Page 109 of Web of Lies
Not in plaain sight. I’m afraiid of who is watching me. Weirdd right?
My mom actually went with me tto pick out my dress with me. She seems…. weird? Weirder than normal. Sadder than noormal? I think since my grandparents died…she’s been off. And of course, that ddick hasn’t been helping her. She says she’s okay but by the glossy eyes, I don’t believe her. But what can I do? She shipped me away. I guess I’m a little biitter. Although, being here is…refreeshing…I get to be myself, which is nice.
Anyway, I had fun with her. We got lunch in a little boutique in town and just talked. I didn’t mention what’s been happening at school, because I don’t want to be a snitch. Even though they’ve done horrid things, I still won’t tell her. Not that she’d do anything. But fuck it.
I fucking love you, you remember that okay?
Mags. xoxoxo
High in the darkened sky, shadows obscure the crescent-shaped moon. Darkness blankets the entire campus. Even the lamp posts offer little light tonight. It’s the perfect night for a heist. Well—not a heist, heist. Just a—you know little breaking and entering—recon job. No biggie. Hopefully, by the time we get back, we’ll have all the information we need to connect Shaw to all this crazy cult crap. Hopefully.
Zepp, bless his genius soul, helped me make an extracting USB for tonight’s events. It’s like a vampire, except it extracts every ounce of confidential information from Shaw’s computer instead of blood. All I have to do is plug it in, type a few codes into the command box, and it’ll do its thing. It’s seriously a nifty piece of technology helpful for this purpose, way simpler than my mirroring process.
Zepp is way smarter than he gives himself credit for, matching me in almost every way. He plays it off as if I’m the smarter one, but this boy, this boy is amazing. Watching Zepp work gets me worked up and thirsty—damn, that’s all I’ve been lately around these boys — thirsty—too freaking thirsty, if you ask me. Gah—I can’t stop myself around them anymore. I mean—should I? Should I stop myself from taking chances with them?
“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever let you two talk me into.” Zepp’s authoritative voice comes over the Bluetooth piece in my ear. His deep, sex-filled voice does funny things to my lady bits, all rough and demanding and—Ugh! No, Kace, come on. You’ve got a job to do, so head out of the gutter and on the mission. Stop thinking about what your genius behind the computer is packing beneath his jeans and focus on stealing information.
If we were actual thieves, we’d have our own sort of communication system in place. A discrete, flesh-colored earpiece we could stick in our ears for constant contact. But alas, we are only high school students, not spies sent in by some secret agents—If only. So, we’re stuck with three-way phone calls through Bluetooth pieces. At least we can stay in contact with one another, especially since Zepp is our eyes in the sky, the man behind the computer screen guiding us.
“Is it done, though?” I reach for Seger’s hand as we weave in between buildings, staying close to the shadows.
Jogging through the shadows on silent feet, we try to keep a low profile. Two security guards pace the school grounds nightly, keeping everyone on the inside safe. Or they’re just looking to get kids like us, who should be in bed, back into bed. If we get caught, they will report it to Shaw, and then our entire operation is screwed. Not only that, but I’m sure I’ll lose my apartment, and I can’t let that happen.
Zepp huffs in our ears, grunting his frustrations through the line. If I said Zepp was on board with this plan, I’d be a liar—a big, fat liar. No, Zeppelin made it very clear this was the stupidest idea ever. He fought against it in every way he could think, even threatening to tie me to his chair. He lost—obviously. Here we are, doing it anyway, because—I win! Plus—I threatened to go off and do it anyway without his help. Now that made him furious, but it was the deciding factor to help—one for Kaycee, zero for Zepp.
“Yes, it’s done. The cameras are looping. Security won’t be able to tell we’ve messed with it. But I’ll still be able to keep watching the actual footage to keep you two idiots safe.” He grumbles as his noisy fingers stroke the keyboard.
“Wow, Bro, I feel the love from here,” Seger whispers sarcastically into his Bluetooth piece.
Seger still had that shit-eating grin on his face from the moment I suggested this. He jumped on board and couldn’t wait to break into Shaw’s office and mess his shit up—his words, not mine. He also enjoyed fucking with Zepp. Poor Zepp, we ganged up on him and poor Chase, who was asleep.
Zepp scoffs in our ears again. I picture his eyes rolling to the sky, too. “Yeah-yeah, just be glad I didn’t tie you both down and keep you here. On a scale of one to ten on how stupid this idea is, it’s a twenty.”
“Sounds kinky, do you promise?” I ask with a smile.
Seger chokes on air, stumbling over his feet. Clutching his hand tighter, I keep his massive frame upright, coming to an abrupt stop at the side of the building. Silence greets us in every direction, only the distant sound of the fallen leaves rustling in the small bursts of wind, sound in the distance.
“You’ve been hanging around Seger and Chase too much,” Zepp quips. “But yeah—it’s a promise if you ever suggest this again because I’m about to have a heart attack at eighteen. You’re killing me, seriously. You had better come back in one piece, or there will be consequences,” he snarls.
Hmm—there’s that voice, doing funny things to my insides. Butterflies swoop, and my mind wants to see what those consequences are. I imagine him pointing a finger at the phone with every snarled word, trying to drive his point home. I get it, it’s dumb, but I’m always full of dumb yet genius ideas. They should know this by now. Besides, this is the only way to get the information. It’s after eleven, anyway. Shaw left hours ago for his apartment on campus. This should be, and I stress the ‘should be’ aspect of this plan—a piece of cake. Walk in, get the information, and walk out, easy peasy lemon squeezy.
“He’ll get over it,” Seger leans over towards me, brushing his lip against my ear. “Just give him a minute to berate us, then he’ll get to work.”
Our backs rest against the cool brick of the main building of the school. Two overweight security guards walk off into the distance, their backs to us, making their way to another part of campus.
“Do you see us?” I ask Zepp, staring up at the camera above our heads, waving my fingers, trying to give him my best innocent eyes.
“Only on my feed,” he grumbles. “Yeah—yeah, looks like the guards are heading in the opposite direction toward the courtyard. You guys are in the clear. Please be careful.” His tone goes from grumbling to serious to worry in the blink of an eye. I know he’s worried, and I get it. But it must be done.
“Don’t worry so much. We’ll be good. We’ve got two nerds on our side.” Seger winks up at the camera with a grin so big he could light the world.
“You better not get caught. I swear if you get kicked out, I get kicked out. And then dad will shit us out of his life so fast.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Seger grumbles as we head toward the main doors.
Seger watches my back as I try the door, surveying the area. The first lesson in lock picking: never assume it’s locked. Always, and I can’t stress this enough, always check first. Pulling the handle, I’m greeted with resistance. I reach into my pocket, taking out my lock picking kit. Seger stands above me as I kneel on the ground, getting my ear as close to the lock as I can.
“You’re clear for another five minutes, but the guards will come around the grounds again, not to mention the guy inside walking the halls.” Zepp reminds me as I bob my head in agreement.
