Jessica shot me a sideways “get a load of this airhead” glance. “There’s no such thing as lemur-monkeys,” she said. “There are lemurs and there are monkeys. They’re totally different species.”
Erica shrugged, unfazed, then looked to me. “Ben, you didn’t tell me you had a friend here with you.”
“Actually, Jessica and I just met this morning,” I told her.
“Get out!” Erica cried. “Because it seems like you two are total besties. I was getting this vibe that you’d known each other since you were kids or something.”
Jessica smiled, seeming to like something about this. “We’ve only known each other about ten minutes.”
“Seems more like ten years.” Erica whipped out her cell phone and stiff-armed it to aim it back at us. “Selfie time!” she announced.
Jessica and I obediently looked at the camera.
“No photos,” growled Dane.
Erica turned to Jessica, a perplexed look on her face. “Who’s this guy? Your dad?”
“My bodyguard,” Jessica said, like it was embarrassing.
Erica’s eyes widened in fake shock. “You have bodyguards? No way! Are you, like, famous?”
“No,” Jessica said. “My dad’s just kind of important. So he thinks I need them.”
“Who is he?” Erica asked bluntly. “Like an actor or a singer or something?”
“No, he’s only a businessman,” Jessica replied, in a way that indicated she didn’t really want to talk about her father at all.
Erica pretended not to sense this. “What kind of business is he in?”
“He’s in the ‘none of your’ business,” Jessica said curtly.
Erica screwed up her face in confusion, then faked a flash of understanding and burst into laughter. “None of your business! You’re funny, Jessica! Really funny!”
We arrived at the gondola, which was kind of like a normal ski lift on steroids. Each gondola cabin was surprisingly large, the size of a small bathroom, and able to hold up to nine people at a time. The cabins all dangled from a thick wire that would whisk us up to the top of the mountain. A line of several hundred skiers waited for it, but as ski school students, we were allowed to cut. There was a separate entrance for us. Woodchuck waved us all through, but then held up a hand to Jessica’s bodyguards. “Gentlemen, I believe the ski school made it clear that having all four of you along is unnecessary—as well as detrimental to providing Jessica with the optimal ski school experience.”
The bodyguards all frowned at this, but then nodded grudgingly. Dane stepped forward. “I will be staying close to Jessica today,” he announced.
“All right,” Woodchuck said, looking him up and down. “But you’re so big, you’re gonna take up almost the whole cabin.” He turned back to the rest of the class. “We’ll need to split up, gang. Jessica, you go with your guard here and . . .”
“Ben?” Jessica suggested.
“Sure!” Woodchuck agreed. “You guys take one cabin. The rest of you, come with me.” With that, we entered the loading area and Woodchuck led the rest of the group into a waiting cabin.
Zoe looked back at me and gave me a subtle thumbs-up, indicating that I was doing a good job so far.
I had to admit, I felt awfully good about the way things were going. I couldn’t believe Jessica had taken a shine to me so quickly. I still had a long way to go on my mission, but I’d apparently taken care of the first two steps—introduction and ingratiation—without any trouble at all.
The next gondola cabin came along and the doors slid open for us. Dane stepped inside first. As Woodchuck had suspected, he took up a good deal of the tiny room himself. A small bench wrapped around three sides of it. Dane plopped himself down on it. Jessica and I sat across from him, side by side. Jessica gave me an excited smile that made my heart start thumping so loudly, I was worried she’d hear it.
“How long are you here for?” Jessica asked.
“A week,” I replied.
“Me too!” Jessica exclaimed. “This is great! We’re going to have so much fun together!”
I grinned at her, unable to believe my luck.
And then, just like that, everything went wrong.
“Ben!” a familiar voice yelled. “Hey, Ben!”
Someone bolted from the front of the line for the gondola and slipped into our cabin right before the doors shut. He slid onto the bench, then removed his helmet and ski goggles to reveal his face, the face of the last person I needed to see:
Mike Brezinski.
COMPLICATION
Eagle Bahn Gondola
Vail Mountain
December 27
0915 hours
“I told you I had an uncle in Colorado,” Mike explained.
“No,” I said. “You didn’t.”
“I did,” Mike insisted. “The other day at the zoo.”
I thought back to our conversation, wondering if that was true. To my annoyance, I realized I could remember the clothing that every random passerby had worn but not that important detail. Apparently, I’d been too focused on the wrong things. “Okay, maybe you did. But I didn’t know he lived in Vail.”
“He doesn’t!” Mike exclaimed. “He lives down in Denver, but it turns out, some friend of his has this condo here in town and he said my uncle could use it whenever he wants. So after you said you were coming here, I called my uncle up to say hi, and he said why didn’t my brother and I come on out to ski? So we did!”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” I asked.
“I wanted to surprise you,” Mike replied. “And boy, did I. You should have seen your face! Total and complete shock.” He turned to Jessica and asked, “Am I right?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jessica agreed, then told me, “You went as white as a skeet.”
“You mean ‘white as a sheet’?” I asked.
“Yes! That’s what I meant!” Jessica agreed. Then she turned back to Mike. “I’m Jessica, by the way.”
“Mike Brezinski. Ben’s best friend. It’s nice to meet you.” Mike flashed a perfect smile.
Jessica smiled back, blushing a tiny bit.
Which confirmed all my worst fears. Mike being there was an absolute disaster. Because Mike was a really great guy. Everyone liked him. Especially girls. He wasn’t the most handsome kid at my old school, but he was close—and he exuded this sense of confidence and fun that attracted girls like flies. Now that he was there, in Vail, I knew he was going to divert Jessica Shang’s attention from me. Which would throw a massive wrench into my ability to complete my mission.
Plus, there was also a good chance that Mike would blow my cover and get me killed. He didn’t know I was a spy, of course, but he knew I went to a top-secret academy—and he’d at least joked that I was training to be a spy in the past. Plus, he knew me as “Ben Ripley,” not “Ben Coolman.” I’d completely lucked out that the CIA had let me keep my real first name. But even so, there were plenty of ways Mike could reveal I wasn’t exactly who I said I was. And if he did, I figured there was a decent chance Dane might get suspicious and throttle me.
We were halfway up the mountain in the gondola. It was hard to imagine anyplace more unnerving to be cooped up in with a professional thug like Dane than a tiny room dangling from a wire a hundred feet above the ground. I was doing my best to keep smiling at everyone and act happy, like Mike’s being there was the greatest thing that could have ever happened, but in truth, I was sweating buckets despite the cold temperature.
Mike had been so focused on me, he hadn’t paid much attention to Jessica until that point. But now that he’d finally taken a good look at her, I could tell he liked what he saw. His smile jacked up another few notches. “Where are you from?” he asked her.
“Shanghai.”
“That’s awesome!” Mike exclaimed. “I hear that Shanghai’s excellent.”
All of which was a much better response than my stupid “Shanghai, China?” had been.
“It’s nice,” Jessic
a replied. “So are you in ski school too?”
“Nah,” Mike said suavely. “I’ve been skiing since I was three. I’m going with my brother and my uncle today. We were all waiting in the line down there, but when I saw Ben, I had to come say hey. They’re in the next gondola back.”
“So, are you super-good?” Jessica asked, growing even more interested.
“I’m okay,” Mike said, in a humble way that meant he was really extremely good. “Though I’ve never skied out here before. I’ve only done Vermont and the Poconos.” He peered out the gondola window, taking in the whole expanse of the mountain. “This place is enormous compared to there. It makes the Poconos look like a bunch of bunny slopes.”
I looked out the window with him. Vail was much bigger than I’d expected. For well over a mile to the east of us, the white slashes of its ski slopes cut through the trees.
“This sure beats spending winter break hanging out in my basement, doesn’t it?” Mike asked me. “I can’t believe we ran into each other right off the bat!”
“Neither can I,” I said, trying my best to remain upbeat. “Sounds like we won’t see much of you, though. If we’re in school and you’re out with your family . . .”
“That’s only during the day,” Mike informed me. “The slopes close at four. You guys want to meet up after that?”
“I don’t know . . . ,” I began.
“That’d be great!” Jessica exclaimed, grinning at Mike in a way that said she’d already forgotten all about me.
Dane grunted disapprovingly. “Jessica, your father wants you to come right back to the hotel after school today.”
Jessica huffed, annoyed. “Why? He won’t even be there.”
Mike seemed to notice Dane for the first time, despite the fact that the man was taking up half the gondola. “Who are you?” he asked, nice and friendly. “Jessica’s brother?”
Mike certainly knew this wasn’t true. For starters, Dane was such a freak of nature, he and Jessica barely looked like they were the same species. Mike was only goofing around for Jessica’s benefit.
Dane grunted again. “It’s my job to make sure Jessica doesn’t get into any trouble.”
“Really?” Mike asked, then gave Jessica a sly smile. “You must misbehave a lot to need someone like this to look after you.”
Jessica giggled. “Oh, I don’t get into any trouble at all. My father’s just really overprotective.” She gave Dane a pointed stare.
“That’s a shame,” I said quickly. “But if he wants you at the hotel, I guess you should go there.” I couldn’t believe it, but I was actually in agreement with Dane on something: I wanted to keep Jessica and Mike as far apart as possible too.
Mike shot me an angry glance, annoyed I was messing things up for him. But then he brightened. “Hey! What if we just hung out at your hotel? There must be a place we could grab a bite, right?”
Jessica brightened as well. “There is! There’s a whole restaurant.”
Dane grunted a third time, but before he could say anything, Jessica cut him off. “All Daddy said was that he wanted me back at the hotel. He didn’t say I couldn’t have anyone visit me there. And he’s paying for the whole restaurant anyhow. We might as well use it.”
Mike looked at me, wondering what Jessica meant by all this. I shrugged, pretending that I had no idea her father was rich enough to rent out an entire hotel.
Dane shook his head. “I don’t like it.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter if you like it or not,” Jessica countered. “Because I’m doing it. You’re only supposed to protect me from trouble, not keep me from having any fun.” She shifted her attention back to Mike. “And you’re not going to be any trouble, are you?” she asked, in a way that indicated she kind of hoped he would be.
“No,” Mike replied, grinning wolfishly. “I’m a regular Boy Scout.”
As he said this, we arrived at the top of the mountain. A three-story building was perched there, housing restaurants, the ski school, and the gondola station. Our gondola cabin shuddered as it plunged into the building and then slowed down so we could get out. The doors slid open, allowing an icy blast of air inside, and we all got to our feet.
“I’m staying at the Arabelle,” Jessica told Mike. “It’s the one right by the ice rink.”
“I know it,” Mike said. “I walked right past it this morning. Very snazzy.”
“We’ll meet you in the hotel restaurant after ski school gets out,” Jessica told him.
“Sounds great!” Mike said. “See you then!” He grabbed his skis and headed for the slopes.
My fellow spies were already out of the gondola ahead of us, holding their skis. Mike had to walk right past them to get to the exit. No one else took notice of Mike—except Erica, who knew exactly who he was. Her jaw dropped slightly at the sight of him. It was as close as I’d ever come to seeing her express surprise.
“That is so insane,” Jessica told me, watching Mike saunter out the door. “To run into your best friend like that?”
“No kidding,” I agreed, still stunned it had happened.
“He seems really nice.”
“He is,” I said, then thought to add, “His girlfriend’s crazy about him.”
“Girlfriend?” Jessica asked, surprised. “He’s only, what, thirteen?”
“Yeah.” I felt kind of bad telling a lie about Mike, but national security—and my own life—was at stake. “But he’s pretty serious about her. They’ve been together for a whole year already.”
“Hmmm,” Jessica said thoughtfully. She didn’t seem as discouraged by the news that Mike had a girlfriend as I’d hoped. Instead, it kind of seemed like this made him even more interesting to her.
By now everyone else had shouldered their skis and was moving out of the gondola station. Jessica and I followed them, and Dane followed us. We emerged onto a snowy, windblown plain. Despite being high up on the mountain, the slope here was surprisingly gentle. There was a wide beginner run with its own small ski lift, as well as two “magic carpets.” These were basically moving sidewalks designed for the outdoors, which worked as conveyor belts to move beginning skiers who couldn’t handle the lifts yet up the hill. They were practical, although the sight of skiers being ferried along like groceries on a giant supermarket checkout belt was kind of ridiculous.
All around us, hundreds of other ski school students were gathered in clumps, beginning their day of lessons. Some were going over the basics with their instructors, while others were already beginning to edge out onto the snow.
“This way, gang!” Woodchuck called to us. He pointed to a tree about thirty yards down the slope. “Let’s walk over there and have a little talk about fundamentals, then see if we can get up on our skis.”
We started across the snow, wending through the clumps of other skiers. Erica dropped in beside me and, without any warning at all, kicked my feet out from under me.
I gave a squawk of surprise and landed hard on the packed snow, my poles and skis scattering everywhere.
All the other beginners laughed.
“Whoopsie!” Erica exclaimed. “Careful there, clumsy!” Then she knelt by my side to help me up and instantly dropped the airhead act. “What is your friend Mike doing here?” she hissed.
“It’s a coincidence,” I hissed back. This wasn’t exactly true—after all, I’d told Mike I was heading to Vail, and he’d decided to come here as a result—but I wasn’t about to tell Erica that.
Erica didn’t buy it. “Boy, you really screwed up this time,” she said, gathering my ski poles.
“It’s not my fault,” I informed her, struggling back to my feet. “I had no idea he was going to be here!”
Erica looked ready to argue this, but before she could, Jessica came over. Dane followed behind her. “Are you all right?” Jessica asked.
“He’s fine,” Erica told her, transitioning right back into dingbat mode. “He just needs to watch his step better. This snow’s really slippy.” She hande
d my poles back to me, gave me a meaningful stare that Jessica couldn’t see, and warned, “You’d better be extra careful now.”
“I will,” I said. The rest of the group was well ahead of us by now, gathered by the tree Woodchuck had pointed out. I started toward them, wondering how to get Mike out of the picture. I couldn’t believe I was even thinking of trying to ditch my best friend over winter vacation, but he’d already screwed things up plenty as it was. I was going to have to step up my game if I wanted to win back Jessica’s attention. Only, keeping girls interested in me wasn’t exactly my strong suit. After all, I’d been trying to get closer to Erica for nearly a year and she’d just tripped me on purpose.
I hadn’t completely lost Jessica’s attention. Unfortunately, all that was keeping her interested in me was that I knew Mike. She came up alongside me as I trudged downhill and asked, “So, this girlfriend of Mike’s . . . Is he super into her, or just kind of into her?”
“He’s mentioned marriage,” I lied.
Jessica frowned, not liking that at all.
Suddenly, Erica shot past us. Instead of walking over to the tree Woodchuck had pointed out, she had clipped on her skis and was poling over. “See ya, slowpokes!” she taunted.
“Hey!” I shouted after her. “Woodchuck told us to walk!”
“I can handle this!” Erica shouted back, a bit of her real, über-confident self slipping through. “It’s easy!” She jammed her poles into the ground again, pushing herself forward, gaining speed.
By the tree, Woodchuck noticed her coming and yelped in alarm. “Sasha! You’re not ready to start skiing yet!”
“Sure I am!” Erica yelled. Even though the slope was gentle, she was picking up speed, quickly closing the gap on the rest of the gang.
It was at this point when Erica discovered that, while she knew how to start skiing, she didn’t actually know how to stop. And now she was heading right for everyone else.
They all leapt out of the way as Erica barreled toward them. Except Warren, whose reflexes weren’t quite up to snuff. Erica clipped him as she shot past, knocking him into a snowdrift.