The limo pulled into the gates a few minutes later. Miranda waited until they got out, then she got out of her car and sticking to the shadows she snuck up to the outside brick fence and scaled it. She lay down on the top, watching the guards inside. When she was sure that they were gone for a moment, she jumped to the ground and ran to the side of the house. She watched as the men dragged the decoy out of the limo. One of them searched her for wires. They found some in her bracelets she was wearing. The man slapped her and she cried out. 'That was a stupid thing to do,' Miranda thought, 'they wired her, and he found them. It must not have been Tyler that wired her.'
Miranda then watched them drag her inside. Miranda snuck through the bushes and to the back of the house, they were taking her to the room Miranda had been in before. Miranda scaled a rose trellis and climbed onto the balcony, then hid in the corner where she would not be seen by the guards, or Tyrone who had just entered the room. Tyrone started yelling at the woman, Miranda winced at the words he was using, some very bad ones. He was very angry. One of the guards then punched the decoy in the stomach. Tyrone grabbed the necklace from her then.
"This had better be the real thing or you will die," he said, and he and the guards walked out, leaving her sobbing on the bed.
Miranda knocked lightly on the window. The decoy looked up and walking to the window, she opened it, sounding a piercing alarm through the house.
"Trade me clothes now," Miranda hissed. The woman quickly obeyed. They had just switched places and the decoy had hidden under the bed when two men ran in. They saw Miranda on the bed. "You thought you could escape," one of them smirked.
"Who me?" Miranda said, "why would I do that?"
Then the decoy hopped up from behind the bed, "Yes, why would I try and escape?"
"There are two of you?" one of the men asked in surprise.
"Nope, only one of us," Miranda said, "the other is your imagination."
Then Tyrone walked in. "Well, two detectives?" he grinned. "But one of you is a fake, I should have known." He grabbed the decoy, eyeing her clothes.
"Well Detective, you really thought you could fool us, did you? You send us a fake detective and a fake necklace, where is the real one?"
"I gave it to you," Miranda said.
He glared at her. "No, I would be able to tell the real thing. And the real necklace, both are very fake, as are you," he said, eyeing her.
He glared at the decoy. "Where is the real one, tell me now or you both die."
"I don't know, I think I hid it somewhere," the decoy said, her voice staying as calm as possible.
Miranda could tell she was terrified though.
"Where is it?" he screeched, pointing the gun to the decoy's head.
The decoy looked at Miranda, terror in her eyes.
"The Chief of police has it hidden," Miranda shrugged.
He turned to her. "So decoy, you shall go get it for me. If you do not, I will kill the real detective, got it?" He then punched her in the stomach. Miranda winced. The woman did not deserve it.
"Okay, I will go get it," Miranda said, making her voice sound scared. "Just don't hurt the detective anymore, and you have to let her go when I get back."
"Who says I have too?" he smirked.
"Please? I know how much you used to like her."
Tyrone frowned. "Go, or she will die even sooner. Where is the Chief keeping the necklace?" Tyrone asked.
"In the hotel safe, he figured it would be safer there."
"That's what he thinks. Max, take her to the hotel, I know there are men that have been following you, so do not come back here tonight. Do not tell anyone what you are doing. You will come here alone tomorrow, or she dies, got it?"
Miranda nodded, feeling awful for the decoy.
"Tomorrow at noon you will be picked up in the same spot. No wires, and no one following, got it?"
"Yes," she croaked out. Tyrone smiled, he could tell she was terrified, good. She obviously wasn't the real detective, she would never have given in.
He then nodded at two of the men who grabbed the decoy and throwing her into a chair, they tied her up. They then grabbed Miranda and led her out to the limo. They threw her roughly inside and then drove her back to the hotel. The limo stopped at the hotel, and they shoved her out. She stumbled as she was tossed out, but was able to stay upright. Four men were by her side as the limo drove away.
"Are you okay, Detective?" an officer asked her. Now came the tricky part. To play her decoy who was playing her. She nodded at the man and they helped her inside.
Tyler followed her to her room after hopping out of the car, not saying anything. He was ticked off. Something had gone down, but he wasn't sure what. When Miranda got into the room she noticed there were half a dozen officers lingering around besides Chief Stratton, Chad, Chief Johnson, and Cole. She tried not to stare at him as she entered. She had to slow down her heart. He ignored her for which she was grateful for.
"What happened?" Chief Stratton snarled as she walked in.
"Things didn't go as planned," she whined, sounding just like her decoy.
Cole grimaced at her voice.
"What happened?" Chief Stratton asked again.
"Tyrone knew the chip was a fake. He sent me to get the real one."
"Did he hurt you?"
"He punched me, but that's not the worst part."
"What is?"
She sat on the bed and sighed. "Well, Tyrone threw me into a bedroom and left. A knock sounded on the balcony door. There was a woman there, it was the same woman from last night, she was dressed in black again."
"Miranda," the three men who knew her the most, said.
"Yes, she pulled off her wig and told me who she was, then she told me to switch places with her. Well, when I opened the window an alarm went off and it brought Tyrone into the room. He knew who the real detective was. He is holding her hostage until I bring back the real chip, alone. He told me no cops or no wires, or she would die," Miranda said shakily, trying to convince the men that she was the decoy.
"Why am I not surprised that she would trade places," Chief Johnson sighed. "This is very upsetting news. And there is a problem, Miranda has the real chip."
Miranda looked up. "She told me where it was. It's in her hotel room safe, and she slipped me the keys," Miranda sniffed.
"She is a total fool to risk her life over this," Chief Johnson frowned. "You are very lucky Carla, that she would save your life."
"Yes, I know," she said. "But it was her choice, she told me my life was worth more than hers."
"What?" Cole roared, "her life is worth a million times more than yours would ever be!"
Miranda hid a smile, glad that he cared for her so much.
He leaned down into her face, she tried not to inhale the nice scent of his cologne. She looked down. "I wish you hadn't let her trade you places," he growled.
"Back off Cole, Miranda knew what she was doing," Tyler said, grabbing Cole's shoulders. Cole shook off Tyler and went to stand by the door.
"I am just glad she rescued me, that Tyrone is an awful man," Miranda sniffed.
"Do you not care that she could die because of you?" Cole fumed from the corner.
"It was her choice," she shrugged as if it didn't matter.
Cole charged towards her, but Tyler stopped him. "Enough Cole."
"You may look like her but you sure don't act like her," Tyler said, looking down at Miranda.
"I never said I was her. You told me to look like her, that's what I did. I didn't know my life would be in so much danger."
"Miranda probably looked Tyrone in the face and laughed," Tyler mused.
"She did. She said that he was a fool, so he punched her."
Cole punched the wall by the door. Miranda grimaced. She hated to hurt Cole, but he couldn't know it was her, not yet.
"We had better go get the real chip then," Tyler said. "Come on Carla, let's get this over with."
She stood and followed him out the door, trying to ignore Cole who was throwing dirty looks at her.
Tyler took Miranda to his car, and unlocked the door for her, but didn't open it. She grinned as she got in. They really did not like her decoy. As soon as Tyler started the car, Miranda handed him a key. "This key is to her car. It is parked down the street from Tyrone's."
He nodded, not noticing she wasn't whining.
"Do we have shadows?" she asked Tyler.
He glanced over at her. "Yes, we do."
"Is this car bugged?"
"No, and would you quit talking like Miranda? It is creeping me out."
"Why dear cousin of mine, I thought you liked my voice."
Tyler almost hit the curb but straightened the wheel in time. He let out a huge laugh. "You little minx, you had everyone convinced back there that you were the decoy."
"I know, I'm good, huh?"
He laughed, "You are really good. You sure ticked off Cole."
"I know, and I'll have to apologize later, but I have a plan."
"So is the decoy being held, hostage?" Tyler asked.
"Yes, as soon as I take the real chip to him we will trade places again, as long as he doesn't kill both of us first."
"You are one gutsy woman Miranda," he chuckled, "you seriously amaze me."
"I amaze myself sometimes too," she laughed.
"Man, it is nice to have you back, are you okay?"
"I am fine, I can't say so much for my decoy. Tyrone hit her a few times."
"Ouch, did he hit you?"
"No, he thought he did," she said.
"So where is your hotel?"
"A few blocks from Tyrone's place."
"I should have known," he grinned.
She gave him the directions and he drove them there. He parked outside. "Bring in your laptop Tyler, we have work to do," she told him.
He nodded and grabbing it, he followed her inside.
He was grinning ear to ear at her as she walked into the room, and opened the safe, then she handed the microchip to Tyler.
"If he wants the chip, let's give it to him, but with a few minor adjustments first," she grinned.
"I like your way of thinking, but let's figure out what is on it first."
She nodded and sat by him as he inserted the chip into his computer, and got to work.
"Tyler, you won't tell anyone it's really me, will you?" Miranda asked.
"Of course not, besides I think it is hilarious how you acted back there, even I wanted to slap you," he grinned.
"Good, I must keep up my false pretenses then," she smiled at him.
"You even have her nasally whiny voice down to a fine art," he told her.
"I know, scary huh? I hope that it doesn't rub off on me."
Tyler laughed and hugged him to her. "I like you, Miranda."
"I'm glad Tyler," she smiled back.
"I owe you an apology for the way I treated you a while ago," Tyler said, watching her.
"An apology? I think not Tyler. I had you fooled like everyone else," she smiled.
"So Tyrone really thinks he has you."
"Yes, he obviously really didn't know me all that well. Otherwise, he would have noticed subtle differences between the two of us. All he did was look at our clothing and decided since she was in black that she must be the real detective."
"He obviously is dumber than we thought," Tyler mused.
"Yes, and perhaps we can work that to our advantage," Miranda grinned, but then she watched as Tyler typed in a certain code on his computer and several codes and inscriptions came up on the screen.
"What is all of this?" Tyler asked.
"May I?" Miranda asked.
He nodded, and she stood over him. "These look like old Chinese military codes. They were used during the Second World War." She then typed in a whole bunch of numbers, and the screen changed, suddenly top-secret plans started showing up.
"Whoa," Tyler gasped as they saw plans for new fighter jets, missiles, and other government secrets.
"No wonder Tyrone wants this so bad," Miranda whistled. "How did he get his hands on this?"
"I don't know, but considering that Tomori is Chinese, I bet Tyrone was going to sell this to him, to sell to the Chinese Government."
"I think you are right there," Miranda agreed. "I think we should make another copy of this. Give it to our government, then mess this one up a little, what do you think?"
"I think you have a great plan in that devious head of yours," Tyler grinned.
"Then what are we waiting for?" she asked, and sitting by him they got to work.