Touch (Denazen #1)(20)

But they still saw us.

“Move!” I pushed Kale ahead and we took off into the crowd. Surging forward, he pulled his sleeves down over the tips of his fingers for extra protection. We ducked into the first store we came to—Victoria’s Secret. I grabbed a teddy from a rack and pulled Kale into the back by the dressing rooms. After a few seconds, I poked my head around the corner. One of the Denazen guys passed, peeking into the storefront as he went. He walked by without coming in.

“One down,” I said, turning to Kale. He wasn’t paying attention. His gaze was fixed on the red silk baby doll in my hand.

“What is this?” he asked, rubbing the satiny material between his fingers.

“Clothes,” I said. “For women.”

His eyes widened. “Girls wear this?”

“Yeah, but usually not for long,” I chuckled.

Kale turned as red as the teddy. “Are you going to wear this now?”

“Umm. No,” I said, blushing.

He seemed a little disappointed and I stifled a laugh.

“Come on, let’s get out of here. Maybe we can double back and hit the exit without being seen.”

Of course, that plan failed miserably. No sooner did we step from the shop than the other suit walked by. We stopped and eyed each other. It was easy to see he didn’t know what to do. Lunge for us and make a scene? Or let us walk away and follow.

“Kid,” he said. “You have no idea what you’re getting involved in. This person is a murderer.”

I adjusted my grip on Brandt’s duffle bag, the straps digging into my palm. Swinging the bag at him was tempting, but it wouldn’t do nearly enough damage. A few feet away there was a toy kiosk. Waddling back and forth on the floor was a radio-controlled robot roughly the same size as the duffle. It was probably heavier—which meant more damage—but I couldn’t use it. Not in this crowd. “He’s a murderer because you people made him that way. Something tells me you’re more dangerous to me than he is.”

He took a step forward, and I smiled.

“One more step and I’ll scream my head off that you grabbed my ass. You might be able to talk your way out of it—after a few minutes. We’ll be long gone by then though.”

The man frowned. “Your father is worried about you.”

Somewhere in the closed-off, dark corner of my soul, I wanted it to be true. I ached for it—to be Dad’s sunshine smile girl again. But I wasn’t. And I never would be. He’d turned me into his big nightmare walking—the bane of his existence. Now all that was left was for him to reap the benefits. “Maybe he should have thought about that when he lied about my mom.”

“You’re making a big mistake.”

I shrugged and took a step back. “Wouldn’t be the first, and definitely wouldn’t be the worst. Ask my dad, I’ve had a few doozies.”

He glared at me, but after a few moments of silence, stepped aside. “You still have to leave the mall.”

“I’m not worried.” I said, taking Kale’s hand. I hoped the suit couldn’t see the lie. As we walked away two more men join him. Just ahead was a fourth.

He passed us with a simple nod of his head and a wink, and when I glanced back over my shoulder, they were all following. They couldn’t have looked less casual if they’d been flipping coins and whistling.

We paused in front of the Jade Panda jewelry kiosk. The girl behind the counter snapped her gum and flipped open a magazine. Perfect. I leaned across the counter, waving my hand to get her attention.

She gave an exaggerated sigh and slammed the magazine shut. “Yeah?”

“Listen, I don’t want to freak anyone out, but I think you should call security.”

Her expression brightened. “Oh?”

I nodded my head to the left where the group of Denazen guys were huddled, now standing off to the side. “See those suits over there?”

The girl, whose nametag said Frankie, nodded. “The ones in the Armani knockoffs?”

“Yeah. I overheard them talking. Something about”—I leaned in closer and whispered dramatically—“a bomb.”

Instead of what one might consider a normal reaction—wide eyes and gasping—Frankie grinned and picked up the phone. She spoke quietly into the receiver, sneaking glances at the men who were still standing in a clump to the side.

It only took mall security a few minutes to get down to the kiosk. They spoke with Frankie—who made it seem like she was the one who heard them talking about the bomb—and approached the men.

Confusion erupted, and a crowd started to gather. It was exactly what we needed to slip away.

Score one for us!

§

Kale leaned back and closed his eyes.

I readjusted myself, trying to get comfortable. Kind of hard to do scrunched inside a plastic playground tube, but I was determined. Luckily, the jeans I’d changed into had gone through the wash with some spare change in the pockets. When we’d left the mall, I found a pay phone and called a few friends, trying to find a place for us to crash but had no luck. Briefly, I thought of heading back to Misha’s, but the look on the desk clerk’s face as we walked out the door was enough to sink that idea dead in the water. In the end, we ended up at Prospect Park, in the Mill Street section of the playground. We’d gotten in before they locked the gates, so I felt fairly safe no one would find us.