Page 29

CHAPTER 38

THE THREE OF them stand outside the courthouse on Centre Street. Maddy is angry. R.J. seems confused. Belinda shows no emotion at all.

“Why? Why in hell did you refuse to let me help you?” Maddy asks.

“I thought you were catching on, but you still don’t get it, do you?” Belinda shoots back. “I’ll be safer there than I am on the streets.”

Maddy and R.J. look at each other, confused.

“Damnit,” Belinda says. “Think! You saw the video. McCarthy is a piece of shit. Undercover, my ass. He might be put there by the NYPD, but he’s on Carla Spector’s payroll as well. He’s making money off both sides, but the only person he’s looking out for is himself.”

Maddy nods, astonished at her own naive view of the situation. She thought she was the savior. But Belinda, the victim, is the wisest person there.

“We kids are disappearing,” Belinda goes on. “Chloe’sgone, and she’s gonna stay gone. And now my buddy Travis is missing. Somebody is stalking us because they know we’re easy to get. Carla will just replace us. McCarthy isn’t interested in protecting us. Jail is my best bet to stay alive.”

Now Belinda begins to sob. Maddy embraces her. R.J. puts his hand on her shoulder.

“Who’s Travis?” Maddy asks.

Belinda swallows, rubs her eyes. Then she speaks clearly.

“I had this friend, Travis. He was a skateboarder that ran drugs for Carla, sweet as sugar. Now he’s gone, too, disappeared. I hate the idea of Harriman, but at least no one can murder me there.”

There is a sad silence as the three of them stand on the crazy-busy street of downtown Manhattan.

Then Maddy says, “I know I’ve let you down, Belinda, but…”

“You haven’t let me down. You did your best. You couldn’t do anything better,” says Belinda.

“No,” Maddy says. “I can do more. I’m going to extinguish this monster. And while I’m doing it, I’m going to find Chloe and Travis and anyone else who—”

“That’s kind of a big offer,” R.J. says, his hand dropping from Belinda’s shoulder, his face slipping into disapproval.

“Do you really think you can?” Belinda pleads.

“Yes.” Maddy pauses for a moment, then says, “And I know just the people who can help make it happen.”

CHAPTER 39

THE SAME PLANE that brought Burbank, Tapper, Hawkeye, Jericho, and me to that hellhole of a village in Western Australia takes us back home, at least temporarily. At least until we get organized. And the sooner the better.

I’m a perfectly capable manager, but I really don’t enjoy organizing and leading a team. Being the Shadow and destroying evil is a great privilege. But people management? Not so much.

That’s where my mind is as the plane takes off. My team and I are sitting at the airplane conference table, which is covered in papers and computers and sandwiches and cookies.

“Here’s the situation,” I say to my gang. “The two phenomena—the ongoing natural disasters and the strange, novel Austravid virus—may be related. I have no powers that allow me to predict the future, so we have to rely on old-fashioned groundwork.

“I’d like to hear what experts from other parts of the world are saying, not just those from the Americas,” I say. “The Biomedical Engineering and Healthcare Technology Research Centre at the University of Johannesburg is the top biomedical research institute in the Southern Hemisphere. Hawkeye, immediately after we land at Andrews Air Force Base, you will travel to South Africa on our behalf. Speak to as many specialists there as you can, andlearnas much as you can—fast.”

“Great,” Hawkeye says. “Nine more hours on an airplane. Looks like I’ll be destroying evil and defending the good by drinking seltzer and eating chicken salad sandwiches.”

Everyone laughs. Then I address the general group.

“As frightening as the virus is, I fear it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a worldwide plague. But in my opinion the natural disasters are an even more imminent and dangerous threat.”

Jericho asks, “How can you even differentiate which one of these horror stories is the scariest?”

“I cannot make a truly informed judgment,” I say. “But I am smart enough to know that we have to dive in now. And you, Jericho, are the most qualified member of our team when it comes to earth science. So I’m sending you to join an ad hoc committee of amateur environmentalists meeting at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.”