The Candymakers

  For a minute, she felt sure Logan was about to tell them what had happened to him, but as always, he acted as if his arms and hands and the side of his face didn’t have pale pink scars running up and down them. That fact certainly overshadowed a weird pinky toe.

  AJ started laughing hysterically when Logan asked Daisy to reveal something strange about herself. “Why don’t you tell them how you can speak five languages and cross a busy street blindfolded?”

  “I’m allergic to bees,” she admitted.

  AJ stopped laughing. “Hey, that’s right!” he said. “Why did you go into the Bee Room?”

  Why did he insist on asking her questions when he knew she couldn’t answer them? They’d need to have a talk about proper handler etiquette. She couldn’t very well tell him or the others that when she was on a job she didn’t think about the real Daisy, only the Daisy she was pretending to be.

  “All right, enough chitchatting with your new friends. We have work to do. Face-to-face. Can you get away again?”

  Unwilling to arouse suspicion by wandering off, she went over to a tree far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to hear her but close enough that they could plainly see her. As soon as she opened the book, AJ’s face popped up. He grinned his self-assured grin at her.

  “You have spinach in your teeth,” she said.

  “You wish,” he replied.

  She sighed. It was true. Sometimes she did wish AJ didn’t look so perfect all the time. Didn’t he ever get a pimple?

  He pointed above her left ear. “You have purple cotton candy in your hair.”

  “Very funny.”

  “No, really, you do.”

  She reached up, and, sure enough, a strand of purple came off. “Well, you should have seen how that stuff was flying around the room.”

  She flipped the view on the screen until she could see herself and picked out the rest of the cotton candy. It figured that the boys hadn’t told her. A girl would have! When she switched the screen back to AJ, he was holding up a blueprint of the factory.

  “Okay,” he said, straightening out the page. “Here’s the Cocoa Room, where you saw the secret ingredient, right near the front door.” He drew a red X over it. “The good news is that there aren’t any security cameras in the individual candymaking rooms. The bad news is that there’s a security camera above the front door, which means you can’t use that entrance.”

  “Wait, there is? The case file didn’t mention a camera.” She definitely would have remembered that.

  “Nevertheless,” he said, “it’s there. There’s another one by the back door.”

  She thought back to that morning. “I hope they didn’t see me talking to my mother.”

  “Me, too,” he replied.

  To his credit, he didn’t say anything about how she should have been more careful, which he had every right to. Instead, he circled three doors on the blueprint. “These all lead to the basement, where a tunnel runs out to the side of the driveway. They use it to transport grain and other crops from the farm. That’s your best bet for an exit route.”

  She nodded. “Okay. I’ll find out when the shifts start and end. Maybe the Cocoa Room is empty for a period of time during the day.” She figured daytime was her best chance. Then she could just blend back in with the rest of the people milling around.

  “You have the bag?” he asked.

  She reached into her pocketbook and pulled out a ziplock bag.

  “That’s it?” he asked. “That’s the high-tech way to store the secret ingredient?”

  “Hey,” she said, raising her voice. “Don’t knock the ziplock. This thing can withstand—”

  “Love’s Last Dance?” Miles said, interrupting her.

  She looked up to see Miles’s and Logan’s smiling faces. She couldn’t believe she’d let AJ distract her again. Now she had to pretend she would actually read a book with a title like that. It was so embarrassing. She may have kicked Miles a bit too hard in her quest to be playful.

  “Nice,” AJ said in her ear. “Love on a cattle ranch.”

  Once Miles and Logan had disappeared into the bushes, she replied, “How about you stop talking to me unless you’ve got something really important to say?”

  No answer. Perfect. Daisy closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree trunk. With the birds chirping and a light breeze grazing her cheeks, it was easy to forget she was on a job. She let her mind wander from the plan to steal a sample of the secret ingredient to riding Magpie when she got home, to Grammy in Paris, to wondering where her parents were, and then back to the plan again. All was peaceful until a boy’s voice spoke into her ear. She’d have preferred AJ’s voice, which wasn’t saying much.

  “Thinking about how you’re going to lose on Saturday?” he taunted.

  She slowly opened her eyes and fixed them on Philip. With the sun behind him, she was surprised to see that he wasn’t entirely un-good-looking. This made her even more annoyed at him.

  “I’m not going to lose,” she replied firmly. In her head she added, Since I’m not going to be there.

  “Come,” Max said, joining them. “Let’s go find the others.”

  Daisy grabbed her pocketbook and walked with Max into the bushes. Philip trailed behind, grumbling. They found Logan and Miles kneeling beside a row of bushes, drawing a cocoon or something. Logan turned to smile at them as they approached, and Daisy felt a shiver. Logan had been in this exact spot in that photograph from so many years ago. She glanced behind her, but all she could see were low bushes and the field with the pond behind it. Nowhere for a photographer to hide. Whoever snapped the picture must have had a really good telephoto lens.

  On the way to the lab, Max explained the plan for the afternoon.

  AJ made his reappearance in her ear. “Stay in the game. Remember to act really interested in everything.”

  He didn’t have to tell her that. When they got to the lab and saw all the fun equipment they’d get to experiment with, absolutely no acting was required. She loved the white lab coats they were given. Wearing one made her feel like a real scientist. She loved cracking eggs into a glass bowl, heating sugar until it hardened, measuring soybean oil to the exact eighth of an ounce.

  Every now and then AJ popped in to remind her she was supposed to be doing surveillance on the Cocoa Room. When some pans clattered onto the floor, she took the opportunity to whisper, “I’m waiting for the right moment. I don’t want to ask to use the bathroom again. They’ll think I have a problem!”

  A minute later, though, Philip supplied the perfect diversion. As soon as he sent a plume of powdered sugar into the air, she seized the moment and began to sneeze. Voilà! Banished from the room!

  As soon as the lab door closed behind her she said, “Okay, I’m clear. Heading over to the Cocoa Room.”

  “Roger that.”

  She hurried down the long hallway that led to the main entrance. She had expected to see Philip ahead of her, but he must know of a bathroom elsewhere. When she reached the long windows that looked into the Cocoa Room, one of the workers—Steve, she recalled Max telling them—was intently pouring a bucket of bean nibs into the giant roaster. Gooey chocolate oozed its way through one tube and into another. She glanced around but didn’t see the other guy. Steve put down his bucket and caught sight of her watching. She waved, and he waved back. Instead of talking loudly to be heard over the roaster, she mouthed the words, “Hi, can I ask you a question?”

  He put his hand to his ear, as she’d hoped. She asked again. He held up a finger and disappeared from view. A few seconds later the door to the room opened, and Steve stepped outside.

  “That’s better,” he said, closing the door behind him. “Sometimes I forget how loud it is in there when the roaster’s on. Enjoying yourself here at the factory?”

  “Oh yes, it’s great! You’re so lucky you get to work here.”

  He smiled and wiped his hands on his lab coat. Daisy recalled that at the start of the day it had bee
n white. Now it was various shades of brown.

  “Um, did your brother go home for the day?”

  Steve shook his head. “He just ran to get more sugarcane. We don’t leave until the last bean is processed.”

  “Wow, when is that?”

  Steve looked at his watch. He had to scrape off the chocolate splattered across the face of it before he could read it. “In about two hours, usually.” He paused for a second, then said, “Hey, I didn’t get a chance to grab lunch today, and its being chocolate-pizza day, I’d like to see if I can rustle up some. Would you mind keeping an eye on things while I’m gone for a minute? If anything goes wrong, just press the big red button on the wall and the whole line will shut down.”

  “Sure!” Daisy said, barely believing her luck. In her ear AJ whooped. Steve opened the door and let her in. By the time she turned around, he had gone. She immediately headed over to the cabinet where she had seen them place the small tin. Just as she’d suspected, the door had no locking mechanism, just a simple wooden knob.

  “Well?” AJ asked impatiently.

  “Hold on. I’m about to open the cabinet.” She reached up, took hold of the knob, and yanked. The door swung open much more easily than she’d anticipated, smacking her on the nose. She yelped.

  “What was that?”

  “Um, nothing,” she replied, rubbing her nose with one hand. “Just one of the machines.” She stepped back a few feet to make sure Steve or Lenny hadn’t returned. She wouldn’t be able to hear the door open from here.

  “So what do you see? Is it in there?”

  She turned back to the cabinet and scanned the shelves. “Yes! It’s on the top shelf. I’ll need to climb up to reach it. Wait, I don’t have a bag with me!”

  “Pour some into your pocket, then.”

  She looked down at her dress in a panic. “I don’t have a pocket! Stupid yellow dress!”

  “You’ll just have to hold it in your hand till you reach the lab. But hurry. You’ve been in there for almost two minutes already.”

  She closed the cabinet door and hunted around the room for something to stand on. Her eyes lit on the bucket Steve had just emptied into the roaster. She strode across the room to get it, keeping an eye on the door. She loved the feel of her heart pumping, the adrenaline rushing through her veins, when she was close to completing a mission. As she grabbed the handle of the bucket, a thought suddenly occurred to her. “AJ, do you know why the client wants the secret ingredient?”

  “What?” AJ asked. “Why would you even ask that?”

  She headed back to the cabinet, but more slowly this time. “I know it’s not supposed to matter, I… I’m just curious.”

  “I don’t know any more than you do, Daisy. And you’re right, it doesn’t matter. Now hurry!”

  But time had run out. Lenny walked into the room carrying thick stalks of sugarcane under each arm. She quickly flipped the bucket over and sat on it. He stopped short when he saw her. Before he could say anything, Daisy jumped up and said, “Hi! Steve asked me to watch the place while he went off in search of chocolate pizza.”

  Lenny nodded knowingly. “My bro does love his chocolate pizza.”

  “Who doesn’t?” Daisy asked. When Lenny turned away to put down the sugarcane, she sneaked a peek at the cabinet to make sure she’d closed it. Luckily, she had. Even if she’d left it open, she’d have found some way to explain it. She’d escaped much closer calls than this. One time she had to persuade a throng of screaming teenagers that she was a pop star, even though she couldn’t sing a note. If she could pull that off, she could do this.

  “Well, I better get back to the lab or they’ll think I fell in,” she said, gesturing to the big vat of chocolate simmering next to them. It actually did look kind of inviting. Warm and gooey.

  He gave her an odd look but said, “Okay, thanks for holding down the fort.”

  She hurried back to the lab but stopped a few yards short. No one was around, so she whispered, “Sorry about that.”

  “Not your fault,” AJ said. “And now you know you can get into the cabinet. You’ll just need a way to get both guys out of the room again. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

  She sighed. “Looks like I’m coming back tomorrow after all.”

  “Hope you have some great new candy idea lined up.”

  She groaned and put her hands over her eyes. “That’s right! I’m really gonna have to do that now.”

  “Why don’t you ask Magpie to help you? That’s what best friends are for, right?” He started laughing.

  “You’re just jealous.”

  “Of a horse?”

  “You know,” said a voice behind her. “Talking to yourself can be a sign of a serious problem. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen you do it.”

  Daisy whirled around in time to see Philip push open the door to the lab. Where had he come from? The only possible place was the storeroom she’d hidden in that morning. Someone must have told him about the sink in there. Why would he want to be in that cramped room when he could have simply walked around the corner and used the bathroom? Was he so concerned someone might see him in there not looking perfect?

  She took a small bit of pleasure in noting that he still had some powdered sugar on his back, along with some water stains.

  If someone had told her at that moment that one day soon she’d be lifting him off the ground so he wouldn’t get his feet wet, she’d have said they were a whole hat full of crazy.

  CHAPTER THREE

  You’re awfully quiet,” AJ said as Daisy hopped off the back of his moped.

  The ride home had been a lot less harrowing than the ride earlier. More traffic meant AJ had to go more slowly and actually stop at stop signs and red lights. She handed him her helmet. “I’m fine. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She strode off toward the stable before he could reply. She was halfway there when she heard the voice in her ear.

  “I’m still here, ya know.”

  She groaned. “Not for long.” The small office at the back of the stable had a mirror, so she headed there first. With the help of the long tweezers she always kept in her bag, it took only a second to pull the transceiver from her ear and slip it into the small soundproof case. “There!” she said out loud, relishing the fact that no one could hear her.

  Leaving her pocketbook behind, she made her way around to Magpie’s stall. It was empty. Daisy’s spirits sank. She had really been looking forward to riding her. She did her best thinking on that horse’s back.

  “Over here,” Courtney’s voice called out.

  Daisy turned around to see Courtney and Magpie emerge from the edge of the woods. Courtney must have gotten home a while ago, since she’d already changed out of her ballet outfit and gone for a ride. Daisy ran to meet them.

  Courtney handed over the reins. “So, did you eat a lot of candy?”

  Daisy smiled, patting Magpie on her warm flank. “Too much. You haven’t tasted candy till you’ve tasted it straight off the assembly line. How did your gig go today?”

  “Good,” she replied, stretching her arms overhead and twisting her back. “I’m sore from all the twirling and leaping. I should be done by next week, though. How about you?”

  Daisy frowned. “I thought it would just take a day, but it turned out to be a little complicated.”

  Courtney nodded. “Been there. Hey, at least you get to spend more time in a candy factory, that can’t be too bad.”

  Daisy had to admit that as assignments went, this was a pretty amazing one.

  “Well, have a good ride.” Courtney gave Magpie a final pat and turned toward the stable.

  “Wait,” Daisy called out. Courtney stopped. Daisy cleared her throat. “Do you ever wonder about the reasons behind an assignment? Like if the information we’re getting for the client is going to hurt the person or group we’re getting it from?”

  Courtney considered the question. “Well, there’re two sides to everything, so it’s not up to us to try to figu
re it out.”

  “I know that part,” Daisy said impatiently. “That’s what they drill into us. But what if they say that to keep us from asking too many questions?”

  “I’m sure they do.” Courtney reached up to pull out a bobby pin that had come loose from the tight bun she still wore. “But it’s a good thing. Our mission is to get the job done. If we start questioning whether it’s right or wrong, or who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy, we’ll lose our focus. We’ll get sloppy. Your grandmother told me once she never asks why the client wants the job done. If that’s good enough for her, it should be good enough for us.”

  Daisy nodded. “Yes, you’re right.” But suddenly she knew it wasn’t good enough. Not for her. She could ask Grammy what she knew about the case, but it would be midnight in Paris now. She’d just have to find out for herself.

  That night, after the other girls and Mrs. Peterson had all gone to bed, Daisy snuck down to her grandmother’s office in her slippers and pajamas. The first thing she did was switch off the feed from the wall camera, so that anyone looking for her grandmother wouldn’t be able to see into the room. Then she locked the door, turned on the desk lamp, and slid into her grandmother’s comfy leather chair. It didn’t take long to find the correct folder. Out of the fifteen spies living in the mansion, only half were on active cases. She flipped open the one labeled Life Is Sweet and began to read.

  GOAL OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

  Obtain a sample of the Candymaker’s secret ingredient.

  NAME OF SPY ASSIGNED TO THE CASE:

  Daisy.

  TIME ALLOTTED:

  Three days (annual contest).

  CLIENT:

  Second Enterprises

  Daisy held up the paper. Second Enterprises? What did that mean?

  She flipped through the rest of the file. Mostly it was a duplicate of the one she’d been given, complete with the photos and layout of the factory, along with a brief history. No more info on the client. Not even a phone number. Her grandmother must keep that on her computer. As curious as she was, she’d never go so far as to hack into it. She started to flip the folder closed, when a small square of paper fluttered out. It had been stuck to the back of another page. She bent to pick it up and saw that it was a copy of a hospital admittance form.