He took my hand, and we ran into the tall grass of the field and then across the road, back into even taller grass. I crouched down, imitating Cy. Every part of my body was freezing, except for the hand enfolded in his. He held on tight as we ran awkwardly across the muddy terrain. Once we were approximately two miles away from the warehouse, Cy finally let me stop to catch my breath.
“I’m not sure if you knew this about me,” I sputtered. “But I’m not athletic. Like…not at all.”
“Me either.”
“You’re not sucking in air like I am.”
“Let’s just say I’m not known for being athletic back home.”
“Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Cy looked around. “I’ll try to explain everything later, but for now, we have to find Dr. Zorba, and then we have to retrieve the specimen and somehow get me to the old gas station on the south side of town by four a.m.”
“What? Why?”
Cy made a face. “I told you. I’ll explain later.”
“Dr. Z isn’t home. I went there first. Soldiers were there. They didn’t find him either.”
“You don’t know where he went?”
Now, it was my turn to make a face. “If I knew where he went, I wouldn’t have gone to his house.”
He sighed. “Did he leave a note?”
“I don’t think he wanted the CIA to know where he was going.”
“We need to go back there. See if we can figure out where he went.”
“Why? You were stealing the rock from him anyway, right?”
“I uploaded the final data to him and deleted it from the lab’s computers before I was taken. Dr. Zorba is the only one who knows where the complete data files are stored. We have to find him, and it has to be tonight.”
Cy turned and took a step, and then he turned back around, pulling me into a tight hug. “Thank you for saving me, Rory. You don’t know what you’ve done.”
He turned again, walking back toward town, and I followed.
Chapter Twelve
WE TREKKED THROUGH MUD AND BRUSH and jumped across ditches full to the brim with cold rainwater. My toes were almost frozen and ached with every step. Cy’s pullover was warmer than my sweater, and keeping up with his pace was keeping my body temperature even. It seemed like right before I’d break a sweat, he would slow down a little bit.
We crouched in tall grass beside the first paved road. A helicopter had been flying over the area with a spotlight since we left the warehouse, but Cy kept us just out of sight.
“You see there?” he said, pointing. “We’re going to run as fast as you can to that old garage, wait for the helicopter to pass over, and then run to the next block.”
“How do you know the helicopter will pass over that garage?”
“Go!” Cy said, pulling me up and over the ditch, across the road, and to the garage.
“I wish I had Silver,” I said, ducking under Cy’s arm and breathing hard. “Dr. Z is going to kill me for leaving it behind.”
“I don’t think he’s worried about that now.” Cy checked his watch. After remembering it was broken, he looked away, grumbling something sounding like Arabic under his breath.
“Was it a gift? From her?”
“Sort of.”
“Can you just give me a straight answer?”
Cy ducked and pulled me down with him as the helicopter flew over the garage hiding us. The blades were so loud that I didn’t bother trying to talk. Once the light had touched everything in the area, the noise got farther and farther away.
“Let’s go!” Cy pulled on the coat, but I didn’t budge. He turned to me, his eyebrows pulled in. “Come, Rory! We must leave!”
“Okay, but when we get to where we’re going, you’re going to explain a few things. And I want straight answers. Promise me.” I knew this probably wasn’t the best time to be difficult, but this also wasn’t the best time for him to turn me down. I wanted the truth, and I was determined to get it.
After a second of hesitation, he nodded. “Okay, but we must go,” he said, holding out his hand.
I took it, and we bobbed and weaved in and out of shadows until we were where I’d started—Dr. Zorba’s.
A board creaked under Cy’s feet, and he froze.
“I told you, he’s not here,” I said, following Cy into the professor’s hallway.
“Maybe he left behind a clue of where he went. C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Cy held my elbow under the faucet until he removed all the residual gravel. “First-aid kit?”
“Try under the sink,” I said, nodding.
Cy tried under the sink and then proceeded to open every cabinet in the kitchen.
“Found it,” he said.
Cy grabbed the clear plastic box from above the stove, and kneeled in front of me as I sat on one of Dr. Z’s wooden kitchen chairs.
Cy sprayed my wound with antiseptic, put far too many butterflies on it, and then wrapped it with gauze. “Truthfully, it needs stitches, but I don’t think it’s safe to take you to the hospital.”
“Agreed. Now, how are we going to find this clue you think exists?”
“Try the easiest path first,” Cy said, knocking his fist four times on the doorjamb—twice quickly, the next two slower.
The same knock came back.
My breath caught. Then, a trap door in the ceiling fell open, and a ladder spilled out onto the floor. Cy helped Dr. Z climb down, and I grabbed him.
“You’re okay!” I said, hugging him. From the corner of my eye, I saw Cy helping someone else from the attic. Before I even saw her face, I knew who it was and recoiled. “What is she doing here?”
“I could ask the same of you,” she said, brushing off her tight sweater.
I frowned at Dr. Z.
He held up his hands. “She had questions about finals. She was unfortunate enough to get mixed up in all of this.”
“So, you’ve been up in the attic with her this whole time?”
“No, just when we heard someone coming. I was afraid someone was watching the house and that if she left they would grab her.”
I narrowed my eyes at Ellie. I trusted Dr. Z, but with her deep V-neck sweater revealing at least three inches of cle**age, I knew she was after more than just help with finals.
“Stop staring at me, Rory,” she snapped in her Southern drawl. “It’s weird.”
“Whore,” I hissed.