Ties and Spies 2 (Gallagher Girls)

Chapter 14 - Explanation

"I'm sorry, is there a problem?" Zach said calmly, facing the man who had grabbed him.

"I was having a conversation with Macey earlier and I didn't get to finish," Adalberto leaned over and pointed a finger inside the limo at Macey.

"Well maybe you can finish some other time." Zach stepped over to face him directly and clenched his jaw.

"It's important," Adalberto sneered.

"Not my problem." Zach smiled grimly.

"Have it your way then," Adalerto reached inside his suit and pulled out a crisp white card with black ink on it, "Give this to her."

Zach plucked the card out of his hand and gave a curt smile.

"I'll be sure to, goodbye."

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you," Adalberto sneered, walking away.

Zach let out a breath, and sat inside the limo, slamming the door after him.

"What's on the card?" Dempsey was the first to ask.

"First, I need to know what's going on," Zach directed at Macey.

"His name is Adalberto and he's the one that killed Ashaf Malashonak. In fact, he's the one killing everyone that we thought Julia killed. He wants me, or us, to help him find out why Julia is stealing these paintings and where they are located. He says they're worth millions on the black market now and he'll kill me if I don't help." Macey explained.

"Holy crap," Hale said, sucking in a breath.

"So we help him," Bex answered, folding her arms.

"Why would we do that?" Kat asked.

"Our mission is to find Julia and the paintings. We do that, and lead Adalberto along. Once we get close, we let Townsend and headquarters know and he can put Adalberto and Julia into custody at once," Bex explained.

"So we lead him there but then set up a trap, kind of?" Dempsey asked.

"Yeah," Bex replied, "Kind of."

"It'll work," Hale nodded.

"We have to tell Nadine about all of this," Dempsey pointed out.

"And we need to call this number" Zach held up the business card Adalberto had given him.

•••

Later that night when everyone was back in the suite, Kat, Bex, and Macey sat on the bed in Macey's room.

Kat wore a simple black shirt with plain black pajama shorts while Macey wore a loose white shirt with a pair of small blue pajama shorts while Bex wore a dark blue night dress.

"So what was it like?" Kat sat with her legs crossed on the plush bed.

"He just kind tied me up to a chair and then threatened me," Macey replied sitting in the same position as Kat, picking imaginary lint off of her sheets.

"Look, Kat," Macey continued, "I'm sorry for what I said the other day, you were right."

"It's okay Macey, maybe I shouldn't have been as harsh," Kat smiled.

Bex looked down, fiddling with the sheets and pretending to ignore the girls' conversation. If Macey was apologizing meant she was over Hale then that was great. Wait, why was it great? Bex wanted to shake all of her thoughts out of her head yet all she could do was arrange them. Hale was jerk, that much she knew yet, he was funny and smart. But, what did she mean to him? Was she just a toy? Bex couldn't believe she was giving him this sort of control over her it was reckless and dumb. More importantly, it would hurt Macey if she found out. Which she wouldn't. Not if Bex had anything to do with it.