“Think they’re looking for me?” I asked as Danielle unchained her bike from a nearby tree. I was technically a missing kid after all—my parents hadn’t seen me since that afternoon and had no clue where I was.
“Yeah, maybe,” she said. “Come on, hop aboard.”
I climbed onto the pegs of her bike and she rode away from the school toward Burdick Avenue. We crossed it without waiting for the light, since there wasn’t much traffic after midnight. We parked our bikes behind the water treatment plant, nestled away in the trees on the riverbank. Dillon was there, waiting for us.
“So?” he asked as he handed me a grocery bag full of his old winter clothes.
“We got what we needed,” I said as I put on his old winter coat and gloves.
“Good, let’s go meet Medlock, then,” Dillon said, turning toward Danielle. “Mom is freaking out right now. I keep texting her to calm down and that we’re fine and will be home soon, but she’s not having it. We’re already grounded for three months.”
“Big deal,” Danielle said.
Dillon shrugged and then hopped on his bike.
“Follow me,” he said.
Danielle and I followed Dillon, me on the back pegs of her bike. We rode along the riverbank, in the trees, away from any roads. I was sure that Dillon was afraid of a possible tail. And I supposed that made sense. Medlock would have been worried about it.
We ended up in Oak Park, which was so dark at night that I could barely see Dillon anymore, even though he was just ten feet ahead of us. I heard his bike braking, the tires skidding on the gravel bike path. Danielle slowed down, too.
A blue light appeared in front of me from what I thought was Dillon’s phone. As I dismounted and got closer, however, I realized it wasn’t a phone at all but another type of device with a small screen. That’s when I realized we weren’t going to meet up with Medlock face-to-face at all, a hunch confirmed a moment later when Medlock’s face appeared on the handheld.
“What did you find out?” he asked.
“Here,” Dillon handed me the small device.
I looked into Medlock’s dark eyes. Even on the tiny screen they seemed to be too large and sharp to miss anything. It was uncanny how much they almost shined in spite of their dark color.
“Well?” he said impatiently. “Do I need to remind you about the button?”
“No,” I said. “I mean, no you don’t need to remind me. Yes, I got what you wanted.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I got a little worried when you disappeared from the camera feeds for such a long time.” He squinted suspiciously.
“Hmm . . . I didn’t feel well so they took me to Isadoris’s office to finish the interview.”
Medlock scoffed. “Figures that Isadoris’s office is the only one without a camera. Giving himself the privacy that he affords nobody else.”
I didn’t know how to answer that, or if he even expected an answer, so I just stayed quiet and looked into the small screen. Medlock stared back.
“Well, let’s have it, then,” he snarled.
“Oh, right. It’s, uh, the exchange, I mean, is at sunrise. That’s all he said, he didn’t say a specific time. And it’s happening out near old Augustine Church.”
If that presented any problems for him, he didn’t show it. In fact, he seemed relatively pleased, if the slight grin that appeared on his face was any indication.
“You’re not lying to me?”
“If I am, then I just destroyed the base,” I said. “And maybe the school, and who knows what else?”
“See?” Medlock said. “You learn fast. This could have been so much better had you worked for me from the start.”
“So, what’s your plan now?” I asked.
“Yeah, nice try,” he said. “Give me back to Dillon, please.”
I handed the device over. Dillon took it and gave me a momentary smile. Then he looked at the screen.
“Meet me at the gym,” I heard Medlock say. “Come alone.”
Dillon nodded and then disconnected the call and put the device back into his pocket.
“The gym?” Danielle asked.
“Code word,” Dillon said, and left it at that.
We all just stood there in the cold dark night and squinted to see each other for a few moments.
“Well, you’d better go meet Medlock, then,” I finally said. “I need to make a phone call and then get to work on the hardest phase of this whole mission. Danielle?”
“I’m going to head home so our mom doesn’t call the cops on us, too,” she said. “I’ll retrieve those gadgets you got from Chum Bucket that I stashed for you.”
“What about the exchange?” I asked.
“I’ll still be there,” she said. “I can sneak out of my house, too, you know.”
“Okay, so let’s rendezvous in three hours,” I said. “Also, I’ll need one of your cell phones since my dad smashed mine. So we can stay in touch.”
Danielle pulled out her phone and handed it to me. Then they both nodded at me, reconfirmed our rendezvous, and we all parted ways. Now it was time for the hardest part of my plan. In fact, I had no idea how I would accomplish what I needed to do next. Still, our plan was already in motion, and that meant I had to succeed or else dozens of innocent people would probably die.
There was no going back now.
CHAPTER 57
USING THE NEW TO FIND THE OLD
TRACKING DOWN A PAY PHONE HAD BEEN A LOT HARDER THAN I’d expected. I’d never used one before. The only reason I knew they existed at all was old movies. But I still assumed there had to be one somewhere. Especially in a place like Minnow, ND, which always seemed to be at least a few years behind the rest of the country when it came to just about everything.
I eventually used Danielle’s smartphone to find a pay phone. I couldn’t actually use my smartphone for the call I needed to make because I knew that the Agency had the ability to track cell phone calls fairly easily. And I wouldn’t put it past them to be tracking her calls right at that moment, even though they were currently busy with their own plans.
The nearest pay phone still in service was at a Hardee’s just a mile away. I walked there and made a phone call. I half expected nobody to answer; after all, it was nearly 2:00 a.m. But I eventually got through and spoke to the exact person I needed to.
But that wasn’t the hard part of my mission that night. The really hard part came after that. I once again used a simple Google search to find an address. It was close to the Hardee’s, which was good, though it didn’t give me as much time as I’d have liked to have to figure what I was going to say when I got there.
I took a few deep breaths as I ascended the front steps; the cold air bit my lungs. Then I approached the door and rang the doorbell. It was now 2:30 a.m.
And there I was ringing my principal’s doorbell.
CHAPTER 58
THE ULTIMATE TRUST TEST
I WASN’T SURE HOW LONG I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO STAND THERE and wait for someone to answer the door. And so I hit the doorbell at least a dozen times to ensure that someone would wake up and answer it. Turns out, even at that hour, you didn’t have to wait that long to get yelled at after ringing someone’s doorbell incessantly.
A light flickered on and then I saw part of a face peer out through a small window. The door swung open. A middle-aged man wearing only a bathrobe and boxer shorts scowled at me.
“I’m going to call the cops,” he said.
“I need to speak to Ms. Pullman,” I said, ignoring him.
“She’s sleeping,” he said through gritted teeth. “What . . . how . . .”
He seemed too angry and too tired to be able to put together rational questions. It was hard to blame him. Were it not for all the adrenaline from what I’d been through and was about to go through, I’d have been passed out by this point.
“It’s important. Please.” I tried to look as desperate as I felt.
“John, who is it?” a voice
said from inside the house.
I looked past the guy and saw Ms. Pullman standing in the hallway, also wearing a robe. Her eyes were squinting and her hair was frazzled. As if she’d just been rudely awakened in the middle of the night.
“Carson?” she said, clearly shocked when she spotted me.
“Hi, Ms. Pullman,” I said. “I’m so sorry to bother you but it’s important.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sounding more concerned than annoyed.
“It’s, uh, hard to explain.”
“Well, you had better hurry then,” John said, “because I don’t want to miss the end of it when the police arrive.”
He had a phone in his hand now.
“Wait, please, I just need to talk to Ms. Pullman for two minutes. Then you can call the cops.”
John glanced at his wife. She shrugged and nodded. He looked back at me and rolled his eyes.
“Well, I have to work tomorrow,” he declared, as if he deserved a medal for it. “So I’m going back to bed.” He headed back toward his room.
We stood there and listened as he stalked away down the hallway. Their bedroom door slammed shut a few seconds later.
“He doesn’t like to be woken at three in the morning,” Ms. Pullman said. “Nor do I, for that matter.”
“I’ll get right to the point then,” I said. “And this is going to sound insane. I get that. But you have to trust me. I mean, I know you probably shouldn’t, I certainly haven’t given you much reason to. But this time it’s really, really—”
“I thought you said you were getting right to the point,” she interrupted, leaning against the wall with her arms folded.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Anyway, I need you to make sure the school is completely evacuated tomorrow morning. No janitors, no teachers, nobody can be inside it or even near it at sunrise.”
She stared at me for several moments. She seemed unable to comprehend my words at first. I didn’t blame her.
“What?” she said eventually.
I took a deep breath to start explaining, but she didn’t even let me start.
“Maybe John was right to want to call the cops right away,” she said, moving toward the phone he had set on the edge of their dining room table.
“Fine, please, call the cops,” I said. “In fact, I will call them for you.” I pulled out Danielle’s cell phone. “And I’ll tell them whatever it takes to make sure the school is closed tomorrow.”
“Carson.” She furrowed her brow. “Be straight with me. What the heck is going on?”
“Right, okay,” I said, realizing I was going about this in such a frantic way that she was probably starting to worry about my mental health. “I know that you think I’m a good kid deep down, and I really am. I mean well. I never wanted to betray you. It’s such a ridiculous story and I don’t expect you to ever trust me . . . but I’m a secret agent. A real one. And . . .”
I trailed off when I saw her face change. Now she clearly did think I was nuts.
“Do your parents know you’re here?” she asked, picking up the phone.
“No,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t matter. I’ve never told anyone this before. In fact, I’ve been lying to just about everyone I know for the entire school year. But you have to believe me, or people might get hurt. Please, make sure the school is evacuated. I know there’s no logical reason for you to do what I’m asking, no reason for you or anyone else to actually trust me anymore. But I’m asking you, because you’re maybe the only person I’ve met this year who actually does.”
My desperation must have shown on my face because the hand holding the phone lowered back to the table. She looked at me and I tried to meet her stare. And that’s when I realized I was crying. I had no idea when I’d started or why, but, sure enough, there were salty streams running down my face.
I wiped at them, embarrassed. The stress of this was clearly starting to get to me. That was fine, though; hopefully this would all be over soon, once and for all.
“If I did decide to trust you,” she began, “how do you expect me to do this? Principals only have so much power, Carson. I’m not the dictator of the school. More like a prime minister, if that.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just a kid. That’s why I’m here asking for your help.”
“What’s going to happen to my school, Carson?”
“I honestly don’t know,” I said. “Maybe nothing. Hopefully nothing. But maybe something. We just can’t take that risk.”
I couldn’t believe she was actually considering helping me. Part of me, a significant portion, never actually believed I could pull this off. Deep down, I figured there was no way she’d ever trust me again. But, then again, deep down, maybe she really did think I was a good person. She had thought that at one point anyway. And that’s what I’d been latching on to, since I saw it in her file.
“What on earth are you involved in?” she asked, even though I’d already tried to tell her the truth a few moments ago.
“You don’t even want to know,” I said this time, figuring that answer was truly better for both of us.
CHAPTER 59
JURASSIC PARK IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER
THERE I WAS, SITTING ON THE TOILET INSIDE THE FOURTH STALL from the door in Oak Park’s public restroom, the last place I ever expected to find myself at 3:30 a.m. on a random Friday night, or early Saturday morning, technically. I wasn’t actually using the bathroom; I’d just gotten tired of standing in the cold. Which is why I’d picked the lock and let myself in. That, and it was a pretty solid hiding place when the cops and your parents and who knows who else were out looking for you.
The idea of being a fugitive had always seemed cool when I was a little kid, but I have to say that in reality it pretty much sucked. Especially in the winter. The feeling of having nowhere to go, nowhere safe to hide, was horrible. It almost squeezed any last positive thought I had left from my brain, like a giant melon juicer.
But we were near the end now. After we carried out our plan, I would simply turn myself in and face the consequences. And I wouldn’t really even care what they were. Because if we succeeded, then Medlock would finally be gone, the Agency exposed, and all of this would finally be over. And if our plan didn’t succeed, well, then we’d all be lucky to even see the next sunrise.
My mind was lingering on this morbid thought as I stared at the text message I’d sent to Dillon about a half hour before:
Jurassic Park is the best movie ever.
And at that moment, I heard the double honk just outside. That was my signal. The real question was: Where on earth had Dillon and Danielle gotten a car, and who the heck was driving it?
I stood up and crept toward the far wall, the only one with a window, but it was too high for me to see outside. I took a leap of faith and poked my head out the door.
Dillon and Danielle’s mom’s car was parked just outside the bathroom in the parking lot. The headlights were off, so I could see my two best friends in the yellow glow of the streetlights nearby.
They’d actually stolen—or maybe borrowed is the better word—their mom’s car. Things really were out of control now. I ran toward the car and dived into the backseat. Probably overkill, but you never can be too careful. There’s no upside to lollygagging when you’re a wanted man.
Danielle was driving. Dillon was in the passenger seat.
“Hey,” Dillon said, turning around to face me with a grin.
“Glad to see you remembered the code,” I said as Danielle carefully pulled out of the Oak Park parking lot, craning her neck to see over the large hood of their mom’s old beater of a car.
“I’ll never forget it,” Dillon said. “It was my idea, remember?”
I nodded. The message I’d sent him was our code. Or, well, his code. He was the one who didn’t trust text messaging. So he’d developed a secret coding system for us to use to transmit messages without saying what we actually meant. It was pretty simple really. There were only a
few key phrases to the code, but changing any one of those words could mean a number of different things. Most of the code revolved around meeting secretly at various locations throughout Minnow, ND. That single text had meant for him to meet me at the Oak Park public restroom as soon as possible. Or so I’d hoped at the time. I didn’t have the code system memorized as well as Dillon did.
We needed to use the code since it was quite possible the Agency was tracking my cell phone. I was an escaped detainee after all.
“You remember my theory on what really happens inside that park restroom, right?”
I somehow managed to smile back. “Of course. It’s where all of the Oak Park squirrels meet secretly to plot their eventual invasion and takeover of Roosevelt Park.”
Danielle scoffed as she started up her mom’s car.
“That’s right,” Dillon said. “If you’ve never seen squirrels assemble to plot an invasion before, you’re missing out.”
I shook my head, and couldn’t help but grin. It dawned on me how amazing it felt to have finally cleared the air between me and my best friend. It felt like everything was back to normal between us for the first time since I was handed that package and gotten wrapped up in international espionage in the first place.
“I think we should ditch our phones now,” Danielle said. “Just in case.”
“Definitely,” Dillon agreed. “They can triangulate our positions using them.”
We pulled over and dumped both our cell phones into a public trash can near the 4th Avenue bridge. Danielle bid farewell to her phone as if saying a last good-bye a sick grandparent. Dillon, on the other hand, was happy to finally get rid of his. He was probably the only kid in the whole universe who never wanted a cell phone to begin with—the only reason he had one is because his mom made him keep it for emergencies.
“Are the supplies in the trunk?” I asked once we were driving again.
“Oh yeah,” Dillon said. “We had way, way more leftovers than we suspected. It’s filled to capacity. And this is a 1996 Lincoln Town Car, which easily has the largest trunk of any midsize sedan in history.”
Crisis Zero Page 18
