Capture the Flag (7 page)

“So let me get this right …” José rubbed his eyes under his glasses as they walked. “You're saying that this tattoo is evidence that the guy from the diner is involved? I don't know, Anna.”

“Dude, she's totally right,” Henry said. “I told you that Snake-Arm guy was acting like an assassin!”

“I never said
that
,” Anna said as they walked back into the area with the shops. “But I do think we need to investigate him. Because if he's connected to that Vincent Goosen guy and the Serpentine Prince gang, then —”

Hammurabi's barking interrupted her. It wasn't the friendly sort of barking he did when he wanted attention. It was sharper and deeper. And scared.

The area where the orchestra had played just hours ago was swarming with police officers and airport security guards. Anna couldn't see Hammurabi, but she spotted Sinan's parents standing with the trombone players, talking with two policemen.

“What is this?” Sinan whispered.

Hammurabi barked again.

“Where is my dog?” Sinan's voice squeaked as he climbed up on a chair searching the crowd until his eyes settled on his mom and dad. “Why are Ammi and Abba with your officers? What is happening?”

José took Sinan's hand and pulled him from the chair. “It's okay. They're just talking with the police. In America, even if somebody thinks you might be involved in a crime, you're innocent until proven guilty. They didn't do anything wrong; they'll be fine.” His voice wobbled on the last word, and Anna could tell he was thinking about his own mom, talking with police, too, in another part of DC.

Just as Sinan's eyes relaxed, there was another eruption of barking. Over by the coffee counter, two burly airport security officers were forcing Hammurabi into a cage.

Sinan tugged away from José and took off.

Henry ran after him. “Come on!” he called over his shoulder. “He's going to get himself in trouble.”

By the time they made it through the crowd, Sinan was clutching the front of the cage. Hammurabi was all crunched up in there — it wasn't nearly big enough for him — whimpering and licking Sinan's fingers through the bars.

“What are you doing?” Anna walked right up to the airport security guard who stood by the cage. He was only a little taller than Anna, with short brown hair and a mustache and a belly that hung over his thick black belt. He either didn't hear Anna or ignored her.

“Excuse me.” She tapped his elbow. “That's my friend's dog.”

“Mphh.” He brushed off his elbow, as if she'd gotten him dirty by tapping him, and refolded his arms. “That dog is going back into the baggage area.”

“But the storm has delayed everything for so long!” Anna said. “He can't stay down there by himself.”

“Hammurabi gets lonely,” Sinan said quietly.

Another security guard came and lifted Hammurabi's cage. He nodded to the first guard. “I'll run this downstairs, and you start over there.” He nodded off to the side, where it looked as if all of the group's instruments had been stacked — no, it looked as if they'd almost been
thrown
into a big lumpy mountain of music. “They'll check all that stuff down below. The rest of this group's baggage — a few bigger pieces, I guess — is buried too deep in the suitcases to bring it out now, but they'll go through that when the plane gets to Vermont. If there's enough evidence for arrests, the authorities there will be ready.”

Hammurabi's nails scratched wildly at the bottom of the cage as the man bounced him down the hall. They disappeared behind a door that said
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
.

Sinan's eyes pooled with tears.

Anna bit her lip.

José patted Sinan's shoulder.

“You know,” Henry said, “I got this game called Jailbreak where you're a bank robber and you gotta break your accomplice out of his cell so you can find the hidden money and go to Argentina. We could sneak into baggage claim and bust Hammurabi outta there and then get on a plane to … I don't know … Mexico or someplace.”

“Henry! This is serious. Innocent people are in trouble.” Anna took a deep breath. When innocent people got in trouble on TV crime dramas, there was only one way they ever got out of it. The real bad guys had to be uncovered. They needed to find out for sure if Snake-Arm was part of that international art-theft gang.

“Look.” She pulled them into a tight circle, out of the way of the rolling luggage and the coffee line. “It's late, and there's no way our plane is getting out tonight anyway, so here's what I think we should do. We take Sinan to his parents and head back to B-16 so
our
parents” — she looked at Henry — “and your flight attendant lady don't freak out. We try to sleep. And in the morning, we head straight to Pickersgill Diner. Maybe Snake-Arm will be back for the breakfast rush, and we can see what he's up to. If we stay on his tail long enough, he might lead us to the flag. It's worth trying at least, isn't it?”

“I don't know,” José said. “Maybe we should let all this go. I know my mom didn't have anything to do with the flag's disappearance.” He looked at Sinan. “And I know your parents didn't, either. If we let the police and everybody figure that out on their own, won't it all blow over without us getting involved?”

“Dude!” Henry looked at José incredulously. “You're already involved. Hasn't your mom spent, like, her whole life trying to protect stuff like this flag? And didn't she spend the last … I dunno … six months or something fixing it? And now some bunch of creepy snake-men stole it, and she's getting blamed? Doesn't that make you mad?”

“Well …” José pushed up his glasses. “Well, yes, but …”

“Come on!” Henry paused for a moment; then he made his voice deep. “The test of any man lies in action.”

José's mouth dropped open. “You read Pindar?”

“Huh?”

“Pindar, the Ancient Greek poet. You just quoted him!”

Henry shook his head. “No, I didn't. I've never heard of that guy. I was quoting Maldisio. He says that thing about action right before he takes the crown in the game.”

“No. That's from Pindar,” José insisted. “‘I will not steep my speech in lies; the test of any man lies in action.'”

“Yeah, well, maybe your Pinhead guy stole it from Maldisio. Anyway, his point was you can't just talk about stuff all the time. Eventually, you have to
do
something.”

José nodded slowly. “Okay,” he said. “I'm in.”

“If being
in
means you wish to be of help,” Sinan said, “then I am in, too.”

Anna put a hand on his shoulder. “That's good, and we'll come get you in the morning to help. Right now, your parents are looking for you.”

Sinan's mother had spotted him and was making her way through the crowd. “There you are!” She pulled Sinan into her and kissed the top of his head. “It has been a long day, hasn't it,
jaanu
?”

Sinan squirmed and made the same face Anna made when her mother called her
honey bear
. She guessed
jaanu
probably meant something like that.

“Let's get you a snack and a pillow.” Sinan's mother took his hand and nodded to José, Henry, and Anna. “Thank you for being a friend to our boy today.”

They had taken only three steps when Sinan tripped over something and there was a loud squeak.

“Mr. Squeaky!” It was the rubber clown toy, so well loved that its nose had faded from red to pink with white rubber flecks. Sinan's eyes filled with tears as he picked it up. “Hammurabi will never be able to sleep without Mr. Squeaky.” He looked around, but the security guards who had taken the dog were long gone. “Excuse me,” he asked an officer who was leaning up against the keyboard. “Do you know where I can find my dog? He needs this.”

“You people are staying right here,” the officer growled.

Sinan started to argue. “You don't understand. He will be —” But his mother pulled him away.

“Oh, my Sinan … Hammurabi is named for a brave king. He will be all right. And he will have his Mr. Squeaky back tomorrow.” Sinan's mother took his hand — the one that wasn't clutching the rubber clown — and started to lead him away.

“Wait!” Sinan tugged away from his mother. He squeezed the clown slowly, and it let out a long, high, wheezy noise. Sinan sighed. “I have to go to the bathroom first.” He pointed toward the restrooms next to the frozen yogurt stand.

“Be quick.” His mother kissed his head.

“I will see you tomorrow.” Sinan waved to Anna, Henry, and José, then gave the clown one last squeak and walked away.

The eleven o'clock news was on when they got back to Gate B-16. José's father was in front of the television, listening to the end of a flag update.

“Dad,” José said, “have you heard —”

“Shhh!” His father's eyes were red, his smile gone.

“And finally,” the news announcer continued, “there's still no sign of Vincent Goosen, leader of the infamous art-theft gang known as the Serpentine Princes. Police are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to call their tip line immediately, but do not approach this man. Goosen and the other gang members are known to be armed and extremely dangerous. We'll keep you updated.”

A commercial came on, and José's dad turned to them.

“Sorry,” he said. “I'm just … exhausted. And worried about Mom. Did you get dinner?”

José nodded. “I'm all set. Any news?”

Mr. McGilligan took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “They're — the police are still … interested in her as a suspect. They're holding her for now.”

“In
jail
?” José's mouth hung open.

“At the police station. They say she's the last person who had access to the flag — apparently, she did a final check on it late last night, after the party — and they keep asking her if she saw anyone else, anyone suspicious.”

“Did she?”

Mr. McGilligan shook his head. “Nope. She said the chamber was quiet — blissfully quiet after the big shindig.”

“Mr. McGilligan.” Anna couldn't hold back. “We actually have some information that might help. That Vincent guy from TV? There's another man here at the airport with a snake tattoo, and he's acting all suspicious, so we think he might be part of the gang!”

Mr. McGilligan gave a tired smile. “There must be thousands of snake tattoos in this world. Trust me … the police would know if a member of the Serpentine Princes had purchased an airplane ticket. I'm sure they've already been through the airline records and know exactly who's here.”

“So what are they going to do?” José's voice was getting higher. “Are they going to keep Mom until they find it? What if they
never
find it?”

“They're going to find it.”

“Can we at least call her cell phone and say good night?” José swiped at a tear rolling down his cheek. Anna looked away.

“Sure,” José's father said, and he dialed. But then there was only quiet.

“She's not answering,” he said finally, and when Anna looked back, Mr. McGilligan had put his arm around José. “Her battery probably died. Don't worry — it's all going to be fine. Mom wants to stay in town anyway, in case the flag needs more work when they find it. And I just met Anna's father over at the airline counter; he says they have new suspects, so maybe that will be our answer.” He lifted his head and nodded toward the corner, where Anna finally saw her father, squinting down at his cell phone. It was plugged into the outlet she and Henry had fought over that morning. It seemed like days ago now.

“Who are those other suspects?” Anna asked, but Mr. McGilligan shrugged.

Anna sighed. She would have bet her notebook that they were the same suspects Senator Snickerbottom told the reporters about without even having proof. She needed to share what she'd learned about Snake-Arm. “I'm going to talk to my dad,” Anna said.

“Dad!” She tapped the shoulder of his suit coat. “I need to talk to you. I just got back from —”

“One minute!” He held up the hand that wasn't holding his phone and paused. “Yes, I'm still here. Sure … she'll be there with a crew whenever we arrive. Okay, bye.”

“Who was that?” Anna said, still staring at the pocket where he'd put his phone.

“Senator Snickerbottom. News tip for Mom.”

“News tip?” Anna's fingers twitched. Where was her notebook? “About what?”

“Well …” Her father looked past her to José and Henry, who were getting settled a few chairs down, and lowered his voice. “You can't share this with your pals.”

Anna nodded.

“Senator Snickerbottom is quite confident they're going to find the flag when we get to Vermont.”

Vermont? That didn't fit with her Snake-Arm theory. “They think the flag's in Vermont?”

“Well, it's not there now. It's here.”

“Then why don't they find it here?”

“If you'd ever seen an airport baggage area, you'd understand.” Anna's father held his arms out wide. “They believe the flag has been checked as baggage, but they're not entirely sure about the … ah … packaging, and with all the luggage piled up, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. They're going to inspect all the baggage after it's unloaded in Vermont instead.”

“How do they know all this? And why do they think it's going to Vermont?”

“That's the … destination of the primary suspects.”

“Dad, if this is about the orchestra members, then —”

The notes of “Hail to the Chief” rang out from his pocket, and he pulled out his phone. “Hold on, this is Mom…. Hey, what's up?”

He turned away from Anna, but she could hear him sharing what Senator Snickerbottom said about Vermont and suspects. Snickerbottom was totally blaming the orchestra. Anna scooted around her father so he couldn't miss seeing her. She held out her hand and whispered, “Can I talk when you're done, please?”

Her father held up a finger. “Okay … yeah … Of course I made sure she had dinner.” He raised his eyebrows at Anna, and she nodded. “Okay, then. See you soon. Love you. Here's Anna.”

“Mom?” The phone felt warm against her cheek. Anna could almost imagine it was her mom's hand resting there.

The voice that came through was warm, too. Warm, but worried. “What are you up to, kiddo? Keeping Dad out of trouble?”

“Yeah, and guess what? We've been investigating the flag theft because —”

“We? Who is we?”

“Me and Henry and José, these guys who were at the party at the museum last night and they're from Vermont, and you're not going to believe this, but …” — Anna lowered her voice, even though no one was really near them — “their families are part of the Silver Jaguar Society, too!”

“Anna, listen to me. This —”

“Don't worry, we're just checking things out, but we already know that Senator Snickerbottom's wrong about the suspect thing. He thinks it's the orchestra, but we think there's somebody here from the Serpentine Princes, so —”

“What?!” Anna almost dropped the phone, her mother's voice was so sharp. “There? There at the airport?”

“Yeah,” she said, but her mother's fearful tone of voice made her pause.

“Anna,” her mother said. “You have no idea how much danger you may be in if this is true. I want you to —”

“Why? It's not like some Serpentine Prince guy would care about a bunch of —”

“Anna Revere-Hobbs. I am not going to sit here five hundred miles away and share society secrets on a nonsecure cell phone. But I will tell you that this is over your head. Way over.”

“Aw, Mom, we're not doing anything dumb, just investigating a little. We're practically Silver Jaguar Society members — I mean, I know we're not old enough, but there aren't any grown-up members here, so I figured —”

“Stop. First of all, yes, there are.”

“There are?” Anna felt her heart jump. “Who are they? Mom, we totally need to talk to them.”

“And second,” her mother continued as if she hadn't even spoken, “you are not practically members. You are
children
.”

“But, Mom —”

“And when you hang up this phone, you are to sit down at that gate and — Where's Dad?”

Anna looked around. He'd gone down the hall to talk with some guy in a suit. “He's right here.”

“Then you are to sit down next to him and write in your journal or read a magazine and stay out of this flag business. If the Serpentine Princes really are — Wait, why do you think they're at the airport?”

“We saw this guy who has a tattoo like Vincent Goosen's. You know who that is, right?”

“How do
you
know Vince?”

“I don't know him, I just —” Anna's head was so full of questions she felt it might explode. Why did her mother sound so scared? And
Vince
? Her mom was on a first-name basis with this —

Anna heard her mother let out a shaky breath. “Anna, there is something you need to know about Vincent Goosen. But first,
how
do you know about him at all?”

“I don't
know
him. He's been on the news is all. How do
you
know him?”

A gust of wind whipped the snow outside into a whirlwind at the same time static crackled over the phone.

“Mom?”

“Did you lose her?” Anna's dad was back. But her mom was gone from the line. “We can call her later on,” he said. “I need to check my e-mail now.” He took the phone, plopped down in a seat, and started poking at it with the same energy Henry used to press his GamePrism buttons.

He'd be on that thing all night, Anna could already tell. She didn't sit down next to him as her mom had ordered. Instead, she gave him a wave and wandered over to José and Henry, who had been joined by a flustered flight attendant talking into a two-way radio.

“Yes, I have him here.” Her eyes narrowed at Henry. “He's been … he says he has been in the gate area the whole time.”

Henry shrugged and nodded. “Except for when I went out to get a burger. Guy's gotta eat, right?”

She frowned and pressed the radio button again. “All right, we'll keep checking on him. I'm heading back your way now.” She clipped the radio onto her belt. “You're to stay here. Understand?”

Henry nodded. “Perfectly.”

She shot one last strict look at Henry and hurried off down the hall.

“You guys,” Anna said after the flight attendant left, “my mom says there are Silver Jaguar Society members here.”

“There are?” José raised his eyebrows. “How many? And who are they?”

“She wouldn't say.”

“Well, that's helpful.” Henry looked around at the crowds huddled in their stiff airport seats. “We'll just check all these thousands of people for weird cat jewelry. Should be no problem at all.” He pulled out his GamePrism. “Anybody wanna play Jailbreak? It'll be good practice.”

“For what?” José asked.

Henry grinned. “
Our
secret jailbreak mission.”

“Oh, no. No. We are not breaking a poodle out of baggage claim. We have to be sensible.” Anna plopped down on a chair of her own and felt as if all her energy had finally drained out of her. “In the morning, we'll go to the diner and see if Snake-Arm is there.”

“Sounds okay to me,” José yawned and slid to the floor, using his jacket as a blanket and
Harry Potter
as his pillow.

Anna tipped her head back, and somehow, even with her thoughts swirling with stars and stripes, snakes and security guards, fell asleep.