by Megan Atwood
Ana said, “The service is under your name, right?”
Emma nodded. “Yeah, so don’t forget to pay the bill. I used that email you gave me as the contact. I’ll find you if you screw me over!” She laughed and so did Ana. Relief coursed through her veins. Then Emma turned serious. “Listen, my mom is an assistant district attorney. If there’s something wrong . . .”
For one desperate moment, Ana wanted to tell Emma everything. Have Emma’s mom swoop in and fix everything. But she knew that wouldn’t happen. She’d lost her proof about Philip. Even if people believed her, Ana and Izzy would be back in the foster system, maybe split up. And then there was the Benefactor—who clearly had even more power to hurt Ana and Izzy than the Davenports did. No way could she explain the Contest to someone like Emma’s mom. Ana looked down and shook her head.
Emma said, “OK. If you change your mind, I’m here.” And then the bell rang, saving Ana from having to say anything.
*****
When Ana got home, she checked the Contest’s website for her next task.
24:00:00
TASK 6
Go to EarthWatch offices on University Avenue in St. Paul. Go to the office of Nikki Ostero. Find the flash drive in the top left-hand drawer of her desk. Bring the flash drive home and destroy it.
Why did EarthWatch sound familiar? They’d been on the schedule app at SolarStar, hadn’t they?
She looked them up on her new tablet. They were an environmental think tank. The kind of place SolarStar might work with, maybe. Did the Benefactor have a problem with environmental groups?
All she knew for sure was that she was about to lose another night’s sleep.
CHAPTER 14
At 2:55 in the morning, Ana got dressed in the dark. She threw her keys, her new tablet, and her lock-picking set into her purse. Then she tiptoed downstairs, disarmed the alarm, and slipped out the back door. If she and Izzy ever did run away, this part of it would be a cinch.
Ana took the light rail downtown, then walked as quickly as she could to the address. It was in a rundown storefront with little to no security. Why would the Benefactor care about a little operation like this?
She looked around—nobody on the street—and then took out her lock-picking kit. She inserted the first pick until she could hear that click. Then entered the second one and turned it.
Bingo.
She checked each office and finally found Nikki Ostero’s. She sneaked inside and headed for the desk.
She opened the top left-hand drawer, barely able to see. Papers, pens, pencils—aha. Her hands closed around it: Nikki Ostero’s flash drive.
Then she heard the front door open and a woman’s voice. Ana ducked down under the desk. She could hear one side of the conversation. Clearly the person was on the phone.
“Nope, I’m here safely . . . I told you, I left my flash drive here, and I need to go over some stuff before tomorrow morning’s meeting . . . ”
Ana’s hand tightened around the flash drive. Curses darted through her brain. Nikki Ostero was here.
“ . . . Yes, I do know what time it is . . . Well, this is huge for us, darling, you know that. If we don’t impress everyone with these schematics, they don’t have to go forward with the—OK, I’ll stop. Give me two minutes to find it . . .”
Hiding under the desk wasn’t going to work. Nikki Ostero would spot her as soon as she turned on a light.
The door. Get behind the door.
Ana darted out from beneath the desk and over to the door, which stood half-open. She slipped behind it just before a woman walked into the office. An overhead light flipped on. Ana pressed herself against the wall and held her breath.
She could hear Nikki Ostero murmuring to herself, rummaging through a drawer. Then another drawer. “Where the . . . I could’ve sworn . . . I mean, it might be in my bag at home, but I checked it before I left . . . Well, why don’t you look in it, honey? Since you’re home right now and I’m here, you know?”
Ana heard the edge in the woman’s voice. This flash drive was important to her. Ana knew exactly how she felt.
“What about the extra pocket inside that one? Of course there’s a pocket inside a pocket . . .” A drawer slammed closed.
“OK, fine, I’m coming back home. I’ll double-check the bag myself. See you in ten.”
The light shut off, and the voice moved away. A moment later, Ana heard the outer door open and close and then the metallic click of a key in the lock.
She sucked in a huge gulp of air. Shakily, she stepped out from behind the door.
Almost done.
But before she took this drive back to her house—where the Benefactor could see her—she was going to do one more thing. She pulled out her tablet, inserted the flash drive, and copied its files.
*****
Back in her room, Ana dumped Nikki Ostero’s flash drive in a glass of water. Now the Benefactor would know she destroyed it.
She’d look at the files on her tablet tomorrow. So far she’d been careful not to use the tablet inside her house, where the Benefactor might notice. Using her laptop, Ana pulled up the website.
TASK 6 COMPLETE.
Check back at 3 p.m. Saturday for your next task.
She had almost two days before Task 7. Plenty of time to do some spying of her own.
CHAPTER 15
All day Friday, whenever she had a chance between classes, Ana looked through the files on her tablet. Nikki Ostero’s flash drive had held endless folders full of meeting notes, agendas, emails, articles, form letters, and grant numbers.
Boring. She tried to read all of the documents, but her head started to spin.
Finally, she came across a folder titled “SolarStar Project.”
So EarthWatch was working with SolarStar. More connections.
Ana opened up the document. It looked like plans for something. But she couldn’t make sense of any of it. The only thing she recognized out of the whole thing was a picture of a car.
Why would an environmental group have schematics for a car?
She shook her head and closed down the documents. All she knew was she had something the Benefactor wanted. And she was closer to finding an answer for this whole thing.
*****
On Saturday morning, Ana went to the park alone. She sat on a bench with her tablet and earbuds, listening to the conversations her pen had recorded at Solar Star. So far no one had said anything that even a little bit secretive, or even that interesting. By lunchtime, she was beginning to give up.
But then she heard it. One half of a conversation—Steinberg was on the phone:
“Corinne! I’m so glad you called. Looking forward to our meeting next week. The folks at EarthWatch are very excited about it too . . .”
Corinne was more than a golf buddy—that much was for sure. There was silence and some “uh-huhs” and “yeps.” And then Steinberg ended it with, “Well, I can’t thank you enough for your generosity. And I’m so glad we get to partner in this adventure. . . . Thank you for saying so. Once you see the schematics for the prototype, you’ll be even more sure of that. I think we might just change the world.”
Laughter, and then the recording ended.
Ana took out her ear buds and frowned. So EarthWatch was partnering with SolarStar on some project. And SolarStar was partnering with Huffmann Industries. But why was the Benefactor interested in any of that?
She didn’t have any more answers than she’d had five days ago. Just more questions.
CHAPTER 16
Ana’s seventh task was to take pictures of a man and his family and deliver them, again, to the apartment she’d had to go to twice now. Whoever this person was, they sure were getting a lot of attention from the Benefactor. Ana thought about the Contest web page and the three anonymous other players in the game. This person—James? James Trudeleau?—was certainly one of them. And probably Maiv too. But who was the fourth?
She didn’t have time to think about it at the m
oment. She followed the directions of her next task and went to a park in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. She saw the man playing with two kids. For a moment, sadness settled on her chest like a stone. She and Izzy had never had that. A dad who cared. But then, everyone thought the Davenports were a perfect family too.
Ana swallowed down her disappointment and stood far away, taking several photographs. When she was done, she went to a photo studio—one of the last left—and had her photos developed. The clerk looked at her funny when he handed them to her. She said, “My uncle,” even though the pictures were of a white man, and she was clearly Latina. The clerk let it go.
*****
A man was leaving the apartment building just as Ana walked up to it. He held the door open for her, so she didn’t have to break in again. Ana set the envelope down on a table by the mailboxes, then went back outside. Part of her badly wanted to go up to James Trudeleau’s apartment and knock on the door. But the Benefactor would see or hear that. The Trudeleau apartment had to be just as closely monitored as Ana’s house.
Still, Ana paused after she’d crossed the street. Maiv and Colin were both about her age. James Trudeleau was probably a teenager too. Maybe if she stuck around awhile, she’d see him come into or out of the apartment. If he was coming out, he’d probably be holding the envelope she’d just dropped off. If he was going in—well, maybe he’d look anxious, as if he was expecting something.
As if he was part of a contest he couldn’t get out of.
At least she could watch for guys about her age.
And then what? Approach somebody? Ask if they knew the Benefactor?
Probably not. There might be a camera in James’s apartment window. That would explain how the Benefactor had known Ana showed up outside with the banner earlier this week.
The thought made her antsy. She took out her tablet and tried to look like she was focusing on it.
But just then she saw a tall African American boy coming up the street.
The same boy who had knocked her down at school.
He walked to the front door of the apartment building and went in.
Ana’s heart stopped. This had to be James Trudeleau.
No way did he go to Kenwood, not living in a place like this.
And in that case . . .
James Trudeleau had probably been at Kenwood because of her. The same way she’d gone to Cleveland High because of Maiv. In fact, his task that day had probably been to steal Ana’s backpack. Which meant . . .
James Trudeleau had her jump drive. And her ticket to freedom.
CHAPTER 17
When Ana got home, she knew there was trouble. She could hear Izzy crying upstairs.
She dropped the package that had been waiting for her on the front step and sprinted into Izzy’s room. Her foster dad stood there, holding his belt. Izzy was curled up against the wall crying.
“There you are!” He bellowed. “This one”—he pointed to Izzy—“decided not to tell me where her big sister went.” He swung the belt around but Ana dodged it.
The camera pen was sitting on Izzy’s dresser—right where Ana had left it a few days ago, when she’d swapped it for the recorder pen. James Trudeleau might still have her jump drive. But Philip Davenport had just given Ana more evidence of his true colors. That was all she needed.
Ana grabbed the pen off the dresser. Then she held out her free hand, staring her foster dad in the eye. “Izzy, come on. Let’s go outside.”
Izzy ran to her and grabbed her hand.
“You’re not going anywhere!” roared Philip. “Neither of you!”
“I have proof!” Ana yelled.
He froze.
“I have proof that you hit little girls with belts. How would that play out at the country club, huh? If you want to mess with Izzy and me anymore, you’re taking your life into your own hands.”
“You’re lying,” he snarled. “You don’t have proof of anything.”
Ana tossed the pen at him. He tried to catch it, missed, then lunged to grab it off the floor.
“That’s a camera. And it recorded what you just did. It streamed the footage straight to a website. I know how to access that website. You don’t.”
She was almost a foot shorter than Philip, but in that moment he looked as small as a rodent. His eyes even went beady, staring at the pen.
“And that’s not the only camera in this house,” Ana added. “You can try to find them all. Or you can stop hurting us. Because if you don’t, I’ll turn you in.”
He glowered at her. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Just try me. I’d love to ruin your life the way you’ve ruined ours. Just give me one—more—reason.”
Gripping Izzy’s shaking hand in hers, Ana stared hard at her foster dad one last time. Then she turned around with Izzy and left the room.
*****
“What are we going to do?” Izzy whispered once they were sitting in the backyard. It was chilly out here and almost full dark. But Ana wanted to talk to her sister without the Benefactor’s bugs keeping tabs on them.
She said, “I think I’ve bought us some time. Once he takes a good hard look at that pen, he’ll realize I was telling the truth. It’s a camera. For all he knows, there are dozens of other cameras planted around the house.” Thanks to the Benefactor, that might even be true. “He won’t bother us again until he’s sure he’s not being recorded. And by then we’ll be gone.”
“Ana,” Izzy said forcefully. “Where are we going? Are we leaving? What is going on?”
Ana put her hands on Izzy’s shoulders. It was time she knew at least part of the truth.
“I’m working on a plan to get us out of here. Soon. The thing is, we have to be ready to move fast. So I want you to have a bag packed at all times. Keep your iPad charged and with you in case I text. I’ll use our code, our new code, if I need to. Got it?”
She nodded with big brown eyes.
“OK, I need to check some emails. Why don’t you get your beads and make some bracelets? They’re still in my closet?”
Izzy’s eyes lit up.
“Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” Izzy headed back toward the house. By the way she was moving, Ana guessed she’d stopped her foster dad from getting in any hits.
As fast as she could, Ana pulled her tablet out of her purse, brought up the pens’ website, and found the footage from Izzy’s room. She’d been right—Philip had been coming toward Izzy with the belt but hadn’t actually swung it. Then Ana had burst into the room. It wasn’t complete proof of abuse, but it still looked pretty bad for Philip. It would have to do.
Ana saved a copy of the video on her tablet. Then she attached it to an email message. In the subject line, she typed “DO NOT OPEN UNLESS I TEXT YOU.” Then she sent the email to Emma.
And then she breathed.
*****
Back inside, while Izzy worked on her bracelets, Ana opened the package from the Benefactor. It was full of fireworks. Hardcore fireworks. As if this situation could get any more insane.
She went to her laptop and pulled up the Contest’s website.
TASK 8
Take the fireworks to Burnett’s Hardware store in North Minneapolis. Light them behind the back of the store. You must do this at 12:00 tonight. You must light them against the wall to the left of the back door.
Ana guessed setting off some fireworks wasn’t the most awful thing you could do to somebody. She’d done worse.
So much for breathing easily.
CHAPTER 18
Behind Burnett Hardware, Ana lit the fireworks’ fuse. After the first hiss, she realized she had to run away fast. Luckily, there was a tiny parking lot behind the store, with one car parked there. Ana was hidden behind the car when the fireworks went off.
Which was when she realized what she’d done. Why the Benefactor had chosen that exact spot.
When the first firework shot up, it shot directly into the old, warped, dry wood of the building. And caught fire.
In less than a minute, half the store was in flames.
Ana fumbled with her phone and dialed 911. When the operator answered, she barely remembered the address.
By the time she’d given details, three people had stumbled out of the building. Ana peered at them from behind the car. A mother and two sons?
They hugged each other, coughing and crying.
She’d set fire to a tinderbox with people inside.
Sirens wailed close by. A firetruck and a police car parked along the street. As a police officer approached the family, one son broke away from the group and paced. Ana heard the woman tell the cop, “Our insurance papers were just stolen.”
The son’s face was white as a ghost’s. When he looked up, he looked right into Ana’s eyes.
Ana crouched back down behind the car. She could hear the boy walking toward her across the gravel parking lot. He came around the side of the car and stood looking down at her. She put her finger to her lips, and he nodded.
This was the fourth player in the Contest.
Ana whispered, “The Benefactor may be watching.” She saw the boy nod. Tears clogged her throat. “I’m so sorry. This fire is my fault. I didn’t realize . . .”
She saw his fists clench, and for a second she was sure he would hit her. But then he said, “We have to find the Benefactor.”
Ana swallowed. “Yes. I think I’ve figured out a little about what’s going on.”
“Me too. I can't talk long, but—here.” He pulled a tiny notebook and a pen out of his jeans pocket. “You can reach me at this email address. The Benefactor doesn’t know about it.” He scribbled onto a notebook page, tore out the page, and handed it to her.
“I’ve got a secret email address too,” said Ana. He gave her the pen and paper, and she wrote it out for him.
“OK,” he said. “I’ll email you tomorrow with the information I’ve got so far. My name’s Colin, by the way.”
“I’m Ana.”
“I know,” he said solemnly. “Ana, I just sent you a gun.”
Ana’s whole body went cold. But she heard herself saying calmly, “Then I guess things are about to get even more interesting.”