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That was the thing about good pranksters. We all knew how to put aside danger for the excitement of creating mayhem. Of course, now the mayhem actually served a purpose. So it was more of a distraction than a prank.

“The question is, how do we create a diversion big enough to get all of these guys away from the building?” I asked.

We all pondered this for a bit. An elephant roared somewhere in the distance behind us. Then Danielle smiled.

“I got it!” she said. “Remember a few weeks ago? The goats? Nothing can clear an area better than herds of animals.”

W
E WENT BACK TO THE MAIN CIRCUS TENT AND THEN WALKED
around behind it. There was a high fence running out of the sides. The fence was lined with green tarp, but through a few holes, I could see rows of animal cages and trailers. Some large and some small. But I didn’t even need to see it, because I could definitely smell it. There were also some trailers for people as well, which I assumed were for some of the performers.

On Thursday they only did one main circus show at night, which didn’t start for at least an hour. That was
likely about as good as we could ask for since it meant there probably weren’t too many performers back there getting ready yet.

We followed the fence back to the far corner. The only other things in that area were a few port-a-potties, an old maintenance shed, and a bunch of garbage bags waiting for pickup.

“Do we just climb it?” Dillon asked, looking up at the top of the high fence. It was at least nine feet tall.

“I’m going to climb it,” I said. “You guys head back to the fence’s gate and wait there. Once I’m in, I’ll come let you in and then we can get to work.”

They nodded and helped boost me up to the top of the fence. I dropped down on the other side. It was a lot higher than I figured, because when I landed, my ankle rolled. I grabbed it and curled up, doing everything in my power not to yell out in pain.

“Carson, are you okay?” Danielle whispered from the other side.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Go,” I whispered back.

I looked around. There were no people in sight at the moment. There were, however, two cages containing several huge tigers. They stood, like statues, and stared at me with a look of hungry curiosity.

I also saw a few massive pens that I could only guess must house the elephants.

Then I heard a voice. I crawled desperately behind a large garbage can that was clearly used for animal poop, trying not to gag as I crouched among the spill off. I covered my nose with my shirt, but it didn’t help.

“Hey, Tigress, what’s up?” the voice said. “What do you see? Huh? What about you, Dan, you see something, too?”

Who names one tiger Tigress and the other one Dan? But I pushed the question aside, because it didn’t matter right then. I peeked out from behind the trash can and saw a guy wearing jeans and a flannel shirt standing by the tiger cages.

There was a giant ring of keys looped to his belt. It was like a gift from the circus gods. I said my thanks and then tested my ankle. It was sore and already swelling, but I had so much adrenaline pumping through my body that I barely felt any pain. Although I knew that by tonight it would be impossible to even walk on it.

I dug out the tranquilizer pen from my bag as quietly as possible and then crawled out from behind the poop can and worked my way toward the trainer. He was facing away from me. I readied the pen. The tigers saw me and tensed.

“What’s the matter?” the trainer asked them again as if he actually expected an answer.

I was six feet away now and one of the tigers started making a low, guttural, and menacing noise. It wasn’t really a growl so much as it was a promise to eat me. The trainer, realizing something had caught their attention, whirled around.

“Hey” is all he managed to say before I jabbed the pen into his thigh and released the toxin. He stumbled back and slumped against one of the tiger cages.

The tiger started toward him. I saw where this was going and didn’t like it. I hurried over and grabbed his shirt and pulled him away before the tiger could turn him into dinner. I wasn’t strong enough to drag him, but I was able to get him to slump forward, just out of the tiger’s reach.

I reached down and unhooked his huge key ring. I’d been planning to let out all the animals, but upon seeing the tigers’ hungry faces up close, I decided that might not be the smartest thing to do. So instead, I stayed low and made my way over to the fence’s gate.

After trying a dozen keys, I found the one that opened the lock. Dillon and Danielle were waiting outside just like we planned. I handed her the key ring.

“I’m going to make my way back over to the building,” I said. “The window of opportunity to sneak in might be small, even with this big of a diversion, so someone should be there, ready to get in.”

“You’re gonna go in alone?” Dillon asked.

“No sense in all of us risking it,” I said. “One person can sneak in way easier than three.”

“He’s got a point,” Danielle said.

“After you let out the elephants and horses and all of the non-carnivorous animals, just run. Head to the bike rack out by the front entrance and lie low. If I don’t meet you back there in one hour, then get on the bikes and take off.”

“What’s going on?” asked Dillon. “You know more about this than you said, don’t you?”

Normally, this kind of accusation from Dillon would be met with eye-rolling and groans. But this time, he was right.

“Look, I can’t explain everything right now,” I said. “But . . . I think Olek might be in trouble. He told me once that he had gotten into some trouble with the circus. At the time, I had no idea what he meant, but now it all makes sense. He went missing last night, and I think he’s here somewhere. Promise me that if I don’t show up
in an hour, you’ll just get out of here.”

Dillon and Danielle gaped at me with blank stares.

“Please say you’ll follow those instructions,” I said. “Please!”

They both nodded slowly in unison. It was rare moments like this when I remembered that they were twins.

“Good. Thank you. Now go let loose some animals. Let’s wreak some havoc on this place.”

They nodded again and started toward the elephant pens as I turned to exit through the open gate. But then Danielle called out to me.

“Wait, Carson,” she said.

I turned back.

“Good luck,” she said. “And please be careful.”

“You, too,” I said back.

For the first time in history, we would be pulling a prank together and likely not have a whole lot of fun doing so. But at the same time, I had to admit that it was too bad we weren’t at school; this would have been the greatest prank in school history. The look on Gomez’s face alone would have been worth the likely expulsion.

T
HE SCREAMING STARTED JUST A FEW MINUTES AFTER I’D
exited through the gate. By that time I was already halfway back to the fun house, even with my swollen and stiff ankle. I stopped to rest it for a second and looked behind me.

There were animals everywhere. Some were calmly sitting around, eating grass. But others were wreaking havoc. One elephant had already tipped over a small food stand. Monkeys were bouncing around and screeching and throwing stuff. It was pretty awesome. I just hoped
nobody ended up getting hurt.

As I got back to the fun house, I saw men in uniforms and employees running by me, heading toward the growing chaos without even giving me a second glance. I was as good as invisible among the growing crowd of people running away from the circus tent and the few employees running toward it.

By the time I’d used the key grappling hook to scale the fence separating the fairgrounds from the gray building and lower myself slowly down the other side, the area was nearly deserted. I ducked behind some Dumpsters just across from the building. I only saw one door, and it appeared to have an electronic lock. Which meant that some sort of keycard would be needed to get inside.

I dug the Agency transponder from my bag and pressed the red button again. Then I hid it under the Dumpster. If I got captured, I didn’t want the enemy to find it. But I still had some hope that the Agency would eventually respond and that it would lead them here.

As I crouched there and watched the building, I reloaded my tranquilizer pen. At one point the door opened and some guy dressed as a clown came rushing out. Probably an armed clown. He dashed off toward the circus tent. I guessed with a mess this big they needed as
much help as possible.

After he ran off, I sprinted as fast as I could with my bad ankle across the pavement toward the building and put my back to the wall right outside the door, behind the hinges, so the door would hide me from view when it opened again. I figured I wouldn’t have to wait long. Even from here, I could see a huge elephant charging across the fairgrounds, a massive banner dragging behind him.

A few minutes later, a guy wearing a security shirt came bursting out and started toward the big tent area. He didn’t even make it three steps before I’d jammed the pen into his back. After he fell, I grabbed his security card and used it to enter the gray building. Once inside, it took me a moment to remember to breathe. My heart pounded so hard in my chest, I felt like I might start choking on it.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm myself, I realized I was looking down a long, brightly lit hallway, not unlike the hallways at my school. But I didn’t waste any more time taking it all in.

I fired several smokescreens into the hallway. In a matter of seconds the whole place was clouded in a gray haze. I stayed low and against the wall as I worked my way from door to door, coming out of my crouch only
long enough to look inside the window on each door.

Most of the rooms were empty. I imagined most of the employees were out trying to help contain animals. The circus was a good front for an enemy spy cell in that nobody would ever suspect it. Well, nobody except for Dillon. But its one major flaw was that there was a lot that came with running a circus.

As the smoke started dissipating, I fired several more smokescreens down the hallway in front of me. So far, I had yet to see another person in the building, but it was better safe than sorry. After maybe twenty rooms and two full hallways, I finally found what I was looking for.

I knew it as soon as I saw it. It was a door without a window. The only one I’d come across so far. I held up the keycard to the reader, but the light on the lock stayed red. I tried it again and this time it beeped at me but still didn’t open.

So I reached into my pocket and took out a fruit roll-up. After unwrapping it, I stuffed it inside the door frame by the lock. The soft gooey fruit roll-up explosive squeezed in pretty nicely. Then I found the paper detonator. I moved down the hall a few feet and pressed down on the microchip.

There was a muffled bang and then the faint smell of
burning metal. I crawled back over to the door and saw that the electronic lock was blown to pieces. The door swung open slowly on its hinges.

Inside was a short hallway with four other windowless doors. I checked the first two and found an office with a cluttered desk and a smaller room with a small cot and a gross-looking toilet. The fourth room was just like the second room, but the main difference was that it was occupied.

“Olek!” I said.

“Carson, no,” is what he said back.

He was alive! I couldn’t believe I’d found him.

Olek looked mostly unharmed. But the panic on his face told me everything I needed to know: It was a trap.

I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Mule Medlock’s easy smile.

“Hello, Carson,” he said, and before I could even respond, everything went black.

I
OPENED MY EYES TO A BLURRY HAZE. THE FIRST THING I FELT
was my throbbing ankle. The next thing I noticed was that I couldn’t move my legs or arms. Then I heard a voice.

“It’s good to see you awake.” It was Mule Medlock’s voice. “You’re much more useful this way. The funniest part is that you really believed you’d be able to sneak in here completely unnoticed and rescue your friend.”

I tried to talk but all that came out was a mumble.

“Don’t strain yourself, Carson. We have time. It’s still amusing to think that the Agency actually employed a kid. That’s a new low, even for them. It’s immoral and unethical on so many levels. Anyway, here, have some milk.”

Suddenly a cup was pressed against my lips and milk was poured. I was still groggy so most of it ended up on my shirt, but I did manage a few swallows. I couldn’t place my finger on the flavor, but it was good. Even in this dire situation, I noticed that much.

“Like it?” Medlock said. “It’s a dragon fruit and watermelon four-and-two-thirds percent blend.”

Finally, my eyes began focusing. We were in a fairly large room. I saw no tables or any other furniture. It was just a bare, bright room with only one door that I could see. But Olek was also there, sitting in a chair a few feet away from me. He appeared to be unconscious.

His head was slumped forward and he was tied to the chair with what appeared to be heavy duty bungee cords across his torso. I found that I was as well. My feet were held to the chair legs by white plastic zip ties. My shoes were no longer on my feet, and my left ankle was bleeding through my sock. That one must have been injured
when they’d knocked me out. My hands were tightly bound together behind me by what felt like the same type of plastic zip ties.

Mule Medlock stood in front of me. One guard in a suit stood behind him. A little person stood across the room, between Olek and me. Not, like, a small person, but, you know, a really small person. A little person. According to my social studies teacher, they’re not supposed to be called midgets. I was guessing this one doubled as a circus performer for his cover, which seemed kind of mean to me, but then again no one was forcing him to be part of this evil organization, or the circus.

The little person held a large, leather black bag in one hand. He smiled at me.

I glared back.

“That’s my friend Packard,” Mule said. “Packard is going to have some questions for you later. And I’m sure you’ll comply, since he tends to get answers when he really wants them.”

Packard put his bag on the floor and started removing items from it. He took out a lot of metal gadgets that looked like they were from a horror movie. My stomach lurched, and I puked up the milk I just drank all over my shirt.

“Eww,” Medlock said, taking a step back.

“What do you want? Why are you doing this?” I asked. “I don’t understand why you want to hurt people.”

“Me? You think I want to hurt people?” Medlock asked.

“Why else would you be trying to help known terrorists?”

“Power, of course. Why else? Hurting people and gaining power are not mutually dependent endeavors. One can be achieved without the other. If people get hurt, that’s unfortunate. But sometimes necessary.”

“But how does keeping these terrorists out of prison help you get power?” I asked.

“Well, the money is a good start,” he said with a smile. “Certain associates of these alleged terrorists are paying us a pretty hefty sum to stop Olek’s parents from testifying. In fact, his parents know we have Olek and have already agreed to back out of the trial. What they don’t know is that they’ll still never get Olek back. We’ve agreed to sell him to one of these terrorist groups. As for what they plan to do with him, that’s really none of my concern, nor is it any of my business.

“But none of that stuff really matters, anyway,” he continued with a dismissive wave of his hand. “What
matters to me most is what will be perceived to be an epic failure on the part of the Agency. It will be the largest and most public failure in its history. It will destroy them from within.”

“So you’re doing all this just to take down the Agency?” I asked. It seemed like a completely ridiculous motivation to me.

“Yes! And with them out of the way, there will be nothing to stop a new authority from rising up. We’ll restore meaning back to this country, and I will be there to oversee it all. I’ll be a hero, a god of sorts. The man who saved America from itself.”

“But acts of terrorism and sabotage won’t convince anyone that you ought to be in charge,” I said.

“No? Tell me then, how can we change a system that has been locked in place for decades? How can we change the unchangeable? People in this country are stuck. They are stuck and they don’t even know it. They get up, eat food, go to work at a job they don’t truly love to make money to buy stuff to try and fill the voids. They’ve all been stuck in the same routine for generations and they’re just begging to be broken free, whether they know it or not. The first part of that is simply to destroy the institutions holding them hostage,
metaphorically speaking of course.”

I shook my head. I heard what he was saying but didn’t want to believe him. It was just too close to what I’d been telling myself about North Dakota my whole life. I wasn’t anything like Mule Medlock, was I? I’ve always wanted to break free from what I’d always perceived to be a boring prison of routine, but not at the expense of others. Besides, for me it had always been North Dakota specifically. Surely things were different, more exciting, bigger and better for kids in other places, right? There was no way a kid in New York City or Hawaii or Tokyo felt as bored and trapped in as mundane an existence as I did.

Right?

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Are you realizing that I might be right?”

“Whether you are or aren’t, you can’t hurt innocent people to make your point!” I said.

“Why not?”

I didn’t answer him.

“No, seriously,” he said. “I want you to give me a specific reason why a few people getting hurt for the greater good is wrong. Go on. Tell me.”

“Because . . . because it’s just not right,” I said,
frustrated that I couldn’t come up with anything better than that.

He just laughed. But he didn’t laugh like a normal, sane person. No, he was practically having a seizure he was laughing so maniacally. He was acting like some crazed villain straight out of a bad James Bond movie. And I had to face the possibility that Medlock might just be plain crazy.

“You’re insane,” I said quietly once he had calmed enough to hear me.

“So? What’s your point?” he asked.

I clenched my fist and suddenly felt a small poke. My false palms. They hadn’t found them. I started slowly working the razor blade free, concentrating on moving my shoulders as little as possible.

“Anyway, let’s start by you telling me who your Agency contacts at the school are, shall we?” Mule Medlock asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We both know that’s a lie.”

“It’s not.”

I’d finally managed to free the razor with my first two fingers. It was clutched delicately between them. The trick now would be to get it to my thumb without
dropping it or cutting myself.

“No matter. I will get you to talk eventually. Or, Packard will, anyway, to be more accurate. You’ll be willing to tell me your darkest secrets, your most embarrassing dreams by the time he’s done with you. I promise you that.”

“Well, being that I’m dead anyway, can you at least tell me how?” I asked. “How did you know? I mean, how did you find out who Olek was? And that he was at my house?”

I finally managed to get the razor gripped between my first finger and thumb. The problem was that I couldn’t seem to bend my wrist the right way to get the razor to the plastic thing holding my wrists together.

“It was you,” Medlock said. “You told me everything I needed to know.”

“I don’t—” I mumbled. “I don’t understand.”

“Well, that’s what being a troublemaker gets you,” he said. “I targeted you due to your inability to stay out of trouble. It seems you have a certain nose for it. I knew that the Agency headquarters was located here in town and thus they’d likely bring Olek here as well, assuming it to be the safest location. But, of course, we still didn’t know who he was. All of you middle school kids look the
same. So that’s where you came in.”

“You mean . . .” I started, but trailed off, still trying to process what he was implying.

“That’s right, it was all staged. That wasn’t really Agent Orange, and that wasn’t really his PEDD. Or it was; we just made some alterations. Agent Orange was captured well before that handoff. I had a feeling that if I had my agents follow you after we gave you the box, it would eventually lead us to Olek. And sure enough, just a few days later, you’re suddenly hanging out with this new kid.”

“So you’ve had people watching me this whole time? Ever since the day I got the package?”

He nodded, his eyes glowing.

“If you knew all along, why did you wait so long to make your move?” I asked.

“Why not?” he said. “By waiting until the last day before the trial, it gives the Agency almost no chance of recovering Olek in time. That’s also why we had our men back off from your school and your neighborhood, to make the Agency think their plan was working. To get them to let down their guard ever so slightly.”

I shook my head. No, it couldn’t be. The idea that I had been indirectly responsible for Olek’s capture was more
than I could bear. I kept shaking my head, trying to make the facts go away. Trying to make them untrue.

“It’s true,” Medlock said.

And I knew he was right. It explained why I hadn’t been able to identify Agent Orange in that photo lineup Blue and Nineteen had shown me. If only I hadn’t been so selfish, so stupid, so eager to believe I could become a secret agent, then his plan wouldn’t have worked. Had I just delivered the package to Mr. Jensen, never opened it myself, Olek would probably still be safe.

“How?” I said. “How could you have been so sure I’d open the package?”

Medlock laughed.

“Are you kidding? Look at you. Of course you’re going to open it. You’re obviously desperate for attention, with all the pranks and whatnot. Letting loose herds of goats? Of course that kid will open a mysterious package! You know, you remind me a lot of myself when I was a kid. Always dreaming of bigger and better things. Well, pretty soon you’re going to realize that genuinely bigger and better things simply don’t exist in this country. At least not in its current form.”

Was I really that predictable? I didn’t need to think about it for much more than a second to realize that the
answer was obviously yes.

Just then a small metal cart with wheels was brought in, and Packard began loading his tools onto it. He hummed lightly while he worked. I think it was a song from a really old Disney movie, but I couldn’t be sure.

“But that still doesn’t explain how you found out that the Agency had a base here, or that they’d bring Olek here,” I said.

“Well, some things must remain a mystery. Sorry, Carson. I can’t give away all my secrets. You know what the difference is between people who are good at what they do and those who aren’t?”

I shook my head. Not that I really cared either way at this point.

“Attention to detail,” he said. “That’s it, that’s the secret to success. That’s why my milk is so good: I
pay attention to detail
.”

I groaned and shook my head. But really I did that to cover up what almost became a shout of triumph. I’d finally found a way to position my wrists so the razor made contact with the zip tie. I slowly began working it back and forth. I couldn’t press hard enough to cut it easily, but with enough finagling, it would give eventually. Or so I had to hope.

That’s when Olek woke up. He rolled his head groggily to the side. When he saw me, he smiled faintly.

“I see we are both in a jar of vinegar-soaked cucumber,” he said to me.

“We’re in a pickle, Olek,” I corrected him.

“Yes, this what I say,” he said.

“Ah, good, we’re all awake,” Medlock said. “So we all get to witness what happens next. I’m going to turn the floor over to Packard now. Like I said, he has some questions for you, Carson.”

Medlock took a few steps back and stood next to the guard. He smiled and watched the little guy push the metal cart over to the space right in between Olek and me.

Packard picked up a nasty-looking pair of pliers. They were like normal pliers, except they had what looked like human teeth affixed to the end.

“Did you know that the human bite can be among the most painful things a person can experience?” Packard asked. “When people get attacked by sharks they often don’t feel any pain at first, only pressure. This is because sharks’ teeth are so sharp that they just slice through flesh with little resistance. Human teeth, however, particularly the incisors and bicuspids, are just sharp enough
to break skin with enough pressure, but dull enough to cause maximum pain.”

He walked over and stood in front of Olek. The truth smacked me right in the face: they weren’t actually going to torture me; they were going to torture Olek. And they wouldn’t stop until I told them what they wanted to know.