Middle Ground (30 page)

“You guys, stop.” Scott’s voice snapped me out of my daydream like a foot tripping me. My feet stuttered to a stop. “The cops picked up on this. It just came up on the dispatch.”

I stared out at the sunlight ahead of us, so close I could see dust circling inside of it.

“Is this a joke?” I panted.

“Somebody tipped off the van’s location,” Scott said. “They’re headed there now, you need to turn around.”

I tried not to panic and told Scott we could hide out in the tunnels. We’d be fine. We’d wait for Justin to bring the plane back for us.

“You need to get out of the tunnels,” Scott insisted. “They’re sending a search squad down there. Someone ratted us out.”

“You got any bright ideas of where to go?” Pat asked as we turned back the way we had come.

“Shit,” Scott replied.

“Anything else?” I muttered. Scott tracked our location using our earpods and looked for possible exits. There was enough daylight seeping in from ground cracks to light our way now, and our eyes adjusted to the dimness. We sprinted through the tunnels, our tennis shoes padding heavily on the concrete. Fear trickled its sharp fingers down my back. Pat asked Scott if he found anything.

“At the next fork, go right,” he told us. “The only place you might have a shot of hiding is the Hollywood River exit.”

We followed his advice and turned down the tunnel. I asked Scott what we’d find at the exit. He said it was barren. There was an old research lab down there, but it closed down years ago. He said we shouldn’t find anybody. Pat suddenly grabbed my arm and twisted me around to face him. He turned off his earpod and motioned for me to do the same. I took it out of my ear, still panting.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“This is crazy,” Pat hissed. “Why would Scott send us to a dead end?”

I glared at him. There wasn’t time to think. I told him maybe Scott was right, that the police wouldn’t expect us there.

“We need to trust him,” I said. “He’s the one with eyes right now. We’re the ones in a rat race.” I started moving again.

“I think he’s setting us up,” Pat said, keeping pace with me. “I’ve never trusted Scott. Maybe he’s the one that turned us in.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe it. “He wouldn’t,” I said. I prayed.

“I say we go back to the van,” Pat pressed. “If there actually are cops, I can hold them off,” he said, and pointed to his guns, one strapped at either side of his waist.

“If Scott’s right, we can’t get past an entire squad of police,” I argued. In my heart I knew we could trust Scott. I pulled Pat along. “There’s got to be a place we can hide out there,” I insisted. “We can hold out until Justin brings the plane back for us.”

We ran out the mouth of the tunnel and were met by a steep walkway crudely carved out for the research lab to use. It was more of a gravel trail than a sidewalk and it snaked down to a lopsided pier bouncing in the river current. Steep cliffs shouldered both sides of the canyon and blocked out the setting sun. All that was left was a ribbon of pinkish blue sky. I looked down in each direction and Pat was right. We were trapped. There wasn’t even a crevice to conceal us.

I pointed down to the pier, the remnants of the research station, and told Pat to follow me. We hugged the side of the canyon wall and I had my eyes set on one thing: a garage made out of corrugated metal, docked at the bottom of the cliff over the water. I ran down a narrow row of steps, past the abandoned research shack, and down to the garage, Pat following close behind.

The side door was locked and there weren’t any windows to try to break through.

“Can you dive down underneath?” I asked. “Maybe we can get in through the water?”

He frowned at the green sludge cemented to the sides of the dock. “Underwater break-ins weren’t in my training,” he informed me.

“Fine, help me to the roof,” I said, and he lifted one of my feet up and I pulled my weight the rest of the way. The metal was warm and sturdy and there was a square air vent in the corner of the roof. Pat handed me a pocketknife and I used its screwdriver to twist off one screw in each corner of the vent. I pried the metal grate up and stuck my head down in the musty, stagnant air. I heard splashing below, and my eyes adjusted well enough to see a boat looming next to the dock.

I lowered myself down the hole and dropped two feet until I landed inside the garage.

“There’s a boat,” I yelled. I opened the garage door and unlocked the side entrance to let Pat in. Pat looked at the speedboat, which had a small life raft fastened to its stern. I found the key hanging on a thin silver chain next to the door.

Pat looked out at the river while I jumped into the boat and started to unfasten the rope from the cleats. “This is insane,” he said.

I nodded. “The best ideas always are.” It was crazy. That’s why I was confident it would work. Pat was standing on the pier, hesitating.

“What are you doing?” I said. “Help me.”

“No.” He shook his head stubbornly. I glared at Pat. I knew he had been a gopher, someone who intercepted people, for years. He knew how to drive a boat.

“What’s your problem?”

“We’re trapped, Maddie.” He looked up and down the bank. “There’s nowhere for us to hide out there. I say we stay in the tunnels.”

“And turn ourselves in?”

“The wave-generator plant is down there.” He pointed down the river. “It’s suicide.”

“There’s got to be a way around it,” I argued. “Scott will help us.”

“You’re not thinking straight, Maddie. You’re still messed up. This won’t work.”

He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me out of the boat but I wouldn’t budge. “What’s the matter with you?” he shouted.

“I have a no-surrender-to-the-cops policy,” I said through my teeth.

“No, that’s Justin’s policy and he’s insane,” Pat said, his face furious. “You don’t have to agree with him on everything. If you keep listening to Justin you’re going to get yourself killed,” he shouted at me. “He’s dangerous, Maddie. Look what happened to Kristin. Look what’s happening to you.”

I pressed my lips together. “You want to go to jail?” I asked. “You know the cops are back there looking for us.” Pat shook his head and then he smiled, manipulatively.

“They’ll bargain with us,” he said. “They let us go if we give them someone they want.”

“Who’s that?”

“Who do you think?”

“You would turn Justin over to the cops?”

“He’s no different from those wave generators. He’ll use you and chew you up and spit you out. I’ve seen him do it. He doesn’t care about you, Maddie. Has he ever
told
you he has?”

I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t let in any doubt right now.

“He saved me, Pat. You don’t understand.”

“I care about you. I can’t watch you throw everything away because he’s brainwashed you. What he’s fighting for is pointless.”

He tried again to pull me out of the boat, back onto the creaky ledge. “Trust me,” he said. But that was the problem. I didn’t.

I let him help me onto the dock.

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll go back.” His chest rose with a deep breath. Just as he turned to the door, I slid my gun out of the holster at my waist.

“This is the best way,” he assured me, his back turned.

“You’re right,” I said. I knew there was only one thing I could do and I felt terrible but I couldn’t let Pat interfere. Maybe I had lost my mind or maybe I was the only one thinking clearly.

I unlocked the safety and Pat met my eyes for an unbelieving second before I pulled the trigger and the tranquilizer shot pierced his neck. His body immediately slumped to the side and I caught him before he fell off the dock.

I put the earpod back in my ear with shaking fingers. I stared down at Pat’s frozen body. Panic prickled down my back, but I kicked the feeling aside. I remembered Justin’s words that doubt would back me into a corner. And now I was responsible for two lives.

“Scott?” I asked.

“Where the hell have you been?” he shouted, and the noise made me wince.

“There’s a boat down here,” I told him.

“What? Are you guys onboard?” he asked. I groaned at Pat’s weight as I reached my arms around his chest and dragged him over the gunwale.

“You could say that,” I said. Pat’s long legs flopped lifelessly over the side and I laid him down on the ground as gently as I could. I grabbed an orange life jacket from a cubby under the steering wheel, put it on, and fastened the belt around my waist.

“Where’s Pat?” he asked.

“He’s fine,” I said. “There isn’t time to explain. Just get me out of here.” I turned the key and the engine coughed to life and the propellers cut gentle divots into the water. I finished untying the boat and pushed us away from the pier. Once the boat inched its way out of the garage, I slammed the throttle forward and sent waves spraying up on both sides.

“Head west, for the ocean,” Scott said. “Once you hit the open water look for red flare lights on the coast,” he said. “It’s about a two-hour ride. I’ll set them up.”

I brushed away the hair blowing in my face. “What about the generators?” I asked. “What if we can’t drive around them?”

“Then I’ll turn them off,” he promised. “I’ll get you out of there.”

I curved around the twisting river. My hands were shaking so bad I could hardly hold the steering wheel. I wasn’t thinking. I was only capable of moving now. I had to trust my instincts. I pushed the throttle forward as high as it would go. “Come on,” I yelled at the engine as if shouting would speed it up. I looked up at the jagged cliffs. Rocks balanced precariously at impossible angles, ready to slip at any moment. I wondered what held them together. Will? Force? Strength? They were both daunting and beautiful, not moving but not completely resting either. Just waiting, waiting for the right time to slip.

The water was a cloudy gray and I couldn’t see anything through the surface. I lifted my head and let the wind whip through my hair. I was starting to realize I liked this sensation, this idea that anything could happen, that life was as unpredictable as those stones, holding on precariously, waiting to slip. I realized I liked the sensation of fear.

Scott’s voice came over the radio but it was crackling. “Maddie,” he said. “I’m going to lose you soon. The generator plant is breaking up the signal.”

“Just tell me how to get around them,” I shouted through the wind.

“I’m working on it,” he promised.

I turned another corner of the river and in the distance the wave farm stretched across the entire horizon, like a white field.

I watched the sharp propellers of the generators slice through the water. The closer they came into view, the more impressive they were. They stretched hundreds of feet into the sky and then plummeted down with an immense force.

“Scott?” My voice came out in a whisper. “Why haven’t you turned them off?”

“Slow down, Maddie,” he said. “I’m losing you. I need more time.”

I could barely hear him now. My eyes were mesmerized by the blades.

Scott’s voice came again, muffled through static. He told me to wait.

The blades reminded me of a giant shark’s mouth stretching for a mile and slashing everything in its path. The mouth waited. Its teeth were white and one hundred feet long and a menacing growl rumbled out of its throat. It clamped and bit and gnawed through the water, daring me to approach it.

“Maddie, did you stop the boat?” he asked, and his voice kicked me out of my daze.

I lowered the throttle but the boat still sailed forward, which was odd since the current should have been pushing against it.

“Weird,” I said.

“What is it?” Scott asked.

“It’s like I’m stuck in some kind of suction. I’m being pulled forward, even though I’m not accelerating.”

There was a quick pause before Scott swore into my earpod. Then I knew what was pulling at me. I twisted the boat around but it didn’t get us out of the vacuum. My grip was so tight on the steering wheel, my fingertips turned white. I shoved the throttle forward and all it did was slow our progress, like a brake that had gone soft.

Scott’s voice was crackling in and out.

“Scott?” I yelled. “Do something.”

“I’m trying!” he shouted back. “I’m in the company’s operation page, but all the controls are encrypted. If I had more time, maybe . . .” he said.

I looked out at the blades. I was being pulled toward them faster now and the sound of the churning propellers roared at me. The boat started to rock.

I looked down at Pat for a second and my confidence disappeared and doubt flooded in. I saw extra life jackets and contemplated strapping one on Pat and jumping out. But I knew I couldn’t swim fast enough to get us out of the suction. We’d probably die of hypothermia, if the blades didn’t kill us first. And that gave me an idea.

I asked Scott if there was a temperature reading anywhere on the control page. He said yes, the water was fifty-two degrees. He told me not to jump in; I couldn’t outswim the current if the boat wasn’t strong enough to escape. But that wasn’t my plan.

“Do you think the generators are temperature sensitive?” I asked him. He knew immediately what I meant. There’s a reason wave farms aren’t built on glaciers. There are no waves if the water’s frozen.

I waited while Scott tried to freeze the Pacific Ocean in two minutes. Technology does have its perks. If Scott could tell the wave generators that the water was frozen, maybe the propellers would shut down.

“I’m trying, Maddie . . .” Scott said through crackling static. Then his voice snapped off and I lost him completely. I swore and yanked the earpod out of my ear and threw it on the dashboard. The boat lurched and rocked in the current. Giant blades, as tall as buildings, sliced the horizon.

The boat wobbled in white foaming waves as the water was pushed and squeezed around us. I held on to the steering wheel to keep my balance and, for the first time, I felt helpless. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. More than anything, I wanted to see Justin. Why wasn’t he with me right now? At that moment, I hated him for having so much confidence in me. He’d built me up to think I was a leader and I’d believed it. Pat tried to bring me back to reality, but I wouldn’t listen. And now I was going to get us both killed.