It was dark, but I knew those halls like the back of my hand. Growing up on the island had its perks, and one of them was that after spending my entire early life here, I knew my way around better than anyone. I had mapped the entire academy years ago out of boredom, but now I was finally putting that knowledge to good use.
I crept quietly through the hallway until I found what I was looking for. It was a storm drain, large enough to crawl through, that would take me out of the academy building and all the way to the far end of the island unseen. I ducked inside and crawled through the drain on my hands and knees. I felt a thick, wet slime underneath my fingers. “Yuck!” I cried aloud, then clapped a hand to my mouth. I continued through the pipe until I came to the grate at the end.
Through the grate I could see the harbor, but to my surprise, there was no boat in sight. When Gray said “shipping out,” I had assumed that he and the others would be leaving by boat tonight. So how are they getting off the island? I wondered.
My question was answered by the sound of a loud engine starting up. I peered upward through the grate at the end of the storm drain and saw a helicopter waiting on the landing pad past a palm-tree grove. Of course! Why hadn’t I thought of the helicopter? It was very high-tech, with a sleek jet-black exterior that almost made it look invisible against the dark night sky. The engine grew louder and the metal blades on top began to spin, faster and faster, until a strong wind was blowing in all directions.
They were about to take off!
I grabbed the grate and pushed with all my might. Finally, it budged and fell open, allowing me to slip out of the storm drain and onto the cliffside.
Something moved in the shadows behind me, and just for a moment, I thought I saw a pale face in the darkness. It was in the rocks a short distance away. I blinked. Mime Bomb? It couldn’t be, I thought. There was no way he was out here at this time of night. I decided it must be my mind playing tricks on me and returned my focus to the task at hand.
A group of figures approached the helicopter, and I ducked behind a nearby boulder. Tigress, Le Chèvre, El Topo, and Gray were making their way toward the helicopter doors. “School’s out, boys,” I heard Tigress say. “Time to strut our stuff.” I rolled my eyes.
I would have to move fast if I was going to make it onto the helicopter unseen. I found myself wishing even more that I had my caper outfit, something stealthy that would blend into the dark of the night. But there was no use worrying about that. It was now or never. I took a deep breath and ran.
I darted forward across the rocks and onto the helicopter pad. The metal rotors were spinning almost at full speed now, and the resulting gusts of wind practically blew me straight across the landing.
I used all my strength to push forward toward the open door. As fast as I could, I grabbed the sides of the helicopter and pulled myself inside. I then tucked and rolled into the supply area, where I would be hidden from view, and curled up to make myself as small as possible. I hid there until the others climbed into the helicopter one by one. They were talking among themselves as they took their seats. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. They hadn’t seen me.
The doors closed, and there was a strange weightless sensation under my feet as the helicopter lifted into the air. I took deep breaths and smiled as I held my knees tight to my chest.
I was leaving the island! For the first time in my entire life, I was going to see what the outside world was like. I was so excited, I wanted to laugh, to yell and holler. Instead I held my hands to my mouth to keep myself from making any noise.
The minutes passed slowly. I could hear the muffled voices of El Topo and Le Chèvre talking to each other, but the sound of the engine made it impossible to hear what they were saying. I managed to make out the words “gem” and “dig,” but I heard nothing that would tell me where it was that we were going.
After a while, I decided to risk shifting my position so that I could see out the window. I was dying to know where we were headed. Outside, I saw the ocean and a hilly, mountainous coastline below us.
Suddenly I felt a buzzing in my pocket, and I nearly shouted in surprise. I hurriedly grabbed my cellphone. I had forgotten I had it. There was the usual white-hat graphic on the screen.
“Player? Now is really not a good time!” I half whispered, half shouted at him. “Don’t you remember the rules?”
“I know, I know. I’m not allowed to call you on campus, but now you’re not on campus. Are you taking a little field trip?”
“What? How did you know?” Despite the circumstances, I was amazed at how much he was able to figure out just by using the computers he had at his home.
“Remember how I could never hack past the jammers at your school to find out your location?”
“Yeah, that’s why you’ve never known where in the world I was.”
“Well, guess what? Your phone suddenly lit up on my dashboard. And according to real time, it looks like you’re on your way to—”
“Drop point: Assume your positions!” Vlad commanded loudly over the helicopter intercom.
“I’ll have to call you back!” I hung up in a hurry and stashed the phone in my pocket.
Drop point? So the helicopter wasn’t going to be landing at all—the operatives were going to parachute down to their assigned location! If I was going to really escape the island, I would have to parachute too; otherwise I’d be brought right back.
One by one, each of the helicopter’s passengers walked over to a rack and grabbed a parachute pack. Le Chèvre, then El Topo, then Tigress each took a parachute and pulled it on as they would a backpack. Gray was last. To my horror, he took the final parachute and began strapping it on. I gasped as the helicopter’s rear door began to open.
Le Chèvre jumped first, with a look of pure joy on his face. He seemed all too thrilled to be jumping out of a helicopter thousands of feet in the air—the highest ground ever. He was followed quickly by El Topo, who seemed less than happy to throw himself into the sky. I thought I heard him muttering something about “belonging on the ground” as he walked toward the open door. Nevertheless, he readied himself and jumped out of the helicopter with ease.
Tigress was next. She hesitated beside the open door, her knees shaking. I found myself wishing I didn’t have to hide so that I could make fun of her for being so scared. Luckily Gray was thinking the same thing.
Gray walked up behind her. “What are you waiting for?” he asked. “Cats always land on their feet.” Before Tigress could think of something clever to say back, Gray raised a boot and shoved her out the door. She gave a high-pitched screech as she plummeted toward the ground.
Sounds just like a cat, I thought.
It was now or never. “Hey!” I yelled. Gray turned toward me, and his mouth dropped open in surprise. He was shocked and unsure of what to do, which is exactly what I was hoping for. I saw my chance and took it, running straight toward him like a football player.
“Oof!” Gray’s breath caught in his chest as I barreled into him. He was sent flying backwards straight out of the helicopter, and I fell with him into the open sky.
I clung tightly to Gray as the two of us fell. Wind rushed past my face, and I was gripped by the cold air.
“Black Sheep?” I heard Gray exclaim above the sound of the roaring wind.
“D-d-d-don’t let go!” I told him, my teeth chattering wildly. I was frozen to the bone. I had only my school uniform to shield me from the icy air blowing past me. I had been so focused on escaping the island that I hadn’t even thought to find a coat. But despite the cold, I felt warm inside, because I knew Gray wouldn’t let me go.
Clouds rushed past us. The distant rocky ground was getting closer and closer by the second.
I tried to ignore the sickening falling sensation in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly, I saw Le Chèvre’s parachute open and billow up into a mushroom shape far below us. Soon after, two more opened that I knew must be El Topo’s and Tigress’s. Then it was our turn.
Gray pulled a cord on his parachute pack, and we both felt a sudden jolt as the parachute burst out, catching us.
We floated gently toward the ground. Around us, I could see what looked like ancient ruins, with towers of crumbling stones rising from the ground in the desert landscape.
Gray and I landed a short distance away from the others. As the parachute fell to the ground, he took off the pack and tossed it aside.
Suddenly Gray grabbed me by my arms, which were still frozen stiff from the cold. “Are you out of your mind?” He kept his voice down so the others couldn’t hear, but it was filled with shock and concern. Gray looked around to make sure none of the others had seen me and then leaned down toward me angrily. “You just put your life and my entire criminal career at risk!” he cried as loudly as he dared. I tried to walk away, but he pulled me back.
“Relax! I’m the one who stowed away,” I told him. “They’ll have no reason to blame you.”
“What do you think the faculty will do when they find out you decided to tag along on our mission?”
I shrugged. “Who cares? I’ll be long gone by then.”
“Doing what? Backpacking around the world? You’re still a kid! You have no money, no connections . . . How will you eat?”
“I’ll steal, obviously!” It seemed simple enough to me. I needed to get off the island, and now I had done that. I could go wherever I wanted, stealing as I went.
“Crackle? Let’s move!” Tigress’s shrill voice pierced through the ruins.
“Stay here. I mean it,” Gray told me sternly. “You can’t mess up our first heist. It’s everything we’ve worked so hard for.”
Gray ran off through the ruins and turned onto a narrow stone street.
“Time to crash a caper,” I said aloud with a smile.
Chapter 9
I walked quickly through the ruins in the direction in which I had seen Gray leave a moment earlier. I picked up my pace, not wanting to be lost in a foreign land after dark. I quickly ran past a pile of stone rubble—and gasped.
Before me I recognized the soaring tower of the elaborate oceanfront Hassan II Mosque—iconic to the shimmering skyline of Casablanca, Morocco. I could see the ocean rolling up against the rocky shore, and the city streets aglow in the moonlight, casting a purple hue on the white stone buildings.
Up until now, I had seen sights like this only in my books. Seeing the magnificent North African city up close was more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined.
I’m in Morocco, I thought giddily. I’ve made it to the real world.
I forced myself to look away from the view of the city below and focus on what I had to do. The mission would have to come first. If everything went according to plan, there would be plenty of time for sightseeing later.
I weaved through the ruins, making my way through winding dirt paths. Gray and the others were long gone by the time I made it down to Casablanca. I had been following their path by tracking their footprints, but those soon vanished into the dusty sidewalks. I now had no choice but to try to find the location of the heist on my own, though I didn’t have much to go on.
All around me were the sights and sounds of a city—a real city. I had never before heard shop owners closing down for the day, or groups of tourists chatting over coffee at street-side cafés. Casablanca was buzzing with life.
As I turned onto an empty side street, my feet ached and my stomach started to grumble. I clasped a hand to my stomach to try to silence it, and in the same moment I spied a bakery ahead. The smell of freshly baked bread drifted toward me, causing my mouth to water.
Gray won’t be the only one pulling his first caper tonight, I thought with a mischievous grin as I slowly made my way toward the bread stand. I waited patiently until the baker picked up a tray of bread and carried it into a nearby store. I walked by the stall as casually as I could and snatched a loaf off the cart.
I turned a corner and sat down to eat my stolen prize. Before I could enjoy it, a stray dog approached me. He whined in hunger, his ribs visible against his fur. “You hungry too, pup?” I asked as I ripped off half the loaf for him. He gobbled it down.
I went to take a bite of the remaining bread when a second stray dog walked up to me. He stared at me with a forlorn look in his eyes. With a sad sigh, I gave him the rest of the bread and patted his head. I guess I won’t be eating tonight.
Then I heard a rumbling sound, and the ground trembled beneath my feet. There was no way my stomach was grumbling that loudly!
I quickly followed the source of the sound, weaving through the winding streets of Casablanca. The rumbling got louder and louder until I came upon an ancient stone archway. It was lit from behind with bright lights that made it impossible to see anything beyond it. I stepped toward the blinding white light, shielding my eyes as I went.
As my eyes adjusted, I found myself peering into a giant construction pit. Huge digging machines were clearing dirt from the ground, while workers hunched down on the floor of the pit. They seemed to be using tiny picks and brushes to wipe away soil, though I had no idea why.
“Young lady!” I turned toward the voice. It belonged to a middle-aged man wearing tan khakis and a white shirt. “It’s late. Do your parents know where you are?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Mister, I don’t even know where I am. What is this place?”
“This is an archaeological dig site,” he explained proudly. He waited for me to say something but saw only the confusion in my eyes. “It is where we search for links to our past.”
“Like . . . dinosaur bones?” I asked.
“Anything historic.” The archaeologist’s eyes were shining as he spoke. Clearly he loved nothing more than sharing his passion and knowledge with others. “Even a simple piece of broken pottery can be a magnificent find. Though . . . I am hoping to uncover a little more than that here.”
I was trying to pay attention to what he was saying, but my hunger was getting the best of me. I caught a glimpse of a granola bar that was in his pocket and stared at it. My stomach was now grumbling even louder than before.
The archaeologist noticed me staring at his food. “Hungry, are you?” He offered the bar to me with an outstretched hand. I grabbed it and ate it quickly in a few gulps.
“You remind me of my daughter,” the archaeologist said, chuckling.
“I do?” I was shocked that I would remind him of anyone. I had never been anyone’s daughter before. “What’s she like?” I wanted to hear more about his family, but he had already turned back to the dig site.
“If you have been following the news, you’ll already know that we just discovered an artifact here. It’s very old . . . though not as old as dinosaur bones,” he added with a wink.
“What is it?” I asked curiously.
“The Eye of Vishnu! It’s one of the most famous jewels in the world, and we’ve found it!” he exclaimed. “Well . . . the missing one, anyway.”
“Missing? Was it stolen?”
“Perhaps it was stolen long ago. That would explain how it traveled here all the way from India, where it was rumored to be from. But mostly it was considered missing because it has never been found until now.” Missing artifacts that were thought to be lost to time . . . It was like a real-life adventure!
“See, one Eye of Vishnu is in a museum in Moscow, and it has been there for centuries. It has long been believed that a second, matching jewel exists.”
I nodded, understanding. “Because everyone has two eyes, right?”
“Exactly!” he cried. “My crew identified the second eye just days ago with our underground imaging technology and is carefully digging it up at this very moment.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re not worried about them stealing it?”
Wouldn’t everyone steal a prize such as that? I thought. To my surprise, the archaeologist frowned. He looked disappointed.
“Why would they do that? My crew knows that a treasure such as this belongs in a mu
seum.”
“But isn’t this treasure worth a fortune?” I asked.
He sighed. “Some things,” he said slowly, “possess value that goes beyond how much money they’re worth. A historic find such as this gem belongs to everyone. Its theft would rob the world of knowledge and beauty. And that . . . would be a true crime.”
“I . . . I never really thought of it that way,” I admitted.
My head was spinning. The things the archaeologist was saying were so different from what I had been taught on the island. I had been raised to believe that stealing was like a game—a game without consequences. According to the VILE faculty, crime didn’t matter, at least not when it brought money into the organization. To rid the world of knowledge and beauty and history . . . that had to be bad, right?
There was a strange sound, like a computer shutting down, and all around us the floodlights went out. The dig site was plunged into darkness. We were surrounded by an eerie glow as the site was lit only by the light of the full moon.
The archaeologist pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket. “Pit crew, report!” He took off toward the dig site.
Suddenly it dawned on me. Gray must have cut the power. This was their first caper! The archaeologist had said they were about to dig up a priceless gem—was the Eye of Vishnu their target? It seemed like just the sort of thing the VILE faculty would want to get their hands on. And if Gray was already here, I knew the others were too.
I looked up at the surrounding hills and ruins, my eyes darting back and forth as I tried to spot them in the darkness. Then I saw it—bounding up the security watchtower was the unmistakable silhouette of Le Chèvre. He looked just like a mountain goat as he jumped up the scaffolding toward where the security guards were posted. I watched, my stomach churning, as Le Chèvre knocked down one guard, then another.
There was a loud cry from below. I looked down to see Tigress bounding toward the dig site, her razor-sharp claws shining in the moonlight. With lightning-fast swipes of her hand, she knocked aside workers one by one as she made her way across the excavation.
Who in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Page 9
