B003J5UJ4U EBOK

by Lubar, David

  Commonality # 1

  Search requests during a single session were made

  for:

  Anderson

  Woo

  Grieg

  Dobbs

  Calabrizi

  Thalmayer

  Click for details.

  Commonality # 2

  Edward Thalmager and Dennis Woo

  Listed on a prior roster at Edgeview Alternative

  School.

  Click for details.

  The hunt was on. Bowdler entered the first two names in the computer, along with the four new last names. All six came up with one commonality—Edgeview Alternative School.

  Bowdler made a phone call. “Cover the alarm systems for me. I’ve routed everything over to you. I may be tied up for a few hours.”

  “Do you want me to go there?”

  “No need. They’re secure.”

  “What about our little problem?”

  “Maybe it’s time he disappeared.”

  “Just say the word.”

  “No. This one I’m saving for myself. But I’ll let you watch.”

  while bowdler

  digs, cheater gets

  another visitor …

  CHEATER IMAGINED HIMSELF coming to Trash’s rescue in widescreen Cinemascope action, choreographed by wire-work stunt wizard Yuen Wo-Ping. He flew through the air, kicking down the door like a karate master and disarming a gang of bad guys in a blur of feet and fists.

  “That would be so sweet …”

  But this wasn’t a time for fantasies. He looked over at the phone for the hundredth time. Call the police? Call the FBI? Call the newspaper? Cheater knew he had to make a decision. But none of the choices seemed right.

  At least I’m feeling better, he thought. His face still hurt, and his ribs ached, but the pain was easing. It was all bearable as long as he remembered not to talk too much.

  Even so, he couldn’t help gasping when Torchie came running into his room. “Where’d you come from? Why are you carrying an accordion? I’ve never seen one that big.”

  Torchie spilled out an avalanche of words about a hotel, ice cubes, and bad guys with a laundry cart. After he’d finished, and paused to gulp down some air, he added, “How are we gonna find them?”

  “I know where they are,” Cheater said. “We have to get them out of there. The guy who locked them up is freakin’ crazy. I’ve never been inside a mind that was that dark and twisted. But we’ll do it.” Together, he knew they could rescue the guys. Synergy was a powerful force. Together, the guys from Edgeview were more than the sum of their parts.

  “When are they letting you out?” Torchie asked.

  “Right now,” Cheater said. “Though they don’t know that, yet.” Wincing, he sat up at the edge of the bed.

  captive audience

  THE LAST TIME I’d seen him, blood was gushing from his mouth. “I thought I’d killed you.”

  “I’m a tough old coot,” he said. “Plenty of nastier people have taken a shot or stab at me, and I survived. But you came closer than any of the professionals.” He nodded his head toward me, as if to acknowledge my deadly skills. “I’m Don Thurston.”

  “You’re not dead …” It still hadn’t completely sunk in. From the moment the memory came back to me, I’d thought of myself as a murderer. The guilt had colored everything I did. It was with me when I woke, and when I went to sleep. I’d taken a life. The weight of that burden had slowed my reactions when I’d had a chance to stop Bowdler.

  “No, I’m not dead. Not yet.”

  “Why are you locked up? I though you were one of them.”

  “I was. But I never would have handled things the way Bowdler did. He and I are opposites in far too many ways. The whole scenario was wrong—faking your death, keeping you prisoner. I was out of action while that was happening. After I got patched up and saw the way they were treating you, I told Bowdler how I felt. That was a mistake. From then on, he made sure I didn’t have direct access to you. I had to think of some way to help you escape.”

  “Help me escape?” What was he talking about? Nobody had done anything for me. Unless … “The medication?”

  “I replaced it with water. I figured when you got out of that stupor it would be easy for you to escape. I just hadn’t counted on Bowdler realizing I played a role in your awakening.”

  So he’d helped me get free, and I’d blown it. Now we were both locked up. “What’s going to happen to us?”

  “Me? I’ll probably just disappear once he decides I’m not of any value. I’d have vanished already if he was sure he could get away with it. I still have some friends out there who’d be upset if they thought I’d been canceled.”

  “What about me?”

  “Bowdler plans to turn you into the perfect weapon.”

  “No way. I’m not doing anything for him.”

  “You’ll do everything for him,” Thurston said. “His whole background is in psychological warfare and brainwashing. Believe me, if he wanted to, he could convince you to jump off the Statue of Liberty, or shoot your best friend.”

  I refused to believe I’d ever do what Bowdler wanted. “He’s had me locked up for months, and I still won’t obey him.” My parents had certainly sent me to enough psychologists without changing anything.

  “That was before he had the disrupter. You can’t break a will that isn’t there. Bowdler needed to keep you safely drugged until he had a way to neutralize your power. Now that you have a clear head and no way to hurt him, he can start working on your mind. You’re a tough kid, but he’ll break you into a thousand pieces, and then build you back into whatever he wants.”

  “What about my parents? Are they okay?” I asked.

  “As far as I know. They left the country. It’s rough that they think you’re dead. That’s another part of the plan I didn’t agree with. I didn’t see you as a dangerous weapon that could turn on us. I saw you as raw talent that would probably be eager to help your country. Most boys your age are patriots.”

  He was right. I was a patriot. But that raised another question. “How could the government treat us this way? I might be a kid, but I have rights.”

  Thurston stared at me for a moment across the dark corridor that separated our cells. “What makes you think Bowdler is with the government?”

  while trash is learning

  the truth, torchie and

  cheater rush to

  the rescue …

  “IT’S LOCKED,” TORCHIE said. He twisted the door knob again just to make sure.

  “Of course it’s locked,” Cheater said. “Open the lock.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. Burn it.”

  “I can’t burn metal,” Torchie said.

  “How do you know? Have you ever tried?”

  “No.”

  “So try.”

  “Okay, but stop shouting at me.”

  Torchie glanced over his shoulder to make sure nobody was coming down the street toward them. He didn’t think that would be a problem. The buildings on the street looked empty. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

  “Absolutely.” Cheater pointed to the faded lettering on the canopy that still covered the walkway, “KRAUS FUNERAL HOME. I read it right out of Bowdler’s mind. Now hurry up.”

  “Don’t rush me.” Torchie scrunched up his face, stared at the lock, and tried to make it catch fire.

  “Nothing’s happening,” Cheater said.

  “I know. Give me a minute. It’s not like it’s a piece of paper.” Torchie took a deep breath, stepped back, and tried harder. The doorknob started to glow.

  “You’re doing it!” Cheater shouted.

  The glow faded.

  “Please stop talking,” Torchie said. He was pretty sure he had the technique now. He gave the knob a full-power blast.

  Wummmppfffff.

  With a sound like a gas grill lighting, the whole door burst into bright-orange flame. A wave of heat washed over Torc
hie’s face, drawing a flood of sweat from his forehead. The fire only lasted for an instant. Then it faded, leaving the door looking darker than before.

  “Wow. That was fast. Talk about spontaneous combustion.” Cheater reached forward and touched the surface of the door with the tip of one finger.

  The whole door collapsed in a pile of ashes. The knob, with the key-plate and bolt still attached, fell with a clatter, bouncing down the steps like the world’s most badly designed Slinky.

  “That’ll work,” Cheater said. “Come on. Let’s rescue them.” He jumped through the opening, throwing an awkward flying kick, then let out a shout of pain as he landed.

  Torchie sniffed the air. Beside the smell of burned wood, he noticed something else. A sharper smell. Plastic, he thought. Torchie was familiar with the way just about anything flammable smelled when it burned. He looked up and saw the melted remains of thin red and black wires at the top of the door frame. Probably for the doorbell.

  Feeling pleased that he’d opened the door without attracting attention, Torchie followed Cheater into the building.

  give me five

  “I FIGURED BOWDLER had to be from the government. He has all these resources. Everyone who was after me looked like some kind of government agent.”

  Thurston shook his head. “Manpower isn’t that expensive. There are plenty of thugs with guns looking for work. You can hire someone to do anything—even guard a captive kid without asking questions.” He waved his hand around us. “This place is nothing, considering the size of Psibertronix’s budget.”

  “Psibertronix? Who are they?”

  “You heard of the cold war?” he asked.

  “Sure. When the US and Russia were trying to destroy each other without dropping bombs.” I’d had that in social studies. The space race was part of the cold war—with both countries trying to get some sort of military advantage. And there was all sorts of spy stuff. Tiny cameras. Deadly poison hidden in the tip of an umbrella. Secret codes. Double and triple agents. Stuff that would have seemed super cool to me before I’d gotten that dart in my neck.

  “We were way ahead of Russia in electronics,” Thurston said. “Russia was far ahead of us on psychic research. For the most part, our military and intelligence agencies ignored paranormal phenomena. Almost nobody believed in it. But a group of researchers persuaded the Pentagon to fund experiments in the hopes that we could use psi powers to win the cold war.”

  “I thought you said it wasn’t a government group.”

  “Not now. Back then it was. Bowdler and I headed a unit that was part of a joint project run by the CIA and the Army. I was brought in because I’d helped uncover some of the Russian secret projects. Bowdler was brought in because of his background in psychology and mind control. We were especially interested in remote spying. But we investigated all sorts of other wild stuff—we tried to walk through walls, knock out animals with our minds, develop immunity to toxic gas.”

  “What did you discover?” I asked.

  “Nothing. We never made any real progress. When the cold war ended, the government cut our funding. Bowdler was the one who suggested we could form a private company. He realized he was at a dead end in his Army career. He wanted to be a general some day. They wanted him to go away. But the military was happy to fund our research, even if there was only a small chance we’d ever find anything.”

  “But when I got caught, they had the bank photos. That had to be connected with the FBI.”

  Thurston nodded. “Just because we aren’t part of the government doesn’t mean they don’t cooperate with us. All the agencies share information with us. When the FBI got involved with the bank case, they didn’t even notice you on the video. But the officer who investigated the case marked it as ‘unexplained’ so the file came to us. We took a lot closer look at all the surveillance material than anyone else had. They weren’t looking for psi. We were. Well, I was. Bowdler didn’t really believe.”

  “He didn’t believe?” Flinch asked, stepping up to the bars next to me.

  Thurston shook his head. “He was a total skeptic.”

  Behind me, Martin said, “Someone’s upstairs.”

  “How do you know?” Flinch asked. “You suddenly develop new powers?”

  “Nope. I heard a thump. But from the way they’re stumbling around, I think my idea turned out to be brilliant. And I sense an apology coming my way in the near future.” Martin flashed a smug look in my direction.

  I glanced up at the ceiling, then back at Thurston. I wanted to learn as much as possible before we were interrupted. When Dad was going into a business deal, he dug up everything he could find out about the guy on the other side—even his hobbies and favorite charities. “If Bowdler didn’t believe in psi, why did he start a company?”

  “The same reason lots of people start companies. Money. We got a nice research budget from the military. That was fine with me. I believed in what we were doing. Not Bowdler. He was just getting back at them for not promoting him. He was totally unprepared when we discovered you. I suspect that’s why he didn’t turn you right over to the government. He needed to figure out a way to pull the most profit from our discovery. It looks like he’s decided to offer a package deal. You’re the weapon, he’s the controller.”

  “There’s definitely someone upstairs,” Martin said. “It sounds like they’re searching the place. Which means they’re not the bad guys.” He turned toward the stairs and shouted, “Hey! We’re down here!”

  A moment later, I saw Cheater and Torchie lurch into view. Cheater was a bit wobbly, but he looked okay. Torchie was wobbly, too, since he was carrying his accordion.

  “How’d you get in?” I asked.

  “I torched the door,” Torchie said, grinning. “That was hard work. I gotta sit down.” He moved past the cell door and slumped to the floor by the side wall.

  “You’re supposed to thank us for rescuing you,” Cheater said. “I figured out what Martin wanted me to do as soon as that creepy guy showed up.”

  Behind me, Martin cleared his throat. “Anyone want to apologize for doubting me?”

  I had something more urgent to deal with. “The front door?” I asked, thinking about the alarm at the lab.

  “Yeah, we came right in the front,” Cheater said. “What’s the big deal?”

  “You’d better find the key to this cage real fast,” I said. “I think you set off an alarm.”

  Before Cheater could do anything, I heard more footsteps on the stairs. Heavy, adult steps. A big guy came down, gun in hand. With his other hand, he removed a pair of sunglasses from his face and put them in his shirt pocket. His expression was chillingly blank, like he didn’t care what he found at the bottom of the stairs.

  synergy

  BEHIND ME, I heard Martin gasp, then whisper, “He’s a hired killer. That’s the guy who was at your house. I called the cops on him, but I guess it didn’t do any good.”

  Keeping the gun on Cheater, the guy held out a large key. “Unlock it,” he said.

  Cheater took the key and turned toward the cell. I looked around the room. Martin, Flinch, Cheater, Torchie, and me. We had powers that could stop this right now. But our powers were useless while this disrupter was buried in my arm. Torchie was our best bet. But he was right next to me, in range of the disrupter. He’d have to move back past the guy with the gun before he could do anything. We were powerless.

  No, that wasn’t right. Only our psychic powers had been disrupted. We were bonded together by a lot more than that. Martin must have had the same thought. “We’re still a team,” he said as Cheater put the key in the lock.

  “We just have to cut that thing out of your arm,” Flinch said, his voice louder than normal.

  They both looked at me. I knew what we had to do. So did they. Now we just had to get the message to Cheater.

  “If they hadn’t sewn this thing in my arm, you’d be in big trouble right now,” I said to the guy.

  He laughed and said,
“If I hadn’t eaten breakfast, I’d be hungry. ‘Ifs’ are worthless, kid. Get tough and swallow a big mouthful of reality.”

  I looked over at Cheater, hoping he’d gotten the message. Come on, we’re a team. Even if the disrupter wasn’t working, he was too far away to read my mind. But he was close enough to me in other ways to understand what I was trying to tell him. Time seemed to crawl as I waited for Cheater to act.

  He turned the key, pulled open the door, then tossed the key to Martin. As Martin caught the key, Cheater spun back toward the man, held his hands up in a karate stance, and shouted, “Hi-ya!”

  I yanked off my shirt and closed my eyes. I felt someone grab me from behind. An instant later, there was a searing pain in my arm so agonizing that I started to pass out. I wanted to flee the pain, but if I lost consciousness, we’d be doomed for sure.

  I forced my eyes open. Martin was sawing through the stitches with the key. His own face looked so pale, I could see the veins beneath his skin. I guess Flinch was holding me, because I felt strong arms wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my side.

  In front of us, the big guy was staring at Cheater like he was some sort of annoying insect. He pointed the gun at him. “Out of the way. Now.”

  Cheater waved his arms around and shouted even louder. “Hiiii-Yaaahhhh!”

  “Hurry.” I tried to say it calmly, but it came out as a scream.

  The guy stepped forward, grabbed Cheater by the shirt with his left hand, and tossed him aside like he was made of straw. Cheater let out a howl of pain as he hit the floor. Now the gun was aimed right at me.

  I spotted motion out of the corner of my eyes. Torchie rose to his feet, squeezed the accordion shut, then rushed forward and rammed the guy with it. The guy grunted and staggered a couple steps. He must have felt like he was hit by a small truck. But he didn’t fall or drop the gun. I knew we only had a second.

  “Get it out of me!” There was blood spraying from my arm. Martin’s hands were shaking.

  “I can’t,” he said.

  “Do it! Or Bowdler will control all of us.”