"What?" Desmond says. "Dude, wait a second. That doesn't make sense. What would some big company want with Josh?"
"I don't know anything about ValentiCorp," I say. "What do they do?"
"Come on, you know," Desmond says. "It's that tall shiny black building right in the middle of the complex—all glass and steel—with the fancy-pants gold lettering on top. The logo must be at least twenty feet high. I'm almost sure it says 'Research and Development' under their name."
"Yes, I know the building," I say. "But what kind of company are they? Research and development of what?"
"Who knows? Whatever it is, it can't be good if they're willing to abduct people. I've got a bad feeling about this. It looks more and more like the FBI were telling the truth after all."
Auntie Min nods. "We have to get him out. This is bigger than I originally thought."
I let out a breath I wasn't aware of holding. I'm so relieved that she's changed her mind and wants to rescue Josh. We need all the help we can get. I think of the men who kidnapped him. Who knows how many more of them are in the building.
"How will we get him out?" I ask. "Should we call Agent Solana?"
"Not yet. I'm still considering our best approach." She gives me a bright smile, which, for some reason, makes me uneasy. "I have to collect a few things first, so you go ahead. I'll meet you there."
"It'll take us forever to get out to Cerritos Drive from here," Elzie says.
"If you were walking the whole way," Auntie Min agrees. "But I sent one of the crows to fetch Theodore. He'll give you a ride."
I can't help it. I look up at the wire. There's only one crow there now.
"Don't dawdle," Auntie Min says.
She turns and crosses the parking lot again. She seems to be just walking, but she moves with Wildling speed now. In moments, she rounds the hedge.
"Wait, Auntie Min," Elzie yells, darting after her and stopping dead when she gets to the other side of the hedge.
"She vanished," she calls back to us.
"People don't just vanish, dude," Desmond says.
"Most people don't get messages from birds, either," I tell him.
"Let's get moving," Elzie says when she trots back over to us. "If Auntie Min really sent a message to Theodore, he'll find us along the way."
"Do you know him?" I ask as we head off in the direction of Cerritos Drive.
"Yeah, he's that grasshopper mouse Auntie Min was telling us about before Danny showed up."
"Aw, man," Des says as we start to pick up our pace. "Are you two going to put me through this
again
?"
"Have we found Josh yet?" I say.
"Point taken. But dude, when this is over, I'm going to sleep for days."
Elzie and I just smile at each other and keep to a brisk trot. Dusk is coming on fast.
"There's something else," I say as we motor along. "Did either of you see something weird when she called herself 'Señora Mariposa'?"
They shake their heads.
"There was this big moth in the air behind her," I tell them. "I mean
huge
." I stretch my arms out wide.
"Wow, I didn't see that," Elzie says.
"Yeah, me neither."
"Well, Agent Solana did. So is it something about him that let him see it, or was it something Auntie Min did?"
"Who knows," Elzie says. "Like I said, she's got mysterious ways. I think there are all kinds of secret things the old ones can do—things that maybe we can do, too." She turns to me. "Doesn't it feel to you like they're keeping stuff from us?"
"I wouldn't know. She's only the second of the original animal people that I've ever met."
"Was the first Cory?" Elzie asks.
I shake my head. "I've never met him. This guy named Jez showed up the first time I changed and gave me some of the basics the way Josh says Cory did with him. I could have died of embarrassment."
Elzie laughs. "Because you were stark naked."
That catches Desmond's attention and he adds a little speed. "Really? You have to get naked to change?" He grins at me, then adds, "That's cool."
"It's not cool when it's happening to you," I tell him.
"Maybe not from your viewpoint," he says and dances back as I go to punch him.
We've put maybe a dozen long blocks behind us when I hear an unfamiliar sound. Trucks and cars have been passing us, but this is different. Motors, for sure, but this is a lot of them. Noisy. Like ...
I turn and my heart does a little skip of fear when I see that it's a gang of bikers, maybe a dozen strong, headlights on, coming down the street in our direction. Of course, that's exactly why they ride in a bunch like that—to make people nervous. Then I recognize the guy riding in front and realize they're Ocean Avers. That surprises me, because this is bandas territory and the Mexican gangs don't take kindly to invasions on their turf.
"Isn't that Chaingang?" Desmond asks.
I nod. And then something clicks. We call him Chaingang, but his real name is Theodore Washington.
"He's the grasshopper mouse?" I say.
"What're you talking about?" Desmond says, but Elzie is nodding.
"Oh, Jeez," I say, clapping my hand over my mouth, half in surprise, half in shame. I knew that Chaingang is a Wildling, but I never asked him what kind. It seems like everyone's being outed today. Now I feel like a traitor, having blurted that out in front of Desmond.
"Aw, come on," Desmond says. "Chaingang's a Wildling, too?"
But now the bikes are pulling up at the curb beside us and we don't answer him. We don't really need to.
Chaingang puts a motorcycle boot down on the pavement to steady his big chopper and pulls down his sunglasses to give us a once-over. The rest of the gang is strung out along the curb, engines idling. It's impossible to know what they're thinking, but I only catch the ping of one other Wildling among them. Bunched up as they are, I can't tell which of them it is.
"What's with the civilian?" Chaingang asks Elzie, nodding his chin at Desmond.
She shrugs. "Auntie Min likes him."
"She would." He turns to me. "Hey, sweetcheeks. Caught any good waves lately?"
I can't help but smile. "I don't know, big boy," I say. "How's probation treating you?"
He grins and puts his shades back on. "Better than juvie. Hop on. We're your ride."
"Are they all Wildlings?" Desmond mutters behind me.
I shake my head and get on the back of Chaingang's bike. Elzie and Desmond hesitate a moment, then get on behind a couple of the others. Chaingang revs his motor.
"Hang on," he says, doing a wheelie as we head down the street.
The bikes pull back out behind us. I do have to hang on to Chaingang or I'll lose my seat. He gives a little chuckle, obviously enjoying that I have to hold on so tight.
I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do, but this is Wildlings' business and there are too many other people involved. Five-fingered beings, civilians. It doesn't matter what you call them. Involving them could make everything blow up in our faces. I especially don't like so many people knowing I'm a Wildling—because Chaingang probably told his gang why they're here. I've gone five months under the radar and now way too many people know my secret.
I think about Josh—how we need help to rescue him—and I know we don't have another choice. This is how it has to be. But it makes me nervous as hell.
Josh
"So are we being monitored?" I ask Rico.
He points to tiny cameras mounted where the walls meet the ceiling. They've been placed so that no matter where we are in our cells, we can be seen.
"The researchers clocked out an hour or so ago," Rico says. "I'm sure those cameras are recording everything and there's probably a guard somewhere who looks at a monitor every once in a while, but we'll be on our own for the night."
"I need to get out of here."
I get up from the mattress. Another wave of vertigo hits me and I have to close my eyes, swaying where I stand. When it passes, I walk over to the glass wall and rap on it with a knuckle.
"It's not glass," I say.
"No, it's some kind of plastic. Thick. Probably hard to break, even if the person trying was really strong."
Something occurs to me. I tap on the plastic again.
"We probably shouldn't be able to hear each other through this," I say.
"We don't. We're reading each other's lips."
I give a slow nod. "Right."
But I'm sick of pretending. So what if the world knows I'm a Wildling? Better that than having some freak show scientist cut off
my
leg.
"Have you tried to escape?" I ask.
I don't care who's listening now. Let them play back the tapes in the morning. I plan to be out of here before anybody comes back to work.
Rico shakes his head. "Even if I could get out of this cell, I'd never get out of this room. The doors all need key cards to unlock them. I know there are guards and I know we're underground. The odds suck."
"Underground? This is So-Cal. Nobody builds underground." Then I understand. "We're not even in California anymore, are we?"
Rico studies me for a long moment.
"We'd
know
if they'd taken us away from our land," he says finally.
We would? But as soon as he says it, I realize he's right. Somewhere, out beyond the space this building takes up, I can feel the tug of some big comforting presence. Even if Rico hadn't told me, I'd have known what it was. And beyond it, I can sense the bigger mystery that's the Pacific.
I press my fingers against the plastic wall. It's hard and thick, but I'll bet the mountain lion could get through.
"I'm not staying here," I tell Rico. "If I can get us out of these cells, I'll take you with me."
"You're pretty confident."
"No, I'm scared out of my mind and desperate. But I think I can do it."
He gives me a slow nod. "If you can get us to the ground floor, I can take us to someplace they'll never find."
"Okay," I say.
I step back, studying the wall for the best place to rip it apart.
"Wait," Rico says.
I turn to him. "Why?"
"Give the place a chance to quiet down. Let the guards settle into their usual routines."
It makes sense, I suppose, but I don't want to wait.
"How long?" I ask.
"A couple of hours should do it."
"I don't know. I'll see if I can wait that long. But if I can't ..."
Rico gives me a feral grin and there's a dark look in his eyes that makes me wonder if he's really my age or if he's more like Cory, and just looks my age.
"Oh, I'll be with you," he says. "Just as fast as I can drag myself along behind you."
Marina
Chaingang's twists, turns and wheelies make the ride feel kind of like street surfing. If I weren't so freaked about Josh, I'd probably find this even more fun. I have to grab on tight, but I love the adrenaline rush.
We're almost at the shopping complex now. My step dad says this neighbourhood used to be all open orchards—kind of a community fruit bowl back in the day. Then in the sixties, the land got bought up by developers, who built block upon block of cheap housing. It wasn't so bad at the time—my step dad grew up in those burbs—but like everything else here in So-Cal, it eventually got all rundown. I guess it's like that everywhere. Why can't we take care of stuff?
Then ValentiCorp came on the scene and the whole area got bulldozed and "rejuvenated," which means it's now block after block of condos, two- and three-stories high, plus big box stores and chain restaurants. In the middle of it all stands the tall ValentiCorp office structure with its corporate logo on the roof, surrounded by acres of parking lots.
As we pull in off the street, I realize that I've never really looked at the building before. It's almost dark out now, but the whole structure looks like a behemoth made of steel and black glass windows. It's ridiculous. Nine stories of windows. You wouldn't think anybody in their right mind would build something like that here, but it's withstood two earthquakes now, one of which did a lot of damage to the other businesses in the complex, but none to ValentiCorp.
Chaingang brings us to Computerland—one of those huge generic electronics stores. The bikes pull in around the far side of the building and we can't see ValentiCorp anymore. The riders shut off their machines. The sudden quiet is such a relief.
"Wait for me here," Chaingang tells his guys.
When Elzie and Desmond dismount the bikes that they're riding on, he motions them to follow us. He and I ride slowly back around the corner, to where three people stand on an island of grass and palm trees that separates one section of the parking lot from another. He parks the bike and we both get off. Desmond and Elzie join us.
I see Auntie Min, but I don't recognize either of the men with her. The strong Wildling
pings
they give off as we walk up to them tell me that they, like her, are old ones.
If we actually resemble our animal shapes, one of the strangers would be some kind of slinky animal, maybe from the weasel family. Or some kind of reptile. He's wiry-thin, his skin dark and parched-looking, his hair cut short except for a width of longer spikes that stands up in a stiff swath. I'd call it a Mohawk, but it's not quite tall enough. It reminds me more of a lizard's crest. His eyes are two dark pools that make me want to turn away when his gaze rests on me. I'm afraid they'll swallow some part of me.
The other is younger, also dark skinned, with longer dark hair. He's handsome and appears to be not much older than me, and his eyes are kinder, if a little sly. He's looking over at the ValentiCorp building, which is quite far off—about the distance of a football field from where we stand—but still imposing.
Auntie Min makes introductions. "Marina and Desmond, this is Cory," she says, placing her hand on the younger man's shoulder. "He's interested in helping your friend Josh."
"Thank you," we both say at the same time.
Cory smiles and nods toward us, then looks back at the building as though he's studying every aspect of it.