I heard Élodie take a deep breath behind me, and I remembered how Angelo had called her into his office earlier. Did she know what was going on?
“If you turn in the Collective,” Dominic said, still sounding unimpressed, “you turn yourselves in.”
“Darling,” Angelo said, turning to my mother. “Tell me. Was it hard to erase our identities from the database?”
“Not at all,” my mom replied, smiling sweetly at Dominic. “I was trained so well by the Collective. So, so well.”
“And you, sir,” Angelo said, turning to my dad. “Did you have a difficult time finding people like us who were a bit exhausted by all these recent antics?”
“Of course not. They were more than happy to help us steal files.”
The color was starting to drain from Dominic’s face as I felt the blood pulse through my temples. It was as if the Collective had a termite infestation. Angelo wasn’t just going to find the termites and kick them out: he was about to burn down the whole house.
Angelo held up his phone. “Once I send these e-mails,” he said, “you’ll have about five minutes before the police arrive to get the coins from us and get out of the Louvre. And if you don’t, well, I’m sure the Russians would love to listen to your explanations. Or maybe the Secret Service. Or Interpol. It’ll be a most interesting story either way. I, for one, wish I could be there to hear you tell it.”
“There are security cameras everywhere in here,” Dominic protested. “Like they would not see you.”
“Ah, that reminds me,” Angelo said, tapping his forehead. “Forgive me, I’m an old man now, I forget things. That’s why I have friends like the lovely Zelda here.” He beckoned someone out of the crowd and Zelda stepped forward, followed by Mathieu and Markus. “Zelda, love, tell us all what you did with the security cameras today.”
Zelda held up her right hand and made a scissoring motion with her fingers. “Snip snip,” she said, then grinned wickedly. “I’m so grateful for everything that I learned about replacing security film. I can never thank you enough, Dominic. Truly.”
Dominic’s breath was coming in short, fast gasps, and his men standing beside him looked like deer in headlights. Definitely hired help. They had no idea what the Collective was or why it had been important. And why it was about to go down in flames. “You wouldn’t,” he said to Angelo. “It would be a huge mistake for you.”
Angelo held up his phone, pretended to examine it, and then pressed a button. “Oops.”
Dominic took two steps and lunged for the phone, but Angelo turned and tossed it to Ryo, who caught it and dashed up the stairs, Élodie hot on his heels.
This was the cue, I realized. This was the plan. It was time to run.
I grabbed Jesse’s hand and we turned and flew up the stairs, taking them two at a time as we shoved past tourists. Ames and Roux were behind us, dashing up past us, and Ryo and Élodie went up the left set of stairs as we took the right. One of Dominic’s henchmen followed them and I could hear the footsteps on the stairs behind us. Below, I saw my parents flying up after us, followed by Dominic, with Angelo hot on his heels.
The chase was on.
Jesse and I ran down one long hall filled with Impressionist paintings. “Do you know who has the real coins?” Jesse asked as we ran. I could see Roux and Ames darting past some sculptures and a long way away, I heard Ryo yell something unrepeatable.
I just looked at Jesse.
“Oh, great!” he cried. “Why is it you?”
“Because I don’t want it to be you!” I cried as we came to a sudden stop as Dominic appeared in the next gallery. “Go back, go back!” I yelled. We had to hold him off for another three and a half minutes before the police arrived. As it was, it was getting difficult to avoid security, who seemed flummoxed as to why a tour group was suddenly racing through the museum. “Madame! Monsieur!” we heard as we ran down a hallway filled with portraits, away from the Mona Lisa. It was by far the most crowded part of the museum, like gridlock in the middle of a car chase, and we didn’t want to get stuck in it.
I saw Zelda and Mathieu zipping by, followed by one of Dominic’s hired men. Zelda had a huge smile on her face, like this was her favorite part of the job, and she waved at me as she ran past. I just spun around a corner, though, and saw Angelo and my parents running down a set of stairs back toward the first floor. We followed them, hurling ourselves back to the ground floor and around a corner. I had looked at a map of the Louvre, but now I was just trying to stay in motion, literally running out the clock.
Three minutes to go.
That’s when I realized I had lost Jesse.
He wasn’t behind me and I couldn’t see him in the crowd. My heart, which had been keeping up a steady beat, seemed to skid to a halt, and I whirled around to look for him, but he was gone. “He’s fine,” I told myself. “He’s fine. He doesn’t have the coins.” But I didn’t feel any calmer, and my anxiety started to climb as I ran toward the end of the building, looking for any boy with curly hair.
And then I saw it at the end of the hall. Dominic stood in front of the elevator, his hand on Jesse’s shoulder, squeezing just a bit too hard. Jesse was wincing a little and when he saw me, his face fell. “No, Mags,” he mouthed, but I shoved my way through the throng of tourists trying to see the Venus de Milo and arrived in front of both the love of my life and my archenemy.
“You don’t want him,” I told Dominic. “You want me.”
“You are so pathetic now that you are in love,” Dominic hissed at me. The crowd waiting for the elevator was deep and loud—no one could hear us whispering back and forth. “I’ve been watching you for years, Maggie. You used to be great. Now you’re just useless.” He paused for a few seconds, then added, “Why Colton wanted you, I have no idea.”
I patted my hip, right where the coins rested in my pocket. “How useless am I now?” I said, trying to catch my breath after my mad dash through the museum.
Dominic’s eyes widened when he saw the outline of the coins, but he tried to hide his nerves. “I knew you’d have them,” he sneered. “You’d never let anyone else take the fall.” He squeezed Jesse’s neck hard and Jesse winced again.
“You want me,” I said again, not wanting to see Jesse in any pain ever again. “Let him go.”
A crowd of security guards came around the corner just as the elevator doors opened. All three of us took one look at the guards, then Dominic tossed Jesse away and grabbed me instead, hustling us into the elevator. “Mags!” Jesse yelled, and I saw my parents and Angelo round the corner, all of them watching in horror as the doors slid shut.
Chapter 36
The elevator was hot and stuffy with tourists and Dominic tightened his grip on my wrist. “If you scream or say anything …” He didn’t have to finish his threat.
“Nice cuckoo clock collection,” I muttered back. “I bet your mistress loves them almost as much as your wife does.”
A muscle tightened in front of Dominic’s ear. The bones in my wrist were starting to ache under his clutch, but I didn’t say anything. I had only one minute now, and I knew Dominic was aware of the time as well. We both wanted this to be over with as fast as possible.
The minute the doors opened, Dominic shoved us out and down the hall, shifting his grip from my wrist to the back of my neck. I marched ahead of him but reached my hand under my shirt to grasp the necklace Jesse had given me, feeling the tiny knife and compass, cold against my fingers.
Dominic pushed me toward a set of doors that read NO ADMISSION. “Open it,” he said.
“I don’t have my tools,” I replied. “I can’t do it.”
He shoved me hard and I bounced into the door, losing my breath a little. “Do you think I am kidding?” he asked. “Do you think this is a time to be funny?”
Dominic, of course, knew what we all knew: I would never leave without my tools. “It might not work,” I said, pulling a pen cap out of my back pocket.
“Oh, I’m sure it wi
ll work,” he said, letting my imagination run wild with all the painful possibilities that could occur if I didn’t get the door open.
It took less than a minute, but I scrubbed it open and it popped with a click. Dominic wasted no time in getting inside, forgetting to shut the door behind him in his haste. It was an empty room, half-finished with construction, the paint fumes strong and definitely not environmentally friendly. “Here,” I said, reaching into my pocket and thrusting the velvet bag at him. “Have fun with them.”
“You think it’s that easy?” Dominic asked, but he took the coins anyway, tucking them into his inside jacket pocket. “You think that’s all?” He grabbed my wrist harder and I felt the bones grind together. “You think you just humiliate me, break into my house, ruin my security? You lead me on a chase around the world and ruin everything I have made? Everything!”
I whimpered despite myself, but the pain wasn’t terrible. All I could really feel was anger, sheer, white-hot anger that coursed through me and numbed the hurt.
“You ruined everything I made!” I yelled at him. “That was my family, my home! You’re like a snake in the weeds. You just take whatever it is you want and you don’t care who gets hurt! You tried to kill my family! You’re as terrible as Colton Hooper!”
The reaction was exactly what I wanted.
“Colton was an amateur!” Dominic seethed, his hand tight on my skin, so tight that I could feel it pull together, and I flattened myself against the wall. “He didn’t even realize what he had!”
“What, a job?” I baited him. “A job and a really bad plan to kidnap me?”
“Exactly!” Dominic spat. “That’s all he wanted. You! You were a child! What could you possibly do for him? He had an army at his disposal and he goes for a girl.” Dominic looked disgusted, his anger getting the better of him. My wrist was starting to burn with pain, but I ignored it.
“An army?”
“I kept telling him, mobilize! Mobilize!” Spittle was collecting in the corners of Dominic’s mouth, he was so impassioned. “Take these people and use them! You have their lives in your hands, sometimes literally! Stop wasting time on documents and CEOs and go for the money, the power!”
“And why didn’t he?” I asked, trying so hard not to wince. I sort of succeeded.
“Because he was scared.” Dominic sneered. “And weak. He didn’t know what he had, so I decided to show everyone what could be done.” His eyes were nearly spinning; he was drunk on the idea of the sort of power that was at his fingertips. “Colton turned the Collective into a joke. I’m here to fix it.”
“Pity you won’t succeed,” I replied. The anger was making my heart race and I could see the vein in Dominic’s neck pulsing. “It’s all over now,” I said. “Angelo never bluffs. You’re going up in flames.”
“As if I would go without taking you with me.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” I spat, then reached under my shirt, yanked hard on my necklace to break the chain, and twisted the knife in my fingers to bring it straight into Dominic’s cheek while driving my knee directly between his legs.
He almost sank to the ground, one hand going to his cheek as he dropped my wrist. “Help!” I cried as I turned and started running down the hall. “I’m an American tourist trapped by a madman!”
Within a minute, the second floor of the museum turned into an even bigger sea of humanity. Museum workers came running, followed by security, followed by Angelo, my parents, enough tourists to fill the Eiffel Tower for a week, Roux, Jesse, Ames, Élodie, Ryo, Zelda, and blessedly, the police.
“He attacked me!” I cried, putting on my best wounded face. “I was just here to see the Mona Lisa and he attacked me! This would have never happened in Boise!”
Roux, sensing that it was her time to shine, threw herself into her role. “My friend!” she cried. “She’s my friend, we’re from America! WHO IS THIS MADMAN?”
My father was arguing with the security guard, flashing his docent badge as Angelo spoke French with a police officer, showing his own credentials. “Are you all right?” Jesse whispered, rushing to my side and grabbing my arm. “Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” I whispered back. “Go help Roux.” All I really wanted to do was hug him until my arms fell off, but there would be time for that later.
Right now, we still had a job to do.
Jesse immediately waded into the situation, raising his voice as Élodie came over and started to translate his words. “He says that you are an American and you have been mistreated,” she whispered as she pretended to console me. “And this sort of treatment will not stand! He has quite a gift for this language, do you know that?”
“He surprises me every day,” I whispered, trying not to let my love for him show.
“Now Angelo says that you got separated from the group,” she continued. “Your father says that this museum really needs to improve security or they will lose money—here, put on my sweater, you don’t look traumatized enough—and Jesse, good boyfriend that he is, is still making a scene. As is Roux, of course.”
I hid a quick smile as I tugged on Élodie’s cardigan. In the throng of people, I saw Ryo and Ames slip away, no doubt heading back to the tunnels. Zelda caught my eye and held up her phone, showing me a quick glance of the actual security cameras, then winked at me and disappeared behind the boys.
My father was really letting the security guard—who seemed humbled by the screwup—have it, and Roux was still going on as Jesse joined her, shouting in French at the top of his lungs. “He just wants his beloved city to be safe for his friends,” Élodie translated. “This world is too precarious for such dangers!”
“My hero,” I murmured.
“Ow, my eye!” Jesse muttered quietly as he wrangled with Roux, who was trying to climb over him, her American angst in full effect.
“My friend could have died!” she wailed. “Will someone please think of the children?”
“Do they have Dominic?” I whispered to Élodie.
“Yes,” she whispered back. “In handcuffs.”
“Then go,” I told her. “I’m fine.”
Élodie nodded and pretended to go talk to some tourist. As soon as it was safe, she disappeared down the stairs. My mother caught my eye and I saw the emotion in hers before she too left behind Élodie. My heart twisted when I saw her leave, but just then my dad grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, still yelling in French.
“We will take her back to the group,” Angelo said in English to one of the police officers. “We do not want to press charges. She is fine.”
My dad’s fingers were tight on my arm and I could feel him shaking a little with emotion. “I’m fine,” I told the officer, but I was really saying it to my dad. “Can I see the woman with no arms now? I want to take a picture.”
“They are lying!” Dominic suddenly screamed. “They are thieves, all of them! They are liars! Angelo! Angelo, I swear I’ll kill you!”
“Delusional,” Angelo clucked. “Let’s get this young lady back to her group, yes? Thank you, gentlemen. Too bad your security is not quite up to the same standards as your kindness.”
My father ushered me toward the stairs. “No elevator,” I whispered, and heard him laugh a little.
“Never,” he replied, and we hurried down the stairs; Roux, Jesse, my mom, and Angelo on our heels; did a quick loop past the Venus de Milo in case someone was watching; and then slipped out of the museum to the screams of Dominic Arment echoing behind us.
Two cars were outside this time and my father hustled me into the one that had Zelda behind the wheel. Roux, Jesse, and Angelo got into the one behind us, but I ran back just before Jesse climbed in and kissed him. “Good work,” he said, then kissed me back harder. “See you underground.”
“Chop chop!” I heard Zelda yell. She was smoking a cigarette, her lipstick staining the end, and I nodded at her as I got into the car, still a little flushed from the excitement and kissing Jesse. “Thanks for keeping an
eye on me, Zel,” I said.
“D’accord,” she replied.
I crawled into the backseat, straight into the arms of my mother. She was weeping even before she saw me, and when she hugged me, I started to cry, too. “I was so worried!” She sobbed.
“I’m fine.” I sniffled against her shoulder. “I’m really okay.”
My father wrapped his arms around both of us, and Zelda, obviously not one for sentiment, started the car and pulled away from the curb.
We sat hugging each other for a few moments before I sat up and wiped my eyes. “I’m fine,” I said. “I swear, we’re all okay. But where were you? What happened?”
My parents looked at each other over the top of my head. “We were destroying what’s left of the Collective,” my mother finally said, then shrugged a little. “We had been thinking about leaving for a while, ever since the Colton Hooper incident opened our eyes to what was really happening. But this solidified it for us.”
“Your mother destroyed the records of all the innocent spies who had worked there,” my dad continued. “We spoke to all of them, and those who hadn’t already left were ready to leave.”
“And those who wanted to stay, had a good reason,” my mom added. “They were working with Dominic, stealing money, trading arms, the list went on and on. I’m sure you’ll see it on the news, sweetie.”
“You think?” I said. My head was still spinning. “So … where do we live now? We can’t go back to the loft. What about school?”
“You can still go to school if you want,” my mom said. “I have a feeling that anyone who wants to hurt us or our family will be in police custody in about, oh, two hours or so.”
I sat back against my seat, trying to take it all in. “The Collective is over?” I finally asked. “For real?”
“It’s the realio dealio,” my dad said, reminding me that even though I had missed him terribly, I hadn’t felt deprived over losing his truly terrible sense of humor.
“So what’s my name?” I asked. “Who am I?”
My mother smiled and pressed her mouth to the top of my head. “You are Maggie,” she whispered, “and you are wonderful.”