by Ryan Decaria
Darwin’s eyes shifted. Something else. What else would he care about? He was a gator hunter. What would stress a gator hunter out?
“There’s too many gators for you guys to deal with?”
He stuck out his tongue. No then.
The opposite? “The gators are drying up? They are migrating. They’re migrating here?”
He tightened his mouth, running his hand through his beard as he stared at her.
“How do you know? Are your friends no longer finding them?”
He held out his hands and rubbed his thumbs across his fingertips.
“They aren’t making enough money?”
He nodded.
“They want to come here and hunt them?”
He nodded.
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea. But the swamp’s ecosystem can’t handle too many alligators.” Anika’s voice rose as she spoke. “They’re going to run out of food. More pets are going to get eaten and then little kids. Thinning them out will be dangerous.”
He grinned and held his arms out, his palms in the air.
“Anika!” Sasha called out.
She turned as Sasha darted across the street toward them. Anika hopped off of Wallace. Sasha threw her arms around Anika’s waist, picking her up in a bear hug.
“Easy,” Anika said. Sasha squeezed harder. “Gently.”
Sasha set her down. “What happened?”
“You’re late.” Anika wiped the rain-drenched hair from Sasha’s face. Her heavy makeup held up well in spite of the downpour.
Sasha squeezed her one more time. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I shouldn’t have given up on you. I should have been here.” She knelt down and examined Wallace. “Tell me what’s going on? Is this Billie’s little problem?”
“Yup. Meet Wallace.”
Sasha stood up and patted Darwin on the shoulder. “What are we going to do with him?”
That was her next problem. Normally, she’d call the police, but she didn’t have time to deal with that right now. They still had a laundry list of twenty-two items to prepare for the bug hunt tonight. The police would take all her time for the rest of the day and her father might not let her out after such a close call.
Anika pulled Darwin away from Wallace, so the meathead wouldn’t overhear. “I have little time left and I need your help and anyone you can trust.”
She pulled out a stack of hundreds and handed it to him. He accepted without hesitation. She handed him the physics team’s finalized schematic for the semi-trailer alterations and the list of things they’d need. His nimble fingers hesitated a moment before he accepted.
“I need you to outfit a semi-trailer to those specifications and to do it quiet-like. I’ll need those items as well, procured with haste. By this afternoon. Any leftover cash is yours to keep. After I take care of this other matter tonight, we’ll meet about the gators. We’ll take out the alpha for good.”
Darwin turned to Sasha, an eyebrow raised. Thunder boomed again.
Sasha kept her eyes on Wallace. “I’ve learned not to question her after her plan comes together. She’s amazing.”
Wallace tried to get up, but Sasha was on him in seconds, grabbing him by his thick belt. She unfastened his keys from his belt loop and tossed him into the back of his van. He cried out but stayed quiet after that.
“Oh,” Anika said. “And I’ll need you to keep this idiot tied up for the time being.”
Darwin ran a hand through his thinning hair. He glanced from Wallace to the tree line and back. He deftly counted the stack of cash, his eyes widening at each thousand. Anika wasn’t even sure how much money she’d given him, but it was more than enough to make her needs happen.
“I know some of this is illegal, but you know we’re dealing with stuff that ordinary people wouldn’t understand or, well, believe in the first place.”
He put his thumbs in his belt loops and rocked back on his heels.
“And I’ll keep your name out of it. Especially from my father.”
Darwin limped toward the van, sliding the cash back into the envelope and stuffing it into his pants. He slammed the door, turned, and held out his hand.
Anika shook it firmly.
Darwin took the keys from Sasha and got in Wallace’s van. He waved as he drove out of the parking lot.
Sasha stuck her hands in her pockets. “Can we trust him?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know? He could take the money and run. Who would believe us?”
“Billie trusts him.” Anika headed toward the school. “She reads people well.”
Sasha fell in beside her. “Is that why she hates me?”
Anika grabbed her arm. “No, she hates you because I need you more now than I ever have before. She’s angry that you can protect me and she’s a liability.”
Sasha grabbed her shoulder. “I wasn’t here for you.”
Anika pulled her toward the building. “You’re here now.”
“Yeah,” Sasha said. “I am. And I have to remind you that you’re being stupid.”
“Oh?”
“But I’m going to make sure that you survive this. I have to. I believe that’s why I’m still alive.”
Anika beamed. “Why the change of heart?”
“No heart. Remember?” Sasha grinned. “Your dad created me. Well, this version of me. And you know, I have this strange and infuriating idea that somehow that makes us sisters.”
Anika grinned. “I like that.”
“I know you have sisters popping up everywhere,” Sasha said, “but at least I’m not evil.”
Anika threw her arms around Sasha neck, and she returned the hug willingly. “Don’t be late again, okay?”
Sasha squeezed her a little too hard. “Don’t worry. I won’t be.”
As Billie barreled the semi down the highway, Anika stared through the thick Plexiglas into the trailer where Sasha glowered back at her. Darwin and his contacts had come through in smashing fashion, but his shoulders had drooped when Anika informed him he wasn’t coming along for the ride. She assured him it wasn’t the gator they were after, which made him all the more frustrated. The rig was monster-ready, and he wasn’t going to see it.
Sasha stood in the middle of the trailer, scanning the night sky through the thick plastic doors secured to the trailer roof. Instead of leather and lace, Sasha wore a heavy denim jacket and jeans, all wrong for her complexion. Darwin’s contacts followed the instructions and made even more improvements to the securability of the cargo. Linh had provided specific instruction on how the trap would spring once the creature passed through the ceiling. It was impressive now, but if the steel bars set to slam on top of the monster didn’t hold, this would all be pointless.
Anika hated pointless.
“There are far too many ifs in your plan,” Sasha spoke through the walkie talkie hanging on the wall.
Sasha was the key to minimizing those ifs. Anika pressed the button on the matching walkie talkie. “Stick to the plan. It’ll work out. I promise.”
Sasha glared at her as she yanked on the pressure line, sending another spray of the special scent high into the air. The fragrance was a mix of leather oil, popcorn butter flavoring, and mustard in hotdog water. So far, Blake’s father was a no show, and they were getting low on gasoline. The small window of time she estimated from the information Blake provided did not allow for another pit stop. Time was ticking.
“It’s not this part of the plan that worries me, Anika.”
Anika didn’t want to talk about that again. “How can my dad be anything but grateful?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Sasha said. “This plan is stupid and dangerous. Even if Blake’s dad doesn’t tear this truck apart, we actually capture him and bring him home, Dravovitch won’t be happy you put your life at risk. Again.”
The roughly lamb-shaped pile of hamburger sat near Sasha’s feet. They’d laced it with a dozen sleepy time aids and a hea
ping amount of caffeine. “He’ll eat the bait and sleep the whole way. What can my father say but thank you?”
“Anika, I swear, you’re as mad as they are.”
Billie snorted. “Frankenweenie’s not wrong.”
“I heard that,” Sasha yelled.
Anika glared at Billie, who finally was free of the wig. Her asymmetrical bob bounced with the bumping of the semi. She wore a vintage army jacket over a sunflower print swing dress with thigh high suede boots. Good to have the real Billie back.
Pressing the talk button, Anika spoke to Sasha. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I’m not even sure who the mad scientist is anymore.” Sasha sprayed more mist into the air. “They have proper equipment, training and safety precautions, and we have spit balling and jury rigging.”
Anika frowned. She wasn’t mad. Was she? “I’m trying to save everyone.”
Billie patted Anika’s knee. “Sparky’s got a point, but I have faith in you.”
Anika let go of the talk button too late. Sasha glowered at Billie through the glass but didn’t respond.
“Me too.” Hawking’s voice came through the walkie talkie. Anika had forgotten he was even listening. He was following close behind them in his van, just in case.
“You stay out of this.” Sasha peered out the plastic-covered hole in the back doors. “She’s going to get you all killed someday. You know that, right?”
Billie pointed to the walkie talkie.
Anika pressed the button.
“Never going to happen,” Billie said. “She’s too…”
A huge black mass slammed through the plastic into the trailer bed sending Sasha tumbling to the back.
Anika screamed as Billie swerved across the highway. A dozen beady eyes stared at Anika as the creature’s mandibles twitched wildly. Large spindly legs scratched at the trailer bed as it tasted the air.
The steel bars didn’t engage. Linh’s trapdoor didn’t spring.
A spindly arm punctured the trailer and came straight through into the cab, missing Anika’s head by an inch. Billie screamed, struggling to keep the trailer straight.
The bug monster yanked its arm back and tried to fly out of the trailer.
Sasha lunged at it, grabbing an insect leg, and was pulled outside.
“No!” Anika covered her mouth. She pressed her face to the plastic, scanning for anything. Sasha’s fingers grasped the last bar on the trap. Anika slammed the walkie-talkie button. “Hawking?”
“Sasha’s got a hold of its leg.”
Sasha must have pulled power from the semi, because the power flickered, and the engine died. Billie barely managed to keep the truck on the road. Anika slammed forward as the truck slowed.
Sasha and the monster slammed back inside the trailer.
Billie cranked the ignition. The engine roared to life and Billie slammed on the gas.
Anika flicked the backup switch to trigger the trap. She flicked it again and again. “Come on Linh, don’t let me down.”
The bug tried to take flight again, but the bars finally slammed closed, right on top of it, knocking it to the trailer bed.
Sasha jumped on its back and pressed its blackened head toward the sheep burger.
“Eat, you overgrown maggot!” Sasha screamed. “Eat.”
The creature’s jagged mandibles snared the meat, devouring the beef sculpture in a few bites.
Sasha jumped off, hitting the ground out of reach of its spindly legs. She dragged over the barrel of drug-spiked cola and pried the lid off. The insect examined his prison walls and lunged into the bars overhead. The trailer creaked but didn’t break. Its legs gouged the trailer bed and walls, but it didn’t manage to tear through it.
“Come on, George,” Anika said, “drink up.”
The insect examined the barrel and dipped its head inside. The cola burbled.
It pulled its head out and shook it madly.
It lunged at Sasha.
She punched it right in the face. “No!”
It reeled backwards, slamming into the rear doors.
They held.
George skittered around.
And collapsed.
It tried to pick itself back up, but Sasha punched it again. “Go to sleep!”
It lay down and, in moments, was unconscious.
“Are you okay in there?” Hawking said. “Talk to me.”
Anika took a deep breath, staring into the large mirrors out her window. “We’re fine.”
Billie yanked on the horn, blaring three quick times.
Sasha sat in front of the beast. “Anika!”
Anika pressed her hand against the plastic. “Yes?”
“I hope this was worth it.”
Anika sighed as Sasha smiled at her.
“Me too.” Anika grinned. “Me too.”
“I’m heading home,” Billie said. “I think we have enough gas to get us to the laboratory.”
Anika nodded. “Are you ready to meet my dad?”
Billie grinned. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I get my car back.”
At the halfway point, Anika called her father and told him the good news. She hung up when his voice elevated and he started swearing.
As they neared the last turn toward the lab, Billie pulled over. Jackie pulled up behind them. Wallace sat in the backseat, still hogtied with a hood over his head. Sasha hopped out of the trailer, pulled Wallace out of the car, and set him in the back of the trailer. She slammed the door, locking him in with the insect.
Sasha got in Jackie’s car and they drove the other direction.
As Billie pulled into the laboratory parking lot, a dozen guards with huge guns stood ready. Boulsour stood near Margery, who was biting at her nails. Ugh, and Coralynn stood behind them a few steps. A few other labcoats stood nearby with gadgets held at awkward angles.
Billie pulled the semi to a stop right in front and turned off the engine. She grabbed Anika’s hand. “You ready for this?”
“Yes.” Anika had been ready for this her whole life. Her father had no choice but to be proud of what she accomplished today. Once he cooled off, of course.
Boulsour opened her door and held out his hand, helping her out. Billie slipped out the other side. The guards opened the back of the trailer and stood, dumbfounded. They nodded at Anika, clearly impressed. Two of them pulled the meathead out of the trailer and set him on his butt near Boulsour.
“Your father will be here in a minute.” Margery pulled Anika around to face the parking lot entrance.
Billie stood beside Anika as Dravovitch sped into the laboratory’s parking lot in a white pickup truck. He pulled up behind the trailer, opened the door, and slammed an alligator-skin boot to the pavement. Anika tried to wipe the grin from her face, unsuccessfully.
He eyed Billie as he moved toward the trailer. With no disguise, he’d easily recognize who she was.
More trucks and trailers pulled into the parking lot. Guards spilled out of them, forming a perimeter around the trailer. Her father turned, peering inside at the monster, inspecting his old friend and Anika’s trap, no doubt in awe.
He swiveled toward her, but he wasn’t smiling. His eyes weren’t warm and caring. He wasn’t proud. He glowered at her, his billowy white hair fluttering in the cool breeze.
“What were you thinking?” he screamed.
Anika couldn’t breathe through the lump in her throat. Her father’s face turned beet red and he stomped toward her, pointing his bony finger. “How could you be so stupid?”
“I… I saved him,” Anika stammered, fighting to get the words out. She stood a little taller, but her knees felt wobbly.
“Does he look saved?” he asked. “Do I get to send him home and tell him to get a little rest?”
Anika could feel the heat in her cheeks. “You don’t have to kill him.”
“What am I supposed to do with him? Huh, Miss Smartypants?”
“You find a cure.”
/> “Don’t you think I’ve tried everything?”
Anika crossed her arms. “No.”
He studied Billie a moment, shaking his head. Finally, he examined the man tied up on the ground and sighed. “How did you know where George would be?”
Anika took a deep breath. “Blake told me about his dad. It was obvious you were looking in the wrong place. You were using the wrong fragrance, too.”
He reached toward her hair and tucked a strand behind her ear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were going to kill him.”
He studied Billie a moment before stepping to the trailer. “You two did all this yourselves?”
“Of course, they didn’t.” Margery stepped forward. “You can’t keep letting her do this.”
She shut up with a glance from Dravovitch.
“Anika has done more to save my friend than you’ve managed with all my resources at your disposal.”
“She’s lying to you.” Margery’s arms were tense at her sides.
He pointed at Billie. “This is Billie, I presume?”
“It’s a pleasure.” Billie held out her hand, beaming.
He frowned at it. “You told me you hadn’t seen her.”
Anika balled her fists. “I had to keep her safe.”
He shook his head, pointing back at the monster. “This is how you keep her safe?”
Anika wanted to bark at him but bit her lip instead.
“And this man?” He pointed at Wallace.
“He’s Billie’s mom’s boyfriend. I told you he’d come looking for Billie, and you ignored me.”
“Why is he here?”
“He tried to kidnap me today. He thinks Billie ruined his life and wants revenge.”
Dravovitch’s fluffy eyebrows raised an inch, then furrowed as his face formed a scowl. “What am I supposed to do with him now?” He grabbed Anika’s arm and yanked her toward Wallace. “You should have called the police. He’d get locked away for the rest of his life. Now? What can I do? He’s been tied up and beaten. Nothing we do is going to stick.”
He squeezed hard, pain flaring up her arm as he dug in his nails.
“Stop it!” Billie stomped forward. “Let go of her.”
“Stop lying to me.” He pulled Anika over to Boulsour and yanked her to the ground.