The Rules (20 page)

“I went out there with August to inspect the generators after I got zapped,” Mick reminded the group. “I know how they work. I can get the phone to charge using one of the power strips in the warehouse. And we can turn on the lights and work on his next clue.”

“Which would mean going back
into
the warehouse,” Beth said.

Everyone stood around Jackson’s car. Inside, Inky was going berserk, hopping up and down on the seat and yipping at the interlopers. Thin moonlight trickled through the clouds, the stars twinkling as if nothing were wrong. But Thea brought them right back to reality. She wept with big heavy gulps like a little kid; she was getting scarier than Praveen, who had checked out emotionally and was utterly silent.

“Making the killer happy and getting our butts saved,” Mick said slowly, as if he had to lay it out for her. “And we can all go together.”

“Yeah,” Larson said excitedly. “That works.”

“That does
not
work,” Beth said.

“Hey, we shouldn’t discuss this out here,” Larson cut in. “We should move. We’re easy targets.”

“We’re targets anywhere we go,” Mick retorted.

“I think you’re right about the generators,” Kyle said, trying to keep everyone focused. “I think that’s what the killers want us to do, but what if it’s a trick?”

“The generators might have simply run out of gas,” Beth said as they all formed in a huddle next to the car. “August probably didn’t think we’d be out here this long.”

“August thought we’d never leave,” Mick retorted.

“We need gas for this to work,” Kyle said.

Mick made a fist and gently pounded on the car. “This baby has gas.”

“Right. Good. We need to figure out a siphon,” Larson said. “And then we’re in business.”

There was silence save for Thea’s weeping as everyone contemplated taking the next step. Then Thea wiped her nose and said, “Fish guts.”

“What?” Mick asked.

“In the…the factory. I saw hoses in a room.” Her voice was quaking. “I don’t want to go in there. I don’t know which room they were in. I don’t remember anything.” Her voice rose to a shrill wail and Mick winced. They had to calm her down. She was making more noise than the dog.

“No problem, Thea,” Mick assured her. “Larson and I can go. Or…more of us, if we have volunteers.”

He looked at Robin. She was doing something in the shells beside her boot, running her finger though them purposefully, but when he glanced at her hand, she stopped and turned off her flashlight.

“I’ll go with you, Mick,” Beth announced.

Robin nodded. “You guys go do that, and Kyle and I will try to find Morgan and August and Hiro. We need to be ready to go once the phone is charged.” She put her hands in the pockets of her jeans and threw back her shoulders, like a video game character getting ready to take it to the next level.

“I want to stay with you, Robin,” Praveen said softly.

Thea shook her head. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I’m too scared. I want to stay in the car. I can take care of Inky.”

She’s really losing it,
Mick thought. Fine by him if she stayed well away with her noisy crying.

“Not by yourself,” Robin said, but then Kyle put his hand on Robin’s forearm and smiled at Thea.

“You’d lock the doors, right?” he asked her. “And…maybe we can leave the tire iron with you.” He looked at Robin. “We need to give Mick the knife so he can cut the hoses off for the siphons.”

Robin opened her mouth to protest, then shut it. Mick could see the wheels turning as she decided that the best course of action was to yield on this one.

“Okay,” she said finally. “Thea can stay here. Mick, Larson, and Beth will check on the generator. Kyle, Praveen, and I will try to track down Morgan, August, and Hiro.”

“Or whoever the killer may be,” Kyle said. He cleared his throat. “Because I hate to say this, but…those three might be dead.”

Robin nodded wanly, and Kyle put his arm around her.

“Okay,” Mick said. “If we get the generator to work, we’ll signal you by turning on some lights in the warehouse. If you find the killer…kill him. Or them.”

Robin handed him the knife and glanced over at Praveen, who stepped over to her. Two teams. Two missions.

“Okay, then, good luck,” Mick said to Robin’s group.

Beth hugged Robin tightly. “We’re going to pull this off,” Beth said. “No one else is going to…to…We’re all going home soon. I can just feel it.”

“Me too,” Robin said. “Get in the car, Thea.”

Kyle handed Thea the tire iron and she got into the backseat. “Lock the doors and lie down on the floor.”

Mick’s back was already turned when he heard the car door click shut. Then he, Beth, and Larson headed toward the building Thea had indicated, and he went in first.

“Every time I walk into a building around here—” Beth began, and Larson mildly shushed her.

They kept looking. And looking, with Mick’s flashlight moving across a wasteland of filth and destruction. He began to wonder if they should have let Thea off so easily. But really, what good would she have been?

He heard Larson exhale. Dude was in pain. This was all so screwed up. He took the rooms on the right side and Larson the left. Beth’s job was to quickly recheck each room after each guy gave up. No one spoke much. Everyone was scared.

And then Beth screamed.

Mick ran over with Larson shuffling right behind. She was aiming her flashlight at what appeared to be a moving mound in the corner of one room.

“Dude, what is that?” Larson asked.

“Rats. Lots of them,” Mick said, wrinkling his nose. “It looks like they’re eating something.”

“They’re…they’re…oh no.” Beth lurched and fell against the wall. The flashlight in her hand made flaring shadows, but Mick could now see what she had seen. Shiny curled hair, splayed out on the floor. Crawling with rats.

Lots of rats. Swarming, tearing, chewing.

They had finally found Morgan.

It took time to pull themselves together and more time to find the room with the fish skeleton and the tubes. The things Mick had to do to clean them out so that he could use them didn’t even faze him.

The rats were working on Morgan, cleaning her like buzzards cleaned a kill. He could hear them. He drifted like a sleepwalker back to the car and got the gas, nodding dully at Thea as she sat up and waved at him. He stared at the faces of people who, after only a few hours, no longer looked recognizable to him. He felt surrounded by a bubble that bobbed him along, keeping out sounds and sight. Everything was becoming a blur.

He handed Larson the knife when they got to the generators. The one closest to him was the one that hadn’t blown when Stacy had knocked the contents of her travel tumbler into the amp.

Except maybe she didn’t,
he thought.
Most likely she didn’t.

He opened the gas cap, then looked around for a stick to measure the generator fuel tank, and saw none. So he dipped one of the hoses into the gas tank and pulled it out. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely keep hold of it. He aimed his flashlight, examining a dark spot about a quarter of an inch from the bottom of the hose. There was hardly any gas left. So the generator really had run out.

Better news,
he thought.

“Hold the flashlight,” he told Beth.

Very carefully, he angled the bucket over the mouth of the tank and poured the gas in. So far, so good. He wondered about the impurities from the bucket, the hose. But what could happen from pouring the gas in? If something was going to happen, it would be when he turned it on, right?

“Mick?” Larson asked. “Is everything okay?”

Beth reached out a hand to pat him, then pulled it away. Frowning, she got up and stepped back with Larson.

Gee, thanks, guys.

He set down the bucket and grasped the rope to start the generator, giving it a pull. Nothing. He pulled it again.

The generator rumbled to life, and Beth sucked in her breath. Larson stepped forward and clapped Mick on the shoulder.

“Oh my God, yes, yes,” Beth said, bursting into tears.

He knew it was great, but he felt nothing. Then he realized he should put the gas cap back on.

Mick picked it up, dropped it. “Here, man,” Larson said, handing him the cap. Mick placed it over the threads as Larson tapped the can with the tip of the knife.

Metal touched metal touched metal touched metal.

There was a spark.

ROBIN’S RULE #11:
Don’t hurt others.

As Robin, Kyle, and Praveen skirted the “fish guts” building, Robin used her flashlight to examine the bit of fabric she had found beside Jackson’s car. It was a shiny green color that looked familiar. She thought it might match Praveen’s top, but it would be difficult to be certain by flashlight. It would be very close, though. She didn’t know what to think about that. Maybe Praveen had crossed that section of the cannery grounds before Jackson had driven to that exact spot. But the likelihood seemed remote.

Praveen was trudging along like a mummy and Kyle was watching Robin with an expression of curiosity. She held out the fabric and murmured, “I found this by the car.”

He looked from it to Praveen and back, and wrinkled his brow. She knew he wasn’t making the same connection she had, so she waved her hand, indicating that they should drop the subject.

Robin stepped onto the blacktop. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized they had found the road Jackson must have come down. Despite how exhausted and thirsty she was, Robin broke into a trot, and Kyle did the same. Even Praveen picked up the pace.

The road rose steeply, just like the other road at the opposite end of the property. Robin’s calf muscles ached but she kept hiking; then, at the top of the hill, the moonlight drifted down on double gates identical to the ones that read
ZUL
on the other side of the property.

She burst into a run. She wanted to get to the road, flag someone down—

“Hey, wait,” Kyle called after her. “Do you hear that? Wait!”

She didn’t hear anything. She wasn’t going to wait. She was going to run. She was almost at the gate—

“Keep away from it!” Kyle shouted.

An object flew past her head. It slammed into the scrollwork of the gates, buzzing before falling to the ground. Startled, she stumbled to a stop.

The gate was electrified, and the thing Kyle had thrown at it was his flashlight. She hadn’t heard the hum. When she turned her head to thank him, he grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her body.

“I didn’t even hear it,” she said against his shoulder,

“Your dad taught us how to listen on the lacrosse field,” he said. “So we could hear the coaches and our teammates even when there was cheering going on.”

The mention of her father was like a hand clamping around her heart. She wished she’d gone to say good night before she’d left for the party. Wished she was home playing Clue with Carter and that Kyle and Beth were with them, too, and none of this had ever happened.

“Is there a way to turn the gate off?” Praveen asked.

“We probably can turn it off,” Kyle said, “but we know two things now. One, no one stopped us. And two…” He looked at Robin. She was so relieved that tears spilled down her cheeks.

“There’s power. We can charge the phone,” she said.

There was a groan in the bushes to Robin’s left. She dashed over and parted the branches, to find a figure lying on his back, one arm slung over his head. Kyle’s beam revealed August, the side of his face bleeding, his lids fluttering.

“Fence…electrified,” he managed to say.

“Thanks. We know,” Robin said. Clearly, he had found out the hard way.

Robin leaned forward and clutched one of August’s arms with both of hers. Kyle was beside her, taking August’s other arm, and together they helped him to his feet. He staggered and swayed, hanging on to Kyle.

“Thanks, man,” he said. “Oh my God, I thought I was dead. Praveen, don’t touch it.”