by Doug Solter
“Big truck!” Olivia pointed.
In one quick move, Nadia tapped the brakes and tucked the BMW behind the Kia. The semi roared past, blasting its air horn.
The two cars weaved through more turns before Nadia swung out to the left lane and gunned the BMW once again.
“You can do it!” Miyuki said.
This time the two cars were side by side when the Kia decided to smash into the side of the BMW.
Emma yelped as their car shook from the impact. Nadia fought with the wheel.
The Kia smashed into the side of the BMW again.
Nadia struggled to keep the car on the road. The car’s headlights showed rows of trees on the left-hand side of the road. If they veered off the road, those tree trunks would pound the BMW like mallets.
“Is this part of the maneuver?” Emma asked.
The desperate little Kia swerved into them a third time and Emma’s window exploded, throwing glass everywhere and making her scream. This was all getting too real.
Nadia braked and tried to clip the left rear of the Kia. But the little car avoided the BMW by swerving to the far right of the road.
Nadia backed off the chase. “Are you all right, Emma?”
“I think so. It was only my window.”
“Maybe we should let him go,” Olivia said.
“Are you coconuts?” Miyuki asked.
“Bananas,” Emma corrected.
“It’s too dangerous, love. It’s not worth all our lives,” Olivia said. “Let him go. We’ll catch up with him again.”
Nadia eased off the gas and the Kia quickly raced into the distance.
“Sorry, guys,” Olivia said. “But we have to see the big—” A huge jolt flung all four girls against their seat belts.
Emma glanced in her side mirror as new headlights blinded her eyes. “Looks like he called some of his friends.”
A giant Hummer bore down on the smaller BMW as it rammed them again from the back and bullied the car forward towards a turn.
Nadia hit the brakes and the rubber tires burned. But the Hummer shoved the BMW forward anyway. The next turn had a big drop-off past the guardrail. If they smashed through it, they would roll the BMW for sure.
Nadia gripped the wheel and mashed the gas pedal. The BMW scrambled off the front of the Hummer and accelerated towards the drop-off turn. The speedometer needle climbed.
Emma stopped breathing. Could Nadia make the curve going that fast? Wouldn’t they fly off into the trees?
Nadia waited.
And waited…
Then slammed the brake pedal. The girls braced as Nadia hit the gas again and flung the car into the right turn. The BMW slid across the double yellow lines. The tires screamed. The left side of the car skidded towards the far end of the pavement, almost kissing the guardrail. But the BMW somehow cleared the turn.
Behind them, a loud crash of trees hitting metal. The headlights of the Hummer tumbled down the embankment as the large vehicle took out trees left and right.
Nadia braked the car to a stop.
All the Gems sighed at once as calmness finally descended inside the car.
Emma turned to Nadia. “Can I say that you’re, like, a rock star behind the wheel of a car?”
Nadia smiled in her shy way.
The night air felt cold as the girls went down the dirt embankment to the overturned Hummer resting on broken trees. Olivia peeked inside it. No one was there.
“They must have gone into the forest,” Olivia said.
A cold breeze blew under the oversized T-shirt Emma wore, chilling her to the bone. “Do we have to do this again? We’re not properly dressed for all these outdoor activities.”
Miyuki and Nadia hugged their chests. They could feel the breeze too.
“But they might know something,” Olivia said.
“They also might have guns.”
“Emma’s right. We should leave,” Nadia said.
“Mr. Raymond’s goons are expecting us back any minute,” Emma said. “They could be out looking for us right now.”
Olivia didn’t like giving up, that much was clear as the girl watched the forest. But Olivia let out a curse and led the girls back up the embankment to the BMW. Nadia turned over the engine and got the heater running as she drove the Gems back the way they had come.
“What will we do about Mr. Raymond?” Miyuki asked.
“Yes. We must find out what role he plays in all this,” Nadia said.
Emma thought about Ryan. How genuine he felt to her. “I don’t think Mr. Raymond knows. I mean, when I talked to Ryan, he told me how much his father loved his company. More so than his own son, and a man like that—why would he destroy something he worked his whole life to build? My dad had the same mind-set. He loved his company too and it wouldn’t make sense for him to do something to hurt it. Honestly, I think Mr. Raymond is innocent. Jacqueline could be using his company as a secret base of operations.”
“A good possibility,” Nadia said. “He might not know what’s going on.”
“But he gave Emma that bad rifle,” Miyuki said.
“Bertrand could have easily switched out those rifles before the hunt,” Emma said. “Remember that I was the only one who needed the spare gun.”
Olivia thought about it. “There’s only one way to find out for sure. We should tell Mr. Raymond about Jacqueline and see what the man does.”
Chapter 24
The next morning, the Gems were woken up by a knock at their door. The butler informed them that Mr. Raymond was expecting them for breakfast at 8 a.m. Hit by grogginess, the girls reluctantly said yes and rushed to put on clothes, brush their hair, and look halfway human. They went down the three flights of stairs and met the butler, who escorted them outside to a lovely wooden deck with a table set for breakfast. The deck faced the lake and the small dock, where Mr. Raymond’s speedboat lazily bumped against its moorings.
Ryan stood up from the table to welcome them, while Mr. Raymond had his face buried inside the Wall Street Journal. There was no sign of Jacqueline or any of Mr. Raymond’s hunting buddies. But a fly buzzed around a pat of butter.
“Long night?” Mr. Raymond asked through the paper, as if he knew the answer already.
“It was.” Emma flicked a look at Ryan and smiled. “Morning.”
“You look great for a Siamese cat wrangler,” Ryan said. “How’s the cat doing?”
“It’s dead,” Olivia said, without feeling.
Emma shot her a look. Why did their story have to end like that? They could have dropped it off at a shelter.
“Yeah, we couldn’t save the poor thing,” Emma said instead.
Mr. Raymond folded his paper. “Sorry to hear your efforts were in vain. Juice? Coffee?”
The girls found seats around the table as a servant saw to their requests.
Mr. Raymond picked a half-cut grapefruit from a tray and placed it in his bowl. “Hope you all love pancakes as much as I do, because that’s what we’re eating.”
Olivia sipped her orange juice, glanced at the Gems, and focused on Mr. Raymond. “We should be honest with you, sir.”
“Honest? About what?” Mr. Raymond rammed a spoon down into the grapefruit, causing it to squirt.
Olivia paused. “I don’t work for Mr. Gooden or AirTech. And these two girls are not Emma’s best friends. We’re here to investigate Raymond Foods.”
Mr. Raymond paused and then ate the piece of grapefruit on his spoon. “Investigate my company? Why?”
“Because Jacqueline Boyay is a spy for a criminal organization known as Venomous. We caught one of her operatives last night…the cat we were trying to save. We gathered some information from the man, but not all of it. An assassin put an arrow into him before we could finish.”
Mr. Raymond didn’t look up, but he stopped eating his grapefruit.
Emma spoke. “Jacqueline had this man sabotage my dad’s jet because the engineers he was transporting were suspicious about some special modific
ations he made to your newly installed climate control systems.”
Olivia took over. “We think Jacqueline was working with Venomous to disrupt or destroy your food production plants and distribution network to cause some type of worldwide famine.”
Mr. Raymond sat back in his chair with a dumbfounded look.
Ryan stared at Emma, his face also surprised. “Whoa. Reset. So you girls are what? Spies?”
“They are.” Emma referenced the other girls. “Well, I’m kinda one too, but I still need more training.”
“So that’s why you were so nice.” Ryan fired a look at Emma.
She froze. Oh crap, but that didn’t mean—her mind tried devising a way to get around the truth and failing.
Ryan eyes dropped to the empty plate.
“It wasn’t—okay, at first, yes, I was trying to find out things, but then I got to know you and…” Emma’s voiced trailed off as she noticed Ryan ignoring her.
“Teen spies? How absurd,” Mr. Raymond said. “Is this a joke? Did one of my friends pay you girls to do this?”
“This isn’t a joke,” Olivia said.
“Well, you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”
Nadia turned on a tablet and pushed it across to Mr. Raymond. “This shows the schematics of one of your AgEurope food storage facilities in Germany.” Nadia went on to explain how the system was not set up for temperature control, but to introduce some type of liquid or substance to the seeds and food stuffs that was not water. She went on to show schematics of other Raymond Foods facilities in Europe, Africa, and North America. “Two common elements are that Bertrand Petit made these modifications and Jacqueline signed off on each and every work order.”
“Did you know about that?” Olivia asked.
Mr. Raymond looked over the tablet with concern, rolling his finger as he checked the schematics and the emails.
He sat back. “My God.”
To Emma, it was clear the man didn’t know what was going on right under his nose.
“Do you believe us now?” Olivia asked.
Mr. Raymond nodded. “Why would Jacqueline do this? She’s been my top executive for years. I don’t understand.”
“She needed a way in to your company to build the foundation for Venomous’s plan.”
Mr. Raymond’s eyes drifted over to Emma. “And they killed your father?”
“Yes,” she said.
Mr. Raymond took in the information with new eyes. “What organization do you girls work for?”
Olivia folded her hands on the table, all business. “Let’s just say we’re the good guys, and whatever Jacqueline and Venomous are planning, we want to stop it. Do you know where she is now?”
“After the alarms woke us last night, Jacqueline said she couldn’t sleep and decided to go back to our offices in the city to get some work done.” Mr. Raymond rose to his feet. “I’ll order my security to detain her. Do you mind skipping breakfast and accompanying me? I want to hear what Jacqueline says before I turn her over to the police.”
Mr. Raymond’s corporate helicopter landed a few minutes later on a cement heliport pad near the mansion. The Gems climbed aboard while Ryan argued with his dad, who wanted him to stay at the house. Ryan insisted and won. He stepped inside the helicopter’s large and luxurious passenger cabin. Emma slid over to make room next to her. Ryan looked at Emma, but chose the opposite side of the cabin to sit.
The helicopter climbed from its pad and twisted around, heading for the tall buildings just over the horizon.
It took twenty minutes for the helicopter to reach Kansas City. The craft gently descended and landed on another heliport pad on top of the new Raymond Foods headquarters skyscraper. Mr. Raymond, the Gems, and Ryan left the noisy helicopter and entered the building through a door on the roof.
Once inside, a flight of stairs led the party down to the top floor of the building. That was where three armed security guards met up with Mr. Raymond.
“Is Miss Boyay in custody?” Mr. Raymond asked. The guards confirmed she was. “Good. Take us there.”
The cavernous executive floor had new carpet and new walls. Emma could smell the dried adhesives and fresh paint all over the place. Boxes of office desks, furnishings, and plastic-covered couches were grouped together in various rooms, waiting to be unpacked. The guards escorted the group to a large boardroom, its walls made of clear glass. Inside, Jacqueline waited at the head of a forty-chair meeting table made of dark oak. Ten armed security guards stood around the perimeter of the room.
“What’s the meaning of this, Ron?” Jacqueline’s voice was sharp and pissed. “Why are these trained monkeys making me sit here?”
Mr. Raymond made his way to the opposite edge of the table. The Gems walked into the boardroom, followed by Ryan.
Mr. Raymond pressed his fists into the table, almost if bracing himself. “I have some questions for you. And I expect truthful answers.”
“Is that all? I don’t see why we need to make such a production out of it. Ask me anything you wish.”
“Did you sign off on unauthorized modifications to the AirTech climate control systems? The new ones installed in all of our food production plants and seed storage facilities?”
Jacqueline didn’t flinch. “Yes.”
Olivia flashed the other girls a confused look.
Emma agreed. That was too easy.
Mr. Raymond continued. “What modifications did you have your associate Bertrand Petit make?”
“First we modified the new AirTech system so that it was possible to reverse the air removal process. Instead of a vacuum-tight sealed vault, we could trick the system into flooding the vaults with oxygen. Second, we put in a secondary sprinkler system throughout all the buildings, in tandem with the AirTech fire-suppression system. This sprinkler system was specifically designed to carry fuel.”
“Why would you put in a system to spray fuel throughout the buildings?” Mr. Raymond asked, dumbfounded.
Jacqueline shrugged. “To incinerate the contents inside the buildings, of course.”
Olivia stepped away from the wall and joined Mr. Raymond. “And if you pump the seed vaults full of oxygen…one spark and those airtight compartments go up in a flash.”
Jacqueline smiled. “That’s the general idea, yes.”
“What happens after you torch all the food-production facilities?” Olivia asked. “No, wait. Venomous wants to threaten the destruction of those facilities, right? For what? A huge pile of extortion money?”
Jacqueline crossed her legs. “I knew Emma was who she said she was. But it was difficult to find out any information about you three girls.” Jacqueline sat back in her chair. “I didn’t know The Authority recruited young ladies for their glorious cause. I must make note of that to my superiors.”
Olivia approached Jacqueline. “You’re not telling anyone about us. You’re going to jail.”
The woman didn’t flinch. “Am I?” She glanced over at Mr. Raymond. “Will you turn me over to the police?”
He smiled. “Now why would I do that?” Mr. Raymond stepped away from the table. “Guards…if the young girls move, shoot them.”
The security men pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the Gems.
“What are you doing?” Olivia asked.
A guard pulled Emma away from Ryan and guided her over to join Miyuki and Nadia.
Olivia backed away, ready for a fight.
Jacqueline took out her own pistol and aimed it right at Olivia. “Move over there with the rest of them.”
Olivia hesitated and then complied.
“Dad? What’s going on?” Ryan asked.
“Search them,” Mr. Raymond said. “We’re done with surprises today.”
The guards lined the Gems up against the wall at gunpoint.
“Dad?”
“I’ll explain later.”
“I want to know now.”
Mr. Raymond scoffed. “I didn’t want you here at a
ll. You don’t need to be involved in this.”
“Involved with what? Why are you treating them like this?”
“Ryan, shut up.”
“Screw you. I’ll say whatever I—”
Mr. Raymond struck Ryan across the face, knocking him to the ground. The man bent down. “You’re still such a child, unable to see the bigger picture, even when the clues are right in front of your face.”
Ryan rolled on the ground, his eyes red and watering. Emma’s heart reached out to him. How could a father treat his son like that?
“This is the most ambitious plan I’ve ever created. It will triple our family’s wealth. It’s brilliant. Ingenious.” Mr. Raymond paused, absorbed in his own thoughts and words, feeding off them like a crack addict. “A series of accidents will result in the loss of our critical food production plants and storage facilities across the world. The price of food will skyrocket since our company produces up to eighty percent of the food in some of those markets.” Mr. Raymond approached Olivia, her cheek glued against the wall. “Yes, there will be food shortages. Demand for emergency food rations to combat the threat will increase, especially among the poorer countries in Africa.”
Mr. Raymond shook with this sick glee. “And then my new E-Food division will come to the rescue with untouched warehouses full of emergency food packs designed for large-scale disasters such as this one. Countries will be desperate to pay me any price to feed their starving people. Even after rebuilding my destroyed facilities, I project a five-year profit of more than three hundred percent. It’s staggering.”
Mr. Raymond approached Emma. He reached up and combed her blond hair back with his fingers. Emma quivered from how weird it felt. “The best part of it all? The blame for this entire food crisis will fall on AirTech and Rothchild Industries. They put in the faulty climate control system responsible for creating the largest humanitarian disaster the world has ever seen since the Black Plague.”
Anger flared up inside Emma. First, this man’s crazy delusions got her dad killed. Second, the man would destroy everything her dad worked so hard to build.
Emma spit on his face.
Mr. Raymond laughed and wiped his chin before moving back to Ryan, who was still on the floor. “There is no secret organization behind this. It was all planned out by me.”