“I don’t know if this will hold both of us, but we have to try,” he said.
He locked his arms around my waist and flicked a little switch on the cable thing. There was a whirring noise and we started shooting up the cable to the hatch. I held on to the book with one hand and Mr. Kim with the other. When we got almost to the top, our ascent slowed and it sounded like the motor in the gadget was losing power. I could see Alex and Brent waiting for us, arms outstretched to grab us when we got close enough.
We were almost there when the cable snapped and we started to fall. I screamed and felt myself floating in the air for a second. Then I stopped with a lurch. Alex and Brent had managed to grab Mr. Kim’s free hand, and he still held me with his other arm. They pulled us through the hatch and onto the deck.
I lay there, trying to get some fresh air. It was better air than what was in the hold, but it was still smoky. Pilar helped me to my feet.
Off at the end of the ship I could see several containers in flames. It was pretty clear we needed to get off the ship. In the distance I could hear sirens; it sounded like fire trucks were on their way.
We cut across the deck toward the gangway. Suddenly Blankenship and his guards burst out of the smoke in front of us.
“Give me that book,” Blankenship snarled.
Mr. Kim moved in front of me.
“We’re leaving, Simon. The police and the FBI will be here in moments. It’s over,” Mr. Kim said.
“Oh, it’s not over, Johnny, not by a long shot. That book is mine. Every great religion needs its messiah, and Mithras has called me to be the one. You know it, Johnny. You saw it with your own eyes.” His eyes were glazing over. In my head, or maybe it wasn’t in my head, I thought I heard that laughter again. I looked around, but nobody else seemed to hear it. Okay, I guess Rachel is now the mayor of Crazy Town.
“It’s wrong, Simon. You’re wrong. All you’ve done is cause death and sorrow, ever since we found this book,” Mr. Kim said.
“Give me that book or you’ll die right here,” he said.
He reached behind him with his good arm and pulled out a pistol, which he pointed right at Mr. Kim.
“Give me the book, lassie, or he dies.” Blankenship’s two guards moved around us, one of them behind Alex and the other behind me to my right.
Alex hissed at me to give him the book. That was when I started laughing again. Yep. That whole nervous-laughter thing, just like in the car that night with Boozer and the others. I was laughing away like a lunatic. It was several seconds before I could pull myself together. Not my fault; I rattle easily.
“What’s so funny?” Blankenship said.
“You, bull breath,” I said. “You’re full of it. You shoot that gun and this book is going right over the side and into the water. I’m done listening to your mystical hoo-hah. I’ve had enough.” That evil laughter I’d heard down in the hold started in my head again, louder than ever. I had to concentrate to force it down so I could continue.
Mr. Kim spoke. “Rachel, calm down. Go ahead and give the book to him.” But I shushed him. I was on a roll.
“For the last few months I’ve had nothing but people telling me what to do. I’ve been shipped across the country and bossed around and forced to start exercising regularly. I have to work in a kitchen and I’m not allowed to get on the Internet and there’s no TV. To top it all off, I’ve had to listen to your Mithras ‘conquer this’ and ‘invincible that’ crapola. I’m done. From now on, Rachel Buchanan is in charge.” I took the book in one hand and held it out over the railing of the ship.
“Now, you are going to back up and we’re going down that gangway, or I’m going to turn your precious book into a personal flotation device. Got it?”
Blankenship looked at me and laughed. But it was a nervous laugh. I could tell. He clearly didn’t want me handling the book like this.
“Rachel,” Mr. Kim said, “the book is not important. I don’t want you or my other students to be hurt in any way. Please. Give Simon the book.”
“No!” I shouted.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Put the book down,” Blankenship said. He made a move as if to lunge at me, but I jumped back and held the book farther out over the rail. He screamed at me to stop.
“You stupid girl! That book is priceless. You’ll ruin it!”
“Yep. That’s the plan.” I took a step toward him. “Now, back up or this book sleeps with the fishes! Move it!”
Just then there was a loud hissing sound and one of the containers at the rear of the ship made a loud popping noise as it exploded. It sent a rumble through the ship, and we all fell to the deck. Blankenship tried to scramble to me and grab the book, but with his bad arm, he missed and I seized it back and jumped to my feet. We all stood back up and he pointed the gun at me this time. I was still near the rail of the deck, holding the book over the side.
“Go ahead, shoot me and you lose the book,” I said. To be perfectly honest, I was really hoping that he wouldn’t shoot me. I was hoping that a lot. But control of the book was the only way out of this alive, as far as I could see.
“Simon, harm one hair on her head and I swear…,” Mr. Kim said.
“Shut up, Johnny, you small-minded simpleton!” Blankenship yelled at Mr. Kim. “Now, give me that book!” He pulled back the hammer on the gun and pointed it straight at me.
“No!” I yelled.
Blankenship screamed a scream of anger and frustration. For a moment I thought he was really going to kill me. I was scared and started to shake with fear. I was afraid I was going to drop the book anyway and then he would shoot me. I could hear the laughter in my head again, louder now, and I saw Blankenship scream and clutch at his head with his damaged arm, while the other arm held tight to the gun. Then Alex saved the day.
“Rachel, chwa dwi chagi!” Alex shouted. Without even thinking, I went into a fighting stance and kicked back with my right foot. This was the Tae Kwon Do move where I was supposed to kick with my left foot, but, as Alex knew perfectly well, I still didn’t have this technique quite right. My kick connected solidly with the guard sneaking up on my right, and he went down with a thud. Ha!
When I did that, Alex launched a back kick at the other guard that hit him square in the chin, and before anyone could do anything, Mr. Kim dropped to the floor and swept Simon’s legs out from under him. Blankenship crashed to the ground.
“Run!” yelled Mr. Kim. We took off, scrambling right over Blankenship and his men as they struggled to get to their feet. I’d almost made it when Simon reached out and grabbed my foot. I tripped and went down hard. The book skittered out of my hand, slid across the deck, and over the side.
I heard it splash into the water. Behind me Blankenship screamed with anger, and for a moment I could have sworn it was the same violent scream I had heard from the creature in the hold below. But that would be crazy. That thing I’d seen below was just a figment of my imagination. It couldn’t have been real. Could it?
He still had hold of my foot, and I kicked back and hit him in the head with my other foot. He yelled and let go of me. I scrambled to my feet. No time to worry about the book now. Time to run. We hit the gangway and raced down as fast as we could. We tore across the dock and up the stairs that led to the parking lot. The first fire trucks and police cars were starting to pull in.
We all ran across the parking lot as fast as we could. I looked back at the R.A. Smith. Blankenship and his men were standing at the railing of the ship, apparently having decided not to pursue us. The guy was crazy, but he was smart enough not to press his luck and get caught. Blankenship stared at me from that long distance and then gave me a funny little salute, sort of like something you’d see in a cheap gladiator movie. He put his thumb to his chest with his fingers spread and then shot his arm out straight. Then he was gone. I don’t know why, but his little salute gave me the creeps.
We ran to the van.
“You must go,” Mr. Kim said. “I will wait for the police and
Agent Tyler. But you need to go now. When the FBI show up, the news media will be right behind, and I don’t want Blackthorn students drawn into this if we can help it. Hurry.”
“But what about the book! We need to try to find it and get it out of the water!” I said.
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll take care of it. Listen, your van is equipped with a tracking device. It starts automatically whenever one of the vehicles leaves the school. That’s how I was able to find you here.” He pulled a small GPS reader out of his pocket. “So head back to the school now, and I’ll monitor the progress of the van. You should be fine. Simon is more concerned about escaping to fight another day than he is with trying to catch you. But I need you to hurry.”
He was kind of calm about everything. Considering that we’d probably broken every rule in the Academy handbook, he was sounding like the same mellow Mr. Kim of old. Or at least of a few days ago.
We didn’t argue with him. We left and drove through the remaining darkness to Blackthorn Academy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Beginning of My Life as I Know It
We were all convinced that we’d be kicked out of Blackthorn Academy. We had broken just about every rule there was. Alex spent a day going through the student handbook to see if he could find a single rule we hadn’t broken. So far he hadn’t come up with anything.
Those two days after the ship incident were incredibly tense. At first, Alex wouldn’t speak to me. He blamed me for the whole mess. Pilar was a nervous wreck, although she made a point of letting me know she didn’t blame me. We’d come a long way in a month, and while there were still times when the whole psychic thing made me a little uncomfortable, I thought that if we survived this ordeal, we might actually be good friends. Brent seemed the calmest about the whole thing, but he never said much anyway, so it was hard to tell.
Then, two days later, Mr. Kim invited us down into his Batcave.
He started by pressing a button on the conference table. The video monitor in the center beeped and the face of Agent Tyler filled the screen. He said hello to all of us, then delivered the news that by the time the police and FBI had gotten aboard the ship, there was no sign of Blankenship or his guards. A launch was missing from its mooring on the deck of the R.A. Smith. Agent Tyler assumed they had lowered it to the water and gotten away. They could be anywhere by now, but at least they didn’t have the book. Mr. Kim thanked Agent Tyler, then pushed another button and the screen went dark.
“Well. What do the four of you have to say for yourselves?” Mr. Kim said.
“I think the question is, what do you have to say for yourself?” I said. What did I have to lose, after all? If I was going down, I was going down swinging.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
“Way I see it is, you got a lot of explaining to do, mister. Let’s start with Blankenship and this whole Book of Seraphim thing. So sing.” I was trying to keep him off guard. I figured the only chance I had was to attack and try to turn everything back on him. Maybe I could get out of the trouble I was in if I could keep him talking long enough.
“Fair enough,” he said, much to my surprise. And he filled us in.
He and Blankenship really did find the book in Kuzbekistan. They were comrades in the Special Forces, part of an elite group of agents called the Blackthorn Squad. When they found the book, something cracked in Blankenship and he became convinced that he was Mithras reborn.
“Simon was furious with me when I turned the book over to the Kuzbekistan government. He left the squad and vanished. Shortly after that, Mithrian artifacts from museums around the world started to disappear. There was no doubt he was behind those thefts. Simon’s been trying to get his hands on the book for years. When the Kuzebkistan government foolishly sent the book on tour, I knew he would make a move for it.”
“But why is it so important to him?” I asked.
“Because if its secrets can be understood, it will instruct the heir of Mithras how to recover the sacred artifacts and bring the power of Mithras to life.”
“Okay. Ancient book. Crazy guy bent on controlling a supernatural force. That part I understand. But what about this school? The Top Floor? The weird classes? All of that?” I said. “Face it, Mr. Kim, I know this is no ordinary boarding school.”
Mr. Kim laughed. “I’m not surprised you figured it out. But I will need you to give me your solemn vow that you will not repeat what I am about to tell you to any of the other students.” He looked at all of us, and we nodded our agreement.
“Simon is a dangerous man. Since the book was discovered, he has been building a vast network of followers. He has stolen hundreds of priceless objects, selling them on the black market and amassing an immense fortune. He is now one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world. His network spans the globe, is completely dedicated to him, and is full of very dangerous people. If he gets his hands on the remaining artifacts, he could cause chaos throughout the world. I have made it my life’s work to stop him.
“I needed my own network in place, both to watch for Mithrians and to prepare for this coming battle. That is the reason for this school. The Top Floor is a special program for the gifted students here. Sometimes special operations need students for surveillance or sting operations, nothing too dangerous. The Top Floor allows them to train here and be available for certain missions. Only a select few are chosen,” he said.
“Cool,” I said. “That beats regular high school any day.”
“Yes. However, as Agent Tyler pointed out, you are not currently Top Floor. Rachel, you had no training and no preparation for anything that you did. If the van’s tracking device hadn’t allowed me to follow it to the ship, it could have been disastrous. I didn’t know who I was going to find there, but I can’t say I’m surprised it was you. You all could have been killed.”
No one said anything for a moment. Then I spoke up.
“Mr. Kim, it’s my fault. I was the one who went snooping around and started this whole mess. I begged them to help me, and even when they said not to I kept digging deeper. Please don’t punish them. I know you’re kicking me out of school, and I’ll go back to California and do my time in Juvie. Just please don’t punish them too.”
Mr. Kim looked serious.
“Will the three of you excuse us, please? I need to talk to Rachel alone.”
Alex, Brent, and Pilar looked at each other. Then Alex spoke.
“With all due respect, sir, I’m afraid the answer is no. We’re not leaving,”
“I beg your pardon?” Mr. Kim said.
“It’s okay, you guys go. This is my deal,” I said. “I don’t want you guys to get kicked out because of me. I’d have guilt trips for years. Save yourselves!”
“Man, you just never stop talking,” Alex said to me. Then he looked at Mr. Kim. “I’m sorry, sir, but the three of us have talked about it. We’ve agreed. If Rachel is going to be punished, then we all should be punished.”
“Is that so?” Mr. Kim said. I couldn’t tell if he was upset or pleased with this development. He was a hard one to read, that Mr. Kim.
“Yes, sir. One of the most important things you’ve taught us comes right out of the Tae Kwon Do student’s oath: ‘To have honor and faith among friends.’ If we let Rachel accept punishment alone and deny our part in what happened, then we have no honor. She was the one that discovered all this stuff, but she didn’t force us to go along. For the past couple of days I’ve tried to blame her for that, but in truth, I can’t. We all made our own decisions to follow her. So we can’t allow you to punish her alone, sir. It just wouldn’t be right.”
Mr. Kim stood and turned his back to us for several seconds. Then he turned back to face us. His eyes seemed moist.
“I see. And this is how you feel as well, Pilar? Brent?” Mr. Kim looked at them, and they nodded. “So what do you have to say about this, Rachel?”
“Obviously they’ve been under a lot of stress and they’re not thinking clearly
. Maybe there is a gas leak in their rooms or something and they’ve all gotten light-headed. It’s totally my fault. I’m willing to accept the responsibility,” I said. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. No one had ever stuck up for me like this before. And I still wasn’t even sure that any of these guys liked me in the first place. But maybe they did.
Mr. Kim paced back and forth for a moment.
“Very well. Since you insist on standing together in this, I’ve decided on your punishment. Tonight in the do jang, before class starts, fifty push-ups on your knuckles from each of you.”
All of our mouths fell open. “Is that it?” said Alex.
“Would you rather the punishment be more severe?”
“No, sir,” they all said at once.
We weren’t sure if Mr. Kim was playing a trick on us or not. He smiled at us. “Listen, all of you. Everything is fine. You are not being expelled, and neither is Rachel, I assure you. In fact, there is something I want all of you to hear.” He reached into a file folder in front of him and handed me a sheet of paper. It was a memo. About me. He read it to the others while I read my copy. It said:
To: Judge Theresa Kerrigan, 23rd District Juvenile Court, Los Angeles, California
From: Jonathon Kim, Blackthorn Academy
Subject: Rachel Buchanan, Case Number 445780
Rachel has made an excellent adjustment to Blackthorn Academy after a naturally rocky beginning. She has fully embraced the curriculum and her academic work has shown tremendous improvement in the last few weeks. She is bright, extremely articulate, curious, and determined. Her attitude has also improved dramatically from her first few days here.
Overall, I am very pleased with Rachel’s progress and foresee no problem with her completing her time at Blackthorn.
Live and Let Shop Page 15
