Chapter 10

From our hiding spot, we watched as Megan opened the back door of her car. With obvious difficulty, she dragged the plastic storage bin out. I winced as it thumped onto the pavement.

The man opened the plastic lid, which I was relieved to see had a few holes punched in it, and looked inside. Then he nodded and replaced the lid.

We had to act. In thirty seconds, those otters would be in the back of that van and bound for a ship across the Atlantic. Or something equally as awful.

“Anson, go back to the road and call the police,” I whispered. I held out my cell phone, which I was only supposed to use in case of emergency. This definitely qualified. “Stay there so they can find us. Olivia and I will stall.”

“How are you going to do that?” Anson whispered back, already backing toward his bike.

“I don’t know, but get going,” I said. “We’ll think of something.”

Anson cast a desperate glance over his shoulder and pedaled off. I held my breath until he was out of sight. Megan and the man hadn’t spotted him. They were still focused on the otters. They seemed to be arguing about something—money from what I could hear.

“I told you three thousand!” the man yelled at Megan.

“And I’m telling you it’s four now. These animals have been causing me a lot of trouble,” she snarled back.

The man lifted the bin with the otters and shoved it into the back of his truck. “Too bad,” he sneered, throwing an envelope on the pavement at her feet.

“Now! Now!” Olivia said. “He’s about to drive away!”

I leapt out from behind the container. “W-wait!” I shouted. I had no idea what I was going to say, but we couldn’t wait any longer. “You can’t take those otters!”

If I hadn’t been so terrified, the surprised looks on Megan and the man’s faces would have almost been funny. But my heart was pounding in my ears so loudly I could hardly hear my own words.

“Who is that?” the man asked Megan.

“They’re from the same sanctuary as the otters,” Megan said, staring at us. She looked shocked but also furious. “How did you get here?”

“On bikes,” I said, trying to hide the tremble in my voice. “And you’re not taking those otters.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Olivia come up to stand beside me. “They’re not yours,” she added. “They belong in our sanctuary.”

The man laughed. “OK, whatever.” He banged the doors closed on the van.

“Wait!” I cried. I had to do something to stall until Anson returned with the police. “The otters are—they’re—um, sick. You don’t want to have them in there with your other animals.”

It was a total guess that he would have other animals in the back, but it seemed likely. I crossed my fingers at my side.

“That’s why they’re at the sanctuary,” Olivia piped up. “They have m-mange. It’s incurable and contagious. Believe me, you do not want them in that van.”

I shot her a glance. I couldn’t believe my best friend sounded so calm. Only her flaming-red ears betrayed her tension.

Megan’s eyes narrowed. “Mange? I didn’t notice them shedding.”

“It’s not the shedding kind,” Olivia said, taking a step forward. “It’s rarer.”

I realized my mouth was hanging open and shut it with a snap. In the distance, I could hear the faint wail of police sirens.

The man looked from Olivia to me as if trying to decide whether to believe us or not. The sirens were growing louder. He must have realized they were getting closer because suddenly he said, “You’re lying,” and ran around to the driver’s side of the van.

“Police!” Megan screamed just as the cruisers roared into the parking lot, lights flashing.

“Stop! Police!” Officers leapt out of the cars, weapons drawn.

Olivia and I stood frozen, afraid to move. The last thing we needed was for the police to think we were the criminals.

“He has the otters in the back of his van!” I cried out, putting my hands in the air. I didn’t want there to be any confusion over who the criminals were.

The officers closed in on Megan and her partner. One officer muscled the man onto the pavement and handcuffed him while another handcuffed Megan. A third swung open the doors of the van, just as Anson climbed out of another cruiser and joined us.

“You did it!” I squeezed his arm.

“We did it,” he said.

I turned to Olivia. “Mange?” I said. “Where did you come up with that? I didn’t know you were such a good liar.”

Olivia grinned, her ears still red. “Just this once. Desperate circumstances and all.”

“Mike, look at this!” one officer called to another. “This van is full of animals.”

Anson, Olivia, and I walked over and peered in. My jaw dropped. The walls were lined with cages filled with snakes, turtles, chickens, rabbits—all fancy kinds I’d never seen before. Two empty cages sat with their doors ajar, waiting for our otters, no doubt.

“They’re all stolen,” I said softly. “They’ve all been taken from their homes.”

The officer looked around as if he hadn’t realized we were there. He smiled. “And they’re all going back home, as soon as we can arrange it.”

I smiled in reply. I’d never heard such beautiful words in all my life.