Our captives. Up until that point, I felt as though we hadn’t done anything wrong, but the fact that we had captured two people and were holding them prisoner changed that. We were kidnappers. I hoped the night would end before anything worse happened.
In my gut I knew that wasn’t likely.
Kent glanced out of the window as we drew nearer to the beach.
“Drive us right out to the bluff,” he commanded.
I could feel the ambulance bump as we drove off the road and started to travel over sand. We continued on for a minute or so, but then the driver pulled to a stop.
“That’s as far as we go,” the driver finally said. “Another few feet and we’ll be wet.”
“Get out,” Kent said. “Everybody.”
I took charge of the guard. Tori may have been more skilled at controlling people, but I had strength that came from the Ruby. As soon as I grabbed the guard’s arm, he knew it. He was not about to try to fight me.
“Everybody move over there,” Kent ordered once we were out.
The four of us stepped back from the ambulance and stood together facing him. I suddenly had a sick image: firing squad. What was Kent doing?
“C’mere,” he said to me.
I was happy to see he was still aiming the rifle at the bad guys.
“What?”
“Put it in neutral, and push it over the edge.”
Ordinarily I would have laughed at that, but not then. He was talking to the right guy. I opened the driver’s door, put the gear shift into neutral, then ran to the rear.
“Yeah right,” the driver said, scoffing.
I took that as a challenge. I leaned down, put my shoulder against the rear bumper, pumped my legs like I was hitting a blocking sled, and pushed the ambulance forward.
“Jeez!” I heard somebody exclaim in awe.
It only took five strides before I felt the ambulance begin to slide forward on its own. I stopped pushing and stood to watch as the white vehicle went over the edge and tumbled end over end down the steep bluff before crashing into the sea.
“That’s, like, impossible,” the driver exclaimed. “Can all you people do that?”
“You people?” Tori said quickly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The driver didn’t answer. He looked at the ground as if he had already said too much.
“Now what happens?” the guard asked.
“Drop your gear,” Kent commanded. “Your walkie, cuffs, baton, everything.”
The driver and the guard obeyed quickly.
“Now climb down the bluff,” Kent ordered.
“What?” the driver exclaimed.
“Or I could shoot you,” Kent said.
The driver and the guard exchanged nervous looks.
“You’ll be fine,” Kent said quickly. “All we want is a head start.”
The two gave in and marched to the edge of the bluff. The driver went first, carefully climbing down the steep embankment. It was treacherous but not impossible. The guard was next, but before dropping over the edge, he looked up at Kent with hatred like I’ve never seen before.
“We’ll never give up,” he said defiantly.
Tori gave me a questioning look.
“Stop talking! Go!” Kent barked.
The guard began his descent.
“What did that mean?” Tori asked. “And what did he mean by ‘you people’?”
“Who cares?” Kent replied. “By the time they make it back up, we’ll be long gone.”
Kent walked quickly to the edge and looked over to make sure that the two men continued to climb down.
I didn’t know what to think about the guard’s odd comment. I was too busy fighting to stay in control of my racing heart. I wondered how long the Ruby would be working on me. It seemed as though once it was in your system, so long as you called upon it, it gave you what you needed. It wasn’t until you forced yourself to calm down that the effects would lessen.
But it wasn’t time to calm down. Not yet.
“Oh my God,” Tori exclaimed. “Listen.”
At first all I heard was the sound of crashing surf. Before I could ask Tori what she meant, I heard it too.
“They’re back,” I said fearfully.
“Who’s back?” Kent asked.
Once again the eerie music floated down from the sky. We all looked up to see another formation of dark shadows approaching from the east.
“What the hell is that?” Kent asked.
The shadows moved fast, headed west toward the mainland. There looked to be about a dozen of the stingray-shaped objects, each emitting the same incongruous musical sound. They were moving fast, far faster than what we’d seen two nights before. They flashed overhead and were gone in seconds. Moments later, the sky to the west lit up with the same kind of brilliant display we had witnessed before.
Kent took a few steps toward the light show, as if those few feet would give him a better view.
“What’s going on?” he asked, numb.
“It’s the same as the other night,” I answered. “There’s a battle going on but I have no idea who’s fighting, or why.”
Unlike the previous night, the light show didn’t last long. Nor was there another dogfight. No fighter planes arrived to challenge the dark shadows. The light show soon ended and I expected to see the mysterious aircraft flying back our way, having completed whatever mission they were on. But they didn’t.
The three of us stood there, staring west, trying to understand what it was that we had just seen. It was at that moment that a pair of headlights appeared on the sandy road in front of us, headed our way.
“Uh-oh,” Tori uttered.
“It’s okay,” Kent assured us. “All part of the plan. Pick up their gear and toss it.”
I snapped back into the moment, the disturbing light show momentarily forgotten. I didn’t care about the handcuffs and the baton, but the walkie would cause us trouble if the guard got it back too quickly. I picked it up and heaved it into the sea. It was the longest throw I had ever made.
Kent did the same with the rifle. He wound up and tossed it away, spinning it into the sea. Part of me was relieved. I didn’t like the way he was waving that thing around. I wouldn’t have put it past him to use it on us. But we were on the run and could have used the protection, especially since somebody was driving toward us.
“C’mon,” Kent said and ran toward the car.
“Do you trust him?” Tori asked.
“It’s not like we have a choice,” was my sober reply.
We followed Kent, who became a silhouette against the approaching headlights. He ran right up to the driver’s side as the car came to a stop. The driver jumped out and threw her arms around him.
“It’s about time,” she cried.
It was Olivia. The stop at the Blackbird Inn now made sense.
“I’ve been so worried,” she squealed while hugging Kent and giving him a big kiss. She was wearing her usual short-shorts with a halter top—not exactly a practical uniform for aiding a prison break.
“Are you okay?” she added when they came up for air.
“Fine,” Kent said perfunctorily. “But we gotta keep moving.”
Olivia looked at me and said, “I was afraid I’d never see you again, Tucker.”
Maybe not as afraid as not seeing Kent again, but I appreciated her concern.
“Strange days,” I said with a shrug.
“Who is she?” Tori asked me.
“Kent’s girlfriend, Olivia,” I answered. I guess that was official now.
“And who are you?” Olivia asked, giving Tori an appraising once-over.
“Kent’s other girlfriend,” Tori said without missing a beat as she walked past Olivia toward the car. “Didn’t he tell you about me?”
Olivia stood stock-still with her mouth open, stunned. I would have laughed if my head weren’t still exploding. Seemed as though Tori liked pushing buttons too. Quinn would have loved it.
> Quinn.
Thinking of him snapped me back into the mission.
“Where are we going, Kent?” I asked.
“Someplace where all your questions will be answered,” he said. He put his arm around Olivia’s shoulders and said, “Tori’s not my girlfriend.”
Olivia smiled with relief. “I knew that.”
We all got into the vehicle, which turned out to be a Jeep. Olivia sat behind the wheel while Tori and I climbed into the back seat. Olivia hit the accelerator and turned quickly, slinging up sand while the wheels spun. For a moment I thought she had no idea of how to drive and I feared we would follow the ambulance over the edge. But the tires bit, she spun the wheel back, straightened out, and we were on our way.
“Tell me everything,” she said.
“Not until we get there. Turn out the lights.”
“The lights?” she complained. “I won’t be able to see.”
“I’m more worried about somebody seeing us. Your eyes will adjust.”
Olivia shrugged and killed the lights. It was disconcerting for a moment as everything went black. But our eyes adjusted quickly and Olivia kept us on the road to…somewhere.
Tori put her hand on my arm and said, “How do you feel?”
“Okay. I think I’m coming down.”
“Perfect timing,” Kent said.
“That was a rotten thing to do, Kent,” Tori said to him. “You used him.”
“And he used me. You both did. But we’re out, right?”
“Yeah, we’re out,” I said. “So now tell us what’s going on. How did you get the Ruby inside?”
“And where are we going?” Tori added.
Kent gave us a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. “When you see where we’re going, you’ll know how I got the Ruby.”
We had trusted Kent this far and it had worked out okay, mostly. We had to let him play it his way. I took a deep breath and actually could feel the effects of the Ruby lessening. I had survived. At least that part of the nightmare was over.
Tori kept her hand on my arm and said softly, “Thank you.”
I shrugged.
“You’re welcome,” Kent said.
Tori smiled. It didn’t happen often, but when it did her face lit up. I was beginning to really like Tori Sleeper. She took my hand and gently rubbed my arm. I wasn’t sure if it was an affectionate thing to do, or if she was trying to calm me down. Either way, I didn’t hate it.
Olivia drove without saying another word. Thankfully. She must have been using all of her brain power to keep us on the road. I knew the island as well as anybody and saw that after moving along the Memagog Highway for several miles, we turned onto High Pine Road, the road that led due north and ended at Chinicook Island.
Chinicook was a desolate stretch of land that was technically part of Pemberwick but surrounded by water. The only access was by a long wooden one-lane bridge that had been built before the Second World War. Islanders never went out to Chinicook unless they were bird watchers. There wasn’t much there except for miles of beach surrounding dense scrub. Tourists were the only ones who made the trip. It was supposedly romantic to pack a picnic and get away from the crowded island beaches. At least that’s what it said in the guidebooks. But the drive took over an hour and then there was the half mile of narrow bridge. It was a trip that was daunting enough to turn back most casual explorers.
The longer we stayed on High Pine Road, the more certain I became that we were headed to Chinicook. The question was why?
Olivia drove fast, considering we were flying without lights and the road was covered with sand. I closed my eyes, suddenly feeling weary after losing my Ruby boost. Tori rubbing my arm helped with that. I think I might have fallen asleep because the next time I opened my eyes, we were approaching the Chinicook Bridge.
“Take it easy here,” Kent warned. “We don’t want to go over the side.”
It was good advice. There was no rail to speak of, only a long wooden beam that ran the length of both sides a foot off the deck. One wrong move and—splash.
“You’re awake, Olivia, right?” I asked.
“Wide awake,” she replied quickly.
I sensed the tension in her voice. She was alert and locked in.
We had gotten maybe halfway across the bridge when she jammed on the brakes. Tori grabbed my arm as we skidded forward. I thought for sure that we were going over the side but Olivia managed to keep the Jeep going straight until we came to a stop.
“Why did you do that?” I demanded.
“What’s that?” Olivia cried nervously, pointing forward.
Something was on the bridge ahead of us. In the dark it appeared to be a moving gray shape.
“Kent?” Olivia whined, her anxiety growing.
“It’s okay,” Kent said with confidence.
He got out of the Jeep, walked to the front, and stood directly between the two headlights.
“Flash the lights,” Kent commanded. “Two short. Two long. Two short.”
“What?” Olivia asked, totally confused.
“I’ll do it,” Tori said impatiently and reached forward.
She flashed the lights, just as Kent had instructed.
The gray shape offered a reply with its own flashing light. Two long. Two short. Two long.
“Very James Bond,” I said.
Kent got back in the Jeep and said, “Drive. Slowly.”
Olivia obeyed. She gently stepped on the gas and we rolled forward, staying a good thirty yards behind the gray shape that now looked to be moving back toward Chinicook.
“Friends of yours?” I asked Kent.
Kent didn’t answer.
After a nerve-wracking few minutes, we reached the far end of the bridge and drove onto the sand of Chinicook Island. Now that we were closer, I saw that the gray shape was actually a group of four people.
Kent turned to us and said, “This is what SYLO wants to know about.”
“What?” Tori asked. “A bunch of people hiding out in the dark?”
“Hiding out in the dark,” Kent said. “And planning to take the island back.”
Kent got out and went to the group. They all shook hands.
“This is just plain creepy,” Olivia said.
I couldn’t argue with her.
Tori and I got out of the Jeep and stood in front, not sure of what to say or do. If what Kent had said was true, we had found the people Granger referred to as “rogues.” It sounded like some kind of revolutionary underground that wanted to fight back against SYLO. Knowing that, all of Kent’s caution about saying anything about his plan made sense. It raised him up in my estimation. At least a little.
“Tori?” one of the gray shadows called. “Is that you, Tickle?”
Tori immediately tensed up. “Daddy?”
The man hurried toward us and I quickly recognized him as the guy who was sitting aboard the Tori Tickle working on his lobster traps when I first visited their house.
Tori ran into his arms and the two hugged.
“What are you doing here?” he cried, full of emotion.
“I gotta ask you the same thing,” Tori said through her tears.
Another mystery was solved. We now knew why Michael Sleeper wasn’t hanging around the SYLO compound.
“Young Tucker Pierce!” called another of the shadows. “Never thought I’d be seeing you out this way.”
It was my turn to tense up, but not for the same reason as Tori. I knew that voice and as soon as I heard it, I realized that yet another mystery had been solved.
I knew where Kent had gotten the Ruby.
The man stepped forward and held out his hand to shake. “Welcome to the revolution,” he said with a warm smile.
It was Mr. Feit.
TWENTY-ONE
I didn’t shake his hand.
I punched the smile off his face.
“Whoa, dude!” Kent yelled with surprise the second my fist connected with Feit’s chin.
I’ll put
the blame on the lingering effects of the Ruby. It’s easier than saying I had lost control. Or maybe I wasn’t the same guy I used to be, but in that moment, the smug smiling face of Feit represented all that had gone wrong on Pemberwick Island.
Hitting him felt pretty good.
Feit’s head snapped to the side and he went down hard, landing on his butt. I hadn’t knocked him out, but he wasn’t in a hurry to get back up again.
At first nobody made a move. I think they were stunned and maybe afraid I might take a swing at them too. After a tense few seconds, Tori walked up to me and said softly, “Can I hit him next?”
Her words actually calmed me down, which I think she was trying to do.
Feit rubbed his aching jaw and when he looked up at me, the smile was gone. I had knocked it into next week.
“You can hit me again if it’ll make you feel better,” he said.
“I don’t need your permission,” I snarled.
Kent approached me and said, “I don’t blame you, man, but you should listen to what he’s got to say.”
I looked around at the others. They were keeping their distance, staring at me with concern, wondering what I would do next. I liked the feeling. For a change, I was the one in control.
“Get up,” I ordered.
Feit gingerly got to his feet, making sure that he was out of punching range. He looked the exact same as I’d remembered him, complete with baggy shorts, flip-flops, a hoodie, and a few days’ growth of beard. He looked every bit the part of a surfer dude who was a little too old to be a surfer dude.
“I get it,” he said, with no hint of his usual charm. He wasn’t laughing either. “Some of the people who took the Ruby died. That’s tragic and I have a lot to do with it. But it wasn’t all my fault.”
“You brought it here,” I said.
“I did.”
“And you were the one getting people to use it.”
“Guilty,” he admitted.
“And it was your company that made it.”
Feit didn’t reply to that right away.
“That’s what you told me,” I said.
“I know,” he admitted. “I lied.”
“So then where did it come from?” Tori asked.