“Leaving so soon?” Adam held Zara in one fist like a trash bag. She was slumped over but breathing. To Zara’s credit, Adam looked pretty roughed up, too. Bruises and welts covered his face. “Dr. Lawless wants to meet with you.”
“I’m a little busy right now,” said M. The others crept closer and closer.
“But you can make time for old friends, right?” said Adam as he dropped Zara. “Why are you always in such a rush when we’re hanging out? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to ditch us.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be rude,” M said, stalling for time. “Maybe if we let the others go, then you and I can go catch up by ourselves, Adam. What do you say?”
“Nah.” Adam gave Zara a gentle nudge with his foot and flipped her over onto her back. “We fought hard to catch these little fishies fair and square. It would be a shame to throw them back into the ocean. I’m not a catch-and-release kind of guy. You should know that. What I want, I get. Now you can come willingly or kicking and scream —”
Adam’s threats were cut short by a nearly silent thift. A surge of blue-white voltage traveled over Adam as he froze with more than fear. He had just been shot by the deep freeze. M whipped around to hear two more blasts connect with their targets, Angel and Rex, who became rooted in place.
“Remember those, M?” asked Foley as he stepped out of the forest. “I know I’ll never forget the deep freeze you put me in.”
M breathed in the strange smoke of burning metal and forest mulch. “What are you doing here?”
Foley lingered in place and tucked his blond bangs behind his ear. “Madame V was worried. You were taking too long.”
“I had things under control,” said M as if she had something to prove to the older boy.
Foley surveyed the damage that surrounded M. Zara was out like a light, and so was Keyshawn, while Jules and Evel were still struggling to start the automatic van. “Sure. You had them eating out of the palm of your hand, didn’t you? Tell me, was having them trap you and pound your buddies into submission part of your genius plan?”
M retracted her sword and bent down to check on Keyshawn. “Maybe.”
“Devious,” joked Foley as he walked to the van and opened the trunk. He pulled out a fire extinguisher and headed to the bonfire. “Nice suit, by the way. Where’d you get it?”
“Keyshawn made it for me at the academy,” she answered. As she tested Keyshawn’s pulse, she remembered that Foley had been at the academy, too. “You really don’t remember anything from your time there?” she asked.
“I really don’t,” said Foley as he stepped past Rex and Angel. Both of them followed him with their eyes, but they were powerless to move. “Now let’s find out what proof you’re hiding in your backyard.”
Foley pulled out a tiny contraption that looked like an airhorn. “Stay where you are if you like breathing. The chemical used in this extinguisher puts out fires by erasing the oxygen in the air.”
An explosion of foam calmed the flames in no time. The smoke cleared to reveal M’s escape pod. Foley went to open the latch but stopped short. “Hmmm, this metal is going to be awfully hot. M, would you do the honors? Assuming your supersuit can handle the heat.”
Setting Keyshawn’s head down again, M walked over and pulled the latch. The door cracked open an inch, but then she pushed it open the rest of the way. The window panel was smashed where the suit had broken through and the rubber seams had turned to an ooey-gooey black liquid inside the lip of the hatch door. Inside, slightly singed and resting on the seat, was a book with a familiar insignia on it. A skull with keys for its mouth stared back at M.
“What do we have here?” asked Foley as he peered over the edge of the charred vehicle, careful not to burn himself.
“A yearbook,” whispered M.
“All this for a stroll down memory lane?” asked Foley. “I expected secret plans to the end of the world, not a list of student signatures that say Have a great summer, dude, see you next year like ninety different ways.”
“It’s not that kind of yearbook,” said M. “This is special. It’s the first yearbook ever for the Lawless School.”
“Sounds dated, not dangerous.” Foley laughed nervously as he inched closer to the pod. Suddenly there was a sizzle sound and he pulled away, shaking his hand in the air and howling. “AHHHHHH!!!!”
“Are you okay?” asked M.
Foley bounced around and blew air on his hand like he was the big bad wolf. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just feel dumb. Now grab your precious book and let’s get out of here before anything else goes bloody wrong.”
Carrying his hand against his chest, Foley went over to check on Zara. She slowly came to and hugged him. “Foley? What are you doing here?”
As if on cue, a clapping kaboom shook the night. “Oh no,” said M as she held the book. “Get in the van now! That came from Madame V’s direction!”
“You left her alone?” yelled Zara as the van careened down the twisting mountain road, threatening to flip over and tumble into the forest at every turn. M gripped the handlebar above the rear-passenger window with one hand and held the Lawless yearbook close with the other as Foley veered around each curve.
“She told me to go find —”
“You know better than to leave her alone,” Zara interrupted. “What’s going on with you, Foley? You left your assignment. That’s always when a plan falls apart. You’re the one who taught me that!”
Foley only shook his head as he raced on. He had no excuse other than he was following orders. But that wasn’t good enough for Zara. She sat battered and beaten in the front seat, but the thought of Foley abandoning his post was evidently what hurt her the most. She refused to look at Foley for the rest of the drive.
“How’s Keyshawn doing?” M asked.
He was lying in the last row of seats with his head in Jules’s lap. “Okay, I think. His breathing is steady, but he’s still unconscious. Rex really knocked him into next week.”
“Uuhhhhhhuuuhhhhh,” came a moan from the trunk of the van.
“Shut up, Rex,” said M to the deep-freezed Masters crew who were stacked on top of each other in the back like life-size cardboard cutouts. “We’ll see if you have anything smart to say after we make sure that Madame V is safe.”
Foley pulled off the road just before coming to the house. The flickering lights of giant red flames danced through the trees.
“It doesn’t look good,” he admitted.
“Dude, we got Star Wars-ed,” said Evel from the backseat. “Like Luke on Tatooine, when he goes to save R2-D2 and the Empire sets fire to his uncle’s moisture farm. We’re lucky to be alive.”
“I don’t like being lucky,” said M. “I’m going in.”
“No!” interjected Foley. “Don’t be crazy. There’s nothing left in that old house worth risking your life for.”
“Madame V is.” It was Zara. “I’m coming with you, M. Give us ten minutes and if we’re not back, get out of here and don’t look back.”
The two girls left the van and snuck through the forest to the house.
“That suit lets you see in the dark, right?” asked Zara. “So take a look at the perimeter. Anyone there?”
M flipped on her mask and searched the woods. No one was there. No other heat source except for the burning house. She switched signals to pick up movement, but everything was still. “Clear. I’m going in to find Madame V. The suit will protect me, but you won’t be able to follow.”
“I’ll keep watch,” said Zara as the house burned in front of them. The getaway cars were still in place, untouched. Zara paused and swallowed hard before adding, “Be fast and stay safe. And if she’s in there, please save her, M. She’s all I have left.”
M nodded and hit the ground running faster than she’d ever run in her life. She felt the suit carry on even faster, throwing her legs back and forth. Every step felt lighter and lighter as if she were racing through air instead of over the gr
assy lawn. She braced her arms over her face and smashed through the front door. The sound of the fire enveloped her. It was a symphony of crackling wood and vampire hisses.
Then she saw the place for what it had become. Where there once had been a quaint cabin, now there was only a melted cove of ramshackle rooms bleeding into one another. The floor was warped so she carefully tread on the most sturdy-looking areas, lest she drop through the molten ground into the basement below. The two chairs were charred like elder trees in a forest fire. M remembered how sturdy they had looked just a few hours before, and now how frail they seemed, burned to a crisp.
“Madame V!” she screamed over the roar of the inferno. “Madame Voleur! Where are you?!”
M searched through the house room by room. The bathtub was empty and the bathroom mirror beaded into reflective tears. The kitchen was blazing out of control, while the stove was a blackness that made M’s stomach turn. Then she started down what was left of the staircase to the basement. The first step crumbled beneath her, the ground itself disappeared, and M crashed to the basement’s concrete floor. Above her the ceiling dazzled like an angry heaven preparing to rain down fire. And there in the corner was a singed body surrounded by the markings of an outward blast. M gagged at the sight. She sat, defeated, and clutched the end of a long scarf, once colorful, now as gray as used charcoal. It turned to ash in her hands and led back to the body. They were too late.
M shimmied out a basement window, crawled a safe distance, and lay on the ground looking up at the stars. Those same uncaring, unaware stars that had watched so much go wrong in her life. Beautiful, but forever distant. “Stay where you are,” M whispered to the sky above. “Sometimes I feel like you are the only thing that’s certain in my life.”
Then she rolled over and saw someone darting away in the shadowy forest. M sprang into action, crossing the field like a lion running down its prey. She caught up easily, tackling the fleeing figure, who dropped a small metal case. The case tumbled away and M’s adversary lunged for it, but M snagged the case first.
The person jumped into a battle stance. It was Zara.
“What are you doing?” asked M.
“Protocol,” said Zara. “Now give me the box.”
“No.” M examined the case. It was alloy lined, built to last, and covered with dirt. “You were hiding this. Why?”
“Because it’s worth hiding and we’re lucky it was still there,” Zara answered. “Now give it back.”
The two girls stood in opposition to each other as the faint sound of sirens carried over the trees in the distance. Lifting the case, M tried to see through the steel frame, but it wouldn’t give up its secret. “Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”
Zara pursed her lips.
“Madame Voleur said she destroyed every piece of the death comet!” M squeezed the case and the edges of it cracked but did not break.
Zara jumped forward and screamed, “No! Don’t! It’s not the comet!”
“I’m going to smash this case into pixie dust no matter what’s inside.” M pulled back her hood. “Tell me what’s in here that’s worth saving or it’s gone.”
“It’s something your pal Keyshawn developed. And it’s important. So important he didn’t tell anyone else about it. Not Madame V, not your mother, only me.” Zara eyed the red and blue lights fast approaching through the trees. “He kept telling me that it was the answer.”
“The answer to what?” asked M.
“The answer to stopping another black hole,” she said. “He knew that the meteorite could fall into the wrong hands again. He’s been working on this for a long time.”
“And why would he trust you with this and not the others?” Something still didn’t feel right to M.
“I don’t know,” Zara said honestly. “He just said that he knew me and that at the right time I would do the right thing. So here I am. At the right time. Doing the right thing. And you’re trying to stop me.”
“Is this why you sent me into the house?” asked M.
“No.” It was a simple one-word answer, but M could hear the hope in it. Zara held her hand out and M gave her back the case. “Did you find her?”
The scene of charred remains flashed back to M and the truth caught in her throat. A good criminal and a good friend understand that there are times for honesty … and there are times when hope needs to win against all odds. And Zara needed a win. “I couldn’t find her.”
Zara smiled and seemed satisfied with that answer. “See, Freeman? Madame V’s too tough to go out like that. Let’s get back before we have to talk to those guys.”
A fire truck pulled onto the lawn and its passengers leapt into action. M watched the firefighters through the trees, and thought how different her life was from theirs. They were here to put out fires. M was here to start one.
“Come on,” said Zara as she slid the case into her backpack. “We need to get back to the van. And listen, we can’t tell anyone about this box. Anyone.”
“What box?” M smiled.
“Attagirl, M.”
Although the van was off, the engine still rattled out tired pops and metallic ticks as M and Zara returned. They slid open the door as carefully as possible. They didn’t want to draw any attention to themselves, especially with the police cars cruising around the scene of the fire.
In the far backseat, Keyshawn was still passed out. His chest rose and fell with every breath, which M took as a good sign, a modest victory in a day filled with defeat.
Foley was in the driver’s seat, looking as pale as a ghost. His hands clutched the steering wheel, but he flinched at the click and slide of the side door. “And?”
“The safe house isn’t safe anymore,” said Zara. “But we’re lucky. Madame V got away.”
M expected Foley to relax at this good news the same way Zara had, but he didn’t. He smiled, but the muscles in his arms stayed tense. “That’s good. Where is she?”
“We don’t know. Gone,” said Zara. “Foley, what orders did she give you after we left?”
“She wanted me to follow you,” Foley answered without hesitation. “She didn’t trust the old geezer.”
“And where’d you get the deep-freeze devices?” asked M. “That’s a Lawless weapon.”
“The old guy had them at his place,” said Foley. “You should grill him about it.”
“He’s passed out, so you’re the best chance we’ve got of figuring out what happened back at the cabin,” said Zara.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said defensively. “She told me to stay, I stayed. Then she told me to go, so I went. I was following orders. I didn’t stop to ask her why!”
“Hey!” Evel cut in. “Can we pick a better place to argue? Preferably far from the police and not next to the scene of a crime while holding three people against their will in our trunk?”
Jules nodded. “I’m with Evel. What’s our next move?”
“We wait,” said Zara. “Madame V will find us and let us know what to do.”
“No!” The franticness in M’s voice startled the others, but she couldn’t reveal what had really happened to Zara’s mentor. “I mean, what if … if … Madame V were captured? I don’t think hiding out and waiting for a communication is our best option. Whoever did this, they want to put a scare in us. They want us to stick our heads in the ground like ostriches so we miss what they’re planning. There’s got to be others in your group, Zara. Let’s reach out to them.”
Zara looked back toward where the cabin used to be. A wet smell of mud, rotten wood, and campfires hung in the air. “We’re it.”
“Wait, excuse me?” said Jules. “I thought you and Madame V were part of some super agency, like Lawless or the Fulbrights? Without anyone else, we’re sitting ducks.”
Zara shook her head. “M’s mother is all we have left. We were spread thin when we had to hide M. After you escaped, word spread. Lawless and the Fulbrights found us. Most of the team was captured … or worse.”
The truth sank in. They were outnumbered and alone. Six kids against the two most secret and powerful societies in the world. In other words, they were toast.
Then M spoke up. “Listen. We’re not sitting ducks. And we’re not waiting on some trumpet-blaring hero to come save us, because we’re the heroes. Foley, we need to find Merlyn.”
“Merlyn. Of course.” Foley sounded confused hearing the name. “Does … he live around here?”
“Yeah, don’t you remember?” asked Zara. “You picked him up for the reckoning. You were his guardian. Then you had a run-in with the Fulbrights and we had to pick you up on the way to the drop zone.”
Worry lines squirmed across Foley’s forehead. He made a sucking sound through his front teeth. “I’m going to be straight with you: The name’s not ringing any bells.”
“What did they do to you at the academy?” asked Zara.
M leaned over the middle console and tapped something into the van’s GPS system. “Here. I did some light reading on Merlyn while I was at Sercy’s. That’s his address. Now let’s go before whoever set that fire puts two and two together and figures out our next move.”
“But first we need some fall guys for this fire,” said Foley. “And I know who would be the perfect trio to send a message to Fox Lawless. He needs to know that we’re not scared of him.” Foley pointed to the trunk of the van.
They pulled out Adam, Angel, and Rex, still stiff and immobile from the deep freeze. “Don’t get too cozy, boys,” she said. “We’re going to call in a helpful tip to the cops in fifteen minutes. Good luck.”
Then the crew jumped back into the van. Zara hit enter on the GPS and the van started by itself, reversing gently while Foley nursed his burnt hand in the driver’s seat without touching the steering wheel. The navigator luckily took them in the opposite direction of the destroyed cabin. M didn’t want the others to see how demolished the place had been. Plus she didn’t want to give the police any reason to stop them while they drove past. Still, everywhere M looked, guilt was lurking. She felt guilty for not being able to save Madame Voleur. Guilty for lying to Zara. Guilty for dragging Jules, Keyshawn, and Evel into this twisted trap. Outside, the trees lined the unlit street like roadside gawkers watching their getaway van with disapproving eyes.
Mayhem Page 11
