Double Crossed by Ally Carter Read Free Book Online Page A

auction.
    “Ooh,” Abby said, looking down at one. “A week in a Tuscan villa? Jealous.” Abby giggled a little. She sounded more like a young woman than a government agent as she walked slowly down the table, fingering each item in turn.
    “Oh, look,” she said, stopping. “You won this one, Mr. Calloway.” Abby picked up the antique clock that Hale’s mother had been examining earlier in the evening. She glanced back down at the clipboard. “Looks like you were very aggressive. You must have really wanted it.”
    “Well, I did,” the son said proudly. “Eighteenth century. Not terribly valuable, but I’m a collector, so I couldn’t—”
    “Oops,” Abby said as she dropped the clock and it shattered on the floor. “I’m such a klutz,” she said, but no one was listening to the words—they were too busy staring down at the pile of rubble on the floor with the yellow necklace lying in the center.
    “Well,” Abby said, “I guess now we know why the gunmen didn’t have the necklace with them. It looks like the man who planned the heist was meant to take it home all along.”

    There were protests and excuses, calls to attorneys and proclamations of innocence, but none of it really mattered at that point—not to Hale and not to Kat. Not even to Macey, who walked, barefooted, with her two new friends out of the elevator and into the palatial lobby of the Athenia Hotel.
    As the NYPD officers led the handcuffed man outside, only the tall dark-haired woman in the very trim suit seemed to look the three teenagers’ way.
    “Macey,” Abby Cameron said as she strolled in their direction, “your mother and father would like a word with you. They’d also like to give their thanks to Mr. Hale….” Abby eyed him skeptically. “Evidently, they are under the impression that he fought valiantly to save you. For the sake of your cover I would recommend you not correct them.”
    “I never do,” Macey said, and started to saunter off. But at the last minute Macey stopped and turned.
    “Thanks, Kat,” she said, then quickly added, “Just so you know, I’m not a hugger.”
    “That’s okay, Macey. Neither am I.”
    And then Macey McHenry flashed Kat a million-dollar smile. She looked like royalty as she asked, “What are you doing next?”
    Kat shrugged. “I might go to Rome. There’s a Raphael there I kind of need to… acquire .”
    “That’s funny.” Macey laughed. “There’s an ambassador’s son there I kind of need to kidnap. Maybe we’ll see each other around.”
    “Yeah,” Kat said. “Maybe we will.”
    But as Macey and Hale walked across the lobby, Kat was certain that no one was going to see Macey—the real Macey—on first glance. And Kat smiled at the fact. She totally knew the feeling.
    “So, Kat,” Abby said slowly. She looked Kat squarely in the eyes and it was like the lobby went still. Abby had that effect on people and places, Kat had realized. Of her many secrets, one of them had to be that she had the power to make time stand still. “It was a pleasure working with you tonight.”
    “You too,” Kat said. “Without you…”
    “You would have been fine,” Abby said; then she seemed to realize the weight of the words. “I mean it.”
    “Thanks. But we might not have gotten this.” Then Kat reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a diamond necklace so bright and pure and brilliant that it seemed like the entire city of New York had to stop and watch it shimmer.
    “Is that…” Abby started slowly. She seemed almost afraid to reach out for the stone.
    “Oh,” Kat said. “This is the real thing, all right. Here.” She held the necklace out for Abby to take, dangling ten million dollars away from her like she was worried the temptation might be too much. “See that it gets back where it belongs, okay?”
    “So you did swap it out for the fake?” Abby said as if part of her had been wondering.
    “Of course,” Kat said. “Hale and Macey slipped me