Sylo

by D. J. MacHale

  I think the guy wanted to take her head off, but she had trussed him so well that all he could do was shake with rage.

  “Let’s get outta here,” I said and led them up the stairs.

  Once the others were up, I slammed the trap door shut and Tori clipped on a padlock.

  “That won’t keep him forever,” Tori said, “but it buys us some time.”

  Quinn said, “Hopefully enough for us to get to the mainland.”

  “Whoa, stop,” I said quickly. “You can’t still be thinking of escaping.”

  Quinn looked me right in the eye and said, “Wake up, Tucker. They’re coming after us. They sent that guy for Tori, and I have no doubt that he would have shot us if she hadn’t saved our butts. There’s another guy at your house right now and I’ll bet you anything that somebody’s at my house too.” He reached down and picked up the soldier’s pistol. “They’re not going to stop until they get us, one way or another.”

  I looked at Tori. She still seemed shaken.

  “There’s no place to hide,” she said in a small voice.

  The two of them stared at me, waiting for a response.

  “I’m not like you guys,” I said. “We’re talking about changing our lives forever. I like things the way they are.”

  “You mean the way they were,” Tori said.

  “Yeah, the way they were,” I said wistfully. “I don’t want to believe my parents are doing anything wrong.”

  “You think I do?” Quinn asked. “I’m their only kid. Same as you. You think I like knowing they’re part of some villainous plot? I can’t even begin to get my head around it. But people are dying, Tuck. That’s real. We can’t pretend like things are going to be okay.”

  “They took my dad,” Tori said. “I’d do anything for him, but I can’t go blasting into that SYLO compound with a shotgun looking for him. I want to find people who will. I’m going—with or without you guys.”

  Quinn looked me straight in the eye and said, “You promised me you were going to start taking care of the little things, remember? Well, sorry, we have to deal with a few big things first.”

  I truly didn’t know what to do—other than to run home and demand that my parents tell me the truth. They had to have answers that would make sense and bring us back to normal. They were my parents. They watched out for me and complained when I wasn’t trying hard enough in school. My mother didn’t even want me to play football because it was too dangerous. How could they be part of a plot that could lead to my murder? I wanted answers and I wanted them to come from my mom and dad. That’s what I wanted. More than anything.

  “So where does that leave us?” Tori asked.

  I took a deep breath and said, “It leaves us in the dark and I don’t like being there. I want to know the truth…and I don’t believe we’re going to find it here.”

  “So?” Quinn asked.

  “So let’s get the hell off this island.”

  SEVENTEEN

  The sun was setting, casting a warm orange glow over the calm ocean.

  It was beautiful, but in this case beautiful was bad. As far as I was concerned, the sun couldn’t drop fast enough. There was no telling how long it would take the SYLO soldier to free himself and let Granger know that the three of us were on the loose and on our way to the mainland. Our best hope of getting out of there undetected was under cover of night. If we left too soon we’d be spotted for sure. If we waited too long, somebody might come sniffing around, wondering why our pal in the basement hadn’t checked in. It was going to be a race.

  Tori reached up to the telephone that hung in her kitchen, pulled it off the wall, and yanked the jack off the end of the wire. At least when the soldier got free, he wouldn’t be making any calls.

  “Smart,” Quinn said. “Any more phones?”

  Tori shook her head. She grabbed two heavy coats that were hanging by the back door and threw them to us.

  “It’s gonna get cold,” she said with cool efficiency.

  They must have belonged to her father because they had the faint smell of the sea. Or maybe it was lobster. What they didn’t smell like was lemons. That was Tori’s deal. She picked up the shotgun and peered out of the window for the twentieth time, hoping, like us, that it had gotten significantly darker since she had looked twenty seconds before.

  “Can you navigate?” I asked Tori. “I mean, I don’t want to end up in Greenland.”

  She shot me a withering glare. It was all the answer I needed.

  “I think we’re making a mistake,” Quinn said.

  “Seriously?’ I shouted. “Now you’re having second thoughts?”

  “No. I’m just saying we’ve got to do all we can to make sure we get there.”

  “It’s not rocket science,” Tori snapped. “We head due west and pray they don’t see us.”

  “But we can increase the odds of getting there and getting the word out,” he said.

  “How?” I asked.

  “By taking two boats,” Quinn announced with conviction. “Tucker and I spent the whole summer pulling traps for the Willards. I can handle either of those boats. You and Tori take one, I’ll take the other.”

  “You want to go alone?” I asked, incredulous.

  “Not really, but with two boats there’s a better chance of one getting through.”

  “That’s a bad idea,” I said dismissively. “We shouldn’t risk both of the Sleepers’ boats.”

  Tori laughed. “Are you serious? My father’s been arrested, killers are hunting for the three of us, and you’re worried about risking a couple of boats?”

  “Well, when you put it that way…”

  Tori flipped open a bench on the porch, pulled out two ICOM walkie-talkies, and tossed one to Quinn.

  “They’re charged and good for about twenty hours. Range is good. Maybe twenty nautical miles. Stay on channel twenty-one.”

  Quinn examined the device and powered it up. He didn’t need any instructions.

  “I don’t like this,” I said nervously. “We should stay together.”

  “No, he’s right,” Tori said sharply. “This is as much about getting the word out as about escaping. With two boats we’ve got double the chance.”

  “Then I’ll take the solo boat,” I said.

  It was Quinn’s turn to laugh. “No offense, Tuck, but with your navigation skills you’d be lucky to end up in Greenland.” He looked at Tori and added, “The one time he took the helm of the Willards’ boat, we ended up stuck on a sand bar for six hours waiting for high tide.”

  “Well, you’re not exactly Magellan either,” I snapped at Quinn. “We’re talking about navigating five miles of ocean in the dark with the Navy hunting for us. Are you seriously up for that?”

  Quinn chuckled nervously. “Jeez, don’t sugarcoat it. Of course I’m not up for it, but what choice do we have? I can get there.”

  “Then I’ll go with you,” I said.

  “No,” Quinn snapped quickly. “Stay with Tori because, well, because—”

  “Because I’m a girl,” Tori said sarcastically. “It doesn’t matter to me. Go with your friend.”

  I looked at the two of them, horrified that we had come to this point. I had to make a decision…go with Quinn or with Tori. I’m not sure why I made the choice I did because Tori had way more experience on the water than both of us put together. But it didn’t seem right to let a girl go by herself, which meant she was absolutely correct about my thinking.

  “I’ll go with Tori,” I said softly.

  “Whatever,” she said and strode off the porch. “I’m tired of waiting. Let’s go.”

  She walked quickly across the scrubby grass that was her backyard, headed for the docks.

  “Jeez, Quinn,” I said. “Aren’t you scared?”

  “Terrified,” he responded with a nervous chuckle. “But I’m more scared about what’s happening right here. At least out there we’ve got a chance.”

  “Has it come to that? Do you really
think Pemberwick is…what? Doomed?”

  Quinn looked out at the lagoon and watched Tori step onto the dock and board the forward boat.

  “Doomed? I don’t know. But we’re in serious trouble,” he said with no trace of his usual sarcasm. “Whatever it is that’s happening here, I think it’s wrong that we haven’t been told the truth. If it’s as bad as we think it is, or even if it isn’t, we have the right to know. Getting out of here and reaching people on the mainland will force the truth to come out.”

  “Yeah,” I said soberly. “If we make it.”

  Quinn gave me a playful shove and said, “We’ll make it. We’ll have lobster rolls at Newick’s and hold a press conference. I like the idea of being a hero.”

  I chuckled, but my heart wasn’t in it.

  “So you’re going to get your wish,” I said.

  “What wish?”

  “You’re going to leave the island and do something people will remember you for. I never doubted you would. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.”

  “What can I say? Destiny calls. I’ve already got the name picked out for the story I’m going to write about this adventure.”

  “Really? What is it?”

  Quinn gave me a beaming smile and said, “The Pemberwick Run.”

  I had to smile too. “I like it.”

  “I’m telling you, we’re going down in history, man. And it won’t be the only time,” Quinn said, with more than a touch of cockiness.

  “I don’t doubt that either,” I said.

  “Look, Tuck, I like it here too,” he said, turning serious. “I might complain and say I want to kick the sand out of my shoes and live in the real world, but Pemberwick is my home. I like the place. I want it to be home again.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  “Then let’s make it happen.”

  He reached down and picked up the soldier’s pistol. It was an automatic, like a Walther or a Glock.

  “You know how to use that?” I asked.

  Quinn shrugged. “Let’s hope I won’t get the chance to find out.”

  We hurried down the porch steps and followed Tori’s route to the dock.

  The boat with the red wheelhouse, the Tori Tickle, was tied up in front of the older boat with the navy blue wheelhouse, the Patricia. Tori was on board the Tori Tickle, preparing to get under way.

  “Help me with these,” she commanded and started tossing over the lobster traps that were stacked to the stern. “We don’t need them to be slowing us down.”

  Quinn and I caught the traps and stacked them on the dock. We had plenty of experience with lobster traps.

  “Yeah,” Quinn said, scoffing. “The extra weight might keep these fine vessels from outrunning one of the Navy’s high-powered gunships.”

  I didn’t laugh at the joke.

  Neither did Tori. She stood with her hands on her hips, staring at Quinn.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Just trying to keep it light.”

  “Can you start those engines?” she asked.

  “I think so,” Quinn replied.

  “Then do it.”

  Quinn gave me a quick look, rolled his eyes, and headed for the Patricia while I helped Tori offload the rest of the traps.

  “I get Tori Tickle,” I said. “Who’s Patricia?”

  Tori took a few seconds before she answered.

  “My mother,” she finally said with no emotion.

  “Oh.”

  They say that it’s bad luck to change the name of a boat, but I couldn’t imagine keeping that particular name, bad luck or not. It would be a constant reminder of the person who had abandoned her family.

  “It’s because my father still loves her,” Tori said. “In case you were wondering.”

  “How do you feel?” I asked.

  “I don’t,” was her quick answer.

  It was not a good subject to get into on the verge of making a suicidal escape, so I dropped it. When we finished unloading the traps, Tori stood up and scanned the lagoon. Dusk had settled in. The sun was finally giving up the day.

  “We gotta get going,” she said. “It should be dark enough by the time we clear the lagoon.”

  Quinn fired up the engines of the Patricia and they caught with a throaty roar. Each of the boats had powerful twin diesels. They were built to be working boats, not speed burners. In spite of Quinn’s bad joke, we wouldn’t be outrunning any other ships, Navy or otherwise.

  Tori jumped out of the Tori Tickle and walked back to the Patricia.

  Quinn was at the wheel, tuning the engines. I was impressed. He actually looked as though he knew what he was doing. I could have handled the boat on my own just fine, but Quinn was right: I would have handled us right into getting lost.

  Tori waved for him to come over.

  “Dad always keeps the tanks topped off,” she said. “There’s more than enough fuel to get us to the mainland.”

  “How should we do this?’ Quinn asked.

  “We’ll go out first,” Tori explained. “Give us a five-minute head start. When I get to the mouth of the lagoon, I’ll head north for five minutes before turning west. You head south for a minute or two before making the turn.”

  “So we’ll be what?” I asked. “About a mile apart?”

  “More or less,” Tori replied. “Definitely within walkie-talkie range.”

  Quinn said, “I don’t think we should use them unless there’s an emergency. They might be able to lock onto our band and track us.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. Damn.

  “Right,” I said.

  Tori said, “If we both head due west from that point, I’m guessing you’ll hit land somewhere around the Portland Head Light. We’ll be north of that. Beach the boat. Not that it really matters, but try to hit sand. Or find a dock. I’d like to think my dad will get these back in one piece someday.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Quinn assured her. “Then I’ll call you on the walkie.”

  “What do we do from there?” I asked.

  Quinn and Tori exchanged looks.

  Tori said, “Let’s worry about that when we get there.”

  Good point.

  The three of us stood staring at one another. Up until that point, the idea that we were going to make our escape from the island was all theory. It had suddenly become a reality. We were about to try to sneak through a blockade enforced by the United States Navy. The only others who had tried were blown out of the water.

  “This suddenly doesn’t seem like such a good idea,” I said, my stomach twisting.

  “But it’s the only idea,” Quinn assured me. “We’ll make it. Keep your running lights off. Go slow and we’ll be on land sucking down a Moxie before soldier boy even gets out of the root cellar.”

  I was glad that one of us was confident, even if it was for show.

  “Good luck,” Tori said to Quinn.

  There was an awkward moment where they weren’t sure if they should shake hands or hug. Tori finally took the lead and gave him a quick hug. Quinn actually looked over her shoulder and winked at me like I should be jealous. Dork.

  “See you on shore,” he said.

  “I’ll fire up the Tickle,” she said and jogged for the forward boat.

  Quinn and I were left alone with an uncomfortable silence.

  “Hell of a thing,” he finally said.

  “Seriously,” I replied. “I, uh, I think what you’re doing is incredibly brave.”

  “Yes. Yes it is,” he replied, matter-of-factly.

  I had to chuckle.

  “But you guys aren’t far behind,” he added.

  “Maybe I should go with you,” I offered.

  “Nah. She’s all tough talk, but she’s still a girl.”

  “Yeah, a girl who took down a professional soldier. Jeez.”

  “Really,” Quinn said, then added, “but you saw her afterward. She nearly lost it. I think she needs somebody steady to roll with.”

  “And you don’t?”
<
br />   “Nah,” Quinn said, scoffing. “I’ve got ice water in my veins…which is a saying I never understood. How would that work exactly?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, chuckling.

  I really would have preferred to go with my friend. The two of us stood there awkwardly, neither wanting to leave.

  “I don’t know what to say, Quinn,” I finally got out. “I mean, I always talk about how much I like Pemberwick and a huge part of that has to do with you.”

  “Okay, stop right there,” he said quickly. “I hear you. I feel the same way, but I’m not about to stage some dramatic farewell scene like we’re never going to see each other again. I’m serious. Even if we get caught, I don’t see them blowing us out of the water. They’ll board us, take over the boats, and bring us right back here, where we won’t be any worse off than we are right now. So let’s not get all weepy. We’ll either see each other on the mainland or on the deck of the U.S.S. Gotcherass.”

  “Do you really believe that?” I asked.

  Quinn stared at me for a good few seconds, then said, “Yeah. Of course I do.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I do too.”

  Neither of us were telling the truth.

  “Excellent. Now don’t go puttin’ moves on Tori out there in the dark.”

  “I’ll try to control myself.”

  We stood there for another long moment, putting off the inevitable.

  “Let’s go!” Tori called.

  A second later she fired up the engines of the Tori Tickle. Both boats were alive and humming, ready to take us on the next leg of our adventure. Or our escape. Or whatever it was we were doing.

  “I’ll cast you off,” I said to Quinn.

  He hopped back on board and I ran to the stern, unlooped the line from around the cleat, and tossed it on board. I then ran to the bow and unlashed the front line. I walked that one back and handed it to Quinn.

  “There you go,” I said. “Good luck.”

  “The Pemberwick Run, baby,” Quinn said.

  I gave him a smile and watched him standing there for another full second. I don’t know why but I felt as though I wanted to remember that moment. Quinn was doing an incredibly brave and selfless thing by going alone.