Going Wild #3

by Lisa McMann

  But getting into Mexico would prove to be harder than anyone ever expected.

  CHAPTER 17

  Detour Ahead

  As the plane touched down, Miko leaned forward into the aisle and tapped Dr. Gray on the shoulder. “Are you sure we’re not going to have a problem, Dr. Gray?” she whispered anxiously. “Won’t the customs officials be suspicious of the way we look?”

  “Not these officials,” Dr. Gray said lightly.

  Miko narrowed her eyes. “Do you know them or something? Are these your contacts?”

  “I know a lot of people.” Dr. Gray glanced out the window. “Like the pilot—you saw he didn’t have any problem with you. So don’t worry. I’ve got everything figured out.”

  Miko sat back, but her concerned expression remained. They taxied for a while, then came to a stop at a hangar far from the main terminal.

  Kelly leaned toward the window and looked closer. Was this the kind of place where celebrities landed so they didn’t have to walk through the crowded airport and get mobbed by fans? When Kelly became famous, she’d be able to say with a bored look that she’d already done the private jet thing. She smiled sleepily.

  Dr. Gray sat up sharply, startling Kelly out of her daydream. The doctor leaned over to his window and muttered under his breath, “Who on earth is that?”

  Kelly looked. A small group of uniformed officials were walking toward the airplane. The pilot opened the plane door and lowered the steps so the officials could board.

  Dr. Gray glanced wildly around, his face distraught. “This isn’t … I don’t …” He unbuckled his seat belt and stood up.

  “What’s going on?” hissed Miko.

  Dr. Gray turned, looking panicked. “Everybody stay calm and cover up,” he said, which only made Kelly feel like freaking out. Obviously, something unexpected had happened, but what?

  “Aren’t these your contacts?” Kelly whispered. “What’s wrong?”

  Dr. Gray shushed her, then grabbed her arm and tugged, but her seat belt was still on. “Get up!” he whispered harshly. “Everybody else stay seated.”

  As Kelly fumbled with her seat belt, Dr. Gray turned to Miko, who was the soldier closest to the front of the plane. “These officials shouldn’t ask to see inside your backpack,” he said, “but Kelly will help with that if there’s a problem.”

  Kelly frowned and stood up. What kind of problem?

  “Is something wrong?” asked Prowl under his breath. “Victor, for God’s sake, tell us.”

  Dr. Gray ignored him and checked the window again. The officials had reached the bottom of the steps.

  “Victor!” Prowl hissed.

  Dr. Gray gestured angrily at him, then turned and spat out to the soldiers, “It’s customs. I’d made arrangements but … something must have happened. Just act natural.” Then he muttered to Kelly, “If they seem suspicious, hypnotize them.”

  “What? All of them?” said Kelly, startled. “Sheesh. Okay.” Her palms began to sweat. She hadn’t known she’d have to do something like that. Weren’t these people like the police? It seemed a lot worse somehow to do that to a law enforcement officer than to a zoo worker. Especially in a different country. What if some weren’t looking at her? What if it didn’t work? Would she be arrested?

  Kelly’s heart raced as she watched through the window. The last of the agents climbed the stairs to the plane and the first ones were coming inside and greeting the pilot. One of the officers glanced at her. Kelly began to worry that if she didn’t go into camo mode soon, she wouldn’t be able to take it to the hypnosis level in time. But if she went camo now, they’d realize something was up. Even if she could stay hidden, at least one of them had seen her. And all her stuff was here. Plus, Dr. Gray wanted to block their view of the weird-looking soldiers. How was she supposed to do all of that? It was impossible. Kelly blew out a breath. She’d have to stay visible and hope everything went smoothly.

  Miko shifted in her seat and Prowl growled under his breath.

  The pilot returned to the cockpit and the first official came back into view. Dr. Gray stepped forward. “I’m Dr. Victor Gray,” he said, handing them his passport. “Where … is Roberto Garcia Pérez? He said he was going to meet me. Us.”

  “Oh, really?” The official studied Dr. Gray through narrowed eyes, then looked at Kelly. “Officer Garcia Pérez was detained this morning.”

  Kelly wasn’t sure what that meant, but it didn’t sound good. Dr. Gray’s hands tremored. The official took his passport and studied it, then handed it to one of the others, who scanned it. “What brings you to Guadalajara?” the man asked, leaning to see the rest of the passengers. His eyes widened.

  “Medical procedures,” Dr. Gray said. He tilted his head toward the soldiers and didn’t elaborate. Kelly swallowed hard. She supposed collecting DNA could technically be considered a medical procedure, but she didn’t think that was what Dr. Gray meant. He was pretending that the soldiers were patients who needed to be worked on. Kelly frowned. She wondered how they felt about that.

  “Passports?” asked the official as he studied each of them with growing alarm. “We’ll need you to take your masks off so we can compare your photos.”

  Miko froze. Prowl stiffened. In the back, Mega stood up. “I don’t think so,” she said.

  “Mega.” Dr. Gray held up a hand to stop her from doing something stupid. Then he turned back to the official. “Officer, when I alerted Roberto of our visit and our special situation, I was told that removing the masks wouldn’t be necessary because of the nature of their … conditions. They are at grave risk … for … acquiring diseases. They could die.”

  Kelly’s heart pounded. Dr. Gray was scrambling. Everything felt awful.

  “Roberto was lying,” said the officer. He pushed past Kelly and Dr. Gray, reaching for the passports that a few of the soldiers held out. Not everyone was complying, either because of stubbornness or because they didn’t have them.

  “Remove the masks!” the officer said, his voice raised.

  Dr. Gray elbowed Kelly and gave her a hard look.

  Kelly startled into action. Abandoning reason, she tapped on her device, activating camouflage mode.

  One of the other officials noticed her. “Eduardo!” she called out to the lead guy.

  Kelly’s heart flew to her throat. She concentrated, trying to hurry to get to the pulsating level.

  Eduardo turned swiftly. He saw Kelly’s strange pulsing and drew his weapon. “What’s happening to her?” he demanded.

  “That weapon is not necessary!” said Dr. Gray firmly, putting his hands up. “Please let me explain. I’ll have them all take off their masks.”

  The official narrowed his eyes. “Do it, then,” he said. “And explain that. What’s happening to the blond girl? What’s going on here?” He pointed the weapon at Kelly. “Where’s your passport?”

  Kelly started shaking. She couldn’t concentrate with a gun in her face. Her pulsing stopped, leaving her camouflaged, but everyone had just seen her there a minute ago. She grabbed her passport from her bag and threw it at the woman, then tried again to get the hypnotic feature to kick in.

  “Put your hands in the air!” Eduardo said to Kelly. “What is happening?”

  “I—I don’t know!” said Kelly. Her camouflage failed and she became fully visible again.

  “Friends,” prompted Dr. Gray, panic in his voice. “Do what the officials ask you to do.”

  The officials watched closely as the soldiers removed their masks. Kelly quickly returned to camo mode and strained to get back to the point where the pulsing began. Finally she could see from the corner of her eye that it was starting to work. With no time to spare, she darted into the aisle to draw the attention of all the officers. Then she swallowed hard, eyeing Eduardo’s gun, and took a step toward him. “I think you’ve seen enough now,” she said in a quiet voice. “Put the gun away.”

  The officer stared, then blinked hard and glanced at his fellow officers. His eye
s weren’t glazed over. “Excuse me,” Kelly said. She jumped, desperate to make him look at her again.

  He’d had enough. Whipping around with his gun, he yelled, “Hands in the air, everyone! Don’t move!” The other officers pulled their weapons and pointed them at Dr. Gray and Kelly and the soldiers. Kelly’s pulsing faded. The pilot opened the cockpit door to see what was happening. His eyes widened, and then he slammed it shut again.

  “Stop this!” shouted Braun from the back of the plane, throwing his coat off and revealing his quills. He stomped up the aisle.

  “Braun, no!” shouted Dr. Gray. “Kelly! Do your job!”

  Frantic, Kelly stepped out of the aisle, camouflaged but unable to get to the pulsating level successfully. Braun lunged at Eduardo, knocking his gun loose and skittering under the seats, and leaving the lead officer crying out in pain, three quills stuck in his forearm. Braun kept going and Mega came behind him, roaring out.

  A gun fired and hit the ceiling of the plane. Another bullet ricocheted and blew through a seat cushion. Kelly screamed and dropped to the floor. Still in camo mode, she changed to blend in with her new surroundings. Giving up on the hypnosis, she clicked on her platypus spikes and waited, hoping and praying to get out of there before she had to use them.

  “Where’d the blond girl go?” cried one of the officers, arms outstretched, gun pointed. He swung the weapon wildly from side to side and started shooting over their heads.

  Kelly screamed again, then slapped her hand over her mouth. She was a lot safer if they couldn’t find her. She started sliding flat under the seat in front of her, trying to see a way to escape without getting stuck.

  Dr. Gray’s eyes went wild. Between fired shots, all his plans changed. “Get them, soldiers!” he ordered. “Knock them out. It’s our only option!”

  Braun slammed into another government officer in the aisle as Mega tried getting around him by jumping over the seats, swinging her big horned mug crazily to try to knock weapons loose and hoping to punch a few faces in the process.

  Miko jumped on her plane seat and hopped back a few rows, opening the luggage bins as she went so she could swing on the shelves. She grabbed one, swung, and kicked forward, knocking a weapon from one officer’s hand and slamming her feet into his face. Prowl caught the gun deftly, then pounced and sunk his claws into the officer, yanking him to the floor. “Kelly,” Miko called out, “wherever you are, stay down!”

  Kelly weaved slowly but stealthily under the seats, unnoticed, heading toward the exit at the front of the plane. Three officers were down and Mega piled them up in the aisle, unknowingly blocking Kelly’s path. Eduardo, disarmed and with quills still stuck in him, was fistfighting Miko. One other officer remained upright, weapon in hand and shooting crazily. A stray bullet grazed Prowl’s shoulder. He yelped in pain, then dived at the man. Miko swung from the overhead bins and punched her feet into Eduardo’s stomach. He reeled backward and crashed into the seat where Kelly was hiding. He collapsed into her. Kelly felt a stabbing pain in her wrist, and somehow her bracelet became unlocked. The Mark Four slipped off and went bouncing into the aisle. Kelly’s spikes disappeared and her camouflage ended abruptly.

  “The blond girl!” Eduardo yelled, pointing. “Get her!”

  CHAPTER 18

  A Messy Getaway

  Kelly scrambled into the aisle chasing after her device. Eduardo yelled out again, wedged awkwardly between rows. He struggled to get to his feet. Kelly grabbed the bracelet and tried to latch it around her wrist, but it wouldn’t lock on. She held the device down on her wrist, connecting the band. With shaky fingers she reactivated the spikes.

  Eduardo wriggled to his knees, then grabbed the armrest to pull himself up into the aisle. He reached for a loose gun. Kelly had no choice. Continuing to hold the device to her wrist, she swiveled and threw her leg into the air, slamming her platypus spike into Eduardo’s stomach.

  He let out a ghastly scream and dropped the gun. He turned to run, slipped, and fell backward, cracking his head hard on the armrest. Then he flopped to the floor, silent. Braun knocked out the last officer and stood there heaving.

  Kelly gasped and stumbled toward the exit, putting her device in her pocket. Blind with tears, she dragged the other unconscious officers. Mega and Miko sprang to help her stack them in front of the cabin door to lock the pilot inside. Braun followed with the one he’d just taken down. Prowl tended to his wounded shoulder, then looked frantically around for their leader. “Victor?”

  Dr. Gray opened the door of the lavatory and peeked out, unhurt but disheveled. “Is everybody okay?” His voice was shaking. He rushed forward and caught sight of Eduardo, who was lying still and silent now, bleeding profusely from his head and stomach. The man looked … dead. Dr. Gray turned away, shaken. “We need to move quickly. Gather your things. Walk off as if nothing happened and go straight to the limo—it’s waiting for us a few hundred yards away.”

  “Let’s hope the driver didn’t hear the gunshots,” muttered Prowl.

  “Or the screams,” said Miko.

  The soldiers grabbed their luggage and disembarked the plane, walking in a line toward the awaiting vehicle. Dr. Gray swiftly gathered the strewn passports and his bag and brought up the rear.

  On the tarmac, the doctor instructed the others to hold back a little. He jogged to the front of the line. When he reached the limo, he signaled to the chauffeur, who opened his door and hopped out of the driver’s seat. The man wore earbuds and was talking on his cell phone. He rapidly hung up and pulled the earphones out. “Lo siento,” said the chauffeur, looking guilty for not having noticed the party approaching. “I’m sorry. Hello, are you Dr. Gray? How was your flight? Just set your bags by the trunk. I’ll take it from there.” He went over to Dr. Gray and they shook hands, the disheveled scientist turning so the driver wouldn’t have a good look at the soldiers. He made small talk while the others skirted around them to drop their luggage and climb in the back section of the vehicle, hearts pounding.

  Kelly got in. Miko spotted a control panel and found a button that raised the tinted glass, separating them from the front seat. Now they needed to move fast, because eventually somebody would discover that something bad had happened when the customs team didn’t return. Kelly spied a box of tissues and handed it to Prowl—it wasn’t much, but it might help stop him from bleeding all over. Prowl took it with a shaky hand and examined the wound. “It’s not too bad,” he muttered, and pressed a wad against it. Mega took some too and began wiping her suit clean.

  The chauffeur loaded the bags in the trunk, suspecting nothing. Dr. Gray got in and closed the door. Everyone breathed a little easier, but knew they weren’t out of trouble yet.

  “How are we going to get out of this?” whispered Miko. She dropped her face into her hands.

  “Shh,” said Kelly. Now that the immediate danger was over, Kelly started shivering. She wanted answers too, but she knew better than to say anything. The driver got in the car and started it.

  “Everyone stay quiet,” whispered Dr. Gray under the roar of the engine. “Let me worry about the mess. Focus on the task we’re here for. We have important work to do.”

  Kelly stared at him. They’d just gone through a traumatic fight with government officials of a foreign country. They’d just assaulted them. One of them could be dead. Was it Kelly’s fault? Kelly’s sight wavered, and she clutched the armrest. A wave of nausea went through her. They’d committed a terrible crime. And Dr. Gray was worried about his stupid DNA?

  “This was a mistake,” whispered Miko.

  Prowl elbowed her. “Miko. Stop.” He clipped his words, and his face was gray between the patches of fur.

  Miko turned sharply toward him, face frightened. “How are we ever going to get back? They’ll report us! And we’re so easy to identify. We’re freaks.” She cringed and swallowed hard.

  Dr. Gray shushed them again, so Kelly didn’t answer. Not that she knew what to say. Were they stuck in Mexico forever? Woul
d they wind up in jail or something? It made her stomach hurt.

  “When we get to the zoo,” muttered Dr. Gray to Kelly, “make the driver forget he drove us.” He paused. “And don’t screw it up this time.”

  Kelly flinched at the harsh words and resisted the urge to lash out. She’d been under so much pressure. Instead, she nodded numbly. She pulled the Mark Four from her pocket, studying it to see if she could fix it.

  Miko noticed. After a moment she took the device and handed it to Prowl, who used a claw like a screwdriver. Soon the band was repaired and the device secure on Kelly’s wrist, good as new.

  “Thanks,” Kelly said. She switched on her camo ability and faded into the seat. She wanted to have enough time to reach the hypnosis state this time. Miko threw her a sympathetic look before she disappeared.

  After what seemed like an endless ride, the limo pulled into the Guadalajara Zoo and came to a stop at the drop-off curb. The chauffeur popped the trunk, but before he could get out and open the door, the soldiers were piling out of the passenger side and getting their luggage. They began walking swiftly away from the vehicle. Dr. Gray let camouflaged Kelly out the other side, then got out after her and they approached the driver. With his finger poking into her back, he averted his eyes and held out money for a tip. Kelly fidgeted and stepped forward, changing colors as she did so. She began pulsing, then approached the man, smiling disarmingly. He stared at her. “¿Qué—?” he began.

  “You’re going to forget about us,” said Kelly.

  “I …”

  “Forget all about us. Forget this ride. You never saw us. Got it?”