Fake: The Scarab Beetle Series: #3 (The Academy) (13 page)

Marc redirected his pointer finger, aiming it at my face. “We sent someone who looked like you to our apartment. And made sure her team could get her back out and take them for a ride around Charleston. But now they’ve lead them back to us.”

I dropped my mouth open. “Where’s our team?”

“Following the bad guys,” Axel said. “Now that they’ve been able to identify which cars are the ones scouting for you, we’re basically leading them where we want while they are looking for an opening. It’s not easy when there’s two cars with several people inside. We want to take one out and question them without alerting the others.”

I studied the cars, as if I could see through them and figure out who was following us, trying to remember the German’s face and pick him out. “How did you get them to switch and follow us? What girl? How do you know?”

Axel held up his cell phone. He eased the car forward as space became available through traffic. “We’re not just sitting on our asses. I’ve been getting updates. When one of our own is in danger, we call it in. We’ve got a lot of people out there now scouting for Brandon. More than you might think.”

I was impressed. I didn’t know the Academy that well, but it seemed they were working this as best as they could. “Can’t we do something to hurry it along? They want me, don’t they? They’re looking for an opening? Let’s lead them somewhere.”

“They may not do anything during the day and in public,” Axel said. “And this is the best way for us to stay safe while we’re figuring out an opening. We can’t risk our necks and all get caught by these guys.”

I breathed in, sitting back. Axel was making circles around downtown, and then looped onto the Mark Clark Expressway. There would only be so many times he could make circles before he’d need gas, or the people following us figured out we were leading them on a goose chase because we knew we were being followed. “What happens at night?”

“Hopefully, this will be over before then.”

“What if it isn’t?”

Axel shrugged. “I might drop you off at the hospital with the others.”

“Why the hospital? What’s up with that? How is a hospital keeping Corey safe?”

“Who is going to try to kidnap any of us in the middle of something like a hospital? There’s security and video and people being monitored continuously. It’s second best outside of being inside a police station.”

As crazy as his idea was, it did make sense. Still, I kept looking out the back window. “So we’ll drive around all day.” That didn’t sit well with me. Being chased all day? No. I was too used to being the hunter, not the hunted. I didn’t like it. “Can’t we do something else? Shouldn’t we speed this up somehow?”

He adjusted his rearview mirror. His eyes were intense, a storm brewing behind the otherwise calm exterior. “Would you like to go somewhere?” he asked. “We’ve got one team behind us. I’d rather have two or three, just in case. They’re headed this way.”

“How can we trip these guys up? Let’s just ram this car into theirs and get this over with.”

“We’re doing this as fast as we can. The best thing we can do right now is keep them busy. Eventually, this team is going to need to take a break, and they might head back to where Brandon is. As long as they don’t know we’re looking at them, we’ve got some advantage. It’s what we need right now.”

“We could go check out the neighborhoods around Wil’s school,” Marc said. “If we have to drive around anyway, it may be worthwhile to do something useful if we’re being bait. Kill two birds at once, right?”

“I don’t want to go where Wil is if there’s German killer hackers following us,” I said.

“And it’s all the way out in Goose Creek and Summerville,” Axel said. “And some of those neighborhoods have secluded spots and stretches of road without anyone around.” Axel pulled forward out of traffic, getting off the Mark Clark, and checking street signs. He turned on his cell phone again and started tapping at it.

“If you need to text, should I drive?” I asked in a warning tone.

Axel scrunched his eyebrows and looked at me in the rearview mirror. “Do you have your license?”

Was he being serious? You needed a car to get your license. “I can drive,” I said.

“She doesn’t have a license,” Marc said.

I made a face at him. “I know enough to not use a cell phone while you’re driving.”

“She really hates that,” Marc said. He glanced back at me and I shot him a look, trying to tell him to stop interpreting like I didn’t have a voice. He squinted his face back at me and smirked.

“I can tell,” Axel said, though he ignored my request and continued to use his cell phone anyway. After a moment, he placed it back into his pocket. “How about a nice visit to the aquarium?”

I wasn’t sure if he was joking or if he was talking about just driving in that direction. I’d never seen the aquarium.

The advertising on the way down the block closest to the aquarium featured sharks and turtles. The aquarium was adjacent to a port for tours of a fort and a park.

Axel parked along the street at a park. The streets were filled with mostly locals, but some tourists were lingering along the sidewalks, huddled together and looking at their phones, making me think they were looking at GPS or lists of tourist attractions. It was late in the season for tourists but I guess some people wait until the off season for their vacations.

I got out of the car, scanning and trying to figure out where the people following us would park and try to follow. “How are we doing this?”

“Going on foot will help us, actually,” Axel said. “I informed the teams following us to stay back but keep an eye on who follows us inside.” He came around and hooked an arm around my neck, drawing me toward the building. “Come on. I’ll give you the tour.”

“You come here often?” I asked.

“He practically lives here,” Marc said. He started walking behind us and then next to me on my other side.

I recalled Axel’s glowing fish, and figured maybe he got his fish at this aquarium. Maybe he borrowed the labs here for his experiments. Did he work here somehow?

While we were walking, Axel didn’t let go of my neck and Marc gave me a confused look. I ignored it and stared ahead, afraid to focus on either of them.

We had to cross a wide open expanse of sidewalks and gardens to get to the entrance of the aquarium. I kept wanting to look over my shoulder to check out who was behind us, scope out every face, try to find people that looked shady.

Axel anchored the crook of his elbow into the back of my neck, and forced me to look forward. “Stop,” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“You’re way too obvious,” he said.

“Shouldn’t I be obvious?” I asked. “I mean, I was just kidnapped and now I’m heading to an aquarium. We know Brandon isn’t here. Isn’t this going to be like confusing as all hell to anyone else?”

“Confusing is good,” Marc said. His hands were stuffed into his jeans and his shoulders were hunched. He gazed around at every face nearby. “Makes them more curious. But she’s right. She should be looking over her shoulder. If we’re making it obvious we’re with her, then we should make it obvious, too. Make us appear like idiots that don’t know what we’re doing.”

Axel pressed his lips together and then nodded. Slowly, he slid his arm out from around my neck and looked behind himself, stiffly, like it was going against his instincts and training.

“Besides,” I said, “they assume I’m Corey’s girlfriend. I should look all upset.”

“Don’t start crying and blubbering, please,” Marc said. “I don’t know if I can take that.”

“Ugh,” I said. I pressed my palms to my face and rubbed hard at my eyes and cheeks. I made sure my cheeks were pinched hard enough that I looked like a wreck. I moved my hands away and glared at Marc. “See?”

Marc stopped walking, his face changing from smirk to full concern. His hands reached out, palms open. “Bambi...”

I made a face and smacked at his hand. “Stop,” I said. “I’m supposed to...”

Marc straightened and then made a face back, with his tongue out, shaking his head. “Don’t look like that. All crying and shit. You look different; I don’t like it.”

“Are they following us or what?”

“They haven’t gotten out of the car yet,” Axel said. He showed me the cell phone he was looking at shielded by his chest. “Just try to look normal. If we can’t get them to follow us inside, then we’re no worse off. We’ve got people following them. Eventually someone will need to inform a boss about this. Someone following them is paying attention.”

Spy stuff. I tried to relax. We’d find Brandon. I had a part to play until then. It was hard to be bait, but I tolerated it for now.

We entered the aquarium and Axel only needed to look at security and wave at the front desk attendant to get us in. Several workers said hello to him. He smiled politely, but only replied with a good morning, keeping anyone from engaging in conversation with him.

The air was cold inside the building and I covered my stomach with my arms to keep in some heat.

I tried not to, but I couldn’t help but be distracted by the gigantic walls of glass, displaying various fish, sharks, and turtles. Every time I tried to focus on people, I’d see something colorful out of the corner of my eye, and then was staring at a bright orange or yellow fish.

My instincts told me to find a seat somewhere and be on the lookout to observe the crowds of people. Most places had a certain flow. Malls were busy with eyeballs on items in windows and at store signs, always up, always scanning. My advantage before was I could keep my hands down and out of the line of sight, to sit near uninteresting walls and wait until people were focused on items, so I could determine what was in their pockets.

The aquarium had a different vibe, because the walls of glass extended down to the floor, and fish could be even further down swimming along the bottom of the tanks, or at waist level or pop up above heads. With their constant movement, eyeballs were everywhere. They did keep people’ attention, though. There was also an echo from the glass, so it was loud and hard to focus.

So I used it to my advantage. I changed from checking faces, until I was looking for eyes who weren’t focus on the fish. In the crowds, it was more difficult, but I started to get the hang of it.

Axel stood beside me, and it only took him a few minutes before his hand clamped down on the back of my head and forced me to look back at the fish. He leaned in and whispered to me, “Stop looking.”

I shifted uncomfortably, walking out of my flip-flops and then putting them back on. “Let’s capture one of them.”

“We need to let them make a mistake. And we need our other teams to watch them. All you have to do is stand still for a while. Just enjoy the view.”

I breathed out slowly, resisting his hold by pushing back. “I don’t want to wait.”

“If we don’t, if they know we’re onto them, we could die. Or Brandon could.”

I stilled my head. “What if he’s already dead?”

“If he was,” he said quietly, “they wouldn’t still be chasing you. He must still be refusing to work with them if they’re still bothering to chase you.”

That made some sense. I gulped, trying to reclaim some control. I didn’t like a plan that involved me standing still. “I need to do something,” I said. I looked to the side, where Marc had separated from us a little, but still within talking distance. “Let me do something. Like, let’s give them an opportunity too good to pass up.

Axel mumbled something and then grunted. “You’ll be bait. If you can sit still for a minute, we’ll see who comes in after you and will give them a jump. But you have to trust me, and you have to be willing to sit still.”

I didn’t like that idea, either, but if it would get us to Brandon sooner, I’d tolerate it. The German’s urgency, the dead Randall investigation, the other dead owner of the core, the kidnapping, it was all overwhelming. Right now, I just wanted to get Brandon and bail on it all. Let the German do what he wanted. Marc was right: Let’s get Brandon, get out and let the police deal with the investigation. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Axel nodded. He shared a silent conversation across the room with Marc. It took only a few minutes, but as I was studying the both of them, I understood it. Axel silently told Marc about the change of plans, and Marc wasn’t happy with it, but he was going to let it happen. Marc made a circle like he was giving us space and Axel guided me through a public area and then toward a door marked for employees only.

The hall smelled strongly of disinfectant and fish and salt. It was tiled and there were rows of doors. Axel moved quickly through another door, into another similar hallway. A short walk and another door later, I was in a lab.

The room was white, with the tiles having a few dull spots. Counters held containers of unidentifiable liquids. Smaller glass aquariums filled the room, with small fish and one that was filled with water but appeared empty of any fish. Deeper inside the lab, there was a large aquarium built in the center like a huge hot tub, and inside were two large sea turtles. One had a bandage around a back leg.

“What’s wrong with the turtles?” I asked.

Axel gazed over at them and then shook his head. “Rescues. Injured and brought here from the beach. The aquarium hosts a turtle hospital. These two are new. Not stable enough to join the others in the bigger aquarium.”