Heglances in the direction of the carousel before his eyes meet mine again. “Knowingthe source of the fear and getting rid of the feeling are two entirely different things.”
Igrab the top of his arms. “WinstonOliverBaldwin.”Alook crosses his face that tells me he’s surprised thatIknow his full name. “Isee your debit card every timeItake your order.Yourname literally beginsandends with ‘win.’Youcan do this.”
Oneside of his mouth pulls up in a smile. “Mylast name also contains the word ‘bald,’ butI’mnot hoping for that.”
Itry not to laugh becauseIwant him totake my next words seriously.SoIlook into his eyes until he knows how sincereIam. “Ibelieve in you.You’vegot this.”
Hegives me a resolute nod that tells me he trusts me.Thenhe says, “Okay, let’s do it.”
CHAPTER 11
OPERATION: PANDA AND SEAHORSE
OLLIE
Itfeels like it has taken ages, but the carousel is finally in view.Ikeep looking all around for anyone who might come over and,Idon’t know what, exactly.Atthe very least, grab the case from us and run off with it.Evenif it does look a lot more like a woman’s purse right now instead of the cheap promotional briefcase-shaped tote it is.EspeciallysinceDaisyis wearing it like a purse.
DaisyandIare still holding hands, which somehow already feels like the most natural thing ever.Eventhough it is still causing nerves and excitement to flow through me.
Ofcourse, that could be leftover from our kiss.Whichwas unexpected and also the most glorious thingI’veever experienced.Iknow thatDaisywas doing it as a way to “hide” from the guy in the suit, but it wasmind-blowing and like no other kissI’veever had.Whichmakes sense, becauseDaisyis like no other womanI’veever known.
Itwas clear from the kiss thatDaisyrather enjoyed it, too.Iwould’ve thought that kissing her and having it be a great experience would make it even easier to ask her out.AndIdesperately want to ask her out.Butthat kiss being so perfect just adds to her perfectness, which makes it feel like she’s even more out of my league.Itake a deep breath.ButIwillask her out.Iwill find the courage to take that risk.
“Arewe supposed to getonthe carousel?”Daisyasks.
Ihave no idea.Itry to think back to every snippet of any spy movie orTVshowI’veever seen.Peoplepassing information to an operative usually do it in a unique location.Oran airport, for some reason.Buta place where other things are happening so it isn’t as obvious.
“Idon’t know.Hewould’ve said ‘by the fence surrounding the carousel’ or ‘in the line for the carousel’ if it was one of those, right?AndIguess if we got on and then he got on, it’d be easy for him to grab the case from us as he was walking past to his spot.Hewouldn’t want us hanging out at the fence around it like we’ve got a child on the ride that we’re watching.”
Daisynods. “Thatsounds reasonable.”
Sowe get in line andIglance at my watch.Judgingby how many seats are on the carousel and how many people are in line,Ithink we’ll make it on the ride with the next group.Whichis good, since we are supposed to meetJacein just under two minutes.
Whenthe ride stops and everyone gets off, the worker at the gate lets us through as almost the very last people.Thereare only two seats left that are by each other, soItake the one on the outside andDaisytakes the one on the inside.Ihaven’t even noticed what animals we are sitting on untilDaisysays, “Ooh!Igot a seahorse!”ThenIlook down and see thatI’msitting atop a panda eating bamboo.
Themusic begins, the ride starts going around in a circle, and our animals start moving up and down about as slowly as the ride is turning.I’mlooking around—Ikind of expectedJaceto be by our side already.Orfor us to at least have spotted him.
Daisymust be thinking the same thing, because she shrugs and says, “He’san intelligence operative.He’llprobably suddenly appear.Afterhe grabs the bag, he’ll disappear just as quickly.”
Inod and keep looking for him as my panda goes up and down.ThenIhappen to turn my focus outside of the carousel and seeJacestanding at the short fence surrounding the ride, looking at us like he’s confused as to why we are on the ride.
“Therehe is!”Daisysays and works to pull the bag off her shoulder.Thehandle isn’t big, so it’s on her armpretty tight.Shemanages to get it off and holds it out toward me, andI’vegot a hand out toward her, keeping my eye on whereJaceis, because we’re almost around to him again.
Thenshe jerks it back. “Wait!Ilike this jacket.”Shehurries to remove the bobby pins and take the jacket off of the case.Jaceis motioning to me, trying to tell me something, butIcan’t tell what before the ride goes around and away from him too much.
Daisyholds it out to me again, andI’mholding it and trying to find something to hook my inside leg on soIcan lean out far enough to pass the case toJaceas my panda goes up and down to the music.Whenwe come back around again,Jaceis shaking his head and holding up both hands like stop signs.Thenhe holds up one finger.
“Ithink he wants us to wait until we get off,”Daisysays as she puts her jacket back on.
Yeah, that would probably be way less conspicuous than whatI’mcurrently attempting.So, we finish out our ride, smiling awkwardly every time we come back around toJace, with me praying that the ride will end soon.
Eventually, it does, and we hurry off and go directly toJace. “It’sall in there,”Isay asIhand the case to him.Neverhas something so light felt like such a weight on my shoulders.
“You’rethe best,Ollie,”Jacesays. “Thankyou.Andthank you,Daisy, for completing the mission with him.Iowe you both a big debt of gratitude.Theinformation in here could help us to save a lot of lives.”
Iam grinning, and my chest feels so light.Ihelped to save lives today.Ilook over atDaisy, and she is grinning, too.Wedid this.Together.
Awoman’s voice somewhere behind me calls out, “Jace, you made it!” andIturn to look for its source.Awoman with wavy brunette hair that goes a little past her shoulders is walking toward us, and she has others with her.
