The Legacy Chronicles_Up in Smoke

by Pittacus Lore

  Six groaned. “Whatever,” she said.

  “I think that’s a yes,” Sam told McKenna as he went over and started herding Six towards the door. “We’ll be going now. Before she changes her mind.”

  They left the office and headed for the armory.

  “This sucks,” Six said as they went inside. “This whole thing. It sucks. Just so you know.”

  “What sucks?” Lexa asked, setting a knife down on a table that was spread with a variety of weapons.

  “Very long story,” Sam said. “No time. What have you got?”

  “What do you know about Watchtower?” Six asked Lexa.

  “No time,” Sam reminded her.

  “What do you know about Watchtower?” said Lexa.

  “Great,” said Six. “Apparently everybody knows about it except us.”

  “Well, we know now,” Sam reminded her. “What’s this do?” He picked up a black metal orb the size of a tennis ball.

  “Incendiary device,” Lexa said. “You depress the buttons on the top and bottom, toss it at what you want to set on fire and duck. Or you can activate it with this.” She held up a tiny device. “Plant them, leave and blow them up from close to a mile away.”

  “Nice,” Sam said. “I’ll take three.”

  Lexa held up a black backpack. “You have six,” she said, handing him the pack. “Each,” she added as she gave Six an identical one. “Along with the usual assortment of things you can use to hurt someone or create a situation. Also, wrist communicators, in-ear receivers so you can talk to each other when you’re not in the same place and snacks.”

  “Snacks?” Sam said. “What do they do?”

  “Keep your blood sugar up,” said Lexa. “They’re snacks. Cookies, to be exact.”

  “Oh,” said Sam. “I thought that was code for something else.”

  “So, about Watchtower,” Six said.

  “No. Time,” said Sam, taking her by the hand and dragging her away.

  “Good luck,” Lexa called, waving. “Call me if you need anything. And kick some ass.”

  Six and Sam left the building, where they found an SUV and a driver waiting for them. As they rode to the airfield, Six looked out the window, not saying anything.

  “So,” Sam said after a few minutes of silence.

  “I’m still mad,” she said.

  “I kind of figured that,” he said.

  Six turned to him. “What are we supposed to believe? The whole reason I didn’t want to get involved with any of this is because you never know who to trust, or what they really want or who is actually pulling the strings.”

  “Life is messy, Six,” Sam said, taking her hand. “It’s kind of always like that.”

  “No,” Six said. “Not always. Not with you.”

  Sam squeezed her hand. “Thanks,” he said. “The thing is, it can’t always be just us. Not if we want to help these kids.”

  “How much help have we really been? Edwige is still missing. Ghost has gone over to the dark side. Yo-Yo is dead.”

  “All of which would have happened with or without us,” said Sam. “But you know what wouldn’t have happened without us—without you? Nemo.”

  Six gave him a half smile. “She’s turned out to be pretty badass, hasn’t she?”

  “Yes,” said Sam. “And mostly because of you.”

  “I think Nine’s little shark-talking trick helped,” said Six.

  “But you’re the one who took a chance on her first,” Sam reminded her. “You’re the one who made her believe she was worth something. I get that you’re pissed about McKenna, and Walker, and whatever this Watchtower thing turns out to be. And if you decide you don’t want to be involved anymore when this is over, I’m behind you one hundred percent.”

  “Even if I decide that all I want to do is wander around the world sleeping on beaches again?” Six asked.

  “Sure,” Sam said. “If that’s what you want.”

  When the car arrived at the airfield, they got out and boarded the waiting plane. As they entered the cabin, a man came out of the cockpit. Thirtyish, short, with dark skin and buzzed black hair. He held out his hand. “Ignacio,” he said as he shook hands first with Six and then with Sam. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You too,” Sam said. He looked around the plane, which was the same Gulfstream they had almost crashed in.

  “Everything is fine,” Ignacio said, noticing his attention. “I heard you had a little trouble with her. I’ve checked everything out. All you have to do this time is enjoy the ride.”

  “That’s what I heard last time,” Sam said, setting down his bag.

  “I have some questions,” Six announced.

  “About the plane?” Ignacio asked.

  “About Watchtower. And Wonderland. And Walker.”

  Ignacio grinned. “Let me get the plane in the air,” he said. “Then we’ll have ten hours to talk.”

  Six and Sam took their seats. Half an hour later, with the G650 airborne, Ignacio emerged from the cockpit and joined them in the main cabin. Six and Sam, who had been looking at the information on Wonderland that was downloaded to their tablets, set the devices down.

  “All right,” Ignacio said. “What do you want to know?”

  “How did you get involved with Walker?” Six asked.

  “Do you know about my mother?” said Ignacio.

  “We know she worked at Wonderland,” Sam answered.

  Ignacio nodded. “Right. Well, when she’d saved enough money, she brought me and my brother to the United States. She wanted to get us as far from the corruption she saw at Wonderland as she could. She took a job here cleaning motels. My brother and I would hang out with her after school, doing our homework or watching TV in one of the rooms. One day we watched this movie The Silence of the Lambs, about an FBI agent who hunts down serial killers. I thought that sounded like the coolest job ever, and I decided I wanted to join the FBI. Everybody thought I was crazy, except my brother and my mother. They told me I could do it. And I did. I got accepted into the Academy, made it through and went to work with the Bureau. That’s how I met Agent Walker. When she was asked to work for Watchtower, she contacted me and asked if I would join her.”

  “Do you trust her?” Six asked.

  “Wow,” said Ignacio, laughing. “You get right to the point, don’t you?”

  “Well?” said Six when he hesitated. “Do you?”

  Ignacio looked thoughtful. “One of the things I learned hanging around Wonderland was that to understand why people do what they do, you have to figure out what motivates them. With some people, it’s easy. They want money, or power. Bray is like that. You know that he’s always going to make the choice that gets him more of those things, which means you can’t trust him not to turn on you. With other people, it’s trickier. It might seem like they want power, but what they really want is to not be afraid. Or it might seem like they’re motivated by greed when really they’re trying to protect someone they love. It’s not always easy to figure out.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question about Walker,” Six said.

  “I’m getting there,” Ignacio said. “Agent Walker wants to make the world a safer place.”

  “Which still doesn’t answer the question about whether you trust her or not,” said Six.

  “People who want to make the world a safer place can go either way,” Ignacio continued. “Sometimes, they go after anything they see as a threat. Like people who think every shark should be dragged out of the water and killed. Because a handful of people get bit every year, they think we should remove the possibility of it happening. They don’t think about the good that sharks do maintaining a balance in the ocean ecosystem.”

  Sam, thinking about their own recent experience with sharks, nodded. “Every shark is a bad shark,” he said.

  “Exactly,” Ignacio said. “On the other hand, people who want to protect other people can seek out ways to make others safer. Instead of killing the sharks, they try to find way
s to make people who interact with sharks able to do it more safely. They invent shark repellent, or devices that keep sharks from coming near swimmers, or whatever. Instead of looking for ways to remove the thing they’re afraid of, they look for ways to deal with it more effectively.”

  “And which type is Walker?” asked Six.

  “You tell me,” said Ignacio. “From what I understand, you’ve had experiences with her.”

  “Well, she started out trying to hunt us,” Six said.

  “Why?” Ignacio asked.

  “Because the Mogs convinced her we were the bad guys,” Six said.

  “And then?” Ignacio prodded.

  “The she realized she’d made a mistake, and she started helping us,” said Six.

  “So, she realized the sharks weren’t the problem,” said Ignacio.

  “More like she realized the sharks weren’t the sharks,” Six suggested.

  Ignacio smiled. “Good point,” he said. “You sure you didn’t go through the Academy?”

  “Just because she realized she was wrong and helped us out a couple of times, that doesn’t mean I trust her,” Six argued.

  “Your choice,” Ignacio said. “But maybe you don’t have to trust her right now. Maybe you have to trust me. Can you do that?”

  Sam watched Six’s face, waiting for her answer. When she said “We’ll see,” he had to stop himself from laughing.

  “Fair enough,” Ignacio said. “Well, how about we get started going over the plan? The plane will fly itself for a little while. That gives me time to tell you everything I know and for you to get a little sleep before we land.”

  For the next few hours, they went over the diagrams of Wonderland. Ignacio proved to be an invaluable resource, telling Sam and Six about the mansion, the grounds and what they might expect to encounter there. When he went to resume control of the plane, leaving Six and Sam alone, Sam leaned back on the couch.

  “I like him,” he said.

  “You like everybody,” said Six.

  “Not everybody,” Sam objected. “I disliked Dennings from the second I saw him.”

  “Okay, everybody who isn’t trying to kill you,” Six said. “Hey, I figured out your motivation. You want to find the good in everyone.”

  “Does that mean you can trust me?”

  “I don’t know if it means I should,” Six answered. “But I do.”

  “Aww,” Sam said. “You’re giving me feels.”

  “Ugh,” Six said. “Your turn. What’s my motivation?”

  “You?” said Sam. “That’s easy. You want justice. You want good people to be rewarded, and you want bad people to be punished.”

  “Isn’t that what everyone wants?” Six said. “I thought that was normal.”

  “It is for you and Batman,” Sam said, kissing her. “Come on. Let’s get some rest. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.”

  Four hours later, the plane rumbled down a private airstrip in the rain forest of northern Argentina. When it came to a stop, Ignacio walked into the cabin. “All right,” he said. “It’s time for you to meet our secret weapon.”

  “Secret weapon?” Sam said as Ignacio opened the door. “What secret weapon?”

  Ignacio exited the plane. Sam and Six followed. At the bottom of the steps, Ignacio was hugging a woman. She was even shorter than he was, with the same dark skin and hair. The two of them kissed each other on the cheek, then Ignacio turned around.

  “Sam. Six,” he said. “I’d like you to meet my mother.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  SIX

  THE RAIN FOREST OF ARGENTINA

  VALENTINA SOTO NAVIGATED THE RUSTED-OUT FIAT up a narrow dirt road that led them to the gates of Wonderland. She was dressed in a pink maid’s uniform. In the backseat, Six and Sam sat watching the trees of the rain forest pass by just beyond the windows.

  “We’re almost there,” Valentina said. “When we arrive, the guards will ask me how I like the weather. I will answer that it is a lovely day for drying sheets on the line. This is code to let them know that everything is okay and that no one has placed any explosive devices in the car, or anything like that.”

  “What would you say if they had?” Six asked, curious.

  “I would tell them that it was a good day for mopping the floors,” Valentina said.

  “But what if you were the one who planted the explosives?” Six continued.

  “Then it really wouldn’t matter,” said Valentina. “As we would all be dead when the bomb exploded.”

  “I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Six remarked.

  “What if the guards decide to look for themselves?” Sam said.

  Valentina lifted her hand. She was holding a Browning Hi Power MK1 pistol. “Then we go to Plan B. But they won’t. I am considered family here. They trust me. Once we are inside, I will park the car and let you out. When we are inside, you know what to do.”

  “Find Bray and take him out,” said Six. “Then leave.”

  “Good,” said Valentina as if she was the one leading the mission.

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” Sam said. “Why did you come back? You could have just stayed in the United States.”

  “I could have,” Valentina agreed, putting the car into a lower gear as it started up a long hill. “But Argentina is my home. I missed it.”

  “But why come back here?” Sam pressed.

  Valentina looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Because the FBI asked me to. They gave my son a chance. I wanted to help.”

  “It just seems . . . dangerous,” Sam said. “And you didn’t have to.”

  “No, I did not,” Valentina agreed. “All right. We are almost there. It is time for you to get in back.”

  She stopped the car, and they all got out. Valentina opened the car’s trunk, and Six and Sam got inside. It was a very tight fit. “It’ll only be for a few minutes,” Valentina said as she shut the trunk.

  “This would be a lot easier if I could make us invisible,” Six said as the car started up again.

  “And miss spending this quality time together?” Sam joked.

  The car rattled along, making for an uncomfortable ride. But Valentina was true to her promise, and not long after, they felt the car come to a stop.

  “Good morning, Emile,” Valentina said cheerfully, her voice muffled but still understandable. “Lautaro.”

  “Good morning, Valentina,” said a man’s voice. “How do you like the weather today?”

  “Wonderful,” Valentina said. “An excellent day for hanging the sheets on the line. They will dry in no time.”

  There was silence. Then a thump sounded twice on the trunk. Six held her breath, preparing herself in case she had to leap into action. But they started to move again. There was another short drive. Then the car stopped, they heard a door shutting and a moment later the trunk lifted.

  “Here we are,” Valentina said, looking down at them.

  They got out. Six and Sam had seen pictures, but Wonderland was even more beautiful in person. It sat at the very top of a hill, rising above the forest below it. Columns lined the porch, and vines twined around them, covered in white and yellow flowers. The grounds around the mansion were well maintained, the rain forest kept at bay so that the house seemed to float on an island of green in the middle of the lush fauna.

  “As we discussed, there will be a small staff inside,” Valentina said. “The night maid. The cook. Bray’s bodyguard. Maybe some others.”

  “But no kids,” Six said. “You’re sure about that?”

  Valentina nodded. “No. Not at this location.”

  Six was relieved about this. It was one less thing to worry about. At least for the moment.

  Valentina got out of the car. She opened the back door and took out a cardboard carton holding cleaning supplies. Then the three of them continued on into the house.

  They walked through a back door and into a hallway. “The kitchen is through there,” Valentina said, speak
ing softly as she pointed to an open doorway. “Wait in the hall until I see what the situation is.”

  Six and Sam did as she suggested, although Six couldn’t resist looking into the room. There, a harried-looking young woman was stirring something in a pot on the stove.

  “Magda, why are you cooking?” Valentina asked, setting the carton on a table. “Where’s Yanel?”

  “She quit,” the girl said. She seemed to be practically in tears. “And now I’ve burned the soup!”

  Valentina walked over and took the wooden spoon the girl was holding out of her hand. Valentina looked into the pot on the stove. Then she took the pot, dumped it into the sink and ran water in it.

  “He’s going to kill me!” Magda said, beginning to sob.

  “Calm down,” Valentina said. “What’s happening?”

  “He’s gone crazy,” said Magda. “Crazier. I don’t know. Last night he threw a knife at Yanel, and she ran out. I didn’t dare. I was afraid he would hurt the girl.”

  “Girl?” Valentina said. “What girl?”

  “I don’t know her name,” Magda answered. “She’s just a girl. He had her brought here. They say she’s a curandera.”

  “A healer?” said Valentina, opening a can of soup and pouring it into the pot.

  Magda nodded. “He’s sick,” she said. “Sick in his head.”

  Six looked at Sam. Had Bray brought someone with a healing Legacy to Wonderland?

  “Where is he now?” Valentina asked.

  “In his bedroom,” said Magda. “I can’t go back there. Please don’t make me go back there.”

  Valentina put her hand on the girl’s arm. “You don’t have to,” she said. “In fact, I want you to leave. Don’t worry. I’ll cover for you.” She paused a moment, then asked, “Who else is in the house?”

  “No one,” said Magda. “Everyone else is too frightened. He even ordered the guard out.”

  “It will be all right,” Valentina assured her as she put the soup on the stove to heat. “Just go.”

  A moment later, Valentina came into the hallway. She was carrying a tray on which were placed a bowl of soup, a napkin and a spoon. “Did you hear?” she asked.

  “It sounds like everyone is gone,” said Sam.