Exposure (41 page)

I
heard Hi shouting from a hundred yards away.

“What’s that fool done now?” I muttered, digging a rock from my sneaks. These retro Jordans might look cool, but they were light on padding.

Adjusting my glasses, I ran in the direction of his howls. Ben and I had already scouted the phosphate mine, and were just finishing a circuit of the old cemetery.

Not
my favorite assignment. Freaking graveyards. Next time Tory wants some ancient crypts inspected,
she
can have the job.

“Come on, Devers.” Jogging over to join me, Ben cocked his head toward the riverbank. “Sounds like Hiram’s about to wet himself.”

We found Stolowitski down a ten-foot mud slick, gripping a clump of vines for dear life. His lower body was submerged in the fast-flowing Ashley River.

“About time!” Hi yelled. “Get me out of here. I think I lost a shoe!”

“What in the world?” I almost broke down laughing.

“Where’s Tory?” Ben dropped to his butt and scooted down the incline Hi had obviously failed to notice. Halting ten feet from the water’s edge, he considered how to get closer without following Hi into the river.

“How should I know?” Hi grumbled, red-faced. “We split up. She was headed for the old barn.
Go check the dangerous riverbank, Hiram. There might be secret caves.
No one said anything about fifty-foot cliffs!”

“You let her go alone?” Ben scolded, slowly working his way down to where Hi was beached. “That defeats the whole purpose!”

“I’m
aware
of that, Benjamin.” Hi tried slinging a leg up onto the riverbank, but it flopped back into the roiling current. “But she’d figured out you sent her away from the mine on purpose.
You
try telling Tory what to do when she’s pissed.”

“I’ll pass.” But I shook my head at Hi anyway. He looked like a giant fishing lure.

Ben wrapped one arm around a low-slung willow branch, then extended a hand toward Hi, who stared at it dubiously. I shuffled clockwise to get a better view.

“Don’t drop me,” Hi pleaded. “I can’t swim all the way back to the marina.”

“Relax.” Ben planted his feet and steadied himself. “On three. One. Two—”

Hi leaped too early, but Ben was ready. Locking arms with Hi, he dragged him up onto dry land, then pushed his portly frame back upslope.

“Just carry me,” Hi wheezed. “Be my knight in shining armor.”

Ben kicked his rear. “Keep moving, you dope.”

Hi collapsed at the top, then pointed to a knobby root at the crest of the slope.

“Him,” Hi informed me solemnly. “That’s the one that got me.”

“We waited on the path for like ten minutes,” I said, cleaning dirt from my lenses with the tail of my shirt. “Ya’ll didn’t show, so we checked the graveyard real quick. Where you been?”

“I’ve been floating in the drink for at least that long.” Hi was pulling off his drenched socks. One shoe was definitely AWOL. “Tory must’ve heard me yelling. I think she’s punishing me for colluding with you guys.”

“Wait.” Ben straightened. “No one’s seen Tory since we split up?”

“There’s nothin’ up this way,” I pointed out. “That’s why we sent her to the barn in the first place.”

“Then where is she?” Ben rose, scanning the tree line. “Could she have doubled back?”

“And left Hi to drown?” I felt a hand rise to my earlobe. “No way. She’d have come right by here.”

I glanced at Hi, sitting in a puddle on the grass. “You been shouting the whole time?”

“Like an opera singer,” Hi confirmed, squeezing river water from his socks.

I was about to say more when it happened.

A slap of cold jolted my system.

Strange buzzing filled my head, like a fax machine attempting to connect.

Ben’s eyes went wide. Hi popped to his bare feet, then crouched like a hunted animal.

Suddenly, I knew what was happening.

Tory was flaring.

“It’s her!” I whispered, unsure why I’d dropped my voice. “She must be in—”

Something brushed against my mind, making me dizzy.

A blast of heat filled my chest.

BEN! HI! SHELTON! I NEED—

The message abruptly ceased.

Tory!

I tried sending thoughts back, sensed Hi and Ben attempting the same.

Brief contact, then my mind recoiled as if struck. The connection was gone.

Hi staggered against a tree trunk.

“Tory!” Ben shouted, spinning in a wild circle. “Where are you?!”

My brain seemed to spin inside my skull. Then I was on my knees, vomiting in the tall grass. When the world finally righted itself, I felt hands beneath my armpits, holding me up.

“You’re okay, buddy.” Hi’s voice cracked. “Shake it off. We have to find Tor.”

Ben was pacing, frantic, at a loss for what to do.

“The barn!” I gulped, straightening my glasses. “That’s where she was headed!”

Ben took off without a backward glance. Hiram and I followed, racing through the brush and into deeper woods.

“No shoes!” Hi yelped, hobbling away from a pinecone. “Worst birthday
ever
!”

Ahead, I heard an engine rev.

Squealing tires.

Then the sounds of a car tearing through the mud.

We caught Ben at the barn, which was no hollow wreck after all.

Oh damn. This looks new.

A window had been smashed. The door stood ajar. Ben raced inside, only to reemerge seconds later, firing over to a set of sloppy tire tracks.

Ben screamed in anger and frustration.

And I knew.

Tory was gone.

• • •

“I’m telling you, she’s been taken!”

Ben slapped the intake desk, causing everyone to jump.

“Take it easy,” I whispered, fingers tugging at both ears. “We won’t help Tory by getting locked up ourselves.”

I imagined Moms bailing me out. Nearly lost my lunch.

The duty officer rose, his face a thunderhead. “Another outburst like that, son, and you’ll get your own special room to cool down in. Understood?”

“Yessir,” Hi answered for Ben, who was hovering close to tilt. “We’re just worried about our friend. She’s been missing for at least an hour.”

The officer spoke with forced patience. “She’s only been gone an hour?”

“Tory was with
us,
” I answered quickly. “In the middle of nowhere. No ride of her own, no other way home. We were doing . . . something important. She wouldn’t have run off alone.”

The officer rubbed his chin. “You’re the same kids who came in here yesterday, right?”

I nodded, nervous, not liking where this was going.

“And you don’t have any
proof
your friend was kidnapped? You didn’t
see
it happen?”

Ben’s mouth opened, but I clamped his arm.

“No, sir.”
But she didn’t just bail without telling us!

That settled it for the cop. “We’ve been warned that you four like to tell fantastic stories. Always have something crazy to report. I’m sorry, but without more, I can’t help you. Hawfield’s orders. We’ll call your parents, and they can sort this out.”

Ben tensed. I cringed, anticipating an explosion. I kept a grip on his forearm, though my glasses nearly slid off my nose.

“Is Captain Corcoran available?” Hi asked.

I tried not to cringe.
Hiram, why?

“He might be,” the officer answered warily.

“Great.” Hi smiled as if the issue had been settled. “Carmine and I go
way
back. Since his Academy days. We’ll just pop by his office and fill him in on the new info.”

“Now hold on a—”

“Officer—” Hiram’s eyes dropped to a shiny silver name tag, “—Shinn, is it?”

The cop snapped a curt nod.

“Great work down here, Shinn. You’re a credit to the intake desk. On the ball. I can tell you’re heading places.”

Hi leaned forward and lowered his voice conspiratorially, forcing Shinn to bend closer as well. “Thing is, Captain CC made us
promise
to bring him any intel we might learn about the Zodiac kidnappings, no matter how trivial. I’d hate to upset such a powerful man by failing to follow his orders, wouldn’t you?”

I coughed into my hand, hiding a smile. I saw Hi’s play now.

Corcoran was our last chance. Hi knew the captain—and his sour attitude—and was hoping young Officer Shinn did as well. We had to get past this stupid desk.

With a world-weary sigh, Shinn pointed toward the elevators. “Top floor. No stops.”

Snagging Ben’s arms, Hiram and I hustled him from the desk.

• • •

“What did I do in life to deserve you kids?” Corcoran grumbled.

I kept my mouth shut, though I felt the exact same about him.

Ben planted his fists on Corcoran’s desk. “Tory’s been
taken,
Captain. Do your job!”

Corcoran pointed to the chair Ben had vacated. “Sit your butt down, you little cuss. Or else you’re out of here. I’ll not be scolded by some whippet who can’t even shave.”

Ben dropped back with an exasperated grunt. I could tell he was nearing the edge.

We all were.

Tory had been snatched, miles from here, by who we couldn’t even guess.

And we had no idea how to get her back.

This is the worst.

“Think what you like about us personally,” Hi said, “but we’ve got history together, Captain. Without us, you wouldn’t be sitting in that cushy chair at all. You know we wouldn’t be here unless we truly believed Tory was in danger.”

Corcoran bristled at Hi’s mention of the past, but refrained from comment.

I added my voice. “We told you everything we know. Just tell us if you can help.”

Corcoran crossed his meaty arms. “Fine. I’ll look into it.”

“How?” Ben pressed. “What are you going to do?”

“Honestly, boy, I have no idea.” Corcoran’s forehead wrinkled as he considered options. “If she was grabbed in the woods, as you say, then I don’t rightly know where to start. You’ve given me nothing to go on.”

Ben threw his hands up. “You’re the
police
! There’s has to be someone you can—”

He stopped dead. A faraway look entered his eyes. Then, “Thank you for your time, Captain. Please do what you can.”

Ben popped up and strode for the door, motioning us to follow.

I glanced at Hi, who shrugged. Baffled, we hurried after our friend.

Half rising from his desk, Corcoran called to our backs. “Don’t do anything stupid, you hear?” But we’d already disappeared down the hall.

Ben mashed the elevator button, then pushed it again and again.

My patience only lasted until the doors closed. “Well? What the heck was that?”

“We made a mistake.” Ben stared at the lit arrow, willing the car to descend faster.

“How so?” For once, Hi passed on a pithy quip.

“We came to the wrong place.” I saw a glimmer of hope in Ben’s eyes. “But if we hurry, we’ll still have plenty of daylight.”

“So where are we going?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“To the one person who’ll know where Tory is. Or how to find her.”

I
awoke in semidarkness.

Blink.

Blink blink blink.

A cool hand was stroking my forehead.

“About time,” said a familiar voice. “I was starting to worry.”

Lurching upright, I grabbed the dim form hovering over me.

“Ella!” Wrapping both arms around my friend. “You’re okay!”

“I wouldn’t go
that
far.” She hugged me back just as fiercely.

Eyes adjusting to the gloom, I took in my surroundings. Packed earth floor. Dank, moldy stonework. A single lightbulb burning beyond a line of rusty steel bars.

Bars I knew had been forged by Philip Simmons.

Like a bad dream.

I’d joined Ella in the ransom video cell.

“How long have you been here?” I whispered.

“Two days, best I can tell.” Ella’s long black hair was tied in a makeshift braid. Bits of leaves and twigs poked from the messy tangle. Her face was pale, her eyes red and puffy. I could tell she’d been crying.

“It’s hard to say.” Ella gestured to the gaping emptiness above our heads. “The light never changes down here, but that bastard feeds me every once in a while. A bucket comes down on a chain. I think we’re at the bottom of a well.”

Reality crashed in, full force.

I’d been kidnapped by Detective Hawfield.

At the crucial moment, my powers had betrayed me.

What about the boys?

“Was there anyone with me? Did Hawfield mention my friends?”

Ella shook her head. “He brought you alone. That was the first time I’d seen him since he shoved me in here. You were
totally
out. I’ve been trying to wake you for a while. For a moment, I . . . I thought maybe . . .”

I grabbed her hand, squeezed tightly. “I’m fine. And we’re getting out of here.”

“I’d like that very much, Tor.” Her voice faltered. “I’m pretty scared.”

Rising, I gave her another quick hug. “Don’t worry. We will. I promise.”

Releasing my friend, I surveyed the murky chamber. “What is this place?”