The Impossible Clue (15 page)

D
r Learner stood in the doorway and blinked at us. He had a tablet in one hand and a stack of papers as big as a dictionary tucked under his arm. His hair was even wilder than it had been in the photos.

‘I'm busy,' he said.

I managed to wedge my foot between the door and the frame before it closed completely. ‘You don't understand, Dr Learner. We're here to bring you home.'

He opened the door again and peered out.

‘Did Samuel send you?'

I was confused for a moment, then I realized he must have meant Mr Delgado.

‘Yes. Mr Delgado asked me to find you. My name is Alice. This is Kevin.'

Dr Learner didn't move. He just stared at me like he was
trying to remember something.

‘We're friends of Sammy's from school. He's really worried about you.'

Dr Learner thought about it for a moment, then he let go of the door and walked back into the apartment. Kevin raised his eyebrows at me, but I didn't have any answers. I just shrugged my shoulders and followed Dr Learner inside.

The apartment was smaller than the one at Drake Towers, but a lot nicer. The front door opened into a small hallway that led to the living room. A comfortable-looking couch and chairs took up the space to our left. The colours were all muted, except for a few accents. A red blanket here, a black table there. In the corner stood a small tree in the ugliest metal pot I'd ever seen. It was probably meant to be artistic, but I was more worried that the pot could slice open your leg if you weren't careful when you walked by.

Kevin checked the door to make sure it was locked and then slid the security chain into place. I guess he wasn't taking any chances.

Dr Learner stood in the middle of the room, staring at us. It didn't make any sense. The way Sammy talked about him, I thought they were best friends. Maybe Sammy had exaggerated a little bit, but I'd seen the pictures of them together. I was sure Dr Learner would be sorry he'd made Sammy worry, but he didn't seem to care at all. He hadn't
even reacted when I'd said Sammy's name.

‘Mr Delgado will be on his way soon.' I hoped Andrew had given him the message by now. I took out my phone. The signal kept cutting in and out. The substation outside the apartment building must have been creating interference. I tried the phone mounted on the apartment wall, but it hadn't been connected yet.

‘You don't understand,' Dr Learner said. ‘I haven't found it yet. I still need more time.'

Dr Learner was pacing in the space between the glass coffee table and the couch. He had a look on his face like someone trying to describe a smell, like he knew what he wanted to say but couldn't find the right words. When I looked closely, the carpet beneath his feet was worn. I wondered just how much of the last few days Dr Learner had spent walking back and forth in that small line.

‘Uh, Alice.' Kevin moved behind me and spoke into my ear. ‘Are you sure this is the right guy? He seems a little off.'

‘It's Dr Learner,' I whispered. ‘He looks just like his picture. But you're right, something is definitely going on here.'

Outside I heard the faint keening of police sirens. They were still a way off, but getting closer. It must be Officer Ross. All we had to do was sit tight until she picked up the men in the silver Mercedes. Then the three of us could walk out of here and this whole mess would be over. It
also meant I didn't have much time to get Dr Learner to spill the beans about how he'd managed to disappear from his office and figure out the truth behind his invisibility research.

‘OK, Dr Learner. Let's start packing up these papers.' I reached for a stack of notebooks on top of the coffee table and Dr Learner lost it.

‘Don't,' he shouted and shoved me, hard. He was strong for an old man, and I stumbled a few steps before I caught my balance.

‘Whoa. It's OK.' Kevin stepped between me and Dr Learner. ‘It's OK. Calm down. She didn't mean anything, she was just trying to help you clean up.'

Dr Learner looked at me like I was some kind of wild animal. I held up my hands.

‘I'm the only one who knows what order they go in,' he said. He had the good grace to look a little embarrassed, but not much.

‘OK, she won't touch them again.'

Kevin looked at me and I backed up a few more steps. Maybe Dr Learner had been working a little too hard on his new invention.

Kevin waited a moment and then slowly stepped back from the couch until he was next to me.

‘Are you OK?'

‘I'm fine. But I'm not sure about him.'

Dr Learner was growing more and more agitated. Every
third step he'd stop, riffle furiously through his notes, and then jot something down on his tablet. I didn't know what he was doing, but it looked like his life depended on it.

Suddenly, Dr Learner stopped pacing. ‘I need to go back. It must still be there.' He held up his tablet like he'd made a discovery, but I was pretty sure what he really wanted was to get away from us. Or at least to get away from me.

‘Whoa, wait a second there,' I said. I couldn't let Dr Learner go outside until I was sure the men from Chronos were gone. He held his tablet close to his chest and looked at me suspiciously.

I turned to Kevin. ‘Keep him here. I'm going to find a signal and try calling Mr Delgado again. He's Dr Learner's friend. He might know how to deal with him.'

Kevin nodded. He moved a red blanket off the couch and made room for Dr Learner to sit down. I could hear him talking softly, asking Dr Learner about his work, while I walked around the small apartment looking for a signal.

I got one bar in the hall closet, zero on the fire escape and three standing on a chair in the kitchenette. I could have had all the bars in the world for all the difference it made. Mr Delgado wasn't picking up. I climbed down from the chair. Then I climbed up again and tried Officer Ross. She didn't answer either. I hoped it was because she was too busy arresting the jerks who broke into my house.

I thought about calling Dad, but he was going to be pretty angry and I didn't have time to deal with that right
now. I needed to finish what I'd started and focus on getting Dr Learner out of here safely. I sent Mr Delgado a text telling him where we'd found Dr Learner, and hoped he would check his phone sooner rather than later.

‘Alice, bring me a glass of water,' Kevin called from the other room.

The kitchenette was small, about a metre across, so it didn't take me long to find the glasses. They were in the second cupboard I opened, along with a row of pill bottles. They must have been the ones that were missing from Dr Learner's real apartment. All of them were empty except for one. I turned it on its side so I could read the label.
Zelcore
. It didn't mean anything to me, but I'm not a doctor. I snapped a photo of the bottle and grabbed a glass.

Kevin had managed to calm down Dr Learner. All of that practice sweet-talking himself out of trouble had finally come in handy.

‘Here.' I handed him the glass of water, then I sat down across from them. ‘Dr Learner, we need to wait here until Mr Delgado comes to get us. Do you understand?'

He looked at me, like he was seeing me clearly for the first time. His brown eyes were full of sadness. ‘I understand. It's OK. It was probably too late anyway. I just wanted to . . .' His voice trailed off. He scrolled through his tablet. If I twisted my neck to the side, I could just make out the pages and pages of complex equations racing
across the screen. Dr Learner frowned at the numbers and symbols as if he was trying to find one small mistake hiding in his calculations. ‘If I could just see it one more time . . .'

‘See what one more time, Dr Learner?'

He didn't respond, just scanned the equations again.

‘Dr Learner? What are you looking for? Does it have to do with the invisibility suit?' I tried not to let the frustration creep into my voice. ‘Why did you disappear from your office? And how did you do it?'

But Dr Learner didn't answer me. He sipped his water and got lost in his own thoughts. I clenched my jaw and took a breath. I knew all I was supposed to do was find Dr Learner. Mr Delgado didn't even think I'd get this far, but it wasn't enough for me. I wanted answers.

I was about to ask him again when there was a knock on the door.

‘Do you think it's the police?' Kevin asked.

I shook my head. ‘No, I told them to go to the science building.'

‘Maybe it's Mr Delgado?'

‘That or the men from Chronos R&D.' I put my fingers to my lips and crept towards the door. My shoes didn't make a sound on the soft carpet.

I kept close to the wall so whoever was on the other side of the door couldn't see my shadow. The lock was new and the chain looked strong, so if it was the men from Chronos
we'd probably be safe. That felt about as comforting as a hug from a cold fish. I leaned diagonally across the small entranceway, bracing my arm on the opposite wall, and peered through the spyhole. It was Andrew. I almost slipped over, I was so relieved. Mr Delgado must have got my message after all and sent his Personal Secretary to pick us all up.

I slid back the chain and opened the door.

‘Am I glad to see you,' I said. ‘Dr Learner's here. He seems a little agitated. You might want to take him to see a doctor or something . . .' The words died in my mouth.

Standing behind Andrew were the two men from the silver Mercedes.

‘I'm so sorry, Miss Jones,' Andrew said. ‘I did mean to pass your message on to Mr Delgado, but I'm afraid it must have slipped my mind.'

F
or a moment I stood motionless in the doorway, my brain refusing to figure out why my body was panicking. Andrew was there to bring Dr Learner back to Mr Delgado. So why was he with the men from the Mercedes? And how had they found us? Then time skipped forward and it hit me like a train to the chest. Andrew and the men from the Mercedes had been working together the whole time. He knew where to find us because I'd just texted him the address.

I tried to block the doorway. It was like trying to stop a tidal wave. The two men brushed past me without missing a step.

‘Don't be dramatic, kid,' Andrew said, dropping his android persona like it was a winter coat. ‘We're just going to take Dr Learner and his research on a little drive. It's not
like we're going to hurt him.'

He held up a black overnight bag as if he was talking about taking a camping trip. I looked around the apartment, searching for an escape route, but there was no way out. Andrew must have guessed I wanted to run. Before I could take even one step away, he grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back.

‘Kevin, run!' I shouted as Andrew marched me into the living room. If Kevin could find a way out, he could get help.

Kevin didn't listen. Instead of running away, he tried to tackle Andrew. But the men from the silver Mercedes got in the way. Kevin pushed one of them backwards over the coffee table, then started towards the other one.

‘Hey!' Andrew shouted. ‘Stay still or I'll break your girlfriend's arm.' He pulled hard on my wrist, twisting it even further behind my back. My shoulder screamed in pain and so did I.

Kevin stopped moving. It was the first time I'd ever seen him look truly frightened. My heart crashed against my ribs and I couldn't tell if I was furious or terrified.

‘That's better.'

Dr Learner sat still through the whole scene. The way he was staring into space made me wonder if he even knew what was happening.

‘You.' Andrew jerked his head towards one of his minions. ‘Take him into the bedroom and gather up his
notes. Make sure you get everything. There should be a briefcase. And you,' he looked at the other man, ‘go grab me some chairs.'

The man brought two chairs from the kitchen and Andrew waved him off to go help his partner collect all of Dr Learner's papers. For a moment I thought Dr Learner might save us all when they tried to mess with his research, but he didn't seem angry now, just scared.

Andrew knelt down next to his bag and pulled out a roll of gaffer tape.

‘Now here's what's going to happen.' Andrew patted his hand on the chair, inviting me to sit down. ‘Once we've gathered up all of Dr Learner's research, we're going to take it, and Dr Learner, on a trip. Our good friends at Chronos R&D are very interested in this little invisibility gadget he's been working on.'

He motioned for Kevin to sit down in the chair behind me. With our backs to each other, I could feel how hard he was breathing.

‘So you're a spy,' I said, struggling to keep my voice from shaking. ‘You work for Chronos.'

‘I'm strictly freelance. Chronos just offered the best price.'

‘This is crazy. They'll never be able to use stolen research. Everyone will know.' I kept trying to spin out the conversation, anything to keep him from taping me down.

‘True,' Andrew said. ‘But Chronos won't know it's stolen.
At least, not until it's too late. You see, you're the only one who knows about all of this. And you won't be telling anyone anything. Not anytime soon.' He waved the roll of tape playfully in front of my face. ‘As far as Chronos is concerned, I persuaded Dr Learner to come of his own free will. I'll be out of the country before they have a chance to find out differently.'

‘They must be paying you a lot.'

Behind me, Kevin twitched. I needed to think of a plan before he did something dangerous.

‘Tons.' Andrew moved my hands on to the armrests of the chair.

‘Once I'm safe in another country, I'll call the police and let them know where to find you. It shouldn't be more than a day, so you'll be fine. See? I'm not such a bad guy, am I?'

‘Wait!' I said, as he pulled the first strip of tape off the roll. It made a ripping sound.

‘What?'

‘You're gonna tie us up together, for more than twenty-four hours?' I asked.

‘That's what I just said. I thought you were supposed to be smart.'

I dropped my eyes and did my best to look embarrassed instead of angry. ‘Will you let me use the bathroom first?'

Andrew burst out laughing. It was a sharp, cruel laugh full of the enjoyment of other people's suffering.

‘Sure, sweetheart, I understand. I wouldn't want to wet myself in front of someone I liked either.'

I blushed for real, but kept my mouth shut. I needed him to keep laughing at me for this to work. Andrew grabbed me by the elbow and steered me towards the bathroom.

I looked at Kevin and opened my eyes wide. I hoped he'd catch the signal.

Then I took a deep breath and threw my head back with all of my strength. It hit the bottom of Andrew's chin with a satisfying crack. Andrew staggered slightly. Kevin didn't miss a beat. He leapt out of his chair on to Andrew's back, wrapping his arms around Andrew's neck and locking his legs around Andrew's knees.

‘Get out of here!' Kevin shouted at me. I scrambled away from them on my hands and knees. I knew I didn't have more than a few seconds before the two men from the silver Mercedes came back and grabbed me. So instead of heading for the door, I crawled towards Andrew's getaway bag and I stuffed my phone down to the very bottom, underneath a pile of papers and clothes.

I turned around to help Kevin, but it was already too late. Andrew had him pinned to the floor, his knee on the back of Kevin's neck. The other two men grabbed me by the arms and sat me back down in the chair. One of them held me there, while the other helped Andrew get Kevin into the other one. They taped Kevin up first.

‘You won't get away with this, you know,' I said to the man holding me down. ‘The police will catch you.'

He just sneered at me.

‘And give my sister her earrings back.'

‘Can I tape up her mouth?' he said over my shoulder.

Andrew came around to my side of the chairs. ‘What, is she getting to you? Just go get the papers together. I'll finish up here.'

Andrew knelt down in front of me. I took a good look at the split lip I'd given him with the back of my head and smiled. Andrew smiled right back at me, and then he taped my right arm to the chair.

‘It was a nice try,' he said. He taped my left arm down too. ‘And I don't blame you for trying. In fact, I respect you. But I'm afraid you lost your bathroom privileges.'

He checked my arms to make sure they were secure, then he bent and taped my ankles to the chair legs. Finally, he took the roll of tape and wound it around our chests, taping us together, back to back.

Kevin and I sat in silence while Andrew and his men did a final sweep of the apartment, making sure they had every last piece of Dr Learner's research.

‘Well, that looks like everything. I guess it's time to get this show on the road. I'll just take your phones and then I'll be on my way. Would you like to tell me where they are, or would you like me to search you?' He smiled at us like this was a normal conversation.

‘I don't have a phone,' I said. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it all the way into my fingertips.

‘Now Alice, I know that's not true. You called me on one, remember?' He pulled out his phone and showed me my number. ‘See?'

‘I must have dropped it on my way here.'

Andrew sighed. ‘Oh, Alice. I like you. You remind me of me, when I was your age. But I don't have time for games.'

He pressed my number and my heart sank. I hadn't had time to turn my phone to silent.

I waited, adrenaline turning my nerves electric and raw. But there was no sound. Andrew frowned at his phone. He held it up and walked around the room. ‘Wow,' he said. ‘There is really no signal here. I guess I don't need to worry about you calling for help after all.'

He put his phone back in his pocket and snapped his fingers.

‘Time to go, boys.' Andrew held the door open for the two men from the silver Mercedes. They led Dr Learner out of the room. He looked like a lost child at the supermarket, but that didn't bother Andrew at all.

‘You kids be good now,' he said with a salesman's smile, and slammed the door behind him.