How to Lead a Life of Crime

by Kirsten Miller

  “No, but she will be soon. She’s lost a ton of blood. We’re gonna have to take her with us when we go.”

  I pick Gwendolyn up and place her on her bed. Then the rest of us hurry to the last student’s room. The final stitch has just gone in when we hear the elevator gates open. I sprint to the balcony and arrive in time to see the gates close again. Then the elevator starts to descend. There’s a trail of blood leading from Gwendolyn’s room to the elevators.

  “She’s making a break for it,” Ella whispers.

  “Do you think she knows we’ve been helping the others?” I ask.

  “No,” Joi replies. “Her brain can’t be getting enough blood. She’s delirious.”

  I believe her. Until the elevator passes the ground floor and disappears below ground.

  “Why didn’t it stop?” Ella asks.

  “Shit. She’s gone to find Mandel.” I turn to Joi. “You still have the key. Get everyone out. Right now.”

  Joi pulls the card key from her pocket and hands it to Ella. “You’ll have to do it,” she says. “Wait until Flick and I are downstairs, then start packing the elevators with students.”

  “You’re going too!” I order.

  “No,” Joi says. “You wouldn’t leave when I told you to either. And I asked nicely.”

  • • •

  The elevator gates open on the Infirmary floor—the nerve center of Mandel’s operation. I expect to be greeted by a swarm of henchmen, and I hope we can keep them busy for a few short minutes while all the Ghosts and Androids flee the building. But Joi and I aren’t met by any welcoming party. Gwendolyn is still on her own. She’s slowly sliding along the wall of the empty hall. A red streak stretches from the elevator toward the two steel doors at the end of the corridor. She’s only a few feet away. Joi and I move cautiously in her direction. The elevator gates shut behind us, and I hear the car climbing back up to the dorm floors.

  “Gwendolyn! What are you doing?” Joi whispers. “You wanted to escape. We’ll take you with us! We’ll get you to a hospital!”

  Gwendolyn’s laugh turns into a cough and then a choke. “I knew you weren’t good enough to be the Dux. You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

  “Don’t do this, Gwendolyn!” I plead. “You’re not thinking straight. Mandel’s been feeding you pills that rot people’s brains. And he was about to let you be executed tonight. Come with us. We’ll help you leave!”

  “Why would I want to leave the academy? In a few minutes, I’ll be Dux again.” Gwendolyn hurls herself toward the lab entrance with her last bit of energy. She’s too weak to stay on her feet, but her finger finds the buzzer before she collapses on the floor.

  Once again, I find myself waiting for an army that never arrives. We hear a single set of footsteps inside the lab. As they approach the hallway, Joi and I frantically try each of the six white doors that lead to the examination rooms where newbies are given their physicals. They’re all locked, and the elevator is gone. We’re trapped. I watch the lab doors open. Lucian Mandel looks down at Gwendolyn’s sapless body and then up at us. He’s wearing a pair of plastic goggles pushed up on his forehead. His white lab coat is splattered with blood. There’s a Taser in his right hand. An advanced model—military grade. The kind that can be deployed from a distance.

  “They were going to escape.” Gwendolyn sounds like she’s gargling with her own blood. “I caught them.”

  “How considerate of you,” Mandel says, stepping over her.

  “I need a doctor,” she moans.

  “Yes,” he agrees as he glances back at her. “It appears that you do. But I’m afraid you’ve come at the wrong time. I gave our physicians the night off.”

  Mandel walks right up to where Joi and I are standing. He looks at Joi and shakes his head sadly. “I’m terribly disappointed, my dear. I had such high hopes for you! Why aren’t you out with the others?”

  Joi glances over at me, but I don’t know what he’s talking about either.

  “You had the file that belongs to Flick’s father! You kept the best for yourself! Why didn’t you use it?” Mandel exclaims before turning his attention to me. “Can you imagine? There’s a knock on your father’s door. Outside is a young woman he recognizes. He knows she once ran a home for orphans and runaways. But her mutant gene has been activated. She’s a true predator now, and she’s chosen your father to be her first victim. She’s stolen his secrets, and he’ll have to pay dearly to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. What better way to convince your father that the gene exists than to have him discover the irrefutable proof on his doorstep?!” Mandel sighs. “I suppose I shouldn’t have expected justice to be quite so poetic.”

  “You knew about the files?” I can see real fear in Joi’s eyes. She’s worried about Curly and the colony kids.

  “Certainly! I’ve been following your exploits since I misplaced my card key during that dreadful smoke incident. I had to make sure that the key hadn’t been stolen, so I checked when it had last been used. It seemed someone had opened the door to my office after the key left my possession. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was responsible. I was curious to find out what you had planned. I assumed it might have something to do with the Fourth of July rooftop party you seemed so eager to throw. That was your second big mistake, I’m afraid. Did you honestly think I don’t have the roof under surveillance? The listening devices up there are activated when they sense the presence of more than one tracking chip. That way my conversations remain private—but yours do not.”

  “You heard everything I said on the Fourth of July?”

  “Of course. I was worried the sound of fireworks might drown out a few words here and there. So I asked Caleb to make a second recording. And I must say, I was not disappointed! Your speech was most inspirational—one might even say brilliant. Sending students to conquer the alumni! I wish I’d thought of it myself!”

  “So you’re not trying to stop the top twelve?” I ask. “You don’t have anyone hunting them down?”

  “Look around! The entire building is empty! Every employee at the academy has been sent out on the search! Unfortunately, they’re looking in the wrong places. There seems to be a flaw in a few of the tracking chips. The signals are off by a few hundred yards. We’ll fix the mistake, of course. Perhaps even tomorrow. But I’m afraid by that time, the escapees will have put all those files to good use.”

  “And you’re going to let them? You’ve turned against the alumni?” Joi asks.

  “Not all of them. I’m only punishing a few who’ve turned against me,” Mandel replies. “A couple of the files you stole belonged to supporters, so I made sure they were switched before the big day arrived. But all in all, you made some excellent choices!”

  “You’re getting rid of your enemies, then.”

  “Yes, but it seems my most powerful foe remains at large.” Mandel smiles pleasantly at the two of us. “So the breakout was only meant to be a distraction? Was I supposed to be chasing fugitives while you two lovebirds made your great escape?”

  He reaches out and runs his thumb over the site of my incision. It comes away streaked with blood. Then he takes Joi’s arm and rubs the same thumb over the spot where her chip should be.

  “What do you have in there?” he asks.

  “Tinfoil.”

  “Brilliant!” He chuckles before giving us both a fake frown. “But very, very naughty indeed. Oh well! Back to plan A.” Then he nudges my side with the tip of the Taser. “I don’t want to be rude, but you’ve interrupted my dinner. We should head back inside before it gets cold.”

  I give his blood-splattered lab coat a once-over. “What are you eating? A whole sheep?”

  “That’s what I admire most about you, Flick,” Mandel tells me. “No matter what, you never seem to lose your sense of humor.”

  He steers us toward the lab doors, which are propped open by one of Gwendolyn’s limp arms.

  “Don’t trip,” Mandel warns u
s as we step over her body. Once the three of us are inside the lab, he kicks Gwendolyn’s arm back into the hall.

  “Thank you!” he calls out to her as the doors slam behind us.

  The lab has been shut down for the night, but the morgue at the far end is brightly lit. I can smell steak and roasted potatoes. I haven’t eaten since lunch, and my mouth is watering against my will. As we draw closer to the light, I catch sight of Mandel’s desk. It’s covered with a crisp white tablecloth. I spot a hunk of filet mignon with a knife still stuck in the center. And an open bottle of champagne. I hear Joi gasp, and I assume she’s disgusted by the celebration Mandel’s been throwing himself. Then my eyes land on one of the autopsy tables. Caleb is lying on top. He’s naked from the waist up. He might have looked like he was sleeping if there wasn’t something wrong with his head. I glance down at a stainless steel tray by the side of the table. Inside is Caleb’s brain.

  “That’s what you do to people who help you?” Joi mutters.

  “It’s a shame, isn’t it?” Mandel agrees. “I’m afraid Caleb saw too much over the weekend. He knows I allowed students to escape. Which meant I couldn’t allow him to live.” He holds up the Taser and takes a sip of his champagne. “And now I’ll be able to assure the alumni that someone has been punished for this rather unfortunate turn of events.”

  “The alumni aren’t stupid. They’ll know you had something to do with the breakout. The missing files only belong to your enemies.”

  “A happy coincidence! And it doesn’t really matter what the alumni suspect. Thanks to you, I have plausible deniability. Of course it’s possible that I knew about the plan. It’s also possible that I didn’t. There’s not a shred of proof either way. Only the three of us know the truth.”

  Which means he can’t let us live either. I wonder which one of us Mandel will cut up first. I should throw myself at him. He’ll shoot me with the Taser, of course, but it might give Joi a chance to run.

  Mandel is watching me. “You are a funny pair,” he says. “Such splendid specimens. And yet you insist on acting so illogically. Your own survival seems to mean very little to you. So if either of you comes within ten feet of me, I’ll Taser the other one first. Do you understand?”

  I nod.

  “Good!” Mandel exclaims with a laugh.

  “So does this mean you’re not going to kill us?” Joi asks.

  “My precious hybrids? Not until it’s absolutely necessary! Perhaps Flick didn’t tell you, but I’m conducting a very important experiment. And now it seems as if I’ll need both of you to finish it. So sit down,” he orders, pointing at the two chairs on either side of his desk.

  Joi and I obey. I take the chair with the view of Caleb so she doesn’t have to look.

  “Now eat,” Mandel commands. “You missed dinner this evening, and you’re going to need all of your strength soon. The filet mignon is excellent. May I offer you both a glass of champagne?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  * * *

  NEVER NEVER LAND

  The warmth might feel good after our visit to Mandel’s frigid morgue—if it weren’t for the faint stench in the air. I doubt it would bother me if I didn’t know what it was. The thought makes my stomach churn, and I can feel a hunk of filet mignon still sitting undigested inside it. I was nauseous before I took my first bite, and I gagged on the second. But Mandel made us keep eating until our plates were clean.

  “Now that your bellies are full, I think it’s time for a nap,” he announced. “But first, please return my card key if you would.”

  I didn’t dare glance at Joi. “It’s upstairs,” I informed him.

  “Still scheming?” Mandel didn’t seem at all offended. “I suppose I could search you, but I have a rather important phone call to make. So I’ll just have to put you in the one room that my key doesn’t open. It might not be as comfortable as your dorms, but I promise you it will be nice and cozy.”

  He marched us out of the morgue and back toward the elevator. We opened the lab doors to find Gwendolyn’s corpse blocking our path.

  “Oh dear.” Mandel sighed as though he’d forgotten all about her. “What a mess. Would you mind?”

  I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to do. “Mind what?” I finally asked.

  “Picking her up!” he exclaimed with exasperation. “She’s coming along for the ride.”

  Joi and I rode the elevator with Gwendolyn’s body slumped between us. Two floors up from the Infirmary, the elevator stopped and the gates opened. A rusty door lay just beyond. It looked as old as the building itself—and just as sturdy. There wasn’t a card slot or a keyhole. The door was secured from the outside with a simple metal bar, which Mandel swiftly removed and set aside.

  “After you,” he told us.

  We entered a cavernous chamber with bare brick walls and a concrete floor. I knew it must have been the building’s original basement. A twenty-first-century central heating system took up half of the room. The other half was empty but for a large industrial furnace. Mandel opened its iron doors, and flames reached out and licked the mouth of the oven.

  I saw a red square outlined in black. When I blinked, it was still there on the back of my eyelids. And I knew it would never go away. Once you’ve seen the gates of hell, the sight stays with you forever.

  • • •

  Gwendolyn must be nothing but ash by now. Joi and I are alone. We’re huddled in a corner, as far away from the furnace as we can possibly get. Joi’s head rests against my chest. I have both arms wrapped around her and my face buried in her hair. With my eyes closed, I can float away on a cloud of jasmine and cocoa butter. I kiss the top of Joi’s head and try to forget that Mandel will return for us as soon as he discovers the academy’s students are gone.

  “What did you go back to get?” I hear Joi ask. It’s the first thing she’s said in a while. I was hoping she’d managed to fall asleep.

  “Hmm?”

  “When we left your room, you went back for something. What was it?”

  I reach into my pocket and pull out the yearbook page. “This.” I pass it to Joi. She unfolds it and smiles.

  “Peter Pan,” she murmurs. “So it wasn’t just a nickname. Jude really played the part. He must have been a great kid.” She thinks it all makes sense to her now. It shouldn’t.

  “I need you to promise me something,” I tell her. “When Mandel comes, you have to do whatever it takes to get out of here. Even if it means I won’t make it. Let him shoot me with the Taser. Then make a run for it.”

  “No,” she says.

  “Yes,” I insist. “There’s something you don’t know. I lost my mind after Jude died, and I don’t think I’ll ever get it back. He visits me at night. Dressed exactly like that.” I tap the page.

  “Flick . . .”

  “My name is Jonathan Brennan. My father went to school here. Now he’s a drunk and a sociopath. He killed my brother. My mother died on the day of Jude’s funeral. And I’ve spent the last year talking to Peter Pan.”

  I wonder why Mandel never mentioned my mother. He must know what happened. Maybe he just couldn’t think of a way to use it against me. I tried calling her the morning Jude was going to be buried. I’d been up half the night, thinking about those damn desert frogs. I wanted to thank her for all the times she tried to save us. And I was going to promise that I’d be back just as soon as I was strong enough to save her. But she didn’t think I could do it. Because when I phoned that morning, she was already gone.

  My father always said I was weak. My mother made me believe it.

  “What do you and Peter Pan talk about?” Joi asks softly.

  “Everything I’m doing wrong.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, he was really pissed when I left the Lower East Side. He thought I should have stayed with you.”

  “Smart kid,” Joi says. “You like talking to him?”

  “Sure. Aside from the nagging, he’s the most entertaining hallucination I�
��ve ever had.”

  “Have you ever wondered if he might be real?”

  “You don’t have to say that,” I tell her. “I don’t need to be coddled like the colony kids.”

  “I’m being perfectly serious,” Joy insists. “How do you know he’s not real? Do you have any proof that he isn’t?”

  “He’s a character from a book for little kids,” I say.

  “He’s your brother.”

  “Jude’s dead.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s gone,” Joi says. “Remember, Flick. You get to choose what you believe.”

  • • •

  I shouldn’t be asleep. I was supposed to stay awake to protect her. But Jude has sent me a dream. He’s not in this one. It’s early in the morning. My father’s already on his way to work, school doesn’t start for another two hours, and the servants won’t arrive until eight. I’m twelve, and my mother has just snuck into my room. She’s quickly pulling clothes out of my bureau and stacking them on top.

  “Where are we going this time?” I ask.

  When she turns around, I’m shocked by how young she looks. How pretty and petite. With hair just as blond as Gwendolyn’s. She had such a beautiful smile, but even then, I could tell when it wasn’t real.

  “On an adventure. To Never Land.” That’s what she always said.

  “Jude’s the one who believes in Never Land,” I point out with a huff.

  My mother leaves the clothes on the dresser and comes over to plant a kiss on my forehead. “And you’re all grown up now. That’s why I know I can trust you to play along.”

  “Why don’t you tell Jude the truth?”

  “Jude knows what the truth is,” my mother says. “He just needs to believe in something else. Do you understand?”

  I nod.

  “I knew you would.” She wraps me up in a hug and holds me close so I can’t see her tears.

  “What’s wrong?” I whisper with my eyes squeezed shut. If I cry, she’ll cry even harder.

  “I just wish you believed in Never Land too.”