Dove walked back inside the mall, the cold, artificial air was a stark contrast to the heated exchange she had just witnessed between El and Mike. She tossed the remains of her ice cream cone into the nearest trash can as she made her way back toward Scoops Ahoy. She walked through the food court, weaving through the sea of mall-goers. The neon lights and bustling shops brought an odd sense of calm—something about the mundanity of it all felt like a welcome distraction.
Dove walked into the ice cream parlor and followed Steve as he motioned for her to head into the back room. The faint hum of the ice cream machines faded as they passed through the swinging door, stepping into the quieter, more cramped space behind the counter. Boxes were stacked against the walls, and a small whiteboard hung on the wall. The words on it stopped Dove in her tracks.
Written in neat, blocky letters were a few lines in Russian, along with what looked like a series of numbers and notes scribbled beside them.
"What the hell?" Dove muttered, narrowing her eyes at the board.
Steve walked past her, hands shoved into his pockets as if he was trying to downplay whatever chaos was happening. "You might wanna check this out," he said nonchalantly, as though he hadn't just led her into a conspiracy theory.
Dove's attention shifted to a table in the middle of the room where Dustin and Robin were crouched around a tape recorder, the tiny device playing the familiar message her brother had discovered the night before. Robin was scribbling down notes while Dustin, with a gleam in his eyes, looked entirely too focused on the task at hand.
"Dustin!" Dove snapped, walking up behind her brother and swiping at his notebook. "Are you seriously still on this Russian nonsense?"
Dustin's head jerked up, startled. "It's not nonsense! It's important!" He shot back, pulling the notebook back into his lap.
"Important?" Dove's eyebrows shot up in disbelief as she leaned over the table. "I told you that it's just some random broadcast about cats. Why are you wasting your time with this?"
"It's not random!" Dustin insisted, his voice rising with excitement. "It's a secret message, and we're gonna save America!"
Dove sighed, glancing at the whiteboard again. "This is insane." Her eyes trailed over Dustin's notes when something familiar caught her eye. She stepped forward, reaching for a small Russian translation book sitting on the edge of the table.
"Is this..?" Dove trailed off, her eyes widening in recognition. "Dustin!" She snatched the book from the table. "You stole this from me? This was a gift from my boss!"
Dustin winced. "Okay, okay, yes, I borrowed it. But it's for a good cause, trust me!"
Dove groaned, flipping through the pages of the well-worn book. She felt her irritation spike as she skimmed over the phrases. "I need this for work. How could you—?"
Robin interrupted from the other side of the table. "Wait, you can speak Russian?"
Dove glanced up, surprised by the sudden attention. "Not really. I mean, I know some basic phrases, but that's it. Enough to help with our Russian clients at the law firm."
Robin perked up, exchanging a look with Dustin. "That could actually be useful."
Dove rolled her eyes. "Seriously, guys, I don't think—"
Robin pressed play on the recorder, and the room filled with garbled Russian. Dove crossed her arms, her annoyance clear, but as the words played out, a few phrases stood out. She tilted her head, concentrating.
"Something about a gray cat in China," Dove said, frowning.
"See?" Dustin exclaimed triumphantly. "We're on to something!"
Dove shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. "What exactly is it about a gray cat that screams secret spy mission?" Dove looked between the two of them, realizing with a sense of inevitability that they weren't going to let this go. With a resigned sigh, she plopped down into the chair next to them. "Alright, fine. I'm in."
They spent hours after that, huddled together in the small back room. Time blurred as they rewound the tape over and over, piecing together the message word by word. The mall had closed by the time they cracked it, and the fluorescent lights overhead buzzed faintly as Steve locked up the parlor and joined the rest of the group.
Robin scribbled down the completed translation on a piece of notebook paper. She handed it over to Dove, who read aloud, her tone dry with disbelief.
"The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west." Dove let the paper fall to the table, folding her arms and shaking her head. "I told you it was nonsense."
Dustin, of course, wasn't convinced. He immediately launched into an excited explanation of how it wasn't nonsense at all, gesturing wildly as Robin chimed in, piecing together theories of her own.
Dove leaned back in her chair, her eyes glancing over to Steve, who stood at the door. The weight of the day's work and the hours of decoding seemed to settle into the air as he pulled the door closed with a soft click. Walking through the dimly lit food court, their voices echoed off the tiled floors, bickering over what they had uncovered.
"Honestly, I think it's great news," Dustin said, his voice breaking through the silence as they passed a row of empty tables.
Steve, clearly unconvinced, shot him a disbelieving look. "How is this great news? So much for being American heroes," he muttered, keeping pace next to Dove.
"It's total nonsense," Dove added, a tired sigh escaping her lips. She glanced at the darkened storefronts, wondering how they were still even talking about this.
"It's not nonsense," Dustin insisted, not ready to let it go. "It's too specific to be random. It's obviously a code."
"A code?" Steve echoed. "What do you mean, a code?"
Dustin grinned, a gleam in his eye. "Like a super secret spy code."
Dove raised an eyebrow. "That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"
Robin turned her head slightly, considering Dustin's theory. "I don't know, is it?" she said, her voice taking on a thoughtful tone as they passed under the flickering neon lights of the mall's closed arcade.
Steve groaned in disbelief. "You're buying into this?"
Robin shrugged. "Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say? 'Fire the warhead at noon?'" Her tone was playful, but the weight of her words lingered.
"Exactly," Dustin said, jumping in with confidence, his pace quickening as if he were piecing together a puzzle only he could see.
"And our translation is correct," Robin continued, her eyes bright with the thrill of discovery. "I know that for sure. 'The silver cat feeds'—why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message?"
"Exactly," Dustin echoed, his excitement bubbling over. "Evil Russians."
Dove shook her head, the skepticism still heavy in her chest, though something about the whole situation gnawed at her. It was hard to ignore how specific it all seemed. Still, she kept her thoughts to herself, unsure of what to believe.
Robin smirked, glancing back at Steve and Dove. "I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but yeah, totally evil Russians."
Steve suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes fixed on something ahead. He left Dove's side, striding past her with purpose. She watched as he made his way to a mechanical horse kiddie ride near the entrance of a closed toy store.
Dove furrowed her brow, glancing over at him. "Steve?"
Robin and Dustin were still walking ahead, oblivious to Steve's sudden distraction. Dove turned fully toward him, confusion etched on her face as he began patting his pockets.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Steve didn't answer right away. His fingers fumbled through his sailor shorts, searching for something. "Do you have a quarter?" he asked, his voice oddly serious.
Dove blinked, taken aback. "A quarter? Why do you need a—?"
"Do you have one?" he asked again, turning to her with an urgent expression.
Dove blinked in confusion but reached into her purse, fishing out a single quarter. When she handed it to him, he nervously fumbled it, the coin slipping from his fingers and clattering loudly to the floor.
Robin stopped, looking over her shoulder. "Are you tall enough for that ride?" she teased, eyebrow raised.
Dove watched as Steve knelt down to scoop up the quarter, her curiosity now piqued.
Steve moved quickly, inserting the coin into the machine's slot. The mechanical horse roared to life, an old, tinny melody crackling through the speakers. The song filled the quiet mall, and Steve looked up at her, his expression tense and expecting.
"Oh my God," Dove murmured, realization dawning on her as the mechanical horse came to life. The tinny music playing from the machine was unmistakable. "It's the music from the tape."
"Holy shit," Dustin breathed, his excitement reaching a peak as he quickly shrugged off his backpack and pulled out the tape recorder. He pressed play, confirming their theory as the familiar tune echoed through the empty mall.
"I don't understand." Robin said. "Maybe they have horses like this in Russia."
Steve stood back, pointing at the logo on the side of the ride. "Indiana Flyer?" he read, his voice steady. "I don't think so. This code didn't come from Russia. It came from here."
The four of them stared at the machine, the cheerful music now seeming more eerie, laden with a hidden meaning that sent a chill through the otherwise warm evening. As the horse continued its mechanical trot, the truth clicked into place—this was no random broadcast. Dove glanced around at the quiet food court, the air suddenly feeling heavier.
The last echoes of their discovery still buzzed in the air as they made their way toward the parking lot. The cool night air hit Dove as they stepped outside, the distant hum of the town filling the space around them.
"This is..wild," Robin said, shaking her head as she glanced back at the darkened building.
"We meet again tomorrow, and we figure out what the hell this means."Dustin said, eyes bright with excitement.
Steve chuckled softly. "Yeah, man. Tomorrow."
Robin's bus pulled up to the curb, its brakes hissing as it came to a stop. She waved at the group, stepping onto the bus with her usual nonchalant air. "See you tomorrow, weirdos."
"Later," Steve called after her with a wave, watching as the bus disappeared down the road.
As the three of them continued to the parking lot, Dustin yawned, stretching his arms out. "Man, I can't wait to crash. I'm dreaming of code-breaking and being a hero tonight," he said with a smirk.
"Yeah, well, don't get too comfortable, hero," Steve teased, ruffling Dustin's hair. "Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."
Dustin laughed and gave Steve a playful shove. "You're just jealous 'cause I'm gonna crack the code before you."
As Dustin turned toward Dove's car, Steve hesitated. He glanced at Dove, then at Dustin, before speaking. "Actually, Dustin—there's something Dove and I need to tell you."
Dustin blinked, looking between the two of them. "What's up?"
Dove opened her mouth to speak, the truth balancing on the tip of her tongue. Dustin looked so happy, so full of life after their little adventure at the mall. The idea of dimming that light weighed heavy on her, and before Steve could say another word, she jumped in.
"Steve's gonna give you a ride tomorrow," Dove said quickly, her voice steady, but her heart pounding in her chest.
Dustin frowned, confused. "Wait, what?"
Dove forced a smile. "I've got to go into work early. You know, internship stuff. So Steve's going to pick you up instead."
Steve blinked, caught off guard by Dove's sudden change in direction. He shot her a look, but Dove kept her focus on Dustin, hoping her brother wouldn't pick up on the tension lingering between her and Steve.
"Oh," Dustin said, a bit surprised. "That's it? You guys had me worried for a second. Thought something serious was going on."
Dove let out a small, relieved laugh. "Nope, nothing serious. Just making sure you've got a ride so you can keep being a hero."
Steve recovered quickly, nodding with a smirk. "Yeah, man. We'll crack this Russian thing wide open tomorrow, no problem."
Dustin grinned, his earlier excitement returning. "Awesome. Thanks, Steve."
Dustin gave them both a thumbs-up before hopping into Dove's car, blissfully unaware of the tension in the air. Dove stole a glance at Steve, catching the softening in his expression—a mix of understanding and quiet relief. He gave her a small nod, as if to say he understood the choice she'd made.
"See you tomorrow, Dove," Steve said softly, his voice carrying a hint of something unspoken.
Dove nodded, sliding into the driver's seat, the weight of the truth they hadn't shared still pressing on her. She glanced at Dustin, who was happily adjusting his backpack in the passenger seat, completely oblivious to the undercurrent of emotions swirling between her and Steve. She knew that for tonight, she had made the right call.
Steve climbed into his own car, casting one final look her way before they both drove off into the night. They knew that the real conversation couldn't be avoided forever. But for now,they left it behind—at least until tomorrow.