There was a muffled bang and then the faint smell of burning metal. I crawled back over to the door and saw that the electronic lock was blown to pieces. The door swung open slowly on its hinges.
Inside was a short hallway with four other windowless doors. I checked the first two and found an office with a cluttered desk and a smaller room with a small cot and a gross-looking toilet. The fourth room was just like the second room, but the main difference was that it was occupied.
“Olek!” I said.
“Carson, no,” is what he said back.
He was alive! I couldn’t believe I’d found him.
Olek looked mostly unharmed. But the panic on his face told me everything I needed to know: It was a trap.
I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Mule Medlock’s easy smile.
“Hello, Carson,” he said, and before I could even respond, everything went black.
CHAPTER 39
I OPENED MY EYES TO A BLURRY HAZE. THE FIRST THING I FELT was my throbbing ankle. The next thing I noticed was that I couldn’t move my legs or arms. Then I heard a voice.
“It’s good to see you awake.” It was Mule Medlock’s voice. “You’re much more useful this way. The funniest part is that you really believed you’d be able to sneak in here completely unnoticed and rescue your friend.”
I tried to talk but all that came out was a mumble.
“Don’t strain yourself, Carson. We have time. It’s still amusing to think that the Agency actually employed a kid. That’s a new low, even for them. It’s immoral and unethical on so many levels. Anyway, here, have some milk.”
Suddenly a cup was pressed against my lips and milk was poured. I was still groggy so most of it ended up on my shirt, but I did manage a few swallows. I couldn’t place my finger on the flavor, but it was good. Even in this dire situation, I noticed that much.
“Like it?” Medlock said. “It’s a dragon fruit and watermelon four-and-two-thirds percent blend.”
Finally, my eyes began focusing. We were in a fairly large room. I saw no tables or any other furniture. It was just a bare, bright room with only one door that I could see. But Olek was also there, sitting in a chair a few feet away from me. He appeared to be unconscious.
His head was slumped forward and he was tied to the chair with what appeared to be heavy duty bungee cords across his torso. I found that I was as well. My feet were held to the chair legs by white plastic zip ties. My shoes were no longer on my feet, and my left ankle was bleeding through my sock. That one must have been injured when they’d knocked me out. My hands were tightly bound together behind me by what felt like the same type of plastic zip ties.
Mule Medlock stood in front of me. One guard in a suit stood behind him. A little person stood across the room, between Olek and me. Not, like, a small person, but, you know, a really small person. A little person. According to my social studies teacher, they’re not supposed to be called midgets. I was guessing this one doubled as a circus performer for his cover, which seemed kind of mean to me, but then again no one was forcing him to be part of this evil organization, or the circus.
The little person held a large, leather black bag in one hand. He smiled at me.
I glared back.
“That’s my friend Packard,” Mule said. “Packard is going to have some questions for you later. And I’m sure you’ll comply, since he tends to get answers when he really wants them.”
Packard put his bag on the floor and started removing items from it. He took out a lot of metal gadgets that looked like they were from a horror movie. My stomach lurched, and I puked up the milk I just drank all over my shirt.
“Eww,” Medlock said, taking a step back.
“What do you want? Why are you doing this?” I asked. “I don’t understand why you want to hurt people.”
“Me? You think I want to hurt people?” Medlock asked.
“Why else would you be trying to help known terrorists?”
“Power, of course. Why else? Hurting people and gaining power are not mutually dependent endeavors. One can be achieved without the other. If people get hurt, that’s unfortunate. But sometimes necessary.”
“But how does keeping these terrorists out of prison help you get power?” I asked.
“Well, the money is a good start,” he said with a smile. “Certain associates of these alleged terrorists are paying us a pretty hefty sum to stop Olek’s parents from testifying. In fact, his parents know we have Olek and have already agreed to back out of the trial. What they don’t know is that they’ll still never get Olek back. We’ve agreed to sell him to one of these terrorist groups. As for what they plan to do with him, that’s really none of my concern, nor is it any of my business.
“But none of that stuff really matters, anyway,” he continued with a dismissive wave of his hand. “What matters to me most is what will be perceived to be an epic failure on the part of the Agency. It will be the largest and most public failure in its history. It will destroy them from within.”
“So you’re doing all this just to take down the Agency?” I asked. It seemed like a completely ridiculous motivation to me.
“Yes! And with them out of the way, there will be nothing to stop a new authority from rising up. We’ll restore meaning back to this country, and I will be there to oversee it all. I’ll be a hero, a god of sorts. The man who saved America from itself.”
“But acts of terrorism and sabotage won’t convince anyone that you ought to be in charge,” I said.
“No? Tell me then, how can we change a system that has been locked in place for decades? How can we change the unchangeable? People in this country are stuck. They are stuck and they don’t even know it. They get up, eat food, go to work at a job they don’t truly love to make money to buy stuff to try and fill the voids. They’ve all been stuck in the same routine for generations and they’re just begging to be broken free, whether they know it or not. The first part of that is simply to destroy the institutions holding them hostage, metaphorically speaking of course.”
I shook my head. I heard what he was saying but didn’t want to believe him. It was just too close to what I’d been telling myself about North Dakota my whole life. I wasn’t anything like Mule Medlock, was I? I’ve always wanted to break free from what I’d always perceived to be a boring prison of routine, but not at the expense of others. Besides, for me it had always been North Dakota specifically. Surely things were different, more exciting, bigger and better for kids in other places, right? There was no way a kid in New York City or Hawaii or Tokyo felt as bored and trapped in as mundane an existence as I did.
Right?
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Are you realizing that I might be right?”
“Whether you are or aren’t, you can’t hurt innocent people to make your point!” I said.
“Why not?”
I didn’t answer him.
“No, seriously,” he said. “I want you to give me a specific reason why a few people getting hurt for the greater good is wrong. Go on. Tell me.”
“Because . . . because it’s just not right,” I said, frustrated that I couldn’t come up with anything better than that.
He just laughed. But he didn’t laugh like a normal, sane person. No, he was practically having a seizure he was laughing so maniacally. He was acting like some crazed villain straight out of a bad James Bond movie. And I had to face the possibility that Medlock might just be plain crazy.
“You’re insane,” I said quietly once he had calmed enough to hear me.
“So? What’s your point?” he asked.
I clenched my fist and suddenly felt a small poke. My false palms. They hadn’t found them. I started slowly working the razor blade free, concentrating on moving my shoulders as little as possible.
“Anyway, let’s start by you telling me who your Agency contacts at the school are, shall we?” Mule Medlock asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
&n
bsp; “We both know that’s a lie.”
“It’s not.”
I’d finally managed to free the razor with my first two fingers. It was clutched delicately between them. The trick now would be to get it to my thumb without dropping it or cutting myself.
“No matter. I will get you to talk eventually. Or, Packard will, anyway, to be more accurate. You’ll be willing to tell me your darkest secrets, your most embarrassing dreams by the time he’s done with you. I promise you that.”
“Well, being that I’m dead anyway, can you at least tell me how?” I asked. “How did you know? I mean, how did you find out who Olek was? And that he was at my house?”
I finally managed to get the razor gripped between my first finger and thumb. The problem was that I couldn’t seem to bend my wrist the right way to get the razor to the plastic thing holding my wrists together.
“It was you,” Medlock said. “You told me everything I needed to know.”
“I don’t—” I mumbled. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, that’s what being a troublemaker gets you,” he said. “I targeted you due to your inability to stay out of trouble. It seems you have a certain nose for it. I knew that the Agency headquarters was located here in town and thus they’d likely bring Olek here as well, assuming it to be the safest location. But, of course, we still didn’t know who he was. All of you middle school kids look the same. So that’s where you came in.”
“You mean . . .” I started, but trailed off, still trying to process what he was implying.
“That’s right, it was all staged. That wasn’t really Agent Orange, and that wasn’t really his PEDD. Or it was; we just made some alterations. Agent Orange was captured well before that handoff. I had a feeling that if I had my agents follow you after we gave you the box, it would eventually lead us to Olek. And sure enough, just a few days later, you’re suddenly hanging out with this new kid.”
“So you’ve had people watching me this whole time? Ever since the day I got the package?”
He nodded, his eyes glowing.
“If you knew all along, why did you wait so long to make your move?” I asked.
“Why not?” he said. “By waiting until the last day before the trial, it gives the Agency almost no chance of recovering Olek in time. That’s also why we had our men back off from your school and your neighborhood, to make the Agency think their plan was working. To get them to let down their guard ever so slightly.”
I shook my head. No, it couldn’t be. The idea that I had been indirectly responsible for Olek’s capture was more than I could bear. I kept shaking my head, trying to make the facts go away. Trying to make them untrue.
“It’s true,” Medlock said.
And I knew he was right. It explained why I hadn’t been able to identify Agent Orange in that photo lineup Blue and Nineteen had shown me. If only I hadn’t been so selfish, so stupid, so eager to believe I could become a secret agent, then his plan wouldn’t have worked. Had I just delivered the package to Mr. Jensen, never opened it myself, Olek would probably still be safe.
“How?” I said. “How could you have been so sure I’d open the package?”
Medlock laughed.
“Are you kidding? Look at you. Of course you’re going to open it. You’re obviously desperate for attention, with all the pranks and whatnot. Letting loose herds of goats? Of course that kid will open a mysterious package! You know, you remind me a lot of myself when I was a kid. Always dreaming of bigger and better things. Well, pretty soon you’re going to realize that genuinely bigger and better things simply don’t exist in this country. At least not in its current form.”
Was I really that predictable? I didn’t need to think about it for much more than a second to realize that the answer was obviously yes.
Just then a small metal cart with wheels was brought in, and Packard began loading his tools onto it. He hummed lightly while he worked. I think it was a song from a really old Disney movie, but I couldn’t be sure.
“But that still doesn’t explain how you found out that the Agency had a base here, or that they’d bring Olek here,” I said.
“Well, some things must remain a mystery. Sorry, Carson. I can’t give away all my secrets. You know what the difference is between people who are good at what they do and those who aren’t?”
I shook my head. Not that I really cared either way at this point.
“Attention to detail,” he said. “That’s it, that’s the secret to success. That’s why my milk is so good: I pay attention to detail.”
I groaned and shook my head. But really I did that to cover up what almost became a shout of triumph. I’d finally found a way to position my wrists so the razor made contact with the zip tie. I slowly began working it back and forth. I couldn’t press hard enough to cut it easily, but with enough finagling, it would give eventually. Or so I had to hope.
That’s when Olek woke up. He rolled his head groggily to the side. When he saw me, he smiled faintly.
“I see we are both in a jar of vinegar-soaked cucumber,” he said to me.
“We’re in a pickle, Olek,” I corrected him.
“Yes, this what I say,” he said.
“Ah, good, we’re all awake,” Medlock said. “So we all get to witness what happens next. I’m going to turn the floor over to Packard now. Like I said, he has some questions for you, Carson.”
Medlock took a few steps back and stood next to the guard. He smiled and watched the little guy push the metal cart over to the space right in between Olek and me.
Packard picked up a nasty-looking pair of pliers. They were like normal pliers, except they had what looked like human teeth affixed to the end.
“Did you know that the human bite can be among the most painful things a person can experience?” Packard asked. “When people get attacked by sharks they often don’t feel any pain at first, only pressure. This is because sharks’ teeth are so sharp that they just slice through flesh with little resistance. Human teeth, however, particularly the incisors and bicuspids, are just sharp enough to break skin with enough pressure, but dull enough to cause maximum pain.”
He walked over and stood in front of Olek. The truth smacked me right in the face: they weren’t actually going to torture me; they were going to torture Olek. And they wouldn’t stop until I told them what they wanted to know.
CHAPTER 40
“WAIT,” I SAID, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS!”
Medlock laughed. “Oh, but we’re not doing this. You are. We will stop as soon as you tell us what we want to know.”
“I will. What do you want to know?” I said, knowing that I was being weak. But I didn’t care; I couldn’t sit there and watch them torture Olek.
But I also kept working the razor back and forth. I was starting to make some progress now. I was maybe one fifth of the way through the thick plastic tie. I worked faster, knowing that I was already so panicked it would simply look like my shoulders were trembling from fear rather than working to cut myself free.
“How many contacts at the Agency did you have?” Packard asked.
“I . . . I don’t know,” I stammered. “I only communicated with them via email.”
“You’re lying,” Medlock said.
“No, I swear!”
Medlock looked at me and then nodded at Packard. Packard grabbed a chunk of Olek’s arm with the teeth pliers and started applying pressure. Olek’s scream was about enough to destroy me.
“Okay, okay!” I said. Packard released the pressure slightly.
“Carson, no, don’t tell,” Olek yelled.
“Just one. There was only one guy.”
Mule Medlock studied me. Then he shook his head. “I’m disappointed that you clearly care about your friend so little. Packard, proceed.”
Packard once again squeezed the giant teeth pliers and then started twisting. Olek screamed so loud that my will just shattered. I know this makes me a horrible secret agent. But I couldn’t handle knowing tha
t I was causing Olek so much pain.
“Three! I only had contact with three guys at the Agency. I swear that’s the truth this time!” I shouted, referring to Agents Nineteen, Blue, and Chum Bucket.
Packard released Olek’s arm. I saw that the skin where he’d gripped him was already purple and blue from bruising. Blood dribbled down where several teeth had broken the skin. Olek didn’t cry, though; he just breathed deeply and rapidly.
“There we go! See?” Medlock said. “We already knew that, of course, since we’ve been following you from the day you got the package, remember? But thank you for finally telling the truth.”
“If you knew that, then why did you ask?” I shouted. I kept working the razor. I was close to halfway now.
“Just to see how far we had to push to get the truth out of you,” he said. “Not very far at all, I must say. See? This is one of the problems with hiring a kid to do secret-agent fieldwork. You just break so easily. You have no willpower, no discipline. Well, at least not enough to be an Agency operative. But their mistake is my gain, as usual.”
He nodded at Packard to continue. Packard looked at me and grinned.
“Tell me the names of your contacts?” he said. “Both their codenames and covers.”
“I really don’t know! They never told me!” I shouted.
Medlock shook his head and Packard gripped one of Olek’s thumbs with the teeth pliers. He squeezed and started twisting it. I heard a snap as Olek’s thumb broke. He screamed so loud it was almost deafening. Then Packard moved on to the other one.
At the same moment I was finally able to cut through the zip tie. The guard and Medlock were both watching Packard do his thing and didn’t see that I was loose. I reached down and quickly sliced the ties on my ankles and then lifted my elbows, allowing the bungee cords to slide up my arms and round my neck.
Mule Medlock looked at me with pure shock right as I emptied my smokescreen gun into his face. Then I lunged at him, screaming as pain ripped through my ankles. My shoulder connected with his midsection as smoke billowed around us.
Codename Zero Page 18
