Everything in Between (29 page)

The head of the biology department, Dr. LouAnne Kirby, stood on the dais in the glass lobby of the science building at Missouri University. Twenty-two science experiments were displayed throughout the grand space, and each seemed more complicated than the next. Chip and Zae arrived, hair still damp from a hasty shower together, just in time to hear Dr. Kirby introduce the last project, an experiment involving the discovery of new star systems.

“This year’s entrants in the Butterfield Science & Technology competition are competing for a paid summer internship at MIT, and once again, our entrants have displayed the superior intellect, imagination and work ethic Missouri University students are known for,” Dr. Kirby said, earning a round of polite applause.

“Just tell us who won,” Zae whispered as she and Chip took places behind Eve, Cory and Braeden, who had lost fifty pounds in the six months he’d been training at Sheng Li.

Eve turned and hugged Zae. “Where’ve you been, Mama? You missed the tour of the experiments.”

“That’s too bad,” Zae replied, feigning disappointment. “I’ll take a look at the losers after you win.”

Zae surged with pride. Eve had worked so hard on her project—a process to efficiently and cleanly extract protein from animal sources for human use—and now, she stood ready to accept whatever honor Zae was sure she had earned. She wore a slim-fitting black skirt, black loafers and black knee-highs with a red crewneck sweater and her hair in a sleek ponytail. In the waning sunlight filtering through the glass ceiling, Eve looked like an angel.
Brains and beauty
, Zae thought.
That’s my baby.

“She’s got a good chance at winning the whole thing,” Cory said. “No one else’s experiment is similar to hers. There are three projects here involving deciphering computer codes, and last year’s winner did the same thing.”

“Braeden’s project is amazing,” Eve said. “If I lose, it better be to him.”

“I had to start my project over twice after Elton Dye tampered with my research,” Braeden said. “But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I found an error in my initial hypothesis when I started over.”

“So if you win, are you going to share your prize with Elton?” Zae asked.

“Sure, right after we go out for beers and pick up chicks at Hooters,” Braeden scoffed.

Dawn, stepping up behind them with Sionne, shushed them. “I want to hear Dr. Kirby call my sister’s name as the winner. If you wanted to jibber-jabber, you should have gotten here earlier.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Zae whispered emphatically. Holding Chip’s hand, she turned her attention back to the dais.

“Without further ado,” Dr. Kirby said, “I’d like to—”

“I think we have time for a little more ado.”

Everyone gathered around the dais turned around to see who had interrupted Dr. Kirby.

“Son of a bitch,” Zae murmured. “Elton Dye.”

Elton was alone, a rare occurrence. Perhaps sensing something was wrong, the spectators nearest Elton retreated, clearing his path to the dais.

Dr. Kirby, her thin, red-painted lips pursed in a severe slash, grimaced at Elton. “Young man, how dare you disrupt this event! If you don’t have a project in competition, I’ll kindly ask you to remove yourself from this building!” Dr. Kirby’s steel-gray hair and formidable bulldog physique led Zae to believe that if Elton didn’t leave on his own, Dr. Kirby was more than capable of removing him herself.

Elton reached into the pocket of his red and gold MU bomber jacket. He withdrew a small black box with several red lights glowing on it. Wires curved from one end of the box to the other. “This, Dr. Kirby,” he began in a loud voice, “is a detonator. It is wired to set off one hundred pounds of trinitrotoluene hidden in this room and throughout this building.” He quieted to let his announcement sink in. “That’s my project.”

“We have to empty this place,” Chip said, shunting Zae and the kids toward the wall of double doors.

“Who are you?” Dr. Kirby demanded. “This is neither the time nor the place for tomfoolery.”

“Call the police,” Chip whispered to Cory. “Take Eve with you. Sionne, get Dawn out of here.”

“I don’t want to miss this!” Dawn hissed, her face high with color against her snow-white turtleneck.

Braeden gave Dawn a little push toward Sionne, who took her arm. “Get out of here, now!” His tone shocked Dawn into cooperating. She allowed Sionne to pull her out with Cory and Eve, following an exodus of people hurrying toward the exit.

“Looks like some of you know the main component of my project.” Elton laughed. “Braeden, you’re so smart, why don’t you tell the uninformed what trinitrotoluene is?”

“If this is a joke, it’s not a good one.” Braeden shook off Chip’s effort to get him to leave.

His thumb on the detonator, Elton stopped laughing. “Tell them what it is.”

“TNT,” Braeden said loud and clear. “Dynamite.”

Elton approached Braeden, carefully remaining out of Chip’s reach. “I’ve learned that people around here can’t take a joke. There’s enough dynamite in this building to level it, Teacher’s Pet. I created this wireless detonator all by myself, and it’s pretty cool, if I say so myself. If your project works, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it.”

“Is that what this is about?” Braeden asked, his voice rising. “You’ve got an ax to grind against me?”

“You’ve been awfully annoying since you decided to grow some balls,” Elton spat. “And you!” He glared at Zae. “You screwed up my whole year! You didn’t have to kick me out of your class!”

Every bit of willpower Zae possessed kept her from responding with her first instinct, which was to step up to Elton, slap the detonator out of his hand, and cuss him out while kicking him in the stomach. But what she said was, “You’re right.”

Her calm seemed to surprised Braeden and Chip equally.

“You’re right, Elton,” Zae continued evenly. “I didn’t have to remove you from my class. Everyone deserves a second chance, and I didn’t give one to you. I’m sorry for that. I truly am.”

“It’s a little late for an apology,” Elton said, his tone low and menacing.

“I’m sorry, Elton, for causing so much trouble for you this semester.”

“Get on your knees and say it, and maybe I’ll believe you.”

Chip put himself between Zae and Elton. “Give me the detonator, son.” He held out his hand. “This is your one chance to do the right thing before something phenomenally bad happens.”

Dr. Kirby, having seen that everyone else had exited the building, stomped toward Elton. “Where on earth would you find dynamite?” she thundered. “Give me that box, young man!”

Aiming the detonator at Dr. Kirby, Elton pressed one of the glowing red buttons. An explosion shook the building at the far end of the west corridor. Dr. Kirby whirled to see what everyone else saw—the ceiling and walls crumbling in a deafening roar and a thick cloud of dust. Chip shielded Zae with his body as Braeden clapped his hands to his ears and Dr. Kirby covered her head with her arms.

“You bastard!” Dr. Kirby growled upon emerging from the shelter of her arms.

“Name calling? Really?” Elton pressed a second button. An explosion sounded overhead. Broken glass rained past the lobby windows and the ceiling shook, but nothing happened to endanger the few people remaining in the lobby. “My business is with Teacher’s Pet and the teacher from hell, Dr. Kirby. Why don’t you and the karate man get the hell out of here?” Elton suggested. “You’ve got ten seconds before I push another button. Who knows, the next one might bring the chandeliers down on us.”

“Go.” Zae gave Chip a little push. “Get Dr. Kirby and her big mouth somewhere safe.”

“I won’t leave you here!” Chip insisted in a low voice.

“I won’t hurt her,” Elton said blithely. “If Braeden’s experiment works, they’ll make it out of here in one piece.”

“I’ll stay,” Chip offered. “Let everyone else go.”

“Can’t do that, karate man.” Elton shook his head. “See, I want Prof. Richardson to see that I’m just as smart as her little pet Braeden.” He displayed the detonator once more. “This is frickin’ ingenious. Braeden’s project uses radio waves to detect explosives. I use radio waves to trigger them. I want you to see our work in action, professor.”

“Please,” Zae urged. “Chip, you have to go.” Police sirens and the screams of fire engines grew louder beyond the front doors. “You can help the authorities by telling them what we’re dealing with in here. Braeden and I will be fine.”

Chip’s shoulders heaved, his hands clenching and unclenching as he visibly struggled with his urge to protect and Zae’s quiet request that he leave. “I won’t leave you here. I can’t.”

“Are you sure about that, big fella?” Elton took a step closer to him, but carefully remained well out of his reach. “Tell you what. I’ll give you ten seconds to get the hell out of here and leave us in peace, or I’ll bring the ceiling down on all of us.” He covered another button with his thumb. “Wouldn’t you rather see how Braeden’s gizmo works from the standing room only area out in the parking lot?”

“Chip.” Zae rested her hands on his shoulders. She spoke low, forcing him to bow his head to hear her. “He’s fixated on me, and he will hurt you, to hurt me.”

“I can’t leave you with that head case,” he insisted.

“You’re not leaving me.” Zae forced a brittle smile. “You can do more to help us out there than in here. Please…” She caressed his jaw. “Please, go.”

Chip’s jaw hardened. He squinted his eyes shut and cursed under his breath. Suddenly, he turned to Braeden. “Are you sure your invention works? You’ll find the rest of the explosives?”

“I’m betting my life on it,” Braeden responded.

“Your ten seconds are up,” Elton said. “Get out, Kish.”

Chip held his ground, even when Zae gave him a gentle nudge toward the door. “If anything happens to Zae or Braeden, you better pray I don’t get my hands on you before the cops do.”

Elton grinned. “You and Dr. Kirby go bye-bye or I’ll go boom boom.” He aimed the detonator at Dr. Kirby, cowing her with it.

Chip tore himself away from Zae, took Dr. Kirby by her right elbow, and walked her to the glass double doors. He opened a door, and Dr. Kirby raced through it, loudly sobbing. Staring at Zae, Chip exited the building. Slowly walking backward, he kept his gaze on Zae until police officers swarmed him.

“Now that it’s just us, let’s get this party started,” Elton said. “Too bad Eve isn’t here. She did as much work on Braeden’s project as he did. Did you know that, professor?”

“Yes,” Zae said. “There’s very little about my daughters that I don’t know.”

“Did Eve tell you that I asked her out?”

Zae gritted her teeth. Elton Dye was the only person she’d ever wanted to choke, and it was becoming harder and harder to suppress that urge, detonator be damned. “No. She neglected to mention that to me.”

“She came to the lecture hall one afternoon at the end of one of your classes. She’s so nice and so pretty,” Elton’s gaze seemed to drift inward. “It took me a month to work up the nerve to ask her out. All I wanted was to take her to dinner or a movie. But she said no. Because of you.”

“She said no because she’s already got a boyfriend!” Braeden shouted from the table where he was powering up his experiment. “She told you that!”

“She didn’t want me because her mother doesn’t like me,” Elton said. “She never gave me a second look. She’d hang out with a squid like you, but she wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

“You’re right, Elton,” Zae said. “It’s my fault. Eve is a good girl, and she didn’t want to disappoint me. It’s my fault, all mine, that she wouldn’t go out with you.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re worried that I’ll do something to Eve,” Elton said.

“Shouldn’t I be?” Zae asked.

Elton snickered.

Braeden used the cuff of his button-down to wipe perspiration from his forehead. “It’s ready.” He picked up a dark-blue disk, a handheld device with a digital meter, and he adjusted the antennae on the transmitter. He extended the antennae as high as it would go. After a moment of silence spent staring at the meter, he began walking toward the wooden column in the middle of the lobby.

“I’ve got something here,” Braeden said. Zae warily approached the column.

Braeden ran the meter along the column. “It reacts most strongly here.” He softly tapped the base of the column, where fresh cuts had been covered with something that smelled like Sharpie ink. Braeden carefully pried away the piece of wood concealing the hollow in the column. A hollow now stuffed with several sticks of dynamite wired to a small timing device.

“Crap,” Braeden muttered, a tremble in his voice.

“What’s the matter?” Zae asked anxiously.

“It’s degraded. It’s old.”

“You found it fair and square, Squid,” Elton said, clapping his hands. “I gotta tell you, I didn’t think you could do it. I’ll disarm this one, but you’ve got a bunch more to track down.”

“Don’t touch it!” Braeden clamped his hand on Elton’s wrist, stopping him from touching the bundle of dynamite. “See the crystalline particles on the wrappers? It’s sweating nitroglycerin. It’s totally unstable. It could blow up if you breathe on it the wrong way.”