Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins? (23 page)

“Preferably a door around the back, so we’ll be out of sight,” I reminded her.

“Then we creep through the house as quietly as we can — just in case there
is
anyone there and they ignored the door,” Izzy added. “We search the house for Max and get him out.”

“And while we’re at it, we look for anything that Finch might have stolen from the lab and confiscate it,” I finished.

Foolproof.

“How long do you think Finch will wait outside the lab before he realizes the doctor’s not coming?” Heather asked.

I shrugged. “He seems like a man who knows what he wants and is determined to get it. Let’s hope that means he’ll wait.”

Tom glanced at his watch. “It’s quarter to six. You ready?”

I nodded. “Let’s get into our starting positions.”

I popped into the bathroom while the others headed outside. Once I’d turned myself invisible, I joined them. “OK, let’s go.”

“Good luck,” Izzy whispered. I grimaced nervously in reply. Not that any of them saw me.

I’d been waiting at the end of Albany Road for just over five minutes when I saw him round the corner. Oscar Finch was difficult to miss. A very tall man in an immaculate suit, walking purposefully toward the lab — and toward me.

My heart started to do a quickstep. It threw in a few pirouettes when I noticed what Finch had with him — a large German shepherd, pulling on its leash and slobbering as it showed its teeth. Even if Finch didn’t know I was here, his dog might. I grabbed my phone and, with shaking fingers, texted Tom as quickly as I could.

Finch kept walking. He was about twenty paces away from me.
Tom, hurry, please!

A moment later, I saw Tom emerge from the bushes, and then — before I even knew what was happening or what
had
happened — Finch had walked past me and Tom was by my side. “Jess, are you there?” he whispered furiously. “It’s done. Let’s get out of here.”

“I’m here!” I whispered back. Then I held my breath and followed him as fast as I could. Had Tom done his part already? Had he stopped time? Did we have Finch’s address? Were we really going to go and save Max?

My head swam with questions as we hurried to join the others.

Five minutes later, we were in a taxi, speeding toward Finch’s house: Charlesworthy Mansion on Briary Road. The rich end of town, unsurprisingly.

“Where did you find his address, Tom?” Heather asked.

“Searched his jacket pockets. It was on his driver’s license.”

“Amazing,” Izzy breathed, looking out the window as we left the apartment buildings behind and entered wider, leafy streets with huge houses.

A couple of minutes later, we turned onto Briary Road. Charlesworthy Mansion was halfway down.

We paid the taxi driver and took in our surroundings while we watched him drive away. Whatever Finch did for a living, it was obvious that he made tons of money doing it. Charlesworthy Mansion was the biggest house I’d ever seen.

We walked for what felt like half a mile up a tree-lined drive. It led to a house that looked a bit like one of those stately homes your grandparents visit on Sunday afternoons.

Heather, Izzy, and I kept out of sight while Tom went to the door. He pressed the bell and waited. Nothing. He pressed again. Still nothing. The coast was clear. He turned in our direction and gave a thumbs-up.

Heather let out a heavy breath. “All right. My turn,” she said.

I touched her arm. “You’ll be fine,” I told her.

She gave me a nervous smile. “See you on the other side. Go to the back and — don’t forget — keep quiet once we get in the house; there might still be someone inside.”

With that, she followed a path to the side of the building, glanced around — and then walked through the side wall into Finch’s house.

I stared after her for a moment. I mean, I’d had time to get used to my own powers, but it was still a bit weird watching someone else use theirs.

“Come on.” Tom shook me out of my thoughts. I joined him and Izzy, and we ran around to the back of the house. We were in luck. Finch had a back door that was completely hidden from view. A second later, there was a rustling sound on the other side. I prayed that it wasn’t an unexpected houseguest.

It wasn’t. Heather opened the door, and we hurried into the house.

We stood in the hallway and looked around. It was like the foyer of a fancy hotel.

“Now what?” Heather asked in a whisper. “Where do we start?”

We looked blankly at one another. I mean, it was all very well having a plan, but now that we were actually inside Finch’s house, it didn’t feel quite so straightforward.

I took charge. “We try every door,” I whispered back. “Tom and Izzy, you take the first floor. Heather and I will take the second floor. If anyone sees anything, come and get the others, and we’ll all deal with it together. OK?”

The others nodded.

Izzy checked her watch. “It’s quarter past six already. We still don’t know how long Finch will wait, but I figure we’ve got half an hour, tops.”

Heather was already halfway up the stairs. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get looking.”

The first couple of doors we tried looked like guest bedrooms — perfectly made beds, polished surfaces, and nothing that seemed of any interest to us at all.

We moved on to a door at the far end of the corridor. Heather reached for the door handle, and we peeked inside. Still no Max. It looked like Finch’s office. A huge desk ran the length of one wall, with a photocopier at the end; filing cabinets and cupboards lined the other.

“This stuff looks important,” Heather said. “Have we got time to check it out?”

“Not really,” I said. Then I glanced at the desk. It was overflowing with piles of papers covered in charts and graphs and lists. What if he’d stolen them from the lab? What was the point in rescuing Max if Finch had enough information to figure out what was going on and pose a threat to us forever?

“OK, let’s take just one minute,” I said. “Grab everything that looks relevant and then move on.”

I picked up a handful of papers. I was right! This was definitely research from the lab! There were more papers stacked up across his desk. I took those, too. Finch had stolen all of Dr. Malone’s notes! My blood started to bubble inside me. How dare he!

I was snatching up paperwork, scrunching and folding it and shoving it in my school bag, when Heather stopped me. “Jess,” she said.

I looked up.

Heather was holding an identical bottle to the one I’d given to Izzy. The serum!

“It was under some papers,” she said.

I paused for a millisecond. “Take it,” I said firmly. “This man is dangerous. He already got the research notes
and
the serum. It won’t take long for him to join the dots and find out about all of us. You saw the video. You heard his threats to Max. I heard him on the phone in the lab. He’ll want to experiment on us. He will sell anything and everything to whoever offers him the most money. This man is evil and dangerous, and we
have
to stop him.”

Heather nodded. “OK,” she agreed, and put the bottle in her pocket.

“All right, come on. Let’s get out of here,” I said.

As we closed the study door behind us, Tom and Izzy were rounding the top of the stairs.

“Anything?” Izzy asked.

We told her what we’d found.

“How about you?” Heather said.

“Nothing downstairs,” Tom replied. He nodded to another staircase. “You been up there yet?”

I shook my head and started toward the stairs. “Let’s go.”

I was halfway up the staircase when Izzy grabbed me. “Jess!” She pointed out the landing window. It looked out over the long driveway. The driveway along which a large German shepherd and a very tall man were marching none too happily toward the house.

I froze.

“What do we do?” Izzy whispered.

Tom bit his thumbnail. “We need to go. He’ll be here any minute.”

“What about Max?” I insisted.

“He could be anywhere,” Heather said. “We’ll never find him before Finch gets home.”

“Heather’s right,” Tom said. “If we’re still in Finch’s house when he gets back, it’s game over. He sees us and we’re toast.”

That was it! Of course! We couldn’t run the risk of him
seeing
us. That meant
we
couldn’t be here. But it didn’t mean
I
couldn’t be here.

“You go,” I said. “I’ll stay.”

Izzy shook her head. “We’re not leaving you. We’re in this together. We’re a team.”

“I’ll make myself invisible. I’ll be silent.” I shoved them toward the stairs and switched my phone onto silent. “Go, all of you. Out the back door. I’ll lock it behind you. He’ll never know you were here. Hide somewhere nearby and text me so I know where to find you. I’m not leaving here without Max.”

Heather looked worried. “You’re sure?”

“It’s the only option. Go on. Go. Quickly.”

“We’ll be hiding near the end of the driveway,” Izzy said. “We won’t leave till you’re both out of here and all right.”

A minute later, the three of them had gone and the house was quiet. I turned myself invisible and breathed a sigh of relief. OK, I was safe.

For now.

I was on the top landing when I heard the front door open. I’d had a quick look in two of the rooms and had another four to go.

I opened another door. Nothing. Where
was
Max?

I tiptoed out of the room and back into the corridor. “Max!” I said under my breath, cursing myself for not having simply shouted out his name the minute we’d entered the house. I certainly couldn’t do it now.

Three more doors on this floor. All closed. I tiptoed toward the first one and turned the handle. The door wouldn’t open.

“Oscar?” A voice called from inside. Max! I’d found him!

“It’s me!” I whispered.

“Jess?”

I leaned close to the door. “
Shhhh
. I’ve come to rescue you. The door’s locked.”

“There’s a ledge at the end of the hallway,” Max said. “It’s where he keeps his spare keys.”

“How do you know?”

“I heard him get it once. He has a key ring there for emergencies. He doesn’t usually use it, but once he must have forgotten his key. Hopefully he won’t miss it if it’s gone.”

My heart racing like a runaway train, I ran to the end of the hallway as silently as I could. Then I stood on my tiptoes, reached up, and ran my hand along a dusty shelf. My fingers hit on something metal. Got it!

I ran back to Max’s door and fumbled with the keys as quickly and quietly as I could. There were about ten of them on the ring, and I couldn’t find the right one. I was trying the fourth when something else suddenly became a bit more pressing.

The dog.

It started barking from the downstairs hallway. “Jess, quick!” Max yelped from inside the room. My hands were shaking so much I could barely hold the keys, let alone use them. Finally, I put another one in the lock, and miraculously, I’d gotten the right one this time.

I pushed the door open and crept inside.

“Lock the door again or he’ll be suspicious!” Max said right away.

I did. Then I turned to look at him. He seemed thinner — which was ridiculous because I’d only seen him yesterday. But he definitely looked different. He’d lost his cocky swagger. His hair was even more of a mess than usual. His eyes were dark.