Keeping Me (Spy Chronicles Book 2)(44)

I look in the door to Sebastian’s room to see if he’s still asleep. I’m not surprised to see that he’s sleeping with his gun on the nightstand. I’m not even sure if guns are legal in Australia, but I have a feeling Spy School gets special treatment.

Sebastian has one arm hanging off the bed, of course the side that has the gun. And he’s lying on his stomach, sprawled across the whole bed. I slept in the car yesterday, then on the plane, and I slept all last night. I guess the stress wore me out. Or maybe it was the whole running ten miles thing. I have a feeling that Sebastian won’t let me get away with only running five miles anymore, now that he knows I ran ten.

I jump when I hear the phone ringing from my room. I put my hand to my heart. I wasn’t expecting that. I walk into my room and pick up the phone.

“Hello.”

“Don’t answer that!” Sebastian yells.

“Karlie. Nice to talk to you again.”

Sebastian yanks the phone from my hand and throws it down. He grabs my arm and pulls me away from the room. We run out the door and he stops in the hallway, looking right and left.

“Sebastian, that was Nolan,” I say, still in shock from hearing his voice.

“I know,” he says. “Do we go right or left?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nolan will be coming up the stairs. Which side do you think he will come up? We need to avoid him at all costs.”

“Let’s go left,” I say.

That is enough for him. He grabs my arm and we run left.

“What happens if we run into him?” I ask.

“I fight him and you stay with me. No matter what. Do whatever you have to do to stay with me,” Sebastian says.

“Why is Nolan still after us?”

He opens the door to the stairway and we start running down the stairs.

Why did it have to be the thirtieth floor?

“Nolan works for my dad now,” Bass says. “That’s who his parents work for.”

I can’t think of Nolan that way. I just can’t. Because he was so nice to me. But I saw him shoot Gage and I have to remember him as that guy. The monster who almost took Gage’s life. The monster who almost took me.

I count down each floor as we go.

Twenty-four.

Twenty-three.

I’m surprised my legs aren’t hurting yet. I figured after a couple of floors they would feel like jello. But then again, maybe the running really is paying off.

When we round the corner on the fifteenth floor, we nearly run into somebody.

Nolan.

Sebastian grabs me and pushes me behind him.

“I’m glad you came this way,” Nolan says. “I took a gamble.”

Sebastian doesn’t want to hear it though. He swings a punch at him, which of course, Nolan blocks.

“I don’t want to fight,” he says. “I just want to talk.”

“We don’t want to talk,” Sebastian says.

“You don’t have much time. Your dad is here. He went up the other side. Really, you’re lucky you ran into me,” Nolan says. “Listen carefully. You both need to get out, but you can’t be Serenity or Karlie or Sebastian. You have to take on new identities. I’m talking hair, eyes, clothes, everything. Become somebody different. A war is coming. And you two are the prized possessions.”

“I don’t believe you,” Sebastian says.

“Despite what you think, I’m not a monster. I just wanted to be with my parents,” Nolan says.

“You almost killed Gage,” I say.

“If I’d wanted to kill him, he would be dead,” Nolan says, looking right at me.

“Don’t look at her,” Sebastian says.

Nolan quickly looks from me towards Bass. “Here’s what you do. I shut off the cameras on the left side of the hotel. They’re only off for five minutes. Get out of here from that direction and get out of Sydney. Don’t fly until you’ve disguised yourselves.”

“Why are you helping us?” I ask him.

“Because I like you, Karlie,” Nolan says.

“It’s Serenity.”

“You don’t have time,” Nolan says. “Sebastian, knock me out. This has to be realistic.”

“Gladly,” Bass says, swinging a punch at him.

This time, Nolan doesn’t block it. He falls over seconds after the punch hits, and his body hits the ground. Sebastian doesn’t stop to check if he’s okay. We just start running again. And this time, we don’t stop.





Friday, October 6





Weird.





I now have platinum blonde hair, which is weird. I’m also wearing weird contacts, so my eyes look blue instead of green. I don’t even recognize myself when I look in the mirror.

“I can’t get over how weird you look,” Sebastian says.

He has contacts that make his eyes brown. He refused to dye his hair, so he’s wearing a beanie to cover it. Good thing it is kind of cooler outside today. Plus, we’re getting on a flight to the UK and it’s cold there. So, he doesn’t look strange wearing a beanie.

I wish I hadn’t had to dye my hair. The blonde is weird. I mean, I had dirty blonde hair before, but this is different. I look like Barbie. Especially with the blue eyes.