Chapter 29

<<The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray,>> Hairy tweets.

Jonny’s first through the door, skidding on the snowmelt I’d tracked onto the tiled floor. OMG we have a tiled floor! I haven’t even processed everything the awesome people have done for me and my mom.

“What’s up? What’s going on?” Jonny asks.

“Peter,” I say. “Wait until everyone arrives and then I’ll explain.”

Everyone. Hannah, Harry, Karl, Jonny, and Ellie. I make six.

We’re sitting on a huge plush sofa. I’ve ordered pizza, because no one attacks gangsters on an empty stomach, and we’re chugging Coke.

I explain to them everything that I know. That my dad was part of a gang called Bitchain. That I’ve been to his grave. That Peter is a former agent for an anti-fraud group investigating my father; he fell in love with my mother and now won’t let the case go.

He’s on his way to collect evidence, but doesn’t realize that I’ve already blown his cover.

I don’t know how many gang members there are, only that they’re all gathering for some sort of annual meeting.

“If they’ve killed once, they’ll kill again, right?” Harry asks, his afro bobbing.

“Anyone who doesn’t want to be a part of this, say so right now. I totally understand,” I say. “You’ve done way too much already.”

Karl cracks his knuckles. Jonny’s frowning.

“What about the police, I know you said there was a leak, but—” he says.

“Do you think Williams would believe me? That she wouldn’t tell anyone else?” I ask.

“What can it hurt?” Jonny replies. “If Peter’s cover is compromised already, then the leak won’t be revealing anything they don’t already know.”

“Yeah, just keep the plan a secret and send out a tweet if the police are going to take care of it all,” Harry adds.

“Okay,” I say, not seeing fault in his reasoning.

“So what’s the plan?” Ellie asks. Her voice quavers. Not everyone is as impulsive as me.

“Oh, right.” I point to a notepad with the locations of all known gang hideouts.

“We can’t take on a gang,” I say, and everyone nods. “But we can get the police to come pay them a visit. They’ll provide cover for whatever we’re up to.”

Harry’s nodding. “They can’t shoot us with the police right there.”

I hope.

“I thought the police were the leak,” Karl says.

“They are, but not everyone on the force,” I reply.

“Or the fire department,” Hannah says.

I shiver a little, having had enough fire in my life. “Hannah’s right. The fire department can be a part of helping us with this too.”

“So what are we doing?” Jonny asks.

“First we need to be sure where the meeting is happening. You’ll split up and report back here what sort of activity you see,” I explain as I write names beside each of the locations. “I’m pretty sure it’ll be at the mansion, but I don’t want to assume anything.” I’m so turning over a new leaf!

“What are you going to be doing?” Karl asks.

“Jonny and I will be preparing the attack. Testing a few things.”

I could give them details but am beginning to think like a secret agent—what if they are caught? The less they know the better.

“You heard Jan, let’s get going,” Karl says and stands.

Hannah’s obsidian eyes seem to cast sparks. I’ve seen the look before. No one is smiling, their faces are grim and focused. To my surprise no asks any more questions; they stand, give each other and me quick tight hugs, and set off. They trust me. Like Peter trusted me.

When they’re gone, Jonny checks that the stairwell is clear and then sits back beside me.

I sag into the couch.

“What?” he asks.

“Sometimes when I think I’m over my dad, something will trigger a memory and all the pain comes back.”

“I didn’t know my dad much,” he says. “My parents divorced when I was five and he took off to work oilrigs.”

I’ve never heard Jonny talk about his dad. I guess I’d never asked.

“I still miss him, though,” he adds. “A family of two isn’t very big.”

We’ve more in common than I thought. I thread my fingers through his.

“I’m scared.”

“I’m sure the police will help,” he says.

“I’m scared for my friends.” Asking for their help makes me responsible for them.

“We’re all adults.” He smirks. “At least, we make our own decisions.”

I stare into his eyes. “Why do you believe in me?”

“I love you.”

And it’s out and he’s said it. I totally, completely have never heard these words from a boy who wasn’t my father, and it feels so indescribably good.

I can’t help my grin. “Jonny … I … when I was lying in the hospital and I didn’t think anything was possible. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t care. That’s the opposite of how you make me feel.”

That’s all I’ve got for him. And maybe it’s enough. Maybe it’s the definition for love. That the person you love makes you feel invincible.

“You do have a plan, right?”

“We’re making phone calls,” I say, my eyes narrowing as I come back into focus on the strategy. “Hacking the cops. We’re smoke-bombing U Technical and the house in Centretown. We’re doing whatever we can to cause an exodus from the mansion and distract the people from the real problem. Which is how to get Peter out of there. Alive.”

“What about the mansion? You do remember that they have an electric fence?”

“A good hacker doesn’t need to use brute force,” I say. “I have an idea of how to get in.”

“And out? What if you are caught?”

“I don’t think they’ll hurt anyone if the cops and media are outside their gates.”

Jonny doesn’t look so sure. “Media?”

I ignore his question. “I need you to go out and buy as many sparklers as you can.” The media is a challenge I need a chance to work on.

“Sparklers.”

“Yeah, hundreds of them. We’ll strip off the sparklers bits, funnel them into these Coke bottles and set them off. Makes a great firebomb and won’t do any real damage.”

“YouTube?”

“Where else.” I grin.

“When are you going to the cops?”

“First the sparklers.” I pass him the keys. “Take the van. Pull for gas, push—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Jonny heads out and I swallow another piece of pizza. In the meantime, I track down the phone numbers for A ZaZa, U Technical, the Centretown address, and the mansion.

For my media trick to work, I need to be able to hack Twitter accounts. Given enough time, I could probably set up a phishing scam to prompt a tired publicist to use a fake link, but I have minutes, not days. I use my new ID to sign into Darkslinger and play script kiddie. Sure enough, there’s a whole thread devoted to hacking Twitter and other social networks. Even the exploit is free.

Karl, who went to U Technical, is first back, followed by Hannah, who checked out A ZaZa.

“U Technical has only one car out front,” he says.

“And the warehouse at the back?” I ask.

“Maybe a truck.”

“Good.” That was the second most likely location for the gathering.

Hannah punches through the fire exit and flops on to the couch. “The pizza place was open but it only had some pimply kid at the counter. I went in.”

“Perfect, Hannah.” Having A ZaZa open is critical.

The elevator grinds slowly up. When it dings, the doors open to reveal Ellie.

“No one home,” Ellie says, and I know the Centretown location is clear.

“Ellie, I have a celebrity question.” She perks up. “If some celebrity bought a new home and it was nearby, would you go see it?”

She shrugs. “Maybe, depends who it was?”

“Who would you for sure go to see?”

Her brow knits as she thinks. “Celine Dion!”

I laugh. She’ll be perfect.

Every minute we wait is another that Peter loses and I debate whether to visit Williams before the plan is in place, but hold off. When Jonny returns with a bouquet of sparklers, we set about filling the now-empty Coke bottles with the gray matter we strip away.

With everyone but Harry back, it only takes a few minutes before the two soda bottles are nearly full, and we make a few more sparkler-bombs with smaller bottles.

Harry returns at a sprint.

“It’s like it’s fair day,” he shouts. “The cars are parked all over the lawn. Way too many motorbikes.”

“All right,” I say, dusting the last of the sparklers from my hands. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”