Wanted

by Ho, Jo

  Accessing one was easy. You can literally subscribe to a service for a few bucks. Still, I hadn’t lasted so long out here by using my money when I didn’t have to. I signed up to a service that offered a free one month trial. Then I created an anonymous email address that wouldn’t be traceable. Using the VPN was as simple as downloading the application and turning it on. So now we were in stealth mode, I took a big gamble.

  I went to the national missing animals database and input the numbers tattooed into Bandit’s ear. Yes, I know this is probably what caused the SWAT team to arrive at the clinic, but they wouldn’t be able to trace us this time, especially since I wasn’t going to be dumb enough to call them on a landline. Sorry Sul, but that wasn’t the smartest move you could’ve made.

  The missing animal database seemed normal enough. It was a pretty active site, with some several thousand animals being reported every day. I figured it must be legit, though I wasn’t about to take any risks. I set up a profile, calling myself Jane Doe who lived at 0800 Bite Me Lane, Neverland, California. Luckily, it wasn’t one of those sites that cross-checked your address against real data, so it accepted my details just fine.

  A tingle of apprehension went through me as I called up the window to input the serial number from Bandit’s ear. I typed the numbers in carefully, but I stopped short of hitting enter as a wave of doubt flooded over me. What if I was wrong? What if they could trace this? I stared at Bandit, looking up at me with those soulful blue eyes. Then, in my mind, his eyes rolled back into his head as I watched him suffering through his first convulsion at the buffet.

  My mouth filled with bitterness. So this is what fear tastes like. Remembering what I’d said to Sully last night, that Bandit would die if we didn’t try…

  I hit enter.

  CHAPTER 100

  CHASE

  I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe an explosion across the screen. Or for those black-cladd SWAT guys to burst through the roof. None of these things happened. Instead, another window flashed up with a warning. This said the dog had escaped from a research lab. The dog was carrying a virus but they made sure to state that it wasn’t contagious. It made several mentions not to approach or communicate with the dog.

  That’s how it kept referring to Bandit. The dog. Jerks couldn’t even give him a name. I studied the window, careful not to press anything that would make it go away, but there was no identifying information. Disappointed, I sat there, stumped, when a ping sounded — the alert that usually accompanied a new email. Clicking off the window, I went into the tab that still had my email mailbox loaded. There was one new message.

  SENDER: Sunshine Research Laboratory

  SUBJECT: WARNING! VIRUS CARRYING DOG ALERT!

  I read the sender name and snorted. Sunshine Research. Who did they think they were kidding with that name? Might as well call themselves KILLERS R US! The message of the email was pretty much a repeat of the warning. I couldn’t see anything useful. When I hit reply however, the To: subject line automatically replied with the sender’s email address, and something else… A series of numbers separated by dots inside two rectangular brackets. I wouldn’t normally have known what that was, except for the samples I was shown while setting up the VPN. I grinned, thrilled by the finding — an IP address — and felt a moment of smugness. Googling the numbers, it gave me the location of Maryland but nothing else. Still, determined to give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money, I input the same location into Google Maps.

  Bingo.

  I was in satellite view, so the building that appeared could easily be seen. It was long and low with a connecting maze of wings. The only windows were high up, presumably so prying people wouldn’t get much of an eyeful. A discreet sign was mounted by the entrance.

  I hit zoom to read the words inscribed there.

  PLATINUM INDUSTRIES.

  CHAPTER 101

  CHASE

  I had a real lead! I turned to Bandit and pointed at the sign.

  “Does this mean anything to you boy?”

  He woofed twice. No. I was disappointed, but I should’ve guessed that would be the case. They probably never referred to the name of the company that was keeping him prisoner. Wouldn’t make sense for them to be using personalised stationery or something. I spent a while more Googling before I finally hit paydirt.

  Platinum Industries was the name of a group of commercial companies owned by billionaire Sebastien Forbes. A self-made millionaire by the time he turned twenty, Forbes was considered one of the world’s wealthiest businessmen. Literally everything he touched turned to gold. Apparently he was raised by a single mom working three jobs and never knew his dad. Wanting to help his mom, who was suffering from some kind of illness (I couldn’t find any reference as to what it was), Forbes won his first job working in the mailroom of a prestigious real estate firm. Within a year he was promoted to office assistant. Another year and he had his own office. By the time he’d been at the company five years, he’d become the majority shareholder. After this, he bought company after company, for such obscene sums of money that it made my eyes water. How was it possible for someone to have this much, when others — like myself — had so little? It was insane.

  I tried to find useful details on the actual building, but information wasn’t forthcoming. It was listed as a lab, but that was about it. Looks like Forbes didn’t want anyone to know what kind of experiments might be going on inside.

  I pulled up a picture of the man. As soon as his face flashed onscreen, Bandit whimpered, his whole body shaking from fear. There was no need to ask if he knew who he was. The answer was clear. Seeing his terror only made me more determined.

  “He won’t hurt you anymore boy, I promise. He won’t get away with this.”

  I made the promise before I even knew what to do. But it didn’t matter. I would stop this man, billionaire or not. He wouldn’t hurt Bandit ever again.

  Cross my heart and hope to die.

  CHAPTER 102

  SULLY

  I rubbed tired eyes, blinking when I realized how dry they were. I had been staring at the scans for so long that their images were seared into my brain.

  A man-made tumor.

  It was impossible to fathom what twisted mind would create something as horrific as this, and I should know. I’d been trying all day only to keep coming up empty-handed.

  Surrounded by papers himself, Zeb sighed, coming up for air. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

  I tried not to let the despair wash over me. “I know. It was a stupid idea. We can’t go into his head like this. We’ll kill him.”

  Zeb started organizing his papers into a neat file when Chase and Bandit burst into the barn. She held a printout in her hands and was out of breath from sprinting there.

  “Sully! I know who’s after Bandit! Look!” She thrust the piece of paper at me. It was a profile on secretive billionaire Sebastien Forbes. Sully was aware of him due to the man owning half of New York. It was one of the reasons the rent was so high that he and Emma were driven out of the housing market and had to settle outside.

  He frowned. “Why would it be him?”

  Chase gave an exasperated breath. “I did some detective work OK. I used a VPN, then put Bandit’s serial number into that missing animal database.” Seeing my alarmed expression, she raised a hand in my face. “It’s fine, don’t worry. The VPN hides our location. I’m not stupid OK? Anyway, I didn’t get anything on the database, but they sent an email to the anonymous account I set up. And the identifying information lead me to Platinum Industries, which is owned by Sebastien Forbes.” She pointed at the printout, where Forbes’s unsmiling face looked back at me. “It’s him, Sully. Just ask Bandit.”

  I looked over at Bandit, who pawed the ground, agitated, as Chase set up the iPad.

  Bad man. Bad man. Bad man.

  Chase threw her arms around him, holding him tight. I was about to ask some more questions when Bandit’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. H
is little body tensed as I sprinted forward, hoping to catch him before he fell, but I wasn’t fast enough.

  Bandit dropped to the ground as his body shook violently.

  CHAPTER 103

  CHASE

  Oh God, not again.

  That was the only thing running through my mind as I held Bandit’s face in my hands. A loud buzz sounded between my ears. Somewhere, in the distance, I could hear Sully calling out instructions, but my mind couldn’t make sense of his words. Terror was taking over, and all I could do was watch my best friend, hurting. Bandit’s tongue hung out. But what I usually found endearing now filled me with fear. Were the edges of his tongue turning black? I couldn’t be sure, but in the weird monochrome that the world had suddenly faded to, it seemed like the color was draining from him.

  Someone appeared behind me. It must have been Zeb. He was talking heatedly with Sully. The two were trying to figure out how to help Bandit. An alarming keening sound rose from the ground. Like a banshee, wailing in the wind. It was a few moments before I realized it was coming from me. I rocked back and forth on my knees, focused on Bandit.

  “Please… please…please…” The words came out of my mouth but failed to form a sentence. My mind was blank. Unable to make sense of anything.

  Suddenly, the door to the barn slid open. Gideon had returned, a large bag of groceries in his arms. Hearing the commotion, he had come straight to the barn instead of the house. He stood there now, framed in the doorway, mouth agape, face reflecting the shock all of us were feeling. He took a step towards us when the bag in his arms EXPLODED.

  White liquid spurted out in a thick stream, soaking his boots, as the remnants of a milk carton drifted slowly to the ground. Gideon looked down, confused. Everyone else froze. What had just happened? It was Sully who realized it first.

  “GET DOWN! WE’RE UNDER FIRE!” he screamed.

  Gideon dropped the groceries and dived behind a steel cabinet as Zeb wheeled into a corner. Sully just had time to fly on top of me, shielding Bandit and me with his own body, before the room erupted in gun fire.

  CHAPTER 104

  CHASE

  Bullets tore through the barn, riddling the walls with holes, eating everything in their path.

  Gone were the strip lights that were previously suspended from the ceiling. Cables severed by the incoming shots, the bulbs smashed down, plunging the room into near darkness. The lightbox containing Bandit’s scans exploded as shards of glass and metal flew every which way. A particularly nasty looking spear of steel whistled past my ear, impaling the ground inches from my head like it was nothing more than a marshmallow. My eyes went wide. That was way too close for comfort. Sully pressed down on us. “Don’t move!”

  More bullets sprayed into the barn, devouring everything in their wake. Beams of light shone through the bullet holes, illuminating just enough of Zeb’s barn to show it now resembled a set from an apocalyptic Hollywood movie production. I doubted that the remaining pieces would still work.

  The onslaught had shaken me out of my daze. Heart racing, I could feel the adrenaline pumping. Every one of my senses were on fire, ready for action. One wrong move and we could be dead. I quickly checked on Bandit; he had stopped convulsing but was still unconscious. His breathing labored. Why would they risk killing Bandit if they wanted him so badly?

  As if they knew what I was thinking, the gun fire ceased. Silence blanketed the room. We waited, but after several more seconds of inaction, Sully rolled cautiously onto his feet. Gesturing for the rest of us to stay down, he crept over to the wall and peeked out of a bullet hole.

  “What do you see?” I whispered hoarsely.

  “Those same SWAT guys who destroyed my clinic. But there are more of them. Three dozen or so.”

  Taking advantage of the moment’s calm, Gideon hurried to Zeb, while I took stock of the damage done to the barn and noticed that the holes in the walls were a lot higher up than I had first realized.

  “They’re not trying to kill us.”

  Sully snorted, “Could’ve fooled me.”

  But I pointed at the walls. “Look. That’s at least several feet over any of us. They’re just trying to scare us. Bandit is too valuable for them to risk anything happening to him.”

  Knowing this, I felt a little safer. Not much, but enough to make my own way to Sully. Staring outside, I got my first look at the killers who were after us.

  They littered the scenery, an abomination of nature. Each of the men was dressed the same: black pants and a tight fitting top that showed off how lethally fit they all were. Over their sweaters, they wore some kind of rubber-looking vest; three guesses they were going to be bulletproof. Their faces were hidden under helmets with shiny visors. That figures. Of course this kind of scum wouldn’t want to show their faces. Each of the men held some kind of weapon. I knew enough from Gideon’s lesson to know those weren’t handguns, more likely some kind of automatic rifle. They probably weren’t even legal. But that’s the great thing about America, our constitution to bear arms8, right?

  Some distance away, a helicopter waited. I blinked, not believing my eyes. How could one have landed so close without any of us hearing it? Like the men, it was black, with tinted windows that obscured the interior. It didn’t look like any I had seen in movies before, which might go some way to explaining its stealthy capabilities. This must be a toy Forbes had bought for clandestine operations. The more I knew about that guy, the more I knew he was never getting on my Christmas card list. The blades of the helicopter were spinning and showed no sign of slowing down. Guess they didn’t think they’d be here long. Sully pulled back the lids on Bandit’s eyes. There were beginning to focus. “He’ll come to soon.”

  Checking that Zeb was fine, Gideon glanced over at him. “Yeah, then what?”

  Sully looked at me. There was no question in my mind — we would fight to the death. But before I could reply, a voice called out from outside.

  “Mr. Sullivan and friends. We’re not here for you. We just want the dog, so if you would be so kind as to step aside, you will not be harmed.”

  I looked outside again. Standing in front of the men was the leader, the guy Sully called Military Man. His skin was tanned, and aviator glasses wrapped around his face — not the face-obscuring helmet the others wore, but hiding all the same. He spoke through the helicopter’s loudspeaker, his voice blaring out into the wind. He couldn’t have looked more shady if he had tried. There was no way we could trust him.

  Sully must have thought the same, as he yelled out, “Get Lost!”

  Military Man frowned, not liking his response. His army advanced several more feet, but at a signal from him, they stopped as one. Like eerie stone statues, they didn’t move a whisker. Strangely, this frightened me more than the weapons in their hands. Anyone who could stop dead like that meant business.

  “The dog will die if you don’t listen to me!” said Military Man. “He’s having fits, yes? Increasing in frequency? That’s because he needs weekly medication that he can only get from the lab.”

  Sully and I exchanged looks, the same question mirrored in our eyes. If he wasn’t telling the truth, how would he know about the fits? There was no way he could see into the barn.

  “The dog escaped two months ago. That’s two months he hasn’t had his meds. I’m not a doctor, but we have one in our lab. She raised him and knows what he needs. If he doesn’t get his meds soon, the next fit could kill him.”

  Everything he was saying sounded plausible, but I also knew there was no way Bandit would be safe if we just handed him over.

  “Gideon and I can draw their attention. Buy you enough time to escape from here,” Zeb offered. Sully looked surprised. I don’t think he was used to seeing this side of his father. Zeb gave him a small smile. “I haven’t been here much for you, but this I can do.” Gideon obviously didn’t agree with his decision though, going by the frown he failed to mask.

  “I appreciate the sentiment, but they must have the p
lace surrounded,” Sully said.

  “Whatever you decide, we can’t stay here. There’s next to no cover in this barn,” Gideon was quick to point out. “We need to get back inside the ranch.”

  Zeb pointed to the tarp that had been covering the CT scanner. “Here. We’ll use that as a stretcher to carry Bandit inside.” Sully and Gideon hurried in the direction he pointed while I continued checking on Bandit. He lifted his head gingerly, slowly coming to, but he was weak and groggy and confused. I stroked his nose.

  “Don’t move Bandit. You had another attack, but you’ll be fine in a minute. We’re just getting you back inside the house.”

  He laid his head back down in relief. He must’ve understood me, even if he was unable to respond. Sully kicked at the glass and metal now covering the ground, clearing a space while Gideon laid the tarp beside Bandit.

  “Get his back end. Careful now,” Sully instructed as he gently slid his hands beneath Bandit’s head. Gideon took hold of Bandit’s flank, and together they half lifted, half slid him onto the tarp.

  “Good. Now grab the ends and stretch them taunt. We want to make it as flat as possible,” Sully said. They pulled in unison until the tarp stretched tight.

  Zeb gestured to the west side of the barn, at a door I hadn’t noticed before “Quickly, there’s a smaller exit on that side. It’s closer to the ranch.” He went ahead, the rest of us following close behind.