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  "Look, just give me a couple of weeks to get it together, all right?" Mary whispered frantically. She could feel herself starting to panic. "I swear to God, I'll get it to you. It's just ... I don't--I mean, my family will be suspicious if I start taking money out of the bank in huge amounts, so--"

  "I don't need your life story, sugar," he interrupted coldly. "I just need that five hundred bucks."

  She shook her head. "I ...I ..."

  "Don't think you can hide. I know where to find you. I can come up to that swanky Park Avenue apartment, or I can wait for you downtown. Makes no difference to me. And this time if that psycho blond bitch tries anything, I'll be ready."

  "Don't touch her," Mary whispered instinctively. God, why did he have to drag Gaia into this mess? Well, actually, she knew the reason. Gaia had kicked the shit out of him once already. His reputation would be severely damaged if rival dealers found out he'd been beaten up by a girl--twice.

  He laughed again. "Fine. You got twenty-four hours. You know where to find me. If you don't, I'm coming to find you."

  Mary opened her mouth to plead with him one last time. But the line was already dead.

  SAM FULLY EXPECTED THE RAGING BATTLE in his head to be over. He'd made his decision. Or rather, Heather had made his decision for him. She'd been incredible. Like some kind of wild goddess. A month on the rocks did wonders for a relationship. Especially the physical part. There was no way anybody could top the way Heather made him feel last night. None. He still couldn't quite believe it. Even in memory it seemed more like a crazy, erotic dream than reality.

  Call Number Two ...

  So why was he miserable?

  Well, for one thing, he was stuck in his dorm room the day after Christmas. Aside from him and the security guard, the entire place was deserted. And he couldn't go to Heather's because she was up visiting relatives in Connecticut. Loneliness always made a person depressed. Then there was the fact that his dorm room had no windows and was the

  size of a prison cell--and was seriously beginning to reek. He hadn't changed his sheets since ...well, it was best not to think about that.

  But he was lying to himself. He knew it. He was just making up reasons to be bummed out. Anything to prevent him from seeing the truth.

  The battle wasn't over.

  He stared at the phone, half buried under a pile of papers next to his computer. He could just call her. Right now. He could at least find out if she'd kept the chessboard. If she hadn't thrown it out, then he would finally know for sure if it was even worth this agony.

  She doesn't give a shit about the stupid chessboard, you idiot.

  Whatever. Impulsively he grabbed the phone and punched in Gaia's number, sending the papers flying.

  "Hello?" a woman answered after two rings.

  "Um ... hi." Sam cleared his throat. It must have been her foster mom. He suddenly found his palms were moist. Maybe he should have waited a little longer and planned exactly what he was going to say. "Is Gaia there, please?"

  "May I ask who's calling?"

  "This is, uh ... this is Sam," he said.

  "Oh, hi." Her voice suddenly brightened. "I'm Ella."

  "Uh ... hi," he answered awkwardly. Why did she sound so pleased to talk to him? She didn't even know him. His mouth was dry. "How are you?"

  "Very well, thanks. And you, Sam?"

  Was it his imagination, or was her tone a little ... flirtatious? She was speaking very quietly and intimately. It kind of gave him the creeps.

  "I'm fine," he said. "So ... "

  "I'm sorry, sweetie. Gaia isn't here right now."

  He bit his lip. "Do you know where she is?"

  Ella sighed. "With that boyfriend of hers, I imagine."

  Snap. Ka-boom. Thermonuclear detonation. Mushroom cloud. A red haze filled Sam's brain. Nervousness turned to rage. "Who is this guy, anyway?" he found himself demanding.

  "I don't know. But whoever he is, I'm sure he isn't half as cute as you." She sighed again. "Gaia's not known for her judgment, though."

  No. She sure as hell wasn't. And Sam was going to give her a piece of his--

  Hold on. Did Gaia's foster mom just call him cute? Yeah. She did. But how could she even know if he was cute or not? She'd never even seen him. Blood rushed to his face. This was more than creepy....

  "Sam? Are you there?"

  "Uh ... yeah--yeah," he stammered clumsily. "Listen, can I ask you something?"

  "Anything," she answered in a sultry whisper.

  His skin was starting to crawl. "I just want to know if you've ever seen her with, um, a new chessboard," he said. "You know, playing chess."

  "I sure haven't. I think she plays chess in the park--"

  "Thanks," he cut in, slamming the phone down on the hook.

  Well. There it was. Not a lot of gray area. Nope. Gaia had thrown away the gift.

  Gaia was out of the picture.

  So. It was probably about time to give his amazingly hot, ready-and-willing girlfriend a call in Connecticut.

  "ELLA?" GAIA YELLED FROM THE TOP OF the stairs. "Did somebody just try to call me?"

  Gaia could have sworn she'd heard the phone ring while she was in the shower. She wasn't the type to imagine things. Well, she had imagined that Sam had kissed her--but that was due to a traumatic head injury. She tightened the towel around her body and ran a hand through her soaking hair.

  Call Number Three ...

  "Ella!" she shouted. "Are you--"

  "Quiet!" Ella barked. She stamped loudly up the

  stairs to the third-floor landing and glared up at Gaia. "We have neighbors."

  Then why are you yelling? Gaia wondered, but she kept a lid on her anger. She wasn't in the mood for a fight right now. "Sorry," she murmured with as much politeness as she could manage. "I was just wondering if that call was for me."

  Ella raised her eyebrows. "Why? Are you expecting to hear from someone?"

  Gaia's jaw tightened. Asking meddling, inappropriate questions was Ella's specialty. She'd probably guessed correctly that Gaia was hoping to hear from someone. Namely Sam--so he could explain why the hell he went back to his heinous girlfriend after what had happened between him and Gaia ... whatever it was.

  She drew in a sharp breath. She would not think about Sam. Never again. It was her New Year's resolution, and it was coming a little early. Besides, Gaia didn't want to hear from Sam, anyway. She wanted to hear from Mary, so she could have the opportunity to explain why she had freakishly bolted from Sam's dorm the night before. But Ella had been online half the day. And Gaia had been too embarrassed to call Mary herself. She just hoped Mary wasn't mad.

  "And would you please put something on your feet?" Ella demanded in the silence. "You're dripping all over the place. Water is bad for the carpet."

  Unbelievable. But Gaia simply plastered a big, fake smile on her face. Sometimes the best offense was passive resistance. Ella always got the most frustrated when Gaia refused to engage in an argument.

  "No problem," Gaia said sweetly. "I'll put something on my feet just as soon as you answer my question. Was that call for me?"

  Ella blinked. "No. It wasn't." She turned and marched back down the stairs.

  Gaia rolled her eyes. Obviously it was. Good thing Ella Niven was a wanna-be photographer and not a covert agent, like her husband. She was probably the worst liar Gaia had ever met. And it wasn't a good quality for somebody who was trying to play her husband for a chump, either.

  It was strange, though. There was no possible reason Ella could have for preventing Gaia from getting phone calls. Then again, Ella wasn't famous for making sense.

  Gaia trudged into her bedroom (not that she really thought of it as hers; it was just the room she temporarily inhabited), picked up the phone on the desk, and dialed *69.

  But instead of ringing, she heard three painfully loud and atonal beeps--the sound of a nonworking or disconnected number.

  "We're sorry," a computerized female voice

  a
nswered. "At your request, this feature has been deactivated. If you wish to have it--"

  Gaia hung up the phone. She scowled in bewilderment. Why the hell would George and Ella deactivate the *69 feature? Why would anyone ...

  CIA, Gaia suddenly realized. George probably wanted to make sure that none of the incoming calls from the Agency could be traced--for security purposes. Now that she thought about it, her father had done the same thing. Deactivating the *69 feature was probably company policy. Wonderful. Just her luck. For all Gaia knew, that could have been Sam, calling to confess his love for her. She laughed miserably. Yeah. Chances of that were approximately one in four zillion.

  But it wasn't as if she had to launch a massive investigation. Only two people in the world would possibly call her. Mary or Ed. She decided to try Mary first.

  "Hello?" Mary's mom answered after two rings.

  "Hi, Mrs. Moss," Gaia said. She realized she felt a little funny about calling--and not only because she had some explaining to do to Mary. No, it was also because the last time she'd spoken with Mary's mother had been Thanksgiving night: the very same night Gaia had discovered Mary hunched over a pile of cocaine in her room and bolted from the scene. She wondered for a moment if Mrs. Moss thought that she

  did cocaine, too. "It's Gaia Moore. Is Mary around?"

  "Oh, hi, dear!" Mrs. Moss exclaimed. "She's in the middle of dinner. I'll have her call you as soon as she's finished."

  "Uh ... thanks," Gaia murmured. She breathed a little sigh of relief. "I'll be home all night."

  "You know, Gaia, I never had the opportunity to thank you," Mrs. Moss said. "If it weren't for you, Mary never would have gotten on the track she is now. We owe you."

  Gaia's face grew hot. She'd never been good at accepting compliments--mostly because she rarely got them, except from old drunks who liked her blond hair. "No ... it was, it's uh, nothing," she mumbled clumsily.

  "If there's anything we can do for you, just let us know," Mrs. Moss said.

  "That's really nice of you. But I'm fine. Thanks. Bye." Before Mrs. Moss could get another word in, Gaia quickly hung up the phone. Jesus. She had nothing to do with Mary's sobriety. Mary did. She hated the idea of somebody's being indebted to her--almost as much as she hated the idea of being indebted to somebody else. Debts made it very hard to pick up and leave at a moment's notice. That was part of the reason she'd been so reluctant to be friends with Mary in the first place. Ed too, for that matter.

  She sighed. Clearly Mary hadn't called; she was

  eating. That left Ed. But after two rings the answering machine picked up at his apartment. "Hello, you've reached the Fargo residence...."

  She dropped the phone down on the hook. So Ed wasn't home, either.

  Who the hell had called her, anyway? Was Ella telling the truth? Was the call really for somebody else?

  Gaia shook her head. No. The idea of Ella's being honest was far too disturbing.

  ELLA WAS JUST BEGINNING TO FEEL relaxed when she felt the silent buzz of the cellular in the front pocket of her sweater. Her face twisted in a scowl. Loki always picked the worst times to call. She could never enjoy a single moment's peace.

  Call Number Four ...

  Oh, well. She stood and grabbed her leather coat from the hall closet. For an instant her gaze fell on a small red package--tucked back amidst a bunch of junk that Gaia would never think to search. Sam's gift. Ella allowed herself a little smile. Poor, poor Gaia. The girl would never know just how much

  the boy cared for her. It was Ella's secret. And she had to be careful. If Loki found out that Ella was interfering so dramatically in Gaia's personal affairs, she would probably wind up at the bottom of the East River.

  But a woman needed her diversions.

  Ella stepped quickly out into the brisk December night and fished the cellular phone out of her pocket. She walked west on Perry Street toward the Hudson. Christ, it was freezing. Her nose burned in the biting wind. She probably could have stayed at home, but Loki insisted that she never communicate with him in the Niven household. He was obsessive about security. Too obsessive. But she couldn't afford to take chances. He very well may have been watching her right at this moment.

  "Yes?" she answered.

  "The Moss problem may solve itself," Loki stated.

  Ella paused, smiling confusedly. She glanced up and down the block just to make sure she was alone. "How's that?"

  "She owes money to a drug dealer. He's nothing more than a street thug, but he's dangerous. He's given her an ultimatum. Twenty-four hours."

  Ella's smile widened. She began walking again, rounding the corner onto West Fourth Street to escape the wind. "What should we do?"

  "Nothing. See how it plays. I'll contact you later.

  Keep an eye on Gaia, though. Make sure she doesn't get involved."

  "Right." Ella clicked the phone shut and shoved it back into her pocket. Poor, poor Gaia indeed. So there was a good chance she would lose her boyfriend and her best friend. All within the space of a few days. It was turning out to be a merry Christmas after all.

  Top Ten Reasons I Should Avoid Gaia Moore Like the Plague and

  Never Speak to Her Again

  E D

  1. She nearly got me killed by a bunch of skinheads.

  2. She nearly got me killed by a serial killer.

  3. She pisses me off.

  4. She's in love with Sam Moon.

  5. She's involved with something really bad and mysterious that she can't talk about.

  6. This bad and mysterious thing will probably get her killed.

  7. This bad and mysterious thing will probably get me killed, too, if I keep hanging out with her.

  8. She has no redeeming social skills.

  9. Every time I think about her, I get a headache.

  10. I'm in a wheelchair, and she isn't.

  Top 10 Reasons I Should Keep Hanging Out with Her

  1. She does a kick-ass imitation of that little kid from The Sixth Sense.

  That's about it. Oh, yeah. I'm also in love with her. Does that count?

  bearded clones

  He'd learned a long time ago that it was wise to be paranoid when hanging out with Gaia.

  ED WASN'T SURE EXACTLY WHAT DROVE him to accept Gaia's invitation and meet her and Mary in Washington Square Park that night. He sure as hell wasn't psyched to play more truth or dare. No, he figured there were probably two reasons--a desperate need to be in Gaia's presence and utter boredom.

  The New Gaia

  Pretty much the usual.

  Plus he had been spending way too much time with his family the past few days. Christmas was already forty-eight hours behind him, and his parents were still planning holiday events--as if dragging him to New Jersey yesterday to visit his grandparents wasn't torture enough. For some reason, his mom and dad really seemed to believe that there were actually twelve days of Christmas--and each of those days required some kind of painfully awkward family gathering.

  At least he'd escaped for a while. And it was a little warmer, which probably explained why the park was so crowded at this late hour. Well, that and the fact that all the I'm-too-hip-for-words NYU students were coming back early from Christmas break so they could be in the city for New Year's Eve. Ed snickered to himself as he entered from the southeast. He almost felt sorry for these people --the kids on the benches in their leather jackets and baggy jeans,

  huddled around each other in tight circles for warmth. All of them wanted to pretend that they were native New Yorkers. But no amount of body piercing could alter the fact that most of them grew up in lame states like Iowa or Kansas or Montana.

  He rolled slowly along the brightly lit pathway, scanning for signs of Gaia. There was a lot of action at the chess tables, but he couldn't see--

  "Yo! Ed! Over here!"

  There she was--standing by the fountain with Mary, waving furiously. God, the more those two hung out together, the more they started to dress like twins. Gaia had bought t
he same black wool hat as Mary-- and Mary had bought Gaia's overcoat. Their outfits were practically identical. It was kind of scary.

  But what was even scarier was that Gaia was smiling.

  This had been happening a lot lately. It was a fairly strange development, as far as Ed was concerned. Before she'd met Mary, her facial expressions were pretty much limited to various forms of anger. Ed had gotten used to it. He'd come to expect it. The fearsome, unsmiling Gaia was the one he had fallen for. But Mary seemed to have some kind of bizarre normalizing effect on her, in a way that he never had. The new Gaia didn't seem to take life as seriously. The new Gaia acted like any other run-of-the-mill seventeen-year-old....

  He shook his head. Maybe Gaia was just smiling

  because she was psyched to see him. Or she was full of Christmas cheer. He should be happy that she was happy. So why wasn't he?

  "What's up, guys?" he called as he rolled toward them. "You thinking of auditioning for a Doublemint commercial?"

  Gaia smirked. "Very funny."

  "Hey, my grandma bought me this coat for Christmas," Mary said. "It was out of my hands. I swear."

  Ed shook his head, slowing to a stop in front of them. "Yeah, sure," he said with a lopsided grin. "Grandmothers never buy anything that cool. Trust me. I know. Mine gave me a pair of polyester 'slacks.' "He made little quotation marks in the air with his fingers. "Her word, not mine."

  Mary laughed. "So how was Christmas, anyway, Fargo?"

  "Boring," he grumbled. "Why do you think I came out here to hang with you guys?"

  "Because you want to be seen in public with two amazingly hot chicks," Mary joked.

  Ed flashed a fake smile. Actually, yes, he thought. You're right. The really sad thing was that Mary had no idea how beautiful she was. And neither did Gaia. They suffered from the opposite problem that Heather did. She thought she was God's gift to men. How could certain people be so insightful about others and

  yet so utterly stupid about themselves?

  "So do you feel like getting back in the action?" Gaia asked, rubbing her gloved palms together. "You've got a lot of turns to make up. We've been on a pretty wild ride so far."