"Excuse me? The girl who got-how many guys is it now? Twenty-three?"
"Twenty-four."
"Twenty-four guys to kiss her? You're brave." Miranda hesitated. "Know how many guys I've kissed?"
"How many?"
"Three."
Sibby gaped at her, burst out laughing. "Gods, no wonder you're so repressed. This had better work or you'll have had one seriously sad life."
"Thanks."
Chapter Eleven
Eighteen minutes later, deputy Sergeant Caleb Reynolds stood outside the door of the director's office, watching them through a crack. It had taken him slightly longer than expected to get everything in place, but he felt good, confident, about how it was all going to play out. Especially now seeing the two girls in the Bee's Roller Derby outfits, tight little skirts and tops, even had the wigs and masks on. They were identical except one of them was in blue, the other in white. Like little dolls, yeah, he liked to think of them that way. His little dolls.
Expensive dolls.
The blue doll saying, "Are you sure the fact that you want to kiss him isn't getting in the way of your judgment, Miranda?"
And the white doll saying, "Who says I want to kiss him? You're the Kissing Bandit."
"Who says I want to kiss him?" the blue doll mimicked. "Please. You should really learn to have some fun. Live in the mo."
"Maybe I will as soon as I get rid of you, Sibby."
The blue doll stuck out her tongue, almost making him laugh. They were cute together, these two. Blue doll said, "I'm serious. How do you know we can trust him?"
"He has his own agenda," the white doll explained, "and it works with ours."
Then he really did have to stifle a laugh. She had no idea how correct she was. About that first part.
And how wrong about the second.
He pushed the door open and saw them both turn to him with you-are-my-hero expressions in their eyes.
"Are you ready, Miss Cumean?"
Blue doll nodded.
His little white doll saying now, "Take good care of her. You know how important she is."
"I will. I'll get her settled and come back for the second part of the operation. Don't open the door for anyone but me."
"Right."
He was back less than a minute later.
"Was everything okay? Is Sibby safe?"
"It went perfectly. My men were exactly in position. It could not have gone smoother."
"Okay, so how long do we wait before I run out?"
He walked toward her, backing her against the wall. He said, "There's been a change of plans."
"What, you've added a part where you kiss me? Before the part where I pretend to be Sibby and lead the guards into the SWAT-team trap?"
He liked the way she smiled when she said it. He reached up to caress her cheek and said, "Not exactly, Miranda." His hands slid from her face to her neck.
"What are you tal-"
Before she could finish, she was pressed against the wall, hanging a foot above the ground, his hands around her throat. He tightened them slightly as he said, "It's just you and me now. I know all about you. Who you are. What you can do."
"Really?" she choked out.
"Yes, really. Princess!" He saw her eyes get wide and felt her swallow hard. "I knew that would get your attention."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I know about the bounty on your head. Miranda Kiss wanted, alive or dead. My original plan had been to leave you alive for a while, bring you in after a few weeks, but unfortunately you just had to interfere. Should have minded your own business instead of mine, Princess. Now I can't run the risk of your getting in the way."
"You mean in the way of what you're doing with Sibby? So you were the one who wanted the money. You betrayed those others and made them think you were part of their cause, just like you betrayed us."
"Such a smart girl."
"You kill me, kidnap her, and collect money? Is that it?"
"Yep. Just like Monopoly, Princess. Pass go, collect two hundred dollars. Only in this case it's more like fifty million. For the girl."
"Wow." She looked genuinely impressed. "And how much do you get for me?"
"Dead? Five million. You're worth more alive; apparently some people think you're some teen Wonder Woman, have superpowers. But I can't take the chance."
"You already said that," she rasped.
"What, are you bored, Miranda?" He tightened his grip a little. "Sorry this wasn't more of a storybook ending," he said, smiling at her, holding her eyes with his own as he choked her.
He could tell she was struggling to breathe now. "If you're going to kill me, can't you just get on with it? This is kind of uncomfortable."
"What, my hands? Or the feeling that you're a failure-"
"I'm not a failure."
"— again."
She spit in his face.
"Still got some fire. I really admire that about you. I think you and I could have gotten along nicely. Unfortunately, there just isn't time."
She gave one last fight, clawing at him with all her remaining strength. It was inspiring how hard she worked. Finally her little fists fell hopelessly to her sides.
He leaned in close to her face. "Any last words?"
"Three: Listerine breath strips. You really need them."
He laughed, then tightened the hands around her neck until they overlapped. "Good-bye."
For a second, his eyes burned into hers. Then there was a sharp crack and something heavy came down on his head from behind. He staggered forward, his hands letting go of the girl as he fell to the ground unconscious.
He never knew what hit him, the blue doll thought, still gripping the clock she'd used to knock him out. Or who.
Chapter Twelve
Miranda, dressed in the blue uniform, pushed aside the man she'd just hit over the head with the clock to reach Sibby. She still had handcuff bracelets around her wrists, each dangling a piece of chain. Her wrists, her hands, were shaking.
She lifted the unconscious girl gently. "Sibby, come on, open your eyes."
It wasn't supposed to have taken so long. The plan had been simple: She and Sibby would switch identities by switching outfits. When Deputy Reynolds double-crossed them, like Miranda knew he would, it would be Miranda disguised as Sibby he'd hand over to his crew, and she'd deal with them, then come back and rescue Sibby.
At least, that's how it should have gone.
"Okay, Sib, time to wake up," Miranda said, carrying the girl now, cradling her pressed against her chest as she moved as quickly as possible. She could hear Sibby's heartbeat, but it was faint, and slow. Getting fainter. This is not happening.
"Rise and shine, Sibby," she said, her voice cracking. "Up and at 'em."
Miranda hadn't expected to find all five of Deputy Reynolds's goons waiting for her-shouldn't someone have been in the getaway car? — and especially hadn't anticipated the woman he'd picked up from the airport having rhinestone-studded brass knuckles. The blow to the head had given them time to cuff Miranda to a pipe and made her a little weak, so it had taken her longer than it should have to knock them off with a series of roundhouse kicks and one side scissor, then break the chain on the cuffs and free herself. Giving Deputy Reynolds more time with Sibby's esophagus than she'd planned.
A lot more.
The heartbeat was getting softer, harder to hear.
"I'm so sorry, Sibby. I should have gotten here sooner. I tried my best, but I couldn't get the handcuffs off and I was too weak and I failed and-" Miranda was having trouble seeing and realized she was crying. She stumbled but kept running. "Sibby, you've got to be okay. You can't go. If you don't come back, I swear I'll never have fun again. Not once." The heartbeat was just a whisper now, the girl in her arms a pale ghost. Miranda choked back a sob. "God, Sibby, please-"