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The police surrounded one man, who was putting on what looked like plastic body armor.
I shot a look at Kota. “What’s going on?” I asked in a quiet voice. This wasn’t a fire alarm or a check for drugs.
Kota frowned. “Hazardous waste cleanup perhaps? Maybe someone spilled something in the chemistry lab?” He fished his phone out of his pocket. The phone must have been on vibrate because I didn’t hear it ring. He punched the button with his thumb to answer it. “Dr. Green? Are you inside still?”
I glanced back over at the man in the safety suit. He marched slowly toward the school, a blue and white device in his hand that looked like a hand-held metal detector. He circled the fire trucks, heading toward the doors.
Kota dropped the phone to his chest to hold it there. “Our team,” he said in a quiet tone, but the command rang through every syllable. “Get your stuff. Let’s go.”
The boys moved at once. Silas and North, the ones closest to our book bags, grabbed them. Nathan tugged at my hand, moving behind Kota.
We weaved our way through the throng of students, heading further down into the grass yard and toward the baseball field away from the rest of the students.
“Where are we going?” I asked in a quiet voice, suddenly scared.
“Away from other students,” Kota said. “And the cars.”
We traveled a good distance from the parking lot. We got some looks from other teachers, but none seemed to care much that we’d moved away from the other students. We were still within sight and on school grounds.
Kota halted a few feet from the baseball field’s benches. He eyed them suspiciously. “Everyone stay here,” he said.
He moved forward alone, everyone else hanging back. The boys encircled me. I had to stand en pointe to peek over Victor’s shoulder.
Kota checked out the underside of the seats, inspecting every corner. When he seemed satisfied, he waved his hand at us to come sit. I slid in; Nathan sat on one side of me and Victor took his position on my other side. Always protecting.
“What is it, Kota?” Nathan asked. His blue eyes darkening.
“This is the bomb squad,” he said. “There was a bomb threat made on the school by phone. There’s an unmarked box on the main floor.”
“Why are we so far out here away from the others?” I asked.
Kota tilted his head toward me. “We’re to keep out of reach of potential threats, which means possibly rigged vehicles or students. The caller wasn’t specific. The package is only a guess by a teacher. We’re to stay out of range of everyone until Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne says it’s safe to return.”
“What about the other students?” I asked. “What about Marie? And Derrick?”
Kota frowned. “It’s most likely this is just a student pulling a prank or wanting to get out of class. This is just overkill precaution. We’re more of a target than they are. If we come under fire, we want to be out of range so no one else is hurt. We also want to see anyone coming if they’re trying to target us.”
“But we were in the middle of class,” I said. “If they wanted out of class, would they call a bomb threat while still inside class? It would have been obvious. And if they were outside of class trying to cut out their next one... well if they’d already skipped class, why would they try to mess up the next one?”
“Baby,” North said. He was sitting in front of me, but turned, dropping a hand on my knee. “The police are here. We’ve got our orders. Stop worrying so much. This isn’t our job.”
“She’s right, though,” Nathan said. He rubbed his palm over the top of his reddish-brown hair. “It’s an odd time to suddenly call in a bomb threat.”
“There’s nothing we can do right now,” Kota said, “We don’t have enough information.”
I twisted around, studying the other kids to see if I could pick out my sister. I would feel better if I could actually see her. She wasn’t the most friendly person, but I didn’t want her to get hurt.
Through the crowd, an all-too-familiar goatee on an angular chin distracted me. I sucked in a breath, holding it, staring in disbelief .
Greg was back. His beady eyes were a distance away, but he was looking at us from the edge of the cluster of other students.
“When did he get back?” Silas muttered under his breath.
Everyone turned their attention to Greg. He jerked his chin in our direction, turned around and disappeared back into the crowd.
I kept my eyes on the students. Greg. He hadn’t been in homeroom this morning. Did he switch classes?
The last time I saw him, he was clutching his throat trying to breathe.
After I’d punched him.
I turned on the bench, climbing up the bleachers until I was sitting at the very top, and dangled my feet down over the edge. Now that I’d spotted him, I didn’t want to turn my back on him.
The others joined me.
EXPLOITS
It was two hours before the emergency services team finally pulled back. Teachers signaled to the students to go back inside.
No explosions. No arrests.
We got word from Dr. Green that it was okay for us to enter the school. The boys and I followed the mass of students trying to get reoriented as to where we were supposed to go next. We were getting ready to split up to head in different directions when the loud speakers crackled overhead.
“Sang Sorenson, report the principal’s office immediately. Sang Sorenson, report to the principal’s office.”
My heart dropped to the floor. My fingers danced over the dip on my throat. I glanced up at the speakers, as if doing so would provide more information. Why me? What happened?
“I’ll go with her,” North said, squaring off his shoulders. His eyes darkened. “This better not be—”
“No,” Kota said. “She’s still under orders to go alone.”
North turned on him. “Don’t you see what he’s done? He’s just told the entire school Sang was probably involved in this. She’s more a target than ever. I’m not letting her walk alone over there.”
“If they think she’s involved, the students are going to want to stay away from her.” Kota’s eyebrows furrowed and lines formed at the creases of his mouth as he frowned. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but if we don’t go to class, we’re going to look like suspects if they don’t have one already. We have to let her go. We have to go to class and be counted with everyone else.”
North’s clenched fists smashed into his thighs. “This is bullshit. What about that other kid?”
“I just saw Greg walking up the stairs. He’s out of range. Now that we know he’s back, too, we need to get started. We’ll need a wire.” Kota turned to me. “Let Mr. Blackbourne know where you’re going,” he said.
I brushed back a lock of hair from my eyes, but it kept falling back into my face. “Should I say anything? What do I do?”
“Be honest.” His hand drifted up, brushing the lock of hair from my cheek and hooking it behind my ear. It stayed, as if unwilling to defy Kota. “But if you get uncomfortable, or if they try to ask you questions about this bomb threat, refuse to answer and refer questions to Mr. Blackbourne. Say you don’t know anything. He might just be trying to figure out if we’re behind it. You’ll be able to tell him we aren’t.”
I nodded, scratching absently at a spot on my arm. I had to remind myself that this was Mr. Hendricks, not McCoy. Mr. McCoy wasn’t here. I had to trust that they wouldn’t send me in with Mr. Hendricks if it wasn’t okay to do so.
I sucked in a breath, trying to look nonchalant. I waved to the others as I headed off alone to the front offices.
The hallways were overcrowded with students. Everyone was taking their time to get to class. I couldn’t imagine anyone paying attention to school work now.
I weaved my way through the crowd. I watched for Greg, trying to avoid him if he was around. I trusted that Kota was right, but I still wanted to be aware, just in case he headed back.
&nb
sp; And I still watched out for McCoy. I didn’t want to say so to the others, but without knowing where he was for sure, I couldn’t totally let go of the idea that he might be around the next corner. The guys had insisted I shouldn’t worry about it, but I couldn’t erase the thought of his bristled moustache and his beady eyes. My skin prickled uncomfortably as if I were being watched all the time.
