“Shehas private showings all morning, then she’smeeting a…” she searches for the word, “collector for lunch at two atKafenaReci, near the waterfront.”
“Anddo you know what hotel she’s staying in?”Iask.
Shedoes.It’sthe hotel directly across from ours— the same one that houses the grill with the overcooked meat and bad music where our hotel’s manager wants us to put aBiteNiteBurgerslocation.
IgiveMilaa grin. “Thanks,Mila.You’reamazing.Don’tbelievePetraif she tries to tell you otherwise.”
Milasmiles back, andItell her that we’ll be in touch with her soon.
Aswe exit the mansion,Ledgerpulls out his phone. “IguessIneed to callDamjanto see if he has a contact who can print some 3-Dfacial appliances for us.”
CHAPTER 17
WHEN IN DOUBT, ADD MORE FLOWERS
LEDGER
Ishould’ve known better than to tellZoeto kiss me.Wecould have done something different to cast off suspicion.Anythingdifferent.Gotteninto an argument.Lookedlike we just got worrisome news.Zoecould’ve started crying about something andIcould’ve comforted her.YetIchose the terrible option of her kissing me.
BecausekissingZoejust reminds me how it felt to kiss her a year and a half ago inMoldova.Backwhen it was real.Orat least whenIthoughtit was real.Itturned out to be fake then, just like it is now.Duringthe kiss, though, it felt anything but fake.Itfelt like a glass of cool water after a year in the desert.Itfelt like longing and surprise and apprehension and exhilaration.Andit wasn’t just coming from me.Itseemed thatZoewas mirroring my emotions.
Butthen the look on her face after told me that it was just as fake asIshould’ve known it was.
Still, though,I’mbeginning to see a side of her thatIhaven’t seen before.Likewhen she apologized last night about taking the win inMoldova.Thatone line from her hasn’t really addressed the bigger picture, of course, butIgot the sense that she wasn’t ready to address more yet.Andthat’s okay.
Itdoes make a tiny, hopeful part of me wonder if her giving me the look after that told me it wasn’t real is actually the part she’s faking.Maybeit was the kiss that was real.Maybeshe is feeling everythingI’mfeeling.
Ofcourse,Itell myself to quit being so hopeful.Because, really, what is it thatIam hoping for?Arelationship with an intelligence operative?RoundOnewith the two of us should’ve been enough to convince me how bad of an idea that is.
Besides, it’s not likeI’mlooking foranyrelationship.Spyor not.Ilove my freedom.
ButIam spending a lot more time thinking aboutZoethanIever have.IncludingMoldova.
WhileDamjanmeets with his contact about doing a 3-Dface overlay for us,ZoeandIscout the location whereMonaLizawill be meeting a collector for a late lunch.It’san outdoor café near the waterfront, and because of theWaterfrontSummerFestgoing on, there is a lot of action around it.Awhole line of street vendors has been set up in every free space around.Undera canopy right next to the café is a flower shop that seems ideal for our needs.
BecauseElizajust saw us both, and because there are so many vendors in the area,ZoeandItake the opportunity to shop all along the waterfront to find disguises.Weboth get exaggerated floral-print outfits andoversized hats.Prettymuch everyone— the outdoor vendors and everyone shopping in this area— is wearing sunglasses, so we both get sunglasses, too.That’llhelp.
Thenwe head back to our cozy concrete chamber at the hotel.Idig through all the disguise options thatAbrahamhooked me up with, andZoegoes through her stash.Iput on an absurdly large mustache andZoepulls her blond hair into a wig cap and puts on a wig with straight, black hair that barely brushes her shoulders.Thenwe put the new outfits we bought on over the clothes we wore to the private showing at the mansion.
“Welook ridiculous,”Zoesays as we both stare into the warped mirror in our room.
Igrin. “Andnothing at all like ourselves.”
Ifeel the buzz of a text and pull out my phone.
Charlie: Just wanted to check in to see how your enemies-to-lovers arc is coming along.
Idarken the screen and shove the phone back into my pocket as quickly asIcan, then run a hand over my face.Zoe’slooking at me, curious, soIsmile and say, “It’snothing.Justmy sister being a sister.”
Wepick upDamjan, who now has the laser scanner we need to use to make a mask overlay ofEliza’sface to affix toZoe’sface, and we all head back to the waterfront.WescanZoe’sface sinceDamjan’scontact needs both.But,Idon’t think thatElizawill let me just walk up to her and say, “Hey, canIscan your face?Noparticular reason—Ijust want to.”Wethink we can hide the scanner in abouquet of flowers, though, and get her to smell them long enough to scan her face.
Damjangoes to find a lookout spot, andZoeandI, in our very floral disguises, go to the pop-up flower shop to talk the owner into letting us take over for thirty minutes or so.Theowner doesn’t speakEnglish, but he does speakCzech, so he andZoehave that in common.Zoetalks to him whileIstand there like an idiot, not having a clue what they are saying.
Theirdiscussion goes on for a bit, with much gesturing by both of them.ThenZoeslips him a stack of bills and both he and his assistant take off their aprons and hand them over to us.Hesays a few more things thatI’msure are instructions, then he leaves.
AsIput my apron on,Iask, “Whatdid you tell him?”
Zoeties hers on, too. “Thatwe are part of theSecurityInformationServicein theCzechRepublic, that we are trying to track down a gem thief, and that we think that the people running the booth next to us are trying to sell the gems to a buyer through the jewelry they are making.Itold him we needed to be close so we could investigate undercover.Heseemed kind of excited by the idea of his shop being so close to some action.”
