Zeke Bartholomew (14 page)

Le Carré put his hand to his head and feigned being stunned. “Oh, my dear boy, you're right. How will I ever be able to broadcast without those codes that my men foolishly thought you possessed?”

“That's what I'm asking, you tyrannical doofus.”

“It's because
I
have the codes, Mr. Bartholomew.”

“How? You couldn't have gotten them in such a short amount of time,” Sparrow replied angrily.

“You've forgotten the key to my whole plan,” he said.

Sparrow spat, “And what key is that?”

Suddenly another voice said, “Me.”

We both turned around. My blood ran cold. I knew that voice.

Standing next to Ragnarok, as though he'd appeared out of nowhere, was Derek Lance.

7:51 p.m.

Okay, you get the picture. We're running out of time. I always liked these ticking clock things in movies, but I feel like my heart is about to explode. Why did I agree to do this again? Maybe it would be more fun to be a brainwashed zombie kid. Like, I'd never care about homework again. Then again, I'd never care about
anything
again. Even my dad. Okay, bad idea, let's try and stop these creeps. We've only got nine minutes to save the world…

You,” I said.

“Hello, Sparrow,” Derek said, stepping forward and embracing her. She wriggled out of his grasp. “Come on, don't be like that. You and I got along so well in training. Now you don't want to say hello?”

He was wearing an impeccable dark suit, a red tie, and his mirrored sunglasses hid his evil eyes. For a diabolical madman, Derek Lance sure could dress.

“We got along before I knew you were a coward and a traitor who sold your soul to the devil,” she said.

“My soul is pretty much intact, but this sale did increase my bank account substantially,” Derek said. He winked at Le Carré, who smiled. “Now, babe, we have front-row seats to the beginning of the end, and a new beginning. Why don't you come here, sit on my lap, and we'll watch together. Like we used to.”

I looked at Sparrow. “You and him?”

“My first girlfriend,” Derek said. “You don't get to meet too many girls when you're a spy. Thankfully Sparrow and I were training at SNURP at the same time. I think she'd admit I helped her through some tough times. Did she tell you her real name? It's—”

“Say one more word,” Sparrow said, her eyes gleaming with fire, “and I will come wring your neck, and I don't care what happens next.”

“Don't worry, sweetie, your secret is safe with me.” Derek looked at me. “My former classmate. Zeke Bartholomew. The amateur.”

“This amateur found you out, you, you, bombastic simpleton.”

“Wow, even your insults are amateur hour. Listen, Zeke, I'm kinda impressed that you stayed alive this long. Doesn't reflect well on this big lug right here.” Derek shot Ragnarok a disapproving glance. The monster just glowered, as most monsters do.

“Don't get a big head, my friend,” Derek continued. “Every dog gets lucky from time to time. Most kids, they're just as stupid as you. They'll follow anyone anywhere. They already follow Penny and Jimmy like they're saviors. Well, all my main man Le Carré is going to do is show the world how right I am.”

“My army of children will be unstoppable,” Le Carré said. “Millions swarming east and west. A tidal wave of small soldiers.”

“And you're going to let this happen,” Sparrow said.

“Let it happen?” Derek said, laughing, his tie fluttering ever so slightly. “Baby, I'm
making
it happen.”

“You're lucky I don't kick those sunglasses down your throat.”

“If you even tried,” Derek said, “I'd kill you so fast I wouldn't even need to take my suit jacket off.”

“It's a cheap jacket anyway,” I said.

Derek cocked his head. “This suit is worth more than your house.”

“Too bad the guy wearing it isn't worth the crud I clean out of the gutters.”

Derek stepped forward to me. He took his sunglasses off. His eyes were a piercing blue.

“I have half a mind to kill you right now,” he said.

“Go ahead,” I replied. “Why wait? What, you'd rather these freak-show dolls or this molten mutant did it? Let them. At least I'll know it wasn't at your hands.”

Derek looked at Le Carré. The mastermind did not move.

“All you are is an errand boy,” I said. “You delivered a message. How brave.”

“Shut up,” Derek said.

“Or what? You'll go find codes that will make me be quiet. Go ahead, big man, show me what you've got.”

Derek marched over to one of the Jimmy Peppers robots and pulled the laser rifle from its hand.

I circled slightly to my left.

Derek walked back and stood directly in front of me. I could tell by the way he held it, he'd never used that type of rifle before.

The gun currently had one green panel lit. Enough to kill me. But not enough for what I had in mind.

Le Carré said, “In five minutes they'll be dead anyway. You can wait, Derek.”

“Yeah, Derek,” Sparrow chimed in. “You can wait.”

“I don't wait for anyone,” he said, thumbing a button on the side of the rifle. A second green light flared up.

“You're a patsy,” I said. “A nothing. That rifle isn't going to do anything more than give me an electric shock. You don't even know how to work it.”

“Derek…” Le Carré said, walking toward us.

“I do too,” he said, and thumbed the rifle button three more times, lighting up all five panels.

I looked at Sparrow. She gave me a slight nod. We were on the same page. This was it. The moment it all came down to. The fate of the world was in the hands of a kid who had once let a dodgeball bounce off of his head three times before hitting the floor.

“Then go ahead and shoot, Lance, or are you nothing but an empty suit?”

At that split second, Sparrow charged up from behind Derek Lance and threw her entire body weight into him, just as he pressed the trigger on the laser rifle.

A massive red beam exploded out from the barrel, Sparrow's weight caused the laser to divert from its intended target, instead cleaving a hole right through SirEebro. The metal box erupted into flames, the sides melting down where the laser had perforated it.

Le Carré let out an anguished howl as steel and sparks rained down around us.

The blow had knocked the gun from Derek's hand. I sprinted over, dove, and picked it up. And just as I did, I felt a massive hand close around my neck.

Ragnarok. And this time he wasn't going to just hold me tightly.

I could feel his huge fingers digging into my windpipe. I did the only thing I could. I aimed the rifle up in his direction and pressed the trigger.

Another pulse emanated from the rifle, and suddenly I was free. I looked at the monster. A faint wisp of smoke was coming from the floor next to him. The blast had cut right through a molten lava tube on Ragnarok's arm, and he was literally leaking thousand-degree liquid onto the floor. He howled in agony.

I turned back to the room and yelled to Kyle and Sparrow, “Run!”

Then I fired one more blast at the Penny and Jimmy army. A dozen robots exploded as the rifle torched them.

As we ran out of SirEebro's chamber, I heard Le Carré yell, “Kill them all!”

We ran through the next room as I fired blasts behind me without looking. There were enough huge explosions and raining debris for me to realize that SirEebro was officially out of commission. Le Carré wouldn't be able to broadcast the PB&J single to the world. Sparrow and I had just saved millions of lives.

How we were going to get out without losing our own lives was something I hadn't quite figured out yet.

“Go for the elevator!” Sparrow yelled.

“It's destroyed!” I answered.

“We're not going to use the actual elevator,” she said. I gulped.

The three of us ran as fast as we could, Kyle ahead of us, his long legs much quicker than ours.

“There it is!” Sparrow shouted. Less than twenty yards away were the burnt remains of the elevator we'd come down on. Sparrow and Kyle pried the doors open, Sparrow wincing with her injured shoulder.

Then I felt something plow into me from behind, and I went sprawling. I turned to see Derek Lance. His fist cocked back and then, before I had a chance to move, landed just below my left eye. A burst of pain exploded in my head, and I went tumbling backward.

My head smacked on something metallic and hard. It was the railing in the reactor room. Had I lost my balance, I would have fallen to my death.

The lair was falling apart. We had only minutes, if not seconds, before the whole thing collapsed with us inside.

“I'm going to kill you, amateur hour,” Derek said, his hands closing around my throat. I was getting a little tired of that. I moved my head back, swung it forward, and head-butted Derek Lance right in the cranium. He stumbled back and we both tumbled to the ground.

Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw something coming. It was Ragnarok. He was leaking molten lava, leaving steaming puddles as he moved. He was weak, the burning life draining out of him. And he was coming right for us.

Just as the monster was about to crash into both of us and send us all plummeting thousands of feet to our doom, I pulled Derek down to Ragnarok's knee level. The unbalanced monster tripped over our prone bodies and, unable to stop himself, flipped over the metal railing and crashed into the reactor. Several of the lava tubes crossing his body were cut, and magma spurted everywhere. I felt a drop of it graze my arm, like a hot poker. Then the monster fell noiselessly into the abyss.

Derek and I stood there for a moment in shock. We looked at the reactor. Lava had begun to eat through the metal, smoke pouring from dozens of tiny holes.

That was not good.

I heard footsteps. Many of them. The PB&J army was coming for us.

I pressed Derek up against the railing, but he wouldn't budge. And his hands found my throat again.

“You'll die now,” he said, teeth gritted into a maniacal snarl.

“Hey, Lance,” I said, with all the air I could muster. “Nice shades.”

I drew my hand back, and with all my might I thrust my index finger right through his sunglasses and into his eye.

Derek staggered back, holding his face. I could see blood dripping between his fingers.

I turned and ran. Sparrow was fending off the PB&J army with the rifle, but they were beginning to return fire.

“Come on!” Kyle yelled.

We piled into the broken elevator, and one by one clambered on top of it. The three of us stood there, fire snaking out into the elevator shaft. In mere seconds the reactor would overheat and we'd all be dead.

Sparrow gripped the elevator cable. “Hold on, guys,” she said.

“Are you crazy?” I said.

“Only the crazy survive,” she said.

Kyle and I grabbed the cable and held on for dear life. Sparrow aimed the rifle down at the elevator, at the opposite cable, and pulled the trigger.

The blast illuminated the elevator shaft in a brilliant red light. The elevator exploded, and the cable across from us snapped in half.

Then we were zipping through the air, being whisked upward at speeds my dad would never let me drive at in a million years. I could feel my hair and my lips being pulled back. I'm pretty sure I was screaming, but I couldn't hear a thing.

Suddenly a huge fireball erupted directly below us and began chasing us up the elevator shaft. It was gaining on us.

I looked up. I could see the top of the shaft. We were almost there. But I didn't know if we could outrun the fireball.

A hundred yards. Fifty. Thirty. Twenty. Ten.

The cables hit the roof of the shaft at full speed, rattling our bones with the huge jolt. Kyle and I managed to hold on, but I heard a cry of pain and saw Sparrow's shoulder give out. She was going to fall directly into the fiery pit. Holding on to the elevator cable with one hand, I caught her good arm with my other.

Kyle reached down and grabbed it too. We pulled until Sparrow was back with us, then the three of swung onto the ledge where we'd entered the elevator not too long before. We pried our fingers into the small slot between the doors and pulled it open.

Then we all squeezed through the small opening until we fell into a heap back in the woods outside. We were safe.

“Keep running!” Sparrow shouted as she jumped up. Soon she was ten yards ahead of us.

She'd been right so far, so Kyle and I stood up and began to run. And we kept running.

Then, behind us, the entire woods seemed to explode into a massive fiery ball, right where we'd stood just seconds before.

We kept running until we got to the strip mall with the coffee shop. The military antenna had melted onto the roof of the shop. The woods were burning. The reactor had exploded. The PB&J army was now destroyed. Le Carré and his plan had been defeated.

We'd won.

I rolled over, coughing amid all the smoke and ruin. I saw Kyle lying on the ground a few feet away. I crawled over and shook my friend.

“Kyle!” I said, slapping him in the face. “Kyle! Speak to me!”

“Ugh, stop slapping me, you turdburger.”

He rolled over. Aside from being covered in ash and looking like he'd just slept for a week in a fireplace, he appeared unhurt.

“Zeke,” he said, “right now I'm just happy to be alive, but at some point real soon you're going to have to explain to me what the heck just happened.”

“I will,” I said. “I will.”

I stood up and looked around, but I couldn't see her.

“Sparrow!” I shouted. I ran back and forth, checking under logs and broken branches. “Sparrow! Where are you?”