B003J5UJ4U EBOK (19 page)

“Help me escape?” What was he talking about? Nobody had done anything for me. Unless … “The medication?”

“I replaced it with water. I figured when you got out of that stupor it would be easy for you to escape. I just hadn’t counted on Bowdler realizing I played a role in your awakening.”

So he’d helped me get free, and I’d blown it. Now we were both locked up. “What’s going to happen to us?”

“Me? I’ll probably just disappear once he decides I’m not of any value. I’d have vanished already if he was sure he could get away with it. I still have some friends out there who’d be upset if they thought I’d been canceled.”

“What about me?”

“Bowdler plans to turn you into the perfect weapon.”

“No way. I’m not doing anything for him.”

“You’ll do everything for him,” Thurston said. “His whole background is in psychological warfare and brainwashing. Believe me, if he wanted to, he could convince you to jump off the Statue of Liberty, or shoot your best friend.”

I refused to believe I’d ever do what Bowdler wanted. “He’s had me locked up for months, and I still won’t obey him.” My parents had certainly sent me to enough psychologists without changing anything.

“That was before he had the disrupter. You can’t break a will that isn’t there. Bowdler needed to keep you safely drugged until he had a way to neutralize your power. Now that you have a clear head and no way to hurt him, he can
start working on your mind. You’re a tough kid, but he’ll break you into a thousand pieces, and then build you back into whatever he wants.”

“What about my parents? Are they okay?” I asked.

“As far as I know. They left the country. It’s rough that they think you’re dead. That’s another part of the plan I didn’t agree with. I didn’t see you as a dangerous weapon that could turn on us. I saw you as raw talent that would probably be eager to help your country. Most boys your age are patriots.”

He was right. I was a patriot. But that raised another question. “How could the government treat us this way? I might be a kid, but I have rights.”

Thurston stared at me for a moment across the dark corridor that separated our cells. “What makes you think Bowdler is with the government?”

while trash is learning
the truth, torchie and
cheater rush to
the rescue …

“IT’S LOCKED,” TORCHIE
said. He twisted the door knob again just to make sure.

“Of course it’s locked,” Cheater said. “Open the lock.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Burn it.”

“I can’t burn metal,” Torchie said.

“How do you know? Have you ever tried?”

“No.”

“So try.”

“Okay, but stop shouting at me.”

Torchie glanced over his shoulder to make sure nobody was coming down the street toward them. He didn’t think that would be a problem. The buildings on the street looked empty. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Absolutely.” Cheater pointed to the faded lettering on the canopy that still covered the walkway, “
KRAUS FUNERAL HOME
. I read it right out of Bowdler’s mind. Now hurry up.”

“Don’t rush me.” Torchie scrunched up his face, stared at the lock, and tried to make it catch fire.

“Nothing’s happening,” Cheater said.

“I know. Give me a minute. It’s not like it’s a piece of paper.” Torchie took a deep breath, stepped back, and tried harder. The doorknob started to glow.

“You’re doing it!” Cheater shouted.

The glow faded.

“Please stop talking,” Torchie said. He was pretty sure he had the technique now. He gave the knob a full-power blast.

Wummmppfffff.

With a sound like a gas grill lighting, the whole door burst into bright-orange flame. A wave of heat washed over Torchie’s face, drawing a flood of sweat from his forehead. The fire only lasted for an instant. Then it faded, leaving the door looking darker than before.

“Wow. That was fast. Talk about spontaneous combustion.” Cheater reached forward and touched the surface of the door with the tip of one finger.

The whole door collapsed in a pile of ashes. The knob, with the key-plate and bolt still attached, fell with a clatter, bouncing down the steps like the world’s most badly designed Slinky.

“That’ll work,” Cheater said. “Come on. Let’s rescue them.” He jumped through the opening, throwing an awkward flying kick, then let out a shout of pain as he landed.

Torchie sniffed the air. Beside the smell of burned wood, he noticed something else. A sharper smell.
Plastic,
he thought. Torchie was familiar with the way just about anything flammable smelled when it burned. He looked up and saw the
melted remains of thin red and black wires at the top of the door frame.
Probably for the doorbell.

Feeling pleased that he’d opened the door without attracting attention, Torchie followed Cheater into the building.

give me five

“I FIGURED BOWDLER
had to be from the government. He has all these resources. Everyone who was after me looked like some kind of government agent.”

Thurston shook his head. “Manpower isn’t that expensive. There are plenty of thugs with guns looking for work. You can hire someone to do anything—even guard a captive kid without asking questions.” He waved his hand around us. “This place is nothing, considering the size of Psibertronix’s budget.”

“Psibertronix? Who are they?”

“You heard of the cold war?” he asked.

“Sure. When the US and Russia were trying to destroy each other without dropping bombs.” I’d had that in social studies. The space race was part of the cold war—with both countries trying to get some sort of military advantage. And there was all sorts of spy stuff. Tiny cameras. Deadly poison hidden in the tip of an umbrella. Secret codes. Double and triple agents. Stuff that would have seemed super cool to me before I’d gotten that dart in my neck.

“We were way ahead of Russia in electronics,” Thurston
said. “Russia was far ahead of us on psychic research. For the most part, our military and intelligence agencies ignored paranormal phenomena. Almost nobody believed in it. But a group of researchers persuaded the Pentagon to fund experiments in the hopes that we could use psi powers to win the cold war.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t a government group.”

“Not now. Back then it was. Bowdler and I headed a unit that was part of a joint project run by the CIA and the Army. I was brought in because I’d helped uncover some of the Russian secret projects. Bowdler was brought in because of his background in psychology and mind control. We were especially interested in remote spying. But we investigated all sorts of other wild stuff—we tried to walk through walls, knock out animals with our minds, develop immunity to toxic gas.”

“What did you discover?” I asked.

“Nothing. We never made any real progress. When the cold war ended, the government cut our funding. Bowdler was the one who suggested we could form a private company. He realized he was at a dead end in his Army career. He wanted to be a general some day. They wanted him to go away. But the military was happy to fund our research, even if there was only a small chance we’d ever find anything.”

“But when I got caught, they had the bank photos. That had to be connected with the FBI.”

Thurston nodded. “Just because we aren’t part of the government doesn’t mean they don’t cooperate with us. All the
agencies share information with us. When the FBI got involved with the bank case, they didn’t even notice you on the video. But the officer who investigated the case marked it as ‘unexplained’ so the file came to us. We took a lot closer look at all the surveillance material than anyone else had. They weren’t looking for psi. We were. Well, I was. Bowdler didn’t really believe.”

“He didn’t believe?” Flinch asked, stepping up to the bars next to me.

Thurston shook his head. “He was a total skeptic.”

Behind me, Martin said, “Someone’s upstairs.”

“How do you know?” Flinch asked. “You suddenly develop new powers?”

“Nope. I heard a thump. But from the way they’re stumbling around, I think my idea turned out to be brilliant. And I sense an apology coming my way in the near future.” Martin flashed a smug look in my direction.

I glanced up at the ceiling, then back at Thurston. I wanted to learn as much as possible before we were interrupted. When Dad was going into a business deal, he dug up everything he could find out about the guy on the other side—even his hobbies and favorite charities. “If Bowdler didn’t believe in psi, why did he start a company?”

“The same reason lots of people start companies. Money. We got a nice research budget from the military. That was fine with me. I believed in what we were doing. Not Bowdler. He was just getting back at them for not promoting him. He was totally unprepared when we discovered you. I suspect
that’s why he didn’t turn you right over to the government. He needed to figure out a way to pull the most profit from our discovery. It looks like he’s decided to offer a package deal. You’re the weapon, he’s the controller.”

“There’s definitely someone upstairs,” Martin said. “It sounds like they’re searching the place. Which means they’re not the bad guys.” He turned toward the stairs and shouted, “Hey! We’re down here!”

A moment later, I saw Cheater and Torchie lurch into view. Cheater was a bit wobbly, but he looked okay. Torchie was wobbly, too, since he was carrying his accordion.

“How’d you get in?” I asked.

“I torched the door,” Torchie said, grinning. “That was hard work. I gotta sit down.” He moved past the cell door and slumped to the floor by the side wall.

“You’re supposed to thank us for rescuing you,” Cheater said. “I figured out what Martin wanted me to do as soon as that creepy guy showed up.”

Behind me, Martin cleared his throat. “Anyone want to apologize for doubting me?”

I had something more urgent to deal with. “The front door?” I asked, thinking about the alarm at the lab.

“Yeah, we came right in the front,” Cheater said. “What’s the big deal?”

“You’d better find the key to this cage real fast,” I said. “I think you set off an alarm.”

Before Cheater could do anything, I heard more footsteps on the stairs. Heavy, adult steps. A big guy came down, gun
in hand. With his other hand, he removed a pair of sunglasses from his face and put them in his shirt pocket. His expression was chillingly blank, like he didn’t care what he found at the bottom of the stairs.

synergy

BEHIND ME, I
heard Martin gasp, then whisper, “He’s a hired killer. That’s the guy who was at your house. I called the cops on him, but I guess it didn’t do any good.”

Keeping the gun on Cheater, the guy held out a large key. “Unlock it,” he said.

Cheater took the key and turned toward the cell. I looked around the room. Martin, Flinch, Cheater, Torchie, and me. We had powers that could stop this right now. But our powers were useless while this disrupter was buried in my arm. Torchie was our best bet. But he was right next to me, in range of the disrupter. He’d have to move back past the guy with the gun before he could do anything. We were powerless.

No, that wasn’t right. Only our psychic powers had been disrupted. We were bonded together by a lot more than that. Martin must have had the same thought. “We’re still a team,” he said as Cheater put the key in the lock.