Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula (32 page)

Staying under the covers, I heard her go into Nate’s room, leaving a minute later and descending the stairs. There was a soft tapping on my door. Throwing the covers back, I bounded lightly for the door, opening it slightly. Emery slid through, closing it behind him. I was so happy to see his face.

“Where have you been?” he whispered tensely. “Ben came back over an hour and a half ago.”

“Would you believe, hanging out in a criminal lair and getting shot
at?”

His eyes widened. “Shot at? Did you get hit?”

“Uh-huh. In the arm.”

He flicked on the wall light switch. The reading lamp on my nightstand lit. “Which arm? Is the bullet lodged?”

His worry touched me. “No, it—” Before I could finish, he found the tear where the bullet had ripped through the costume and the sweatshirt.

He ran his fingers along the skin through the tear. “The bullet passed through.” Examining the skin, he laughed softly. “Unbelievable. Your skin is healed. Aside from a bit of blood, there isn’t any mark or indication that you’ve been shot…Now, tell me who shot you.”

After summarizing the surreal experience, I munched on the pizza crust while Emery processed.

Anger passed over his face. “I can’t believe this type of element has my mom. I don’t understand what King would want with her.”

“Maybe she knows the assassin they all keep talking about,” I suggested.

He stared at me. “I know my mom is eccentric, but really, Cassidy, she’s only an obsessive scientist. She doesn’t keep company with criminals.”

I regretted bringing it up, but I would have regretted more verbalizing my next thought:
Well, what about your “classified” dad
?

Emery continued, “We should get going. The bus is due at the bottom of the hill in half an hour. If we miss it, there won’t be another routed to King Pharmaceutical until midnight.”

“We?” I asked, looking Emery over for the first time. With his backpack slung over his shoulder, he wore a knit shirt under his jacket, cargo pants, and cool combat boots, all black. My first thought was,
Why didn’t he wear these clothes to school today?
My second thought was,
Not a chance, Emery!

“Didn’t you hear a word I said? King is
dangerous. A complete psycho. He knows I’m coming, and he’ll be ready. Who knows what he has planned? At the very least, it will involve bullets—”

Emery put his index finger to his lips.

With an eye roll, I lowered my voice. “Do I need to point out to you that I’m the only person here who can dodge bullets?”

Somehow, my reasonable argument entertained him. Smiling, he stated with finality, “You are not going alone.”

Curling my fingers in frustration, I dropped down on the bed. “I shouldn’t have come home,” I griped at myself. “I should have called you and gone straight to King Pharmaceutical. Why did I come home?”

He sat next to me. “Because you know you need help. You’ll be on King’s turf, in his playing field. This will involve more than ripping doors off hinges. This will require planning.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re the brains, and I’m the muscle.”

A grin spread across Emery’s face.

“But no matter how brilliant you or your plans are, it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t dodge bullets.”

“You’d be surprised what I can dodge,” he answered.

I opened my mouth to restate my bullet point, when his expression became suddenly impatient.

“We’ve wasted enough time discussing this,” he announced, reaching into the backpack and pulling out a black ski mask. “We’ll both have to go out your window. I thought you could go first, and then you can break my fall.”

The guy is unbelievable
. “What if
I
decide
I’m
not going to do that?” I challenged. “What if I decide I’m going without you?”

He shrugged. “I’ll still go out the window, and I’ll still go to King’s.” Standing, he added, “Put the pillows back under the covers and grab your hood.” He picked up the backpack and walked to the window.

Doing his bidding, I roughly stuffed the pillows under the covers, muttering to myself as he opened the window. Stomping lightly to my dresser, I swiped up the hood.

“Get the lights, Cassidy.”

“Yes, Your
Excellence
.” I flipped the switch.

As I turned toward him, he smiled in the dark. “Ladies first,” he whispered, gesturing to the window.

Yanking on the hood, I pushed past him, climbing up on the windowsill.

He pulled the mask on over his grin. “Remember, aim for the shadows. I’ll drop the backpack first.”

“Just don’t scream on the way down.” With that clever remark, I sprung, landing lightly on the soft grass. My eyes darted to the living room’s side window. Inside, the detectives sat on the sofa, looking at a laptop screen together, while Mom curled up on a wingback chair with her eyes closed.

“Psst.”

As I looked up, the backpack plummeted towards me. I caught it with one hand. Though it had been easy to catch, it was heavy, as if Emery had packed it full of rocks.

Emery’s legs dangled from the window’s ledge.

An idea popped into my head, causing a smile to stretch ear to ear. Emery expected me to break his fall—and I would break it, completely. I waved my hand to Emery to come down. I held out my arms to catch him as he fell fast. My left arm hooked his legs first, and my right wrapped around his back so I cradled him.

His eyes widened with shock.

I bounced him in my arms. “My, Emery, you’re as light as a feather,” I whispered, delighted.

He scrambled out of my arms. “And you’re funny, Cassidy,” he whispered back.

I giggled, picturing his cheeks bright red under the mask.

Slinging the backpack over his shoulders, he motioned to the street. We followed the shadowed fence line to the sidewalk. Stepping onto the sidewalk, we turned right, walking briskly.

Three houses down, Emery abruptly stopped, pulling the ski mask off. “Give me yours.” He put his hand out to me.

“No way,” I shook my head. “I’m not going on a city bus with a purple face. Won’t that be suspicious?”

He plucked the hood off. “A purple face is a lot less disconcerting than a hidden one.” Smiling to himself, he stuffed both in the backpack.

“You’re enjoying this. You’re making me go on the bus like this because I caught you in my arms,” I accused.

“Don’t be silly.” His smile widened. “Thank you, by the way,” he added, and resumed walking.

Glaring at his back and breathing furiously, I quickly caught up with him.

~~~

The bus stopped in front of King Pharmaceutical. When we stepped off the bus alone, Emery quickly pulled me under the sheltered depot.

“Someone as paranoid as King will have outside security cameras,” he explained, sitting on the depot bench.

The bus pulled away. Now we were really alone.

Peeking around the depot wall, I looked at the impressive “random” building. The fifteen floors created the building’s unusual pyramid shape, each floor tapering going up. Cloaking the steel gem were floor-to-ceiling tinted windows, the kind that looked like dark mirrors during the day and reflected ominously at night. From the roof, a green beacon shaped like a diamond hovered over the building, glowing in the night sky. The opulent symbol made a definite statement: wealth, power, and madness.

I noticed several windows on the top floor shone a little brighter than the rest. I assumed this meant someone was home and waiting.

“Come, sit down, Cassidy.”

Turning away from King Pharmaceutical, I looked at Emery. On his lap, he held a large paper made up of six pieces of printer paper taped together. I sat next to him, taking a closer look. “What is this a blueprint of?”

He looked pleased. “You can see this in the dim light? I’m going to need the flashlight. Do you mind pulling it out of the backpack?”

“I never mind when someone
asks
,” I hinted.

Squinting at the blueprint, Emery appeared not to have heard me.

Sighing, I unzipped the backpack. Emery had filled it with my dad’s tools. “What are you going to do with these?” I asked.

“I’m using those to dismantle the emergency generator before I turn off the electricity. That reminds me.” He turned his head to me. “I’m assuming you can also see well in the dark.”

“Yep, as clear as day.”

“Good. The plan hinges on you having night vision.
Please
, pass me the flashlight.” He put his hand out.

“Oh, so you were listening,” I said, pulling out the flashlight and placing it in his hand.

“Thank you.” He turned the flashlight on. “I’m usually aware even when I don’t appear to be.” Pointing the light on the paper, he explained, “This is a blueprint of King Pharmaceutical.”

“Compliments of Selma Heart?”

“A valuable stone turned over,” he replied, confirming his decrypting success. “As I’ve pointed out, this is King’s turf, which puts us at a disadvantage. However, we have your night vision in our favor. My job will be to turn off the electricity, and your job will be to get here.” He pointed to the top floor. “To King’s office.”

His finger moved to the bottom of the blueprint. “Here we are at the main entrance. Through these doors is the lobby. Now, if you look to the left…” His finger moved left. “…you’ll see the elevator that Ben told us about. This elevator appears to be a private one for King, because if you notice…” His finger ran up the shaft to the top floor. “. . . it goes to the top floor where King’s office is located, and it’s the only elevator in the building that does. The only other way to get to that floor is the stairwell.

“The security cameras in the elevator, the stairwell, and throughout the building pose a huge problem. If I’m able to turn the electricity off, you’ll be all right. If not, there is only one area of the building that won’t be monitored.” His finger moved back to the shaft.

“You just said they’ll see me in the elevator. Besides, the elevator won’t run without electricity,” I pointed out.

“I didn’t say you would be
in
the elevator.”

What he was saying dawned on me. “This is your plan? I’m climbing the elevator cables all the way up to here?” I pointed to the top floor.

“There are no security cameras in the shaft.”

“But there is an elevator!”

“Don’t panic. It really won’t be that difficult.”

“Easy for you to say! You’re not going to be crushed by a two-ton elevator.”

He actually paused to think about this. “I don’t think it weighs that much. Now, please, just look at the shaft. See these open spaces on each floor? Those are the elevator doors, and your way out if the elevator should start running. There’s a trip lever at the bottom of the door. Push that lever, and the door opens.”

“What if the lever sticks?”

“One side of the shaft is safety glass. Kick it out and escape that way.”

“Just like that,” I muttered, having doubts about Emery’s brilliance. The gym rope flashed to mind. “I can’t climb. I’m totally pathetic at it. You should see me in P.E.”