“I don’t know.”
Cynthia looked bummed. She pulled out the flyer. “Check it out.”
“Where is this?”
“Some warehouse in Hartford.”
“Long drive.”
“It’s an out-of-the-way, out-of-the-pattern long drive. It’s safe as houses.”
“I thought you said my house wasn’t safe,” Alix cracked.
“You know you want to go.”
Alix considered the unpalatable idea of another weekend alone in the house with bodyguards watching her swim in the pool.
“Yes,” she said decisively.
Cynthia perked up, looking more like a happy puppy than a girl. “Yes?”
“Yeah.” She laughed. “I definitely need it.”
“Hell, girl. You deserve it!”
Alix felt a frisson of excitement. Hell yes. I deserve it.
And what were the risks, really? Cynthia’s theory of safety pretty much matched what Lisa had been telling Alix about how Williams & Crowe thought about security. A target needed to have a pattern in order to be vulnerable. It was why Death Barbie and Hulk took a different route to school every day. They changed up their travel a lot, to make it harder for Alix to be picked out.
So it made sense that if someone was looking to mess with her, the one thing they definitely wouldn’t be prepared for was the same thing that Lisa and the rest of the Williams & Crowe people wouldn’t be prepared for—Alix’s ditching them all unexpectedly.
“I can’t make my parents worry, though.”
“We’ll leave a note.” Cynthia’s eyes glinted with mischief. “And we’ll have you back before dawn. Well,” she amended, “at least by late morning.”
Alix laughed. “So how are we going to do this?”
“Are you kidding, girl? I’ve been thinking about this for days.” Cynthia tapped her head. “Been using my big brain to work it all out.”
“So Derek’s right. You never do study.”
“I never study boring things, that’s all. Ditching Death Barbie is actually kind of awesome.”
Alix’s heart was pounding as they went into the mall. Cynthia had chosen it because of the layout of the back doors. The trick was all about pulling a switch. Denise and Sophie were happy to help.
“We just need a little misdirection,” Cynthia had explained. “Lisa’s job is to keep an eye on you, but she isn’t actually watching you. She’s watching to make sure nobody grabs you. So we’re going to take advantage of that…”
Denise and Sophie would be the decoys. It would take a quick switch of people in the changing rooms at Aritzia. Denise would go in earlier and wait for Alix to go in. Lisa would want to watch the dressing room door where Alix went in, but she wouldn’t know that Denise was already in there.
Everything was going as planned as she shopped around, and then Alix made her way to the dressing rooms. She slipped into the stall, and met Denise. Silently, they swapped outfits. After a minute, Alix leaned out of her changing stall. “Lisa?”
Lisa glanced back at her. “Yes?”
“Can you get me this in a 4?” She held out a camisole.
Lisa glanced around the place. There was no one in the store. Alix watched, with her heart racing.
When Lisa went away, she switched to the stall across from her and waited as Denise accepted the new camisole from Lisa over the top of the stall. “Thanks,” Alix heard her sort of grunt. Alix put on a blond wig that she’d brought in her purse to further confuse and distract Lisa.
Alix waited until she heard Sophie arrive on the scene and start to chitchat with Lisa, pretending to be surprised to see her friend’s bodyguard there.
Sophie’s arrival was the cue. It was going to happen soon.
Alix heard the door across from her open. Denise would be wearing the wig she’d styled in an approximation of Alix’s brown hair. As Sophie was chatting up Lisa, Denise would be walking away from Death Barbie, toward the racks on the opposite side. Sophie followed, calling out, “Hey, Alix, how’s it going?” and walking over to her.
Three, two, one… Alix peered out of her own dressing room door now. Lisa was trailing after them, her back to Alix. Now or never.
She slipped out of the dressing room and walked away as quickly as she could. Walking, trying not to run… trying not to panic as her heart pounded.
Behind her she heard an exclamation—Death Barbie discovering the switch too soon. Dammit! Alix bolted. She hit the service entrance, labeled employees only, and then was off and running down the back corridors of the mall.
“Alix! Stop!”
Alix spared a glance back. Oh shit. Lisa was scary fast. The woman was charging down the corridor like some kind of insane Olympic sprinter.
Okay, fine. Let’s run, then! Alix put her head down and ran, putting everything into it, just like track and field…. She blasted past a FedEx guy with a bunch of packages on a cart and hit the loading-entrance doors. Slammed out into bright sunshine.
Cynthia was waiting right where she said she’d be, in her Miata with the motor running.
Behind her, Lisa shouted again, “Alix!”
Cynthia leaned over and shoved open the passenger door as the mall doors slammed open. Death Barbie coming like a freight train.
“Come on!” Cynthia shouted.
Alix dove in.
Cynthia peeled out, driving so fast Alix almost fell back out the open door. “What are you doing?” she shouted as she grabbed for the dash and the seat, trying to stay inside the careering car.
“Get in, already!”
“I’m trying!” Alix dragged her legs in and yanked the door closed. She glanced back. Lisa was running full out. “She’s going to catch us!”
“Not if I can help it,” Cynthia said grimly. She gunned the engine. They squealed in a tight turn, heading for the mall exit. Death Barbie cut the corner, barreling toward them.
“She’s still coming!” Alix warned.
“How’d she see you leaving?”
“The switch didn’t go so—Car!” Alix pointed.
“I see it.” Cynthia shot past the BMW. Alix glimpsed the driver staring at them in horror as they blasted past, and then they were in the exit lanes, weaving. Ahead, the traffic light turned red.
“Oh hell,” Cynthia muttered, slowing for the light.
Alix glanced back. Lisa was gaining on them. “Um… Cynthia?” They were never going to get away.
“Fuck it.” Cynthia gunned the engine. “Hold on.”
Alix slammed back into her seat as the Miata accelerated. Cynthia slewed into the oncoming lane and ripped past all the cars stopped at the intersection.
“What are you doing?” Alix shouted, but it was too late. They blasted out into the intersection, tires squealing as Cynthia cranked the wheel over. Horns blared. Alix grabbed for the door handle and braced to hit the oncoming cars.
“Ahhhh!”
They were sliding, all four wheels skidding across pavement as they made the turn. Alix was staring into the face of a driver of a Tesla, who was staring back at her with equal horror, both of them realizing they were about to die.
The Miata’s tires caught. They shot through the rest of the turn, with Cynthia whooping triumph. “Goddamn, I’m good!”