No Easy Way Out

  The senator returned her attention to him. “Food collection team?”

  “It didn’t look like it,” he said. “The security gates were down.”

  The senator considered his words for a moment. “I’ll check into it.” She twisted back to the computer screen.

  Marco stood to leave. He’d done all he could to solve the mystery of the missing bar.

  “Marco,” the senator said as he reached the door.

  He looked back at her.

  “Thank you.” She was smiling like a real person, not her usual lizard-y smile. “I’m sorry if it feels like I’m dumping on you,” she continued. “You’ve been a huge help.”

  “Okay.” He was not sure where this was going.

  “I just wanted you to know you’re appreciated.” She smiled again, then turned back to her screen.

  As Marco walked down the hall, he felt like crap. He wasn’t helping the senator. He was helping himself. And even though that was how it had to be, that this was a live-or-die situation and he’d be damned if he let this crap mall kill him, he let himself feel bad for the time it took him to reach the outer door. He wished he could be the kid she thought he was, a helpful guy, a guy who was on the right side of something. But when you choose a side, there’s always a chance you choose wrong and end up a loser. So Marco would keep playing all the angles. He was not a loser. He survived.

  • • •

  Shocks sparked from Shay’s body for a whole hour after that kiss. She felt alive, buzzed. The energy must have been radiating off her, because the kids asked her to help them—her, not Kris.

  “You’re not mean anymore,” one little girl said as Shay helped her with a cookie cutter.

  The words fizzled away the dregs of Shay’s energy. The kids had thought her sadness was mean?

  “Thanks,” she managed.

  She could not survive until tomorrow, wait that long to feel good again. She couldn’t make it through to dinner without another kiss.

  But how could she find Ryan? She couldn’t. He was off the grid, nowhere. Lost to her.

  “You’re rolling it too thin,” the girl said, pulling the Play-Doh from her hands.

  “Sorry,” Shay muttered.

  After cleaning up the Play-Doh, Kris asked her to fill the cups for the kids’ snack. She took the stack of plastic cups to the sink in the Magic Wok, hoping that maybe some of the energy was still locked in the space, that maybe she could feel even the echo of it just being in there. But there was nothing. Just the faint odor of greasy Chinese food.

  She pulled out her book, hoping maybe Tagore would bring her some shred of comfort, but the words were meaningless, her own notes, incomprehensible. The emptiness felt so complete, she worried she’d crumble apart.

  Kris strode into the small kitchen. “Your ass is dragging,” he said, noticing the still empty cups. “What happened with that guy? Ten minutes ago you were smoking and now you’re a lump of coal.” He nudged her, like this was a funny joke, then lifted his mask to splash water on his face.

  His lips were nice. Full, smooth.

  Shay ripped off her mask and pressed her lips to his. They did not respond. Kris pushed her back gently, hands gripping her shoulders like she was a little girl, a look of shock on his face like she’d bit him.

  “Whoa,” he said.

  Shay felt tears crowding behind her eyes.

  “I’m flattered,” he said, “but I’m like a million years older than you, and—”

  Shay did not want to hear anything else. She felt like she was going to puke. She struggled from his grip and ran out the back of the kitchen.

  “Shaila, wait!”

  She ignored his call. The last thing she wanted to see was that pitying look again. There was no fire in his lips, no life. What had she been thinking? And now she’d made a giant fool of herself. How could she ever see him again?

  Blind with tears, she stumbled into the nearest empty storefront and hid behind the closest shelf. She was shaking, cold one second, hot the next. She curled her arms around her knees and dropped her head onto the bones. Where were the tears now? Nothing came. She was empty, wholly empty.

  • • •

  Just before dinner, Lexi got the inevitable call from her mother to return to the mall offices. “Now what?” she mumbled.

  “I think it’s nice,” Ginger said, dropping a pile of T-shirts on the cart for transport to the registration area. “I wish my mom could call me.”

  “Yeah, but your mom wouldn’t be calling to force you into doing her a favor.”

  “I wish I could do her a favor.” Ginger had her back to Lexi, but Lexi could hear the hiccup in her voice.

  She wasn’t sure what to say, so she said nothing. What would make the fact of being trapped in this place without anyone better? Not that Ginger was alone; she had Maddie. But Lexi got that there was something different about a mom. After the riots, when her mom dragged her out from under the wreckage, when Dotty had held her like she hadn’t in years, Lexi had been so grateful to have her mother there. She wished the Senator were always so easy to love.

  “What about this?” Lexi said, changing topics. They were still working on the perfect outfit for her date with Marco. She held up a purple hoodie with a silhouette of a skull on the back.

  Ginger dropped her head back. “Have we taught you nothing?”

  That was the Ginger Lexi was hoping for. “I’m just kidding,” she said, though in truth, the hoodie was awesome.

  Ginger rifled through a pile near her feet. “I was saving this, but I guess I can show you since you have to go.” She unearthed a coral pink strapless dress with a black belt. She held it up to herself, her face glowing like she couldn’t help how proud she was of the find. “Go on,” she said. “How awesome is it?”

  Lexi thought it was nice. She just couldn’t picture herself in it.

  “You don’t like it?” Ginger visibly deflated.

  “No,” Lexi said with a pinched smile. “I love it.” What did she know about fashion? If Ginger was this stoked about a dress, it had to be good. Right?

  “Let’s sneak back to the hoard and try it on.” Ginger was practically hopping up and down.

  “I have to meet my mom,” Lexi said, shrugging like she had no choice.

  Ginger sighed. “Fine, we’ll try it after dinner.”

  “Great,” Lexi said, walking toward the exit. Maybe her mom’s project would keep her until Lights Out and she could avoid the whole makeover thing entirely.

  Up in the mall offices, things were hitting the fan. Security guards murmured in groups, examining papers or watching something on iPads. The people her dad had trained on the computer system were helping him with some major database analysis, all of them crowded into the small room, the four workers at their stations, Dad using a laptop on the floor.

  Lexi knocked on her mother’s door. “You rang?”

  Her mother waved for her to enter. “Look at this,” she said, turning her computer screen so Lexi could see. On it was what looked like footage from a security camera in the main mall hallway, the one outside the Grill’n’Shake from the look of things, but it was clearly after Lights Out, so it was hard to tell. Two figures wearing brimmed hats appeared on screen, one carrying what looked like the pruning shears her mom used on her rosebushes. The two—men, from the size of them—walked up to the security fence enclosing the Grill’n’Shake, cut the lock, and then disappeared inside.

  Mom paused the video. “They don’t come out, which means they went out through the service hallways.”

  “Why would they break into the Grill’n’Shake? I thought you had teams remove all the edible food from the restaurants.”

  “I had them take out the food, but not the alcohol.”

  “People are that desperate for
a drink?”

  “You wouldn’t believe,” Dotty said, swiping her hand over her hair. The woman sounded like she’d kill for one herself.

  “So what can I do?” Lexi asked.

  “I have security teams scanning the rest of the footage outside all the restaurants and bars to see if they’ve hit any other stores and if so, if any of the cameras got a better look at them. Meanwhile, I need eyes in the service hallways, at least outside the doors of the restaurants. Dad thought you might be able to hook up some wireless cameras?”

  “I can try,” Lexi said, still wondering why the place seemed to be in such an uproar over some alcohol thieves. “Where are the cameras?”

  “Hank can show you.” Her mother returned to her videos.

  Lexi did not like the head of security. He lurked in the doorway, having materialized there silently as if from nothing.

  “I had my teams collect all the wireless systems in the mall.” He led her down the hall to one of the rooms with bunks for the guards. On the floor were ten or so boxes. “Will that be enough?”

  He sounded like he was overly interested in the answer. “Sure,” Lexi said, not knowing at all.

  “Good,” he said unconvincingly. “I have a team set up to help you install them.”

  Something told Lexi that she did not want their help. “I’m cool,” she said. “No need for a team.”

  “You sure?” Hank said. He tightened the knot of his arms across his chest.

  “Totally.” She bent down and began examining the boxes, not bothering to give the jerkwad so much as a good-bye.

  E

  I

  G

  H

  T

  P.M.

  Marco had stolen the wrong size bit for the screw gun. He kept jamming the one he had into the screw on the lock plate on the door and it was too big for the holes. Typical. Just fraking typical. Which meant he had to go down to the HomeMart, sneak in the back, find the tools, all of which had been commandeered and stowed in one of the offices, then find the drill bits, then find one that would fit the damn screw. Like he had time for this crap.

  Forget that he had not one but two parties to set up. Forget that only one of these parties was sanctioned. Forget that if the senator found out about Mike’s party, his ass was grass. Forget that if Mike found out about the other party, he’d probably kill him before the senator got her opportunity. All around, life sucked. Was this really better than just being a regular guy in the dorms?

  The second screwdriver worked and, even more astounding, by refitting the plate over the box attached to the door frame, the lock engaged but the door swung free. Lexi had come through in the clutch. He owed her big-time.

  Route to the main party established, now it was time to move the additional alcohol swindled from the senator to Mike.

  Marco followed his own trail of glow-in-the-dark stars back to the door across from the bowling alley. He’d left the old markers indicating the route to Mike’s party on the walls, and added green glowing lizards to mark the route to the IMAX theater. He figured, people could choose their own party path—either they end up with Mike and two handles of “Igor” vodka, or in the IMAX theater with a keg and decent sound system.

  Crap. He hadn’t hooked up the sound system. Okay, first deliver alcohol to Mike, then the sound system, then meet up with Lexi and let whatever happens happens, on all fronts.

  • • •

  Ryan waited for Marco in the shadows near the bowling lanes. He’d never been much good at bowling. It was something his family had done when he was a kid, on the good days when Dad hadn’t drank so much and Mom wasn’t in a mood. Thad was good at bowling; he was good at everything. Ryan, well, if he was good at anything it was only because he’d worked his ass off.

  He wondered if Ruthie and Jack would like to play a game. Maybe he could sneak them out before Lights On. Jack seemed to be doing a little better when he’d checked on them earlier. He’d eaten a roll and two orange slices, according to Ruthie. Still, it wasn’t doing them any good to stay in the car. The inside of the car was beginning to smell as bad as the outside. Maybe Marco could help him find them a new place to hide?

  On the subject of Marco, where was the guy? Mike had said he’d be coming back with alcohol and Ryan had stationed himself here to make sure he did not deliver. Marco had no idea what Mike and Drew were capable of, party-wise. They needed to be deprived, brought back down to boring stuck-alone-in-a-closet, for their own good. Security knew there was a party in the bowling alley last night, would probably be looking for one here tonight. The party will be busted for sure, and once in custody, Mike would probably do something supremely stupid and get himself killed.

  Finally, Marco slunk into the bowling alley.

  “Dude, we need to talk,” Ryan said, striding toward him.

  “I’m a little busy at the moment,” Marco said, brushing past.

  “You can’t give Mike that vodka,” Ryan said, grabbing Marco’s arm.

  Marco shrugged off Ryan’s grasp. “He basically threatened to kill me if I don’t, so either make some threats of your own or get the hell out of my way.”

  Ryan was surprised. He’d thought Marco had gained most-favored-lackey status. He had a nickname!

  “Whatever he said,” Ryan whispered, trying to show Marco that they were on the same side, “Mike does not want to get caught. Security knows people partied here before. Tonight’s party is sure to get busted.”

  “Not a problem,” Marco said.

  Ryan was surprised by the guy’s confidence. “How do you know?”

  He sighed like Ryan was wasting his precious time. “I heard a rumor that the party’s been moved. So no one’s even going to come to this shindig. It’ll just be you three getting hammered by yourselves.”

  “Which will piss Mike off even more.” Ryan did not think this guy was quite getting his message. “Mike is serious about his parties. He’s kind of insane about them. Maybe just give them the booze and say security’s barred the doors to the service halls or something.”

  Marco adjusted his grip on the bottles and gave Ryan the once-over. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll try it. But you have my back with this?”

  Ryan could hug the bastard. “I’ve got you covered.”

  • • •

  Lexi finished hiding the last camera behind a pipe outside the Pancake Palace. She’d put the worst model down here—there was nothing worth stealing in the Palace and surely these thieves knew that. She hoisted the bag with all the receivers and made her way to the hallway and up to the mall offices.

  “Job complete,” she said, dropping the bag and her mother’s borrowed access card on the desk.

  Dotty looked stunned. “I thought you’d finished hours ago.”

  “Sorry,” Lexi said, not really in the mood to fight.

  Her mother frowned. “I don’t mean it like that, Lex,” she said, standing. “I’m sorry you’ve been busting your butt all night. Did you get dinner?”

  Lexi allowed Dotty to pretend to be a mom. She got another Lean Cuisine from the fridge in her office and heated it in the microwave, got Lexi a soda from the cooler in the hall. It was nice to be pampered for the moment. It was nice to pretend.

  Dotty laid the tray on the table and immediately got back to work on her computer.

  “Don’t you ever take a break?” Lexi asked, shoveling the chicken and dumplings down.

  “I haven’t taken a break in about four years.” Her voice sounded a million years old.

  “When we get out of here, we should take a vacation. Like go to Mexico or something.”

  Her mother looked at her like she’d started speaking in HTML, then burst out laughing. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Lexi was not sure what was so funny.

  When she regained control of herself, her mother wipe
d her face on her sleeve. “Yes, baby,” she said. “When we get out of here, we are definitely taking a vacation.”

  After eating, Lexi explained how to view the feed from the new cameras. “Just plug this receiver into the USB port on the computer and a screen should show up.” She pointed to the right input, just in case her mom didn’t know what a USB was. “But don’t show Hank,” she added.

  “Why not?” Her mother examined one of the receivers like it might zap her.

  “I don’t trust him.”

  Her mother gave her one of those aren’t-you-cute looks. “Honey, if I can’t trust Hank, I might as well throw in the towel on everything.”

  Lexi didn’t say anything more—what could she say? She had no evidence that Hank was anything but kind of a jerkwad, and that wasn’t exactly a crime. Whatever, she didn’t like him. She would watch him. Just in case.

  • • •

  Shay had skipped dinner. She wasn’t hungry. And she didn’t want to see Kris. The embarrassment was almost worse than the emptiness. Her brain kept running the scene over and over, like she needed to be reminded of how much of an idiot she’d made of herself.

  Maybe she would hide in this store all night, tomorrow too. There were some decorative pillows on a shelf near the back. They were probably as comfortable as her cot. Maybe she would stay here until she died from the flu or the government let them all out, whichever. Did it even matter?

  “Lights Out is in a half hour.” Something nudged Shay in the rear.

  She glanced back and saw a black boot, the end of a stun baton dangling beside a leg. The fantasy was over. Time to reenter the hell of my life.

  Preeti was waiting on her cot. She was all folded up like a trap; she sprang to life upon seeing Shay approach.

  “You left me!” she yelled. A few women looked their way. Preeti did not notice or apparently care. “You abandoned me at the school! You swore you’d be there! You swore you wouldn’t leave me again!”

  Shay put on a sad face peppered with a hint of apologetic. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I had a headache and went to lie down.”