Chapter Seven
~Andie~
"What were you talking to Dylan about for so long?"
I exhaled heavily through my nose, narrowing my eyes at the back of Danny's head as he walked up the stairs ahead of me. "It kills you, doesn't it? Not being included in every little thing."
He hardly flinched. He didn't speak again until we were up the stairs and through the door to our apartment. We'd parted ways with the others immediately after the meeting, with Dylan promising to send us details on where to meet soon. We'd been silent the entire way home. But now it was as though the floodgates had opened up in Danny's lungs.
"You told him about this morning, didn't you?" he snapped, rounding on me as soon as he got the front door slammed shut. Was that real anger on his face? It'd been a while since he'd been truly angry with me; unlike every other time, though, this was unwarranted.
I threw my jacket down on the arm of the couch, which still had Lula's body shell flopped on top of the cushions. She couldn't even be bothered to collect her things when she ran off? "No, Danny, I didn't," I said tersely, moving toward the kitchen to see what I could throw together for dinner. Confrontation made me hungry.
Danny followed after me, the heels of his shoes tapping against the wood floor. I made a mental note to put him in charge of the floors next time we cleaned. "I don't believe you," he said. "Why wouldn't you tell him?"
"Why would I?" He scoffed; I rolled my eyes. The fridge was nearly empty; we'd have to go grocery shopping in the next couple of days. There was a frozen pizza in the freezer, though, and I supposed that would suffice. I set the oven to the correct temperature and turned around, leaning my hips against the counter with my arms folded across my chest. "I didn't tell him, Danny."
He stood across the kitchen table from me, fingers clenched around the top of one of our chairs. His blue eyes were dark; his ears were red. "What else could you have been talking about for so long? Unless you're conspiring some way to make me just shut up and listen like you and the others?"
"Clearly you need to be taught how to shut up and listen, because you're not doing it right now," I said, pushing aside the sting of his words. Danny took a step back, seemingly startled, as I turned away and slid the frozen pizza into the oven. "Forgive me for preferring to keep our disagreements private," I said. I shut the oven door - a little rougher than necessary, I will admit - and looked back at Danny, who was only staring at me. "It wasn't Dylan's business. I didn't tell him. Got it?"
For a moment, no one spoke. Danny and I maintained intense eye contact, each sizing the other person up, until Danny finally blinked and looked away from me. "Got it," he said quietly. He removed his hands from the back of the chair, shook them out, and tucked them into the pockets of his jeans. "So, uh..." He cleared his throat and gave me a small, sheepish smile. "What did Dylan want, then?"
If I had wanted an apology, I likely wasn't going to get one. Not from him. But that was alright; I'd been putting up with his bullshit for a couple of years at that point, and was well prepared to deal with anything concerning J. Daniel Atlas. So I merely smiled in return and leaned against the counter again. "He wanted to check in with me about my nightmares."
"And?"
"I told him they've gotten a lot better," I said.
One of Danny's eyebrows went up. "And you weren't lying, right?"
My smile broadened into a grin. "Right. You didn't notice things have improved?"
He walked away from the table and crossed the kitchen to stand in front of me, arms outstretched. I leaned into his chest automatically, resting my head on his collarbone as he held me. "I noticed you weren't waking me up during the night anymore," he said. A chuckle vibrated through his chest. "I know you don't like when I bother you about how you're doing; I figured you'd let me know if something was wrong again."
"Well, you were right," I said, letting my eyes fall shut. I was still bothered by what had happened this morning, bothered by the argument we'd just had, and bothered by the whole Lula situation, but none of that was so important that it'd mess up what Danny and I had. I wouldn't allow it. Everything was going to be alright.
I pulled away from Danny, moving my hands up to his shoulders to get him to look at me. He did, blue eyes fixated on my own. "Dylan also told me that Lula is going to grow on us and that we have to give her a chance." I rolled my eyes, flashing a smirk. "So you're not allowed to jump ship yet, alright? You can't leave me alone with her and those other two dorks."
Danny seemed a little taken aback at me mentioning his potential abandonment of the Horsemen so casually, but it only took him a moment to laugh. "Okay, I think I can stick around to keep you sane."
"Thank you."
The oven timer went off then, making the both of us jump. Danny laughed at my startled expression and leaned in to press a kiss to my nose. "Am I allowed to have some of the pizza you made?" he asked sweetly, fluttering his eyelashes at me.
I rolled my eyes again, this time with a smile. "Of course you can."
oOoOo
"Welcome, Octa insiders, bloggers, and journalists. We're delighted that you've joined us to participate in our special event. Today marks the beginning of a bright new journey into social networking. Our latest product, Octa 8..."
I shook my head, tuning out the announcer woman's voice. I already knew everything I needed to about Octa 8 and how "amazing" and "advanced" it was. The only "amazing" thing about it was how amazingly well it infringed on users' privacy and siphoned information off to the highest bidder. Advanced, yes. Good? No.
I was standing off to the side of a large room at the expo center where Owen Case, the man behind the whole scheme, was set to unveil this new phone. I had a messenger bag slung across my shoulders with the strap of it gripped tightly in both of my hands. Inside was a small notepad and a new laptop, one without any sort of identifying information on it, just in case it falls into the wrong hands. I was supposed to be portraying a blogger getting the inside scoop on Octa 8; I'd already spoken with a few passersby about their opinions and anticipations, all as a ploy to keep an eye out for Owen Case.
At the same time, Jack was impersonating a security guard at the front of the expo, checking bags and confiscating electronics from the journalists and bloggers - myself, however, he conveniently allowed to slip by. Across from me was Lula, dressed as a chef's assistant and helping to prepare hors d'oeuvres for the big-wigs milling about this back area. Merritt was a few yards on my right, disguised as an exec waiting to get Case alone to hypnotize him. Danny was off doing his thing, playing several different roles in quick succession. I'd run through it with him several times the night before. Frankly, his costume changes were impressive. We were good to go for the reappearance of the Horsemen, and the downfall of Owen Case and Octa.
"We're all good," Jack's voice said in my ear. "I'm heading to the control room."
Dylan, from within the auditorium area, responded immediately. "Alright. Thanks, Jack. Atlas, go."
"No, Dylan, I can't."
I perked up just slightly. Where had Danny run into trouble? We'd gone through the plan a million times; things should have been running flawlessly. Dylan was of the same idea. "What? What's the problem?"
"No, there's too many people," Danny said.
"Atlas, I got Owen landing now," Dylan said, the urgency plain in his voice. Merritt, Lula, and I glanced around, seeking out the double doors through which we were expecting the CEO to come strolling through. Off in the distance, I could see a few figures heading across an expansive parking lot.
There was a pause on Danny's end, and then - "Okay, I'm going now."
I exhaled slowly, adjusting my fake glasses. If things were going correctly, Danny was about to come in from the side, intercepting Case as he entered the building - which was going to be in the next thirty seconds. I held my breath, noticing Merritt tensing up out of the corner of my eye. I plastered an eager look on my face; I was supposed to speak with Case after Danny got the signature he needed, and any tech blogger would likely be excited at the opportunity. Time to wipe the strained expression off my face.
Just as Owen Case and his team walked through both sets of double doors, Danny appeared, striding up from behind the group with his own pair of fake glasses on and a briefcase and clipboard in his hands. Case's annoyed voice carried from across the room. "Look, the speech is about freedom, okay? That's what we're trying to sell here, is freedom. Which part of that do you not understand? For goodness' sake."
At that moment, Danny popped up beside him, easily keeping pace with Case's long strides. "Mr. Case, John from legal. Just need your signature for release." Case took the pen Danny offered him and signed the forms without a glance in Danny's direction. Perfect. "Thank you so much," Danny said. He yanked the clipboard back and headed off in a different direction, but not before flashing me a quick smile over his shoulder.
Now Danny was supposed to be heading for the control room, where he would trick the security guards into thinking the man in charge of running the controls was actually escaped from a mental facility. Jack would aid in escorting the man out while Danny tampered with the controls. At the same time, I would be working my own magic on Owen Case, trying to get a choice line or two out of him - for exploitation purposes, you know.
I waited patiently, one hand back on my messenger bag strap while the other fished out the small notepad and a pen. My toe tapped incessantly against the polished flooring. It'd been a while since I'd performed in front of a crowd. Tricking Case into revealing something while also making him a little nervous was by no means a performance of grand parameters, but it was more than I'd done in quite some time. Case was led over to a table by the members of who I presumed to be his exec team, and a waiter brought drinks over for them while they stood and waited for the show to begin. I watched as half of the drink in Case's glass disappeared; at Merritt's quick nod, I jogged forward.
"Mr. Case!" I called out, holding up my notepad and pen in a sort of half wave. I stuck the same overly-eager grin on my face and skidded to a stop beside his table, ignoring the other people with him who immediately tensed up at my approach. "Mr. Case, I was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions?"
Owen Case swirled his drink around and looked me over with a lazy, somewhat amused expression. "Are you a reporter?"
"Um, a blogger, actually," I answered, bouncing on the balls of my feet. "I run this tech enthusiast blog, y'know, talking about and reviewing all the latest gadgets and discussing them with my readers. I'm - I'm still working on getting a bigger following but my readers absolutely love you and we've all been anxiously anticipating Octa 8 for so long and I was just wondering if maybe I could get a statement or two from you to hype everyone up even more?" I don't think of rambling as a particular talent of mine, but I'm good enough at it to draw a confused expression out of the young CEO.
Case's blue eyes scanned me once again as he quickly swallowed the last of his drink. "Why aren't you in the auditorium with the rest of the journalists and bloggers?"
I give a nonchalant shrug. "I get a little claustrophobic sometimes so it was getting kind of hard to breathe so I thought I'd come out for a bit of air and then I saw you walk in and thought 'Wow, now's my chance to meet him and ask him a question or two' and naturally I couldn't afford to pass up that opportunity so, uh, how about it?"
There was a moment of silence, in which Case stared me down and his team members stared him down, very clearly not wanting him to speak to me anymore. "What's your question, then?" he said finally. He leaned toward me, arms crossed with his elbows pressed against the table.
"I just wanted a tagline, like something quick to really sell Octa 8 to my readers, you know what I mean?" I clicked my pen, hand poised to write down whatever he was getting ready to say.
He only thought for a moment before a small, shit-eating grin spread itself across his features. "How about 'Freedom as you've never experienced before.' Is that catchy enough for you?" His expression was smug, and I had to focus all of my attention on scribbling the line down so I didn't reach out and smack the smirk off his face.
"Atlas, Stooge has left the building," Jack said in my ear. The control room operator was out of the picture, then. Perfect.
"Okay. The circuit board is ours. I am leaving backstage," Danny responded.
"Andie, I'm coming your way," Jack said.
Excellent. Time to get in trouble. "Freedom, huh?" I said, looking up from my notepad to lock eyes with Case. He raised an eyebrow at me. "I've read a lot of reports saying that there seems to be something fishy about the 'Terms and Conditions' with Octa 8, but nobody can really figure out what it is. Something about privacy violations and black market deals." While I was speaking, Owen Case had risen up to his full height, blue eyes darkening. I smiled a little, my own eyes narrowing, and I tilted my head to the side. "You wouldn't happen to have a statement on that, would you?"
"I have no idea what you could be talking about," Case said, eyes blazing. Footsteps sounded from behind me, and I quickly tucked my notepad into my messenger bag. "Security, I want her gone. She's not allowed anywhere near the auditorium. Get her out of here."
A hand locked around my upper arm and tugged. "Right away, Mr. Case," Jack said, looking down at me. I managed to keep a straight face as he dragged me away.
As soon as we were down a hall and out of sight, I laughed and slapped Jack a high five. "Everything is going according to plan," I said cheerily. "I got the tag line from Case. Jack and I are headed to set things up," I said, this time into the mics.
"Alright," Dylan said immediately. "Lula, show these guys what you're made of." I was really hoping by "guys," Dylan meant the general term meant to encompass everyone lounging in the room Jack and I just left, and not "guys" as in our team. Because I was most definitely not a guy.
I think I was taking this whole "Lula is the girl Horseman" thing a bit too much to heart.
Anyway, Lula was tasked with creating a diversion to get Case separated from his people so that Merritt could swoop in and steal him away for hypnosis. From the way we'd rehearsed, she was going to pretend to cut off her arm with a kitchen saw. Pretty gross, but it would do the desired job.
Jack and I ducked into the backstage area of the auditorium, where Danny, Merritt, Lula, and I would enter for our performance. Jack would stand guard at one of the side doors, still playing the role of security guard. For now, he was keeping me company as I yanked the laptop out of my bag and set it down on a small table off to the side. It booted up quickly, and I pulled up several different news sites and the blogs of those I knew were in attendance. "Let's see just how big our impact really is," I said quietly, now looking up data on Octa's stocks. I was hoping to see a huge plummet in numbers after our performance.
"Remind me what you've got this all set up for?" Jack said from over my shoulder.
"Dylan wanted me to monitor what sort of articles get written after we're through with this performance. We don't want any sort of doubt that Case and Octa are criminals, and we'll be able to tell most effectively by the sort of reports that come out during the show."
Jack hummed. "But I took people's phones at security."
I rolled my eyes at him, a small smile on my face. "You really think you managed to get all of them? These people are professionals; at the very least, they have some sort of recording device on them. How else would they retain all the information they're expecting to hear?"
He ruffled my hair with one hand. "Y'know, you're smarter than you look. And you look pretty damn smart in those glasses."
Shit. I'd almost forgotten the glasses. I yanked them off my face and tossed them aside, moving to remove my hair from its pins next. I'd needed to look cute and professional, not something I normally aimed for - well, professional, at least. The scarf and cardigan went next, leaving me in my pencil skirt and button down shirt. As usual, the Horsemen were keeping to their black and white theme. Aside from Jack, of course, who was still decked out in the green security uniform. I smirked. "Nice outfit. Bet Lula thinks you're real cute in it."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't start with me."
"I'm not starting anything."
The announcer's voice reverberated from the speakers outside again. The show must've been about to begin. "Welcome, everybody! And now, the moment that you've all been waiting for..."
Merritt and Lula burst into the room at the same time, Lula laughing a little and seeming slightly delirious from her stunt. Maybe she'd suffered some actual blood loss. "Nice work, lady," Merritt said. The mentalist looked at Jack and I and nodded slightly. "Should've seen it. Truly disgusting."
Lula beamed. "Thanks."
From beside me, Jack chuckled. "I'm actually nervous, and I'm not even going onstage."
Lula appeared on his other side,because of course she did. "You know, I've heard that if you're nervous, it can be really helpful to picture each other naked."
A hand grabbed mine suddenly, and I had to restrain myself from jumping. Danny stepped up next to me, adjusting his tie with his free hand. "It's actually picture the audience naked," he said, shaking his head. He looked down at me, smiling slightly. "How'd it go with Case?"
"It went well," I answered, smiling back.
Lula kept going, because of course she did. "No, this is new. This is a new science." Jack continued to stare forward, seeming unimpressed. "So, I don't know. Do you want... We should try it."
"Not the right mood," Jack said, sighing a little. I shook my head; you had to give the girl props for persistence, I guess.
Merritt spoke up from Danny's other side. "Guess that leaves you and me, old buddy."
Danny started. "What? Picture each other... No. No, thank you." I snorted as his face turned bright red.
Merritt motioned to his own body, making a show of it. "I mean, I admit, from the neck up there are issues. But from the neck down, the David." My stomach ached; it was exceedingly difficult to restrain giggles. Jack was snickering as well. Danny only squeezed my hand.
"Owen Case," the announcer person said, using her introductory tone.
Merritt lifted his finger to his ear, projecting to where Owen Case was standing in front of a camera, ready to echo anything Merritt said. "Good morning, Octa-lites. Now, I've made the claim that Octa 8 is pure magic. But the truth is, that's just one of those things I say. When in fact, I mean something else." The crowd outside was deathly silent. "What else do I mean? Well, here to fill you in on some of my fabulous lies and hypocrisy, and to perform some of the most dazzling feats of magic you have ever seen, they are the world's greatest magicians."
From outside now, the noise has grown to an almost deafening roar. Had Merritt not been standing with us, I likely wouldn't have been able to hear our introduction. While this was happening, Jack slipped out of the room, heading to his post. Lula watched him go; I stared straight ahead, listening. Merritt/Case was still going. "Here to expose me for the fraud I truly am. Ladies and gentlemen, here are the Horsemen."
The remaining four of us ran forward, bursting through the doors to appear as though we were breaking through the screens we'd been waiting behind. I was breathless immediately, staring out at a crowd full of cheering people, screaming in anticipation of us. I'd never get over the feeling. Merritt and Danny were basking in the attention; Lula looked absolutely star struck. The entire audience was on its feet. I tried to seek Dylan out from the crowd and spotted him hiding in the shadows beside one of the sets of bleacher seats. He lifted his hand in a wave; I only grinned in response.
"Hello, New York!" Danny said, voice amplified by his mic. "Thank you so much."
Merritt chimed in, "Hey, it's great to be back."
I pressed both hands over my heart in a show of sincerity. "We missed you all." Truer words had never been spoken.
Danny motioned toward Lula, who was still frozen in place. "And have you met our newest Horseman, Lula?" The crowd cheered; Danny nodded at Lula. "Feels good, right?"
"Pretty good," Lula said with a nod, a wide grin on her face. "Pretty good."
Eventually, the crowd began to settle down, allowing us to get down to business. Danny was up first. "Thank you, thank you. Um, okay. We want to talk to you about your privacy. What does privacy mean to you?"
"Because apparently to Owen Case," Merritt added. "it means absolutely nothing."
Lula jumped in next. "No, actually, it means less than absolutely nothing. You see, he's mocked your privacy. He's scorned it."
"Right, and we're not just talking about the things that you already agreed to when you signed, probably without reading, the 'Terms and Conditions' of Octas 1 through 7." Danny strolled across the stage to me, setting a hand on the small of my back. "It's more than that. And, believe me, folks, it's so much worse."
I opened my mouth to speak, but froze when I heard Jack's voice in my ear. "Dylan, the FBI is here."
Dylan was quick to respond. "Alright. Don't worry about it. Alright, go to plan C-4. Lock the doors." I watched as Dylan ducked through the doors into the lobby area, heart beating just a little bit quicker.
C-4 was fine. C-4 was locking the auditorium doors so that the FBI, or any other form of law enforcement, couldn't get in to stop us before we could finish our show. Everything was under control. It was fine. So I went on, pretending as though nothing had happened.
"You see, everyone, I had a little conversation with Owen Case before this whole show started. I asked him what tagline he thought would sell Octa 8 as the best product on the market - what would sell it out in minutes. You know what he told me?"
Danny's hand left my back as he maneuvered to another part of the stage, but not before he shot me a quick wink and a grin. I smiled back before going on. "He told me 'Freedom as you've never experienced before.' And he's right; you haven't experienced freedom like this from a phone, and that's because it isn't freedom at all. It's an infringement on your privacy."
I took a step back, wandering toward Merritt, as Lula took over. "Before we start the show, we had Owen agree to a few terms and conditions of our own. So, everything that he had once considered private - "
Lula's mic cut out, even as her mouth kept moving. There was a slight whining sound from the speakers - something faulty in her mic, probably. Danny rushed to recover the set. "Yeah, everything that he once considered private is now - "
With an awful screeching sound, Danny's mic went out as well. Everyone's hands flew to their ears, trying to block out the sound. All around us, the screens were blinking rapidly, a conglomeration of different faces flashes all across them. "Danny?" I called out, voice lost to the noise in the room. "Danny, what's going on?"
A voice, grating and robotic and loud enough to make my ribcage shake, filled the room, silencing all of the different voices and protests coming from the audience. "As the Horsemen like to say, magic is about controlling perception. You see them as champions of the truth, but are they? Or is that just another one of their illusions?"
The four of us were frozen where we stood, staring at the screens with wide eyes. Where the hell is Dylan? What do we do?
"So, since they clearly love secrets, let's reveal some of theirs."
Right on cue, Dylan's voice filled my ears. "Danny, everyone, get off the stage. Abort." Another screeching noise sounded, momentarily cutting him off. "Jack, go with them. I'll see you at the meet-up point."
Danny walked quickly over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling on it. "Let's go," he said urgently. It only took me a moment to respond, following along behind him. Not running, though; we had to look like everything was at least somewhat under control still.
The robotic voice wasn't done. "Do you recall the death of Jack Wilder?" I froze, dragging Danny to a stop just as we were almost off stage. "What if I told you he's not just alive, but he's actually right here."
A spotlight flashed on, lighting up the exact spot where Jack was attempting to creep along the wall to get out of the auditorium with us. He stopped for only a moment before taking off at a dead sprint to get to us as everyone in the auditorium began yelling. I had no way of knowing whether they were pleased that he was alive or pissed that we'd hidden that fact.
"And do you know who else is here? The FBI. Let's let them in, shall we?" The doors unlocked automatically, and the FBI agents flooded in, creating even more chaos. I managed to spot Dylan among the crowd before Danny was tugging me forward again, shouting for me to move faster.
"And now, for the big reveal. There's a sixth Horseman, and he's the biggest criminal of them all." My blood ran cold. Oh no. "FBI agent, Dylan Rhodes."
There was a lot of commotion from behind us. I tried to turn around, to run back and grab Dylan, but Danny kept a tight hold of my hand and kept propelling me forward. Please be okay, I thought frantically, sprinting out of the room, up some stairs and a ladder, and out onto the roof of the building. Please, please be okay.
Jack was yelling from up ahead. "We've gotta get to the chute. Go!"
"Who are those guys?" Lula shouted. I really hoped she didn't mean the FBI.
"Who cares? Come on!" Merritt tossed back, right on her heels. Danny and I brought up the rear, him still with a firm grasp on my fingers.
We shot up and over another ladder, congregating a few yards from the chute we'd set up before the show that would deposit us in the back of our getaway truck. "How the hell could this happen?" Merritt had both hands on his hat, turning in circles. "I thought Dylan had everything under control."
"Yeah. Apparently he didn't," Danny said. I squeezed his hand, trying to make it hurt, but he didn't even flinch.
"Maybe you're the leak, Dan," Merritt snapped, stepping forward to get in Danny's face. "Where you been sneaking off to?"
Danny's voice was venomous. "Don't do that. Don't you dare for a second insinuate that I had - "
"I'm not insinuating. That's your - "
Jack broke between the two of them, motioning toward the chute. "Let's get to the truck, come on!"
Like Danny had suddenly snapped out of whatever hate rage he'd had going on, he pulled me forward again, becoming somewhat of a concerned parent. "Stay together! Move!"
Jack paused at the top of the chute. "Lula, come on!"
"Coming!"
She launched herself through the chute right behind him. Merritt went next, and I followed immediately after Danny. The short tunnel was filled with screaming as the five of us slid down, coming to an abrupt stop at the end. I landed on top of Danny, who only groaned a little bit as I climbed off of him.
"Are we in a - " I paused, brushing off my skirt and looking around. "Are we in a laundry basket? In a...kitchen?" The loud noise and shouting of chefs accompanied with the sounds and smells of food being prepared was telling enough, but - what the actual hell? "Danny, where are we?"
"What the hell is going on?" Jack said, turning in circles.
Lula was just as confused. "Wasn't there supposed to be a truck?"
Danny managed to climb out of the laundry basket and came to stand beside me, taking my hand in his again. "Where the hell are we?" he asked, echoing my own words.
The chefs, seeming to finally notice we were all standing there, began shouting at us in Chinese, ushering us out of the kitchen and into the main dining area. Every person seated and eating looked up at us, probably confused at seeing so many disheveled white people being shooed out of the kitchen. Something was really wrong.
Danny turned to Jack. "Wait, did you mis-run the tube?"
Jack was immediately defensive. "No, I put it in the truck. I know I did!"
"Because we're really not in the truck right now."
Merritt brushed the two of them aside, looking around. "Somebody must have moved the tube. Were we above a Chinese restaurant." He paused, yanking his hat away from one of the chefs. "Give me that!"
Danny took a deep breath, seeming to calm himself a little. I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. "Okay. Why are we here?"
Lula held her stomach. "Why am I frickin' starving?"
Jack nodded slowly, still gazing around the restaurant. "Yeah, I'm weirdly starving, too." I hadn't notice the growling of my stomach until that moment, but it was almost uncomfortably painful. What the hell.
"This makes no sense," Merritt said. He pushed past the four of us and headed outside.
Lula shrugged a little. "At least, and I know this isn't much consolation, but apparently we're now surrounded by Chinese food. Right?"
I rubbed my face with my free hand. "Because that's so much help." I sighed, putting on a small smile and looking up at Danny. "Remember when you called me fat for saying I wanted Chinese food?"
His face turned pink. "Hey, I never actually said that - "
He was cut off by Merritt walking back into the restaurant, looking as though he'd seen a ghost. "Guys, I think where we are right now, they don't refer to it as 'Chinese food.'" We all froze. "It's just called 'food.'"
My face paled. Oh, fuck.