My Side (7 page)

WHEN DANIEL ENTERS A CONVENIENCE
store on a secret mission, he doesn't expect to run into anyone he knows. That would ruin everything. When Rosie shows up, she's hoping to make a quick getaway with her waiting boyfriend. But the next person through the door is wearing a mask and holding a gun. Now things are getting complicated.

Chapter One
Daniel

“Uh, do you have a bathroom I can use?” I'm ready with an excuse for when the man behind the counter says no. I thought long and hard to come up with it. You have to when you're asking to use the bathroom in a convenience store, which doesn't have to provide one the way restaurants do. I have to get yes for an answer if my mission is going to be a success.

The man behind the counter scowls. He peers at me from under gray eyebrows that look like steel wool. Is he on to me? Does he suspect?

“What about your coffee and taquito?” he says. “Are you still going to want those?”

“Yeah. And a two-liter cola and the latest
Wrestling World
, if you have it.” I throw those in to improve my chances of getting a yes.

“We have it. What about
Wresting
Today
? You want that too?” His piggy little eyes drill into me. I see immediately where he's going. If I want to use the facilities, I'm going to have to cough up some more money. I take another glance at the magazine rack.

“And
Wrestling Connoisseur
,”

I say. What the heck—I'm getting paid enough. A few magazines aren't going to make a dent in my paycheck.

“Through the door beside the coolers and down one flight,” the man behind the counter says.

As I head down the narrow aisle toward the coolers, I glance in the security mirror at the back of the store. The man at the counter, the owner, is watching me.

Going through the door beside the big Coke-sponsored cooler is like stepping from Oz back into Kansas. The tile floor in the store sparkles. The wooden floor on the other side of the door is dingy, scuffed and slightly warped. The lights in the store are blindingly bright. On the other side of the door there is only a single naked lightbulb that makes the places it doesn't hit look inky and a little spooky. The walls of the store are chockablock with neatly displayed and colorful products. The walls of the small room are bare except for a car dealership calendar that hangs from a nail directly above a battered old table and chair. On the table is an adding machine—I didn't even know those still existed. Next to it is a two-drawer olive-green filing cabinet. On the wall, in an ancient fixture with a pull chain, is another naked lightbulb. This is where the store owner does his accounts. To the left of the door is a flight of wooden stairs. But I don't go down it.

Instead, I listen. It's quiet in here. It's also quiet out in the store. I tiptoe over to the desk. I'd been expecting a computer, but there isn't one. I open the top drawer of the filing cabinet. It's jammed with files. I thumb through them, looking for the one I've been sent to find. I don't see it. I close that drawer, open the next one and thumb through more folders.

Bingo! There it is, neatly labeled.

I pull it out and scan the sheets inside. They look like the ones that were described to me. I dig the miniature camera—a spy camera, if you can believe it—out of my pocket and photograph every sheet. I put everything back into the folder and replace the folder in the file cabinet. I tuck the camera into my pocket. I start back to the door.

Before I get there, I hear the man behind the counter yell something— a name. I'm about to push the door open and go back into the store when I hear a different voice—a familiar one. I decide to wait. If I go out there, I'll be recognized. If I'm recognized, I'll be exposed. If I'm exposed, I'll have to abort my mission. And if I abort… let's just say I don't want to kiss my paycheck goodbye.

Titles in the Series

B Negative

Vicki Grant

Back

Norah McClintock

Bang

Norah McClintock

Battle of the Bands

K.L. Denman

Big Guy

Robin Stevenson

Blue Moon

Marilyn Halvorson

Breaking Point

Lesley Choyce

Breathless

Pam Withers

Bull Rider

Marilyn Halvorson

Bull's Eye

Sarah N. Harvey

Cellular

Ellen Schwartz

Charmed

Carrie Mac

Chill

Colin Frizzell

Comeback

Vicki Grant

Coming Clean

Jeff Ross

Crash

Lesley Choyce

Crush

Carrie Mac

Cuts Like a Knife

Darlene Ryan

Damage

Robin Stevenson

The Darwin Expedition

Diane Tullson

Dead-End Job

Vicki Grant

Deadly

Sarah N. Harvey

Dead Run

Sean Rodman

Death Wind

William Bell

Down

Norah McClintock

Exit Point

Laura Langston

Exposure

Patricia Murdoch

Fallout

Nikki Tate

Fastback Beach

Shirlee Smith Matheson

First Time

Meg Tilly

Grind

Eric Walters

Hannah's Touch

Laura Langston

The Hemingway Tradition

Kristin Butcher

Hit Squad

James Heneghan

Home Invasion

Monique Polak

House Party

Eric Walters

I.D.

Vicki Grant

Impact

James C. Dekker

In the Woods

Robin Stevenson

Infiltration

Sean Rodman

Jacked

Carrie Mac

Juice

Eric Walters

Kicked Out

Beth Goobie

Knifepoint

Alex Van Tol

Last Ride

Laura Langston

Learning to Fly

Paul Yee

Lockdown

Diane Tullson

Masked

Norah McClintock

Middle Row

Sylvia Olsen

My Side

Norah McClintock

My Time as Caz Hazard

Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Night Terrors

Sean Rodman

No More Pranks

Monique Polak

No Problem

Dayle Campbell Gaetz

One More Step

Sheree Fitch

One Way

Norah McClintock

Outback

Robin Stevenson

Overdrive

Eric Walters

Pain & Wastings

Carrie Mac

Picture This

Norah McClintock

Plastic

Sarah N. Harvey

Rat

Lesley Choyce

Reaction

Lesley Choyce

Redline

Alex Van Tol

Refuge Cove

Lesley Choyce

Responsible

Darlene Ryan

Riley Park

Diane Tullson

Riot Act

Diane Tullson

Rock Star

Adrian Chamberlain

Running the Risk

Lesley Choyce

Saving Grace

Darlene Ryan

Scum

James C. Dekker

Sea Change

Diane Tullson

Shallow Grave

Alex Van Tol

Shattered

Sarah N. Harvey

Snitch

Norah McClintock

Something Girl

Beth Goobie

Spiral

K.L. Denman

Sticks and Stones

Beth Goobie

Stuffed

Eric Walters

Tagged

Eric Walters

Tell

Norah McClintock

Thunderbowl

Lesley Choyce

Tough Trails

Irene Morck

Triggered

Vicki Grant

The Trouble

with Liberty

Kristin Butcher

Truth

Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Viral

Alex Van Tol

Wave Warrior

Lesley Choyce

Who Owns Kelly Paddik?

Beth Goobie

Yellow Line

Sylvia Olsen

Zee's Way

Kristin Butcher

For more information on all the books
in the Orca Soundings series, please visit
www.orcabook.com
.