“I’ll call,” he repeated.
There was precedent here: early Saturday morning rides at the skate park were part of his routine. Bikes weren’t allowed in the half pipe after 9 AM on weekends. He often got up early and returned for a late breakfast. By adding the bit about Blizzard Beach—a favorite among his friends—he’d bought himself the rest of the day.
“Take your father’s phone,” she said, rolling over.
“Ah…okay,” he said, his hand tapping his pocket.
He put away the fire-escape rope and left the house by the back door, joining Amanda and climbing onto his bike.
“How’d it go?” she asked.
“Worked out great. I’m good to go for the rest of the day.”
“Your parents let you leave the house at four in the morning?”
“Not exactly. But we’re cool.”
Had he looked overhead he might have felt otherwise: hanging upside down from the gutter of his house, the large bat with the blue tint on its wings dropped free and flew away. Flapping frantically, it circled just above the two bikes as they sped off down the empty street, red safety lights flashing in the dark.
14
THE FOOD-SERVICE STEP VAN had double tires in the back and mud flaps that carried silhouettes of silver mouse ears on their black rubber.
The man behind the wheel had florid cheeks, blue eyes, and bushy eyebrows. He spoke in a deep voice to Finn, who pulled the passenger door open.
“Everyone in back. Find places to hide in case they check back there.” He popped open his door. “It’ll be pitch black in there once I pull that door down, so hurry!”
Finn rushed the others into the back. They climbed up into a refrigerated area of cardboard boxes filled with fresh fruits and vegetables stacked onto wooden pallets and strapped to the walls. Each stack offered a place to hide behind. The kids doubled up. Charlene and Willa hid behind a tower of raspberry and strawberry flats. Maybeck and Philby ducked behind the lettuce, leaving Finn and Amanda to press into a small space behind six stacked boxes of carrots.
“Okay,” the driver said. “That’s good. Stay like that. All set?”
The door came down hard, with a bang of finality. It was dark as a cave inside. The refrigerator unit up near the cab wheezed loudly as it blew an icy wind, freezing them.
“Dang…” Maybeck said. “This is how I always imagined prison.”
“What if one of us is afraid of the dark?” Charlene asked timidly.
“Then she should hold on to Willa, Charlene,” said Maybeck.
“I didn’t say it was me!” Charlene said.
“Right,” said Maybeck.
The truck grumbled and groaned as it lurched around a series of corners toward the back side of the Animal Kingdom. Pretty soon its brakes squealed to a stop. Finn and the others had been in the same situation before—at the reinforced, militarylike security gates at the back of the Magic Kingdom. He could picture the guards outside. Supplies and merchandise and employees came through these entrances. The driver’s credentials were checked, manifests and work schedules cross-referenced. The kids heard some talking through the shell, though the words were indiscernible. Then a single thump. The Dapper Dan had elbowed the back wall of the cab, trying to warn his passengers.
“I dropped my purse,” Charlene announced in a harsh whisper. “I can’t find it! I can’t find my purse.”
Finn knew that if Security saw a purse, they would probably climb up into the back of the truck to retrieve it. And if so, then they’d spot the kids.
“I can’t see!” she hissed again.
Sounds of the door hardware rattled at the back of the truck. The back door was definitely about to be lifted.
“My purse…” Charlene moaned.
Finn stepped out from behind the stack of carrots. Amanda reached out to stop him, but she was too late.
He felt around the floor. Nothing. Then he remembered his father’s BlackBerry. He pulled it out of his pocket and hit a button on the keypad, and the screen came to life like a flashlight.
Charlene’s arm shot out from behind a stack of boxes, and she grabbed hold of her purse. It vanished.
The door rolled open a crack. Finn shoved the BlackBerry into his pocket, snuffing its light. His knees didn’t flex. He didn’t move. He just stood there. Light flooded into the back of the truck. He turned, but it was too late. The door continued up.
In an instant everything changed: he was suddenly pasted to the ceiling—floating—hidden by the rolling door, which was carried on tracks like a garage door.
“Clear,” one of the Security guys announced.
Finn sank toward the truck bed. From the light of the BlackBerry he saw Amanda facing him, her arm extended. As her arm fell, so did Finn.
The back door clattered shut and the clunk of hardware confirmed they were locked inside again.
“You did that!” he said, accusing Amanda.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” she whispered.
“You saved us,” he said.
“That was way cool, Finn,” said Maybeck. “You mind telling me how you did that?”
Amanda whispered warmly into Finn’s ear. “No…not yet.”
Finn said into the dark: “Ah…I could show you, but I’d have to kill you.”
Maybeck chuckled.
“I want some, too,” added Philby.
“Later, dudes,” said Finn.
Again, he felt Amanda’s breath warm against his neck as she whispered softly, “Thank you.”
He wanted to say something, but his voice had gone dry, and he couldn’t get a word out.
15
A MOMENT AFTER the truck finally pulled to a stop, the Dapper Dan climbed up inside and then lowered the garagelike door behind himself, leaving it open just enough to admit some light from the nearby light poles.
“This is as far as I go with the truck. Finn gave each of you an assignment, as I understand it.”
“I’ve got a pretty good handle on the tech side of the Park,” Philby said. “There are cameras all over the place, some for Security, some for the Park visitors. Basically, we won’t be alone wherever we go. But there’s a very cool element to this I think we should consider.” He glanced around at the group. Charlene was trying to wipe a smudge off her clothes, but everyone else was paying strict attention to him. “Out at Conservation Station—which everyone in the Park calls ‘CS,’ by the way—is a bank of camera monitors that are interactive. Visitors can actually move and zoom the cameras, searching for animals and that kind of thing. But I think they give us a real good opportunity to monitor what’s going on.”
“That could be my job,” Amanda said, volunteering. “If no one else wants it,” she added carefully.
Everyone nodded.
“Other than that,” Philby said, swinging his backpack around and reaching inside, “I got nothin’.”
“Is anyone going to explain to me why I brought along my DS?” Charlene asked.
“The Parks all have free Wi-Fi,” Philby said, as if this answered her.
“Yeah? So?” she said.
“So I’ve set-up a D-Gamer chat room so we can IM each other,” he explained. “It’s totally secure. No one can eavesdrop.”
“A D-what?” she asked.
“D-Gamer,” he said. “Let me show you.” Philby took her DS from her and changed her settings to allow Wi-Fi access. Then he showed her how to enter D-Gamer mode. Turning on his own DS, he typed a message to her. An alert appeared on her screen and she answered it. Then he switched devices with her and sent one from her device to his.
“How totally awesome,” she said, marveling. Taking back her own DS, she sent Philby a text message:
angelface13: i never knew it could do that.
philitup: it’s a new feature, added last spring.
Finn set up his sister’s DS for Amanda. Philby had invited them all to join the private chat, and soon they were all texting back and forth.
The Dapper Dan cleared his throat to stop them, and they put their Nintendos away. He asked if they knew their way around the Park. “I’m acquainted with the layout,” Willa said, piping up. She handed out maps for each of them. “Basically there are five areas—Asia, Africa, Camp Minnie-Mickey, and DinoLand USA. These four surround a lake that holds the fifth, Discovery Island, in the middle—the Tree of Life, some food stalls, and shopping. I don’t know our plan, if we have one, but there are five of us, not counting Amanda, and five areas. Seems pretty obvious.”