Fake: The Scarab Beetle Series: #3 (The Academy) (37 page)

“Don’t we need your son?” Eddie asked. “To get inside the third floor?”

“Don’t I look enough like my son?” the old man said.

My heart dropped. Ethan’s father. He was working with Alice? It was hard to tell. Eddie didn’t sound nervous and afraid of her, either.

Alice took Mr. Murdock’s arm. Mr. Murdock, wore leather shoes, and expensive clothes. His lips were heavily lined as he frowned, his eyes beady. He was an old man who gave off the look of someone about to croak, but stood tall and those eyes could kill you if you stepped on his lawn.

“It may not be good enough,” Alice said. “But if it isn’t, your son is on the way. He sent me a text not too long ago.”

I bit back a curse. We should have detoured Ethan. I considered going back and having Raven make a call to get them to hold back. Maybe they’d get delayed and we’d have more time.

“We don’t want to involve him,” Mr. Murdock said.

“What’s one more body?” Eddie asked. “We’ve got three here to deal with after everything is over.”

My heart sunk. This wasn’t good. Three. Axel and Marc and Brandon. If Brandon was in here, where were the other two?

“What about the two outside?” Mr. Murdock asked. “The set in the car?”

“They wanted a piece of the action,” Alice said. “One claimed he could give us access to the core if this one won’t participate. They called to negotiate.”

Who was in the car?

Brandon said something, unintelligible. Mack Truck shook him and jabbed him in the stomach.

“Nothing from the peanut gallery,” Eddie said. He sighed. “We might need them. He’s not willing, not even with his friends at risk.”

“Let’s get him and his buddies upstairs,” Mr. Murdock said. “He may change his mind if we put a couple of holes in his friends while he’s right there next to the computer.”

Brandon shouted something through his taped mouth. I could almost hear the cursing flying, matching my own thoughts.

I weighed my options. They had Axel and Marc here, possibly in the trunks. Either Alice was negotiating with Eddie, or they were on the same team. Either way, this wasn’t good. Mr. Murdock was involved, too.

Ethan had spent years defending his father from rumors. I got the feeling maybe Raven was right, and the rumors were true. And now he was duping his own son for a project he was working on.

Poor Ethan.

What could I do? I needed to distract them from going upstairs. The alarm might stall them a little, but if Mr. Murdock was able to dupe the face scanner… did he know about the computer in the floor? Could he access that, too?

I needed another set of hands. I wanted to get outside and see who was helping them, and at the same time, stall them from going upstairs to give Corey and Raven a chance to finish up what Corey needed to do.

Dizziness threatened to make me fall over. I clutched the wall. I needed to hurry before I couldn’t stay awake any more.

ONE DOWN, MORE TO GO

I
retreated, taking the back staircase, and ended up in the kitchen. I glanced at the microwave. If I blew up this one, they might shoot first and ask questions later. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be in the room, but I wasn’t sure it was enough. I couldn’t risk blowing up the entire thing like at Blake’s house, and then have the police come in. I’d need just enough time to distract them downstairs so I could get outside and maybe free Axel and Marc.

Near the kitchen, on the other side of the hallway, was an entertainment room with a large television. I spotted a remote on a side table near the sofa. Two distractions. That might work. I needed one more, but I thought I could get Brandon to help me.

I started by sneaking over to grab the remote. In the kitchen, I took out just three eggs and put them in the microwave. Now I just needed my extra set of eyes and hands.

I crept as quietly as I could through the house while Alice and Eddie were still discussing things with Mr. Murdock downstairs.

I didn’t want to get caught, but I needed Brandon’s attention without the guards becoming aware so I could let him know help was here and that he had to distract them for as long as possible.

I found a door that led to the garage, and then came up with my plan. With my foot on the rear stairwell, I aimed the remote toward the widescreen television in the back room and hit the power button, and then pressed the volume up, hoping something interesting was on.

I got the news. The voice of the anchor reporting the weather got very loud really quickly. Good enough.

I shuffled up the stairs when I heard Eddie and someone else asking what the noise was about.

At the top of the stairs, Mack Truck was still holding onto Brandon, this time closer to the front door, like he was ready to take Brandon away if needed. Eddie, Alice’s guard, Alice and Mr. Murdock were out of sight. I didn’t know about the third guy with Eddie, but I assumed he was standing nearby still.

I angled myself on the steps to be in for Brandon’s line of sight, but just out of view for Mack. I waved, and used the light in the remote that lit up to try to get his attention.

He blinked and his eyes drifted up. I smashed buttons on the remote, blinking at him again and again.

Finally he picked up his head, looking up at me.

I grinned, waved.

He started to shake his head, but dropped it quickly, checking himself. Slowly, his eyes went up but he kept his head even. He wasn’t going to alert the guards that I was there. His eyes were dark now, cursing at me for risking my neck.

I pointed up. I made a C with my hand, and then a bird with both hands and pointed upstairs.

He gave me a microscopic nod.

I did my best to hand gesture. Pointing at my wrist to indicate time. I pointed at him and then at his goon and the ones in the living room and pointed to the ground floor.
Keep them downstairs.

He paused as he looked at me, and then looked down. I wasn’t sure if he understood that time.

Then suddenly Brandon dropped. He became a dead weight against Mack Truck. Mack Truck moved to catch him, but Brandon fell to the floor, almost face down. Pretending to have fainted?

Mack Truck shouted. Someone nearby, the third to Eddie’s party, joined in. The TV was still running loud, and then cut off. They must have finally found the power buttons. More footsteps in the hallway. They were responding to Mack Truck.

At least Brandon would keep them busy. Hopefully he didn’t get shot.

I raced back down the rear steps, stopping to scan the kitchen. It was empty. The TV was off. They were all probably back in the foyer.

Still, I snuck to the microwave. I hit the five minute button and then went for the hallway. The microwave hummed. How much time did it need before it blew?

For the fun of it, as I stood in the garage, I leaned over and I powered up the TV again. This time the sound was loud instantly.

I ducked into the garage and closed the door. Hopefully Brandon used this chaos to keep them contained. Time for round two.

HELP

I
slunk my way to the front of the garage doors, where there were windows, and peered out.

There were two men standing by the first car that had driven up. They had guns out, but were talking to each other. In the car, there were two more guys sitting in the driver and passenger seats.

Behind them were Blake and Doyle. Doyle looked like he was asleep with his head back against the seat. Blake had his arm up against the window of the car, his head on his palm. He was watching the guards, waiting.

My heart lifted but then dropped. There were more guys out here than I had thought. Axel and Marc… maybe they were in the trunks. I just needed a way to get rid of those guards…And for my eyes to stop crossing. I squeezed them tight, willing myself to stay moving and awake.

There were two garage doors, and then the car inside that was covered with a tarp. There were two buttons on the wall as well. Door openers.

I took the Taser out. I wasn’t sure this would even knock them out completely, or just stun them for a minute. I also couldn’t hit more than one guy.

I went back to the window. The men were still talking amongst themselves.

Blake, however, lifted his head, squinting at me. At least he was paying attention. His eyes were wide, questioning me from a distance.

Charades again. I sucked at this game. I checked out the men who were talking. I could lure one into the garage. I showed Blake my Taser, pointed to the guards, and held up one finger.

The guards were facing Blake, and while he could watch me, he couldn’t signal back without drawing attention. He did, however, wake up Doyle. He said something to him. Doyle rolled his head, said something and then sat up, rubbing his eyes.

I moved back to the buttons, hovered my hand over them both and, aimed my body to be ready to run behind the car.

Smack
.

Run for my life.

I ducked behind the car, and crab-walked the long way around toward the bumper and squatted.

Both doors opened with a loud hum. The men outside of the car turned toward it, looking confused.

Blake rolled down his window. “Hey,” he said. “What’s going on? Are we going in?”

One of the guys said something to the other. They split up. One went into the garage, the other moved toward Blake. The two additional men inside the car talked to the guard. There was a short conversation, and they got out, signaling to Blake and Doyle to get out of the car; they were all heading inside.

My heart was beating hard and fast. I might just have made this worse, but if Ethan and Avery were on the way, as were the Academy backup, then having people outside with guns when they showed up wasn’t a good idea. My blood was pumping. I breathed, trying to steady myself.

The one that entered the garage did it slowly, with his gun out. He checked out around the corners. He took his time, covering his back.

Doyle and Blake were inside with more guards. I was on my own now. Taking one down was a start. At least then I’d have a gun.

I checked out the Taser, and was excited to find it was the kind that spat out barbs.

I snuck around the car, waited until the guy was on the steps, looking at the garage door buttons, and then aimed for his back.

I fired.

The barbs flew, connecting at the back. I wasn’t too far from him, so it hit and latched onto him.

The man jerked, fell back, and landed on the ground. He dropped his gun. Because he fell on his back, and the current was still working on him, he was basically stuck with the Taser barbs in him.

I didn’t really feel sorry for him.

I stepped around the car, still holding onto the Taser button so electricity was flowing through. I needed him down as long as possible.

I picked up the gun, a .45. I checked for the safety and then aimed it at the guy that was still down on the ground, his legs twitching. He moved slowly, still alive, but seemed to be having a hard time working his muscles.

I checked the garage, found duct tape on the wall and went for it.

Releasing the Taser’s button and putting the black box on the ground, I moved to hover over the guard. I checked his pockets, finding a knife in a holster, some magazines with bullets inside, his wallet and cell phone, and a radio. I put those aside, out of his reach.

I taped his mouth first, and then taped up his wrists and ankles. And then I got tired and taped him to the ground around his back, thighs and biceps, using long strips. He might get up eventually, but it would take a lot of work. I found another tarp and draped it over him. Totally obvious but at least the man was down and couldn’t call for help.

I went to the door of the garage. No one came back outside. I wasn’t sure if anyone was watching. Maybe Raven upstairs. I’d kept the gun, the knife and the man’s radio. The others I tossed into the garbage can inside the garage. I’d almost kept the wallet. Old habits. Felt like a waste to throw it.

I held onto the radio in my pocket and carried the gun with me. The car was still, the second car was empty with everyone inside the house. I crossed my fingers that I could get at least Axel and Marc out. After that point, it would be a matter of getting everyone else out.

I slunk over to the car, opening the passenger door on the far side. I popped the trunk. I waited for a minute, just in case someone like Eddie noticed. When no one came rushing out with guns, I scurried over.

Axel and Marc were inside, tied up with black sacks over their heads. They were in the same clothes as the other day, only now their clothes were dirty. They were sweaty, and Marc’s arms were bruised.

“Axel,” I said. They were still. I was worried they were dead. Maybe we were too late for a cure.

Axel shot up. Marc did, too, mumbling something through the bindings.