CH. 5
The next day, the She Spies walk into Cross's office for their meeting. Amy isn't with them, which quickly becomes apparent to Cross.
"Before you ask, Amy's talking to Duncan," explains Cassie.
"Yeah, she mentioned something about wanting to see how he was doing with an invention of his," adds DD.
Cross raises an eyebrow.
"I didn't believe it at first either, but that's what she said," confirms Shane.
"I see," says Cross, relaxing a little now that he knew where his niece was. "So, how did you ladies fare last night?"
"Shane got puked on," says DD, smirking.
"Hey! That was only because I was cleaning toilets. It's not my fault that lady was drunk," says Shane, defending herself.
The conversation almost continues, but Cross interrupts before it can go any further.
"I meant with the assignment," he says.
"Right," say DD and Shane.
Cross looks at Cassie, expecting her to be acting a little more mature than the other two.
"Well, we didn't have much luck on the assignment end of things," starts Cassie.
"Yeah, but we found out plenty about Amy," adds DD, only hinting about what she and Amy had spoken about the night before.
"Like what?" asks Cross, crossing his arms.
"She's got a boyfriend, for one," says Shane.
"I know that," says Cross like it was no big deal.
He only says that because he doesn't know that Gavin is her boyfriend. Amy and Gavin had always referred to Gavin as Dave, just to make sure no one would find out who he was. Not to mention the fact that Cross was remembering Amy's boyfriend as a person with dirty blonde hair. The photos that he had seen of Gavin were of him with dark brown hair. Only a select few people knew that the dark brown was his real color. The dye was just another ploy to conceal his true identity. Cross has no idea that his niece's boyfriend, the one that he has met, is Gavin, the one they're looking for.
"Really?" says Shane sarcastically.
Cross nods.
"Yes. Anything else that you found out about Amy?" he asks, interested to know if anything would tell of Amy going back to her old habits. Despite the fact they don't get along anymore, he still cared for her and he didn't want to see her falling into old habits.
"And she knows the owner of Magic Eight," added Cassie.
"Did you find out how she knows him?" asks Cross, curious.
"The only thing she said was that she knew him through a friend," explains DD.
"I see," says Cross, trying to remember if Amy ever mentioned anything about Magic Eight Billiards before. After a moment, he comes up with nothing. Since he works for the government, he can't help but be a little suspicious, especially because of what had happened in the past with Amy.
"Well, I'd advise you keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't regress into old habits," he says.
The She Spies nod in agreement and voice their agreement and voice their acceptance. They've noticed Amy seems to be hiding something, but they haven't been able to figure out what.
"As for your assignment, I hope you ladies make some progress tonight. Otherwise your record will be tarnished," he continued.
"Was that supposed to be a compliment about our job?" wonders Shane to the other She Spies.
"I don't know, but we should take it. It's not very often Cross even comes close to complimenting us," replies Cassie.
"Good point," says Shane as she and DD nod in agreement.
Cross rolls his eyes at the women's conversation and uncrosses his arms. He pushes the intercom button on his phone.
"Duncan, can you send Amy in here please?" he asks, talking into the speaker.
"I'll be there in a minute, your highness," comes Amy's voice.
Cross and the She Spies look down at the phone for a moment, having expected to hear Duncan's voice and not Amy's. The She Spies grin at Amy's comment to Cross.
A moment later, Amy comes into Cross's office, holding back a smirk. Cross stands up and walks around his desk.
"Good afternoon," he says simply, with no emotion.
Amy smirks and crosses her arms.
"Why you being so nice?" she asks flatly, feeling like her uncle was up to something since lately he rarely took the time to greet her.
"I'm just greeting my niece. Is there a problem with that?" asks Cross, crossing his arms again and leaning back on his desk.
"It is when it seems like you're up to something."
The She Spies watch in silence as the conversation continues between Cross and Amy. They know better than to interrupt a family dispute, especially one involving Cross.
"Well, judging by what they tell me," he says, motioning towards the She Spies, "It seems that you're the one who's up to something."
"Oh great. Now you've brainwashed them to?" Amy asks frustrated, uncrossing her arms.
She sighs and looks back at Cross with obvious frustration on her face.
"I haven't brainwashed them. They've become very perceptive, as it is an important requirement of this job," he states.
"Sure," she says sarcastically, looking away.
"If you would calm down, you would be able to tell that they were just looking out for you."
"You mean looking out for you to make sure I don't go back to doing drugs again," she says, looking back at him.
Before the She Spies can object to what's being said, Cross speaks.
"Have you?" he asks flatly.
"No," she replies just as flatly.
"Are you telling the truth this time?" he asks, again almost void of emotion.
"I was last time too. But did you believe me? Nooo," she said.
"So, who's staying with Amy tonight?" interrupts DD, before anything else can be said.
Cross and Amy's gazes finally unlock and fall on the She Spies. Before Cross can say anything, Amy speaks.
"Actually, I figured Duncan and I could hang out tonight," she says.
The She Spies look at her in disbelief and cross raises an eyebrow. None of them can believe that she'd voluntarily listen to someone talk technical garb for an entire night. Amy can tell by everyone's expressions that they're not completely sure she's telling the truth.
"I'm serious. He's going to help me fix my laptop," she explains.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," starts Cross, feeling that Amy might be a little too headstrong for Duncan to handle.
Amy sighs.
"Relax, Uncle Uptight. I'm not going to do anything to him. Or otherwise," she insists.
The She Spies can tell that Cross doesn't want to give in to Amy - probably because, by the way he seems to feel about her now, Duncan may not be able to handle her. Cassie speaks up, feeling that it will help the situation, even if only a little.
"You know, if Duncan stays with Amy, that means there would be three of us working on the assignment," she says.
"Yeah, and it will be easier with three of us to get information," adds DD, catching on to what Cassie was doing.
Cross contemplates the situation. His gaze settles on Amy as he realizes that he's not going to win this argument.
"Fine, but if I get a call from Duncan-" he starts.
"RELAX," interrupts Amy.
"It would be easier to relax if I could still trust you fully," he says.
Amy sighs in frustration and walks out of Cross's office. The She Spies stand there, unsure of what to do next. Cross uncrosses his arms and walks back around his desk before shuffling through some papers.
"What was that about?" Shane asks Cassie and DD.
"I'll explain later," replies DD.
"Don't you ladies have an assignment to work on?" asks Cross, not looking up from his papers.
"Right," says Cassie.
With that, the She Spies leave Cross's office, ready to continue with their mission. That and they were also ready to get away from all the tension that was filling the room.
Amy sits silently by Duncan who is sitting on the She Spies' couch. Cross and the girls decided it was best if the two stayed at the beach house, that way they would always know where they were. That, and it would be easier to sense if anything changed - whether it be a smell or something out of place.
Duncan flips the power switch on Amy's laptop, turning it on. It turns out that Amy had had a virus on her computer, which is what was making things messed up.
"If this starts up normally, the virus will be totally gone," explains Duncan.
Amy nods in understanding and waits to see if the computer will start like it should. After a few moments, the welcome screen comes up before finishing the start up process. Luckily, everything proceeds normally.
"There ya go," says Duncan, smiling and looking over at Amy.
She smiles at him, happy to have her laptop finally fixed.
"Thanks. I couldn't figure out how the heck to fix it," she says.
"Well, the problem was simple," starts Duncan, looking back and forth between Amy and the computer screen while motioning with his hands, "You must've visited a website that caused the initial download of the virus. Once it got onto your laptop, it started working it's way through the motherboard. It's a good thing you caught it so soon, because if it had seeped any further into your computer system it would've been like a virtual meltdown on your computer."
"That woulda sucked," Amy replies, thinking about what it would be like if that had happened, "Woulda had to get a new laptop."
Duncan wasn't used to having people let him finish explaining things, and he rather liked it. Amy actually found the stuff he said interesting. Sometimes anyway. Other times it seemed like babbling. In her mind, she had motives for listening to some of his speeches, which is why she was tuning in so much.
"So, you hungry? I have money for pizza," says Amy.
"Sure, I'm actually starving. I haven't had much to eat today, so food would be greatly appreciated," replies Duncan.
"Cool. Any particular toppings you want?"
"Not really. Just no anchovies," answered Duncan, wrinkling his nose a little.
"Okay. One anchovy pizza coming right up," she said, smiling.
"But I said -" starts Duncan.
"Relax, Duncan. It was a joke," says Amy.
"Oh," replies Duncan, looking down.
"I'll be right back," says Amy.
"Okay," answers Duncan.
Amy shakes her head and goes to the phone so she can order the pizza. Duncan watches her for a moment, pondering what Cross had said earlier that day.
""I don't see why he's making such a big deal out of the situation. Amy seems fine to me," he said to himself.
Amy hangs up the phone and walks back over to Duncan.
"Pizza'll be here in about half an hour," she says.
She gets a few steps towards him when she realizes that he's staring at her.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" she asks.
Duncan shakes his head and blinks, returning to the current moment. He looks at Amy.
"Sorry. I was just commenting to myself how different you were than what Mr. Cross said you were," he says.
"Everyone says that," she replies, rolling her eyes and sitting next to him on the couch, "Sometimes he exaggerates."
"Really? He doesn't seem like one who exaggerates."
"Okay, so he only does when it's about me. He's too straight-laced to exaggerate very often," she admits.
"Oh," says Duncan, absent mindedly looking at the computer screen.
After a few moments of silence, Amy plops her hands onto her knees, making a slight clapping noise.
"Well, I think I'm going to check my email real quick while we wait for the pizza," she says.
"Right. I'm just going to use the bathroom while you do that," says Duncan, standing up.
"'Kay," she says.
Duncan leaves the room to use the She Spies' bathroom. As he does his business, Amy opens her inbox. Luckily she had the type of email on her computer that allowed her to access her messages without signing onto the internet. After a few moments, she comes across and email from Gavin. Curious, she clicks on it. As she reads it, her eyes go wide.
"He was serious," she says out loud.
The email was basically explaining how angry Gavin was at Cross. He was so mad, he wanted revenge. Amy picks up her cell phone and dials Cross's cell number.
"Cross," comes Cross's voice.
"Hey, Uncle Quentin," says Amy.
"Amy? I wasn't expecting to hear from you. Did something happen?" he asks.
Cross was at home and the only calls he was expecting was either the She Spies or Duncan.
"Yeah. I got this email-"
"An email? Is that what this is about?"
Just as Amy is about to answer, she hears car brakes screeching on Cross's end, followed shortly after by a loud crash. An accident has just happened outside Cross's home, causing the power to go out. He rushes over to his window and looks outside to see the accident, naturally curious to know what happened.
"Amy I've got to go. An accident just happened and the power went out. I've got to turn the lights back on," says Cross.
"But-" starts Amy.
"I'll talk to you in the morning," he says.
With that, he hangs up the phone. Amy sighs frustrated and hangs up her cell as well. She runs her hand through her hair as she scans the email once again, trying to figure out what to do next. Her eyes fall on Duncan's keys, which are sitting on the chair next to the couch, next to his jacket. She immediately stands up and goes over to them. After picking them up, she goes back over to the coffee table and writes a quick note on a nearby pad to Duncan. Once the note is written, she stands up again.
"He's gonna pay," she says.
With that, she picks up her cell and leaves the beach house, not bothering to shut her laptop off. Seconds later, Duncan comes out of the bathroom.
"Hey, Amy. I had a question," he says.
He looks around for a moment, expecting Amy to be somewhere in sight. Just as he realizes that she isn't there, he hears a car peal out of the driveway. He looks out the window to see Amy driving away in his car. His heart starts racing as he rushes over to the window. He is unsure of what to do or think, since Amy hadn't said anything about going anywhere. He hadn't even known that she had a license. One of his first thoughts is that Cross may've been right about her. As he thinks and worries, his eyes fall on Amy's laptop screen. He notices something on the screen and goes over to read it.
"Oh no," he says, immediately nervous after he reads the email.
Then he sees Amy's note and reads that as well.
"She was telling the truth," he says to himself.