Chapter 9

"How does it look?" Hannah asked.

I turned Marco's head to look.

Hannah and Cassie were wearing identical black wetsuits taken from Cassie's house. Luckily, the wetsuit for Cassie's mom could fit Hannah.

They had completed the outfits with skin tight foot garments called swim socks, black latex gloves with the fingers cut off, and the ski masks Prince Jake had provided.

{Tell them they look like a pair of ninjas,} Marco said in our head.

I repeated his comment using Marco's lips.

This was my second infestation, I had already infested Cassie. I found it quite disturbing.

I could see inside Marco's memories, every single one.

The power of the gorilla morph.

The despair of thinking his mom had drowned.

The depression that came from seeing his dad as a shell of his former self.

The happiness of morphing the Irish setter to sneak into a concert.

The suspicion of me, right after facing his fear of water to rescue me.

I felt a particular spike of guilt at that one.

"You won't be identified, that's for sure," Jordan said. She was currently using a human writing implement called a Sharpie, blacking out all the logos on the other girls' wetsuits.

{I'm coming out now,} I told Marco. I slithered my Yeerk body out and felt myself being passed to another human hand.

{Do you have time for one more, Ax?} Tobias asked.

{Yes, but we will have to make it quick. Prince Jake will be most displeased if we arrive late to the community center,}

My Yeerk senses detected an ear canal, and I got to work forcing my way inside. My third time, and still it made me nauseous.

Soon I connected to the human brain. I was inside Jordan.

{Are you all right, Jordan?} I asked.

{Yes,} she answered.

I began to look into her memory. This made me uncomfortable, but it was Jordan who had pointed out that we would need to pull every bit of information we could from the mind of Visser Three.

"You know, I've been saying for a while we needed uniforms," Marco was saying. "The wetsuits are a good start, but I was thinking something with a little more color."

{The point is to not be seen, Marco,} Tobias said. {Not to look cool.}

"I know, but think of how awesome it would be!" Marco protested.

I tuned out their banter, and began diving into Jordan's mind. Her memories were a lot less interesting since she had only found out about the Yeerks about two weeks ago.

I saw the sadness of her parents getting divorced.

I felt a pang of sadness myself at this, who knew what my parents were thinking? They knew Elfangor was dead, and probably assumed I was as well. Would my parents even still be together?

I pushed my intrusive thoughts to the side, focusing on the task at hand.

I saw Jordan's confusion at the human-like eagle.

Her awe at hearing thought-speak for the first time.

Her joy at flying for the first time.

And then I felt a deeper emotion, a sort of flame burning just under the surface. A passion. A passion to be useful. Valued as a member of the team. A fear of being ostracized as the 'new girl'. A determination to be relevant. Jordan had spent several nights laying awake, trying to think of a good plan. This plan, the plan we would be attempting that very night. And there was a small yearning there, a yearning for validation that she was indeed useful.

I decided to satisfy that yearning.

{Jordan,} I said privately. {Don't worry about how you fit in. You are important. You have laid down the first pieces of a very clever plan. I believe you are a very valuable Animorph.}

I felt Jordan's mind sort of blush. I was careful to not let the redness spread to her actual cheeks.

{Thanks, Ax.} she said. {That really means a lot to me.}

And then I became aware of a different emotion. An emotion that I had previously felt in Cassie.

{Wait…you really think…?}

{Yes,} she said, knowing what I was about to ask. {Please don't tell anyone though. Rachel will never let me hear the end of it.}

{I won't, I promise. You should tell him yourself though. Don't worry about what any of the others think.}

{Maybe I will,} she said, with a sort of mental smile.

{Ax, Jordan!} Tobias said, and we both jumped. {It's time to go!}

{Roger, I'm coming out now,} to Jordan I added, {Tell him.}

Five minutes later, we were six birds of prey flying towards the community center.

{We are two minutes and eighteen seconds ahead of schedule,} I announced as we flew over the community center.

{The Visser's limo is still parked in the same spot,} Hannah observed. {I don't see any additional guards.}

I noticed a strange looking man sitting on a bench just outside the community center.

A strange man with a familiar backpack.

{Prince Jake, is that you?} I called down.

{It's me,} he confirmed.

{I'm in position,} announced Tobias. {Go ahead and land in the alley and do your first morphs. It's getting dark, so I'm going owl.}

{Jake, how are you doing on morph time?} Cassie asked.

I watched Prince Jake check his watch.

{An hour and fifty minutes left. I just demorphed and remorphed right before you showed up.}

One by one, we landed in the alleyway.

Once we were all there, we began demorphing. Cassie and Hannah were nearly invisible in the shadow of the buildings. I wondered if their wetsuits were warm.

Once we were all human, or in my case Andalite, we began our next morphs. Jordan used her dog morph while the other four of us once again went roach.

Soon we were four little bugs nestled in the black fur of a dog.

{We're ready,} Jordan announced.

{Hold off for a minute,} Tobias advised. {There's a human controller guard doing a patrol.}

I felt Jordan pacing back and forth in anticipation.

{You're clear,} Tobias said a couple minutes later.

The vibrations increased as Jordan trotted out onto the sidewalk. Tobias guided her across the street and into the community center's parking lot.

{Get ready to jump,} Jordan announced. {It will be on the right hand side again, in about fifteen seconds.}

{We're ready,} Hannah said.

{Speak for yourself,} Marco muttered.

{Shut up Marco, you're not helping!} scolded Cassie.

{My bad, I didn't mean to say that out loud,} Marco admitted.

Nervous laughter all around.

{Jump, now!} Jordan said.

Four cockroaches beat their wings.

{Everyone good?}

One by one we said yes.

{I'm leaving,} said Jordan. {Good luck, everyone.}

It didn't take as long to find the crack this time. A couple of minutes later, we were inside.

{I will demorph first, as planned,} I said.

{I will hide in the crack, as planned,} Marco responded.

I once again prioritized my tail as I demorphed, even though it was too dark to see.

Once I was fully Andalite, I once again morphed my eyes to owl to be able to see in the dark.

{There are four human automatic weapons in the weapons rack,} I observed. {No controllers. I will conduct a search for observation devices.}

{Make it quick, Ax,} Prince Jake said. {The Sharing meeting starts in forty minutes.}

{Yes, Prince Jake,} I answered.

We had discussed the timeline at length. We knew it was possible that Visser Three might not attend this meeting at all, or that he might not show up until partway through the meeting. Still, we had all agreed that we should be ready thirty minutes before the meeting started.

{I'm back in the alley,} Jordan announced. {I'm going to demorph, so I won't be able to thought-speak.}

{Copy,} Prince Jake said. {Tobias, fly in such a way that you get a visual on Jordan every minute or so.}

{Okay,} Tobias answered.

{I have completed the search. Cassie, Marco, Hannah, it is safe to demorph,} I said.

{Sounds good, coming out now,} Hannah responded.

I took a few steps back to give them plenty of room.

A minute and a half later, there were three humans sitting on the floor of the limo.

Even with owl eyes, Cassie and Hannah were difficult to see unless they moved. The only way I could tell them apart was their eye color and fingertips.

"Wow, it's going to be cramped in here," Cassie commented.

"Four weapons, do you think that means there will be four guards?" Hannah wondered.

"I doubt it, the guards usually have concealed handguns," said Marco as he began morphing to gorilla. "I think these weapons are just here as a last resort."

{What's the status in there?} Prince Jake inquired.

{We have demorphed, Marco is in the process of morphing gorilla,} I reported.

{Good. Tobias?}

{Everything's good up here, including Jordan,} Tobias reported.

{Sweet,} Prince Jake said.

"Now we hope the Visser springs our trap," said Cassie.

{The good thing about this plan is that we can just do this every night until he does,} said Marco, who was now fully gorilla.

For a long time, nothing happened.

About twenty five minutes went by, before Tobias announced, {Two human controllers, heading towards the limo. They are wearing short sleeves, which will make it easier to acquire them. Concealed handguns in their waistbands. You guys have about forty-five seconds.}

{Get into position!} I announced. We all crouched behind the front two seats, a very uncomfortable position. I demorphed my owl eyes, so I would be in my natural form to acquire the two humans. I pointed one stalk eye up, keeping the rest of my body flat.

{Remember, if they don't see us, let them close the limo doors to avoid suspicion,} said Marco.

{Twenty seconds,} Tobias said. {They are heading for the front two seats.}

"This is the make or break moment," Hannah whispered.

{Ten seconds,} Tobias said.

My hearts were pounding. I was crammed in next to Marco and could feel his heart pounding, too.

{Five….four….} Tobias counted down.

You could cut the tension with a knife.

{Three….two….}

I'm about to morph a Yeerk.

{One…}

The doors opened. The two human controllers sat down with a loud exhale.

The passenger side door closed.

They still hadn't seen us.

I heard the engine start.

The controller on the passenger side reached to the right to grab his seatbelt, and then twisted to his left to buckle it.

I watched his eyes go down to find the female end of the buckle, then slowly, very slowly, raise back up and look at me.

I watched his lips open.

The driver side door closed.

{NOW!} I roared in private thought-speak.

With beautiful synchronization, Cassie and Hannah reached up between the seats and the inner walls of the limo, placed their hands on the controllers' outer arms, and began acquiring. I reached both arms up, one to each controller, just to make absolutely sure they both went into the acquisition trance.

The controller in the passenger seat began to yell, "An-"

But it was too late. The trance had taken hold.

I quickly scooted back. {Marco, you're up!}

Marco grabbed each controller by the arm and roughly yanked them into the back of the limo.

FWAAP! FWAAP!

{Now the controllers won't be getting back up for a while,} I announced.

{The limo shook a little bit,} Tobias warned. {I don't think anyone saw, but get in position, just in case!}

Cassie and Hannah scrambled into the front, already morphing.

Marco and I tossed the unconscious humans in the back corner, as far away from the weapons racks as possible. We removed their concealed weapons and outer clothes and passed them up to Cassie and Hannah.

{How's it going?} Prince Jake asked.

I gave a brief update on the situation.

{Great,} said Prince Jake. {Get ready as soon as possible, if we stay sitting here for too long, it will look suspicious.}

Cassie wasn't even fully morphed yet when she started driving.

{Jordan, go owl,} Prince Jake said. {Tobias, please verify she heard me.}

{She did,} Tobias confirmed.

We pulled out of the parking lot and received the backpack from Prince Jake without issue.

{Tobias, start flying to the parking garage. Jordan, same thing. I'll catch up, don't wait for me,} Prince Jake ordered.

{You got it,} said Tobias.

Marco and I tied up the two unconscious human controllers with rope as a precaution. We made sure to blindfold and gag them just in case, before tying them to each other as an extra layer of security.

We drove in silence for about a minute.

{You know, I just thought of something,} Marco said.

{What did you just think of, Marco?} I wondered.

{It's possible we'll show up to the parking garage and nobody will be there. Like, maybe the Visser has more important things to do than come to this Sharing meeting, and those two controllers were just taking the limo to get an oil change or something.}

{An oil change, at this hour? And with four machine guns in the back?} Hannah asked skeptically.

{Maybe the Yeerks' auto shop is in a bad neighborhood,} Marco speculated.

{Marco?} Cassie said.

{Yes, Cassie?}

{Shut. Up.}