Spy Girl (Spy Girl #1)

“Okay.”


“Did you know your parents were spies before we talked the other day?”

“No, I did not.”

“So do you think your parents wanted you to find out eventually?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did you get the watch? Did your dad give it to you before he died?”

“No. The Dean of Blackwood Academy gave it to me about a month later. I’ve worn it every day since. It’s all I have left of him.”

“And the locket?”

“No one knows about the locket. My mom gave it to me right before she died.”

“What happened to your parents?”

“My mother was shot in front of me. Dad died by a car bomb. I got out.”

“Then what?”

“I was sent to Blackwood.”

“Immediately?”

“A week later.”

“What’s really on the memory card from the locket?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ve been too busy trying to protect the Prince to find out.”

“What were your parents’ names?”

“Blake and Charlotte Cassleberry.”

“And your real name?”

“I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you.”

“Funny.”

“Fine. My name was Calliope Ann Cassleberry.”

“I think they wanted you to know, eventually.”

“Who wanted me to know what? And why?”

He doesn’t reply, just says, “Can you sneak out tonight and meet me?”

“You’re still in town?”

“Of course, I am.”

“Aren’t you glad you didn’t chip me now, Terrance?” I tease.

“The fitness room at my hotel is open twenty-four seven. There will be a keycard sitting outside. Meet me there in ten minutes. And take off your watch.”

“Why?”

“It has a tracking device in it. I didn’t remove it.”

“So someone has been keeping an eye on me all this time?”

“I think they could be.”





X X X





I pull a jacket over a workout bra and yoga pants, leave my watch under my pillow, throw on a ball cap, and exit through my terrace door.

The night is chilly, and you can practically taste the salt in the air.

With the moon lighting my short jog to the hotel, I get there quickly.

I use the key card to let myself in the hotel and am sure to tuck my head down so that my face is hidden from the security cameras in the hall, find the gym, and hop on an elliptical. My mind is going faster than the machine.

Fifty-two minutes later, Terrance finally shows up. He takes off his jacket, revealing a tank top and surprisingly buff arms and then gets on the elliptical next to me.

“You’re late.”

“I wanted to make sure neither of us was being followed. And I did some digging, for your parents’ files and for yours.”

“And?”

“When I searched your name—have you ever done that?”

“No.”

“So you don’t know that the Cassleberry family—including their fourteen-year-old daughter—were all killed in a car accident nearly eight years ago?”

“What?” He shows me the article. “Did they fake my death to keep me safe?”

“It appears that way. What did your dad tell you after your mom was killed?”

“That something bad happened with their company. That we were going to leave the country. When we got in the car, it wouldn’t start. He told me to get out of the car and run—and no matter what—not to stop running until I got to Uncle Sam’s apartment. That he would take care of me.”

“Uncle Sam?”

“He was a guy my dad was friends with. He wasn’t my real uncle, but he lived a few blocks from my dad’s office in a converted warehouse.”

He stares at me. “As in the government, Uncle Sam?”

“I never even thought of that,” I say, rubbing my temples. “Terrance, I’m on my first mission. I can’t deal with all of this now.”