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Sitting in the waiting room to the superintendent’s office at one in the morning has to be one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever done. Especially sitting there thinking that you’re probably going to be expelled and knowing that you deserved it.
I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. To top it off, I was no closer to finding anything out about my parents. The whole trip had been a waste, and I’d sabotaged my senior year for nothing.
“Where is he?” Matt whispered. His leg bounced relentlessly, jiggling the chair beside me. “We’ve been here for more than an hour.”
Superintendent Hinkly had given us a disapproving glare, locked us into the waiting room, and left. I assumed he was getting the deans to discuss our punishment; a punishment not likely to be merciful at one in the morning.
Matt bounced his leg faster until my own chair started shaking. “We’re going to be expelled,” he moaned. “I know it!”
“We both have good records; they have no reason not to be lenient.” I tried to sound more confident than I felt. “You’re overreacting.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Matt said sharply, turning quickly to face me. “Your parents don’t expect you to be the next General Patton! My dad will never forgive me if I get kicked out of the Academy.”
“I’m just worried about finding my parents.” I stared vacantly out the window behind the empty receptionist’s desk. “If Superintendent Hinkly expels us, I’ll probably be sent to my grandparents’ ranch in Texas. How will I find the truth about my parents then? I’m not thinking the distance is going to make your brother more generous with his information.”
“You’re right.” Matt slouched in his chair and covered his face with his hands. “I’m sorry I lost my temper. I guess...” He blew out a long breath. “We really messed up this time, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, I guess we did.” God, forgive me. I knew better. In all that had happened after my parents' plane went down, I'd never stopped to think about what was the right thing to do. “We need to pray, Matt. If we’d done that to begin with, we might not be in this mess.”
“Yeah, I guess we blew it in more than one way,” Matt agreed, shame tinting his ears.
“Lord Jesus, please forgive us for breaking the school rules and going out after curfew,” I began. “Please allow Superintendent Hinkly to have mercy on us. Help us to be a better example of our faith to those around us. Amen.”
“Amen,” Matt echoed, looking up at me. “Are we going to tell them everything?”
“Yes... I don’t know.” I rubbed my temples to ward off the beginnings of a throbbing headache. “Our part, at least. I don’t even know what to make about my parents’ role in all this. If we apologize for sneaking out, maybe he’ll only put us on probation.”
A key clicked in the lock and the door to hall opened with a creak. My stomach twisted as Matt and I snapped to attention and saluted weakly.
It wasn’t Superintendent Hinkly at the door, or the deans. The man at the door wasn’t anyone I recognized at all. He was tall, with black hair going gray at the temples and a build that suggested he’d once been an athlete. An expensive, tailored suit nearly hid the bulge of a concealed weapon at his side. His lips were pressed in a grim line and his alert, dark eyes seemed to be weighing our judgment already. His manner shouted authority, and fear rippled up my spine as I wondered if this was the man who would decide our fate.
I pulled my back straighter and held my salute as the man entered and crossed to us. He stopped in front of me and frowned.
“Cadet Scott Eric McCully, twelfth grade,” he spoke as if reading a report. “AB honor role, but struggles in science. Star quarterback and decent pitcher. Attends church regularly; no past history of trouble.”
My breath caught in my chest. How did this complete stranger know so much about me? Had Superintendent Hinkly told him?
“Cadet Matthew David Marshall, also a senior.” He stepped over to Matt and continued, “B average grades that slip during football season. Enjoys video games and war movies. Deeply religious, but struggles with a quick temper.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Matt’s face was white and his eyes wide, but he still stood frozen at attention.
“You look just like your brother.” The man nodded as if satisfied. “At ease.”
I let out a slow breath and relaxed, a little.
“You know my brother, sir?” Matt asked warily.
“I know everything there is about you both.” The man darted a meaningful glance at me. “Perhaps more than you know about yourselves.”
“You work with Chris.” I clenched my hands into fists to keep them from shaking. If Superintendent Hinkly had called in SATURN, we were in even more trouble than I thought.
“You’re half right,” Chris replied from where he leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed. He was dressed more casually than before, wearing a pair of jeans and a dark blue tee shirt that did little to hide a handgun stuffed into his waistband. I hadn’t even noticed him come in. “Scott, Matt, I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Alan Jackson, my boss.”
We saluted again, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was just getting worse.
“When Superintendent Hinkly called and told me that you two had been caught sneaking out after curfew, I reached the same conclusion he did.” Chris stood beside his boss and gave us a disappointed frown. “I told you two to leave the investigation to me. Do you have any idea how stupid this was? How incredibly dangerous?”
“Perhaps we should take this to the superintendent’s office, Agent Marshall,” Mr. Jackson suggested, his deep voice a warning.
Chris clenched his jaw, gave a sharp nod, and motioned for us to follow Mr. Jackson into the office.
“Be seated, boys.” Mr. Jackson sat in Superintendent Hinkly’s chair and waved his hand to the chairs facing the desk. “Tell me about tonight.”
I bit my lip as we sat and Chris closed the door behind us then perched on the corner of the desk. At this point, our only hope was telling them everything and hoping they didn’t arrest us.
“Sir, Matt and I found a slip of paper at the crash site that mentioned a man my parents were supposed to meet – a Hayes.” I glanced at Chris and tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, “Since Chris hadn’t been very... generous... with his information, I decided to investigate myself.”
“The secrets are there for your protection, Scott,” Chris said with exasperation in his voice. “You met an informant, at midnight, without backup. Not even a trained agent does that. Not any of the smart ones at least.”
“Okay, I get it, it was dumb,” I snapped, then remembered that I was already in enough trouble and began again more carefully, “It was wrong and stupid. And I’m sorry.” I gave Mr. Jackson a challenging look. “But what am I supposed to do? Chris isn’t telling me everything. I’m not even sure my parents are actually dead.” My words rushed over one another as I continued, “Chris didn’t even tell me they worked with him until I found Dad’s card. That leaves me to find out for myself, with or without SATURN’s help.”
The room was silent for a moment. Matt looked at me worriedly, as if hoping I knew what I was doing. I just hoped I wasn’t digging us a deeper hole.
“I told you,” Chris said finally, looking to Mr. Jackson. His mouth was still grim, but a hint of a smile lit his eyes.
“Indeed.” Mr. Jackson sighed. He turned his critical gaze to Matt. “Cadet Marshall, you’ve been noticeably silent. Can I trust you to keep out of the way, or do you always do what Cadet McCully does?”
“Scott’s my best friend, sir. I’m behind him as long as he’s involved,” Matt answered. His voice was firm, but his eyes showed he didn’t entirely agree with my decision. “I won’t abandon my friend.”
Mr. Jackson rubbed the bridge of his nose while Chris snickered. “Agent Marshall warned me that Cadet McCully had too much of his father in him to stand by while we investigated.” He tossed a sideways glance at Chris. “And Cadet Marshall is clearly too much like his brother to expect him to leave his friend’s side.”
A troubled look crossed Chris’s face, and he glared down at his clenched fist.
“Agent Marshall had a suggestion to keep the two of you out of trouble.” Mr. Jackson gave us one more sweeping look and nodded. “After tonight, I’m inclined to agree to his recommendation.”
Keeping us out of trouble didn’t exactly sound like helping find out what happened to my parents, but it was better than expulsion – or jail – so I decided to listen.
“Your parent’s were assigned to protect an inventor named Isaac Kestler,” Chris began. “He was perfecting a device that could revolutionize warfare: an EMP transmitter that would knock out any electronic device within a ten mile radius.”
“Ten miles?” Matt leaned forward, gripping the arms of his chair. “That’d cover the whole city of Baltimore!”
“You mean that device could take out all the phones, computers, and appliances in the whole city?” I tried to imagine Baltimore in the dark, but the impact of losing everything that ran on electricity blew my mind.
“Worse than that.” Mr. Jackson stood and clasped his hands behind his back. “Power grids are connected. A device like that could knock out utilities across the Eastern seaboard. It was critical that SATURN keep that invention out of the wrong hands.” He tossed a sharp glance at Chris.
I noted his use of the word “was” and flashed a wide-eyed look to Chris.
Chris sat up straighter and a red tint colored his neck. “We doubled security on Kestler so your parents could meet with Hayes about an attack he was supposedly involved in. They were going to try to make your game while they were in town. They... never made it.”
“Did you find their bodies?” I asked a bit too bluntly. “Not to be gross or anything, but I was at the wreck. There’s no blood, no personal effects, nothing. How can you be sure they’re dead?”
“We’re quite sure.” Mr. Jackson cut off any comment Chris was going to make with a wave of his hand. “We found an empty canister of Sarin gas in the wreckage. Even if they had survived the crash, even a small dose of that would have killed them. We’ll find the bodies.” He sounded confident, and like he’d had this conversation before.
Chris frowned, pulled the sunglasses from his collar, snapped them open, and put them on. Either rehearsing the story of my parents’ deaths was upsetting him more than he wanted to let on, or he didn’t agree with SATURN’s conclusion any more than I did.
“Eric and Marisa’s deaths strained our resources.” Mr. Jackson shot Chris another hard look, one I now interpreted to be a warning, and went back to pacing. “With my agents divided between investigating the crash and protecting Dr. Kestler, we were unable to keep his lab from being attacked. Dr. Kestler was saved, but his invention was lost.”
“So you’re telling us someone has the ability to send half the US into the dark ages?” Matt's jaw tightened and the skeptical look he'd given me disappeared. “What can we do to help?”
“Dr. Kestler is the only one who can work his invention.” Chris crossed his arms over his chest. “Unfortunately, after SATURN’s failure to protect his invention, Kestler’s not interested in accepting our help.”
“That’s where you boys come in.” Mr. Jackson dropped back into his chair and folded his hands in front of him. “We’ve got his house watched twenty-four seven, but need someone on the inside. Someone to open conversation, maybe make sure no one contacts him to negotiate a trade.”
“Maybe even plant a bug for us,” Chris added.
“How exactly are we going to do that?” I asked skeptically. “It’s not like he’s just going to let a couple of teens into his house.”
“Actually, he is.” Chris smiled at us. “Dr. Kestler tutors high-schoolers in science, sort of his way to give back. I’ve already spoken to Superintendent Hinkly about finding a tutor for the two of you. He agreed wholeheartedly.” Chris removed his glasses and gestured at me. “Apparently he’s already aware you guys need the help.”
“You mean, we won’t be expelled?” Matt slouched back in his chair and blew out a long breath.
“Your superintendent agreed to place you on disciplinary probation, due to the rather difficult extenuating circumstances.” Mr. Jackson stood, straightened his suit, and gave us a severe look. “As long as the two of you can stay out of trouble from now on. Consider this your warning.”