“You mean you’ve been buying my contraptions for years?”

  TL and David nodded.

  “Man.” Wirenut laughed. “That’s too funny. I guess I’m not as clever as I thought.”

  TL pointed the remote control at the back wall, pressed a button, and the wall slid open. Wirenut sucked in a breath.

  Thousands of the latest electronic devices jammed the shelves of a hidden mini-warehouse.

  I laughed at his amazed face. I was sure I’d looked the same way when TL had first shown me the computer lab.

  Wirenut stepped through the secret wall. “Optotronics, micromodules, semiconductors, circuit protection, passive components, audio devices, sensors, enclosures, transformers, protoprods…. Do you have any idea”—he picked up a cable—“how much this xial costs?”

  TL folded his arms. “Yes, I do. I sign the bills around here.”

  Wirenut stood there a few seconds, holding the cable, staring at everything. Then, slowly, he paced down the center of the warehouse and back, scanning the metal racks. “It’s everything I’ve ever wished for. Like Santa dropped the mother lode.”

  We all laughed.

  “You’ll have time to look through everything later. Anything else you need, let me or David know, and we’ll get it for you. But for now, put down the cable and come on out.”

  Wirenut put it down, stepped out from the mini-warehouse, and TL showed him how to use the remote control to close the door. We left Wirenut’s room and made our way back to the conference room, where we resumed our seats around the table.

  TL tilted back in his chair. “I want to express a concern I have.”

  Wirenut nodded. “Okay.”

  “You’re confident with your abilities. That’s good. That’s important. But sometimes your confidence comes across as a little too cocky.”

  Wirenut’s brows drew together. Nobody wanted to disappoint TL. “Sir—”

  TL held up his hand. “Let me finish.”

  Wirenut wisely closed his lips.

  “I’ve watched you. I know that when something is requested of you, you become a different person. You become focused. Attentive. Ready.”

  “You know how to prioritize important things,” David added.

  Wirenut’s face relaxed a bit with their compliments.

  “I want you aware of the fact that cockiness and overconfidence can get any person into trouble. Fast. Do we understand each other?”

  Wirenut nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  TL was right. Wirenut did come across as cocky sometimes. But it was a funny conceited, not a serious one. It was mostly for show.

  “Before a job I always say to myself, ‘Game’s on. Don’t get too confident. Never know what might happen.’” Wirenut shook his head. “Don’t know why I just told you that. I guess so you know I know that flaw about myself.”

  “Good. That’s good.” TL opened the file. “As long as you’re aware of your talents and your shortcomings.”

  “I am.”

  TL tapped his finger to the open file. “Do any of you know what quid pluolium is?”

  We all shook our heads.

  “Quid pluolium is a neurotoxin. One drop kills thousands of people.”

  I blinked. Thousands of people?

  “Quid pluolium,” TL continued, “is currently under development in a private lab in Rissala. Yesterday, someone broke into that lab and stole half a dozen vials of the toxin.”

  “Rissala? Where’s Rissala?” I asked. Geography had never been my strong point.

  “It’s a small country located near Greece,” David answered me. “It’s bordered by the Mediterranean Sea.”

  TL pulled a piece of paper from his folder and slid it across the table to us. “Whoever stole the toxin left this.”

  We all leaned in.

  “What language is that?” I asked. “What does it say?”

  “It’s written in Rissalan. Parrot translated it for us. It says that there are three data-encrypted messages hidden throughout the country of Rissala. These messages are some type of computer code. The first message leads to the next, and that one points to the final. The final message reveals where the stolen neurotoxin has been hidden.”

  Wirenut scoffed. “Sounds like someone’s playing a twisted game of cat and mouse.”

  “Yes, it does,” TL agreed.

  I raised my hand, my stomach clenching with nerves. “Um, computer code?” I didn’t feel good about this.

  “You’ll be working from home base on this one,” TL answered my unspoken question.

  I blew out a quiet breath. Home base. Sounded good. Sounded more than good.

  “Octavias Zorba,” TL continued, “is a very wealthy entrepreneur in Rissala. He funded the quid pluolium research and development. He has hired us to find these messages and recover the toxin.” TL tapped the paper written in Rissalan. “This says the first encrypted message is hidden in a small ceramic egg in the Museum of Modern Art. Chapling has done some preliminary work and discovered this ceramic egg is protected by the Rayver Security System. As Wirenut knows, he is the only person to have ever broken through the Rayver System.”

  Wirenut straightened in his chair. “Does this mean I’m going to Rissala?”

  TL didn’t answer him and instead got really quiet. Seconds passed, and then TL took a breath. “That piece of paper also says that one of the encrypted messages is hidden in the hilt of a seventeenth-century, double-bladed, lion-engraved sword.”

  Wirenut went very still. I’d never seen him look so paralyzed with fear.

  I glanced at David, and he shook his head.

  What was going on?

  Wirenut shoved back from the table, and I jumped. “Forget it. This is insane. You have to be an idiot if you think I’ll do this.” He jabbed his finger across the table at David and me. “And this is none of their business. None of anyone’s business. Find someone else. I’m not going to Rissala.”

  [3]

  The following afternoon, I pulled the ranch’s van into the high school’s lot and parked in the first available spot. I’d had my license for only a week and loved being able to drive. It made me feel…well, grown up, for lack of a better description. And free.

  David, Erin, Adam, myself, and the rest of Team One attended the University of San Belden. Generally, we left there around three and picked up my team from San Belden High. Today, though, David had left classes early because TL had paged him, Erin and Adam didn’t have afternoon classes, and the rest of Team One was away on missions. Which left me going to San Belden High alone.

  Pocketing the van’s keys, I checked my watch. Minutes to spare. I was getting good at this time-management thing. And to think it had once been one of my biggest flaws.

  As I climbed out, I caught sight of Wirenut sitting on a bench under a tree. I’d been thinking about him nonstop since yesterday’s meeting. He’d been distant last night when I showed him around my lab. I’d seen him this morning at breakfast and wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t know what to say. He’d seemed so lost in thought that I figured he needed space. And from his comment at the meeting, he obviously didn’t want David and me knowing about his business.

  But now, as I approached Wirenut, all my hesitation disappeared. I wanted to be whatever I could for him. A friend, a sounding board, someone he could yell at if need be.

  “Hey.” I took the wooden bench across from his. “Did your last class get out early?”

  “I’m skipping.”

  “Oh.”

  I’d never skipped a class in my whole life. I was probably the only person on the planet who actually looked forward to class. Well, except for gym. But then, what nerd did look forward to gym?

  “You’re sitting right outside the school. Aren’t you worried about getting caught? TL will be really upset if you get in trouble for skipping. Maybe you should go back in.”

  “There’s only one like it in the whole world,” Wirenut mumbled, apparently unfazed by the fact he might get caught cutting. “My dad told me that right before he allowed me to touch the double-bladed, lion-engraved sword. It was one of many unusual weapons he collected.”

  Unsure of how to respond, I simply sat and listened.

  “The cops never found that sword. My testimony put my uncle on death row. I never saw him again. Case closed.”

  “Testimony?”

  Wirenut squeezed his eyes shut, and my heart clinched at the pain evident on his face. “Twelve years ago,” he whispered, “I watched my uncle use that same sword to kill my entire family.”

  My mouth fell open as his words ricocheted through my brain. Twelve years ago he would’ve been five years old. I’d been nearly the same age when I lost my parents. “Oh, Wirenut.” I reached across the bench and gripped his forearm.

  He sat frozen, his eyes tightly shut. I could only imagine the horrible, gory scenes flashing through his mind. Images no person, let alone a five-year-old, should ever experience.

  Wirenut shook his head, fighting the emotion. I moved beside him and wrapped my arms tightly around him. We stayed that way for a few long minutes, our heads touching as I held him. With all my mental energy, I willed away his horrible memories.

  Sometime later he stirred, and I sat back, giving him space.

  “I was too young. I couldn’t help. How could I have helped? It was impossible.” He wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to himself, staring at the grass beneath our feet. I didn’t know what to say anyway.

  Wirenut brought his gaze over to mine. “Don’t you think it’s weird that my first mission has something to do with my past? Do you think TL knew that when he recruited me?”

  Shrugging, I moved back over to my bench. “I doubt it. The neurotoxin was just stolen. But I don’t know. It’s possible. TL seems to know everything about everybody. I’ve learned, though, that there’s a purpose for the things he does. He wouldn’t keep information private unless he had a good reason to do so.”

  “Maybe there’s no stolen neurotoxin. Maybe this is a test to see how I perform under emotional stress. More of my training.” Wirenut was talking to himself again, and so I quietly listened.

  “No,” he said, answering himself. “TL wouldn’t stoop to that level. There’re other ways to prove my mental stability. Or are there? Challenging someone with their worst fear is the ultimate test.” He blew out a breath. “A test I’m not ready for.”

  The bell rang, and students piled out from the high school. Idly, I watched them load into buses, get into cars, and file off down the sidewalks.

  Two girls in miniskirts passed by our benches. “Oh, my God,” one sneered to the other. “Did you see what she was wearing? Puh-lease. Where’d she buy her clothes anyway?”

  I sneered right back. They weren’t talking about me, but they reminded me of the horrible girls I used to live with in the dorm. They’d made fun of me and it used to intimidate me. Now it just made me angry.

  Sensing movement to my right, I glanced up and squinted against the sun.

  “Hi!” A brown-haired girl plopped down beside Wirenut.

  He flinched from his contemplative state.

  “Sixty-four degrees on this beautiful day. Forty percent chance for evening showers. Another gorgeous San Belden, California, day.” She stretched her arms over her head.

  This must be Nancy. I’d heard my roommates talk a lot about her. She wanted to be a meteorologist and a journalist. They said she started every annoying conversation with a weather report.

  Her big yap would make her a better gossip columnist, Wirenut had commented.

  I looked over at him. Poor guy. He came out here for a little thinking room, and look who invaded his privacy.

  She straightened her shirt. “Did you know one degree Celsius equals Fahrenheit minus thirty-two divided by one point eight?”

  Wirenut and I just looked at each other.

  “Can you believe we’ll graduate high school soon?” She crossed her right leg over her left. “Time just flies, doesn’t it? Before you know it we’ll be graduating college.” Bouncing her crossed leg, she smiled at me. “Are you a new student here?”

  “No, I go to the university.”

  “University? What are you, a freshman?”

  “Actually, I’m graduating this year.”

  She perked up. “You’re that whiz kid, aren’t you? I’ve heard all about you. My brother’s a junior at the U. He said you’re hot.”

  I felt my face grow warm.

  “I bet you didn’t have a childhood, did you? How sad.” Nancy shook her head, all dramatically concerned. “Kids shouldn’t be promoted until they’re emotionally ready.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I glanced at Wirenut. He rolled his eyes.

  Nancy inched closer to him, apparently done making small talk with me. With his arms sprawled along the bench’s back, they looked more like a couple than tolerant acquaintances.

  He dropped his arms and put his book bag between them. If she didn’t get the hint from that, I didn’t know what to tell her.

  “So”—she pushed her sunglasses up her nose—“how do you like it out there at the San Belden Ranch for Boys and Girls?”

  A foster home for boys and girls was our cover in the community. If only people knew what really went on behind our gates.

  “It’s all right,” Wirenut answered.

  “I was thinking about doing an article on all of you for the school paper. Ya know, about how those less fortunate can, if given the proper guidance, turn into fine, upstanding American citizens.”

  Wirenut rolled his eyes again. “Maybe your ride’s waiting for you in the other parking lot.”

  I almost laughed at the second blatant hint he just dropped.

  “Nope. This is the exact spot I’m supposed to be.” Nancy sighed. “What is the world coming to? The crime rate these days. You heard about that missing artifact out of New Mexico? What a shame. Happened months and months ago.”

  Wirenut cleared his throat. “Artifact?”

  His slouched posture straightened a little bit. His bored eyes became alert. Small changes that I noticed, but anybody else would say he appeared the same. He was interested in this artifact thing and doing an excellent job of hiding it. TL would be proud.

  Nancy finger-fluffed her short hair. “Oh, yeah. But something really juicy just came across my desk.”

  Came across her desk? Who was she, Katie Couric?

  Nancy brushed a fallen leaf from her jeans. “It was the Ghost who stole it. You know, the New Mexico thing.”

  Oh. She was referring to the event that led TL to recruit Wirenut.

  “You’ve heard of him,” she whispered, “haven’t you? The Ghost?”

  Wirenut and I exchanged a quick glance.

  Yeah, we’ve heard of him. He’s sitting right beside you.

  “No,” he responded.

  She sucked in a surprised breath. “Well, he’s only the most notorious criminal of this century. Some even say he’s the most notorious ever.”

  Wirenut rubbed a hand down his face, hiding his smile. Apparently, his reputation amused him.

  “But as I was saying, something really juicy just came across my desk. He just broke into a museum in China and stole another artifact. Apparently this museum in China was supposed to be burglar proof.” Nancy glanced around as if the Ghost was going to jump out at her or something. “He’s the first to have gotten in.”

  Wirenut stiffened a little. “How do you know it was the Ghost?”

  She wiggled back on the bench, getting comfortable, obviously wallowing in the fact that she was delivering hot-off-the-press news. “His signature.”

  Wirenut lifted his brows, all nonchalant. “Signature?”

  Nancy leaned in. “A yellow ribbon.”

  Wirenut’s jaw tightened.

  So, the burglar guy who screwed Wirenut was now impersonating him. Interesting. I wondered if TL knew this. “And how did you get all this information?”

  “I told you.” She fluffed her hair again. “It came across my desk.”

  I just looked at her.

  “Oh, all right.” Nancy waved her hand. “It’s in the papers.”

  “Weeell,” drawled Beaker, “isn’t this sweet.”

  Nancy jerked to her side of the bench, straightening her clothes, like she and Wirenut had been messing around or something.

  Get a life.

  Beaker hitched her chin. “Whaz up?”

  Behind her purple-tinted lenses, Nancy narrowed her eyes.

  Mystic, Parrot, and Bruiser came out the gym door. Everyone present and accounted for.

  I stood and fished the ranch’s van keys from my jeans pocket. “Let’s go.”

  “Oh,” Nancy extended her hand, “I forgot.”

  Groan.

  She smiled at Wirenut. “Have a good trip.”

  He frowned. “Trip?”

  “Yeah. I’m an assistant in the admin office. I saw your excuse note come over the fax. I figured since you were going to be out of school for a while you were going on a trip.” She blinked. “Where are you going?”

  Wirenut’s face went blank. “Nowhere.” He spun and charged off across the parking lot.

  We all rushed after him.

  “What’s going on?” Bruiser asked.

  I shook my head. I had the sick feeling TL was sending him to Rissala anyway.

  In silence, I drove everyone home. My teammates sat, staring out the windows. I suspected they all knew something major was up. I glanced at Wirenut in the rearview mirror. He hadn’t moved from his hard-jawed, arms-crossed, angry position.

  I pulled up in front of the ranch’s gate. A wooden plaque engraved with SAN BELDEN RANCH FOR BOYS AND GIRLS hung from the entrance.

  Keying in my access code, I drove through. A standard privacy fence lined the hundred-acre ranch. Invisible static sensors wound through it, detecting the smallest of movements. No human, animal, or plant could touch it without Chapling knowing. If the electricity went out, generators and solar panels kept the whole ranch active.

  To any ordinary visitor the place resembled a nice homey environment for us system kids. Little did anyone know a top-secret, intricate series of sublevels zigzagged the earth below us.