“We’ll deal with that later. Right now, we have to concentrate on Amelia,” Chloe said, “because if the unthinkable happens and it turns out that you actually aren’t an idiot and Amelia was being straight with you, then we really don’t have a choice. The Big Guys aren’t going to stop Connors-Wright from using the weapon, and they’re not going to stop Amelia from stealing it. Besides, if Amelia steals the weapon, who’s to say Connors-Wright won’t go ahead with his plan anyway and just shoot somebody?”

The others nodded in agreement—every single one of them. I chose to believe that they were agreeing with Chloe’s general assessment, and not the tone with which it was delivered. No one on the Squad wanted to see what would happen if Anthony worked out his Daddy Issues in a very public, very violent way. It went against the unspoken moral code of cheerleading operatives. Rumor mongering? Morally acceptable. Murder and mayhem—not so much.

“We have to do something.” Brooke said the words quietly, as if she wished she wasn’t saying them. Despite the fact that she’d tried to stand up to her mother, this was taking Brooke Independence to a completely unprecedented degree. If things went badly, it was her head on the chopping block, and I couldn’t think of anything worse than knowing that your own mother would be the executioner.

Brooke breathed out heavily, and then she seemed to realize that she was breaking her own rule and showing way more weakness (if by weakness, you meant actual feeling) than she ever had before. “New plan,” she said. “Zee and I are going after Connors-Wright. Amelia said we couldn’t take him down until three. She didn’t say anything about tailing him. Chloe, you find out whatever you can about the chip, and we’ll keep you on constant radio contact. Britt and Tiff, I want you two to get as close as you can to the politician Connors-Wright’s father is guarding. A bodyguard will never be far away from his charge, and the good senator doesn’t have any public appearances scheduled before the press conference. I’m sure he’ll make an exception for his local fan club, especially when the fan club is…” Brooke just gestured to the twins.

They weren’t the prettiest girls on the Squad. They didn’t have Lucy’s earnestness or Zee’s exotic look, or even Brooke’s flawlessly symmetrical face, but they knew how to work what they did have. They were blond, they were built, and they were (I had been told) five times hotter together than either of them was apart. There wasn’t a politician alive who could resist the Sheffield twins.

“What about the rest of us?” Tara asked.

“Chloe will keep you guys apprised of the situation,” Brooke said. “Unless you hear otherwise, plan to be at the park by no later than three. I’ll send you guys exact orders once we manage to do a little recon, but our priorities are getting the weapon and getting Amelia. After that, we’ll deal with finding out who planted the tracking chip in Toby’s shoulder—assuming it wasn’t Amelia herself.”

How many times did I have to say “she didn’t touch me” before it sank in?

“Lucy, we’re going to need every long-range paralyzing weapon you’ve got. I want Amelia unconscious the second we spot her. It’ll have to be something she’s not expecting, so get creative. Britt, Tiff, before you guys leave to find the senator, I need you to work your magic on Amelia’s picture and give us a rundown of the potential disguises you think would be most effective for her to use. We can’t underestimate her, and that means assuming she’s as good as you are. Chloe, anyone who comes with you after school needs to be in deep cover. I don’t care if you have to dress up like boys—don’t let Amelia recognize you.”

A buzzer went off then, letting us know that first period was a mere ten minutes away from starting. Without a word, Chloe headed off to her lab, and the twins went to theirs. Zee hung back with Brooke, and the others slowly drifted off toward the locker room, to get changed and get ready for class.

How did they get used to this? Knowing what I knew, how was I supposed to make it through a day at high school, watching three o’clock get closer and closer by the second?

“Toby.” Brooke said my name, and I turned around to face her. Was this the part when I said thank you? Or maybe the part when she did?

“You can’t go.” Apparently, this was the part when she issued more orders.

“Can’t go where?” I asked, truly baffled.

“This afternoon. Even if we need every man we’ve got, even if all the others go, you can’t.”

I stared at her. I was the one who’d uncovered this whole thing, and now she was telling me I couldn’t be a part of it? What a suckfest.

“You’ve been ID’d,” she said. “Whoever this agent is—assuming it’s not Amelia—he knows who you are. You’d lead him straight to the rest of us, and there’s no way for us to know for sure that you’re completely clean. You’ll have to go through a complete body scan later, to make sure there aren’t any more plants on you, but there’s no way I can pull that off without raising some major questions with our superiors. We can’t afford to have them questioning us right now.”

Damn it. Since when had Brooke become so…so…reasonable?

“So what am I supposed to do seventh period?” I asked. When I’d first joined the Squad, the biggest perk wasn’t the royal treatment I got from the whole school. It was the fact that I was henceforth excused from gym class for seventh-period practice.

“Well,” Brooke said, smiling in a way that had me prepping myself for bad, bad news. “We still need to paint the banners for the game on Friday…”

Double damn. Damn to the nth degree. Everyone but me was going to go out and save the day, and I was going to be stuck in the practice gym by myself painting banners for a football game.

I forced myself to look at the bright side. If worse came to worse, I could always entertain myself by coming up with some creative banner sayings.

Zee took one look at the expression on my face and shook her head. “Stick with Go Bayport,” she advised. “Or maybe Beat Hillside. No obscenities. No sarcasm. And nothing that even remotely suggests that the football team has the combined IQ of a spider monkey.”

She knew me too, too well, but I have to confess—the spider monkey part had never even crossed my mind. Zee may have misjudged Amelia, but there are times when her genius really shines through.

CHAPTER 31

Code Word: Betrayal

By the time I managed to wrangle my way back into the inarguably uncomfortable boots, I didn’t have much time to desweatify myself before heading to first period, and for once, the twins weren’t there to do it for me, and everyone else was so busy doing their own last-minute primping that no one seemed to notice that for the first time since I’d joined up, I looked somewhat less than Godlike.

Knowing better than to press my luck, I snuck out of the locker room before anyone had a chance to do damage control on my barely made-up face, and for the first time in weeks, I felt like myself. I mean, yeah, I was wearing God Squad clothes, and yes, my hair was still God Squad hair, and practice had done nothing to dampen my Bounce Index, but I wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t look it.

I didn’t look like the old me, either, but it was a start.

Half of me expected to run into Jack on my way to first period, and I purposefully didn’t pay much attention to where I was walking, tempting fate to re-create the interaction we’d shared yesterday. And the day before. In just two days, things between us had gotten so much more physical, so much more intense.

Then, just as I was reaching up to open the door to my geometry class, I came to the single most horrible realization of my life. Things had cooled down between Jack and me right after our first kiss. I’d been sending him back-off signals, and he’d respected that, even if he’d done it in a way that let me know that he wouldn’t stay away forever. And then, at the pep rally, he’d called off the truce and come up to me.

He’d touched me.

Had he touched my shoulder? Had he squeezed me while we were kissing? Had he planted something in my skin while my mind was too occupied with his lips to notice or care?