Wait a minute! Flashbulbs at the log ride?
"Hey! There are people down there! There aren't supposed to be people.
The people aren't supposed to be here till eight o'clock!"
"lf they'rehere, then the Yeerks are here, too," Rachel said grimly.
"What are they doing here? I thought you said the sign-up sheet at the base said eight o'clock!"
"Actually, it said nineteen hundred hours. But that's eight. Right?"
"Uh, no,"Marco said. "Oh, man, these guys have been here for an hour already! The Yeerks may have already infested their targets!"
"Are those the right guys down there? Are they Zone Ninety-one guys?" I wondered aloud.
Jake kept his tone carefully neutral, not wanting to make me feel bad.
"There are a lot of sort of twenty- and thirty-year-old guys down there with short hair. Definitely a military-looking crowd. "
I had put it all together veryearly that morning. The Gardens occasionally leases out the entire amusement park to private groups. Es- pecially on slow nights like Sundays.
Zone 91 had leased the park for its soldiers and their families. Of course, on the reservation they were not listed as "Zone 91." They were listed as "Gondor Industries."
I'd spent the day researching on the Internet, just to be totally sure.
There was no Gondor Industries. It was a fake corporation. I was totally prepared and proud of myself for being so smart.
Unfortunately, the hour we should have had to prepare was already gone. All because I could not read military time.
"So who's back at Zone Ninety-one guarding the Toilet From Outer Space, I wonder?" Marco asked.
"l'm sure there are still plenty of guys back there," Jake said, "and in any case, that's not our problem. Our problem is we have zero time to figure out the rest of the Yeerk plan. All we know is that they may be attempting to use this night to infest several members of the Zone Ninety-one force. But where? Where in all this big amusement park would they do it?"
No time! And it was my screwup. Myscrewup. Oh, man, I had totally messed up. Now innocent men and women might be turned into Controllers because of my stupidity!
Think! Where? Where would the Yeerks try it?"Two possible places," I said. "They need someplace where they can grab people without being seen, right? The log ride is dark inside. Or the House of Horrors Ride.
Those are the only two places."
"Okay. We split up," Jake said tersely.
"Cassie, you and Marco come with me for the log ride. Rachel, Tobias, and Ax check out the House of Horrors."
We split into two separate groups. Jake, Marco, and I flew swiftly toward the log ride, me cursing myself the whole time. "How could I have been so dumb?"
"You weren't dumb," Jake said. "We wouldn't even have known about this if you hadn't figured it out."
"For future reference, all you have to do is subtract twelve," Marco said.
"Huh?"
"To translate military time. Just subtract twelve." Then, as an afterthought he added, "Duh."
The log ride was made to look like a mountain. Of course it was really just cement and fake bushes, but it was kind of convincing. We landed on top of it.
"Now what?" Marco asked. "We need to get inside. Can we fly in?"
"Yes, but if we're in owl morph we won't be able to do anything much except flap our wings," Jake pointed out. "We need to get human again."
We demorphed as fast as we could and a few minutes later we were climbing down the side of the fake cement mountain, wearing our morphing outfits. And no shoes. Fortunately, at The Gardens people dress even more strangely than that. Some people turned to stare, but not for very long.
The lines were short since the only people in the park were a thousand or so people from Zone 91. Some had brought their kids, so we fit in okay, even though most of the people in line were older guys with short hair and neatly trimmed mustaches.
Into the log ride we went. We took a log, me and Jake in the front, Marco behind us, and a man and woman behind him in the last seat.
The log slipped along the water channel toward the chain lift.
"This would be fun if it wasn't a matter of life and death," Marco said. "I love the log ride. Not as good as the coaster, of course. But the big splash at the end is cool."
"That voice!" someone said. "I know that voice!"
I turned around and looked to see who was talking. To my complete horror, I found myself making eye contact with none other than Captain Torrelli, our interrogator from Zone 91. And at just that moment, the log hit the chain lift and engaged with a loud CHUNK!
"You!" the captain said.
Marco turned around. "Uh-oh."
"What?" Jake asked.
CLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANK! Up the slope we went, pressed back into our damp seats.
"You are under arrest!" Captain Torreli said.
"Honey, what is going on?" his date asked.
"Yeah, what is going on?" Jake asked me.
"It's the guy from Zone Ninety-one," I whispered in Jake's ear. "He's recognized me and Marco."
"Uh-oh."
"None of you better move!" the captain said.
And at that point we reached the top of the lift. For a second we were poised there. Then the log tipped forward and gravity took over.
"Ahhhhhh!" the captain's date yelled.
"Ahhhhhh!" I yelled because I hate thrill rides.
"You two are mine1."the captain yelled.
And down we went.
WHOOOOOOOSH!
Then . . . spuh-LOOOOOSH!
Water everywhere! The log careened along the narrow channel past big fake models of a logging camp dominated by some great big plaster Paul Bunyan thing.
"If the Yeerks are going to strike, they'll do it in the tunnel up ahead,"
Jake whispered. "It's like a tunnel of love thing. Real dark."
I wanted to ask how he knew about a tunnel of love. But I stuck to business. "Either way, we need to bail out there. Otherwise we'll never lose the captain."
Marco turned back in his seat, draping his arm over the partition between him and the captain. "You know, I don't think you can really arrest us. I mean, you're military police, right? And this is nota military base."
The captain glowered. He whipped a cell phone from his jacket pocket and punched in a number. "Hello? Gardens security? This is Captain Torrelli, security code number eight-seven-two-niner-niner. I need —"
"Good work, Marco," Jake said, rolling his eyes.
"This really complicates things," I whispered.
"Here comes the tunnel," Jake said. "Get ready."
The log boat banged through a doorway into total, absolute darkness.
"Now!" Jake hissed.
I stood up. I turned left. Nothing but darkness. I turned right. Just as dark.
Not dark like in-your-room dark when you sleep at night. This was dark like you might as well be blind.
I stepped off the boat, trusting everything to luck.
Chapter 23
Never trust anything to luck.
My foot didn't touch anything. I tried to pull back, but it was too late. I pitched forward.