Chapter 4

It was hard to take all of the suspense, knowing that any moment a crazy criminal could jump out and attack Frederick Chase. But still, I stayed where I was, gritting my teeth as I listened to the ever-so-calm music that was playing, along with the even calmer dancers.

The big clock at the back of the room ticked, and I realized that I had no idea when the ball was over, nor how long I had been here. But there were definitely less people here than before.

As I walked around, still inspecting, something caught my eyes - a black figure, right before it disappeared behind a pillar. Quick and eager, I dashed toward it, pushing some people out of the way and trying not to trip over others. But when I reached the pillar and looked behind it, no one was there. Sighing, I turned around and found myself face to face with the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

She had curly blonde hair that was tied up in a loose bun, and wore a long, glittering blue dress covered in gemstones that trailed silk which swished around her ankles. She looked just like a princess, except for the angry death glare she was giving me.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, her voice just as cold as her face.

"Why do you need to know?" I shot back.

"Because I don't know who you are. You could be some sort of spy working for -" She stopped herself before finishing.

"Gabe Ugliano?" I decided to intercede, knowing who she was going to mention.

She raised her eyebrow. "Who?"

I sighed. "The guy who tried to rob Frederick Chase."

"His name is Gabe Ugliano? Who is he? And where did he get the guts to -"

"The police just figured this out," I continued, remembering that it wasn't technically official, "or so they believe. Wait, who are you?"

The girl blushed a deep red, which countered the previous look of anger on her face of which, thankfully, was now gone. "I'm Annabeth, Frederick Chase's -"

"Daughter?" I replied. No wonder she was so beautiful, with those sparkling… Don't get distracted, I scolded myself.

"Yeah," she mumbled in reply.

I noticed something. "You seem ashamed of that. Why?"

"Well, it's just that everyone always expects so much regality of out of me, but I'm not like that."

"Is it because of that blonde stereotype?"

Annabeth shrugged. "And I'm not greedy or spoiled, either, as Frederick Chase's daughter is probably expected to be… Wait, why am I telling you this?" She gave me that glare again, with those interesting (and sparkling) gray eyes.

"Right, uh, I didn't tell you who I am, which is just a guy…" I stuttered in reply, though Annabeth didn't seem to buy it.

"How come you're -"

Just then, there was a shout of terror followed by many other screams and the sound of scrambling. Annabeth and I turned to both of our worst nightmares - well, I had been expecting it - a fat man dressed in a dark cloak was standing over Frederick Chase, a knife in his hand.

"Not so many guards to help you now, eh, Frederick?" the man hissed, making the party guests continue to back away, horror-stricken.

There were too limp bodies on the ground next to him. They were the guards, I saw, both stabbed in the stomachs. And it looked like Frederick Chase was next.

"I'm not scared of you," Mr. Chase shot back, though there was a slight waver in his voice. "And I'm not going to let you take my money, not because I'm greedy, but because I know that you aren't going to use it for good."

"Ha! Good! Who actually uses their money for good?" the man shot back.

I knew that it was now time for me to intercede. Pulling out my gun and shoving Annabeth behind me, I stepped forward and the crowd cleared a path. When I was closer to the criminal, I shouted, "Put your weapons down and place your hands behind your head."

The man's back went rigid, though a smile peeked through his cloak when he turned toward me. "Is that a teenager's voice I hear? Wow, the standards have gotten really low, they're sending teenagers after me."

You got a problem with teenagers? I wanted to shout back, but resisted and tightened my grip on my gun. "I said: put your hands behind your head. And oh, I'll shoot if you don't."

A slight growl came from the man's hood. "This isn't over, boy. You won't ever catch me." He shifted so that I could see his face, look into his dark eyes, and indeed, it was Gabe Ugliano, but no one else except me knew that. "And now I've got two people to go after."

Then, he turned and pushed through the crowd, heading for the door. It was a clever trick; I knew I couldn't risk a shot at one of the party guests. So, beaten, I let him escape into the night.

The guests were still in a panic as I walked back toward Annabeth, who looked angry but also shocked. "Was that…" she began.

I nodded. "It's him."

"But you never told me that you worked for the police!" she yelled.

"Yeah, that's because I'm a secret F.B.I. agent," I replied in a quieter voice.

"But, people might have already figured that out…"

"Which is why I have to get out of here." I started toward a back exit, but Annabeth stopped me by grabbing my hand.

I glanced down at this, then looked up at her. "What?"

"I'm coming with you," she said in a voice so stern I thought the ground would shake.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, because I'm a secret agent and you're a -" I didn't want to say just a girl, because clearly Annabeth would rip off my head if I did, but she seemed to decipher it that way.

"I'm more than you think I am."

And so she led me out of the ballroom and out into the cold night air. "Wait," I told her. "Your father -"

"Will be too surrounded by guards to get to me," Annabeth finished. "His men will keep him back. They're probably looking for me, too, but we're heading to my house, which is where they'll take my father."

"Not very safe, considering that was once the scene of the crime -"

"Well, we're not going to live on the streets from now on. And I bet this… Gabe Ugliano… won't attack the same place twice."

"I hope you're right," I answered as we started down the street toward the Chase house. I guessed we were following Annabeth's plan, because it seemed like a pretty good one.