Ally Carter

“How nice for you. Now I want you to promise me that if I move, you won't do something stupid." Macey was just starting to protest when Hale stopped and brought his hand to his ear. "Besides, there's someone who wants to talk to you." He held out the extra earbud, whispering softly in the too quiet room. "It goes in your ear and---"But before he could finish, Macey rolled her eyes and placed the bud in her ear. "This is peacock," she whispered.She watched Hale's eyes go wide as she heard a very familiar voice say, "You're not getting extra credit for this. Now"---Macey's teacher took a long, easy breath---"whats going on in there?”

“Wordlessly, she slipped off her shoes. Gently, she placed a palm on the floor, shifted to stand, but that was when Macey felt another hand pressing down on hers.Hard. Too Hard."Just what do you think you're doing ?" Hale hissed in her ear. His fingers burned into her skin. And Macey knew if she was going to take out the gunman, she was first going to have to neutralize the boy beside her."Why don't you let me go and I'll show you," she said with only a modicum of flirt in her voice."Why don't you put your fancy shoes back on and sit there like a good little girl?""First of all, I'm good at a lot of things. Taking orders from bored billionaires isn't one of them. Second of all, he's alone, and I can take him," Macey said."No!" Hale said. "You don't know anything about this guy.""I know he's left handed and has an old injury to his right knee---probably a torn ACL at some point but the details don't matter. And the way he keeps his finger purposefully away from the safety of that gun means he's never fired it. And he doesn't want to.""You're kinda scary.”

“When the woman took the earbud, he didn't ask another question. She was a woman on a mission as she placed the tiny device in her ear and said, "This is Special Agent Abby Cameron. Let me talk to Macey McHenry.”

“That's cool." Hale nodded, unfazed. "But just so you know, that"---he pointed to the piece of metal peeking out from behind the stage---"is a Hurst 5,000 PSI hydraulic spreader-cutter, more commonly know as the Jaws of Life.""So?" "So I'm not a normal boy.”

“Hale looked at Macey, who added, "Seven minutes since shots fired.""Kat what's the emergency response tie in Midtown Manhattan?""Not long enough if they want a clean exit," she told him.Macey hadn't heard Kat's words, but she looked at Hale like she'd read his mind.”

“What is it?" When Kat's voice finally came into Hale's ear, it was cold and steady and even. All tease was gone. If she was angry at him for standing her up, she didn't show it. she just said, "Tell me what's going on.""Party crashers," Hale whispered. He watched Macey watching him. "Five, and they brought toys.""Guns?" Kat guessed."Big ones," Hale said. "You know this is what you get for doing a favor for your mother.""I know," Hale admitted."What are they after?" Kat asked."Hard to say," Hale said; again, he eyed the room."Who is that?" Macey asked."The reason I wasn't flirting with you,"Hale told her.”

“Macey couldn't decide whether to be intrigued that Hale was walking around with a state-of-the-art covert communications device or be jealous because she'd been caught without one of her own.”

“When Hale's hand disappeared inside his tuxedo jacket, Macey wasn't exactly sure what he'd find inside the pocket. It could have been another phone or a breath mint. Really, nothing would have surprised her. Well nothing except..."Is that an earbud?" she whispered. He smiled. "Are you on comms?" "Shhh," he told her softly.”

“As soon as she was close, she whispered, "you've got to get out of here." "No, you've got to get out of here," he told her. "Go downstairs. Go now.""No," she countered. "You go.""Why?" he asked."You tell me first."But before they could say another word, the last elevator slid slowly open and two men in masks rushed out. From the opposite side of the of the ballroom, shots rang out, rapid fire, piercing the ceiling, plaster falling onto the dance floor like snow.And then Hale and Macey whispered in unison, "Because of that.”

“Hey I bruise," Hale said. "Also, you are freakishly strong.”

“There you are," Hale told his mother when he found her. "Oh, darling, do you know Michael Calloway? His mother is the event chair. We've just been arguing over whether he is going to let me outbid him for this gorgeous antique clock," Mrs. Hale said, but her son didn't care."Sorry," Hale told the man in the tux with the small bits of sweat gathering at his brow. "I need her," he said, pulling his mother from the table and toward the bank of elevators on the far sie of the room, the ones that appeared to be operational. "Mom, I need you to come with me,""But, darling," the woman protested, "its Swiss!"The elevator dinged and Hale pushed her inside it. "Sorry, Dad will meet you downstairs.”

“When his phone rang, he had to dig through his pocket to find it, and his fingers brushed against a pair of tiny earbuds he and Kat had last used in Monte Carlo. Hale smiled a little, realizing he hadn’t worn the tux in ages. It was just one of many ways his life had change in the years since a girl named Katarina Bishop crawled into his window and into his life."— Double Crossed by Ally Carter”

“Why don’t I know You?”“Does anyone ever really know someone else?”“You think your cute,” she told him.“You think your gorgeous. But I’m the one guy here who knows better.”“So I’m not gorgeous?” Macey challenged.“Of course you are,” He started away, turned back at the last minute. “But I’m the guy who figured out that’s not all you are.”

“She watched him stop to pat the mayor on the back. He stumbled a little in the crowd, and his left hand disappeared ever so briefly inside the mayor’s tuxedo pocket. It was over in a flash, a blink, a second. And Macey was quite certain she was the only person in the entire room to have seen it, but that was just as well. At least, Macey had seen enough. And at last, the boy made sense."— Double Crossed by Ally Carter”

“It was so rare to find someone who was both so young and so wise, both so fresh and so jaded.”

“Cammie's going to be mad she missed this," Macey said to fill the silence."Excuse me?" Hale asked."Nothing." She shook her head. "I just... I have a friend who really likes air vents. And dumbwaiter shafts. And laundry chutes. Of course, the last time I was in a laundry chute, Cammie and I fell about a dozen stories...""Well, that sounds like fun.""It was either that or get kidnapped by terrorists, so I guess we got of easy.”

“But the downside of being con artist is that it very hard to con. Even if the lies you tell are to yourself.”

“Acting like you don’t care is a whole lot easier when you don’t care”

“Well, see, there's this cave in Switzerland I really need to find.' She slipped on her sunglasses; was already in the middle of the street when she turned and looked back at Hale and Gabrielle. 'You coming?”

“You still don't get it, do you, Margaret?' Kat smiled almost sadly. 'We never had to steal the Antony. All we had to do was get it next to the Cleopatra and switch the signs.”

“Another door swung open, and another guard appeared, this time with Gabrielle, who wore a black catsuit and rappelling harness.”

“Every head turned to see two more security guards appear, each holding a Bagshaw by the back of the neck (which might have been considerably less conspicuous had the Bagshaws not been dressed as chimney sweeps). Kat turned back to Hale. 'The Mary Poppins?''Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“If it works, it works,' Kat told him.'And if it doesn't?' he asked.She looked at him. 'If it doesn't, then I've heard Monaco has the nicest prisons in all of Europe.''It does,' both Hamish and Angus said in unison. And with that, it was decided.”

“She pulled away and looked at him. 'I kissed you and you left.'When Kat heard the pounding, she thought it was the beating of her heart. It was too loud, she thought. Hale was going to hear it; he was going to see it; and he was going to know how much power he had to hurt her.”

“Gabrielle was insulted and didn't even bother to hide it. 'Oh, and I suppose you think your dad was alone when he free-climbed the Kyoto Banking Tower on a windy day last September.”

“It felt as if maybe the curse had lifted, the tide had shifted, but then the breeze picked up and a skeet took a very unfortunate turn. Seconds later, Angus was pulling his shot far to the right, shooting a large hole in the second-story galley not ten feet above Marcus's head.”

“Nick sat beside Simon, who was at his computer. Marcus stood at attention beside the food. Hale had his feet on the table, reading the morning paper. And someone had given the Bagshaws a gun.'Pull!' Hamish yelled, and Angus pulled a cord and sent a skeet flying across the deep blue water. A split second later, a loud crack was reverberating across the deck. Kat jumped. Hale sighed. The shot went far wide, and Marcus never moved a muscle.”

“Maggie threw her head back and laughed. 'So you're going to try...what? Birds of a Feather?' she quested.'Of course not,' Kat said. 'Everyone knows the French government banned the importation of peacocks in 1987.”

“Common is overrated.”

“Somtimes people run to see if you'll ever come after them. -Joe”

“Do you want to hold it?' she asked, dangling the padded envelope in front of Hale with two fingers.'No.''Do you want to touch it and kiss it and wear it around your neck?''Don't be silly,' he told her. 'Everyone knows green isn't my color.”

“But then the girl moved, and smiled, and pulled her hand from the grate- a gorgeous green stone clutched tightly in her grasp. It was covered with dust and cobwebs, but it was uncracked and unharmed.And, of course, completely fake.”

“The Bagshaw's blew up an armored truck one,' Gabrielle offered.”

“Basement?' Hamish cried, then glanced at his brother. 'You hear this fellow? He thinks we can just go on down to the furnace and start tinkering?'Angus laughed. 'He probably wouldn't care at all if the whole place went boom, he wouldn't.'At this the guard bristled and stood up even straighter. 'Now see here---''No, you see, my good man. Out here, see, we've got snow. So in there, I'd bet, you've got heat. And where there's heat there's gas; and where there's gas there's...'Angus trailed off while his brother said, 'boom.”

“Across the room, Hale smiled slightly. 'We can draw you a diagram if you need it.''No thanks,' Nick said. 'I think I've got everyone but you.”

“Hamish's right arm was around Angus's waist as the two of them tangoed past.”

“You see, Greg, my mother is going through a feline phase. Blinky is a Persian,' Hale said simply, as if that should explain everything. 'Binky has a nasty habit of shedding all over the living room furniture, you see.' Gregory Wainwright nodded as if he understood perfectly.'And so we had to get new living room furniture, which, unfortunately, does not go with the Monet.'Kat stood there for a moment, staring into that small window of the world where someone would tire of a Monet simply because it clashed with the couch.”

“Kat had been picking things up since her third birthday, when Hamish and Angus's father took them all to the circus because he needed to "borrow" an elephant.”

“Okay, first thing tomorrow we hit the streets around Taccone's place. Somebody saw something.''I got it covered.''The DiMarcos might be in town.''Actually, they're in jail.''All seven of them?'Hale shrugged. 'It was an interesting October.”

“Sure, this was where her father had planned the De Beers diamond heist when she was three. It was the very room where her uncle had orchestrated the hijacking of eighty percent of the world's caviar when she was seven.”

“I thought you might need a ride.''The headmaster's office called me a car.'He shrugged, indifferent but amused. 'And here I am in a submarine.”

“I’m sorry if I’m not flirting with you. I’m kind of spoken for.”

“What are they after?” Kat asked. “Hard to say,” Hale said; again, he eyed the room. “Who is that?” Macey asked. “The reason I wasn’t flirting with you,” Hale told her.”

“But I wasn't the girl I'd been when I left, and I knew it.”

“I’m not crazy,” I whispered.“I know.”Believe it or not, that’s the most romantic thing Zachary Goode ever told me.”

“Sometimes the biggest lies we tell are to ourselves.”

“Maybe wrist corsages cut off circulation to the brain? I mean, is that why so many girls do stupid things on prom night? I was really going to have to investigate this further, I decided”

“There are aspectsof this life-- of this world-- from which you can never walk away. Ever. The fact that almost everything you say to almost everyone you love for the rest of your life will be a lie is one of them.”

“There are some secrets we keep because we can't bear to let them out and some because it's better to keep them in.”

“All these years I'd thought being a spy was challenging. Turns out, being a girl is the tricky part.”