by Ho, Jo
Turning to the window, I stared at the scenery blurring past, praying silently in my mind that we would get there in time.
82
Chase
We pulled up at the rundown school a few hours later.
I saw Sully’s car parked by some trees and we pulled up alongside. There was no sign of either him or Sam, not that I really expected one. I stared out at the sprawling buildings suddenly overwhelmed by the scope of our search. How were we going to find them? How were we going to get to them before the bad guys? Gideon must have thought the same as me as he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes surveying the scene around us.
“Where do we start?” he asked me. I was about to hazard a guess when something glinted in front of me. I zeroed in on some pieces of glass on the ground and continued up until I found the window that had recently housed them. I pointed. “There. That’s where Sully and Sam got into the building. That glass looks freshly broken. And look how clean the frame is: they knocked all the glass out of it so it wouldn’t cut them when they climbed inside.”
Gideon studied the window and nodded, agreeing with my assessment. “Before we go,” he leaned into the boot of the car and retrieved a flashlight and a wrench.
I stared at the items in his hands, unimpressed. “What, no gun?”
“Sam already has one, plus she figured this would be enough.”
“But she isn’t with us,” I pointed out.
He looked at me exasperated and rolled his eyes in that way that always half irritated and half amused me. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”
“You didn’t tell her you’re a crack-shot? Doesn’t she know what you did before when Forbes’ men attacked us?” I asked, unable to get my head around it all. Gideon was the best shot out of all of us, it seemed stupid not to arm him to the gills.
“Sam feels very strongly against us using weapons of any kind. I think she still considers us kids.”
“One day, we need to sit her down and tell her every little detail, even if it means getting Sully in trouble,” I replied glumly.
We headed over to the window and climbed inside careful not to cut ourselves on the remaining bits of glass that the others had missed in the frame. Gideon switched on the flashlight as the beam spotlighted the way ahead. He swung the torch around searching for any signs of them when the light picked up some footprints on the ground. “One big set and one smaller one,” I said studying the imprints in the dust.
With their trail set easily in front of us we followed their footsteps down the corridor and into a sports hall. Here the dust wasn’t as bad as in the corridors so the footprints trailed off, but Gideon spotted doors at the end of the room. One was slightly ajar as if someone had gone through but hadn’t closed the door completely behind them. “They must have gone through those doors,” he said. I nodded and the two of us moved quickly through until we found ourselves in another corridor. Here the torch picked up another set of prints but these were smaller and distinctively doglike. My eyes flared open in hope.
“Bandit’s paw prints?” I asked.
Gideon lowered into a crouch to study them. He frowned, uncertain. “I’m not sure, I can’t really tell, but it seems likely.”
I moved beside him to examine the prints myself when we heard a sound from down the hall.
Panting.
I was so familiar with that sound, I knew instantly that it was caused by a dog breathing through it’s open mouth. I looked at Gideon meaning to tell him when Pixie rounded the corner.
I blinked, my shock mirroring Gideon’s own.
“Pixie? What on Earth?” Gideon asked. Seeing him, Pixie froze for a few moments before her tail started to wag vigorously back and forth. She ran up to Gideon and jumped up against him as she squirmed and barked with delight at seeing her long lost friend. Gideon was thrilled to see her safe and bent down to pet her, but I didn’t move, thoughts racing through my mind.
Something was very wrong with this picture.
She was the last to have seen Zeb before he was injured, but she had disappeared only to reappear here now. At the location where Bandit had been taken to. Now, I’m not a girl who believes in coincidences at the best of times, so I figured the bad guys must have brought her here. But why wasn’t she locked up somewhere, like I assumed Bandit was?
Gideon must have sensed my hesitation as he stopped to look at me, but before he could voice anything, I shook my head at him. I bent down and gestured at Pixie. “Hey girl, do you know where Bandit is?” I asked her.
She cocked her head and considered my question. Then she spun on her heels and did several loops in a circle with excitement. She barked three times, darted away then came back again, paws dancing across the ground with impatience.
“She wants us to follow her! She’s going to take us to him!” Gideon said, pride and excitement in his voice. “Lead the way, girl,” he said and started after her.
I didn’t move, thinking about the things that had been happening lately and a niggling doubt went through my mind. Bandit — wonderful, loving Bandit — could not get along with this dog and I hadn’t listened to his reasons why, but I’d always trusted my Muttface before, and even though this might be too late in the day, I decided to trust him once again. Instead of following Pixie, I lunged forward and picked her up in my arms.
Immediately her head snapped around as she snarled and barked viciously at me. The change in her was absolute and terrifying. It was all I could do not to let go of her. I moved my head away from those snapping jaws.
“Chase, what are you doing?” Gideon asked. But even as he asked, his expression went from bewildered to concerned as he saw how violently Pixie was reacting. Quickly, he clamped his hand around her mouth squeezing her jaws together so she couldn’t hurt me. “I’ve never seen her like this, it’s like she’s turned feral.”
I looked at him, shaken, straining to hold her still. “Or maybe this is who she really is,” I said quietly. “Bandit kept trying to tell us about her but we wouldn’t listen. And the thing with Zeb, you know Pixie was probably the last personanimal that saw him before he went unconscious, right? What if she had something to do with it? What if she’s working for the bad guys? It would explain why she’s running around this place on her own.”
Gideon frowned trying to take it all in. “But how is that possible? She’s just a dog, what would be the purpose of leaving her with us?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but everything started to happen around the time she turned up. All I know is, Bandit didn’t trust her and he must have a reason for that, and now we find her here where it’s all happening. Yeah, we can’t trust her.”
As I said this Pixie bucked wildly in my arms trying frantically to get away. It was getting harder and harder to restrain her. My muscles spasmed, having to fight against the dog. “We need to put her somewhere, I can’t keep holding on to her.” Gideon looked around then nodded towards a room at the end of the hall.
“In there,” he said. Together, we moved towards the room as fast as we could, while we held tight to Pixie who still hadn’t stopped thrashing in my arms. I had no idea how she had any energy left.
Gideon kicked open a door and we went through into a small restroom and placed pixie into a cubicle as Gideon quickly shut the door behind her. Then he took out a coin and flipped the lock closed from the outside. Trapped, Pixie went insane. Growling and snarling, she started flinging herself at the door.
Smack! Her whole body connected with the door with a loud crash. I had no idea how she didn’t break all the bones in her body but Pixie fell down to the ground then launched herself at the door again. She was making such a horrendous noise that even though it seemed obvious she was working for the other side, I was still concerned about her hurting herself, but we had no choice. There was nothing we could do for her so we left her there and hoped that the others — the bad guys — were too far away to hear the racket she was causing.
We moved away until her barking w
as a faint sound in the distance. “Give me your phone,” I said to Gideon. He handed it to me without question. Although I didn’t expect him to answer, I called Sully’s phone again, but this time the phone was on. My heart flared up with hope. After a few rings it was answered by a man’s voice that I did not recognize. And with that, my hope was quashed.
“Where’s Sully?” I demanded of the unknown answerer.
The man’s voice came down the line, weedy yet triumphant. “Would that be Chase by any chance? I’m impressed, I never thought you would find your way out of the woods so quickly.” His words made me think about my mother as another jolt of fear raced through my body.
“That was you? Is my mom with you?”
He laughed although it was without any mirth. “She’s probably drinking away the money I gave her. You really have been very unlucky with your parents. Absolute trash, the two of them.”
Although I had suspected that she was in on whatever this plot was, to hear it straight from his mouth hurt like hell. I didn’t reply immediately, not wanting him to hear my pain.
“I take it you are here to save the dog, Sullivan and Sam? Well, I will make it easy for you, if you come to me now I will spare their lives.”
I don’t know what possessed me to do what I did next, but I didn’t think about it — I just reacted. I ended the call and switched off the phone.
Gideon looked at me aghast.
“Why did you do that? What have you done?”
83
Xavier
The dead dial tone sounded in his ear.
Xavier stared at the cell phone in his hand, shocked. “I think she hung up on me,” he said to Dick. His assistant’s face became concerned. “Well, that seems a stupid thing to do, doesn’t she want to see her family alive?”
“I guess not,” Xavier replied. “Bring them to me. Now that the girl is here I’m not happy knowing that our two captives are in the other room. Bring them here so we are all in the same place. And do it quickly before the girl gets here.”
Dick nodded and rushed to do his bidding.
In his cage the dog suddenly shot up, having heard the conversation. Although he couldn’t speak Xavier had no problem understanding the hope that now shone from his eyes.
“Yes, your friend Chase is here, but she is walking into a trap and there is nothing you can do to save her.”
Furious at him, the dog howled in desperation even as the chains kept him immovable.
84
Sully
We’d been searching the room for anything that would aid our escape but other than those ring binders which contained some very boring reports, the room yielded no treasures. It looked like the only way out, was the way we had come in. As luck would have it, though the buildings were worn around the edges, this door was solid and nothing was breaking through that lock short of a bullet. Unfortunately, as Sam’s gun had been taken along with the rest of our personal items, I couldn’t see a way out of this room. There would be no miracle a second time around. I was about to admit as much when I heard footsteps approaching.
“Quick,” I whispered. “Get on the other side of the door, someone’s coming!” Without a word Sam darted to the other side while I waited with my back pressed against the wall, trying to make myself as inconspicuous as possible. Seconds later, a key slid into the lock and the handle turned until the door was cautiously opened, but when the person — I couldn’t tell yet whether it was the assistant or the scientist — saw that the room was seemingly empty, he threw open the door and marched inside, pointing a shotgun ahead of him.
Immediately, I jumped on him, wrapping my arms around him, dragging him into the room. The assistant — I recognized it as him now — struggled against me until Sam pressed some fingers into the back of his neck. Presumably, he didn’t know that she didn’t have another weapon on her. He froze as Sam took the weapon off of him and patted him down, searching for anything we could use, but on his entire person, he seemed to only have the keys to this room, some cable ties, and his phone.
“Tie him up over there,” Sam said as she pointed to a thick column holding up the ceiling when the hapless assistant spoke. “You’re too late you know. Even if you leave now, you won’t be able to save her.”
I stopped dead. “What are you talking about?”
“The girl, Chase? She’s here. And my boss is going to get rid of her.”
The blood started rushing through my head and I took great pleasure in punching him in the face. The boy’s head snapped back as the shock of the blow sent him reeling. As I waited for him to regain his faculties, his future use of the sentence sank into the furious fog in my brain. “She’s too smart for him.”
He swung his head around to refocus on me. Blood dripped from a cut on his lip but his fevered eyes showed no pain, such was the force of Xavier’s hold on him. “I doubt it,” he said. “Xavier’s the smartest man I’ve ever met.”
I thought quickly, trying to come up with a plan. “If that’s the case then I guess you’re coming with us.”
Sam shot me a startled look obviously wondering if I’d lost my mind.
“If he does have Chase, then we’re going to need a bargaining chip.”
“Right,” she replied. “I guess we don’t have a choice.”
“Nope,” I said pushing Dick ahead of me as we followed him.
I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I felt some vindication in using Dick against his beloved boss. Karma always comes round to bite you in the ass.
85
Chase
Okay, so I had no real plan.
I just knew that if I had stayed on the phone, he would have said something and I wouldn’t have been able to get out of there and then we would all be screwed so basically I panicked and hung up the phone. I rage-quit as Gideon, who played a lot of video games would say. All I knew was that we wanted to avoid that guy. If he really did have the others, then we had to make sure we didn’t add to his little arsenal.
“We need to call the police,” Gideon said to me, but I shook my head violently against the idea.
“No. We need to find Bandit first. We can’t involve the police until we get him safely out of here.” Gideon looked like he wanted to argue but he knew I was right. We hadn’t come this far to wreck it all now.
We were about to turn down a new corridor when we heard someone quickly approaching. We tried to go the other way, but we ended up at a dead-end, and the footsteps were getting closer. Suddenly Gideon grabbed me by the shoulders. “I’ll lead him away but when I do, you get out of here. You find Bandit and the two of you get out of here and then you call the police to save the rest of us.”
Every nerve in my body shrieked no. There was no way I was doing this. Who knew what they would do to him once they caught him? Not to say the idea of being alone in this place didn’t thrill me in the least. “There must be another way,” I began but Gideon shook his head.
“We don’t have time for this Chase, we have no idea how many of them there are. Just do as I tell you. Go!” He handed me the torch and before I could say anything else, he took off towards the footsteps.
And as he vanished around a corner, I found myself alone.
I felt small and suddenly very, very scared.
86
Chase
After Gideon left, it took a few moments before I could move.
The silence was overwhelming and I could suddenly hear every tiny bit of sound. It was like my senses were in overdrive, heightened as they were for any sounds of danger. I had been the same way before that night in the forest. I couldn’t believe I was feeling like that again, and so soon after.
I waited forever it seemed, but there were no footsteps coming my way so Gideon must have successfully lured whoever it was away from here. I was hoping desperately that he was safe. But I knew I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about him.
I had to find Bandit.
Backtracking through the one-way system I soon found my
self at a crossroads but I took the one path we hadn’t taken before. I moved swiftly, light on my feet, a skill that I had learned during my time on the streets. I wasn’t a big girl and although I liked to think I could handle myself: flight was always better than fight, and better than all that was if they never saw you in the first place.
I followed the network of twisting corridors until I passed through old classrooms and the cafeteria. I almost missed the door set way at the back of the room but what I noticed was the dust was disturbed on the ground by it. And it hadn’t been kicked up by just one person. There was a definite arc left in the dust that suggested that the door swung back and forth on a regular basis. Feeling excited, I hugged the walls and kept myself low to the ground as I moved behind tables and chairs, just in case someone came through the door — if they did they might miss seeing me so long as I didn’t move.
Reaching the door I pushed it open just a gap so that I could see through to the room beyond. It looked like it used to be an office in here, a pretty big office but an office all the same. A wooden bench wrapped around the room hugging the wall and there were a bank of flat-screen monitors on one side. Some of the screens showed different areas around the school, but with horror, I realized that the rest were inside our ranch. I even recognized my own room. From the vantage point on screen, I worked out that the camera would have been on my shelf which was covered with all sorts of junk, so it wasn’t surprising that I had never noticed it before. There was a crudely drawn poster on the wall. I ran my eyes over it to discover it was a map of the school and on it, someone had noted down every trip wire, alarm and camera that was in this place. I was horrified to see that there were quite a few. It made it seem very unlikely that Gideon had gotten away.