But my mom didn’t let me finish with my attempts at finding more excuses. “Oh, here he comes now. He wants to talk to you.”
“No. Mom! I don’t want to talk to this Damien—”
“Hello? Emily?” A deep voice rang through the phone.
I cringed. “Yes. Hi. Damien.” Cameron’s interest had picked up when I had said Damien’s name.
The clanging and chatter noises became more distant on the other side of the line. Damien had clearly walked away from the rest of the party. “So did you ever grow out of your polka dots?” he said.
So he remembered me—and had apparently not matured past the age of seven. “No. I haven’t—actually, it’s gotten worse. Much worse. How about you? Are you still eating your snots when you think no one is looking?” I wondered out loud.
Cameron practically choked on his own saliva.
There was awkward silence on the other end of the phone. Damien then cleared his throat and continued the conversation, unfortunately. “So … you should totally come meet us here. A bunch of us are spending the summer chill-axing in the Riviera. The whole gang is here—Chuck, Jimmy, Lance, Chrissy, Angela …”
Images of the “whole gang” came into my head—all of them had, at one point or another, pulled my hair or taunted me in some horrible way when I was a kid. “Sorry, I’m really tied up right now.”
Damien wasn’t listening. “My Dad had the yacht sailed to port in Monaco. I’ll take you sailing—just you and me. Come on … it’ll be great!”
Nothing about being alone with him where the only way to escape was to drown trying to swim to shore sounded fun. I would have picked drowning any day. “Damien, sorry, my phone is about to die. I’ll get back to you on the boat thing. Say—bye—to—my Mom—for me …” I hung up and threw the phone at the foot of the bed. I fell back onto my pillow, worn out.
“Emergency averted. Happy?” I said to Cameron.
“Yeah. I am,” he said with a grin that almost reached his eyes. “That was more entertaining than I thought it would be. I didn’t know Europe could be an emergency.”
When you’ve had everything handed to you on a silver platter, it was surprising the things that became a crisis. “Weren’t you afraid that I would tell my mother where I was?” Not that I had any idea where I was.
“Would she have believed you?”
He had a point.
I heard music booming in the distance. “You’re working today,” I mused, surprised by my automatic connection.
He nodded yes, but didn’t look like he was in a big hurry to go. “So, who was this Damien fellow you were talking to?” I thought I had glimpsed jealousy—or maybe it was just wishful thinking.
“His parents’ money is friends with my parents’ money,” I explained wryly, but Cameron looked lost. I sighed. “Just some boy my parents would love to see me settle down with.” As I said this, another thought occurred to me. “You know, you and my parents would probably get along quite well.”
“Oh?” Cameron fell into my ambush this time.
“You both try to control my life and seem to think I’m better off sticking with my own kind, whatever that is.” I threw the blanket back over my head before he had time to respond. “Do you have any more orders, or can I go back to sleep?”
“I wasn’t ordering you. I was just concerned that—”
“Whatever,” I interrupted coolly. Now I was in a
really
bad mood—a common side effect of my mother. “Can you let Meatball out when you leave?”
I exhaled loudly—my indication that the conversation was over.
The room was silent. He remained still. I imagined that he was staring at the big bulge that was under the blanket, considering his next move. After a minute, I heard him walk with insistence past the bed, and he left the room, calling Meatball to follow him.
As soon as I heard the door click and confirmed the noise of his steps down the stairs, I ripped the blanket off me. I had an idea where Cameron was going—and I had a plan. With record speed, I was dressed and ready to execute. I crouched by the bedroom door and listened. After what seemed like forever, I heard what I was waiting for: the muffled voices of Cameron, Spider, and Carly as they walked out the front door. I waited a few more minutes after I heard the door close and then headed out to follow them. I slightly opened the front door, peeking to make sure they were out of sight.
My encounter with Roach had taught me that wandering around the grounds was a dangerous thing, especially now that Griff was gone. I glanced around and didn’t see Roach; I was safe enough—for a while anyway. I made my way down to the garage, stopping as I neared the corner. There was a guard walking by the entrance of the pathway where I had seen Carly trek through the day before. So I waited for my opportunity.
The guard walked back and forth by the path’s entrance; he got bored after a few minutes of having nothing to look at but the back of the garage and kept marching down the line until he disappeared around the corner. This was my chance. With as much speed as I could rally, I ran straight for the pathway and didn’t look back until I was sure to be hidden in the trees.
There I stopped and listened: rustling of leaves and creaking and cracking of branches, all above my head. I breathed again when I was sure no one was running in after me.
I warily continued on the beaten path. I had no idea how far the path went, or how far I would be able to go before I was discovered—then who knew what would happen. I tried not to think about that, and focused on getting moving instead.
The dirt line seemed to go on forever. With every step I took, I was losing my nerve. I was starting to consider turning around when I hit a green brick wall. Strangely erected, tightly up to the tree line was the back of a one-story building that had no windows facing out and the beaten path ended directly under its metal door that had been left ajar.
I stood by the door and listened for voices—I heard nothing. I gulped and, with the speed of a snail, softly treaded in.
Inside was a small office—or at least it looked like it was supposed to be an office. At the farthest end of the room was an oversized wooden desk with a sleek, black leather chair half hidden behind it. In the middle was a burgundy rawhide couch and a ratty blanket pitched upon it. There were two wood-burning stoves stuffed in a corner, but no wood.
The floor and desk were spilling over with disarrayed piles of clothes. Recognizing some of Cameron’s wrinkled T-shirts, I realized that this was where he had been sleeping since I had taken over his room. I glanced at the stiff-looking couch and the yellowed pillow and felt a bit guilty—I couldn’t imagine having to sleep on that every night.
I moved toward the large desk. Apart from Cameron’s improvised bedroom, there was something else that made this room seem like just the shell of an office—its emptiness. The floor-to-ceiling bookcases were, for the most part, empty of normal office stuff. There were no pictures, papers, pens, computer, files, or anything else that would make this office an office.
When I heard quick footsteps, I froze.
Next to Cameron’s improvised sleeping quarters was a closed door. The footsteps seemed to be approaching from the other side of it, and getting closer fast. I pushed the leather chair aside and hid under the desk, peering through the hairline cracks between the wood planks that faced the desk.
There I held my breath and watched Carly speed across the room and exit outside, closing the heavy door behind her.
My heart was wildly thumping. I took a few seconds to calm myself and puffed. This had been a close call. Too close. Ghastly thoughts of what Carly would have done had she discovered me went through my head. Somehow I knew that I was not welcome to snoop here.
I crawled out from under the desk and headed for the metal door. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t worth getting in trouble for … or worse.
But when I pushed on the heavy door—nothing happened.
I pulled, and then I pushed, using my whole body, but the door still did not budge.
It was stuck—and so was I.
When I heard unrecognizable voices through the other door, I froze in place again, terrified, listening. There were several voices echoing in the distance, yet none seemed to be coming closer.
I tiptoed to this new, possible, alternate exit and peeked out. It opened onto a short, narrow passageway that led nowhere. A dead end. And oddly, there was no one there, though I could still hear people noises.
I went to the dead end and noticed a door-shaped split in the wall. At the bottom was a small pedal, which I assumed would open the secret way. In the middle of the frame was a dime-sized eyehole. I slowly brought my face forward and peered through.
Over a dozen people talked over each other in a bright room. There were darkened windows on the opposite wall, and I could see cars, SUVs and motorcycles outside. In the middle of the room was a large, rectangular glass table. Cameron was calmly seated at the head, engrossed in paperwork, while the others slowly found seats.
It was a mind-boggling assortment. Sitting next to each other around the table were over a dozen men and one woman who looked like extremes of each other—people of all shapes, sizes, and age—some were dressed in three-piece suits, while others had lopsided ball caps and gold chains or full leather outfits … rival gang bosses, together, in one room, acting like normal people.
The seated members, the bosses, were noisily talking among themselves and each had one man standing guard behind them, each man looking fiercer than the other. Spider stood behind Cameron.
When Cameron lifted his head, the table immediately went quiet. “We have several items on the agenda today. I thank you again for making the trip out to attend this meeting. I can assure you that we will pursue our meetings in the city as soon as feasible for me.” The room stayed very quiet. “Let’s try to keep on topic today so that everyone can get out of here at a decent time for once.”
Cameron’s voice was intimidating and very businesslike. Everyone inside—and outside—the room remained captivated. “The most pressing item is an apparent breach of territory lines which has led to hostilities between two of our branches and the loss of some of their members. This conflict has also brought coverage in the news, and our suppliers have expressed concern over media attention.”
Cameron eyed one of the suited men sitting at the table. “Johnny, I understand that this started after some of your boys tried to distribute product in California.”
A man who was wearing a blue bandana around his head piped up. “They didn’t just try to distribute. They were trying to undercut me and take over my territory.”
Cameron calmly lifted his hand in a motion for silence. “Viper, you will get your chance to speak. Johnny, my sources support what Viper has just said. Can you explain?”
The gel-haired Johnny looked nervous. “Listen, some of my boys went on a road trip and got a little carried away. It was a misunderstanding. No disrespect was meant.”
Cameron turned to Viper. “Viper, you have heard the explanation. Do you have anything to say?”
Viper mumbled. “Just that it’s total bull.”
Cameron continued, “Johnny, I believe that a ten percent contribution of your branch’s earnings last month should be sufficient to settle damages to Viper. Do you agree?”
Johnny nodded, begrudgingly.
Cameron turned to Viper. “Viper?”
Viper nodded, cheerfully.
Cameron glanced around the table. “Any objections?”
Everyone remained silent.
Cameron wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Spider. “Johnny, next time your boys want a road trip from Chicago to L.A., make sure they leave the business at home, all right?”
Johnny sulked in response.
I was entranced as an officious Cameron led the meeting and methodically went through a list of agenda items: new products coming onto the market, competitors, price listings, FBI reports and sightings, and other bad blood that had developed between the members’ gangs. Spider hung back and collected the paperwork that Cameron handed him as topics were discussed. It didn’t take me long to realize that Cameron didn’t just sit on the crime bosses’ board of directors—he was their CEO.
After two hours, my legs were like jelly, and Cameron finally stopped the meeting for a break. Everybody stretched out and slowly walked outside of the room as Cameron and Spider went through the collected paperwork. When the room was emptied, Spider took the paper stacks and walked straight for the trapdoor, and me. I struggled to wake my legs up, and I ran back to the office like a baby deer wiggling into its first steps. I had barely had time to duck my head under the desk when Spider stepped through the doorway.
Like Carly, he kept walking across the room to the metal door. When he got to it, he realized, as I had, that the door was stuck. He backed up and rammed his whole body into it. The door finally burst opened, and, cursing under his breath, he disappeared, leaving it ajar.
My heart jumped for glee as I realized that I would finally be free.
I waited a few minutes more to make sure that Spider wasn’t coming back right away and crawled out. And then I heard voices nearing from the passageway again. I banged my forehead on the desk as I hurried to crawl back under.
“It seems like forever since I’ve been back here,” reminisced a female voice.