Van Bender and the Burning Emblems (The Van Bender Archives #1) (27 page)

I swallowed hard and looked at Agent Maynerd. “What plans does he have once he makes the brink?”

Agent Maynerd stopped his pacing and gave me a dark look. “We believe he and the Sunbeams plan to cause a massive earthquake in New York City.”

“New York is at risk to an earthquake?”

“Earthquakes don’t work like you’ve been taught,” Marti said. “Seismologists don’t know about Titans.”

“Titans?” I said.

“Spirits,” Mom said. “Creatures of the spirit world that reside in mountains, that give mountains their life.”

“Mountains are alive?” I said.

“Almost everything in the natural world is alive,” Mom said. “And most of those things have spirits. Just like you do.”

“Enough!” Agent Maynerd said. “If you can’t help us find out where he’s making the brink, you’re of no use to us.”

I struggled to find the right words. “What if you’re wrong? What if that’s not what Nick wants the brink for?”

Agent Maynerd shook his head. “You’re a gullible boy.”

“What if he wants the brink to defeat the Solar Flare.”

“He
is
the Solar Flare!” Agent Maynerd said.

“Richie,” Mom said, “why would you even think there’s any good in him?”

“Everything he’s said to me—”

“He’s
lying
to you,” Marti said.

Agent Maynerd shook his head. He had his hands on his hips. “He
is
the Solar Flare. Our intelligence confirms it.”

I thought their intelligence sucked, and wanted to tell him that. But what good would it do?

An expression of sorrow fell over Agent Maynerd’s face. He looked ready to collapse into one of the chairs.

“I cannot tell you,” he said, “how hard I’ve worked to save him. I’ve tried so many times.”

Of course he had. They were brothers. How could two brothers end up on such opposite teams?

He scrubbed his face with both hands. His shoulders sagged.

“I’ve talked with him so many times. I’ve tried intervening. I even got Mother involved. But it never works. I fear he’s gone too far, this time. If he carries through with his plan to detonate a nuke, there will be no possible redemption for him.”

“Nuke?” I said. “I thought he was going to cause an earthquake.”

Marti rolled her eyes. “Are you that dense? He needs brink powerful enough to control a titan. The only way he can get such powerful brink is to detonate your emotions with a nuke.”

Mom put a hand on Agent Maynerd’s shoulder, and made as if to say something comforting, but the door opened and Dad walked in. He’d shed his crown and cape, but not the jacket with brink hanging from the arms. And not his serious look. He strode over to Mom’s side, exchanging a glance with her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. He gave me that same unreadable glance.

He was the king. Was I the prince?

What the crap was going on?

“What’s the status?” he asked Agent Maynerd. He had Marti’s purse in his hand, and tossed it to her. Her face brightened as she caught it with a “thank you” and began to tear it open.

Agent Maynerd frowned and flipped a hand toward me. “Your son knows nothing. He’s useless.”

That made me feel great, but Marti came to my rescue.

“I don’t see you coming up with answers, Einstein.”

Agent Maynerd glared at her, but kept talking to Dad. “We’ve deployed as many agents as we can into the field, into as many locations as possible. But we’re spread thin.”

“What do you want us to do?” Dad said.

He gestured at himself and the rest of us. He didn’t seem like a king, anymore. I wanted to have a long chat with him about it all. Pieces were starting to fall into place in my head, but so were questions. So were apologies.

Agent Maynerd sighed and shook his head. “I guess I could deploy you to one of the less likely locations.”

“Can I talk with you alone?” Dad said. He jerked his head toward the door.

Agent Maynerd nodded. Mom followed them out of the room. As soon as the door shut behind them, Marti turned to me. But I spoke before she could.

“My dad is a king?”

She blinked in surprise, as if that had been the last thing on her mind.

“That’s what I didn’t tell you earlier,” she said. “I figured it was your dad’s secret to tell.”

“Does that make me the prince?”

She raised her eyebrows at me. “Always worried about the glory for yourself, aren’t you?”

“What? No!”

“Then why is that the first question out of your mouth?”

“I’ve asked way more questions than that, tonight.”

“You’re not the prince. There is no prince. You could be the next king—if your dad chooses you for it. But it’s not automatic.”

Disappointment stabbed at me. The pang made me wonder if Marti was right. Was I just a glory hound?

“So,” I said, “I could be king if he chooses me as his successor?”

“Yes, but so could anyone else in Intersoc.” She shook her head, as if clearing it. “But that’s nothing compared to what’s going on. Lives are at stake. National security is at risk. You’re sure you don’t know anything?”

I stood up, frustrated. Why did everyone think I had answers? Why had I made such foolish decisions in the last eight hours?

“I would say if I knew anything. I’ve told everyone everything!”

I stormed around the table, toward the door, but the sight of my parents and Agent Maynerd arguing just outside the glass made me turn to the right. I strode along the glass wall, stopping about halfway down the length of the room.

Marti, with her purse back on her shoulder, stood from her chair.

“You’re the only person who’s talked with him recently. You’re sure he didn’t say something else to you?”

I turned to her, feeling suddenly tired, as if my night without sleep had finally caught up with me. Maybe Nick’s rejuvenation spell had started to wear off, and the weariness was returning to my body.

“No, I’ve been lying all this time, keeping it secret. He told me exactly where he was going.”

Her face brightened.

I raised my eyebrows at her, and she recognized my sarcasm. Much to my surprise, she didn’t go ballistic. Instead, she walked around the table toward me, her face soft and understanding.

“Fine. Don’t worry about it. You’ve done all you could do.”

I grunted. We stood facing each other, with the glass wall to my right.

“I guess,” I said, “we did a pretty great job tonight. You know, at ruining everything.”

She gave me a crooked smile. “I hope that makes you feel better—you had an accomplice in your stupidity.”

I laughed. “Actually it does make me feel better. It means you have just as much going against you as I do, when it comes to that Best Young Entertainer of the Year award.”

We laughed again, and for an instant I felt like she wasn’t critical of me, or angry at me. During the few hours we’d spent together, I’d gotten to know her pretty well. I could see us being more than friends.

Embarrassed at the thought, and thinking of Sandra, I looked out into the command room. Lines of desks and computers dominated my vision. People sat at most of them, but the chair closest to me sat empty. The monitor displayed Google Maps.

Google Maps.

That reminded me.

I’d seen a Google Maps page back at Nick’s.

Chapter 49: The value of an online thesaurus

I always hate it when people have a sudden revelation. It usually means they’ve made something up because they want to be useful.

-Linford B. Maynerd

Back in the cabin, when Nick had turned his monitor to show me Marti in the security camera video feed, a web browser had filled the screen. He’d hurried to close a Google Maps page.

“What?” Marti said. “What is it?”

“I did see something.”

She grabbed my arms and pulled me close. “What? Where?”

“Back at Nick’s cabin. On his computer monitor, he had a map up. It was a place.”

She shook me and her voice rose in pitch. Apparently her abusive tendencies return when she gets excited. “What place?”

I wrested my arms free and stepped back. “I can’t think with you scrambling my brains like that.”

Agent Maynerd poked his head back in the door. “What’s going on in here?”

“I remembered something,” I said.

My parents pushed the door ajar and came in. Agent Maynerd stayed in the doorway, standing against the open door. He folded his arms and gave me a skeptical look.

“What did you remember?” Mom said.

“It was a map on Nick’s computer screen.”

“You expect us to believe this?” Agent Maynerd said. He raised his eyebrows. “Every time we talk with you, you’ve got something new. I don’t think I can trust anything you say.”

“Well great,” I said. “Mission accomplished!”

Dad gave Agent Maynerd a dark look, and spoke to me. “Why didn’t you think of the map before?”

“I only saw it for a moment.”

Agent Maynerd shook his head. “Okay, let’s have it. Tell us what you’ve suddenly remembered.”

I paused, unsure. “This would be easier if you weren’t looking at me like I had fire for hair.”

“Your time is expiring, Richie. Out with it.”

I struggled to recall exactly what I’d seen. “I can’t remember, exactly. It was a map of a place I’d never heard of.”

“What place?” Marti said. “The suspense is killing me!”

“Some ground, or something like that. It sounded like a testing ground. I’d never heard of it before.”

“Convenient,” Agent Maynerd said. “Where will you lead us astray, this time?”

I wanted to argue with him, but I’d deceived him too many times to defend myself with him.

But I didn’t need to.

Dad turned to him. “Agent Maynerd, I’d like it if you’d just shut that big ugly pie hole for a minute.”

Agent Maynerd stiffened. “You’re out of line. I’m your commanding agent.”

“And he’s my son. And he’s not in league with Nick Savage. Nick tricked him. He’s had secrets kept from him for too long.”

I tried hard not to let a grin spread across my face. Not something smug. Not something petulant or superior. But proud. Proud to have Dad for my dad. Proud that he loved me enough to trust me even when I didn’t deserve his trust.

“Now,” Dad said, “shut your yapping mouth before I plug it up with my fist.”

Agent Maynerd’s eyes narrowed and he shook his head. “Very well, let’s hear what he comes up with.”

Dad raised a fist threateningly.

“What do you remember?” Mom said to me. “Anything more?”

“No.” I looked between the four of them. My eyes strayed back to the map on the monitor outside the room. I tried to envision Nick’s screen. “It sounded military. Testing grounds, but it wasn’t ‘testing.’ And there was another word.”

“It was three words?” Marti said.

“Yes.” Why did I feel like I was playing charades? Why couldn’t I remember it? Why not?

Well, it was easy to know why I couldn’t remember it—I’d seen it for only an instant during a mildly stressful encounter, and a lot of crazy stuff had happened since. “Amway Testing Ground? Not it. What’s another word for testing?”

At that question, I got nothing but blank stares. You’d think I was a car driving at night, and they were a bunch of deer on the road.

I headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Agent Maynerd said, trying to grab me.

I slipped his grasp, darted around the glass door, and down several rows of desks and chairs, to the computer with the map up. They followed me as I sat in the chair next to another agent chattering away on a headset. He didn’t even look at me. I began to pull up a dictionary and thesaurus webpage.

“You’re not authorized to use that PC,” Agent Maynerd said.

Dad raised his fist again, smacking it into his open palm. “Shut. The. Pie hole.”

“I won’t forget this,” Agent Maynerd said to Dad.

I typed the word “testing” in the dictionary and hit the thesaurus button. As I began to scan the entries, Marti looked over my shoulder and read them aloud.

“Analyze, assay, assess, check, confirm, demonstrate, experiment, experimentalize.”

“Do any of these sound right?” Mom said.

I shook my head. Marti kept reading.

“Give a tryout, inquire, investigate, look into, make a trial run, match up, prove, prove out—”

I jumped up and pointed at the screen. “That’s it! Prove. Proving. ‘Proving Ground’ was the name of the place.”

Satisfaction filled me, but it practically disappeared as Agent Maynerd made a noise of annoyed disbelief.

“Ah, perfect,” he said. “Which proving ground? Aberdeen, Yuma, Dugway.”

I turned to him, my heart pounding. “That’s it. Dugway Proving Ground.”

“Oh, perfect,” Agent Maynerd said. “What a waste of time.”

“Why?” Mom asked.

Agent Maynerd shook his head and turned his lips up in disgust. “Dugway Proving Ground was used in World War II and in the Cold War to test out chemical weapons. They have no large-scale explosives there. Especially not nukes.”

“You’re sure?” Dad said.

“I’m certain. That’s not where Nick is going.”

“Are you sending any agents there?” Mom asked.

“I can’t send agents to useless places. We know he wants to detonate a nuke. There are no nukes at Dugway. I’m not sending anyone to Dugway.”

We stared at him in silence. I couldn’t argue. All I’d seen was a web page. Maybe Nick had been doing a little web browsing after attacking the Reservoir and before going to bed. Surely, SOaP had more intelligence on Nick’s plans than my gut feelings.

Nevertheless, my gut said Nick planned to do something at Dugway. I could feel it, as if somehow Nick had communicated it into the very marrow of my bones. Or maybe my bones had just figured it out on their own. Had he said it at some point, and I just couldn’t remember? Whatever the case, I needed to get to Dugway Proving Grounds. Wherever it was.

“What if I go?” Dad said.

“Absolutely not,” Agent Maynerd said.

Anytime an adult says something as silly as ‘absolutely not’, that’s a clear signal to argue. They want it, or they wouldn’t have said something so ridiculous. It’s like throwing down a gauntlet.