فصل 18

Chapter 18: The Bagelmeister

When we walked back into the pool house, Jack was sitting at the kitchen table holding a spoon and eating from a carton of vanilla ice cream. “Where were you guys?” “With Ostin,” I said. “He found my mother.” He set down his spoon. “Awesome. Let’s go get her.” “It’s not that simple,” Taylor said.

“She’s in Peru,” I said.

“Is that in Idaho?” he asked.

Taylor covered her eyes.

“No,” I said. “It’s in South America. They have her locked away in a huge compound.” “Good,” he said. “I like a challenge.” “Well, you’ve got one. The first is how we get there.” “Maybe the voice can help us,” he said.

Taylor looked at me. “He’s right. I bet they could fly us there.” The thought gave me hope. “If they call again.” “They’ll call,” Taylor said. She turned to Jack. “In the meantime, we’re hungry for bagels. Will you drive us?” Jack stood. “Sure. I’ll get the keys from Mitchell.” * * *

The three of us drove about six blocks to Taylor’s favorite bagel shop—the Bagelmeister. I had never been to the place before, but I knew it was a hangout for the popular kids.

“Let’s go inside,” Taylor said. “It’s faster.” “Wait,” I said. “What if someone recognizes you? They’ve probably been hanging ‘missing girl’ posters around town.” “We’ll just be a second,” she said. “Besides, all my friends are in school right now.” “All right,” I said. “But we can’t stay.” I held the door for her as she walked inside. As we walked into the store, Taylor froze. There was a shrill scream. “Guys! It’s Tay!” I looked over Taylor’s shoulder to see a group of girls. Her friend Maddie was pointing at her. “OMG! It’s really you! Where have you been? You are in so much trouble.” Taylor just stared at them like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.

“Reboot them,” I said. “Quick!”

Taylor closed her eyes.

Immediately the entire room froze. I grabbed Taylor’s arm and pulled her to the door. As we ducked out of the shop I heard someone say, “I think I just had, like, an aneurysm. . . .” We ran back to the car. I opened the door and pushed her in.

“That was fast,” Jack said. “Where are the bagels?” “We’ve got to get out of here,” I said. “Taylor’s friends are inside.” He looked at Taylor. “Did they see you?” “Yes, but I rebooted them.”

“Hope it worked.” Jack put the car in reverse, backed up, then squealed out of the parking lot. When we were a couple of blocks away he asked, “Where to now?” “There’s that other bagel place over on Thirty-Third,” I said. “Next to the theater. I think they have a drive-through window. What do you think, Tay?” I looked over. “Taylor?” Her head was down, her eyes covered by her hands. She was crying.

“What’s wrong?”

She kept crying. I put my hand on her shoulder. “Taylor?” She wiped her eyes, then looked up at me. “I just miss my life,” she said. “I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss my mom hiding my Easter basket in the same stupid place every year for the last ten years. I even miss my dad yelling at me for being gone all the time.” I wasn’t sure what to say. Jack glanced at me in the rearview mirror with a helpless expression.

After a moment I breathed out heavily. “Maybe it’s time you went home.” Her expression turned from sad to angry. “You’re trying to get rid of me?” “No. I just don’t want you to be so unhappy.” “We’re in this together. All of us are. Besides, we both know the Elgen aren’t going to leave me alone just because I gave up. It makes me an easier target.” I held her hand. “I don’t know what to say.” “You don’t have to say anything. I just needed someone to listen.” She wiped her eyes. “Do you have a Kleenex or something?” “There are some napkins up here,” Jack said.

“That works.”

Jack handed her a stack of napkins, and she blew her nose and wiped her eyes again.

Just then the cell phone rang. I picked it up, and Taylor took my arm to listen in.

“Hello?”

“Well done last night, Michael,” the voice said. “Another potential catastrophe averted.” “We found my mother,” I said.

The voice paused. “Are you sure?”

“She’s being held in Puerto Maldonado, Peru.” “Their Starxource training compound,” the voice said. “Of course. It’s their most secure compound—especially as far as Hatch is concerned. He has complete control over the personnel. How do you know she’s there?” “I can’t tell you,” I said.

“Are you certain your information is correct?” “We know that she was sent there after she was kidnapped. I’ve seen her file with a picture of her.” “So you either hacked into their system or, more likely, downloaded the files at the academy.” I could have kicked myself for divulging so much. I didn’t confirm his guesses, but I began gulping.

“You’re right not to tell anyone,” the voice said. “If Hatch knew that Grace had downloaded those files, he would stop at nothing to hunt her down.” His words filled me with fear. “I didn’t say anything about Grace.” “You didn’t have to, Michael. She’s the only one who could have accessed that information before it was destroyed.” “How do you know it was destroyed?”

“Elgen protocol,” he said. “Does Hatch know that Grace is with you?” “I don’t know.”

“Even if he does, he clearly doesn’t know what she’s carrying. How much of their mainframe did you get?” “We think all of it.”

“This is a fantastic stroke of luck,” he said. “That information is invaluable to our cause. Where is this data now?” “It’s on one of the computers at the house.” “We need to get that information. We’ll send someone over this afternoon to retrieve it. The van we send will be disguised as some type of service vehicle.” “I didn’t say you could have the information,” I said.

There was a long pause. “What do you mean?” “I need a ride to Peru.”

“You want to try to rescue your mother?” “Yes.”

“You do realize that you’re walking into a trap and that Hatch is holding your mother as bait.” “Probably.”

“Not probably, he is. And once you’re in the compound there’s nothing we can do to help you.” “I wasn’t planning on your help. I have to take a chance. I have to save her.” There was another long pause. When he spoke his voice was softer. “I just wanted to make sure that you know what you’re up against. I’ll make the arrangements. It will take me a while. We’ll get you to Peru and provide you with all the information we have on the compound in return for Grace’s information. But we want one more thing. We want Grace.” Taylor looked at me. She mouthed, “Grace?” “I can’t turn her over to you.”

“If Hatch catches her, he’ll probably kill her. But he’ll break her first. Then he’ll know exactly how much we know. It will render the information useless.” I thought over his warning.

“You know I’m right, Michael. Grace can’t help you. Her powers aren’t what you’ll need. And you’ll be putting her life in terrible danger. If you won’t do it for the cause, do it for her sake.” After another minute I said, “Okay. I’ll ask her. But it’s up to her.” “Fair enough. Do we have a deal?”

I looked at Taylor and she nodded.

“Okay,” I said. “We have a deal. Send your guy.”