by Lisa McMann
Cyke turned to a second computer and pulled up the same website so Dr. Gray and the soldiers could see the shot unmagnified. “Local news of a fire. A bystander captured it on his cell phone. The girl climbed the side of this house to the second story and carried a grown woman down to the ground.”
Dr. Gray leaned forward in alarm. “So she got the bracelet to work?” he muttered. “But how?”
“Yes, it appears to be working well, Dr. Gray,” Cyke said.
“Well, who is she?” Dr. Gray narrowed his razor-sharp eyes.
“No one knows,” said Cyke. His back rippled again, and his head gave a little shake. “At least no one’s identified her yet.”
“Play the clip.”
Cyke obliged.
Dr. Gray watched in stunned silence, then ripped his fingers through his hair. “I don’t understand it. Only Wilde himself could have possibly activated it—nobody else would have the knowledge. Certainly not some random child . . .” Dr. Gray trailed off, and stared at the screen, a pained look on his face.
Several soldiers shifted uncomfortably, unsure how to react to Dr. Gray’s emotional outburst.
The first screen blinked, and the red bar turned green. Cyke looked at the doctor. “The bracelet matches, sir—it’s definitely the Mark Five.”
“What’s that?” Dr. Gray said faintly, pulling away from his thoughts. “Oh, yes. Yes, of course it must be. Wilde relocated to Arizona, didn’t he? I’m afraid . . . I’m afraid this is no coincidence.” He blew out a breath and scanned the lab, talking more to himself than to anyone else. “Could he have been Jack’s accomplice in the break-in? And then what—he fled to Arizona with it? Or perhaps they’re all in this . . . together. Against me.” He clutched the placket of his lab coat, his eyes flickering at the thought of being betrayed. But then he shook his head and gathered his resolve. “No matter. Now that we know the device works, we must triple our efforts.”
He looked up sharply and addressed the group. “Soldiers, I’ve said it before and I’ll remind you again—trust no one.” The expression on his face turned hard. “This location is not safe,” he said. “We must guard the remaining prototypes with extreme care—we can’t let this happen again. If Charles Wilde is involved and has decided to go against me, there are most certainly others preparing to do the same thing.” Abruptly he pushed through the soldiers and stormed around the lab. Stopping at the far wall, he unlocked a glass cabinet, then snatched devices from it. He packed them with care in a small case, and then he returned to the puzzled group, carrying the case and muttering under his breath, “I’ll just have to convince him that we’re stronger together. That’s all.”
He placed his hand on Cyke’s shoulder and took a moment to pull his thoughts together. Finally, with an air of calm, he started giving orders. “Cyke, arrange travel for you, me, Zed, and Miko to Arizona, immediately,” he said. “And Dr. Goldstein too, of course.” He glanced at a slight, energetic soldier nearby who seemed to have trouble standing still. “Miko,” he said to her, “give Jack a little food and water so he’s fit to travel, will you? Just a little, mind you.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, and slipped away.
Dr. Gray turned back to Cyke. “Let the Arizona team know we’re on the way. Tomorrow you, Zed, and Miko will assist the surveillance team in raiding the IP location, intercepting the girl, and grabbing the bracelet.” He paused and added, with a note of bitterness, “I’ll take the rest of the soldiers to see if we can locate our old friend Dr. Wilde . . . and find out what he’s been up to without me.”
“Of course, Dr. Gray.”
“If all goes well,” Dr. Gray went on, “we’ll set up our lab and continue working from Navarro Junction with help from Jack and, well, whoever else we collect along the way.”
He held up the box of devices to the group of soldiers. “I’m taking the prototypes with me. I want those of you staying behind to pack up the lab and tear this place down. Then follow us to the warehouse in Arizona with the gear.”
The doctor emitted a strained laugh. The wounded look on his face had faded, replaced by one of pride and a hint of revenge. “A new little lab in the desert—how charming. If Dr. Wilde is behind this as I suspect, he’s in for quite a shock when he finds out what I’ve done in the time he’s been away.” He looked lovingly at his soldiers. A man in the group stood up straighter and nodded, while a cunning-looking woman at the front narrowed her eyes.
Then the doctor’s face clouded again, and he clapped once, loudly. “Zed, get them moving!”
The cunning-looking soldier obeyed and snarled out orders. Within seconds, and at incredible speed, several members of the group swarmed the lab instruments and began breaking them down.
Cyke turned from the computer and stood up, his muscles rippling under the bodysuit. At his full height, he stood several inches taller than the doctor, and his shoulders were a good deal broader. He looked down at the man. “Pack your things, Doctor,” he said, and began gathering up some papers from his workstation. “We leave in thirty minutes.”
“Just a moment!” Dr. Gray narrowed his eyes. “Get me the Navarro Junction team. All of them.”
Cyke sat back down and clicked an icon on the computer screen. A moment later Dr. Gray was looking at a soldier in a full bodysuit like Cyke’s standing in semidarkness inside a large warehouse. Behind him was a table with several unopened boxes stacked on top and a long row of computer monitors, similar to the ones in front of Cyke. A white van with blacked-out windows was parked beyond the table. Other soldiers were putting equipment together in the background.
“Prowl at your service,” the soldier said. His voice was slow and deliberate, and contained the faintest hint of a rumbling sound, almost like a purr.
“Prowl, can you bring everyone over?” Cyke asked. “Dr. Gray wants to do a quick check-in. I see the van—is the surveillance team there too?”
“We’re all here,” Prowl said. He called the group to gather around his tablet.
“All present, sir,” Cyke confirmed, looking at Dr. Gray.
Dr. Gray greeted the team and gave them a run-down of the plan. Then he addressed the three members of the surveillance team. “I need you back at the IP site immediately. Be extravigilant—record every move of every person on that street so we can go in tomorrow and get the job done without any problems. Have a good look at the girl from the video so you can recognize her—she may still be wearing the bracelet. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” said the three.
“Does everyone understand our mission tomorrow?”
They all nodded.
Dr. Gray continued. “This task is more serious than I can possibly emphasize. I don’t care what you have to do to succeed.”
The soldiers nodded again. “Yes, Doctor,” a couple of them murmured.
Dr. Gray studied each of the soldiers until he was satisfied that they grasped the urgency of the situation. “We will destroy the girl if that’s what it takes,” he said. “I must have that device back.”
CHAPTER 38
Trying Not to Freak Out
The news segment about the mysterious youth who rescued two people from a fire ended. Charlie, Maria, and Mac stared at the iPad for a long moment.
“Oh no,” Charlie whispered. Tears welled up in her eyes. She looked at Maria. “People are going to find out.”
“Yeah, they might,” said Mac, “though it’s hard to tell it’s you with that cloth over your face.” He turned in the chair. “Would it be such a bad thing, though?”
“Yes!” cried Charlie. “Can you imagine the kids at school if word gets out? I don’t want them coming up to me and asking me to carry them around or climb walls like I’m some circus performer. And what about the next time something goes wrong around town—are people going to expect me to show up and save the day? What happens if I’m taking a test or playing in a soccer game and I don’t go?”
She sniffed and went on in a quiet voice, “I just started feeling like I be
long here, and I like it that way. I don’t want to stand out or have people talk about me behind my back or think I’m some sort of freak. I want to have a normal life. Besides,” she said, looking at the news report, “I haven’t told my parents anything about this. If they find out, they might cut the bracelet off, and it’ll be ruined.”
Mac saw Charlie’s face and quickly looked away. “Yeah, okay, I get it. My parents would kill me if they discovered something like that about me on the news. Like I said, maybe nobody will be able to tell it’s you.”
They watched the footage again.
“No way people will be able to tell,” Maria said decisively. “The shot is too far away. I think you’re okay, Charlie.”
“Can you refresh the page?” Charlie urged Mac. “Go to the bottom.”
Mac did as she asked and scrolled down to the comments section.
“What are you doing?” Maria asked, alarmed.
“We need to check the comments,” said Charlie, taking a determined breath and wiping away a tear. She leaned over Mac’s shoulder.
“Why—you’re not going to write one, are you?” asked Maria.
“Of course not,” said Charlie. “But people are going to start trying to guess who the mysterious hero is. And we need to figure out if anybody recognized me, or you guys for that matter. You’re in the clip, too, at the end—just the backs of your heads, thankfully. But Mac’s Afro is pretty distinguishable.”
“The footage is grainy,” Mac said. “I don’t think anybody will be able to tell. Even the still frame they blew up doesn’t show your face. And if somebody notices Maria and me, we’ll just say we have no idea who that person is.”
“All right,” Charlie said dubiously. “Maybe nobody seeing it on TV will recognize me, but what about the people who were actually at the scene? Was anybody there from school? I didn’t exactly have a chance to look. Plus . . . ugh.” She pounded her fist against her head.
“What’s wrong?” asked Maria.
“That paramedic—I told her my first name. Stupid! What if that news guy tracked her down and she told him? Or what if she tells somebody at the ER, and my mom finds out? There’s not a lot of girls named Charlie out there.” Charlie got up and started pacing anxiously from the end of Maria’s bed to the door and back again. “What am I going to do?” She looked up and wrinkled her nose, then took a swath of hair and sniffed it. “Oh my grossness! My hair smells like smoke. I can’t go home like this!” She snatched up the plastic bag that held her filthy clothes and looked down at the clothes Maria had lent her. “May I take a shower?” she asked.
“Sure,” said Maria. “Use whatever you need in there.”
“Thanks.” Charlie thrust the bag at her. “And can you please get rid of these clothes? Throw them away—I don’t care. They’re ruined anyway.”
“You got it,” said Maria, taking the bag. “We’ll take care of it.”
Charlie bolted into the bathroom.
Maria and Mac sneaked out through the back door so Maria’s parents wouldn’t see them and took Charlie’s ruined clothes out to the garbage can by the shed.
“Hiding evidence—it’s like we’re in the movies,” Maria said.
“Only real,” said Mac.
“What if the police come and look through the trash and find her clothes?” asked Maria.
Mac narrowed his eyes. “Why would the police come? And even if they did, it’s not like Charlie did anything wrong. They’d probably give her a medal of honor or something.”
Maria nodded, relieved. “Right. I forgot. We’re not hiding evidence. We’re the good guys.”
“As far as I know, we’re just throwing away really smelly, burned clothes,” said Mac.
They went back inside, and Mac began monitoring the activity on the piece of news and looking for more.
Charlie came out of the bathroom clean, calm, and with a plan. “I need to establish an alibi,” she said.
“Good idea,” said Maria.
“Can I eat dinner here?”
“Sure.”
Charlie narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you have to ask?”
“Nah. They make enough food for the whole neighborhood.”
“Bonus,” said Charlie. She was really getting hungry after exerting so much energy. She texted her father to say soccer practice had gone well, and she was doing homework and eating dinner at Maria’s. “I’ll be home by nine,” she told him. She looked up from her phone. “I hope he’s too busy to watch the news tonight.”
“It won’t matter anyway,” Maria reminded her. “It’s impossible to tell who you are. Especially with half a T-shirt over your face. It’s going to be okay.”
Charlie took a deep breath and blew it out. “Yeah,” she said. “You’re right.” She ran her fingers through her damp hair and gave the two a shaky smile. “Okay. Well, I’m sort of starving, and something smells amazing, so . . .”
Maria smiled and pointed the way to the kitchen. “You came to the right place.”
“No lie,” Mac said, plugging his phone into his iPad to sync and charge during dinner. “Maria’s kitchen is like the best Puerto Rican restaurant in town.” He snaked past the girls and led the way as a commotion of boys and dogs sounded from the front entryway. Maria’s stepbrothers were home.
The whole family plus Mac and Charlie squeezed around the table to bistec encebollado and tostones: thin slices of steak with onions in a savory broth served over rice, with crispy fried plantains.
“You can just call it beefsteak if you can’t remember the name,” Mac said to Charlie. “That’s what I call it.”
The family and guests laughed and talked and ate for almost an hour—it was a far cry from Charlie’s recent cereal dinner with Andy. For a little while Charlie almost forgot about her troubles.
Mac offered to walk Charlie home in case any reporters had followed them and were lurking around in the shadows. And while Charlie thought that was really unlikely, she agreed that it might be a good idea, and she was grateful for the company in the dark. They cut through the school grounds, trying to avoid the sprinklers that had kicked on. They didn’t notice the large white van pulling to the curb down the street.
Once they got farther away from the lights of the houses, Charlie began to glance this way and that. A shiver ran down her spine, and her heart started racing. She wasn’t sure what she was scared of other than just being in the dark, but she gave some dog walkers nearby an extralong glance just in case. They went about their business, paying no attention to the two sixth graders.
Feeling an extra bit of warmth on her arm, Charlie pushed up her sleeve and flipped screens on the bracelet. The running cheetah was lit up in yellow, brown, and gold, and the healing starfish was sparkling pink. “Huh,” she said. “Two of them are on at the same time.”
“Did they just kick on?” asked Mac.
“The starfish has been on since the fire. My burns are almost gone. But the cheetah just came on, I think. I guess I’m a little nervous or something. The bracelet seems to be ready for me to run.”
“Maybe it’s another glitch. Or it’s just messing with you after the day you had,” Mac said with a grin. But he glanced over his shoulder uneasily.
“Maybe,” said Charlie. She peered out beyond the lit path. More people were out walking their dogs or jogging in the mild evening. And there was some sort of event going on at the football stadium, so the night didn’t seem especially dangerous. With the craziness of the afternoon, Charlie decided her senses were probably heightened due to that. Absolutely nothing happened.
Mac stopped with Charlie outside her house. “You good?”
“Yeah. Thanks for walking with me. I know it wasn’t exactly on your way home.”
Mac made a peace sign. “It’s cool. See you tomorrow.”
“See you.”
He grinned and started down the driveway.
Charlie crept inside and found her dad snoozing in his recliner in the living room. There were papers s
cattered over his stomach, and the TV was on, volume low. No news in sight. Charlie turned off the TV and squeezed his hand. “I’m home,” she whispered.
His eyes popped open. “I’m awake.”
Charlie smiled at him. “Sure. I know.”
He grinned sheepishly and looked at the papers, then began shuffling them into a pile. “Did you have a good day?”
Charlie laughed under her breath. “Yeah, Dad. It was a riot. Thanks for letting me stay late at Maria’s. Mac walked home with me.”
“He seems like a nice kid.”
“Yeah. Is Mom still at work?”
“No, actually, she’s sleeping. And we had real food for dinner. I saved you some if you’re hungry.”
“Aw, real food?” Charlie said, feeling a pang of sadness, but she was stuffed. “And I missed it. I’m sorry.” Despite the excellent food at Maria’s house, she really was sorry.
“It’s okay. Mom and I will both be home for dinner tomorrow night, and Andy will be here too. How’s that for the good old days?” He pushed his recliner to the sitting position, gathered his stack of papers, and stood up.
Charlie almost grew teary-eyed. “That’s awesome, Dad. No class tomorrow night?”
“Nope. Canceled the whole day.”
“You can do that?”
“Not very often. But I did. Our family needs a time-out together. It’s been a little hectic around here.”
“That’s so cool,” Charlie said. “I’ll come home right after my game. It’s supposed to rain, so maybe it’ll get canceled—they don’t do anything in the rain here. A few sprinkles and they act like it’s a blizzard or something.”
Dr. Wilde laughed. “I’ve noticed that. Let me know if it’s canceled. Mom has to work until dinnertime, but I’ll be in the stands if you’re playing.”
Charlie put her arms around his middle and squeezed. He patted her head like he used to when she was a little girl.
“I love you, Dad,” said Charlie.
“I love you too, little one.” He kissed her forehead and walked her to her bedroom. It was incredibly comforting for Charlie after everything that had happened that day. With her father home, all was safe and well in the world.
