Mission to Moon Farm

by K. E. Rocha

  Aldo approached the building. He leaned forward and breathed on the metal wall. The metal rippled and retracted, then disappeared, opening a hole large enough to step through.

  “Are you coming with me?” Spencer asked.

  “I think I’d better. Mom’s dangerous right now.”

  Aldo was right, Bunny was dangerous. Just like Kirby said, mother bears were the most threatening when they were protecting their young. They could act ferociously if they thought their cub was in harm’s way. Spencer wondered what Mom would do if he went missing. Would she be as fierce and protective and dangerous as Bunny? He hoped so.

  “I can’t imagine the council is going to be very friendly to you, either,” Aldo went on. “Besides, it’s my sister … I want to know what’s going on, too.” Aldo nodded for Spencer to lead the way. A second after they stepped through, the wall sealed shut behind them.

  “Let’s get this over with,” Spencer whispered. He understood why Bunny was so mad. After all, his own anger about his family being in danger was what had gotten them all into this mess. But facing Bunny again definitely wasn’t something he was looking forward to.

  Spencer followed Aldo down the sleek white corridor to the Bear Guard’s surveillance room. B.D. and Professor Weaver were there, leaning toward the large bank of computer screens. The images on the screens were live video feeds from all the security cameras hidden around Bearhaven. Professor Weaver and B.D. were staring at one in particular. A bear Spencer didn’t recognize was cowering behind them. He wore silver cuffs on his two front legs, marking him as a member of the Bear Guard, just like Aldo and B.D. From the way the silver cuffs gleamed with no scratches or marks, Spencer figured he was probably just as new to the guard as Aldo.

  “Why didn’t you say something when the camera view was obstructed?” B.D. grumbled. He rewound the footage on one of the cameras, then squinted as it played back.

  “I don’t know … I just … they were just leaves,” the bear stammered.

  Spencer looked past the bears to the video screen, which was filled with leaves. It was impossible to see anything beyond them. He swallowed hard. He hadn’t thought covering the camera would do any harm. Now he realized how wrong he’d been.

  “There!” Professor Weaver shouted. He pointed a claw at the screen. “I saw a shadow, just there. Can you make it out? Is it Kate?” The hopefulness in the professor’s voice made Spencer’s stomach flop for the millionth time.

  “Spencer’s here, Dad,” Aldo said into the grim silence that fell in the room.

  Professor Weaver didn’t take his eyes off the leafy footage, but B.D. turned to face Spencer. “Let’s go,” the enormous jet-black Head of the Guard said gruffly. The furless patch at his jaw rippled as he spoke. He marched over to a silver platform at the far side of the room. Spencer and Aldo followed. “You can go, Aldo. I’ll take Spencer from here,” B.D. added. But when he turned around, Aldo was still following behind them.

  “I was hoping—” Aldo started.

  “You know council meetings are closed.” B.D. cut him off. “Stay here. Keep watching the cameras and searching the surveillance videos. You’ll need to take Spencer home once we’ve heard what he has to say.” Spencer’s heart started to beat a little faster. He didn’t want to face Bunny and the rest of the council alone.

  Aldo nodded. His orders were clear. He shuffled back a few paces, away from the silver platform. “Good luck, little man,” he said to Spencer. “Tell them everything you can.”

  “Thanks,” Spencer whispered. He could feel B.D.’s eyes boring down on him.

  B.D.’s claw hovered over the white button hidden on the wall beside them. “Professor, are you coming?”

  “I’ll be along in just a minute,” Professor Weaver answered. He continued to search the screen.

  B.D. pressed the white button. Whoosh! Spencer felt himself begin to sink as the platform dropped from the Bear Guard’s surveillance room down to the secret corridor below. For a moment, everything was dark, then the platform came to a hydraulic halt in a dimly lit hallway. B.D. started walking toward the massive wooden door at the end. Spencer stayed where he was. He reached into his pocket and gripped the jade bear.

  “I assure you, Spencer Plain,” B.D. growled. “The council is not feeling particularly patient at the moment. You need to come now.”

  Suddenly, a gravelly voice carried out of the council room. “We should send the boy home.” It was Yude, the only Bearhaven bear Spencer really didn’t like. When Spencer and Yude had met on Spencer’s first night in Bearhaven, the bear gave Spencer a look he’d never forget: You don’t belong here. It was no surprise Yude’s voice was the loudest now. “He stranded a cub outside Bearhaven. He came here for his protection, but now it’s time he left for ours.”

  Spencer felt a growl rising in his own throat. He stormed down the hall and into the council room. He wasn’t about to let Yude have the last word, that was for sure.

  The council room looked way more scary than the last time Spencer had been in it. For one thing, almost every bear sitting around the long wooden table that ran the whole length of the room was glaring at him.

  Yude’s lip was curled into a snarl. Mr. Bee, the school principal, seemed ready to give Spencer a furious lecture, and Raymond looked like he wanted to serve Spencer for dinner at Raymond’s Cafe. Pinky, of Pinky’s Rehab Center and Salon, wouldn’t even look at Spencer. She knew better than anyone what harm could come to Kate outside Bearhaven’s walls. Pinky’s Rehab Center was the first stop for injured bears who were brought to Bearhaven, and it was Pinky’s job to treat and care for them. Bearhaven’s dentist, Dr. Dominica Fraser, flashed her teeth as she curled and uncurled her upper lip.

  Grandmama Grizabelle was the only bear in the room who didn’t look angry at the sight of Spencer. Instead, she looked disappointed, which was just as bad.

  Each of the bears sat on one of the plush armchairs or couches arranged on either side of the long table. Spencer spotted the open couch where his parents were supposed to sit during council meetings. He made his way over, realizing that Uncle Mark was watching Spencer, too, from one of the screens lining the wall at the end of the council table.

  “I don’t know what to say, Spence,” Uncle Mark broke the silence. “What were you thinking?” He ran a hand through his hair.

  “Isn’t it obvious he wasn’t thinking?” Yude cut in.

  “That’s not true!” Spencer shouted. His anger surged. “You’ve been lying to me about Mom and Dad. I heard you this morning. You haven’t gotten anywhere in finding them.” He glared at Uncle Mark. “And I know you want to just make me stay here and wait.” He shot angry looks around the room. “I’m not a cub OR a prisoner, and you can’t keep me locked up in Bearhaven! So I left. It’s not my fault Kate followed me. I didn’t know she was going to do that! She said she was going to school.” Spencer was furious and guilty at the same time. It was his fault Kate was missing right now, but the council needed to know it was their fault he’d had to leave Bearhaven in the first place.

  “Spencer.” Grandmama Grizabelle’s voice was firm. “Under no circumstances do any of us approve of you sneaking out of Bearhaven. But I do understand why you did it.” A few warning growls sounded around the room. “You were frustrated that no real progress has been made in finding your parents. And you were mad that we gave you false reports about their whereabouts. I know you were angry, however, your actions today have complicated things tremendously. You may have put a cub in grave danger, and that is absolutely unacceptable.” Spencer looked down at the table. Grandmama Grizabelle was right.

  “Start at the beginning, Mr. Plain,” Mr. Bee instructed.

  Without looking up, Spencer recounted the events of the day. He didn’t leave anything out. Not even the part about pretending to be a Boy Scout, or the details Kirby told him about her controlled locations. He felt even more terrible with every word he said. It wasn’t until he got to the end that he took his eyes off the table
. He looked at Bunny, pleading. She had to see that this was all a big mistake! He never meant to put Kate in danger.

  “When Kate jumped out, I didn’t know what else to do. Her BEAR-COM was right there, pink and sparkling and everything. Kirby would’ve seen it in a second!”

  The Bear Council erupted in a new wave of grumbles, and Yude muttered loudly, but Spencer pressed on. “I pretended I didn’t know her … like she was a wild bear attacking us. I scared her away—”

  “And where is she now?!” Bunny snarled. Her voice was filled with pain and the fur at the back of her neck was raised straight up in the air. Pinky reached a paw out to comfort the mother bear, but Bunny didn’t seem to feel it. Spencer shrank back into his seat. He looked to the large screens at the front of the room for help.

  “Bunny, please,” Uncle Mark said. “I know this is difficult, but it’s obvious Spencer only meant to keep Kate from being discovered. He should never have left Bearhaven, and he shouldn’t have tampered with Bear Guard surveillance equipment, but none of his actions were intended to put Kate in danger.”

  “I was trying to protect her!” Spencer exclaimed, cutting off Yude’s muttering.

  “And it sounds like she was trying to protect you,” Pinky added sadly.

  Spencer rushed on. “I thought she’d come right home, then I’d explain and apologize. I was trying to make sure no one found Bearhaven—”

  “B.D., the first search party has returned,” Professor Weaver interrupted as he entered the room. Everyone froze. Please say Kate’s with them, Spencer willed with all his might, but Professor Weaver had nothing more to say.

  “I’ll get their report.” B.D. nodded to the professor as he left the room.

  “Whatever your intentions may have been, Spencer,” Professor Weaver said, “Kate is missing now. We’ve spoken to Reggie Russell, who informed us that he and Kate parted ways just before entering the school building. Kate told Reggie she’d smelled something wasn’t right at home, and needed to return to check immediately. We can assume she smelled you leaving Bearhaven and followed you out. She has always had a very keen sense of smell, particularly where you are involved.” Professor Weaver paused. “After carefully studying every single frame of footage taken by every single one of the Bear Guard’s surveillance cameras, we’ve confirmed Kate never returned to Bearhaven. I am not blaming you, Spencer, and I don’t think any of the other members of this council should blame you.” He cast a look in Yude’s direction. “But it is not acceptable—under any circumstances—that you snuck out of Bearhaven and interfered with the Bear Guard’s security systems. You broke a lot of rules, and we will have to deal with that later. But right now, we need to focus on finding Kate, and we need to move quickly. It’s only getting darker in those woods.”

  The council room buzzed with quiet discussion. Finding Kate was the most important thing, but the missing cub obviously wasn’t the only problem. A BEAR-COM had never been unaccounted for outside Bearhaven’s territory. Spencer understood all too well that if the high-tech translating device fell into the wrong hands, Bearhaven’s secrets could be exposed and the community could be in huge trouble.

  “Spencer,” Uncle Mark broke through the chatter in the room. “I was hoping to talk to you about something on our call tonight, but now I don’t think we’ll have a chance to speak privately. I’m sorry we weren’t honest with you about your parents’ situation. That wasn’t fair, you’re right. Now that we’re being honest … ” Uncle Mark hesitated. Uh-oh. “There has been a lead about Jane and Shane.” Spencer stared up at the screen at his uncle. He wanted to be happy to hear there was a lead, but could he trust that Uncle Mark was telling him the truth this time?

  Suddenly, another screen on the wall of monitors where Uncle Mark’s video feed was displayed blinked to life. It showed a single black-and-white photo.

  “Jack, one of our contacts at a private airport sent me this picture. Your parents trained him to watch for anyone who might be illegally transporting bears. He alerts us if he suspects any foul play.”

  Spencer’s heart immediately started to beat faster. If this was the lead, then things could be even worse than he’d imagined.

  The image looked as though it had come from a security camera. There were three people in it and Spencer recognized all three immediately. First, he saw Margo and Ivan Lalicki, the evil sister and brother team who had captured Spencer during the mission to rescue Ro Ro and her cubs from Jay Grady’s. Margo’s greenish blond hair was sticking out from beneath her knitted cap.

  Spencer shuddered, remembering how Margo and Ivan had put him in a cage, tied him up, and threatened him with bears whose actions they could control, to try to scare him into giving them information about Bearhaven. It hadn’t worked. He hadn’t told them anything.

  In the front of the image Uncle Mark was projecting on the monitor, Spencer saw Pam, who was Margo and Ivan’s boss and the creepiest person Spencer had ever seen in his life. Pam, the Bearhaven team had learned, was the mastermind of a huge network of evil and bear abuse. He was also holding Spencer’s dad, Shane, prisoner.

  Spencer shuddered again, recalling how he had seen his mother—working undercover, disguised as Pam’s maid—for barely a minute, just before he was caught during a video call between Margo and Pam.

  Standing next to Margo, Ivan strained, his muscled arms bulging, as he pulled something behind himself. Spencer ignored the shiny football helmet that always gleamed on Ivan’s head and squinted, searching the object Ivan was pulling for any clues about what it was. It looked as if it could be a large shipping crate on wheels, but a velvety cloth was draped over the entire thing.

  “What is that?”

  “I don’t know for certain, Spence, but Jack sent the picture because the crate is large enough to hold a live bear or a human. It’s possible your Dad is in that crate and Pam is taking Shane to a new location. And if Shane is not in that crate, Pam and the Lalickis may be headed to wherever it is he’s currently keeping your dad.”

  Spencer glared at the image on the screen. He grit his teeth imagining Dad inside the covered crate behind Ivan. “And Mom?”

  “We haven’t heard from her in a week,” Uncle Mark answered solemnly. “I’m giving you all the information I have, Spence. The whole truth. Pam, Margo, and Ivan are on the move. They’re transporting something, and they are keeping it concealed.” Uncle Mark took a deep breath. “This picture was taken as they prepared to load a private plane that’s registered to Pam. Jack couldn’t give us any information about where they went after they’d passed the security camera that took the picture. He doesn’t have access to the flight plans. My best bet is to figure out where their private plane landed after it left that airport. Hopefully, that will lead me straight to your parents.”

  Spencer opened his mouth to reply, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. If Uncle Mark was going on a mission to find Mom and Dad, Spencer wanted to go with him. But there was Kate to think about … Now Spencer understood what Grandmama Grizabelle meant when she’d said he’d complicated things tremendously.

  “I know this is a lot to process right now,” Uncle Mark added.

  A lot to process?! Between Kate’s disappearance and Uncle Mark’s new information about Mom and Dad, Spencer’s head was spinning.

  “I’m leaving on a solo mission to follow this lead as soon as our meeting here adjourns,” Uncle Mark broke the silence. “I’ll be cutting off contact with Bearhaven while I’m away.”

  “What do you mean ‘cutting off contact’?” Spencer demanded. Most of the bears looked away.

  “I’m going dark, Spence, for everyone’s safety,” Uncle Mark explained. “Your parents’ and Bearhaven’s, even mine and yours. Just try to remember this is a good thing. I really hope to come back with your parents.”

  “But I—” Spencer tried to protest, but just then, the sight of B.D. stalking back down the hallway silenced him and everyone else in the council room. Spencer knew the conversati
on was over. Now he had to return his attention to Kate.

  B.D. didn’t take his seat when he entered the room. He went to the head of the council table.

  “The first search party did not find Kate,” he addressed the room gravely. “In fact, they didn’t find anything to suggest that Kate is still in the woods surrounding Bearhaven at all. What they did find were the scents of three humans.” Bunny let out a low, rumbling growl. “We’ve identified one of the three: Kirby.”

  Spencer let out a deep sigh of relief. B.D. shot Spencer a stern look.

  “Sorry,” Spencer said. “But at least one of the three humans the Bear Guard smelled isn’t a threat, right?” B.D.’s lip curled, and Spencer knew he was about to be scolded for interrupting the Head of the Guard’s report. He sped on. “There’s no way Kirby is responsible for Kate’s disappearance, B.D. She might be a little too interested in gathering information about the woods surrounding Bearhaven, but I’m sure she’d never hurt a bear cub.”

  “Enough, Spencer,” B.D. answered, then returned to updating the council. “The second and third humans couldn’t be identified by the search party, but we’re dealing with two adults. The guard determined that much.”

  “Excuse me, B.D.?” Spencer piped up. He didn’t wait for B.D. to acknowledge him. He knew the bear wouldn’t give him permission to speak, but the question burst from Spencer’s mouth anyway. “Could it be Mom and Dad? Could they have escaped? They’re two adult humans, right? Maybe they have Kate!” Spencer searched B.D.’s face, willing the bear to say it was possible.