Going Wild #3

by Lisa McMann

  “Whoa,” said Mac. “Kelly put a customs official in a coma.”

  “We don’t know for sure if Kelly did it,” said Charlie. “He had a head injury too, which was probably from one of the soldiers.”

  “Are they still in Guadalajara?” asked Maria.

  “My mom thinks they are. She said they’ll be stuck in Mexico because of what they’ve done.”

  “Yeah—they’ll have to go into hiding, I’ll bet,” said Maria. “Those suits they wear are pretty noticeable.”

  “The fur and other animal features underneath probably won’t help,” said Charlie.

  “At least we know where they are,” said Mac.

  “But Mexico is huge,” said Maria. “They could go a lot of places.”

  “Not if they’re trying to hide,” said Mac.

  Charlie nodded solemnly.

  Just then the scientists and Ms. Sabbith arrived for the day. They filed into the house and greeted the kids. Mr. and Mrs. Wilde came into the dining room as well.

  “Since we’re all here, let’s gather around,” suggested Mr. Wilde. “We can update everyone on a few things.”

  They sat at the dining table, Maria and Mac sharing a chair and Charlie leaning over the back of it behind them. The adults took the remaining seats.

  “It’s great to have our young team back again,” said Mr. Wilde. “Welcome, and I hope you all had as much fun as Charlie did helping out over there. We’re excited to hear how your new abilities are working.”

  “We tried them out, all right,” said Mac. Maria grimaced, and then they both laughed.

  “Before we go into that, though,” said Charlie’s dad, “Erica has an update on Dr. Gray.” He nodded at Ms. Sabbith.

  “Yes, I do,” she said. “Here’s what we know: Dr. Gray was with Kelly and four of his soldiers—Braun, Mega, Prowl, and Miko. They flew on a private plane from San Diego to Guadalajara, where they caused serious problems at the airport.”

  She paused, then added, “To be honest, I was really puzzled for a while about why Victor would try to leave the country with them—he had to know that even private planes would have to go through customs, and that his soldiers would still be scrutinized. But then Nubia told me he has some sort of nefarious connections in Guadalajara. Apparently, he’d made several trips there while we were working on the devices initially. So maybe he thought he could get through without incident. Anyway, according to news reports, Gray and the team were questioned on board their plane. They ended up attacking the agents and fleeing in a black limo. Their driver doesn’t remember them or where he dropped them off.”

  “Kelly,” said the three kids in unison.

  “I found the white van in California and monitored the house where it was parked. There appeared to be activity inside so I stayed to watch. Once darkness fell, Cyke, Fang, and Morph started loading up the van. When they finished I had an opportunity to attach a GPS inside the back bumper and a tiny camera to the windshield wipers.”

  “You’re so cool,” said Mac, shaking his head. “So freaking cool.”

  Dr. Goldstein playfully rolled his eyes.

  Ms. Sabbith smiled. “Yes, I am,” she said, giving Dr. Goldstein the side-eye. “I flew back this morning and I’m pleased to report that as of fifteen minutes ago, the van is on the move. Heading south toward Mexico.”

  “Oh,” said Dr. Sharma, sitting up. “That’s interesting. Are all three soldiers inside?”

  Ms. Sabbith nodded. “Cyke is driving. The other two are with him. And if they make it across the border without getting stopped, they’ll lead us directly to Dr. Gray.”

  A few of the adults frowned. “So … we actually want them to get through border control,” mused Jack. “How do we make that happen?”

  “I’ve got our old government contact in the loop now,” said Ms. Sabbith. “She’s agreed to help us with this part because of the wanted status of Dr. Gray. But it’s been tough getting her to understand how advanced these devices and hybrids have become since she shut down the project ten years ago. She thinks I’m exaggerating. I tried to pull footage from the insect cams of the last fight we had, but Prowl and Miko destroyed that computer when they tied us up. Not to mention she really doesn’t want to come back to this whole mess that she thought she’d buried ages ago.”

  “Getting Cyke across the border is a step in the right direction at least,” said Charlie’s dad. “You’re doing great. We’ve got you running everywhere and you’re killing it, Erica. Thank you.”

  Ms. Sabbith nodded. “This is serious business. I worry Gray is going to ramp things up and do something rash now that he’s cornered.”

  Dr. Jakande, who’d been quiet until now, nodded. “The soldiers have been given more abilities. Did you notice the security camera footage of Miko? She’s got something strange on her back.”

  “I thought it was just a backpack,” said Dr. Goldstein.

  “Look more closely.” Dr. Jakande clicked on her tablet and brought up the photos. She showed one around the table. “It’s huge. She’d never wear something like that—she’d carry a bag so she could drop it quickly if she needed to spring into action. The backpack would only serve to hinder her chimp performance.” She sat back. “I think she’s hiding something under that canvas … wings. Back when I was working with Dr. Gray that was the feature he most talked about wanting to give to a soldier.”

  “Wings?” said Charlie and Mac together. That was unexpected.

  “Whoa, that’s awesome. Why didn’t we think of that?” added Mac, more to himself than anyone else.

  The doctors murmured with one another. Charlie’s dad gave Dr. Jakande a respectful nod. “Excellent deduction, Nubia.”

  “Thank you.”

  Charlie glanced at Dr. Jakande. The woman had just given them some important information. It certainly seemed like the kind of information she’d hide if she were secretly working with Dr. Gray.

  Charlie thought back to how she’d felt in Puerto Rico. About trusting people. Maybe she had been imagining Dr. Jakande’s sneakiness all along. It was true that Charlie had been overly suspicious of everyone ever since Dr. Gray’s first attack and then Kelly’s betrayal. But there was something that had changed inside her, at least a little. She wanted to trust people more.

  “That’s all I have for now,” said Ms. Sabbith. “I’ll keep you updated. It’s a long drive—it’ll take them a couple days if they want to stay off the radar and stop to sleep.”

  “Well,” said Mr. Wilde, pushing his chair back. “I guess that’s it, then.”

  “Dad!” said Charlie. “Not funny. What about the bracelets? We have to talk about them.”

  “Oh right,” Dr. Wilde said in a teasing voice. “Well, we’re dying to see how we did. Want to show us?”

  Dr. Sharma chimed in. “Yes, we’d love to have a look. Then we can figure out how to fix them before we make the trip south, because it doesn’t appear that our friends are coming back here.”

  “So we’re all going there?” asked Charlie.

  “From what Ms. Sabbith said, we’re going to have to,” said Mr. Wilde. “It’s the only way to stop them.”

  Charlie looked at her friends in alarm. “Do you think your parents will let you come with us?”

  “I don’t see why not,” said Maria. “It’s only fair. You went along on our trips, after all.”

  “Yep,” said Mac. “I’m sure my parents will be cool with it.”

  Mrs. Wilde spoke up. “Okay, so why don’t you float the idea to them that we’re thinking of taking a trip to Mexico before summer ends, and we’d love you two to come along. Then, in case we have to move fast, it won’t come as a total surprise. Do you both have passports?”

  “I do, Mrs. Dr. Wilde,” said Maria.

  Mac nodded. “Yup, me too.”

  “Sooo … ,” said Charlie, lifting her wrist. “Back to the devices.” She clicked on her viper sensor and looked around the room. “There is no one hiding in this dining room,”
she announced. “All clear. It works great—though sometimes I’d rather not see things like rats.”

  “Ha-ha. Well, that’s excellent,” said Dr. Wilde. He turned to Mac. “How about your basilisk lizard? Can you show us?”

  Mac stepped back and clicked on the feature. The scientists oohed when the streamlined suit wrapped around his body and a tail shot out. “It’s quiet, and I can run really well with it on land. And we had a chance to try it out on the ocean. I can zoom over the water, just like the real animal. It’s super slick and I love it!”

  “So, you think I’m cool too?” asked Dr. Goldstein with a sniff.

  Mac grinned. “Totally cool.”

  Ms. Sabbith frowned. Maria and Charlie feigned bored looks.

  “And, Maria,” said Nubia, leaning forward, “how about yours?”

  “Well … ,” said Maria, “maybe it’s better if I show you.”

  “Uh-oh,” said Dr. Jakande. “That sounds like a problem.”

  “You could say that,” said Maria. “Make some room.” The people slid their chairs back and Maria hit the alligator button. Her body stretched and contorted into the animal’s shape.

  “Oh dear!” said Dr. Jakande, clutching her face in horror.

  Charlie watched her. If she’d planned this error to sabotage their progress, she was surely hiding it well. Charlie cringed. She needed to stop looking for ways to suspect Dr. Jakande of working for Dr. Gray. It was obvious by now that she’d had a true change of heart. Still, Charlie couldn’t let it all go. She’d been burned too many times.

  “I’m so sorry, Maria,” said Dr. Jakande. “It’s clear I’ve erred in my calculations. You must have been terribly shocked.”

  “To be honest,” said Maria, “It wasn’t bad once I got used to it. And I knew you could fix it so I can feel a little more … human. Like with the monkey. And at least I didn’t get stuck in alligator mode like what happened before. I’m really glad to be ferocious, but also glad not to have any killer instincts. So that’s cool too.”

  Charlie smiled at her friend. Maria had come a long way when it came to her device and the physical changes it gave her. She seemed to actually like it.

  “Also,” added Mac, “when she went from monkey to alligator, she ended up with both animals’ features.”

  “Whoops,” said Dr. Jakande, looking embarrassed. “That shouldn’t have happened either. I was rushing there at the end, and it shows. I’ll get to work on it right away.”

  “We’ll all do what we can to help you, Nubia,” said Mr. Wilde.

  Dr. Jakande smiled. “You’ve all done so much already.” She turned to the kids. “I forgot to tell you the good news. While you were away, the scientists and I finally finished working on a new reversal bracelet, which I hope will be able to turn me back to my normal human self. I’m going to give it a try later today. Then I can jump right into the fixes for Maria, while the others continue building a new, less permanent version of a panther hybrid device for me.”

  “You’re going to go back to being a panther?” asked Charlie.

  “A werepanther,” said Dr. Jakande. She turned back to Maria. “Just like you. I don’t think your device will take long to fix.”

  Maria brought herself back to human form and handed the bracelet over to Dr. Jakande. “Thanks,” Maria said. “I hope I’m not being too particular about it. It’s just hard getting used to being so different.”

  “Trust me, I know that pretty well,” said Dr. Jakande. “Looking different is hard. I’m glad we’re both heading in the right direction with these.”

  The two exchanged warm looks. As Maria went to take her seat once more, Ms. Sabbith started typing furiously on her tablet. A second later she stopped and stared at the screen. “News flash,” she said, looking up. “The white van has officially made it across the border.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Unrest in the Ranks

  They’d been somewhere in central Mexico for days, but Kelly still didn’t have a good feel for where they were exactly. All she knew was that the bus had taken them several hours outside of Guadalajara. They were in the mountains. There was a lake a few blocks down the hill from the house Dr. Gray had rented. The lake had an island in the middle of it—Dr. Gray seemed unusually giddy to find that out.

  Nobody else cared about it, though, or understood why it was so great. They were all edgy and on the verge of completely freaking out—at least Kelly was. And Miko and Prowl didn’t seem very comfortable either. Knowing they were stuck here in Mexico and forced to hide felt so … so restricting. So stressful. On top of that, Dr. Gray’s confession that he’d gone rogue from the government and started his own crusade to save the world, and had purposely withheld that information from even his most trusted soldiers … well, that just seemed preposterous. Cyke, Fang, and Morph probably didn’t even know that part yet unless Miko had told them through their little walkie-talkie devices in their suits. Kelly had walked in on Miko talking sneakily to someone a couple days after they’d gotten here. But when she’d asked, Miko had refused to explain.

  Most of the time Kelly wasn’t overly worried that Dr. Gray could change everyone in the world into chimeras. How would he be able to manage something like that? It took him so long just to make the formula for one new animal ability. Though, admittedly, it was going much faster now that he’d fixed the mist machine and was collecting DNA regularly. But still, they could only do it one person at a time with that dinky machine. It just seemed impossible. Too impossible to worry about.

  It was the fact that Dr. Gray thought he could do it that made Kelly feel increasingly uncomfortable.

  While Braun and Mega remained supportive of the scientist even after the shocking revelations, Miko and Prowl at least seemed a lot more concerned about what he’d revealed. They were angry, too, and bitter that Dr. Gray had kept that little tidbit a secret from them until after they’d come here. Now it was too late for them to do anything about it. And they couldn’t leave, or else they’d risk getting caught. So here they all were, trapped and huddled up in an old house, trying to rebuild Dr. Gray’s lab without drawing attention to themselves so he could continue his work. If they refused to help, he could kick them out. And then where would they be with their faces plastered all over the news?

  With the anxiety levels high everywhere, Kelly began sneaking around the house in camouflage, trying to catch others talking. What did they say when Dr. Gray wasn’t around? Were Braun and Mega really falling in line with this new development or were they pretending? And what did Prowl and Miko mutter to each other sometimes when they were alone? Kelly had seen them on numerous occasions, but they usually stopped talking when she walked up. That stung. Didn’t they trust her? Not even Miko?

  One day in camo mode Kelly slipped into the open doors of the living room, which had become Dr. Gray’s new lab. The scientist was there, setting up a new piece of equipment that had been delivered that afternoon. She heard him talking, and at first thought he was speaking to himself. But soon she realized he was using the communication device in the collar of his lab coat—the same kind that was built into the soldiers’ suits. She crept closer and listened to his half of the conversation.

  “No, no. The shark is for Mega. The formula is finished, I’m just waiting for the machine. I’ve got other plans for—” He paused to listen. “Komodo dragon? Hmm. I was thinking a poison dart frog for you, but that’s not a bad idea. I can find that one locally, I think. There’s a zoo an hour from here. Or I suppose I could sneak back to Guadalajara with Kelly—her face isn’t in any of the surveillance videos and she looks …” He paused again to listen, longer this time.

  “I hate to take that much time away from my work to get DNA, but I don’t want the soldiers leaving the house—we can’t afford to be spotted just yet. Not until everything is ready.”

  Kelly frowned. Ready? Who was he talking to?

  “Okay, so, electric eel, Komodo dragon. But very specifically, I need that Linckia diplax. Y
ou brought the wolf samples that were left over from Fang, right? Because he’s been very loyal and … and I’m not as keen on this Mexican wolf as I thought. Excellent. What’s that?”

  Kelly shifted and her arm brushed the wall, making a small sound, but luckily Dr. Gray didn’t hear it.

  “Cyke, no. No, that’s for … me.” Dr. Gray straightened suddenly and glanced around the room, his eyes shifty like he didn’t want to be overheard.

  He was talking to Cyke! But what was for Dr. Gray? Was he still talking about the wolf? Or the Linky diplax thing, whatever that was? Or something else? If Dr. Gray was planning to change everyone in the world, did that include him taking on animal properties too? And what was that part about Fang being loyal? That was weird. Though she didn’t blame him for not liking that scrawny wolf.

  Kelly moved toward the door so she could escape and write down the weird words she’d just heard—maybe there was a way to look them up. If only she could get to Dr. Gray’s tablet, but he took it everywhere he went. He probably even slept with it.

  “All right,” Dr. Gray continued. “Glad you made it across. Stay out of trouble and we’ll see you soon.” He read off the address of their house so Cyke could enter it into his GPS.

  Kelly sneaked away, past Miko and Prowl who were whispering in the kitchen again, and went to the bedroom she shared with Miko. She found a scrap of paper and a pen in her luggage and wrote down the animals and strange words Dr. Gray had said. Then she pulled out some of Dr. Gray’s books and searched the glossary for them.

  When Miko came into the room, Kelly looked up. “Oh, hi,” she said coolly. “You’re not wearing your suit.”

  “Why bother?” said Miko. “Besides, even with a cutout I just hate how it feels. So …”

  Kelly shrugged. “Cyke is coming. You probably already knew that.” She was a little miffed that Miko had been talking to Prowl without her again.