Down to the Wire (6 page)

The following afternoon,
I pulled the ranch’s van into the high school’s lot and parked in the first available spot. I’d had my license for only a week and
loved
being able to drive. It made me feel…well, grown up, for lack of a better description. And free.

David, Erin, Adam, myself, and the rest of Team One attended the University of San Belden. Generally, we left there around three and picked up my team from San Belden High. Today, though, David had left classes early because TL had paged him, Erin and Adam didn’t have afternoon classes, and the rest of Team One was away on missions. Which left me going to San Belden High alone.

Pocketing the van’s keys, I checked my watch. Minutes to spare. I was getting good at this time-management thing. And to think it had once been one of my biggest flaws.

As I climbed out, I caught sight of Wirenut sitting on a bench under a tree. I’d been thinking about him nonstop since yesterday’s meeting. He’d been distant last night when I showed him around my lab. I’d seen him this morning at breakfast and wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t know what to say. He’d seemed
so lost in thought that I figured he needed space. And from his comment at the meeting, he obviously didn’t want David and me knowing about his business.

But now, as I approached Wirenut, all my hesitation disappeared. I wanted to be whatever I could for him. A friend, a sounding board, someone he could yell at if need be.

“Hey.” I took the wooden bench across from his. “Did your last class get out early?”

“I’m skipping.”

“Oh.”

I’d never skipped a class in my whole life. I was probably the only person on the planet who actually looked forward to class. Well, except for gym. But then, what nerd
did
look forward to gym?

“You’re sitting right outside the school. Aren’t you worried about getting caught? TL will be really upset if you get in trouble for skipping. Maybe you should go back in.”

“There’s only one like it in the whole world,” Wirenut mumbled, apparently unfazed by the fact he might get caught cutting. “My dad told me that right before he allowed me to touch the double-bladed, lion-engraved sword. It was one of many unusual weapons he collected.”

Unsure of how to respond, I simply sat and listened.

“The cops never found that sword. My testimony put my uncle on death row. I never saw him again. Case closed.”

“Testimony?”

Wirenut squeezed his eyes shut, and my heart clinched at the
pain evident on his face. “Twelve years ago,” he whispered, “I watched my uncle use that same sword to kill my entire family.”

My mouth fell open as his words ricocheted through my brain. Twelve years ago he would’ve been five years old. I’d been nearly the same age when I lost my parents. “Oh, Wirenut.” I reached across the bench and gripped his forearm.

He sat frozen, his eyes tightly shut. I could only imagine the horrible, gory scenes flashing through his mind. Images no person, let alone a five-year-old, should ever experience.

Wirenut shook his head, fighting the emotion. I moved beside him and wrapped my arms tightly around him. We stayed that way for a few long minutes, our heads touching as I held him. With all my mental energy, I willed away his horrible memories.

Sometime later he stirred, and I sat back, giving him space.

“I was too young. I couldn’t help. How could I have helped? It was impossible.” He wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to himself, staring at the grass beneath our feet. I didn’t know what to say anyway.

Wirenut brought his gaze over to mine. “Don’t you think it’s weird that my first mission has something to do with my past? Do you think TL knew that when he recruited me?”

Shrugging, I moved back over to my bench. “I doubt it. The neurotoxin was just stolen. But I don’t know. It’s possible. TL seems to know everything about everybody. I’ve learned, though, that there’s a purpose for the things he does. He wouldn’t keep information private unless he had a good reason to do so.”

“Maybe there’s no stolen neurotoxin. Maybe this is a test to see how I perform under emotional stress. More of my training.” Wirenut was talking to himself again, and so I quietly listened.

“No,” he said, answering himself. “TL wouldn’t stoop to that level. There’re other ways to prove my mental stability. Or are there? Challenging someone with their worst fear is the ultimate test.” He blew out a breath. “A test I’m not ready for.”

The bell rang, and students piled out from the high school. Idly, I watched them load into buses, get into cars, and file off down the sidewalks.

Two girls in miniskirts passed by our benches. “Oh,
my
God,” one sneered to the other. “Did you see what she was wearing? Puh-lease. Where’d she buy her clothes anyway?”

I sneered right back. They weren’t talking about me, but they reminded me of the horrible girls I used to live with in the dorm. They’d made fun of me and it used to intimidate me. Now it just made me angry.

Sensing movement to my right, I glanced up and squinted against the sun.

“Hi!” A brown-haired girl plopped down beside Wirenut.

He flinched from his contemplative state.

“Sixty-four degrees on this beautiful day. Forty percent chance for evening showers. Another gorgeous San Belden, California, day.” She stretched her arms over her head.

This must be Nancy. I’d heard my roommates talk a lot about her. She wanted to be a meteorologist and a journalist. They said
she started every annoying conversation with a weather report.

Her big yap would make her a better gossip columnist
, Wirenut had commented.

I looked over at him. Poor guy. He came out here for a little thinking room, and look who invaded his privacy.

She straightened her shirt. “Did you know one degree Celsius equals Fahrenheit minus thirty-two divided by one point eight?”

Wirenut and I just looked at each other.

“Can you believe we’ll graduate high school soon?” She crossed her right leg over her left. “Time just flies, doesn’t it? Before you know it we’ll be graduating college.” Bouncing her crossed leg, she smiled at me. “Are you a new student here?”

“No, I go to the university.”

“University? What are you, a freshman?”

“Actually, I’m graduating this year.”

She perked up. “You’re that whiz kid, aren’t you? I’ve heard all about you. My brother’s a junior at the U. He said you’re hot.”

I felt my face grow warm.

“I bet you didn’t have a childhood, did you? How sad.” Nancy shook her head, all dramatically concerned. “Kids shouldn’t be promoted until they’re emotionally ready.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I glanced at Wirenut. He rolled his eyes.

Nancy inched closer to him, apparently done making small talk with me. With his arms sprawled along the bench’s back, they looked more like a couple than tolerant acquaintances.

He dropped his arms and put his book bag between them. If she didn’t get the hint from that, I didn’t know what to tell her.

“So”—she pushed her sunglasses up her nose—“how do you like it out there at the San Belden Ranch for Boys and Girls?”

A foster home for boys and girls was our cover in the community. If only people knew what
really
went on behind our gates.

“It’s all right,” Wirenut answered.

“I was thinking about doing an article on all of you for the school paper. Ya know, about how those less fortunate can, if given the proper guidance, turn into fine, upstanding American citizens.”

Wirenut rolled his eyes again. “Maybe your ride’s waiting for you in the other parking lot.”

I almost laughed at the second blatant hint he just dropped.

“Nope. This is the exact spot I’m supposed to be.” Nancy sighed. “What is the world coming to? The crime rate these days. You heard about that missing artifact out of New Mexico? What a shame. Happened months and months ago.”

Wirenut cleared his throat. “Artifact?”

His slouched posture straightened a little bit. His bored eyes became alert. Small changes that I noticed, but anybody else would say he appeared the same. He was interested in this artifact thing and doing an excellent job of hiding it. TL would be proud.

Nancy finger-fluffed her short hair. “Oh, yeah. But something
really
juicy just came across my desk.”

Came across her desk? Who was she, Katie Couric?

Nancy brushed a fallen leaf from her jeans. “It was the Ghost who stole it. You know, the New Mexico thing.”

Oh. She was referring to the event that led TL to recruit Wirenut.

“You’ve heard of him,” she whispered, “haven’t you? The Ghost?”

Wirenut and I exchanged a quick glance.

Yeah, we’ve heard of him. He’s sitting right beside you.

“No,” he responded.

She sucked in a surprised breath. “Well, he’s only the most notorious criminal of this century. Some even say he’s the most notorious ever.”

Wirenut rubbed a hand down his face, hiding his smile. Apparently, his reputation amused him.

“But as I was saying, something really juicy just came across my desk. He just broke into a museum in China and stole another artifact. Apparently this museum in China was supposed to be burglar proof.” Nancy glanced around as if the Ghost was going to jump out at her or something. “He’s the first to have gotten in.”

Wirenut stiffened a little. “How do you know it was the Ghost?”

She wiggled back on the bench, getting comfortable, obviously wallowing in the fact that she was delivering hot-off-the-press news. “His signature.”

Wirenut lifted his brows, all nonchalant. “Signature?”

Nancy leaned in. “A yellow ribbon.”

Wirenut’s jaw tightened.

So, the burglar guy who screwed Wirenut was now impersonating him. Interesting. I wondered if TL knew this. “And how did you get all this information?”

“I told you.” She fluffed her hair again. “It came across my desk.”

I just looked at her.

“Oh, all right.” Nancy waved her hand. “It’s in the papers.”

“Weeell,” drawled Beaker, “isn’t this sweet.”

Nancy jerked to her side of the bench, straightening her clothes, like she and Wirenut had been messing around or something.

Get a life.

Beaker hitched her chin. “Whaz up?”

Behind her purple-tinted lenses, Nancy narrowed her eyes.

Mystic, Parrot, and Bruiser came out the gym door. Everyone present and accounted for.

I stood and fished the ranch’s van keys from my jeans pocket. “Let’s go.”

“Oh,” Nancy extended her hand, “I forgot.”

Groan.

She smiled at Wirenut. “Have a good trip.”

He frowned. “Trip?”

“Yeah. I’m an assistant in the admin office. I saw your excuse
note come over the fax. I figured since you were going to be out of school for a while you were going on a trip.” She blinked. “Where are you going?”

Wirenut’s face went blank. “Nowhere.” He spun and charged off across the parking lot.

We all rushed after him.

“What’s going on?” Bruiser asked.

I shook my head. I had the sick feeling TL was sending him to Rissala anyway.

In silence, I drove everyone home. My teammates sat, staring out the windows. I suspected they all knew something major was up. I glanced at Wirenut in the rearview mirror. He hadn’t moved from his hard-jawed, arms-crossed, angry position.

I pulled up in front of the ranch’s gate. A wooden plaque engraved with SAN BELDEN RANCH FOR BOYS AND GIRLS hung from the entrance.

Keying in my access code, I drove through. A standard privacy fence lined the hundred-acre ranch. Invisible static sensors wound through it, detecting the smallest of movements. No human, animal, or plant could touch it without Chapling knowing. If the electricity went out, generators and solar panels kept the whole ranch active.

To any ordinary visitor the place resembled a nice homey environment for us system kids. Little did anyone know a top-secret, intricate series of sublevels zigzagged the earth below us.

I drove up the driveway and parked in front. Wirenut slung
open the door and jumped out. He stormed across the gravel and into the house.

“Wirenut, stop.” I raced to catch up. He ignored me and charged down the hall straight toward TL’s office.

“Stop.” I cringed, following him. “You’re going to get in trouble.”

Wirenut slammed through TL’s door without knocking. “
What
is going on?”

TL motioned me in, and, silently, I stepped into his office. David stood in the corner, a map in his hands. It’d been only a few hours since I’d seen him, but my stomach still whoop-dee-whooped.

TL leveled unreadable eyes on Wirenut. “Close the door. You three have a seat.”

David closed the door, and we each took a metal chair in front of TL’s desk.

He pressed a keyboard button and then turned his attention to Wirenut. “I’m assuming you’re referring to the Ghost impersonator?” TL shook his head. “Not much I can say about that. Your alter ego is being copycatted.”

“I told you,” Wirenut forced out through clenched teeth. “I’m not going to Rissala.”

TL didn’t blink. “I know.”

His calm acceptance seemed to zap the rage from Wirenut. He slumped back in his chair. “Then why would Nancy say that?”

“Nancy?” TL asked.

Wirenut shook his head. “A girl at school. She said she saw an excuse note on the fax.”

TL nodded. “Yes.”

Beside me, Wirenut tensed. “Well? I told you I’m not going.”

“I know. David and I are. You have forty-eight hours to train him how to be you. The Ghost.”