Where Beauty Lies (Sophia and Ava London) (21 page)

“And what if we miss on both of those?” Sophia wanted to know.

“We won’t,” Lily told her positively. “I have a strategy worked out. It’s called divide and conquer.”

“I don’t think you want to use that name,” Sam told her.

Lily rolled her eyes. “The way it works is, we divide up. And then we conquer.”

“That’s really not how the original went,” Sam cautioned.

“God, I wish this car had a trunk so I could lock you in it,” Lily said to him. “Here’s how this is going to happen. Obviously Ava is going to be the one making contact at the hotel, and obviously we’re not sending her in alone.”

“But the text—” Sophia started.

Lily put a finger to Sophia’s lips and said, “Shhh. Don’t make me go Full Contessa and use the lip finger. Since we don’t know who is behind this, but we’re entertaining the idea that it’s someone you know, the person least likely to be spotted by the kidnapper is Sam. That means Sam will shadow Ava at the hotel.”

“She’s actually good at this, isn’t she?” Sam whispered to Sophia.

“Very,” Sophia agreed. “She learned it from watching the movies her dad was in. But she gets a bit—”

“The next person I hear talking will be playing the part of the guy in the red shirt who always dies,” Lily said.

“—Tyrannical,” Sophia finished.

“Everyone except Ava will get out of the car two blocks from the hotel,” Lily said. “We’ll fan out there, each taking a different route toward the hotel to circle it, scanning for familiar faces as we go. Sam, you’ll go the most directly because you need to get into the hotel, but we can’t risk you being seen getting out of the car.”

“What happens if we see familiar face?” Sven asked. “Do we grab them?”

“Use your best judgment,” Lily said. “Probably the most useful thing would be to follow them. Remember, our priorities are Ava’s safety, then Popcorn and Charming’s safety, then revenge, then mayhem, then snacks.”

“You should put the pets first,” Ava said.

Lily went right past that. “The lobby of the W is on the fourth floor,” she told Ava. “You can access it either through a long escalator or an elevator. Take the escalator, that will allow the kidnapper to observe you and see you’re alone. Since we’re assuming they’re watching, it might give you a glimpse of them as well.” She turned to Sam. “You take the elevator. There’s a bar behind the elevator bank that looks into the lobby. Position yourself there so you can see Ava on the couch but not be automatically associated with her. I am certain you don’t know how to look nonchalant, New Dork, but try.”

“I’ll do my very best,” Sam told her.

Lily rolled her eyes again. “Gold Team Two—that’s you, Ava—your primary job is to keep the kidnapper talking and get as much information about him or her as you can, especially clues about their whereabouts. If you hear traffic, if you hear an elevator ding, anything like that, make a note of it and try to tell Sam. He’ll be able to relay it to us. We’ll wait outside the hotel to watch for anyone with the bag, or respond to any instructions you convey as an extra precaution, I want you on the phone with Sophia the whole time. When the kidnapper calls, put it on speakerphone so Sophia can hear. She’ll tell— Why are you shaking your head?”

“Not with Sophia.” Then realizing how weird that looked, Ava scrambled to say, “Her phone battery is dead. Right?” She looked at Sophia.

“Yes. Can I use someone else’s phone?”

Sven handed her his, which she’d never noticed was completely covered in white Swarovski crystals. “This is beautiful,” she told him.

“My mother makes it for me,” he explained.

“Okay, it looks like we’re all set. Everyone clear on their job?” Lily asked, looking around fiercely. Then she smacked herself in the forehead. “I almost forgot the most important part. The rendezvous point is the Kiss section of the Hershey’s store. Can everyone find that?”

Everyone nodded.

“Gold Team One, we have reached our disembarkation point.” She turned to Ava. “Good luck, little London. May the force be with you.”

“You’re quoting
Star Wars
and I’m the one with the word
Dork
in my nickname,” Sam said as they were getting out of the car. “Unbelievable.”

“What I say to my special ops commandos in confidence is none of your concern, soldier Dork.”

“Yes sir, Admiral Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“It’s General or Jedi Master,” Lily hissed. “Don’t even pretend you don’t know his correct rank.”

Sophia turned from them back to Ava. “Good luck.”

Ava pointed at Lily and Sam. “You too.”

“Don’t do anything risky,” Sophia warned. “
Very
risky, I mean.”

“Me?” Ava touched her collarbone innocently.

They were about to leave the van when Sven raised his hand. MM said, “This isn’t the time—” but Sven’s expression got serious and he said, “The question is important.”

“Yes, soldier?” Lily said.

“What does it mean that the kidnapper did not mention one word about money in the text?” He looked around at them. “To me, it creates wonder. Such as, is this a big trap. To lure the little London. Certainly she would be worth more than the animals.”

The others goggled at him. Sophia hadn’t thought of that but now that he’d said it, it made sense. A lot of sense.

“I’m sure it’s not a trap,” Ava herself said, too brightly. “If anyone was going to kidnap a London sister they’d take Sophia. She’s bound to be more cooperative.”

It was clear that she was trying to keep her tone light but it wasn’t working and the laugh she forced out was worse.

But everyone went along with it. They climbed out of the SUV. Sophia turned back just before the door closed and saw Ava sitting alone, forlorn, in the backseat. She looked so small. So fragile.

There was no way Sophia was letting her do this. “I’m going with you,” she announced.

“You can’t,” Lily told her. “If you go—”

“Basta!”
Ava said, mimicking the Contessa. She was smiling but it looked fake, strained. “Stop worrying. And get out of here. You’re going to make me late.”

Sophia jiggled Sven’s phone, “Call me.”

“Such a princess,” Ava joked. “Always has to have someone else make the first move.”

They were both laughing as the door closed, the kind of laughing that comes from fear and nerves and working hard not to cry, and they both stopped as soon as the other one couldn’t see.

“I hate this,” Sophia murmured under her breath as she watched the car pull away.

“Your road lies thataway, young Jedi,” Lily said, pointing Sophia down Seventh Avenue. “She’s going to be fine. I’m not leaving here without all my troops.”

She hugged Lily gratefully and was turning to go when Sam’s hand on her forearm stopped her. “I won’t let anything happen to your sister. I promise.”

Sophia smiled and thanked him, but deep in her heart she knew that was a promise no one could keep.

LonDOs

Have Lily plan your ops mission

Sisters who worry

(I’m talking about you)

(No, I’m talking about you)

Gold Team 1

Gold Team 2

The Force

Sven’s mom

LonDON’Ts

Letting your sister go into battle alone

Pursing petnappers in four-inch platform pumps (pawsitively painful)

People who do not bother to learn basic facts about important historical figures

Texts that could be traps

18

this is a lipstickup

It was 4:35 when the SUV disgorged Gold Team 1 and only two minutes later when Gold Team 2 (Ava) reached the hotel, but Ava felt like she’d aged ten years in that time. She wouldn’t have been surprised to look in the mirror and see a solid white head of hair.

The “money bag” in her lap was heavier than she would have imagined, but she hoped her difficulty with it would make the illusion more realistic, at least from a distance.

Assuming she was on her way to a ransom drop and not a trap.

Sitting in the back of the SUV all alone, she felt like she was floating outside herself, as though she’d somehow moved beyond fear to a whole other plane of existence. Ava had heard that right before you die your life flashes before your eyes, but no one had ever told her that right before you might be walking into a death trap things that had been confusing became very clear, and problems that seemed insurmountable suddenly appeared easily overcome.

She found herself thinking about Liam and how she really should just break up with him by text the way everyone else seemed to, and about the Contessa’s nephew with the one eye and the hairy body. Sophia had said she didn’t need to worry about that, but Ava found herself almost wistful, thinking of him now that she didn’t know if she’d even be alive on Friday for their date. The messed-up situation wasn’t his fault, she saw. No doubt he was charming.

If she was alive on Friday, she resolved, she’d be as nice to him as she could. Give him a real chance. Not because of the Contessa’s threats, either, but because given what she’d heard about him, she would bet that a lot of people treated him badly, and everyone deserved a friend.

She thought about the conversation she’d had the day before with Sophia, about choosing between Jax and Dalton. Jax made her feel safe, and there was no question that the past few days—the past few weeks—had made “safe and uncomplicated” very appealing. Being with him was easy.

That’s what Sophia had meant when she’d said Ava already knew who she was picking. Ava London would never take “uncomplicated and familiar” over a challenging new adventure. Playing it safe had never worked for her.

Dalton was the one, not because of the prickly feeling she got with him or the electricity of his kisses or even the way he made her laugh, although that was all part of it. Dalton was the one because he challenged her, pushed her, made her think harder. Because he thought her capable of all that. He was the one because her emotions with him weren’t tidy, they couldn’t be easily classified. Because when she was with him she felt more—more alive, more excited, more herself.

And just as she accepted the true depth of her feelings, she accepted that she had to set him free. She’d told herself that the reason she hadn’t been open with Dalton about the Contessa and her nephew was that she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. But that was just a convenient excuse.

The real reason she hadn’t told him was that she was worried that if Dalton knew why she was being cold to him, if he understood the impossibility of her situation, he would lose interest and stop trying to date her. She didn’t want to tell him the truth because she was too afraid of losing him. She’d been playing it safe.

But that was stupid and selfish. And it couldn’t be scarier than the kidnapper she was about to go confront. So if she lived through this, she would tell Dalton everything, she resolved.

This was going to be a very busy week if she made it.

“This is the W Hotel,” the driver said. “You want me to wait? You going back tonight?”

“Yes,” Ava said, feeling optimistic. “Please wait.”

Ava got out of the car and dialed Sven’s number. For one horrible moment her mind played crazy tricks and she thought Sophia wasn’t going to pick up, that she’d be there by herself, facing an unknown enemy—

Sophia answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”

“I just got out of the car and I’m heading for the escalator up to the lobby where the couches are,” Ava said. “I don’t see any familiar faces. You?”

“Some from my nightmares,” Sophia said. “A man calling himself the Naked Cowboy is right behind me, for example, playing his guitar.”

“I wondered what that noise was. So he’s naked except for a guitar?”

“And boots and a hat.” They were talking about silly, trivial things, because at that moment anything else would have overwhelmed them.

Ava got to the top of the escalator and looked around. There was a reception desk in front of her and a seating area with four couches to her right. Beyond that, separated by a mesh curtain, was the bar.

“Are you there?” she said to Sophia.

“Yes but I’m going to keep moving. Where are you?”

“I just found the couches. There are four of them. The message said to sit in the northwest one—” Ava went and sat down. “Okay. I’m here.”

“Are you sure it’s the right couch?”

“Sure-ish,” Ava said. “The text message said to be here at four forty-three. What time is it?”

“Four forty.”

“This is going to be the longest three minutes of my life,” Ava said.

“Do you see Sam in the bar?” Sophia asked.

“No. Wait— No,” Ava said.

They were quiet for a moment then. What did you say when you were potentially walking into a trap? What did you discuss while you waited for a kidnapper to give you orders?

Sophia broke the silence, saying in a quiet, almost plaintive voice, “What do you think the AS Girls are doing?”

“I bet the bus is in Soho now.” Ava closed her eyes, trying to picture them. “They’re amazing, Sophia. I was blown away.”

“Me too. And can you believe we picked twins without knowing it?”

“We have to remember to tell Harper that,” Ava said. “It will be a great story for the—” She faltered. “You’ll remember to tell Harper, won’t you?”

“No,” Sophia said. “You’re going to tell her yourself. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, do you hear me?”

“Of course.”

“I mean it, Ava. If something happens to you, I— Do you see Sam yet?”

“No,” Ava said.

“Where is he?” Sophia demanded, sounding as angry as Ava had ever heard her. “I’m going to go and call Lily and have her check and then I’ll call you back—”

“No,” Ava cut her off without even realizing it. “Don’t hang up. Don’t—please don’t leave me alone.”

The fear in Ava’s tone seemed to calm Sophia. “Of course not. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Ava felt another wave of fear roll over her as she heard the metallic sound of a phone close-by. “The couch is ringing,” she whispered to Sophia.