Is Latin For
Chapter 11- David
David turned the hologram of himself off. He got out of the bathroom of Pier 39, and drove his car to Van Ness, and parked.
He brought his duffel bag along, breaking into the apartment complex, up ten stories in the elevator, to apartment 19. This time he used a key.
He walked through the living space, one that looked as if the furniture was professionally done, that used to be clean, now a mess of papers, folders, and pictures. Pizza boxes and chinese takeout were scattered here and there, flies buzzing around.
Pictures of him when he was younger were proudly displayed on a table, along with his mother and father. All three looked so happy. This certain part of the living room was kept dusted and immaculate, scratches on the table showed signs of rearranging again and again.
He walked down the hall, strewn with suits and ties and rumpled white shirts. David tripped over a large shoe, and what he thought to be anger ran through him. He looked in each door, finding a bathroom, a closet, an office.
Then a bedroom, with it's sheets and blankets on the floor, bare pillows all around, and more pictures of wife and kid. Tears blurred some of them.
David carefully stepped around everything, making sure nothing moved as he got under the bed. He opened up his duffel bag and got out his equipment. He used a knife to tear the upholstery, and carefully put in two small bottles of red and yellow fluid. He ran the wires from there to here. He attached a chip to it that would run the fluids together when the springs between the mattresses felt someone on the top of the bed. He attached wires from there to the chip. He had cut a hole in the middle of the matress so that those wires wouldn't show.
A timer was attached, so that the bomb went off just a minute after something heavy went on the bed. He twisted the wires together, making sure none showed from their hiding place. Making sure that the fluids ran smoothly. That the chips were working and the pressure was sensitive.
He got up, putting his things neatly away and picking up every stray wire and coil.
This place might have been an apartment building, but his main target was the one who lived here.
Marco wouldn't be able to win.
Chapter 12- Marco
The adults were busy making phone calls. Going through all twenty apartments in one building, along with neighboring buildings.
Then the affirmative. "Diatchenko's building just blew up! The Bomb Squad's going to his apartment first."
I looked behind me. Then back in front, where news crews had already gotten to the building, and their footage flashed across a big TV screen. The newsperson said something, and the camera panned to the half-demolished building. Flames burned here and there.
Erek came up behind me. "I'm a little scarred, but my own will be able to fix me right up."
"Glad to hear that. Thanks for doing that, Erek."
"No problem."
"David's trying to come through on the phones," Vicky said, in her chair next to where I was standing. "He'll be asking for you."
"Screen them through," Heath said.
The people at the phones went through all the calls in minutes, searching for one that should be asking for me.
"Here he is!" One person said, and put him through to the meeting room, where I would be able to hear David more clearly.
"So, you weren't able to figure out what I was going to do in time, huh?"
"Do what?"
"I killed my father. He made my life miserable. I've had this grudge against him since I was 11. It's sort of relaxing, to know that he's gone. He was a terrible father."
"That's why you killed him? How is that supposed to go with anything that you're trying to do with me?"
"You see, that bomb that killed my father, it's sort of a test product. I've made an even bigger one. I told you, all of those bombs were testing products for the big bang. And since you can't move your friends...."
"You're going to kill them."
"Along with you. And everyone with you. I'll give you a clue as to where the one bomb is, and the thing is, here's the fantastic part, this bomb is big enough to kill everyone in a five mile radius. That's a big bomb, isn't it?"
"That's the hint?"
"No, it's The National Spelling Bee Bay Area County Written Bee. That's where the bomb is."
"So we find the big bomb where the spelling bee is taking place?"
"Yes. And that's only the one bomb."
"There's more?!"
"Two more, to be exact. I'll give you the clue to one more bomb after the first bomb is found. I'd hurry if I were you. The last bomb detonates in... 14 hours." A click, and a dial tone.
"Good God," the man behind me said, sobbing.
Chapter 13
I was in the Hyatt Regency, and SWAT teams and the Bomb Squad were going through the entire hotel, each parking garage and every store in Embarcedero Center.
People were milling around, ignoring gaping tourists, communicating through walkie-talkies, two-way radios, and mikes in their wrists with speakers in their ear.
"A lot of the employees with the NSA have had their families evacuated," Vicky said to me as she went thorugh her laptop. We had both sat down, tired, and she was going through travel records she had "gotten". "Shows how much they believe in you."
"I wouldn't blame them." I held a cup of very strong coffee in my hand. There were Starbucks all over San Francisco, and good coffee, too. "If we get through this, I'm checking out the Metreon. They have that new Matrix movie on an IMAX screen."
"That's entertainment. I'll pay for both of us, I want to see it, too."
I didn't say anything for awhile, all frantic conversations going through my ear. "Vicky, if David's watching, then..."
A man had run up to Heath, and they were coming this way. "Guess what. We did a run through on David. He somehow got a hold of the Pier where your friends are now. Someone besides him had paid 2.1 million dollars for it, and that same person has a place close to City Hall. I already got men searching. Now, David Diatchenko is in the NSA's recent records. He's in the military, a Marine."
"What does that mean?"
"There are recommendation papers of how fast David learned the ways of a Marine. He didn't suffer any injuries through one of their most difficult courses, that he supposedly signed up for."
"Meaning?"
"He's a goddamn machine. How the hell do you expect to catch him?"
"Don't swear," Vicky said. "It's unbecoming."
"David may be a machine, as you put it, but he's still a rat."
Chapter 14
Prendrell had given Heath the results of the pink nanocytes. They're like termites or ants, following the directions of a main computer, do what they're suppoed to do, and if they're not active, they hold oxygen and protien molecules within them and turn a shade of red.
An FBI agent found the bomb in auditorium G, under a chair, one that could have actually blown up everything in a five-mile radius, if it hadn't been a dud. A note was attached.
Told you this was a wild goose chase.
Find the second bomb that will tell you what to do.
And if you think this bomb is a fake, think again.
I looked up. A timer had started.
"I really think the Bomb Squad should get their asses in here NOW!" I yelled.
Five minutes. Someone had started on the wires, along with help. I moved back to give them more room. The wires were clipped, a chip was disconnected. And the timer kept counting down the seconds. I saw some fluids start to mix.
One minute fifty. "The bomb is completely disabled! Why is it counting down?!"
Vicky moved forward, and cautiously touched the timer. She took it off. It was on by velcro. I took a knife from the equipment kit and plunged a hole in one of the bottles. It leaked, but no bang.
One of the agents smelled then tasted it. "I think it's water."
"Here we go! It's activated by radio control. I think the bomb's a real dud."
"Well," Vicky said. "At least we did think again."
Rogers came in. "There was a fake bomb in the office near City Hall." He handed a note to me. "That was attached to it."
Now, the third bomb is much more elaborate, and this time, real.
Go to auditorium H.
I did.
Chapter 15
I was in the auditorium, surrounded by agents and bomb experts.
There was a big black box in the middle of the room. David's face came on.
"Well, Marco. You don't know where the main bomb is. You won't be able to save your friends."
"What did your father have anything to do with this?"
"I just needed to kill the old man." His eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"You mean this guy?" I pulled someone from the crowd. Michael Diatchenko.
"How?!"
"You see, the person you thought was setting off a bomb? A good friend of mine. Raided the place, found the bomb, how it worked, threw a couple of heavy things on the bed, then jumped out the window."
"It was ten stories high!"
"That's how good a friend he is."
"I saw him go in there!" David spat, looking at his father.
"That was a hologram. You didn't notice that the building was evacuated?" No answer. "Now, since you're the one that thinks he's in absolute control, what do I do next?" Anger had flushed his face. "Now, let me see, you said that a man's power is only limited by the machines he builds, how powerful is your hologram face? It's live, obviously. You can hear us. We can hear you. You're pretty close by, right?"
The hologram disappeared.
"Was there an APB out on David?" I asked. Shakes of the head. "Put one out. Half of you stay here in case he comes here. The rest of you get to the pier. Vicky goes with me. Erek, you stay here. I need a to be in a vehicle that can hold a gorilla!"
Chapter 16- David
He ran to his car and got in. He sat there, thinking. What had he done wrong? He planted the bomb that should have killed his father. Was it because he had gotten off track? No, Gage had said the Crayak person thrived on violence. The bomb couldn't have been any more violent. Was it becuase he did the bomb wrong? Couldn't have been that, either. It was enough to demolish half that building. What had he done wrong?!
He started his car and drove, towards the pier, if Marco was dumb enough, he would have some time to check on his bomb.
A police cruiser came behind him. It flashed its' lights. David stepped on the third pedal, going from second to fifth, and pushed the gas.
The siren behind him came on. It was joined by two more cruisers. A black sedan came out of nowhere, nearly pushing him to crash into a bus. A car blocked his way, making him swerve and lose distance behind him and the sedans.
They were herding him, directly making him go where they wanted him to go.
A delivery truck was backing out from where David was headed, and the sedan to his left had to slow down. David sighed with relief, thinking he could escape, then he saw the truck, barely missing it by making another swerve, and had to stop for a moment before he could get through some heavy late-night traffic. He had to rearrange the stick otherwise it would jam up. He decided then and there that he would never drive a stickshift again.
A black sedan came from his left when he was trying to make a turn there, and he almost crashed into that, too. A third sedan appared, and a fourth. He was trapped. All he could do was speed. A black sedan turned, and cut in frot of him. It's back doors opened. And he saw something he did not want to see.
A very angry, very big gorilla.
They stared at each other for a moment, and the two sedans driving next to David moved in closer. The gorilla jumped, going onto the hood of the Mercedes and punched through the windshield. David lost control of the car, which gave Marco the momentum to grab hold of the wheel and pull it out. He then grabbed for David's neck and pulled him out of the windshield.
Tsk, tsk. You forgot to put on your seatbelt. Marco jumped off, David in his grasp, as the runaway car drove itself down a very steep hill. The sedans and cruisers surrounded the two, a few had gone down the hill after the car.
Marco let go of David, and he fell to the concrete ground, heaving in air.
"He won't be able to do anything if he can't think straight," Vicky said, referring to the the mind-bending stuff he had done to kidnap the rest of the Animorphs.
I'll make sure he won't be able to.
Chapter 17- Marco
David had tried to morph or do something that had to do with changing matter. Vicky warned me everytime before he tried to do it. A simple punch in the stomach made him stop struggling. And he recovered quickly, bruises and cuts healing within a matter of minutes. Then he would try again, which got him another punch in the stomach. It was like that all the way to Pier 21.
The Bomb Squad had ran up to us when we pulled up, sweat pouring down their faces.
"We found the big one, and it's real, too," the captain of the group said. He looked at David. "How did you make this?"
David calmly got out of the back of the sedan, guns pointing at him. "The wires have been coated with titanium. Your snippers won't be able to cut through it. If your attempt to burn through it, the sensors underneath will feel the unnatural heat and set the bomb off earlier than the time I put in. That's why it's in the fridge." He went inside, me following him, ready to break his leg if needed.
"Now, as you've obviously seen, the bomb can only be stopped if you know the password. Three wrong tries and kaboom."
"What?!"
How many times have you tried? I asked. Harshly, with a tinge of fear. Not for me, but for the five lifeless bodies in the other room.
"One, and then you guys came here. We did another one," the guy at the frozen keyboard said.
Everyone didn't say anything for what seemed to be a very long time. Not even David, who was forcing his eyelids to not droop. I looked out the window. It must have been early morning now. I felt sorry for everyone who had to be evacuated from Micahel's building.
Keep your guns on David, I said, as I demorphed. I went to the sink, and turned on the faucet, and pulled the seperate hose thing out, and gave it to Vicky. She held onto it, and said, "The Leerans are going to hate you, and if they don't, Cassie will."
David had jerked a bit.
"Why are the Leerans going to hate you?" Heath asked. None of them knew. We and the Leerans thought it was a great laugh to find out what was going through the minds of everyone. The Leerans are actually great fun once you get past the bad stuff in missions.
I started to morph, my middle getting larger while I turned yellow and slimy. Four tentacles sprouted from me and my eyes turned big and green. I morphed Leeran.
Chapter 18
I felt confusion and fear from most of the people in the place, with my psychic mind. I turned towards David, who was half-asleep from exhaustion and his thoughts were more scrambled. If he started to dream, I wouldn't be able to tell dream from reality. Vicky sprayed me with the sink hose, keeping my delicate skin wet. She also sprayed some on David to keep him awake.
I went through his hazy mind, feelings of anger, happiness, pure joy, sadness, and frustration going with their respective memories. I suddenly felt absolutely guilty for doing this, going through past triumphs, embarrasments, let-downs, and a lot of the times, I saw an absence of a father figure. I saw when he was the champion of the school spelling bee, one of his more exciting times, then he disqualified for not being at that school long enough.
I saw when he hit his first home run, and none of his parents had been there to see him. His first, and second crush. Lack of Valentines cards, hard pinches when he forgot to wear green, and unfulfilling Christmas'. Forgotten birthdays. Bad grades. Manipulitive friends, mean bullies. Detention, bench time, standing in the corner as the rest of the class got to finger-paint.
Mean teachers, nice teachers, the thrill of learning something new, the frustration of not being able to get something new. And there were the times of broken promises, an empty chair at dinner, and his mothers' frustration at her husband.
And then came a time when he just didn't care anymore.
Then he came to our town, found the blue box that cost him his life.
But before that, when he had entered his ninth school in as many years, he caught a glimpse, just a glimpse, of a girl. It was just a glimpse, but he could barely get her out of his mind the rest of the day.
He thought she was pretty, the kind of pretty artists try to put in their paintings, the kind of pretty poets tried to put in their poems. It was a kind of pretty that a big oaf wouldn't dare touch in fear of breaking it. And David was the big oaf.
And then he was forced to become an Animorph and found out she already belonged to someone. He was sure her boyfriend didn't care for her the way she should have been cared for. He thought of her as a posession, a thing, something you put on a shelf and then take it down when you need it.
He gave up, the way he had done so many times before, and began to rely on his anger. He wasn't used to being ordered around by a girl and it infuriated him when Cassie fought him in front of Visser Three.
But she was special, she would be forgiven.
Jake didn't care for her the way David would have.
And there, I got the password.
Chapter 19
It's Cassie, I said, half in Leeran, half in thought-speak. c-a-s-s-i-e, all lowercase. That was why her cryotube was facing towards the middle of the room, while the others had been against the walls. The way David's eyes had flickered every now and then towards her vitals and her face when he was talking to me in his hologram.
Peterson, that was his name, he typed it in and pressed enter. There were a few strange sounds coming from the fridge. Then the timer stopped, just a couple of hours from its' detenation time. I looked at the clock over the kitchen sink. You would have had that thing detonate at around dawn, I said.
"AT dawn," he answered, and felt that he was absolutely miserable. "You still have to get your friends back." He didn't know how himself.
Vicky? I started to demorph.
"Hold on," she said. She looked at David, then the room. "How long do we have if we move them?" she asked David.
"Eleven minutes. At the least." She looked around again, and started to direct orders.
"Bring that pool table over to the door, two of you get some towels from the upstairs bathroom, lots of them. There are needles in that cupboard there, along with gloves." She then walked to a drawer, and drew out a large butcher knife. "Too big," she muttered, and got out a smaller steak knife. She walked towards a retreating David, and cut him in the shoulder.
I hadn't noticed in the back of the dark sedan, but under bright halo lights, I now noticed that David's blood was unnaturally dark, more of a black than a red. It ran more like water than blood.
"Drag him over to the pool table. Where are the towels? Put them there. Bring me some clean needles and a pair of gloves. Keep your weapons on him, we can't have him running. Here's the tricky part. We're going to get one of them and put them on the pool table. Then we're going to inject some of his blood into them."
"What?! What about diseases, HIV?" Rogers sputtered.
"Does this look HIV compatible to you?" I asked.
"Well, why can't we just shoot his blood into them while they're in their tubes?" someone asked.
"The nanocytes are cushioning them underneath, making the head higher than the rest of the body. This needs to get to their brain."
"Alright," I said. "Who's first?"
"Rachel." Vicky put on a pair of gloves, and took a clean needle and jabbed it into David's shoulder.
"Kids, don't do this at home." Rachel was brought out, and the laid her on the pool table, wiping her face with a soft towel. Vicky drew some of David's blood, cleaned the needle with alcohol, and jabbed it into Rachel's shoulder.
Immediate reaction. Rachel seizured, the men that had brought her out were now holding her down. A large gasp of air and she came to her senses.
"Welcome back, Rachel," I said.