Hawk - James Patterson Page 0,52

footsteps slowed.

“What?” Gazzy said.

Clete said, “They’re tripping; they’re on Rainbow. They probably won’t know who we are or what we want. So they might fight us.”

Footsteps stopped. I swallowed hard. This might be the last straw for the Flock. They might leave me.

CHAPTER 48

“We needed to know this earlier,” Fang said.

I turned quickly. “Why?” I said, chin in the air and hands in fists at my sides. “Would it have made a difference? Would you not have come? Yeah, when we saw them, they were hallucinating. It doesn’t matter! We came and got you even though you might have been dead, you know that, right? Whatever state they’re in, we have to get to them! Before the experiments start!”

“Before there’s nothing left to rescue,” Clete agreed, not picking up on the tension in the air.

There were several moments of silence, and some looks passed between the four members of the Flock. Then Fang started walking again and the others followed.

I turned around, my back stiff, and almost stomped along until I realized my stomps were probably spattering gunk over Clete’s legs. After a silent minute, I stopped beneath the tunnel that led up to the manhole cover closest to the Labs.

“This is it,” I said.

“Okay,” Nudge said, then came closer, edging around Clete until she stood next to me. “A team has to share every bit of information they have, so that they can work together,” she said. “If one or two know something the others don’t, it makes it more dangerous for everyone. See?” Her voice was kind, and she put her arm around my rigid shoulders.

I nodded, feeling my cheeks heat. The staples holding my cheek closed had been pulled and stretched so often in the last couple hours that I’d gotten used to the constant stinging, burning, aching pain.

“So!” Nudge said. “Is there anything else we should know before we go blow this joint?” She made it sound almost funny, almost fun, and I thought for a minute.

“This cover opens up right next to the main ventilation intake for the Labs,” I said. “It’ll be hard for all of us to sneak in—so some stay in the ducts and help the gang get up there?”

Nudge nodded. “Then what?”

“Then we get back out the ventilation tunnel, probably back into these underground tunnels, until we’re far enough away?”

“The Six,” Clete said, reminding me, as he rocked back and forth on his feet anxiously.

“Oh, yeah, the Six,” I agreed miserably, glancing right and left down the dark tunnel.

“We know about the Six,” Gazzy said quickly. “What about them?”

“A lot of their, like, money laundering and illegal dope making happens in these tunnels. Not necessarily this particular tunnel,” I added. “But if we run into them, it’ll be… messy.”

“We’re running out of time,” Fang said tensely.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Let’s just do this.” I started up the rickety rungs leading up to the Labs courtyard. “You guys sure do talk a lot,” I muttered.

CHAPTER 49

Holding my breath, I went up the rusty ladder rungs first. One of them came off in my hand, and I shouted down to the others that there would be a gap, and where to expect it. At the top I listened through the cover’s holes and heard nothing except far away klaxons. Everybody was at the prison. Probably. I hoped.

This cover was between the back wall and the Labs building so we were pretty well concealed. I was proud of myself for bringing my knife with its screwdrivers so I could take off the ventilation cover.

“One at a time, shimmy upward,” Nudge said. “Heating and cooling ducts aren’t super strong.”

“I know that,” I muttered. I hadn’t known that. Carefully, trying to make no noise, I shimmied up the duct as directed, and soon the six of us were spread out across where three ducts intersected.

“Do you know where your friends are?” Nudge whispered almost soundlessly.

I nodded. “Me and Clete will go get them.”

“Gazzy and I will follow you,” Nudge told me. “To help get them up into the ducts.”

Clete and I set off toward the inner labs. Almost as soon as I turned my back, I heard Fang say, “Max is out of time, Ig!”

“I know,” Iggy said quietly. “But we promised. This should go quick.”

I wondered where Max was and what they were saving her from. They’d said Max was my mom, but I wasn’t even on board with Fang being my dad, and I knew him. So Max wasn’t in my picture, except as a