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  Contents

  Gaia

  A Perfect Moment

  Sam

  The Hermit

  Gaia

  Time to Try

  Jake

  Trapped

  The Bomb

  Ed

  The Explanation

  Tom

  Oliver

  Guys like Him

  Jake the Spy

  Natasha

  Nothing to Lose

  Sam

  Peaceful Silence

  Gaia

  Excerpt of ‘Samurai Girl: The Book of the Wind’

  To Daniel Stokes

  GAIA

  My name is Gaia Moore, I’m seventeen years old, and for the first time I can remember, no one is trying to kill me.

  I know what you’re thinking: I’m a schizophrenic paranoid delusional. This is not a normal thing for a seventeen-year-old girl to say. But that’s just it. I’m not a normal seventeen-year-old girl. I wasn’t normal at fifteen or ten. The last time I remember knowing that I was safe was when I was about eight, making mud pies in the backyard in the Berkshires, my knees covered in Rugrats Band-Aids. But even then I wasn’t safe—I just didn’t know it yet.

  I’ve never had a normal life, and that’s all I ever wanted.

  I wanted afternoons filled with soccer practice instead of tactical training. I wanted my mother to live long enough to hear about my first kiss. I wanted a father who was around to read me bedtime stories every night instead of disappearing for days at a time. All I wanted was an existence that even vaguely resembled those of the well-adjusted ballerinas and spelling-bee champions and hopscotch experts around me.

  But I could never have that. Someone in my family was always in danger. Someone was always trying to kidnap me or experiment on me or—you know—kill me. My mother was murdered. My father has been presumed dead more times than I can remember. I’ve had friends beaten and shot and stabbed. My first boyfriend almost died because of me.

  Nothing was ever normal. Until now.

  This is what normal feels like. I don’t have to sit around wondering what Loki’s going to do next, because he’s gone—buried somewhere inside my uncle Oliver’s subconscious. I don’t have to spend my time trying to think like Natasha or Tatiana to figure out their strategy, because they’re in custody. We still don’t know who kidnapped my dad and took him to Russia, but the CIA is working on it, and for now, he’s home. With me. Me and Dad, living together, alone. Like we’re supposed to be. Like a family.

  So there’s no reason to obsess. No reason to plan and plot and chase and spy. I don’t even have to train. I don’t have to do anything.

  This is what normal feels like.

  I don’t know what to do with myself.

  To: Y

  From: X22

  Subject: Prisoner 352, Codename Abel

  There has been a security breech in sub-sector K. Prisoner 352 is AWOL. Unconfirmed reports state that a young woman, believed to be Genesis, along with two men were instrumental in the liberation of 352/Abel. They are believed to be en route to the States, if not already there. We await your orders.

  a perfect moment

  All is well, Gaia thought, taking a deep breath. She almost didn’t dare to believe it, but it was true.

  “So, listen . . . ”

  GAIA MOORE WAS HAVING A MOMENT she’d probably remember forever. She was one of those rare people who had these burned-in-her-memory moments all the time, but this one was different.

  This one was good.

  Good memorable moments were atypical in Gaia’s particularly screwed-up life. The awful ones, those came up all the time.

  Like the moment she learned her mother was dead. The moment she realized that the man she had always thought was her father might actually be her evil uncle, Loki. The moment Mary passed away. The moment Sam was kidnapped. The moment that Loki operative fired shots at Ed. The list of gut-wrenching, miserable, devastating moments went on and on.

  But these light, content, all-is-right-with-the-world moments? They were very few and very far between. And when she realized she was having one, instead of automatically thinking of the few things that were still wrong—things that could crap all over the moment like a giant pigeon—Gaia just smiled.

  For once she was going to let herself be happy.

  “I like this,” Jake Montone said, lying back next to her on the big mound of rock near the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park. “Who would’ve thought there was actually a place in this city where you could see stars? Actual ones, I mean. Famous people I’ve been seeing everywhere lately. It’s like you get one warm day and they suddenly come out of hiding. I was almost nailed by Brad Pitt on Rollerblades this afternoon in Union Square.”

  “Jake?” Gaia said, the back of her skull searching for a smooth bit of stone to rest on.

  “Yeah?” he asked. He turned his head so he was looking at her profile.

  “Shut up,” she said.

  “Right.”

  Ever since Gaia, Jake, and Oliver had returned from their little smash-and-grab job in the former Soviet Union (they’d smashed a fortress and grabbed Gaia’s dad, Tom), Jake had been prone to these little fits of verbosity. Just every once in a while. Like he was a little kid that was still psyched up by a trip to an amusement park and couldn’t contain his excitement. Gaia would never admit it, but somewhere deep down she kind of thought it was cute. In an irritating sort of way.

  A jagged point bit into the back of her head and she moved again, sighing in frustration. Jake sat up, slipped out of his denim jacket, bunched it into a ball, and moved to prop it under the back of her head. For a split second Gaia thought about refusing, making a crack about his chivalry and turning it into a joke, but she stopped herself. Instead she just lifted her head, then leaned back into the Jake-scented softness.

  Ah. Pillow. Just one more thing to make the perfect moment last.

  All is well, Gaia reflected again, taking in another deep breath. She almost didn’t dare to believe it, but it was true. Her father was home, safe and sound. Her uncle had been living for days now as good old normal Uncle Oliver with no signs of Loki-ness whatsoever. There was no one out there hunting her down, tracking her every move, plotting ways to take her out.

  And to top it all off, she had a new friend. A real friend. Surprisingly enough Jake Montone had turned out to be, contrary to all snap judgments, a non-moron. He was, in fact, freakishly true. Supportive. Noble almost.

  “I can’t believe that guy actually gets to have sex with Jennifer Aniston,” he said suddenly, his brow furrowing beneath his tousled dark hair.

  Okay, so he was also still a guy. But he had already saved Gaia’s life, accepted her increasingly psychotic family situation with only pertinent questions asked, and dropped everything to come to Russia with her to save her father. In a short time he’d gone beyond the call of duty, friendship-wise. He’d gone beyond the call of duty for a damn guardian angel.

  “So, anybody at school ask where you were for the past few days?” Jake asked.

  “Not really. The teachers are used to me disappearing, and no one else in the world notices.”

  Except Sam, Gaia thought, her heart giving an extra-hard thump. Sam noticed. Sam had noticed to the tune of eight messages on her answering machine. Gaia had been more than a little surprised when she heard his
voice over and over and over again on the tape. The last time she’d seen the guy he’d basically told her to get out of his life and stay out. By the time she was done listening to his messages it was fairly clear that he wanted the exact opposite.

  I need to call him back, Gaia thought. But even as her brain formed the suggestion, the rest of her felt exhausted by the mere thought. The last thing she wanted right now was to open a can of emotionally wrought worms. She’d much rather just stay where she was—lying on her back in the park, staring at the sky, with Jake’s warmth next to her, keeping the goose bumps at bay.

  “What about your dad?” Gaia asked. Jake had been staying with Oliver since their return from Russia. Oliver needed to make sure no one was watching Jake’s building. There was no way Jake’s father was still buying any “I’m just staying at a friend’s/there’s a last minute school trip/my dog ate my homework” excuses any longer.

  “Luckily Dad had to go out of town for some physicians’ conference,” Jake said. “He left before I got back and he doesn’t even realize I haven’t been home.” He pulled his tiny cell out of the front pocket of his jeans and checked the screen. “The beauty of the cell phone.”

  “Nice,” Gaia said.

  “Besides, Oliver says I can go back tonight,” Jake told her, replacing the phone after scrolling through a few text messages. “He gave the all clear.”

  “I’m glad,” Gaia said sincerely.

  “So, listen,” Jake said, propping himself up on his elbow and turning on his side.

  Gaia swallowed and her stomach turned. It was a loaded “so listen.” The kind that was usually followed by either an unpleasant announcement like, “So, listen, I’m moving to Canada.” Or by an awkward-silence-inducing question like, “So, listen, do you want to go to the prom?” Not that Gaia had ever been asked to a prom before, but she could still identify the appropriate “so, listen.”

  She stared at the sky and held her breath, waiting for the ax to fall, not sure of which ax would be the quicker, less painful one. Gaia had been getting the more-than-a-friend vibe from Jake for a few days now, but she’d chosen to ignore it. Mostly because acknowledging it would require acknowledging the fact that she was also attracted to him and Gaia was definitely not ready to go there.

  Not just yet.

  Whenever she allowed herself to admit she liked a guy, only anguish ensued.

  “I was wondering if you might want to—”

  Jake’s question was interrupted by a sudden, blinding light that was directed right into his eyes. He held up his hand to shield himself and the beam moved to Gaia’s face. She squinted against the stinging pain and sat up, her boots scraping against the grainy surface of the rock.

  “What do you kids think you’re doing out here at this hour?” an authoritative voice asked.

  The light finally moved away and Gaia was able to distinguish the outlines of two NYC police officers through the pink dots that were floating across her vision.

  “Just hanging out,” Jake said, pushing himself to his feet. He was slightly taller and more than slightly broader than either of the men in blue.

  “Yeah, well, it’s not the safest place to just hang out these days,” the chubbier of the two cops said, eyeing Gaia as she stood. He shone his light along the ground, looking for beer cans, crushed joints—anything that could allow him to give more than the usual amount of hassle to Jake and Gaia.

  “We’ve had a number of attacks in this area of the park in the past few days,” Cop Number One said. “I suggest you two move it along, for your own safety.”

  “Sure,” Jake said, leaning down to grab his jacket. “No problem, Officer.”

  He used his jacket to nudge Gaia’s arm and they turned and scrambled down the side of the boulder. Gaia sighed as she fought for her footing on the steep side of the rock. She appreciated what the cops were trying to do, but they’d obliterated her perfect moment. Of course, they may have also saved her from an awkward, embarrassing, tongue-tied conversation with Jake about his “so, listen.” Little did they know they’d just added “rescue from ill-fated romantic interludes” to their duties as New York’s finest.

  Gaia jumped the last few feet to the ground and landed next to Jake. He shoved his arms into his jacket and straightened the collar as they started to walk. For a few blissful seconds there was total silence—aside from the faint honking of car horns somewhere out on the streets that surrounded the park.

  Then, Jake tried again. “So, anyway, as I was saying—”

  “Hey! No! Help! Help!”

  It took Gaia a split second to realize that she wasn’t hearing her own desperate get-me-out-of-here pleas, but actual shouts of panic.

  “It’s coming from over there,” Jake said, taking off.

  Gaia was right at his heels, slicing through toward what sounded like a struggle. They suddenly emerged into a small clearing and saw not one, but two middle-aged women in jogging suits, flattened on their backs by four men in jeans and do-rags. Two of the men were each holding a woman down and two of the men were yanking at each of their clothes.

  Gaia took one look at the tearstained and desperate face of the woman closest to her and felt her fingers curl into fists.

  “Hey!” Jake shouted at the top of his lungs.

  All four men stopped and whipped their heads around. At the instant of surprise, Jake and Gaia both launched themselves at the clothing-gropers and tackled them off their victims. As Gaia tumbled head over heels with her man, she saw the two women struggle to their feet.

  “Go!” Gaia told them, flipping the assailant over and digging one knee into his back. A second guy wrapped his arm around her and yanked her off his friend. “Get out of here!” she screamed at the joggers.

  The stunned, shaken women seemed to come to at that moment and they wisely ran. Gaia was thrown away from her second man and she had to fight for her balance. As soon as she found her footing again, she got her game face on. Jake was working his best Matrix-worthy moves on his two guys as Gaia’s men circled, leering at her.

  “We got the girl, Slick,” one of them said, punctuating his statement by spitting at her feet. “Aren’t we lucky?”

  Slick looked Gaia up and down slowly. “You said it, buddy.”

  If you’re feeling so lucky, come and get me, Gaia thought. Quit wasting my time.

  Slick came at her then with a clumsy one-two punch, which she easily blocked. She thrust the heel of her hand up into his nose, waited for the satisfying crack and the spurt of blood, then turned around, hoisted him onto her back and over her shoulder. He landed on the ground in front of her, clutching his nose, rolling back and forth and groaning in pain.

  Gaia looked up at his friend and lifted her eyebrows. “Ready?”

  He let out a growl and ran at her. Gaia was about to throw a roundhouse at him when Jake shouted her name. She looked up at the last second and saw a third guy coming at her from her left. Glancing at their trajectories, Gaia quickly ducked, crouching as low to the ground as possible. She smiled when she heard the thwack, then stood up and slapped her hands together.

  Both of the thugs were laid out on the ground, unconscious. They’d smacked heads coming at her and knocked themselves out. It was almost too easy.

  “Amateurs,” Gaia said under her breath, stepping over one of the bodies.

  “Nice work,” Jake told her, reaching out his hand. They high-fived and Gaia noticed that the fourth guy was also unconscious, crumpled into a seated position against a tree.

  “You, too,” she said.

  They looked up when they heard rustling in the dark and the huffing and puffing of approaching men. The two cops that had roused them from the boulder came skidding into the clearing, hands on their holsters. They took one look around at the men on the ground, then gazed at Gaia and Jake, stunned.

  “What happened here?” Chubby Cop asked, looking impressed against his will. “I thought we told you two to move along.”

  “And we did,�
� Jake said, opening his arms. “You’re welcome.”

  Cop Number Two shot Jake a wry smile as he knelt down to cuff Slick. “And now you can hang out while we get your statements, wise guy,” he said.

  Gaia and Jake exchanged a quick smile and leaned back against a thick tree trunk to wait. The side of Gaia’s shoulder pressed into the back of Jake’s and she didn’t move away.

  “They’re gonna take credit for this, aren’t they?” Jake whispered.

  “Probably,” Gaia replied.

  “Figures. I feel like Batman. I keep kicking ass and there’s no one I can tell about it,” Jake said. Then he smiled and nudged his shoulder back into hers. “ ’Cept you.”

  Gaia felt the corners of her mouth tugging up slightly. What was wrong with her? Was she actually enjoying flirtation?

  “So, Gray’s Papaya after this?” Jake asked as the cops roused the two knuckleheads that had run into each other.

  Gaia’s stomach grumbled. “Definitely.”

  She tucked her chin and turned her face away from him, smiling for real. She’d been doing this forever—beating up toughs in the park, ducking from or dealing with cops, then going for a post-fight midnight snack. But she’d been doing it forever alone. And she’d always thought that was the way she liked it. Yes, actually. That was the way she had liked it.

  But now. . . now she liked having someone there. She liked having Jake to share all this with. She liked having an . . . ally.

  Huh. Maybe it’s true, Gaia thought, an evening breeze tickling a few strands of her long blond hair against her face. Maybe things can change.

  Venom

  TOM MOORE SAT AT THE SMOOTH metal table and glared across at the prisoners. His spine was straight, his fingers clasped into a knot, his elbows just slightly off the edge of the table-top. He breathed in and out deliberately, maintaining his composure—maintaining his calm.

  Just another set of criminals. Just another day.

  “Are you going to say anything?” Natasha asked.

  “I’ll ask the questions,” Tom spat back instantly. He could taste the venom in his own mouth.