feet and looked around.

  Fat brick chimneys dotted the roof. A dozen of them. This mansion must have a lot of fireplaces.

  Wirenut stood beside one about three feet tall, looping rappelling wire around a protruding brick. I scanned the haphazardly placed chimneys, wondering how he knew that was the fifth one.

  He signaled us, and we wove through the maze to him. Wirenut climbed up and disappeared over the edge. I peeked past the bricks and watched him slip into the darkness.

  Well, this is something new. I’d never rappelled. TL had gone over the procedures in the car on the drive up the coast. But as I mentioned earlier, real life never mirrored simulation.

  It was impossible to prepare completely for every single situation. I was such a novice, thrown into these missions quite unexpectedly. Eventually, I’d have the skills needed.

  TL touched my shoulder and then tapped his watch. Go.

  He had faith in me, so that had to count for something. I did do all right on the Ushbanian mission. Well, aside from a few mishaps.

  I slipped on night-vision goggles, climbed up the chimney, and attached hand grips to the rappelling wire like TL had told me to. Folding my legs around it, I slowly slid down the passage. The cushioned hand grips did most of the work. I just had to hold on. For once, something physical came easy for me.

  Through my goggles, I made out gray shades of bricks and cobwebs. No spiders. This passage had to be at least six feet wide. I hadn’t imagined chimneys would be so roomy.

  About twenty feet later I landed with a soft thud on the fire grate. No ashes. No coals. No wood. No signs that a fire had ever been built.

  Squatting down, I stepped from the oversized opening into an empty room. No furniture. No decorations. Nothing.

  Wirenut stood in the center of the room staring at a spot above me. I turned. The double-bladed lion-engraved sword hung right above the fireplace, a few feet from my head.

  The sword Wirenut’s uncle had used to kill his entire family.

  The sword holding the final message that would lead to the stolen neurotoxin.

  TL stepped from the fireplace and immediately looked up to see what Wirenut and I stared at.

  “Don’t,” Wirenut mumbled, “touch it.”

  TL and I turned back to Wirenut.

  He pointed to the row of marble tile leading straight toward him. “Come to me. Do not step off the tile.”

  One misstep rigs the mansion to explode.

  I went first down the row of foot-wide tile, and TL followed. We met Wirenut in the middle.

  Wirenut tapped his fiber-lit goggles. “I can tell that this,” he indicated the circular change in marble pattern about five feet in diameter, “is the safe zone. Do not step from it. As soon as I start working, that tile you walked down won’t be available. It’ll be covered with lasers.”

  TL replaced his night-vision goggles with fiber-lit ones. “Put yours on.”

  I followed his instructions. Yellow lasers flicked into view, completely filling the room, zigzagging inches from our circular safe zone and the path we’d come down.

  Jeez, and to think if I’d lost my step I would’ve been fried.

  A blue glow enveloped the sword. As Wirenut contemplated it, I took the mini-laptop from my vest.

  “Son of a—” he breathed. “We activated that when we came down the fireplace.”

  “What is it?” TL asked.

  “It’s a pulse bomb. Incinerates anything with a heartbeat.”

  My whole body jerked to attention. “That means…that means…” I swallowed. I knew about pulse bombs. They were the most lethal ones on the market. “That means every human and animal within two hundred miles will be a pile of ashes if we trigger it.”

  Wirenut nodded.

  TL cupped Wirenut’s shoulder. “You can do this. Don’t focus on the pulse bomb. Concentrate on doing what you do best, and we’ll make it out alive.”

  TL turned to me. “Don’t you think about it either. Get the laptop ready. Focus.”

  I barely heard him over my hammering heart.

  “Both of you, we’ve made it this far knowing the mansion could explode. This pulse bomb is just another obstacle. Let’s do it.”