The next day Mac and Maria showed up at Charlie’s house, eager to see what progress had been made in their absence. They’d seen the news. Now that they were here, Charlie told them everything her mom had said about Kelly and Dr. Gray and the soldiers.
“Whoa,” said Mac. “Kelly put a customs official in a coma.”
“We don’t know for sure if Kelly did it,” said Charlie. “He had a head injury too, which was probably from one of the soldiers.”
“Are they still in Guadalajara?” asked Maria.
“My mom thinks they are. She said they’ll be stuck in Mexico because of what they’ve done.”
“Yeah—they’ll have to go into hiding, I’ll bet,” said Maria. “Those suits they wear are pretty noticeable.”
“The fur and other animal features underneath probably won’t help,” said Charlie.
“At least we know where they are,” said Mac.
“But Mexico is huge,” said Maria. “They could go a lot of places.”
“Not if they’re trying to hide,” said Mac.
Charlie nodded solemnly.
Just then the scientists and Ms. Sabbith arrived for the day. They filed into the house and greeted the kids. Mr. and Mrs. Wilde came into the dining room as well.
“Since we’re all here, let’s gather around,” suggested Mr. Wilde. “We can update everyone on a few things.”
They sat at the dining table, Maria and Mac sharing a chair and Charlie leaning over the back of it behind them. The adults took the remaining seats.
“It’s great to have our young team back again,” said Mr. Wilde. “Welcome, and I hope you all had as much fun as Charlie did helping out over there. We’re excited to hear how your new abilities are working.”
“We tried them out, all right,” said Mac. Maria grimaced, and then they both laughed.
“Before we go into that, though,” said Charlie’s dad, “Erica has an update on Dr. Gray.” He nodded at Ms. Sabbith.
“Yes, I do,” she said. “Here’s what we know: Dr. Gray was with Kelly and four of his soldiers—Braun, Mega, Prowl, and Miko. They flew on a private plane from San Diego to Guadalajara, where they caused serious problems at the airport.”
She paused, then added, “To be honest, I was really puzzled for a while about why Victor would try to leave the country with them—he had to know that even private planes would have to go through customs, and that his soldiers would still be scrutinized. But then Nubia told me he has some sort of nefarious connections in Guadalajara. Apparently, he’d made several trips there while we were working on the devices initially. So maybe he thought he could get through without incident. Anyway, according to news reports, Gray and the team were questioned on board their plane. They ended up attacking the agents and fleeing in a black limo. Their driver doesn’t remember them or where he dropped them off.”
“Kelly,” said the three kids in unison.
“I found the white van in California and monitored the house where it was parked. There appeared to be activity inside so I stayed to watch. Once darkness fell, Cyke, Fang, and Morph started loading up the van. When they finished I had an opportunity to attach a GPS inside the back bumper and a tiny camera to the windshield wipers.”
“You’re so cool,” said Mac, shaking his head. “So freaking cool.”
Dr. Goldstein playfully rolled his eyes.
Ms. Sabbith smiled. “Yes, I am,” she said, giving Dr. Goldstein the side-eye. “I flew back this morning and I’m pleased to report that as of fifteen minutes ago, the van is on the move. Heading south toward Mexico.”
“Oh,” said Dr. Sharma, sitting up. “That’s interesting. Are all three soldiers inside?”
Ms. Sabbith nodded. “Cyke is driving. The other two are with him. And if they make it across the border without getting stopped, they’ll lead us directly to Dr. Gray.”
A few of the adults frowned. “So . . . we actually want them to get through border control,” mused Jack. “How do we make that happen?”
“I’ve got our old government contact in the loop now,” said Ms. Sabbith. “She’s agreed to help us with this part because of the wanted status of Dr. Gray. But it’s been tough getting her to understand how advanced these devices and hybrids have become since she shut down the project ten years ago. She thinks I’m exaggerating. I tried to pull footage from the insect cams of the last fight we had, but Prowl and Miko destroyed that computer when they tied us up. Not to mention she really doesn’t want to come back to this whole mess that she thought she’d buried ages ago.”
“Getting Cyke across the border is a step in the right direction at least,” said Charlie’s dad. “You’re doing great. We’ve got you running everywhere and you’re killing it, Erica. Thank you.”
Ms. Sabbith nodded. “This is serious business. I worry Gray is going to ramp things up and do something rash now that he’s cornered.”
Dr. Jakande, who’d been quiet until now, nodded. “The soldiers have been given more abilities. Did you notice the security camera footage of Miko? She’s got something strange on her back.”
“I thought it was just a backpack,” said Dr. Goldstein.
“Look more closely.” Dr. Jakande clicked on her tablet and brought up the photos. She showed one around the table. “It’s huge. She’d never wear something like that—she’d carry a bag so she could drop it quickly if she needed to spring into action. The backpack would only serve to hinder her chimp performance.” She sat back. “I think she’s hiding something under that canvas . . . wings. Back when I was working with Dr. Gray that was the feature he most talked about wanting to give to a soldier.”
“Wings?” said Charlie and Mac together. That was unexpected.
“Whoa, that’s awesome. Why didn’t we think of that?” added Mac, more to himself than anyone else.
The doctors murmured with one another. Charlie’s dad gave Dr. Jakande a respectful nod. “Excellent deduction, Nubia.”
“Thank you.”
Charlie glanced at Dr. Jakande. The woman had just given them some important information. It certainly seemed like the kind of information she’d hide if she were secretly working with Dr. Gray.
Charlie thought back to how she’d felt in Puerto Rico. About trusting people. Maybe she had been imagining Dr. Jakande’s sneakiness all along. It was true that Charlie had been overly suspicious of everyone ever since Dr. Gray’s first attack and then Kelly’s betrayal. But there was something that had changed inside her, at least a little. She wanted to trust people more.
“That’s all I have for now,” said Ms. Sabbith. “I’ll keep you updated. It’s a long drive—it’ll take them a couple days if they want to stay off the radar and stop to sleep.”
“Well,” said Mr. Wilde, pushing his chair back. “I guess that’s it, then.”
“Dad!” said Charlie. “Not funny. What about the bracelets? We have to talk about them.”
“Oh right,” Dr. Wilde said in a teasing voice. “Well, we’re dying to see how we did. Want to show us?”
Dr. Sharma chimed in. “Yes, we’d love to have a look. Then we can figure out how to fix them before we make the trip south, because it doesn’t appear that our friends are coming back here.”
“So we’re all going there?” asked Charlie.
“From what Ms. Sabbith said, we’re going to have to,” said Mr. Wilde. “It’s the only way to stop them.”
Charlie looked at her friends in alarm. “Do you think your parents will let you come with us?”
“I don’t see why not,” said Maria. “It’s only fair. You went along on our trips, after all.”
“Yep,” said Mac. “I’m sure my parents will be cool with it.”
Mrs. Wilde spoke up. “Okay, so why don’t you float the idea to them that we’re thinking of taking a trip to Mexico before summer ends, and we’d love you two to come along. Then, in case we have to move fast, it won’t come as a total surprise. Do you both have passports?”
“I do, Mrs. Dr. Wilde,” said Maria.
Mac nodded. “Yup, me too.”
“Sooo . . . ,” said Charlie, lifting her wrist. “Back to the devices.” She clicked on her viper sensor and looked around the room. “There is no one hiding in this dining room,” she announced. “All clear. It works great—though sometimes I’d rather not see things like rats.”
“Ha-ha. Well, that’s excellent,” said Dr. Wilde. He turned to Mac. “How about your basilisk lizard? Can you show us?”
Mac stepped back and clicked on the feature. The scientists oohed when the streamlined suit wrapped around his body and a tail shot out. “It’s quiet, and I can run really well with it on land. And we had a chance to try it out on the ocean. I can zoom over the water, just like the real animal. It’s super slick and I love it!”
“So, you think I’m cool too?” asked Dr. Goldstein with a sniff.
Mac grinned. “Totally cool.”
Ms. Sabbith frowned. Maria and Charlie feigned bored looks.
“And, Maria,” said Nubia, leaning forward, “how about yours?”
“Well . . . ,” said Maria, “maybe it’s better if I show you.”
“Uh-oh,” said Dr. Jakande. “That sounds like a problem.”
“You could say that,” said Maria. “Make some room.” The people slid their chairs back and Maria hit the alligator button. Her body stretched and contorted into the animal’s shape.
“Oh dear!” said Dr. Jakande, clutching her face in horror.
Charlie watched her. If she’d planned this error to sabotage their progress, she was surely hiding it well. Charlie cringed. She needed to stop looking for ways to suspect Dr. Jakande of working for Dr. Gray. It was obvious by now that she’d had a true change of heart. Still, Charlie couldn’t let it all go. She’d been burned too many times.
“I’m so sorry, Maria,” said Dr. Jakande. “It’s clear I’ve erred in my calculations. You must have been terribly shocked.”
“To be honest,” said Maria, “It wasn’t bad once I got used to it. And I knew you could fix it so I can feel a little more . . . human. Like with the monkey. And at least I didn’t get stuck in alligator mode like what happened before. I’m really glad to be ferocious, but also glad not to have any killer instincts. So that’s cool too.”
Charlie smiled at her friend. Maria had come a long way when it came to her device and the physical changes it gave her. She seemed to actually like it.
“Also,” added Mac, “when she went from monkey to alligator, she ended up with both animals’ features.”
“Whoops,” said Dr. Jakande, looking embarrassed. “That shouldn’t have happened either. I was rushing there at the end, and it shows. I’ll get to work on it right away.”
“We’ll all do what we can to help you, Nubia,” said Mr. Wilde.
Dr. Jakande smiled. “You’ve all done so much already.” She turned to the kids. “I forgot to tell you the good news. While you were away, the scientists and I finally finished working on a new reversal bracelet, which I hope will be able to turn me back to my normal human self. I’m going to give it a try later today. Then I can jump right into the fixes for Maria, while the others continue building a new, less permanent version of a panther hybrid device for me.”
“You’re going to go back to being a panther?” asked Charlie.
“A werepanther,” said Dr. Jakande. She turned back to Maria. “Just like you. I don’t think your device will take long to fix.”
Maria brought herself back to human form and handed the bracelet over to Dr. Jakande. “Thanks,” Maria said. “I hope I’m not being too particular about it. It’s just hard getting used to being so different.”
“Trust me, I know that pretty well,” said Dr. Jakande. “Looking different is hard. I’m glad we’re both heading in the right direction with these.”
The two exchanged warm looks. As Maria went to take her seat once more, Ms. Sabbith started typing furiously on her tablet. A second later she stopped and stared at the screen. “News flash,” she said, looking up. “The white van has officially made it across the border.”