Going Wild (25 page)

Charlie looked. And then she gasped at the words next to it.
Talos Global
. “
TG
,” she said softly. “Talos Global.” Her heart thudded, and her mind whirled. She yanked the envelope from Mac's hand and stared at it, not comprehending. Did these terrible people have something to do with her dad's old job?

She glanced at the guards. Prowl was stirring now too.

“We should go,” said Mac, sounding worried.

“You go. I'll be there in a sec.” Frantic, Charlie worked at the strip of packing tape that secured the envelope, trying to tear it open.

The first thug groaned. Mac hesitated, not wanting to leave Charlie alone. He rose and anxiously looked all around. “Come on, Chuck—we don't have time for this! Take it and we can open it later.”

“Hang
on
,” said Charlie impatiently, finally ripping the thing
open. She pulled out a stack of papers.

Frustrated, Mac darted across the width of the warehouse to the groaning soldier and tried to tighten the ropes around his wrists before he woke up.

Charlie scanned the cover page, her eyes immediately drawn to a list of five people who were cc'd on the contents. All the names were unfamiliar . . . except for the last one.
Dr. Charles Wilde
. “What the . . . ,” Charlie breathed. She felt sick.

“Charlie!” Mac shouted. “Behind you!”

Charlie looked up, but it was too late. Prowl's arm stretched and bent around her throat, and his claws sank into her shoulder. She gasped and dropped the envelope as he lifted her in the air. The papers scattered.

Mac froze, watching Charlie in horror. But he had more things to worry about—the soldier whose ropes he was working on came to, and after a moment of confusion, he lunged for the boy. Mac shrieked and scrambled backward across the cement floor while the soldier tried to untangle himself.

With a look of sheer terror on his face, Mac pulled the bracelet from his pocket and held it in his shaking hand. With no other choice, he cringed and slapped it on his wrist and secured it, then began punching buttons like crazy.

Back by the safe, Charlie found herself dangling just above the floor and cursed under her breath for not listening to Mac. She swallowed hard and tried to stay calm as her wrist grew warm.

“That's a nice bracelet,” Prowl purred in Charlie's ear.

Charlie froze. “Thank you,” she said, hoping desperately that the right ability had turned on. Then she slammed her heels into Prowl's knees and her elbow into his gut, wrenched free from his grasp, and turned to face him as he came toward her again. Finally remembering a move she'd learned at the Y, she grasped his outstretched arm with one hand, then yanked him close while smashing her other fist in his throat.

He struggled and choked.

She let go and spun around with her arm extended, and backhanded him with all her strength. The bracelet slammed hard into his jaw, and he skittered sideways across the floor. Charlie bent over, trying to catch her breath.

“Something's happening over here,” Mac shakily called out from his spot near the two beefy soldiers. His voice pitched upward. “Something weird!” Next to him, the guy who had been tied up was peeling off the ropes like they were sweatbands and tossing them aside.

Charlie glanced at Mac and stopped short. From Mac's bracelet, a line of shiny silver liquid emerged. As it sped up his arm and down the other, it spread and wrapped around him, then washed over the rest of his body.

“What's going on?” cried Mac as the silver liquid crawled up the back of his neck and came around his head to form a helmet.

“Whoa,” said Charlie under her breath. But before she could
answer him, Prowl pounced, knocking her flat. She rolled to her stomach and scrambled to her feet, arms raised to fight. He pounced again, and this time wrapped his limbs around her, his claws sinking in. She screamed in pain and tried to push him off. “Let go of me, you goon!” she cried. But he was stuck fast. She staggered blindly toward Mac, unable to see where she was going with Prowl's body smashed against her face. Wrenching her neck forward with all her strength, she dug her forehead into Prowl's chest to push him away, then slipped her hands to his chest and pushed farther until she caught a glimpse of the other male soldier, who was on his feet now and heading toward Mac. “Oh no, you don't,” she said, and stumbled across the warehouse toward him. Gaining speed, she smashed Prowl into him, sending all three of them sprawling.

Prowl's claws tore loose from Charlie's skin. “Ahhh!” cried Charlie, coming to a rest on her side. She curled up into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut. The pain came in sickening waves.

“I'm coming to help!” screeched Mac, trying to run toward her. “I think so, anyway!” The shiny silver armor that had encased his body had immediately hardened like a metal shell, but it moved awkwardly with him.

The beefy man got up and lunged for Mac. Mac yelped in fear, swinging his arms, and connected with the side of the guy's head. The impact threw Mac off balance, and he flopped onto his back as the soldier went flying into the wall. Mac struggled in the suit like
a turtle that had been flipped onto its shell. He began rocking from side to side, trying to get up.

When the woman came to and got up, she lumbered over to Mac. Mac bent his legs and kicked at her, sending her into the wall as well and landing next to the man. He struggled again to get up, and this time managed to roll to his stomach and catch a glimpse of Charlie, still on the ground.

Charlie opened her eyes as Prowl gingerly got to his feet. She pushed past the pain and got up, ran forward, and plowed into him. His back arched, and he sunk his claws into her shoulders.

“Stop doing that!” Charlie yelled. She ripped one of Prowl's clawed hands out of her, and then the other, and held him out, then shook him until his body flopped about like a rag doll. Even so, Prowl lashed out with his claws every chance he got.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Charlie saw a robot—or maybe it was a knight in streamlined, modern-looking armor. He clunked over to Charlie's side and punched Prowl in the chest with a metal fist.

Prowl sailed across the warehouse floor and didn't move.

“Holy frijoles!” shouted Mac, sounding muffled. “Did you see that?”

Charlie stared at the robot knight, and then she narrowed her eyes and reached out to rap on his metallic arm. “Are you okay in there?”

Mac pawed at his face and lifted up a mirrored visor. His
dark-brown eyes blinked. “I, uh . . . yeah. But did you see what I did?”

“I did,” said Charlie, wincing with pain. “That was extremely excellent.” She took a step back and looked at him up and down. “You have got to get a look at yourself though.”

“Yeah . . . pretty weird, I'll bet. What if I stay like this?”

“Well,” Charlie said, moving gingerly, “we'll deal with you in a minute. First let's make sure these soldiers are down for the count. And then let's get out of here.” She released a breath and ran to Prowl to check him over while Mac took the other two.

“How do you like my bracelet now, you big loser?” Charlie asked the unconscious Prowl. Then she narrowed her eyes and looked at the soldier's face mask. Part of the fabric was ripped. “What is that?” she whispered, focusing in on the tear. She bent down. Poking out from it was a tuft of . . . fur.

She looked closer, certain she must be mistaken. And then impulsively she reached for the base of the mask and pulled it off the soldier's head. She gasped.

Prowl had a human-shaped face and head, but instead of skin and hair, he was covered in black and gold spotted fur. A handful of long whiskers shot out from either side of his mouth. And his ears weren't rounded at the top like a human's—they came to a point, with long tufts of black fur shooting out. He was not just a man. He was . . . a leopard man.

Charlie stifled a scream, threw the mask to the ground, and ran
back to Mac, traumatized and trying desperately to unsee Prowl's animal face. “Come on, let's go!” she cried, grabbing Mac's arm and pulling him toward the door. But at the last second, despite the horror, she remembered the Talos Global envelope and the papers scattered all around. “Keep going,” she said to Mac, and dashed toward the safe.

“I can't actually run very fast in this thing,” Mac said, making a clanging noise every time his arms brushed against his torso. “At least not until I figure out how to do it.”

“Just hurry! I'm right behind you.” Charlie knelt down by the safe and crawled under the computer table, quickly gathering the scattered papers and shoving them into the envelope, all the while telling herself that the leopard man wasn't real. It had to be her imagination. Or maybe she was in shock. Or
something
.

She wasn't about to look again to make sure. When she'd retrieved all the papers, she got up and tore after Mac.

As the two of them exited the building, they neglected to notice the computer screen that showed Charlie's face, which flashed the words
Identity Verified
.

C
harlie needed time to process what she'd seen . . . or what she thought she'd seen. After all, it hadn't been very light in the warehouse. Maybe the shadows made the soldier's face only look like it had fur on it.

Instead of telling Mac about the leopard man, she shuddered and pushed it out of her thoughts, and instead she turned the attention to her friend. “A suit of armor?” said Charlie as they ran outside. “It's not even actually that—it's more like metal skin.”

Mac's bracelet was fully accessible, since the silver liquid had flowed under the band and stayed tight against his body. He began pressing buttons. “Skin of armor,” he muttered, clunking along over the uneven ground. “That's how it feels.” He tripped over a rusty old horseshoe and nearly fell into a cluster of jumping cholla cacti.

“Yikes!” he said as he stopped himself just in time. And then he started laughing when he realized this was the one time in his life when he would have been protected from the nasty things. “Hey,” he said, “this armor's going to come in handy in more ways than one.”

Charlie spotted Kelly and Maria. The sight of them gave Charlie a massive sense of relief—at least they looked normal. She pointed them out to Mac and headed their way. “This way, Clunky.”

Mac followed, still pressing buttons on his device. Suddenly the metallic skin of armor shimmered, turned to liquid, and poured itself swiftly into Mac's device. In a matter of seconds it was gone.

“Wow!” Charlie and Mac said together.

“I have no idea how that happened,” Mac said as he ran next to Charlie.

“It'll be interesting to figure it out,” Charlie said, gripping the envelope, “but we've got other stuff to worry about at the moment.” They reached Maria and Kelly.

“What was up with that shiny suit, Mac?” exclaimed Maria, handing the file to Charlie. “Did you use your bracelet?”

“Yeah,” said Mac. “Crazy, isn't it? But I knocked a couple of soldiers out.”

“Sweet!” said Maria. “Your bracelet acts completely differently from Charlie's.”

Kelly glanced at her bracelet warily, then slipped it into her pocket.

Charlie nodded, then pointed the way out, anxious to get away. “Let's go. Fast.”

“Hang on,” said Mac, pulling out his inhaler and muttering, “you people and your running.” He used it, then took a few
breaths. “Okay, that's going to have to do,” he said.

“My house, right?” asked Maria anxiously. “I want to make sure everything's okay there.” They started moving.

“Definitely,” said Charlie.

“That was all really scary,” said Maria. “Are you two all right?”

“I will be,” said Charlie. She turned her focus to her body, which hurt almost everywhere, but she knew it was just a matter of time before she'd feel better. She checked her bracelet and saw the healing starfish was lit up. That was great, but that didn't get rid of the blood and rips in her shirt from all the claws she'd encountered. She untied her sweatshirt and put it back on as they ran. Then she glanced at Mac, worried about how he was holding up now that they were out of danger. She couldn't even imagine what it must have been like to get abducted. “Yeah, Mac,” she said when he didn't reply to Maria. “How are you doing?”

“I'm . . . okay,” Mac said, but the realization of everything that had happened was beginning to hit him. “Should we call the police?” he asked uncertainly. He looked at Charlie.

“I wanted to,” piped up Kelly, “but Charlie wouldn't let me.”

Charlie dropped her gaze. She knew if they did that, word would get out about her abilities. “Maybe we should,” she said in a quiet voice.

“I don't think so,” argued Maria. “Charlie would be exposed. If those thugs are after the bracelet, just think of all the others who
would want to get their greedy hands on it if they knew about it. Some people would love to turn you into their experiment.” She looked plaintively at Mac. “Unless you really want to. I mean, you're the one they kidnapped.”

Mac contemplated while trying to keep up with the three athletes, and they all kept an eye out for the white van or anyone trying to follow them from the warehouse. After a few minutes Mac spoke up. “If they are soldiers, wouldn't the police believe them over a bunch of kids? I don't think we should call them. At least not yet.”

Charlie looked at him. “Are you sure?”

Mac nodded. “I'm sure.”

“Not even about your stolen iPad and phone? Won't your parents be mad?”

Mac began wheezing a little as they picked up the pace, and he spoke in short bursts, taking time to breathe in between. “I've almost . . . got enough saved up . . . for a new tablet. Was going to buy one anyway. A couple more . . . jailbreaks . . . and I'll be there. I'll get a new phone . . . for my birthday next month. Will have to go without until then.” He paused. “Glad I backed up to the cloud yesterday.”

A flood of relief filled Charlie. “Are you sure you can live without them?” she asked. “I have twenty-four dollars saved up. You can have it for your new iPad.”

Mac stared at her. “You serious?”

“Sure—I'll give you my next allowance money too. It's my fault this happened.”

“I'll chip in too,” said Maria. “Abu always gives me money before she goes back to Puerto Rico—you can have it all.”

Kelly stayed silent, and then she slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out some folded bills. She dropped back to run next to Mac. “Here,” she said, pressing the money into Mac's hand. “If you end up needing more . . .” She trailed off and knit her brows, as if she was rethinking the offer, but then forged ahead. “If you need more, just let me know. My parents are getting divorced. So, yeah. They'll pretty much give me anything I want right now.”

Charlie glanced sidelong at Kelly as Maria gave her shoulder a quick squeeze of appreciation. Kelly's expression was cold, but Charlie knew she had to be hurting inside as much as Charlie hurt on the outside. Only Kelly didn't have any healing powers.

Mac looked at the money and his eyes grew shiny. “Thanks,” he said, his voice gruff. He turned to cough into his sleeve. Then he urged them to go faster.

Maria sped up.

As they ran through the neighborhoods, Charlie retold the final events from the warehouse. Mac, preferring to breathe, didn't speak, but he toyed with his device from time to time. At one point he tried unlatching it, and it came right off. He shrugged and put it back on again. “Maybe only . . . Charlie's device . . . gets stuck,” he said.

“Just don't try taking it off when you've got the armor on,” warned Charlie. “Who knows what could happen.”

When they got close to Maria's, they stopped to let Mac catch his breath. Then they crept covertly toward the Torreses' house in case any of the soldiers were out looking for them. Maria led them to the back door, where their backpacks still sat undisturbed. She and Charlie picked them up and quietly opened the door.

Once inside, they heard a noise coming from the kitchen. Wanting to be sure there weren't any more soldiers inside, they sneaked down the hallway. It didn't take long for the dogs to detect them, though, and they bounded joyfully toward the children, which was a good sign. Soon the children spied Yolanda, who was putting the last of the groceries away and beginning to fix dinner. All was well.

“We're home, Abu,” Maria called out, trying to sound normal. “Where's Mom?”

Yolanda replied in Spanish, and soon relief was evident on Maria's face. “Everybody's fine,” she said. “My stepbrother's team won the tee ball game.” She laughed at how trivial that seemed after everything they'd been through. “Now my mom and stepdad are bringing the boys to their mom's and going out on a date.” She smirked.

“Is that food she's cooking for us?” asked Mac, eyeing the ingredients.

“When isn't it?” replied Maria. “Looks like empanadas.”

“Crispy fried goodness,” murmured Mac.

“I love those things,” agreed Kelly, who'd eaten at Maria's house multiple times.

“I've got family dinner at home tonight,” said Charlie. She'd almost forgotten, with everything that had happened. “I'll have to try one next time.”

They went down the hallway to Maria's room, Maria straightening pictures on the wall and picking up a few of Mac's papers from the floor along the way—the only sign of any disturbance so far. All grew serious as she opened the door and looked in.

The desk chair was tipped over. Books were scattered on the floor. There were papers strewn about, and the bulletin board had been knocked off the wall. Two dresser drawers stood open, and Maria's clothes were on the floor.

“Whoa,” said Maria. She looked at the mess with dismay. “What did they want with my clothes? Sheesh.”

“They didn't exactly explain that as they were interrogating me, but I suppose they were looking for the bracelet,” said Mac. He set the chair upright and lifted the bulletin board, examining the back of it.

“The first group of soldiers we fought saw me wearing it, so you'd think they'd communicate that to their friends,” said Charlie.

“You say ‘we' as if I actually did something,” said Maria.

Charlie flashed her a smile.

“They were communicating,” said Mac, “so maybe they figured that out. They stopped tearing things apart, anyway.”

Kelly started picking up the books.

Charlie gathered the strewn papers, while Maria went to the drawers and started folding her clothes and putting them back inside.

“You sure put up a good fight, though, Mac,” said Charlie, admiration in her voice.

“Not good enough,” said Mac. “Too bad the dogs were outside, or maybe they could've helped me.”

Kelly scratched her head. “What actually happened here?” she asked, still trying to piece everything together.

“Yeah,” said Charlie. With all the horrifying events of the day, she realized she was the only one to get a short version of Mac's kidnapping story, and she wanted to know more. “Why would they come here?”

“Start from the beginning,” Maria said.

“Okay,” said Mac. “Well, I walked in and read the note that Maytée left on the counter telling us where everybody was,” explained Mac, “and went to Maria's room like usual. A few minutes later three soldiers burst in. They swiped my stuff, read all my messages, and went through my backpack. Then they interrogated me about Googling Chimera Mark Five. I think they must have found us by IP address.”

He paused and went on. “One of them started talking on some
device built into his suit, saying that I'd been texting with Charles Wilde, as if he knew a guy named that. And I said, ‘Her name's not Charles, it's Charlie.'”

“What?” Charlie's eyes grew wide. “Charles is my dad,” she said. She glanced at the Talos Global envelope. Did the soldiers she'd fought actually
know
him?

“I'm pretty sure those soldiers know a lot about you by now,” Mac said quietly. “They got everything from my phone. Your contact info and all my notes we took about the bathroom . . .” He looked at the floor. “I'm . . . I'm sorry. I messed up.”

Kelly's eyes widened at the mention of the bathroom, but she remained quiet.

Charlie stared at Mac, barely comprehending as her mind began to replay the incidents of the afternoon. “You didn't mess up,” she said faintly, but her thoughts whirred beyond her control, forcing her to return to the last moments at the warehouse and pounding her with questions. Was that soldier's face really covered in leopard fur, or had her mind just been playing tricks on her after all the trauma? And if it was, how could those strange, animal-like thugs know her father? Why would they have a file on Talos Global? And how were the bracelets connected to all this? She desperately wanted to push those memories of the envelope and the leopard man away and pretend like all that hadn't happened, because both things made her feel like throwing up. But she had to tell her friends, because they were in danger too. And the truth
was, her father was somehow involved with these guys. Though everything she imagined seemed preposterous.

“What's wrong, Charlie?” asked Maria softly.

They were all staring at her.

“I saw something,” Charlie heard herself saying. “It was weird. Like, really weird. Remember that soldier named Prowl? You know which one he was?”

They all nodded.

“After Mac knocked him out, I noticed he had a tear in his mask. And . . . and fur was poking out.”

Mac's jaw slacked. Maria and Kelly just kept staring.

“And?” prompted Mac. He leaned forward.

“And I pulled the mask off, and . . .” Charlie swallowed hard. “His face—it was covered with it. With fur. Gold and black, like . . . like a leopard. And whiskers, too, and his ears . . .” She cringed, reliving the nightmarish moment. “But his face was shaped like a man's. I think. I mean, it was so scary and strange that I'm not quite sure I believe it. But I saw it. I did—I saw it. I'm sure of it.”

The other three remained in shocked silence until Mac closed his mouth and sat up. “That's crazy.”

“I know.”

“So,” Maria said, “you're saying Prowl is like a human leopard?”

“Yes, like that,” said Charlie.

Kelly looked like she didn't believe her.

“And that's not all,” Charlie said, cringing. She held out the envelope and pointed to the logo that was on all their bracelets. “My father used to work for this company. Talos Global. That's what the
TG
in the logo stands for.”

The room remained silent as Maria, Mac, and Kelly took in this next bit of shocking information. “Your father?” asked Maria softly.