The kid in question stared down at his sneakers that werefull of holes. His dark hair was long and shaggy over his ears, and his skinhad that dull quality that happened when you didn’t eat healthy food. He’dshoved his hands into his jeans pockets, but his thumbs stuck out revealingdirty fingernails and grimy fingers.
“What’s the hold up, Valero?” Vinnie called from theback of the alley.
My dad didn’t even spare him a glance, just shoutedover his shoulder. “Just a minute.” He turned to face me. “I’ll let you knowwhen we’re ready to go. You good with everything else?”
I wasn’t good with any of it, but I nodded anyway.
Dad left me to go talk to the guys. To be honest, whatI did was a small part of the job. I created a distraction by causing a scene—classicmisdirection. While everyone’s eyes were on me, the rest of the guys slipped insideand took what they wanted.
It sounded simple. But it wasn’t. There was finesse toit, skill. Frankie and Gus could make a lot of noise, but rarely could theycapture an entire store’s attention for the necessary amount of time. The realreason Dad kept me out of school today was because I was the best damn liarhe’d ever met.
Frankie and Gus started walking over to me. Frankielooked pissed as usual and Gus looked like he could care less. Like usual. Butmy eyes were on the new kid.
My dad’s words bounced around my head like a pinballin one of those trucker games at the arcade. He’d said not to worry about thenew kid.
Yeah, right.
His eyes darted around the alley as I approached him,like he was trying to look at anything but me. He bounced up and down on hisheels, his elbows locked at his side. He was getting ready to run.
Seeing his nerves made me slow my approach. I’d metplenty of street kids over the years. The syndicate always seemed to have lowrisk, odd jobs for them that paid in hot meals or a ride somewhere. The kidsgot something out of it and the syndicate got practically free labor fromminors that didn’t know anything about the organization. It was a win foreverybody but the FBI who would rather arrest someone integral to the brotherhood,someone that they could prosecute. As long as they were low level jobs, I neverworried about what happened to the kids. But this was different.
Pulling one into an actual con meant an extra witness,someone that hadn’t pledged their loyalty to the crew.
I smelled him before I reached him and my heart kickedin my chest. He was like a stray puppy. With a broken leg. And someone had justcut off his tail, stolen his bone and then dragged him through the sewer.
Seriously, what was that smell?
“Hey,” I called out softly, trying not to spook him.“I’m Caroline.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed.“Uh, hey.”
He looked away again, dismissing me. I recognized thelook. I was dismissed a lot around my dad’s associates. Nobody thought much ofthe little girl that was always tagging along with her part-time loser of adad. Nobody noticed me when they talked business in hushed tones or passedmoney back and forth in dimly lit bars that smelled like piss and old men. Iwas just the sometimes useful child of a bookie.
But it irked me that this homeless kid treated me thesame way.
At least I had showered this morning.
“I’ve never seen you around before,” I pushed, myvoice harder, my body stiffer.
He tipped his head back and looked at the narrow stripof sky visible between the two tall buildings surrounding us. “Huh.”
He kept his mouth open and I got a good look at histeeth. He had all of them that I could see, which was surprising. And even moreconfusing was that they were mostly white. He smelled bad, but with teeth likethat, he couldn’t have been homeless for too long.
“Do you have a name?”
“No.”
I resisted the urge to growl. “If we’re going to worktogether, I should know your name.”
His head dropped and he finally met my eyes. Bright,deep, impossibly blue. I wasn’t prepared for eyes like that. Against his dirtyface, they shined like lasers. “We’re not working together. I’m doing somethingdifferent.”
My curiosity jumped inside me, like bubbles fizzing ina Coke. “What are you doing?”
His gaze shifted to Jack and Vinnie. “Somethingdifferent.”
I had decided to kick him in the shin when Frankie andGus stepped up next to us. Irritation buzzed beneath my skin. I liked Frankie.I did. But she was so pretty. And now the new kid would only pay attention toher and I would never figure out what his role was.
Or what his name was.
