cameras, fences, guard posts-the works. Instead of getting frustrated, though, I was getting more excited. It was a puzzle waiting to be cracked. Kieran watched over my shoulder.
“You know, there are rumors about you at school,” I said to him, while I worked my way through the files. “Did you guys move here because of something you did?”
I turned and saw Kieran’s face tighten up. It looked the same as when he screamed at Mr. Kurtzia in the science lab. But he kept his voice steady.
“It wasn’t my fault that we moved,” he said. “It all started when my mom died.”
My hands froze on the keyboard.
“What happened to her? Like, an accident or something?” It sounded awkward as I said it. I should have kept my mouth shut.
“No,” said Kieran. “Suicide.” I felt so bad for him right then. He said the word flatly, like it didn’t mean anything. He stared at his hands in his lap, fiddling with a chunky ring on one finger. Then suddenly he looked at me, that hard look back in his eyes.
“I’m trusting you, right? You never repeat this shit that I’m telling you, get it?” I just nodded. Kieran went back to looking at his ring.
“I had a hard time with it. But my dad…” Kieran’s voice trailed off. “My dad wanted to pretend that nothing had happened, like we had to hide her death or something. I couldn’t talk about it with him.” Kieran’s voice was changing as he got more wound up. But instead of yelling, he dropped his voice almost to a hiss. Low. Spooky.
“He’s so useless,” he spat, his fists clenching. “You know something? When my mom got…sick, before she did it, you know what my dad did?” A vein throbbed near Kieran’s temple as he spoke. “He worked more. Longer hours, always at the lab. Every night. He couldn’t face her. Or me.” His voice shook. “When things got tough, he made my mom disappear.”
He looked out the window. It was like he was trying to get ahold of himself.
I waited.
“And after Mom died,” he continued, “he tried to do the same thing to me. After she killed herself, I was pissed off at everyone. The fake smiles, the pretend friends. I mean, what’s the point?” He shook his head. “I wasn’t going to play along with it. My father thought he solved the problem when he found a therapist who would put me on a bunch of drugs.”
“Seriously?”
“Check it out.” Kieran pulled out a desk drawer. He held up a half-empty pill bottle. “Antidepressants,” he said. Another bottle: “Anti-anxiety meds.”
I shuddered. Who’d want to drug their own kid to keep them from grieving their mom’s death?
“Anyway,” Kieran said, “we finally moved when I got busted for starting a fire in one of the chem labs.” He shrugged. “Maybe I did it. Maybe not. Didn’t matter. It was enough to convince my dad that a change of scene would make me forget my problems.”
“Did it?” I said. He shook his head.
“That’s the problem,” he said. “My dad wants to forget her. Forget me. Make us go away.”
Kieran seemed to pull himself together a little. Maybe he saw the stunned expression on my face. There was way more going on here than I thought.
“Look, uh,” I said, “the idea of sneaking into the DMA site is awesome. But I can’t-I don’t want to get into something between you and your dad.”
“It’s not like that,” said Kieran, shaking his head. “You just help me figure out how to get in there, it’ll be an awesome run. And as a bonus we’ll make some money. Plus, I’ll be able to do something that really gets my dad’s attention, you know? No skin off your back.”
This was messed up. Part of me wanted to get up and leave right away, walk away from the whole complicated scene. I didn’t want Kieran’s problems. But I felt bad for him. I knew he didn’t have any friends at school to talk to. Despite his strangeness, I liked him. Especially now that I knew what he’d gone through.
And I wish I didn’t care about the money, but I did. The chance to fix things with Asha was too big to pass up.
I swallowed my unease.
“Maybe there’s something here,” I said. I pointed at a blocky map on the laptop screen. “This is where they used to rig up the rocket engines for testing.” I flipped to an old black-and-white picture of huge concrete pillars and iron girders. A massive rocket nozzle was strapped to the top. I’d read about something similar at an old NASA lab in California on the urban exploration websites.
“Underneath those big platforms, they built tunnels and filled them with water,” I said. “The water would help keep the noise of the rockets down. Kept things from catching on fire too.” I explained that the blast from the rockets would turn the water in the tunnels to steam. The tunnels vented the steam out, safely away from the testing area. I tapped the screen to show a point well away from the fence line of the DMA site.
“See these marks on the map? I think this is where the old tunnels ended. That’s our way in.”
Chapter Eight
We decided that we needed to scout the entrance to the tunnels before going any further. Hopefully, DMA had figured that the tunnel entrances were in the middle of nowhere and just boarded them up. Worst case, they might have backfilled the tunnels with rubble. In which case, I’d need to come up with a new brilliant plan.
Kieran and I arranged to go out there Saturday night. I left a note for my parents saying that I was staying over at Jake’s house. As long as I told them where I was going, and had my cell, they never seemed to worry. A fringe benefit of my responsible “nice guy” image.
I’d been putting off telling Kieran about adding Jake to our team. But I didn’t have a choice now. Jake and I arrived at Kieran’s house together. When Kieran opened the door, he looked at Jake, then turned to me.
“It’s not a slumber party, Bex. What the hell is he doing here?”
“Nice to see you too, Kieran. It’s such a pleasure,” said Jake. It was obvious what he really meant.
“Jake’s coming with us,” I said. “We need him.”
“You told him?” said Kieran with disbelief. I nodded. Kieran swore and stomped away from the open door. Jake and I looked at each other, then entered the dark house. There was no sign of Kieran’s dad this time.
Kieran was pacing back and forth across the living room.
“What the hell gave you the right to tell him about our plans?” said Kieran.
“It’s my plan,” I said. “And it’s my call if we need extra help. Jake is good. The three of us can cover more ground than just you and me.”
“We don’t need him. We don’t need anybody else.”
“What’s your problem?” said Jake. He lowered himself into an armchair. He looked absolutely cool and calm. Jake was a rock. “You worried about your money? Because I don’t want any of the take. I’m just here to back up Bex.”
“What the hell? Are you serious? You’re here for your BFF? What are you, in kindergarten?” snapped Kieran. He’d stopped pacing now. “And, no, it’s not about the money. I don’t give a crap about the money. Bex is the only one who seems to really care about that.” He spun to face me. What the hell did that mean?
“Let me break it down for you,” Kieran said. “I don’t know if you figured this out, but we’re committing a crime. You get that? We are breaking into a ‘secure facility.’ And then stealing stuff. We’re criminals. And criminals don’t invite their besties along for the ride.” He pointed a finger at me. “You and me are the entire team, end of story.”
I shook my head. “Not anymore.”
“Bex, grow up, leave your buddy here behind and join the big leagues!” Kieran said, eyes bright with anger.
Jake looked at me calmly from the armchair. It was up to me. For the first time in a long while, the decision I had to make was clear. I dropped down into the other overstuffed armchair, facing Jake.
“How about I break it down for you, Kieran?” I said. “You said you can’t get in there without me? I don’t do this without Jake. It’s that simple.” Kieran just stood there, chest heaving.
