Chapter 35
“Yo Amber,” I greeted her on the video chat.
“’Bout time, maang,” she responded, one elegant brow up. She had long ago nicknamed me hawk in Ojibwe.
“Well, I put off contacting you as long as possible because I hate to stare at your ugly mug,” I said.
She smiled, and of course it was beautiful. “Hah. Better get those hawk eyes checked, maang. What’s up?”
“I need a social media expert,” I said.
“I saw and yes you do. I’ll help if I can record this front to back and share it on my media.”
“Hmm. Promise not to clip me up to look like a fool?”
“I would never… unless you crossed me badly.”
“Good. Let’s do it.”
“First, let’s catch up. You were the one that got that guy on the train right?”
“He thought he was getting me, but I had a surprise ready for that kind of occasion.”
“Poppy’s help?” she asked. I just nodded. “And you were involved in the pharm-assassins, right?”
“Pharm-assassins?”
“That’s one of the better nicknames for them,” Amber said. “Not great, but popular. How about that kidnapping in Hollywood?”
“She’s a seriously smart girl. She left a message and I happened to read it.”
“Sure, like a note on the fridge but in some weird CSI type code or something that no one else could possibly figure out, right?”
“Well, it was a series…”
“Never mind. I just want to know if Trevor Baltin is as hot in person as he is in movies?”
“Yup. I can confirm that one. Nice guy, too.”
“So I have a shot?”
“Meghan is a smoke show.”
“Not as smoking as me though?”
“Can’t lie, Amber. She’s fine.”
“Remember that whole crossing me thing?” she asked, frowning.
“They’re both like thirty or something. Too old for you,” I said. She started to open her mouth, but I beat her to the punch. “But they know all the hottest stars—the young ones.”
“Hmm, I like the sound of that. You took off pretty fast after your dad’s funeral,” she noted.
“They were coming.”
She nodded. “Yes, they were. And they did. They were all over the casino, all over the town. I had to talk to that Cramer dude. Fucking dumpster fire, that one. If you had stayed a couple hours longer, they would have had you.”
“He doesn’t give up,” I said. “He’s tried against the FBI.”
“They damned well better be keeping you safe with all the work you’re doing for them. They pay you?”
“Yeah. It’s been fun though. I get to do what I do on a big scale—actually a huge scale—and it helps people,” I said.
“You certainly helped all those politicians that would have been poisoned next,” Amber agreed.
I shrugged. “Lots of others too.”
“You, my little maang, are nothing if not consistent. Alright, let me work my magic with my followers,” she said and ended the call.
“How was that?” I asked, turning to Candace, Arjun, and Peeta, who all watched from the side of the room, along with Agents Steele and Carmine.
“That was good. Very good,” Candace said. “Unscripted. Casual. And that nickname… maang?”
“It means hawk in Ojibwe. Like I see things like a hawk.”
“But you also have an army team name? Hellcat?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m considered kind of scrappy, I think.”
“More than kind of,” Arjun said. Candace and Peeta turned his way. “What? I’ve still got connections.”
“You were military… Army… Second Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Second Infantry… Korea,” I said as the realization hit me.
His eyes widened. “How the hell…?”
I pointed at his hand—more specifically at the gold ring on his right hand. It featured a tiny stylized eight-wheeled combat vehicle and 2ID.
“You recognize individual units?” he asked.
“If I’ve seen it, I know it. Benning has unit emblems for probably most of the Army. I started collecting them there, in my mind, and since then, any unit of any branch of the military that I’ve seen, I make sure to know the details.”
Rose Carmine snorted. “We told you.”
“It’s different to see it… in action,” Arjun said.
“And that’s something to consider,” Candace said, turning to Steele. “Not David Copperfield stuff, but a few casual displays like that.”
“Why?” he asked.
“The problem with Cassie is she comes across as capable, fit, pretty, and intelligent, but not a savant,” Candace said. “People sort of expect a savant to be different; odd, maybe. Not a college coed athlete. The public won’t buy it.”
“Ah, hence Rainman,” he said.
“Yeah, not my finest but a truthful display of common bias,” Candace answered.
Something she said before I met her, perhaps. Yes. A savant is often associated with the spectrum.
“And casual is more impactful because it’s spontaneous, organic, and not performative,” Peeta said. “Society is trained to see magicians perform mentalist feats. But someone who does it consistently in the normal course of a day… Well, that has impact.”
“You are exactly right,” Rose said. “I didn’t believe her either, but she just kept doing things while acting like a sassy college kid.”
“Sassy?” Candace asked. “She seems very polite.”
“Well, hang out long enough and prepare to be sassed very politely,” Rose said. “Unless you piss her off. Then it starts to cut.”
“Right under that bus,” I said to her. “Like, it wasn’t even slowing down and you just chucked me like a bag of fruit.”
“Shoe fits, Cassie. Shoe fits,” Rose said.
“Oh, wow, a whole new dynamic to explore,” Peeta said, clearly delighted.
“Red, what’s the damage?” Steele asked his cell phone.
“Fast trending on Insta and X, slower uptake on Facebook and others. Cassie’s name and hometown was leaked along with her father’s military background.
No pictures were released in the initial leak, but influencers have been digging and found a judo award ceremony photo, a National Honor society photo, and this year’s high school yearbook photo. ”
“That yearbook has a photo of me with the cheerleading girls on one of the school life pages,” I said.
“Speak of the devil,” Red said.
“Wow, all our work is done for us,” Arjun said, manipulating his tablet to show seven different social media feeds on the wall monitor.
“Shit, we got lucky,” Candace said, pointing at Amber, who was sitting slightly in front of me in the photo, holding court while I sat cross-legged, working in my notebook.
“What are you doing there?” Candace asked.
“I helped classmates understand lessons. I’m writing up a worksheet for the cheer squad, some of whom were not the best students.”
“So most of these girls owe you some thanks?” Peeta asked.
“All of them.”
“Excellent.”
“Amber and three others have acknowledged you on their personal feeds,” Red announced, which made Arjun scramble with his tablet. “She hasn’t released any of the video yet.”
“No, she’s too smart to drop it early,” Peeta said. “Let the trend build, ride it for a bit before dropping her bombshell. It’s literally the first interview of any kind with you, Cassie, and she scored it.”
“And she knows she can get more,” Candace said.
“Alright, we need to line up the mainstream portion of this. Director Brown and whoever else he picks to make an announcement. Then he introduces you, Cassie, maybe for questions and answers with the reporters. It would offer opportunity for casual display. After that, an interview with one of the biggies.”
“Let’s put it together,” Steele said.