by David Lubar
I pinched the wire between my thumb and first finger, moving as gently as if I were picking up a butterfly.
“Steady, lad,” Mr. Murphy said.
I started to inch the wire free.
The timer kept counting down. I could barely see light between the end of the wire and the side of the container.
I had it halfway out. I had no idea what would happen to me if I was blown to bits. And I really didn’t want to find out.
The other guy groaned and raised his head. I couldn’t believe my hand hadn’t jerked. But I was rock solid. The guy started to crawl toward me.
I moved the wire as quickly as I could. The guy was just a foot away. The timer read 00:07.
I got the yellow wire out. Then I yanked the red one. The timer died at 00:02.
The guy got to his feet. He walked toward me and held his hand out.
Mr. Murphy reached out and took his hand. The guy pulled him to his feet. The crate rolled off him like it was made of balsa wood.
“Well done, Nathan,” Mr. Murphy said.
The bad guy tucked in his shirt and ran a hand through his hair. “You free for lunch tomorrow, Peter?” he asked Mr. Murphy.
“Absolutely, Ralph,” Mr. Murphy said. “Pasta Grossa at noon?”
“See you then.” He walked off.
I grabbed Mr. Murphy’s arm. “What was that all about?”
“A test,” he said. “We had to make sure you wouldn’t panic in the field.”
“A test? Are you crazy?” I kicked the crate. It splintered like zombie fingers.
He shrugged. “Be happy. You passed. You have what it takes. And, I must say, I was quite pleased with my performance, too. It’s not easy pretending to be hurt. Did you like the way I gasped? Was it convincing?”
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” I said.
“I won’t.”
“Promise.”
He smiled. “You have my word.”
All the way home, I bounced between being angry at him for tricking me, and proud of myself for being so calm.
“Dead calm,” I whispered.
That made me smile.
I told Mookie and Abigail about the test the next morning.
“Cool,” Mookie said. “Why can’t we have tests like that in school? I’d definitely do better at math if there were more bombs.”
“I’d imagine Nathan didn’t think it was cool when it was happening,” Abigail told him.
“I really didn’t have time to think at all,” I said.
“This is just more proof that you definitely can’t trust them,” Abigail said. “If they can do this sort of thing, they can do anything.”
“At least Mr. Murphy promised there’d only be one test,” I said. “So I guess I won’t see him again until Friday.”
I was wrong.
16
They’re All Bats
That night, as I was getting ready for bed, something slammed into my window. I spun around and saw a bat pressed against the glass. It stayed there for a moment, then fluttered away.
There was a smudge on the window. It started to glow. I got closer, and saw writing: CHECK YOUR E-MAIL. As I stared at the words, they faded.
A second bat slammed into the window. It left a message, too: NOW!
I went downstairs. My parents were still awake. “Okay if I check something on the computer real quickly?”
“Is it for school?” Mom asked.
“It’s for a test,” I said. That was probably true.
“Go ahead.”
I logged on and checked my e-mail. There was a message from Mr. Murphy:
Nathan,
I’m using e-mail, just as you requested. Though you must admit, the bats are impressive. Please meet me on the corner as soon as you can. This is not a test.
That was the whole message. I figured he just said this wasn’t a test to trick me into taking another test. But I also wanted to get my bones strengthened. I guess there was also a part of me that wanted to show him I could handle whatever he threw at me. Right after my folks went to sleep, I slipped out my bedroom window and climbed onto the garage roof. From there, I was able to lower myself to the ground.
I saw a black car by the curb around the corner. As I reached it, the passenger window rolled down. From the driver’s side, Mr. Murphy said, “Get in.”
“What’s this about?”
“A sudden opportunity.”
I got in. “Are you sure this isn’t another test?”
He stared at me and slowly shook his head. “This is the real thing. We just received information about a major threat to a large part of the population in this region of New Jersey.”
We headed out of town, followed the highway for several miles, then turned onto a narrow road that ran through the woods. After a couple miles of twisty turns, Mr. Murphy switched off his headlights. The road ahead vanished in the darkness. He turned the steering wheel to the right.
I braced myself for a collision with a tree. But he rolled to a stop without hitting anything. Then he shut the engine and handed me a portable video player. “I have something to show you.”
“Can’t you just tell me my instructions?” I asked. “Do you have to do everything with gadgets?”
There was a long pause before he answered me. “These aren’t instructions. This is evidence. It appears you’ve done a bit of snooping in our hallways.”
As I opened my mouth to deny it, Mr. Murphy reached over and hit PLAY. The video showed me sneaking down the hallway to the storage room.
“Spying is admirable,” he said. “This proves you have the sort of talent and attitude we need. You’re sly, cunning, and deceptive.” He smiled at me.
“Thanks.” I figured there was more coming.
“But spying on us is definitely not admirable. We need to be able to trust you.”
“You can trust me.”
I wondered whether he’d brought me here to get rid of me. But all he said was, “I’ll find out in a minute.”
He didn’t know I’d discovered BUM’s secret. He had no idea that, thanks to Abigail, I knew how dangerous those chemistry sets were. I was safe for now—as long as I did what he asked. He got out and pulled a large bag from the trunk.
I joined him.
“Do you see that building?” He pointed to our left.
We were right next to a fence. It was hard to tell in the dark, but the fence must have been twenty or thirty feet high. In the darkness of the woods, I could make out a large building on the other side. It didn’t seem to have any windows. I started to lean against the fence.
“Whoa there, cowboy.” Mr. Murphy grabbed my wrist. “It’s electrified. That’s why I brought you. We need to get someone over to the other side.”
“Can’t you send one of your robots?”
He shook his head. “The electric field disrupts their control systems. This is a job for a person. But the electricity can stop a living person’s heart. So we need a person without a heartbeat. Does that sound like anyone we know?”
I tried to remember everything I’d learned about electricity in science class. “Won’t I get burned?”
“Probably not.”
“Probably?” I’d been hoping for definitely or absolutely.
“High voltage causes burns. This fence has low voltage but high amperage. It’s specifically designed to keep people from climbing it. Trust me, Nathan—you’re the only one who can do this. And it has to be done tonight. Every second could make a difference.”
“So, what am I doing?”
He handed me a small backpack. “There’s a package in here. Once you clear the fence, go around to the back of the building. You’ll see three exhaust vents. Slip the package through the opening in the center vent, and your mission is done. Come back, and I’ll take you home.”
“What if I don’t want to do this?”
“It’s a long walk.”
“You wouldn’t leave me here, would you?” I waited for an answ
er. The silence told me all I needed to know.
Mr. Murphy dropped a rubber doormat by the fence. “Stand on this. It will insulate you from the ground so you can get started. Do your shoes have rubber soles?”
“Yup.” I wasn’t sure why I needed to be insulated if the electricity couldn’t hurt me. But I figured he wasn’t going to answer any more questions. I slipped my arms through the straps and put on the backpack. Then I reached up with my right hand and grabbed the fence. I expected to feel some sort of jolt.
Nothing happened. I put my left foot on the fence and stepped up.
Nothing happened. I grabbed the fence with my other hand.
Something happened.
I guess I completed the circuit. As electricity ran through my arms, my fingers clamped down, making tight fists. My whole body twitched. I tried to say something, but my head was jerking around like a bobble-head doll in an earthquake.
Even my throat and lungs went out of control. Weird screams shot out of me. “Wuuhwaahhhbwugaaaurrgggazoo!!!!” I sounded like the world’s worst screaming rock singer. Or maybe the best.
I remembered the frog in science class, twitching whenever it got jolted with electricity.
“Hang on,” Mr, Murphy said. Then he giggled and added, “I guess there’s no need to tell you that since you have to hang on. But, anyhow, be patient. The current will stop in a moment. It has to recharge.”
Sure enough, after I’d done a bit more of my twitchy dance-and-scream song, my body suddenly went slack. I almost fell before I remembered to grab on. I looked back to tell Mr. Murphy how much I hated him, but he shouted, “Hurry! It recharges pretty quickly.”
I scrambled higher. I was halfway up the fence when the second jolt hit me. Once again, I looked like a last-place contestant in a dance competition.
I got jolted two more times before I made it to the ground on the other side.
“Well done,” Mr. Murphy said.
I glared at him. Then I headed for the building and went around back. Just like he said, there were three vents in the wall. I slipped off the backpack and took out the package. It was about the size and weight of a brick, but wrapped in plastic.
“Probably a brick,” I muttered.
I pushed it through the center opening, then went back to the fence. I scrambled my way over, getting zapped several more times. Mr. Murphy was still there.
“Thanks for waiting,” I said.
“You’re valuable. Let’s go.”
We got in the car. He started the engine and switched on the headlights. When the light hit the fence, I saw a sign with a flag on it. An American flag.
GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
KEEP OUT
“What is this place? What was that all about?”
Mr. Murphy didn’t answer me. Instead, he turned the car around and headed back the way we’d come. A moment later, I heard a huge boom. The sky behind us lit up and flames shot in the air.
I had a sudden suspicion I knew what was in that package.
“What did I just do?” I asked.
“You did what you were told.”
“You made me blow up a building,” I said. I could hear sirens now. What did I do?
“Nonsense. You didn’t blow up the whole building. It was a very small explosion. You merely killed the power to the fence and sent a small signal.”
“But . . .”
“No more questions. You need to decide whether you can trust me. And I need to know I can trust you. Think about what you’ve seen and done. Think carefully. Because once you join, we expect absolute loyalty. Forever.”
We drove the rest of the way in silence. By the time I got back to my room, I’d come up with dozens of crazy ideas to explain what I’d just done. But, whatever I’d blown up, I didn’t like the idea that Mr. Murphy wouldn’t tell me anything. And I really didn’t like the idea that it was a government building.
Even though it was late, I called Abigail. I had to tell someone what had happened.
“Do you have any idea where you were?” she asked.
“No. We didn’t cross the river, so I guess we were still in Jersey. We headed south on the highway for a couple miles, then took a twisty road. That’s all I know. But I blew something up. What if I get sent to prison for life? I’ll be there forever!”
“Calm down,” Abigail said. “Take a deep breath.”
“What good will that do?” I asked.
“Okay, good point. Forget the breath. But don’t get all worried. I’ll see if I can find out anything,” she said. “There can’t be that many government buildings that close to here. Either way, after tomorrow, you’re done with BUM.”
“I hope so.”
17
Large Scale Problems
When I got to school Friday morning, I saw Mookie and Adam over by the parking lot with Denali. She looked like she’d been crying.
“The shop?” I asked Mookie.
He nodded. “Her folks are about to give up.”
“It’s just too hard for them,” Denali said between sniffles. “They’re trying to open up at night, but business is so slow that they can’t afford to hire any help. They have to do everything by themselves. So they’re both exhausted all the time.”
“That’s rough.” I thought about my dad, and how tired he seemed after a long day of work.
“They’re ready to quit,” she said. “They’re running a big ad in the paper today to try to get more business. If that doesn’t work, it’s over. We’ll have to go live with my grandma and grampa. I don’t want to move.”
She started crying again. By then, Abigail had showed up.
“Find out anything?” I asked her.
“Not yet. I checked the whole area where you might have been, and compared it to a list of government properties. There are no active military bases or federal buildings around there like the one you described.”
Abigail and Snail Girl went over and hugged Denali. I backed away with the rest of the guys. We could handle blood and vomit, but tears made us nervous.
I found something else to be nervous about after lunch. At the end of gym class, Mr. Lomux walked over to his office and dragged out the scale.
“All right,” he bellowed. “Let’s see who you’re going to be grappling with. We want to make sure nobody is wrestling out of his weight class.”
“Bring ’em on.” Rodney rushed to be first. I was surprised that Omar rushed up, too. After Rodney was weighed, he stayed near the scale.
When Omar stepped on the scale, it turned out he’d lost nine pounds.
“Yes!” he said, pumping his fist in the air.
“Guess he won’t be wrestling Rodney,” Adam said.
“I hate this,” Mookie said as he slipped in behind me. “I always think they’re going to stop sliding that stupid little weight, but it keeps going.”
I knew what Mookie meant. The little weight always moved too far along the crossbar for him. It never moved far enough for me.
Except this time.
When I stepped on the scale, the crossbar pasted itself against the top with a sharp clank.
“You’ve beefed up, Abercrombie,” Mr. Lomux said. He slid the weight to the right, and kept sliding it. “I knew you’d put on some muscle if I trained you right.”
The weight finally reached the balance point. Between the chicken wings and the water, I’d gained seventeen pounds. I looked down at my stomach. All that chicken and water were still in there.
Rodney made a snapping motion with his fists, like he was breaking a branch—or maybe a twig—in half. “He’s mine.”
“That’s temporary weight.” I pointed to my stomach. “It’s mostly water. It will be gone before Saturday.”
“Next!” Mr. Lomux shouted, ignoring me.
I stepped off the scale. Behind me, the crossbar slammed back down.
I waited for Mookie.
“I’m dead,” I said when he joined me.
He nodded. “You’re dead.”
>
I imagined Rodney crushing me, or slamming me down so hard, all my bones broke.
Abigail was definitely right. I had to go to BUM to get my bones strengthened.
“Do you want us to come along?” she asked after school.
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
She nodded, but kept staring at me. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. I have this nagging feeling there’s something about the bone machine that I’m missing. I went over my calculations seven times. They seem fine. But my gut tells me I forgot to include an important factor. It’s all kind of complicated. I’m pretty good with molecular biology, but particle physics isn’t my strongest area. I wish you could wait a couple days before doing this.”
I thought about Rodney and the way he’d smashed Omar to the mat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Yeah,” Mookie said. “We don’t want Nathan scattered across the gym like a ripped-open sack full of LEGOs.”
Abigail nodded. “I understand. I’m sure it’s nothing. I’ll just go home and think about it a little more. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Luckily for me, Abigail was a quick thinker.
18
Porking Out
Last time I’m making this trip, I thought as I walked to the museum. I really wished BUM had turned out to be the good guys. I bet it would have been awesome going on spy missions.
On the way there, I saw a dog run into a fire hydrant. Mookie’s right, I thought. This town is definitely getting weirder.
When I reached the front steps of the museum, I heard a scream.
“Wait! Nathan, wait!”
I spun around and saw Abigail racing down the street toward me on a bike. She hit the brakes, and went flying over the handlebars. Luckily, she landed on the grass.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She nodded, gasping. I guess she was too out of breath to talk right away.
“Look, I need to get down to BUM.”
