This was the moment. The only reason for Gus to give in so easily was that he was about to make his move. All Shawn had to do was follow him and see where the trail led.

That would have been a lot easier, of course, if Shawn had had any mode of transportation faster than his own feet. Unfortunately Gus had picked him up from his home that morning so they could share the forty-five-minute ride to VirtuActive’s headquarters in Thousand Oaks. If they’d had the foresight to set up a suitcase full of chemicals in the office, Shawn could have hoped for a lightning bolt to spill them all over him, granting him superspeed. But without the proper equipment-or even a cloud in the cool evening sky-chasing Gus’ car on foot didn’t seem like a profitable enterprise.

But he had to know where Gus was sneaking off to. He couldn’t let this chance go to waste.

“Why don’t we go together and eat there?” Shawn said.

If Shawn had been hoping for some kind of strong reaction from Gus, he was disappointed. “Fine” was the only answer he got.

During the ride down toward the pier, Gus didn’t seem any more tense than he had over the previous few weeks, so Shawn began to doubt he was trying to make a secret rendezvous. What was he up to, then?

It wasn’t until Gus pulled up outside the pizzeria that Shawn figured it out. More precisely, it wasn’t until Gus made a big show of fumbling in his pockets for change, then announcing he needed to run across the street to the convenience store to break a dollar for the parking meter.

The excuse was so transparent, Shawn nearly pointed out that the meters had stopped being enforced an hour ago, and that Gus’ pockets were so full of change he’d been jingling as they left the office. But he managed to stop himself a second before the words spilled out. He told Gus he’d get a table, then went into the restaurant and spied out through the front window as Gus walked toward the convenience store.