by K. E. Rocha
Aldo skidded to a stop in the clearing.
Spencer slid off the bear’s back. He wanted to get this information to the council as quickly as possible, but he knew he owed Aldo an explanation for what just happened.
“For the record, that was not what I meant when I told you not to give anything away to Kirby!” Aldo panted. “Usually humans don’t ride bears around the woods! Tell me you got something that will make exposing me and you riding off on my back worth it.”
“I did! Kirby had Kate’s BEAR-COM! I couldn’t think of any other way to get it back here. We had to make a break for it. And … well … ” Spencer hesitated. He didn’t want Aldo to be mad at him, but he figured he’d better tell the bear everything. “I accidentally told her that I was friends with Kate,” he blurted out. “I didn’t say anything about Bearhaven or the BEAR-COMs or anything like that but I admitted that I was friends with a bear in the wild. So I thought maybe escaping with a bear wouldn’t really be revealing too much more than she already knew.” Spencer stopped himself from saying more, but really, letting Kirby see Aldo made Spencer feel a little less guilty about stealing the BEAR-COM back from her.
Aldo paced back and forth, deep in thought. “You said you have Kate’s BEAR-COM?”
Spencer nodded, pulling the sparkly pink device out of his back pocket.
“Anything else? Any leads?”
“Yes, I got—”
“Hop on.” Aldo crouched down. “You can show me when you show the council. Let’s keep the part about telling Kirby you’re friends with bears to ourselves though, okay? And the part about our getaway.”
“You got it,” Spencer answered. “Thanks, Aldo.” He shoved the BEAR-COM back into his pocket and climbed onto Aldo’s back. As soon as he’d gotten a good hold of Aldo’s fur, the bear took off toward the Lab. By the time they started down the path to the riverside, they were moving so quickly that other bears had to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled.
They broke into the clearing that housed Bearhaven’s top-secret lab. Aldo sprinted straight at the metal wall of the great dome structure. He blew air out in a huge puff to create a hole in the special metal, then leaped through the opening. He hit the transparent film with so much force that they burst right through. Spencer stayed plastered to Aldo’s back. He made himself as small as possible, afraid he’d be skimmed off by the closing wall.
They slid to a stop inside the Lab’s lobby. Breathing heavily, Aldo lowered his body to the ground to let Spencer get down. Spencer scrambled to the floor.
“Hey!” A member of the Bear Guard who Spencer didn’t recognize stepped out of the surveillance room and started toward them. Uh-oh … “He’s not authorized to be in here.” The bear swung his head in Spencer’s direction.
Aldo opened his mouth to respond, but, just then, Professor Weaver stepped out into the hall. Aldo’s mouth snapped shut at the sight of his father.
“I’ll handle this, thank you.” Professor Weaver called off the guard. “I’m glad you’re both safe.” He fixed Spencer and Aldo with a stern look. He didn’t seem very glad. “And I certainly hope you two have a good explanation for this. Bunny has been an absolute wreck thinking we’d lost the both of you as well. We were just about to send a search party after you.”
“We do have a good explanation,” Aldo answered quickly, rushing down the hall. “And we need to speak to B.D. and the whole council if they’re here.”
“They’re here,” Professor Weaver answered, dropping his reprimanding tone. “Three search parties have come back empty-handed. All we have is the scent of Kirby and two other unidentified humans.”
“We have more!” Spencer exclaimed. He turned into the Bear Guard’s surveillance room and followed Professor Weaver and Aldo onto the platform that would bring them down to the private floor below. Professor Weaver hit the button.
Whoosh!
Before the platform had come to a stop, Spencer hopped off and ran toward the council room. Bunny’s voice thundered out into the hall.
“What do you mean the Bear Guard hasn’t found anything?! What is the guard trained for if not situations like this, B.D.?”
“We found something!” Spencer shouted. He burst into the council meeting with Aldo and Professor Weaver right behind him. “Aldo and I found something!”
The council members erupted in protests but Spencer ignored them. He tore off his backpack and retrieved the picture of the van’s license plate. He slapped it down on the table. “I saw video footage of a van with this license plate driving through the woods outside Bearhaven.”
“Where did you get this?” Bunny asked, rushing over to examine the picture.
“One of Kirby’s cameras,” Spencer answered.
“Kirby? You’re sure she can be trusted?” B.D. loped around to get a better look at the picture.
Spencer nodded vigorously. “One hundred percent.” He looked up at the wall of computer monitors in the front of the room. Evarita was on one of the screens, but the rest of the monitors were dark. She gave Spencer a thumbs-up.
“Where’s Uncle Mark?” Spencer asked, realizing as the words came out of his mouth he already knew the answer. The room fell silent.
“He left on the mission last night and cut off communication this morning,” Evarita answered. “He told us last night, Spencer. Don’t you remember?”
“I remember. But … ” Spencer felt a lump rising in his throat. “I thought I’d get to say good-bye or something.”
“I’d say you forfeited your good-byes when you snuck out of Bearhaven for the second time in twenty-four hours,” Yude snarled.
“Oh, shush, Yude,” Dominica Fraser broke in. “Thanks to Spencer and Aldo sneaking out we’re finally getting somewhere.”
“Hopefully, he won’t be gone long,” Evarita said, ignoring Yude’s comment. “And when he returns he could have your parents with him.”
Spencer swallowed hard. Focus on Kate, he told himself. Uncle Mark would take care of bringing Mom and Dad home. He had to.
“There’s more,” Aldo said, returning everyone’s attention to the issue at hand: Kate.
“We got Kate’s BEAR-COM back.” Spencer reached into his back pocket, and then carefully laid the device on the table. “The strap is broken. I think it must have fallen off when she ran away from me. The Exhibit A tag is Kirby’s.” Bunny’s head darted toward the device, her snout sniffing every inch of the pink rhinestone-covered BEAR-COM. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. Spencer looked away. He couldn’t stand to see Bunny look so sad. He wouldn’t tell the whole council what Kirby’s microphone had recorded. It was bad enough he had heard the sounds of Kate in distress on Kirby’s recording. Telling Bunny about Kate’s cry now wouldn’t do anyone any good.
“Evarita, are you ready to look up that license plate?” B.D. said, taking control of the situation. He glanced back at the BEAR-COM, and Spencer couldn’t help but think that the Head of the Bear Guard looked impressed.
“Yes, B.D.,” Evarita called. “Can someone read me the number?”
“Go ahead, Spencer,” Professor Weaver said. “This is Evarita’s area of expertise.”
“License plates?” That seemed pretty weird.
“Background checks,” B.D. corrected.
“Go ahead, dear,” Bunny urged Spencer.
“Oh … uh … right,” Spencer stammered, wishing he could stop everything and hug Bunny just for calling him “dear” again. He cleared his throat and read the license plate number slowly: “M-0-8-8-0-N-F.”
“And the state?” she asked.
“Florida.”
“All right, let’s see what we’re dealing with here … ” Evarita leaned into her computer.
The room fell silent as everyone watched her typing furiously. After a few minutes, she returned her attention to the council meeting. Evarita sat back in her chair. Spencer knew Evarita well enough to tell from her grim expression that whatever they were dealing with was bad. Really
bad.
“The van is registered to Moon Farm.”
Bunny let out a pained growl and Pinky covered her eyes with her hot pink claws. “No, it can’t be,” she groaned.
Spencer and Aldo exchanged a look. Moon Farm?
“Have you rescued bears from Moon Farm before?” Spencer asked. He hoped the answer was yes. It would make things a whole lot easier. But something about the council’s reaction gave Spencer a feeling the answer wasn’t going to be what he hoped.
“We attempted a rescue at Moon Farm once before,” B.D. said.
“Pinky lost her daughter to Moon Farm,” Mr. Bee explained.
“What is Moon Farm?” Spencer asked, though now he was afraid to hear the answer.
“It’s a toy factory,” Mr. Bee began.
What can be so bad about a toy factory?
“Don’t candy-coat it for the boy,” Yude snarled. “That toy factory is just a front—a ridiculous stuffed animal business to cover what really goes on at that horrible and illegal place. Moon Farm is the site of the country’s biggest bear smuggling operation. Bears are kidnapped and taken to Moon Farm where they wait, in chains or in cages, to be sold into some new torturous situation. If they live long enough to make it out at all.”
Pinky whimpered.
“For goodness sake, Yude. Of all bears, you could show some sensitivity!” Mr. Bee glared at the green-cloaked bear. Bunny groaned miserably, but Spencer still didn’t understand. Bear smuggling?
“The truth isn’t always—”
“Not now, Yude,” B.D. snapped.
“Sorry, but what is bear smuggling?” Spencer asked.
“It’s black market bear trading—or bear-part trading, in the worst-case scenario,” B.D. answered gruffly. Spencer stared at the Head of the Bear Guard in confusion. “Every year, thousands of bears are sold and traded on the black market. They are either captured from forests across the country or are sold by previous unsavory owners—backyard breeders, roadside menagerie owners, and two-bit carnival operators like Jay Grady. Moon Farm is a hub for these sorts of sales. At Moon Farm, the live bears are kept in dismal conditions and suffer all manner of unfair treatment. Once they leave Moon Farm, there’s no record of their sale. A bear can disappear without a trace.”
“Zoe wasn’t that lucky, though … ” Pinky said. Her BEAR-COM translated the sadness and anger in her voice. She and Spencer locked eyes. “Before your parents rescued me, my cub and I were owned by an exotic animal collector named Horrace Steele. He and his wife had two other bears and three lions. Our conditions were bad, but not like what some of the other rescued bears who came to Bearhaven lived through. At least they fed us, and they didn’t remove or file down our teeth or claws … The Steeles sold Zoe to Moon Farm only months before your parents came to save us. They’d been selling their collection slowly; I could have ended up at Moon Farm myself. I wish … ” Pinky stopped talking, like the memory had suddenly become too painful.
“You don’t have to go on, Pinky,” Mr. Bee said gently. “B.D. can explain the rest to Spencer another time if it’s too difficult.”
“No, I want to tell him. I can.” Pinky looked back at Spencer. “Zoe was my only cub. She was even younger than Kate when she was sold to Moon Farm. When your parents rescued me I told them everything I possibly could to help them locate Zoe. They organized a rescue mission to Moon Farm as quickly as they could, but by the time they arrived … ” Pinky paused. Spencer reached into his pocket. His hand was shaking as he clutched the jade bear. “She’d been at Moon Farm for four months when Bearhaven’s team got there. At least … she’d been sold to Moon Farm four months earlier.” Pinky shook her head. She looked to B.D.
“We don’t know for certain what happened to Zoe once she got to Moon Farm because we don’t know how their trading system works,” B.D. said, taking over for Pinky. “But by the time we got there Zoe was gone.”
“Gone?” Spencer managed to say.
“Zoe was sold, but she wasn’t sold alive.” B.D. answered. His voice was grim. Spencer could tell the bear was trying to be as sensitive as possible to Pinky. “The other bears were able to tell us that much.”
“I don’t … I don’t understand … ” Spencer stammered. He tried to make sense of what B.D. had just said but couldn’t. “Why would anyone want to buy a bear that isn’t … ”
“Alive?” Aldo offered. “Why would humans want to do any of the torturous things they do to us?”
Yude jumped in. “If you stopped causing so much trouble and took a look around Bearhaven, Spencer Plain, you’d see that your kind have done far more harm than good.” Spencer stared at the bear in shock.
“The Plains can hardly be lumped in with the rest of their species,” Grandmama Grizabelle spoke up. “I think they’ve done quite a bit more good than harm, actually. All of them.”
B.D. cut in to answer Spencer’s question before anyone could say anything else. Spencer clutched the jade bear more tightly with every word B.D. said. “Unfortunately, some parts of bears are more valuable than live bears, Spencer. Everything from a bear’s hide, to our paws, and even organs can be sold on the black market for a very high price.” B.D. glanced in Pinky’s direction to see whether she was all right before he continued. Pinky’s head was bowed, but she didn’t ask him to stop. The Head of the Guard went on. “Some bear parts are used in traditional medicines, others are decorative.”
“There’s even such an atrocious thing as bear paw soup,” Raymond said.
Bear paw soup?! Animal-part trading was even worse than Spencer could have imagined. He thought he might throw up. It was the most horrible thing he’d ever heard. Poor Zoe! And Pinky! That any of those things might happen to Kate … or could be happening to Kate right now was almost too much for him.
“They can’t … ” Spencer couldn’t even finish the sentence. It was too terrifying to even say Kate’s name out loud after that explanation. Professor Weaver seemed to understand without Spencer having to say any more.
“We’re going to get to Kate before anything happens to her,” Professor Weaver said, his voice quiet but determined.
B.D. rose up onto his hind legs, demanding everyone’s attention. “We need to prepare for a rescue now. Kate’s life is in immediate danger. We already know the location of Moon Farm, so we can mobilize right away. Evarita, are you prepared to travel?”
“Yes, of course,” Evarita answered.
“Good. Make arrangements. I need you on location near Moon Farm by nine o’clock tonight so you can scout the facilities and handle the team’s transportation. There’s a TUBE station an hour or so from Moon Farm,” B.D. went on. “We’ll meet you there tomorrow evening. Professor Weaver, you’ll be included in this mission. If Kate’s health or safety come into question before her rescue, we’ll want you there to make the call as her father.”
“Absolutely.” The Professor nodded.
“I’ll stay here.” Bunny’s voice was grim. “I don’t trust myself … if anything happened to Kate, I’d—”
“I won’t have a mother bear on a mission this risky.” B.D.’s voice was firm. “Your protective instincts are too unpredictable.”
“Besides, one of us should stay here with the rest of the family. Winston, Jo-Jo, and Lisle need you, too,” Professor Weaver reassured Bunny.
“B.D., I’d like to go, too.” Aldo stepped up to the table. “I need to help find my sister.”
“And me,” Spencer added. He’d gotten Kate into this, he was going to do whatever it took to get her out.
“Spencer, we have clear orders from your parents to keep you safe in Bearhaven until their return,” Professor Weaver said. Spencer opened his mouth to protest, but Evarita cut in.
“Actually, I’m a little concerned about being the only human operative on this mission, B.D.… I can’t believe I am saying this because I know how important it is to keep Spencer safe.” She hesitated, looking straight at Spencer. Tell them I should go! Spencer wanted to yell. With
Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark all out of communication, Evarita was the closest thing he had to family. If she said he could go, maybe the bears would be convinced it was all right to send him. “For Kate’s sake, it might be a good idea to let Spencer come as a second human operative.”
Yes!
“Aldo, if you’re included in this mission, you’ll be under special orders to watch out for Spencer,” B.D. said gruffly. “Do you understand?”
“I understand,” Aldo answered.
“Spencer, you’ll be Evarita’s reinforcement on this mission. Aldo, you’ll protect Spencer.” B.D. nodded, and with that, it was settled. Spencer was going on the mission to save Kate.
“Yude, you’ll be our strategist,” B.D. continued.
“I was planning on it.” Yude pushed the hood of his cloak back so everyone in the room could see his eyes. They flashed from B.D. to Spencer, where they stayed. “We aren’t losing another one of our cubs to humans.”
Spencer looked away.
“Professor Weaver, Aldo, Spencer, and Yude, we leave at ten o’clock tonight,” B.D. announced. “Evarita, we’ll meet you at the Florida coast TUBE station at seven o’clock tomorrow night.” B.D. lifted a claw to his BEAR-COM and switched it off. “Abragan,” he growled, then gave an authoritative nod.
“For the bears,” everyone in the council room replied together. Hearing the word for the first time, Spencer echoed quietly: “Abragan.” For the bears.
The elevator doors slid open to reveal the TUBE station. The tinted windows of the sleek white train were gleaming, like someone had spent the last hour shining the copper-colored glass. Spencer had to stop himself from sprinting across the platform and onto the train. He didn’t want to seem too excited. Instead, he calmly stepped out of the elevator and looked over the TUBE, just like he thought an experienced operative reporting for duty would.
“I would imagine B.D. and Yude are already here somewhere,” Professor Weaver said, stepping out from behind Spencer and swinging his head from side to side. “But I’ll go see.” The bear took off toward the first car of the train, where two members of the guard were running a security check.
