“Ambassador Winters, allow me to introduce my aunt Abby and her....boyfriend.' Townsed tensed. Abby glared. And Rebecca Baxter looked like she was going to choke on her chewing gum.”

“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.”

“After finals and winter break...after I'm back to full strength, we'll go get Preston. Whether Mom and Abby and Joe and Townsend like it or not, we'll go get him. And then...' I trailed off. 'And then we'll finish this. Next semester, this thing ends.”

“Don’t mind me,” I said. “I’m just the person who tried to rob the place last July.”“No, you diddn’t,” Abby said, appearing on the roof. She was wearing a trim suit and tall black boots. Her hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail at the nape of her neck, and either i was imagining things or Townsend wasn’t quite as good a spy as I thought, because I could have sworn I saw him drool a little.Note to self: your aunt is a hottie.”

“Macey was just starting to argue when Abby asked, "What can you tell me about the gunmen?""They're amateurs," Hale said at the exact same time Macey told her teacher, "They're pros.”

“Abby must have been the one who found the safe house, because Townsend didn't like it."The building across the street is under construction," he snarled as soon as we'd carried our bags inside."The elevator has key card access, and I've hacked into the surveillance cameras from every system on the block," Abby argued. "We have a three-hundred-sixty-degree visual.""Excellent." Townsend dropped his bag. "Now the circle can see us from every angle.""Don't mind Agent Townsend, girls," Abby told us. "He's a glass-half-empty kind of spy.""Also known as the good kind," he countered. Abby huffed.”

“Covert Operations ReportAt approximately 0900 hours on Saturday, October 14, Operative Morgan was given a stern lecture by Agent Townsend, a tracking device by Agent Cameron, and a very scary look from Operative Goode. (She also got a tip that her bra strap was showing from Operative McHenry.)The Operative then undertook a basic reconnaissance mission inside a potentially hostile location. (But it wasn't as hostile as Operative Baxter was going to be if everything didn't go according to plan.)”