Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies by Abigail Hing Wen

Author:Abigail Hing Wen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

* * *

When the window frame shone a bright brown all around, Winter capped their paint can. She and Tan carried their equipment back to the group, where Rebecca was wiping paint from her hands onto a turpentine rag.

“Tan filled me in about tonight,” Winter said. “I have some ideas.”

Tan expected Rebecca to protest—after all, she hadn’t agreed to turn over the coins yet. But she just said, “Like what?”

She followed Winter, surprisingly willingly. Winter led them into the common room, where she pulled a tote bag from the shelves. “They have costumes for cosplay.” From the bag she pulled out wigs, hats, and glasses without lenses. “They’re high-quality. And we might as well make it harder for them to recognize us.” She finger-combed out a blond wig and handed it to Rebecca.

“You want me to wear this?” Rebecca asked.

“Yes.” Winter handed Tan a short, sandy-haired wig and pulled a matching guy’s wig onto her own hair.

“We look like twins,” Tan said, amused. He fit the wig over his hair, and Winter smoothed its curls over his forehead. “It itches,” he complained.

“Don’t be such a baby.” Winter smiled. She opened the cabinet to reveal their reflection. Amazing. The wigs were so well designed, Tan couldn’t tell they were wearing them. The three of them together looked like a slightly shaggy pair of brothers and a girl.

Then Winter’s smile faded in the mirror, and she turned back to Tan and Rebecca. “What’s to stop these people from kidnapping you for ransom?” she asked soberly.

“That would be a death sentence,” Rebecca said. “Kidnapping a Tseng. Even if my parents don’t care about me, my father wouldn’t tolerate something like that against his family. Liping—if it’s him—will do the minimum to get what he wants.”

“So you’ve decided?” Tan asked. “To turn over the coins?”

“Like you said. We don’t have much of a choice.”

It wasn’t the answer Tan expected. Rebecca was so dead set against it before. He’d expected a fight. What had changed? But if she was on board, he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize this fragile victory.

Tan pulled off his own wig with some relief. His head was already sweaty. “Let me check if Liping’s opened that email yet.”

He moved to the computer terminal and logged in to the tracker system. Rebecca and Winter hovered over his shoulders. A notification indicated Liping had opened the email fourteen minutes ago. Tan clicked on it, and there was Liping’s location: San Francisco.

“So he’s here.” Rebecca sat heavily on a chair. “He must be Crane. There’s no other reason for him to be on this side of the Pacific Ocean.”

“I’m sorry,” Tan said. “We should leave early so you can call your dad from San Francisco. Warn him to take care of himself.”

“And get our families out of this mess,” Winter added. She dropped her wig into a spare tote bag and extended it toward Rebecca. “Tell him a five-year-old is involved, if you have to.”

Rebecca dropped her wig into the bag. “I’m not calling him.

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