Chapter Twenty-Two: Playing Spies

"Play with me, Jack," Emily Vaughn said, tugging at the untucked hem of her brother's t-shirt.

"Not now, Emily," Jack responded distractedly, gazing out the window into their front yard.

"Please." A quick glance at the little girl showed Jack that she was giving him the big puppy dog eyes that never failed to get her what she wanted from their father. His mother used the same look from time to time. Women.

"I don't want to play with--" Jack stopped short as he watched a black car pull up across the street. There was something familiar about that car. Where had he seen it before? "Let's go outside," he said suddenly.

"Mrs. Simmons said no 'cause it's supposed to rain," Emily responded solemnly.

"Do you do everything you're told?" Jack asked impatiently. Oh, right, of course she did. She was perfect. "Come on," he urged. "It'll be fun, I promise. We're going to pretend to be spies."

"Spies?" Emily's eyes widened.

"Yes. Spies," Jack confirmed. "Come on, let's go-- no, wait," he said, stopping the little girl as she started to bound out the door. "We're spies, remember? We have to be sneaky. See that car?" Emily nodded that she did. "Okay. We don't want whoever's sitting in that car to see us."

"Why not?"

"What do you mean, why not?" Jack threw his hands up in exasperation. "You'd make a lousy spy, Emily."

"I would not!" she cried.

"Shh," Jack said. "Let's go outside before Mrs. Simmons catches us. And remember, the game is not to let the person in the black car see us."

"Okay," she said with a shrug.

Jack took he hand and led her through the house to the door that led into the garage. A couple of times along the way, they had to duck out of the way to avoid being seen by Mrs. Simmons, and they both broke into fits of relieved giggles once she'd passed by. It was fun, being spies.

Once they were outside, they pressed themselves against the side of the house, moving slowly toward the front yard.

"Okay," Jack whispered, once they neared the front of the house. "Once we're in the front yard, whoever's in that car will see us if we're not careful. What we've got to do is run from tree to tree very fast. When I get to the one by the sidewalk I'm going to climb up so I can see better."

"But you don't have any bino-calers," Emily pointed out.

"Oh. You're right," Jack said with a frown. Maybe he wouldn't make such a great spy, either. "Okay, Emily. I'm going to give you a mission."

"What's a mission?" she asked with a frown.

"Well, this time," he whispered. "Your mission is to--"

"Why are you whispering?"

"Don't ask so many questions," he said impatiently. "Okay, here's what I want you to do. Go back inside through the garage, then sneak into Dad's office-- without Mrs. Simmons seeing you, Emily-- and take Dad's binoculars from his desk. Then bring them to me. But be sneaky when you bring them. Don't let the guy in the car see you."

"We're not supposed to play with Dad's bino-calers."

"He won't mind this one time," Jack assured her. "Now go get them, okay?"

Emily nodded uncertainly and headed back along the house toward the garage. Jack rolled his eyes. Fat chance she'd get them and get back outside without getting caught. Oh, well. She'd just been in the way, anyway. Now he could get down to business.

He set his sights on the tree nearest him, frowned, and broke into a run. It was hard to tell whether the guy in the car was watching him or not. Rats. He shouldn't have had Emily go after the binoculars, he should have had her make a distraction. Stupid. He really wasn't doing such a good job as a spy.

Nevertheless, it was too late to back out of this mission now. He ran from tree to tree as quickly as he could, finally reaching the one closest to the street. He paused for a minute to catch his breath, then began climbing. Though he really wouldn't be able to see much till Emily brought him the binoculars.

He was only halfway as far up the tree as he'd meant to go, though, when he was startled by the sound of a slamming car door. His eyes flew to the familiar car across the street, and he watched as a familiar man stepped out. Well, not so familiar. But someone he'd seen before.

And he felt himself lose his grip on the branch he was clinging to, and he fell backwards out of the tree.

The man had vanished by the time he stood up, as had the car. Jack didn't waste any time.

He hurried into the house, ran to the kitchen, and picked up the phone.