Page 17 of Prickly as a Porcupine

Anson breathed a nearly invisible sigh of relief.Maybe undercover isn’t his forte either.

“See, Anson.Even a cadet gets it,” Ariel piped up as if Joline’s performance might not be convincing on its own.It probably wasn’t, as she’d never acted a day in her life.Unless you counted playing house as a child.Which was forever ago.

“What I don’t understand is how the others don’t also see Dr.Grimm’s genius,” Joline continued, wanting to play it off good enough that the guy across the room believed it, too.“Or are they trying to catch him because they’re jealous?”It was the craziest thing Joline could think of saying.She thought Ariel said something about Grimm’s genius when they first met.From some of the courses Joline took about evil scientists and their psyche, she learned that most of their minions were brainwashed to their cause.Most of them really thought they were doing the world some sort of service.A few were in it only for the money or were blackmailed into it, like Anson had been, or so Joline had heard.If the rumors floating around WANC were true, Dr.Grimm promised Anson he'd stop holding Ariel hostage if he’d help him collect more test subjects.Most followers, however, had unfortunately drank the Kool-Aid, so to speak.Joline hated to admit that Ariel fell into that category.

Ariel nodded before grinning to her brother.“I’m so glad I was able to get you to realize that again, Anson.”

He leaned back as if this was the most normal, relaxing conversation ever.Joline felt like her heart wanted to leap out of her chest.“I never forgot.I just had to play nice with FUC and ASS for a bit.”

Ariel laughed darkly.“You had me fooled.”

“If I didn’t fool them too, I’d have a tail right about now.And I don’t mean my shrew tail.”

Joline giggled.The twins looked at her with raised brows as if she’d lost her mind.She couldn’t help it.She had a nervous laugh.Before she could come up with an explanation, the waitress set their plates before them.The woman looked to Anson.“Would you like to place an order?”

He shook his head.“I already ate, but thank you.”The waitress left after the dismissal.Anson leaned forward and whispered, “Is it the guy in the corner with the coffee?”

Ariel closed her eyes and nodded her head a centimeter.If you weren’t watching her closely, you wouldn’t have noticed the movement.Damn, was she good at this spy stuff.Joline felt she was trying her hardest to look calm and not accidentally make eye contact with the guy.

Joline pushed some of her fries around her plate.“I thought you were hungry?”Ariel asked, picking up her chicken wrap.Right.Joline forgot they were pretending to be normal.She squirted ketchup on her plate before dunking a fry in it.Though her stomach was churning with worry, she had been starving before.If she didn’t eat something, she’d probably get a migraine.That would add to the inconvenience of their current dilemma.

“Are you sure you don’t want to order something?”she found herself asking Anson.

He shook his head.“He doesn’t like eating food he didn’t prepare himself,” Ariel explained softly.“He’ll make some exceptions if he’s on a road trip or something, but if he has the choice to make it himself, he prefers that.”When noticing the hurt look on her brother’s face, she added, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Anson.”She looked about to say more, but he silenced her with a look.

“Has Dr.Grimm tried to reach out to you?”Anson asked, looking glad to change the subject.Joline noticed he was as handsome as Ariel was beautiful.The pair of them could have been models if not for being recruited by an evil scientist.Joline figured their good looks made them easy to trust.Ariel made it sound like her job had been to find unsuspecting subjects for Grimm’s experiments.

Ariel’s brow wrinkled as she shook her head.“Not a peep.I thought he gave up on me.”Dejection washed over her face.Her visage crumpled like a wilting flower denied its precious water.While they were putting on a show for the man in the corner, Joline felt that Ariel was speaking the truth.Maybe when putting up an act like this, it was easier to stay as close to the truth as possible.Joline took a mental note of that, since lying was not something she excelled at.

Anson reached forward to put a reassuring hand on his sister’s arm.“I don’t blame him.I’ve played my part too well.Although I did what I had to, to get the agents to believe me.”

“Maybe too good.”Ariel looked concerned.“Grimm wanted me to kill you.”

Joline felt herself jump slightly, as if she had been electrocuted.And the way Ariel said it, Joline was certain it was no lie.She knew Grimm was a bad person, but to try to convince someone to kill their sibling?That was pure evil.

“Did he really?”Anson rubbed at his chin.“Maybe I was too helpful for FUC.I’ll admit, they did start to trick me into believing Dr.Grimm was the bad guy.I don’t know how they did that.Brainwashing, I suppose.But you’ve helped me to see the truth.I’m glad you never gave up on me.”He gave a reassuring smile.Joline hoped the smile was genuine.Maybe Anson and Ariel could play nice and patch things up when this was over.

Joline did her best to school her features.She didn’t want to let on that she knew Ariel had been avoiding her brother.Even Ariel had a brief look of shock flutter across her features as if to say that turning Anson back to her cause was, in fact, her plan.Ariel looked curious as to how Anson guessed it.Unfortunately, that made sense to Joline.When they’d first met, Ariel was certain FUC were the bad guys.So it wasn’t that hard to believe she’d want to rescue her brother from them.But why did she avoid him for so long?Joline would have to ask Ariel later.

“Now that you’re back on the right side of things, now what?”Ariel asked before taking a bite of her wrap.It reminded Joline that she should be eating, too.She lifted her veggie burger, trying not to look too mechanical and rehearsed.She wondered if this all came naturally to undercover agents, or if they, like Joline, had to constantly remind themselves to act normal.

Anson bit his lip and gently shook his head.“I don’t know.I was hoping someone would have made contact by now.”

Then Joline remembered the snake.It was so bizarre, she was surprised the encounter slipped her mind.“Ariel, I meant to tell you.After we were by the tree the other day, I found a flying snake in the grass.I think it was spying on us.”

Ariel paled.If the snake overheard their conversation, it was all about Ariel coming to terms with being duped by Grimm.That would make their act not make any sense.Before Joline could suggest that maybe it was too far away to have heard anything they said, the man they thought was a baddie got up from his corner table.The man threw some dollar bills on his table before sauntering over to them.

Joline held her breath and Anson leaned back.She noticed that as he did so, he also reached into his pocket, making Joline wonder if he had a weapon.But then he removed his hand, without a weapon, and kept his hand loose at his side, a viper ready to strike.

As the stranger approached them, something about him smelled familiar, yet she couldn’t quite place it.Though she’d bet she’d met him somewhere before.Joline wasn’t able to put more thought into it because when the man passed them, a folded piece of paper fell out of his hand onto their table.Joline wondered if it had been a mistake, if it had accidently fell out of his hand or something, since the man did it so quickly, and without looking down.

But there was another reason she didn’t exactly catch the movements of the man.At the exact same time as he passed, Anson flicked his hand out.It was so fast, Joline thought she maybe imagined it.The man didn’t seem to notice; he appeared focused on the exit.Still, the interaction left her on edge.She itched her arms, trying her best to keep her quills at bay.

Joline flicked her eyes toward Anson.“What did you do as he walked past?”

He shrugged.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Joline was about to challenge him when Ariel poked the note with her butterknife before glancing up at them.“You open it,” Ariel said to her brother, her whiskey voice wavered with nervousness.