“I tried a triple back flip from the ranch’s roof.” She shrugged. “Ended up a double.”

  We exited the building, and I glanced up at the roof. That had to be at least twenty feet. No way I’d try anything off that, unless lots of ropes and harnesses were involved.

  Bruiser had no fear.

  We passed our brand-new in-ground pool, which sat beside the house. “Wanna go for a swim later?” Bruiser asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Let’s go.” She raced across the yard to the barn, where our physical training was always held, and I followed. We opened the door and made our way toward Mystic, Parrot, and Beaker, who were standing off to the right near the dumbbells.

  Beaker wore her usual combat boots, dog collar, and black clothes. She’d chosen green lipstick over black and changed out her nose jewelry. Instead of her ring, a chain connected her nostril to her ear.

  Let’s hope it doesn’t get yanked out during PT.

  They all glanced down at my shorts as we approached. They weren’t used to seeing me in them since I usually wore yoga pants.

  “Well.” This from Mystic.

  “Huh.” That from Parrot.

  “Nice chicken legs,” snided Beaker.

  Bruiser was always kidding me about my chicken legs, too. From her it came out totally amusing and fun. One friend teasing another.

  From Beaker? Lighthearted camaraderie wasn’t part of her personality.

  Nice nose chain, I wanted to snide back, but didn’t.

  Bruiser looped her arm through mine and turned me around. She rolled her eyes to the right. “What do you think of Adam?” she whispered.

  Adam from Team One stood across the barn talking to David and Erin. David had his back to me. He didn’t know I’d come in yet.

  “Well,” Bruiser prompted.

  I surveyed Adam’s messy blond hair and tall, lean body. I’d say he stood at least six feet five. Definitely the tallest person here at the ranch. “He’s all right, if you like blonds.”

  Bruiser elbowed me. “You’re a blond.”

  I elbowed her back.

  “He’s been talking to me a lot more lately. I used not to think he was cute. But now I do. Weird, huh?”

  “Nah, it’s not weird. He’s got a great personality, and he’s cute.”

  “I’d need a ladder to kiss him. I’m like five feet, and he’s like, what, a giant?”

  I busted out laughing. Leave it to Bruiser to say something like that.

  David turned from his conversation. His gaze dropped to my legs and then came up to meet my eyes. My entire body shot to boiling point, and I knew my face had to be flaming red.

  He didn’t look away, wouldn’t look away.

  I wished I was one of those girls who could boldly hold a guy’s heated stare. Honestly, I was about to be sick.

  Smiling, David bounced his brows, breaking the sexually tense moment, and I released a shaky breath.

  Jonathan clapped his hands, and my attention shifted from David to our PT instructor. “Everyone over here.”

  As we followed Jonathan’s instructions, my first PT came back to me with clarity. Falling on my head. Praying I wouldn’t be paired with David.

  I’d come a long way.

  We all came in closer, and I found myself standing next to Erin.

  “Remember that PT a few years ago when we bumped heads and I broke my nose?” Erin said to David, nudging him with a smile.

  He grimaced. “Don’t remind me,” he said, and playfully nudged her back.

  I didn’t know why, but their cuteness bothered me.

  “Spread out,” Jonathan graveled, knocking me from my thoughts. “Arm’s length between you. Feet together. Palms to the floor.”

  I followed Jonathan’s orders, gritting my teeth, missing the ground by more than a foot.

  Okay, so maybe I hadn’t come such a long way.

  Five minutes later he split us into partners. Please give me David. Pleasepleaseplease give me David.

  “Know what I heard?” whispered Beaker, who was standing on the other side of me.

  I shook my head, listening to Jonathan pair us up.

  “David and Erin used to date.”

  What?

  “Parrot’s with Adam.” Jonathan pointed to Bruiser. “Bruiser and Mystic. Beaker’s with GiGi. And David’s with Erin.”

  David’s with Erin?

  Wait a minute. I’m with Beaker?

  I glanced over at her. She narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. What exactly was her problem?

  We each grabbed a mat and dragged them over to the corner. I glanced at Erin, sizing her up. Average height. Shoulder-length dark hair. Athletic build. She’d always been nice to me. She was the first person I met, actually, when I arrived here in San Belden.

  She and David used to date? Why hadn’t David told me? Did they feel anything for each other now? Did David want to get back with her? Did she want to get back with him? Was Erin jealous? Was I? I glanced at Beaker—maybe she was just messing with me. But by the look on her face, I didn’t think so.

  “We’re practicing floor restraint today.” Jonathan stepped onto a mat, interrupting my rambling thoughts. “When you’re on the bottom, how to gain control of the guy on top.”

  Suddenly, David shot across the room, and I jumped.

  He tackled Jonathan, plastering him to the floor. Wrapping both legs around David’s waist, Jonathan looped their arms together and bent David’s back.

  Shifting, Jonathan straightened one leg and crossed the other over David’s back. “Notice the position of my legs. This prevents my opponent from rolling out of the shoulder lock.”

  Jonathan rotated David’s wrist toward his head. “Continuous pressure in this direction will dislocate my opponent’s shoulder.”

  David and Jonathan released each other and jumped to their feet, our signal to begin the maneuver.

  Beaker and I looked at each other. Her frown said she dreaded this as much as I did.

  Behind me someone grunted. A body smacked to a mat. Someone else growled.

  Everyone was already at it while Beaker and I continued eyeing each other.

  A girl giggled. A guy laughed. Wait a minute. I knew that laugh. David.

  I whipped around. David had his legs wrapped around Erin’s waist and her arm bent back. She giggled again.

  I narrowed my eyes. They were having way too much fun all intertwined like that.

  “Aren’t they cute,” Beaker sneered.

  I whipped back around and lunged, tackling her. She landed so hard her nose chain rattled. I couldn’t quite believe I just did that.

  TL stepped into the barn. “David, GiGi, Wirenut.”

  Beaker shoved me off her. I gave her my best don’t-mess-with-me glare before turning to TL.

  “Conference room.” TL headed off. “Five minutes.”

  [2]

  David, Wirenut, and I stepped onto the elevator.

  “Why do you think TL wants to see me?” Wirenut smoothed his fingers down his trim goatee. “Food, school, physical training, homework, chores, sleep. That’s been my week. I haven’t done anything wrong. Did anything go wrong on the Ushbania mission? Did my schematics provide faulty information?”

  Simultaneously, David and I shook our heads, hiding our amusement. Poor Wirenut. I was just as nervous the first time TL had wanted to see me away from the rest of the group. Right before he sent me on my first mission.

  Which meant that Wirenut might be going on his first mission, too. But why would I be meeting with TL? It made sense David would; TL involved him in everything. But why me?

  Unless he was sending me on another mission. I groaned inwardly. Whatever happened to working from home base?

  “Last week I swapped chores with Mystic,” Wirenut continued worriedly. “We didn’t tell TL. Do you think he’s pissed about that? Ya know, overriding his authority or something.”

  David shook his head, all calm. “No. But I wouldn’t do that again.”

  Wirenut expelled a short burst of air. “Crud. What have I done? Since joining the Specialists, I’ve been living cleaner than ever before.”

  I linked arms with him. “Everything’s going to be okay.” And I truly believed that. It was one of the most important things I’d learned since being with the Specialists. TL had only our best interest in mind. He really cared about each one of us.

  The elevator stopped on Subfloor Four, and we made our way past a few locked doors to the conference room where TL waited.

  Wirenut rapped on the open door. “You ever gonna tell me what’s behind those locked doors?”

  He made stupid attempts at humor when he was nervous.

  Without looking up, TL motioned us in. “When you’re ready.” He pointed to me and Wirenut. “You two have a seat.” TL rolled his leather chair out and stood. “David, come with me.”

  “When I’m ready?” Wirenut asked after TL and David left. “What does that mean?” He looked at me. “You’ve got access to one of the doors. Apparently, you’re ready.”

  TL had given me access to the government’s highest-level computer lab. Although we had split from the government, we were still able to access their resources. My team knew that it was a computer lab and that Chapling worked in there, but I wasn’t allowed to give them the details of what went on inside. The secretiveness of the lab was both a curse and a privilege. Right now, with Wirenut’s remark, it felt more like a curse.

  “When I’m ready,” Wirenut mocked. “I could break into those stupid locked doors if I wanted to.”

  “Wirenut—”

  “TL should be rewarding me for having such self-control,” he railroaded on. “That in and of itself proves I’m ready. Maybe I should tell him that.”

  He was right. With his electronics expertise, Wirenut could break into anything. It was the whole reason TL recruited him. Right now, though, his stress was making him act tough and ridiculous.

  “Should I speak first?” Wirenut shifted in his chair. “Ya know, break the ice. Conversation comes easy for me. Light. Fun. Nothing serious. Who wants serious? Serious sucks. Silence comes easy, too. Hey, I’m not called the Ghost for nothing.”

  Wirenut expelled another short burst of frustrated air. “Okay, this is officially driving me insane. Why did TL tell us five minutes if he didn’t really want us here in five? I mean, it’s been seven minutes. Where is he? What, he wanted to see how long it took us to get down here? What’d he think, we’d drag our feet or something? What the hell, man, I don’t drag my feet around this place. If anything, I’m faster than the others on my team. Well, except for Bruiser. But come on, she’s like a freak of nature.”

  He was rambling to himself now. This wasn’t good. “How about we talk about something else,” I suggested. Wirenut needed to get his brain on another topic.

  He looked across the table at me, clearly expecting me to come up with something to talk about. Oh, okay. Um…

  Suddenly the first day we all met popped into my mind. “Do you remember the first day we all met? The six of us sat around this same table.”

  Wirenut smiled. “We were all scoping out one another. Curious. Wondering what our new lives would be like.”

  I grinned as TL and David returned. Closing the door, TL took his seat at the head of the table. He opened a file and studied it. The header, QUID PLUOLIUM, ran across each page of small typed paragraphs. “Top Secret” had been stamped in red at the bottom.

  Squinting my eyes, I studied the upside-down paragraphs. But the small print and my lack of glasses kept me from making out the details. I glanced up at TL. He didn’t acknowledge any of us.

  Beside me, David waited patiently, his gaze calmly fixed on the windowless wall behind Wirenut.

  Across from me, Wirenut tapped his finger on the table, obviously as anxious as me.

  We waited in silence for what felt like hours. Nothing from TL.

  “So,” Wirenut finally interrupted the silence.

  Without looking up, TL shook his head in response.

  Wirenut tightened his jaw, and I sent him an it’s-going-to-be-okay, I-know-exactly-how-you-feel look.

  My impatience brought on a teeny bit of nerves, and just when I decided to run code sequences through my brain, TL closed the file.

  “Take off your monitoring patch,” he said to Wirenut.

  I smiled. I bet he was going on a mission. TL had taken my patch right before sending me to Ushbania.

  With some hesitation and a reassuring nod from David, Wirenut reached beneath his T-shirt sleeve and peeled off what looked like a nicotine patch. That’s what he told anybody outside the ranch who asked about it.

  He gave TL the skin-colored device. “Why do you want my tracker? Did it malfunction?”

  “No. You don’t need it anymore.”

  Wirenut grinned. “Does this mean that I’m a full-fledged Specialist?”

  TL chuckled. “Yes, you’re a full-fledged Specialist.”

  I loved when TL smiled and laughed. It made me all cozy inside. He didn’t do it enough. He seemed too focused and serious most of the time.

  He held up the device. “Do you remember what I told you when you first put this on?”

  Wirenut nodded. “Yep. You said, ‘Understand that your public education is part of your training. It’s socializing; learning to lie to others regarding your past, current situation, and future. Each of you will wear a detection device for monitoring. Everything you say and do will be recorded. You will wear this until I feel confident you’ll do fine without it.’”

  Wow. How unbelievable that he remembered every single word.

  Wirenut leaned back and folded his arms, looking very full of himself. “How was that?”

  TL shook his head, like he did every time he had no clue what to do with Wirenut. “Nicely done.”

  “Thank you very much. Feel free to applaud.”

  TL’s lips twitched. “All right, all kidding aside. I took GiGi’s device before she left on her mission to Ushbania.”

  Wirenut sat up. “Does this mean I’m going somewhere?”

  TL held his hand up. “I’ll tell you what I told her. You’ve proven to be adept at your cover. You’ve gone about your day-to-day activities smoothly, naturally, and without a second thought. You’ve seamlessly merged into this world. But what I’m most impressed with is that you’ve had a lot of temptation. Not only around here, but at school. And not once have you given in to the mischievous urges that drove the Ghost.”

  Wirenut grinned, obviously pleased TL recognized that.

  “The old Frankie would’ve been sneaking around the ranch at night, trying to break into restricted areas. I know you wouldn’t have stolen anything. You would’ve just tied a yellow ribbon and gone on your way. But the fact that you haven’t tells me you’re ready to move on to the next stage of your training.”

  Wirenut grinned again, and I could just visualize the happy dance going on inside of him.

  TL stood. “Follow me.”

  We left the conference room and headed down the underground hallway.

  As we passed Chapling’s and my computer lab, TL nodded to it. “Later on this evening, GiGi will show you around her lab.”

  Wirenut and I exchanged surprised glances (more on my end than his). In a few hours, Chapling’s and my computer lab would no longer be a secret. It sort of bummed me out. I liked having something just mine and Chapling’s.

  We stopped at a door ten feet from my lab. “This will be your studio,” TL said to Wirenut, stepping to the side. “Do your thing.”

  Oooh, neat. I was about to see inside another one of the mysterious locked doors. Wirenut must be ecstatic. Okay, now I couldn’t wait to show him the lab.

  He scrutinized the steel door and then tapped it with his finger. “Four-decibel, hollow echo. Double-reinforced. Lined with…” He tapped it again. “Glass. Interesting. Counter-sunk hinges.”

  Leaning down, he studied the lock. “Triple-plated. Imbedded.” He sniffed. “Copper wax. Rigged with a laser crawler.”

  He got down on his knees and put his ear against the door. “Bottom left quadrant. Tsss. Tsss. Tsss. One-second electrical surges. A dom sensor.” He held out his hand. “I need my tools.”

  David extended a triple-folded leather pouch.

  Wirenut took it from him. He closed his eyes and rubbed it between his hands. He brought it to his face and inhaled. “Old leather, oil, and metal. It’s been a long time since I’ve held this. I never imagined I’d miss an old pouch so much.”

  He spread it open on the tile floor beside him. He slipped out three wrenches, some silver wire, a lighter, a stopwatch, and some electrical tape. He inserted one wrench in the lock and wedged one in the door’s upper-right corner. “This last one will be taped at a sixty-two-degree angle in the lower-left quadrant.”

  Sixty-two-degree angle? Jeez, that’s precise.

  With the lighter, he soldered silver wire to each wrench, connecting the three. He touched his knuckle to the wire. “Laser crawler rhythm is cchhh. Chch. Cchhh. Chch.”

  He pressed the stopwatch. “On the eleventh second, the door will open.”

  It clicked open, and my jaw dropped. Wow. Wirenut knew his stuff.

  He did what he called his victory shoulder-roll dance. “Go, Wirenut. Go, Wirenut. Go. Go.”

  David shook his head. “We’ve had the best of the best test out our security.”

  TL slapped Wirenut on the back. “You’re the first to successfully break in. Congratulations.”

  Wirenut’s face beamed with pride. “Thanks.”

  I knew the feeling. Nothing felt better than pleasing TL.

  David pushed open the door and turned on the light. “Get your tools and go on in.”

  Wirenut packed up, and we followed him in. He skidded to a stop, and I nearly ran right into him. “That’s my stuff. That’s everything I’ve ever sold online.”

  All kinds of electronic contraptions lined the tables and shelves.

  Wirenut shook his head. “How di— Where di— What’s going on?”

  TL picked up a remote control from a shelf. “You may have had ghost accounts and rerouted IPs, but I rigged it so that I was always the highest bidder when you auctioned things off.”