“This must be the most secured butt-copying facility of all time.”
Jack whipped his car into a parking space. “It’s my dad’s office,” he said. “They’re kind of anal about security.” He smiled. “Pun intended.”
We got out of the car, and Jack punched a code into a panel on the wall, and the glass doors slid open for us.
“Evening, Jack.”
“Evening, Mike.” Jack preempted my question. “He’s one of the night watch. We have full-time security.”
“What are you guys securing here? Nuclear weapons?” Icould practically feel Chloe (or whoever was on the listening end of my feed) groaning at that question, but it’s what I would have asked if I hadn’t known anything about Peyton at all.
Jack shook his head. “It’s a law firm. We have some high-profile clients.” He whipped out a key, and once we were in the elevator, he used it to access the top floor of the building.
“If it’s so secure,” I said, “why do you have a key?”
Jack stared straight ahead as he answered. “It’s a family thing. My dad gave me one the day I turned sixteen.”
“Does he expect you to join the biz?” I asked.
Jack’s face hardened. “Something like that.”
Zee could have read more into his expression than I could (and, I thought, she probably would if my necklace was catching all of this on tape), but I got the feeling that Jack wasn’t exactly anxious to take over the evil empire. Maybe that was why he used his access to bring girls to Peyton to do inappropriate things with copy machines.
The elevator doors opened, and I was shocked that everything looked so normal. There was a large (and incredibly posh) reception desk in front of a glass wall that had the firm’s name embossed on it in scripty letters. The ceilings were high; the floors were wood. Jack immediately took a left, and I followed. I’d memorized the layout, so I knew that we were moving conveniently toward both the copy room and his father’s office.
As we entered the copy room, Jack narrowed his eyes at me. “If you tell anyone about this,” he said, “I will kill you.”
He sounded mockingly matter-of-fact, but given oursurroundings, I couldn’t help but take his words a wee bit seriously.
Jack bowed then, and without further ado he approached the copier, turned around, and went to work.
My hand went automatically to my neck, covering the necklace. No one on the Squad needed to see this.
As it turned out, though, Jack copied his butt like a professional. He hopped up on the machine, and with a little maneuvering, slid his pants down in the back.
I averted my eyes, even though I couldn’t see anything.
The next thing I heard was the sound of the copier. Moments later, Jack was back by my side. “The price of defeat,” he said, handing me the Xerox.
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. “You take defeat so well,” I said, looking at him out of the corners of my eyes. “You must be used to it.”
“Now, Ev,” Jack said. “That was almost a compliment.”
I shrugged, letting my hand fall away from the necklace. “Almost is about as much as you’re going to get, Butt Boy.”
“You know,” he said. “You’re really not very likeable.”
“Color me heartbroken.”
It took about two seconds for the smirk to take hold of his face, and I knew what he was going to say before he said it. “Your turn.” He looked toward the copier.
“I won,” I said. “Winner doesn’t pay the cost of defeat.”
I was feeling pretty cocky, but then he said the three words that put the nails in the coffin of my dignity.
“I dare you.”
I have this thing about dares. It is physically impossible for me to turn one down. My cheek twitched, and I glared at him.
