Nikki Tesla and the Fellowship of the Bling Page 13

  I lifted my chin and raised my eyebrows at Nolan, desperate for Leo’s response.

  “Okay.” Leo’s reply was muffled but clear enough to hear. “Be careful! I’ll see you outside!”

  He’d believed my lie. I couldn’t decide if I was happy or sad about it. Happy that Leo and the others would be able to get far away from this monster. But also sad that it meant we had no help to fight him.

  We were on our own.

  I plastered a mask of indifference on my face, forcing myself to think positively. Maybe if Leo and the others were safe, they could figure out a way to stop Nolan from selling the ring. It was the only hope I had left.

  Facing Dr. Nolan, I gently reached up and took the GeckoDot from my collar, then reached over to do the same to Dad’s. I dropped them to the floor and stepped forward, crushing them. They cracked sharply, like beetles under a boot heel.

  At least now, no matter what happened, the others wouldn’t have to hear it.

  “They’re gone,” I promised him. I didn’t mention the charges that Leo had set. If there was even a chance that getting rid of Nolan’s research would set him back and anger his buyers, even a little bit, we had to take it.

  “Do you like it?” Dr. Nolan changed the subject. He held the gun out to me, like he was showing off a piece of art, or a new watch. “It’s my design. Instead of shooting rudimentary bullets, this gun fires a particle beam.”

  I dug around for my courage, but I was fresh out. Instead, I found sarcasm. “A death ray?” I shrugged. “Big deal. I invented one, too. You’re not impressing anyone. Did you put a safety on yours? You might want to. I had to, on account of my pet ferret.”

  Dad huffed under his breath, and he shook his head ever so slightly to catch my eye. If looks could talk, his was saying, Stop engaging with the mad scientist.

  “Not impressed?” He aimed the gun at Dad. “How about now? For as long as I can remember, your father was never quite satisfied with my work. Do you feel that way, too, Nikki? I bet we have more in common with each other than you realize! Do you think he’s proud of you?”

  Nolan’s hand was beginning to shake. Not great news for someone handling a deadly weapon. I was starting to realize that under his easygoing demeanor, Dr. Nolan was completely unhinged.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “He wasn’t around for most of my life. I guess that’s thanks to you.”

  Nolan barked out a laugh. “Right!” he exclaimed. “You weren’t missing much, kid. This guy is impossible to please! I bet he would keep his greatest work from you, too—he doesn’t trust anyone with his designs!” His voice was almost hysterical.

  “Joe, please,” Dad said. “Let my daughter go, and the two of us can deal with this. There’s no need to bring her into it.”

  Nolan shrugged. ”Don’t worry. I won’t be hurting her. Can’t say the same for you, however.”

  “Let her go, Joe,” Dad demanded. My breath caught in my throat as he calmly began walking toward the door, dragging me with him by the arm. He was moving us closer to Nolan’s death ray, convinced that he wouldn’t shoot us.

  But I wasn’t so sure Nolan was bluffing.

  “Stop.” Dr. Nolan’s voice was a low growl.

  “This is between us.” Dad glanced at the door. “She doesn’t know anything.”

  Dr. Nolan laughed. To anyone listening, he probably sounded like he was having a casual conversation. “That’s not what I heard!” he said. “If this is your kid, I bet she’s a real wizard. Must take after you, Mike. Invented a death ray and all.” His smile dropped in a flash, and he tilted his head. “Why didn’t you just join me?”

  He inched closer to Dad, totally ignoring me. “It’s not too late, you know,” Nolan continued. He was incredibly calm. How could he go from crazed to chill in 2.5 seconds? It was giving me whiplash.

  “I’m not interested,” Dad said.

  Dr. Nolan scoffed. “Be serious, Mike,” he said. “I’m selling this ring for a lot of money, and you can still have your cut. I promise you, no games. Give me your prototype, and we’ll call it even. Maybe we can even cook up some new designs together.” He flashed that winning smile again. “It’d be fun.”

  “I destroyed it,” Dad lied. “It’s over, Joe.” He kept his body angled between me and his enemy. “Your servers are fried. Your research is as good as destroyed. You kidnapped a child who attends one of the most respected government agencies in the world, and you’re going to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. Stop this now and let Nikki go.”

  Nolan’s face dropped and, for a second, I thought he might actually surrender. It was clear by the way he looked at my dad that he respected him. Almost like he wanted to impress him, or make him proud. But under all that, rage seemed to boil away in his eyes.

  “Oh yeah?” Nolan said. “We’ll be long gone before the authorities get here. And as for the servers … Are you talking about the kid who set a few explosives?” He bit his lip and giggled, lifting a small memory stick between his thumb and forefinger, then tucking it into his pocket. “I’ve got everything I need right here.”

  Sweat prickled at the back of my neck. If he’d known what Leo was up to, why hadn’t he stopped it? Had he hurt Leo? Instantly, regret began to choke me. Why had I smashed up my GeckoDot? What if my friend needed me right now?

  “Relax,” Nolan said. He must have been able to read the pain on my face. “I let the kid go as an act of good faith to my old lab partner. Consider it a thank-you, Mike. It was you who inspired this in the first place. You see, I can be reasonable.” He lifted his hand in apology, but I could tell by the way he twisted his palm away from us he was really warning us with his ring.

  Dad stepped fully in front of me, blocking Nolan. “As another act of good faith …” Dad said. “Let Nikki leave.”

  My feet had a mind of their own, and I began angling myself toward the door. But Dr. Nolan’s cold face was clear. Not only was he not letting me out of here, he was enjoying messing with us. No matter how many avenues of escape I considered, I couldn’t see a way out.

  “Nah,” he replied. “She stays. But you’re welcome to stand in front of her there if it makes you feel any better.” He chuckled bitterly. “You’re not really going to die to keep me from selling this thing, are you?” Nolan let the gun drop to his side.

  Dad didn’t blink. “I already died for it once.”

  They say that in times of extreme stress, your gut takes over. Everything slows down, and single seconds feel like hours. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not; I’m not sure. But when Nolan lifted the gun ever so slightly and narrowed his eyes at my dad, I knew without a doubt that he was about to shoot. There was nothing more to say. If I didn’t act, Dad was going to die.

  My gut didn’t take over.

  But my feet did.

  I leaped forward through the air, grabbing my dad’s shoulder with all my might and yanking him out of the way. Desperate to save Dad from the deadly beam, I flung myself at Dr. Nolan with a loud scream.

  But I was too slow.

  Thankfully, Leo wasn’t.

  “Get down!” Leo flew over the top of a lab bench while simultaneously throwing something at Nolan’s face. Chaotic flashes and eardrum-piercing pops filled the room as Bert’s handiwork sparked a flurry of lights and thick smoke. Pickles, who must have snuck in with Leo, raced toward me across the slippery floor.

  The distraction was enough to shift Nolan’s aim and send his weapon clattering to the floor, where it ultimately landed under a row of shelving. When he saw that his enemy was still standing, he shoved Leo into the wall and launched himself at Dad in a fit of anger. But Dad saw it coming and lowered his shoulder to take the hit.

  Nolan tackled him like a linebacker, and soon the two of them were an angry heap of swinging arms and spitting curses. My hand whipped to my mouth at the sickening crunch of my dad’s shoulder ramming against the corner of a white lab bench. As they continued to fight, I scrambled to reach the death ray, but th
e barrel hung at an odd, broken angle. It was useless.

  “Sir!” A voice came from a small radio on Nolan’s shoulder. We weren’t the only ones wired for communication.

  “Sir!” the voice repeated. “You better get out of there! The police are here and they’re demanding to speak to you.”

  Martha had done it! The jolt of happiness hit me all at once. We could still corner Nolan! We just needed to stall him long enough for the police to arrest him.

  Nolan screamed with fury. He shoved Dad to the ground and stood up, wiping his bleeding lip with his palm. A smear of red stained the side of his face. Beneath him, Dad didn’t stir. Pickles dug her claws into my arm and wound her way around my neck.

  “Sorry, Nikki,” he said. “That’s my cue.” He stepped over Dad. Removing his ripped suit jacket, Nolan straightened the bloody collar of shirt and looked me in the eye. A red welt had started to bloom on his temple. “If you ever want to work with someone who recognizes your talent, let me know. You deserve better than this guy.” He winked at me. “Hope to see you again soon.”

  I was too mad to think straight. Reaching up to Pickles, I tore the ring from her collar and squeezed it in my palm. Nolan still hadn’t realized that I had it, probably because he assumed Dad would never let me even handle it. He’d underestimated Dad again. If I was going to use the element of surprise against him, it had to be now.

  I wanted nothing more than to attack him, but seeing Dad on the floor and Leo straining but failing to get to his feet jerked me back to reality. Nolan was much bigger and stronger than I was. Plus, he had a ring of his own and months or years more practice with it than I’d had.

  As much as I longed to become some kind of monster to defeat him, I couldn’t risk it. Not with Dad and Leo both needing help.

  I released my grip and pocketed the ring as Nolan turned on his heel and disappeared.

  Dad seemed to be in the most pain. But even though Nolan had gotten away, I couldn’t help feeling lucky: Dad was still alive. We were all still alive.

  “Dad!” I said. I tried to gently shake his hand to get his attention. “Can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Nikki,” he mumbled. He shoved himself up onto his elbow and stopped quickly, reeling with dizziness.

  “The police are outside.” The wound above his right eye was bleeding heavily, but it didn’t look too deep. I gently dabbed some of the blood with my sleeve. “Martha told them everything.”

  He shook his head. “Is Leo okay?”

  I found Leo, who was still catching his breath by the door. “He’ll be all right,” I confirmed. “He got shoved is all.”

  Dad’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment. He probably had a concussion, and I knew that you should never let someone fall asleep after a head injury. Dad needed medical attention, and fast.

  “Come on.” I shook him gently. “Let’s get out of here. You need a doctor.”

  He shook his head again. “I have to go after Nolan,” he said. “He won’t leave us be after this.”

  “Dad, you can barely stand up.”

  “Doesn’t … matter …” He tried again to right himself but toppled pitifully back to the floor. A trickle of red weaved its way down the side of his face. I could tell by the way his arm sat that his shoulder could be dislocated.

  Was it true? With Nolan in the picture, we would never truly be safe again. I tried to imagine what my life would have been like without Nolan lurking in the background. Dad would have been able to stay with us. On that evening seven years ago, he would have come home to tell me another bedtime story.

  I would have had a real dad all these years.

  There was only one choice left. “I’m going to stop him.”

  Dad grabbed my arm. “No, Nikki,” he said. His words were slurred, but I could still make them out. “Nolan is too dangerous. This isn’t some action movie where the good guys always win. He won’t hesitate to hurt you. We’re lucky he didn’t realize your ferret brought the ring to us. And we do have one consolation prize …”

  I blinked at him. “What’s that?”

  He held up a shaky hand, showing me a small memory stick. “Is that his?” I gasped. “That’s all the research!”

  A hint of satisfaction crossed over Dad’s face. “I need you two to do me a favor.”

  “We can talk about favors after we get you a doctor,” I said, wiping another trickle of blood from his eyebrow.

  “No, this is important.” He grabbed my hand and put the memory stick in my palm, wrapping my fingers around it. “I need you and Leo to get this to Martha and the police, okay?”

  “What?” Leo cut in. “You’re not coming with us?”

  Dad gripped my elbow for support and struggled to his feet. “I’ll be right behind you,” he promised. “But this is the last time I’ll ever be in this laboratory. There’s important work—research of my own—here. There might be something we can use against him in the future. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him.”

  I licked my lips, tasting salt. “I don’t want to leave you here. This place freaks me out.”

  Dad huffed out a weak laugh, and his glance darted to the door. “He’s long gone, Nikki. But you two really need to hurry. Get that research straight to Martha. Don’t stop for anything. She’ll know what to do with it. The authorities need to know what he’s been up to.”

  “He’s right,” Leo said gently. “Nolan could realize any minute that we’ve got his memory stick.” He touched my hand.

  I swallowed down the crushing feeling and nodded. We’d lost this one. Getting Nolan’s research to Martha would be better than nothing.

  But saving the world from his ring? We’d have to do that another day.

  “We’ll meet you downstairs,” I said, defeated. “But if you’re not there in five minutes, I’m coming right back up.”

  Dad smiled. His eyes looked clearer now—his dizziness was waning. “Just get to Martha,” he said. “I’ll see you soon.” He gave my shoulder a squeeze, and then Leo and I rushed out the door.

  We wasted no time finding the rest of our team. I’d never been so happy to see the others as I was when we reached the main entrance. The police had formed a barricade outside the building. A tiny glimmer of hope grew inside me. There was no way Nolan would be able to find his way past the authorities.

  Unless …

  The crescent moon above us caught my attention. Stars were beginning to sparkle in the night sky, and the red and blue lights on top of the police cars danced with them, sending their beams all the way to the rooftops.

  The police rushed us, but once they realized we were kids, they let us pass without question and shuffled us to the paramedics, who checked for injuries. Kids couldn’t wield dangerous inventions or be genius scientists, right?

  If they only knew.

  Once the paramedics finished, Grace waved us over. Charlie was her human self again, and Mo, Bert, and Martha bounced with anticipation for us to join them. But the best sight? Mary, still in one piece! Tears filled my eyes as I rushed over to give her a hug.

  “I’m so glad you’re all right!” Mary exclaimed.

  “That I’m all right?!” I sputtered, holding her by the shoulders to check her over. Thankfully, she looked downright normal. Hadn’t she just been taken hostage by dangerous criminals? “You’re the one who got kidnapped! I’m so sorry, Mary.” I gulped and hugged her again.

  She tucked a rogue lock of frizzy hair behind her ear. “Please. I never doubted for a second that you guys would rescue me. Besides, you promised me during our last life-or-death simulation that you’d make me your top priority. Right?” She fake-glared at me and giggled.

  “That’s true.” I sighed. “You can always count on me. But why on earth would you tell them you knew something about the ring?! You could have been killed, Mary.” I clamped my mouth shut after saying it, worried I’d jinx the good fortune that had kept her safe.

  “I told her the same thing.�
�� In her usual fashion, Martha had snuck up beside us like an invisible cat. She stretched her arm out to give me a brief hug. “I’m happy to see you safe and sound, too, Nikki.”

  Seeing Martha out of her usual environment was weird, but my spirits lifted just to have her nearby. This was the first time she’d flown in on a mission since I’d joined the Academy, and hearing her calm, collected voice was like getting a pep talk without all the cheesy mantras.

  “Oh!” I remembered Dad’s instructions. I handed her the small memory stick he’d given me. “This is for you.” I presented it with a little flourish. “It’s Nolan’s research. Dad stole it off him when they were fighting.”

  She took the memory stick and turned it over in her palm. Bert, who had been chatting with Leo a few feet away, did a double take and trotted over to us.

  “Hey!” he said, pointing to me. “Did Mike give that to you? Those are my plans for the fireworks—Mike wanted to borrow the research to check out and …” His mouth dropped open as he noticed the look on my face. “Annnd I’ve said something wrong, haven’t I? You don’t mind that I shared it with him, do you?”

  “Fireworks?” I shook my head. He had to be mistaken. “Dad got this from Nolan directly. They fought and he stole it.”

  My skin began to prickle.

  Bert pinched his lips together. “No,” he said. “Sorry, Nik, but this is my memory stick. Look.” He grabbed it from Martha and flipped it over, showing me the small BE monogrammed in silver.

  Bert Einstein.

  Beside him, the color drained from Leo’s face.

  My head snapped back toward the building. I replayed the events in the lab, desperate to find a loophole that meant Dad hadn’t lied, that he was taking his time getting back to us. There had to be some mistake, some miscommunication. He should really be out of there by now …