Inside the Shadow City (28 page)

Don't be a brat. Making demands isn't going to get you anywhere. Instead, get the other person talking and listen to every word she says as if it were the most fascinating thing you've ever heard. If she thinks she's in charge of the situation, she'll be more likely to listen to what
you
have to say.

Rule Four: Stay Calm and Confident

It's important to be able to think quickly and clearly. Never get angry or defensive. Instead, smile sweetly, and don't let her see an ounce of weakness.

Rule Five: Pile on the Praise

People instinctively like people who like
them
. It's hard to refuse your biggest fan. But remember, flattery can backfire, so try your best to sound sincere.

Rule Six: You Can't Get Something for Nothing

Give them something little, and they'll be far more willing to give you something much bigger in return.

By eight o'clock the following evening, the Irregulars had assembled in my apartment. Betty arrived lugging two large shopping bags and immediately set off for the bathroom to try on her party disguise for our approval. Oona and DeeDee were sitting on the living room sofa, trading stock tips and beauty advice. Luz paced the perimeter of the room, shooting poisonous glances at Kiki, who was busily making notes in a small black notebook. I could see that twenty-four hours hadn't done much to improve Luz's attitude. It was going to be an interesting evening.

I set six cups of coffee down on the dining room table. Luz drained hers in one gulp.

“Are we ready to start?” I asked. The Irregulars took their seats at the table, while Kiki remained standing. We waited anxiously for her to address the group.

“Thanks for coming,” she began. “I couldn't do this without you.”

“That's for sure,” Luz muttered under her breath.

“Oh shut up, Lopez.” Oona's voice was one decibel short of a shout. “Don't you know when to stop?”

“I don't blame Luz for being angry,” said Kiki. “I just hope she'll consider the facts. The city is in danger, and the Irregulars are the only ones who know it. I need all of your help. Whether or not you offer it is your decision.”

Luz examined the sludge at the bottom of her coffee cup, refusing to meet Kiki's eye. She said nothing, but looked unmoved. After an awkward pause, Kiki continued.

“By now you know most of the story. The two kidnapped girls share a single thing in common: They each have a parent who has access to a layer of the NYCMap. Mitzi Mulligan's father has given the kidnappers the bottom layer of the map—the layer that shows everything in New York belowground. If the criminals can get their grubby hands on the other two layers, the city will be theirs. They'll be able to rob any house, destroy any build-ing, and bring life in New York as we know it to a halt. And no one will be able to stop them. Not even us.

“But we
can
prevent the kidnappers from accomplishing their goal. We just need to rescue Penelope Young before her mother hands over the second layer of the map. I can only hope that she hasn't done so already. Ananka, do you want to fill them in on the rest?”

I rose from my seat to address the group.

“When I found Mitzi Mulligan in Chinatown, she had a scrap of paper in her handbag. It was part of an invitation. An invitation like this.” I held up Tyler Deitz's ticket to the Bannerman Ball.

“Half the girls in New York would kill to get their hands on this. It's an invitation to a Bannerman Ball— the latest in a series of secret parties that are held on an island north of Manhattan. We believe that Mitzi Mulligan and Penelope Young were drugged and kidnapped at one of these parties.

“Lucky for us, Oona remembered seeing one of these invitations in the possession of a girl named Tyler Dietz. Her father's a fire chief, and he may have access to the third and final layer of the NYCMap. There's a good chance she's the kidnappers' next victim. So we convinced Tyler Deitz to lend us her invitation to the ball. All it took was a little ‘persuasion.'”

I slapped a picture of Tyler Deitz in her underwear down on the table. Oona snickered.

“Betty's in the bathroom right now transforming herself into the lovely Miss Deitz,” I said.

I laid the invitation beside the photo. The Irregulars pored over the golden card, which read:

June 21st
Pier 54
9:30 P.M.

No invitation, no admission.

When they had finished, Kiki scanned the room.

“If you haven't figured it out by now, here's the plan. We're going to crash the party. And we've got to act fast. We only have two days to prepare.”

Luz picked up the invitation and studied it.

“Pier Fifty-four? I thought you said the parties were held on an island.”

“We think Pier Fifty-four is where the guests are being picked up,” I said, trying my best to remain patient. “They've got to get to the island somehow, and most people in New York don't own a boat. But you're right about one thing. It's an odd place for a rendezvous.”

“Why?” asked DeeDee before Luz could jump in.

“Pier Fifty-four is a run-down pier on the west side of Manhattan. It used to be owned by the White Star Company, but it hasn't been used in decades. Some people say it's cursed.”

“Cursed?” asked Oona.

“It's where the
Titanic
was supposed to dock when it arrived in New York. Of course, it never made it.”

“Okay, so they're meeting at the pier. But how do we know where they're going?” Luz asked. “There's got to be more than one island around New York.”

“Actually, there are dozens. But in this case, there's only one that fits the bill.”

Hart Island

There are two ways to gain passage to Hart's Island, and I can't recommend either. The only people allowed on board the ferry that stops at this small island in the waters off the Bronx are unidentified corpses and the prison inmates who are forced to bury them.

Rikers Island

Not far from Hart Island, Rikers Island is the last place you'd want to be shipwrecked. For years, the island was used as a garbage dump, and its
sole inhabitants were a herd of giant rats. In the 1930s, after a long and fierce battle against the rodents, a different kind of vermin took up residence. Today, the island is home to thousands of convicted criminals, and its ten jails are tastefully decorated with miles of razor wire.

Roosevelt Island

Originally known as Blackwell's Island, this two-mile-long island located off the east side of Manhattan was once the final destination of New York's unwanted citizens. Crowded with insane asylums, prisons, and hospitals housing people with contagious diseases, Blackwell's Island was a miserable and foreboding place. In 1887, Nellie Bly, a twenty-year-old journalist known as the “intrepid girl reporter” went undercover to expose the cruel treatment of the women confined to the island's asylum. Her story made front-page news around the world. Today, most of Roosevelt Island's institutions are gone, but you can visit the ruins of a former smallpox hospital on the southern tip of the island.

Randall's Island

Throughout the nineteenth century, juvenile delinquents were sent to Randall's Island for “improvement.” Today, unwitting kids play soccer on the same ground where their unfortunate predecessors once suffered. Randall's Island is also home to what looks at first to be a rather ordinary town. But looks can be deceiving. The peaceful village is a pyromaniac's paradise. As home to the Fire Department Training Academy, it's the site of more explosions and fires than any other place on earth.

North Brother Island

This small, overgrown island in the East River was once home to one of the most feared women of the twentieth century. Mary Mallon was a cook who worked for families, restaurants, and hotels throughout New York City. Each dish she prepared came with a special ingredient—a deadly disease known as typhus. Until she was captured by authorities and imprisoned on North Brother Island, Mary Mallon was responsible for starting at least eight typhoid epidemics, earning her the nickname “Typhoid Mary.”

I unrolled a map of New York State and spread it across the table.

“There.” I pointed to a small speck of land in the middle of the Hudson River. The Irregulars leaned in for a closer look.

“Pollepel Island?” asked DeeDee.

“Otherwise known as Bannerman's Island, site of Bannerman's Castle.”

“I've lived in New York my whole life, and I've never heard of a castle in the middle of the Hudson River,” said Luz.

For a second, I wondered how badly we needed Luz's help, but a look from Kiki warned me to remain calm.

“Would you just take my word for it, Luz?” I groaned. “A man named Francis Bannerman built the castle over a hundred years ago. He used it to store his collection of military equipment—guns, cannons, suits of armor, stuff like that. But one day it got really hot, and his stockpile of ammunition exploded. It blew a big chunk out of the building. Not long after that, the castle was abandoned. Seems someone's found a new use for it.”

“Oh please,” sneered Luz. “Next you'll tell us there are alligators in the sewers.”

“You think you know everything, don't you?” I snapped. “For your information, there
have
been alligators in the sewers!”

“Just ignore her,” Oona advised. “The girl's got issues. So you think the kidnappers are throwing the Bannerman Balls?”

“It's too soon to jump to conclusions,” said Kiki. “All we know is that the girls are being kidnapped at the balls, and that there's a Chinatown connection. DeeDee's tests showed that the drug used on Mitzi Mulligan was Devil's
Apple—the same substance we found in a hidden room in Chinatown. And it's only sold at Chinese herbalist shops.”

“This is starting to sound dangerous,” Oona said. “And you say we're sending
Betty
to the party? Is she really the best choice? I mean, I don't want to say anything bad behind her back, but wouldn't it be better if one of us went?”

“You're underestimating Betty,” said Kiki. “She's a lot stronger than you think.”

“Sure, Betty's great,” Luz snarled at Kiki. “But why should we send her to the party to be drugged and kidnapped? Why shouldn't
you
go instead?”

“Because I volunteered to go,” a confident voice called from behind us.

An unfamiliar girl was standing in the doorway of the dining room, wearing a swan-white cocktail dress.

“Do you like it? I thought a white dress might make it easier for you to keep an eye on me while I'm at the party.”

I grabbed the picture I had taken of Tyler Deitz in the department store dressing room. Betty was the spitting image of the girl. I passed the photo around the table, putting an end to the argument.

“Amazing,” DeeDee muttered. “You're a real artist, Betty.”

“Good work,” said Kiki. “If the rest of you have done your jobs as well as Betty has, we won't have to worry about anyone getting drugged or kidnapped.” She pulled out her notebook and sat down with the rest of us at the dining room table. “What do you say we go over the plan?
The first step is to follow Betty to the island. Verushka and I have already rented a boat. Luz, we'll need you to come up with a way to silence the motor. We don't want to tip anyone off by making a lot of noise.”

“Piece of cake,” said Luz.

“I thought so,” Kiki replied matter-of-factly as she returned her gaze to the notebook. “Now, Betty. Let's go through your part. Once you're inside the castle, what are you going to do?”

“Mingle,” Betty answered.

“Correct, but don't move too far away from the castle's windows, or we won't be able to see you from the boat. Okay, so you're mingling, then what?”

“I wait for someone to offer me a drink.”

“We're pretty sure that's how they drug the girls,” I reminded the Irregulars. “Devil's Apple is a powerful narcotic. And when it's mixed with other liquids, it can be difficult to detect.”

“And what do you do when they offer you a drink?” Kiki continued to drill Betty.

“I tell them no thanks. But if they keep insisting, I'll know it's one of the kidnappers.”

“That's right. So what then?”

“After he hands me the drink. I spill it all over myself. Then I run to the ladies' room to clean myself off. But I accidentally leave my handbag behind.”

“We'll get back to the handbag in a minute, but let's keep in mind that the kidnapper may not be a ‘he.' Okay, what next?”

“I slip outside, strip down to the bathing suit I'll be wearing under my dress, and swim to meet the boat.”

“Fantastic,” said Kiki. “There's nothing like a simple plan.”

“Wait a second,” said Oona, as if something wasn't making sense to her. “Betty will see the person who offers the drink, but how will we know how to find him after the party? Maybe we should kidnap one of the kidnappers.”

“We'd be crazy to confront the kidnappers on their own turf,” said Kiki. “First of all, we don't know how many of them there are. Second, they'll be on guard. It will be better to strike when they least expect it. We'll find the right moment.”

“Yeah? And how are we going to know when we've found that perfect moment?” asked Luz.

“Well, Luz, that's where you come in again. Did you assemble the tracking device we discussed?”

“Of course.” Luz held up one hand. Pinched between her thumb and index finger was a metal object the size of a baby pea. “It's even smaller and more powerful than the ones used by the CIA. But if the kidnappers are on guard, how do you expect to plant a tracking device on one of them?”