Killer Mission Read online

I glanced over at Patton again, just in time to see him shift positions. A corner of the rag fell away, revealing one of his cheeks.

  Bile rose to my throat. The dude’s face looked like raw hamburger meat. It was basically one big oozing blister. Ouch. I have a pretty strong stomach, but I had to turn away.

  “I guess I called you in a panic, Frank, thinking you might be able to help get us out of this mess,” Spencer admitted. “You know—since we’re not supposed to be doing any frat stuff right now. But when I got a closer look at Patton’s face, I knew I’d just have to face the music.”

  The wail of an ambulance cut through the commotion. Patton let out another moan.

  “Did anyone call Dr. Darity?” I asked.

  Spencer shook his head, then squared his shoulders. “No. But I guess I’ll go do that now. It might be better to tell him in person—I’m sure the ambulance has woken him up by now.”

  He hurried off. A moment later the paramedics bustled in and then out again with Patton.

  “Think he’s going to be okay?” I asked.

  “Hope so.” Frank glanced around. “But let’s let the experts take care of that part. We should try to figure out what happened.”

  We stuck around for a while, trying to question people. But everyone was too upset to make much sense. The guys who’d put together the stuff for the ritual explained that they’d set it up that morning before classes. A few of the things had spent the day in the fridge, and others had been in the basement. Either way, just about anyone could have messed with them. The house was never locked.

  The paramedics had taken the acid-laced egg bowl away with them. So that left us pretty much nowhere. We took a quick look around the basement but didn’t find anything useful down there.

  I noticed Frank stifling a yawn. I knew how he felt.

  “Should we head out?” I said. “We’re not doing much good here.”

  “Might as well,” said Frank. “Can you e-mail HQ about this? I’d do it, but Zeke—”

  “No problem. I’m on it.”

  We left the house and headed down the path. “Here we are,” Frank said as we reached the turn-off for my cottage. “I’ll see you in the—”

  “WOOF!”

  A big, furry shape burst out of the darkness. Killer. He flung himself happily at Frank.

  “What the—,” I muttered. I took off for the cottage.

  Frank followed, with Killer frisking at his heels. “Did you run out so fast you left the door open?” he panted.

  “Dude! I was sleepy, but not that sleepy!” I put on a burst of speed as we neared the cottage. The door was standing ajar.

  We did the ATAC agent thing, slowing down and creeping up on the place. But I guess Killer didn’t get the memo to be careful. He just trotted right on in.

  “Oh, man!” I said to Frank. “Stay here and back me up. I’m going in.”

  Leaving my brother lurking just outside, I stepped carefully inside. Standing there in front of the refrigerator was . . . Destiny?!?

  “What are you doing here?” I blurted out in surprise.

  She turned to face me. She was dressed in sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt, and her thick hair was rumpled. Somehow, it all made her look hotter than ever.

  “Hi, cutie. Guess you caught me this time.” She didn’t even sound embarrassed.

  “This time?” I echoed. “Wait—are you the one who broke in here those other times?”

  “Guilty. I’ve been checking you out ever since you got here.” She sashayed toward me. The way she was smiling at me was kind of distracting, but I did my best to keep myself on message.

  “So that was your gum,” I murmured, casting a glance over my shoulder in the direction of the still-hidden Frank.

  “What was that?”

  “Uh, nothing.” I wondered how much Destiny had seen while snooping around. Did she suspect why I was really here? “Why have you been spying on me?”

  She was standing right in front of me by now. Tilting her head to one side, she looked at me appraisingly.

  “Why do you think? You’re a guy, right? And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a girl.” She sort of stretched when she said that. Gulp. Yeah, definitely distracting.

  “In case you haven’t noticed, there are better ways to ask a guy out than creeping around raiding his refrigerator,” I countered.

  She laughed a lot harder than the lame joke warranted. “You’re awesome,” she said, taking yet another step closer. “It’s going to be a blast sneaking around with you. Not to mention watching Dad’s head explode when he finds out I’ve been dating the help.”

  “Come on,” I said, trying not to notice how good she smelled. “Your dad doesn’t seem like the type to mind something like that.”

  “Don’t be so sure.” She smirked. “I bet he’d freak if he knew one of his oh-so-proper teachers was sneaking around with that gross dog woman he fired too. . . .”

  Despite being totally distracted, my mind immediately picked up on that one. Of course! Mr. Westerley was secretly dating Hunt Hunter!

  That cleared up a few things. For one, it explained the incident with Killer outside the teacher’s office. Hunt must have been inside, and the dog had smelled her and gotten excited to see his old friend. When Westerley had gone back inside, he’d grabbed some liver snaps from Hunt and told her to climb out that open window.

  This explained catching Westerley tiptoeing along those snowy trails, too, and seeing Hunt skiing in the woods. The two of them must have set up a regular meeting spot out there. I guessed this also meant Hunt was probably the one who’d let Killer loose in the cottage right before I arrived—maybe she’d stopped in to visit him on her way to see her boyfriend. And when she saw me coming, she hadn’t had time to put him back in the kennel.

  “Hey,” Destiny purred, breaking me out of my thoughts. She poked me in the chest with one finger and leaned so close I could smell her gum. Spearmint. “What do you think? Want to have some fun, or are you too afraid of my dad?”

  I gulped, not sure what to say to that. Okay, I knew what I wanted to say. But I was here for work, not pleasure.

  Someone cleared their throat behind me. I glanced back and saw Frank stepping into view in the doorway.

  “Excuse me,” he said loudly. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  Destiny scowled and backed away. “As a matter of fact, you are.”

  “Sorry,” said Frank, not sounding sorry at all. “But I’m afraid I have to borrow my cousin right now.”

  For a second Destiny looked ready to argue. Or maybe even haul off and slap him one like she’d done to Lee that time.

  Instead she whirled and stomped toward the door. “Fine,” she tossed over her shoulder. “But I’ll be back, Joe. You can count on it. We’re meant to be together.”

  Then she was gone.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way,” Frank said. “But your new girlfriend’s kind of a psycho.”

  “Psycho, maybe. Hot? Definitely.”

  Just then my laptop let out a beep. It was an e-mail from HQ. Talk about timing!

  The researchers had finally tracked down Chip. “Says he’s in New York,” I said, scanning the message. “Just started a job with Marks Industries.”

  “Marks Industries?” Frank raised an eyebrow. “As in Ellery Marks?” His phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looking surprised. “Hello?” he said into it.

  He listened for a moment, looking increasingly worried. Finally he spoke again.

  “Got it,” he told the caller. “We’ll be right there.”

  “Who was that?”

  “Spencer. He just got out of his meeting with Darity.” Frank grabbed Killer’s leash off its hook and attached it to the dog’s collar. “When he got back to the house, he found out nobody’s seen Ellery since the beginning of the ritual. Considering what happened to Patton, everyone’s pretty worried.”

  “No wonder,” I said, catching on right away. “Whoever’s doing
this seems to be targeting the pledges. We’d better track Ellery down and make sure he’s safe.”

  We grabbed a couple of flashlights and hurried back out into the night. This time Killer came along. I figured he might come in handy.

  When we reached the frat house, everyone was still there—and more anxious than ever. “We’ve been trying Ellery’s phone,” one of the seniors said. “No answer.”

  “That’s not like him,” someone else added. “He always answers his phone. Even during class. The teachers hate it.”

  Just then Dr. Darity arrived on the scene. He looked rumpled and sleepy and a little confused. But he did his best to take charge, ordering everyone back to their dorms.

  But no one paid much attention. I guessed they were all too worried. Especially Spencer, who looked really freaked out.

  “I’ll never forgive myself if another pledge is hurt—especially Ellery,” he moaned. “We have to find him!”

  “Leave that to me,” Darity put in. “I imagine Ellery just went to visit his parents or something.”

  Yeah, right. Ellery just had a sudden urge to spend time with Mommy and Daddy? In the middle of the night? During a frat ritual?

  “We need to know he’s okay, Dr. D!” someone called out.

  Another pledge nodded. “Yeah. Ellery’s our brother.”

  I stepped toward the headmaster. “The more people we have looking, the more likely we are to find him,” I said. “You might as well let them help.”

  Darity looked ready to argue. But then he sighed. “Fine,” he said. “I suppose we’ll all feel better once we locate him.”

  He sent a pledge off to the guest housing to see if Ellery was with his parents. In the meantime, Lee noticed Killer sitting by Frank’s side.

  “Hey, he’s a police dog, right?” he said. “Let’s give him something of Ellery’s to smell. Maybe he can track him.”

  Soon someone was shoving a jacket in front of Killer’s nose. The dog sniffed at it, then glanced at Frank.

  “Find him, boy,” Frank urged. Then he leaned down and unclipped his leash.

  That was all Killer was waiting for. He took off through the door, barking loudly.

  “Are you sure that was a good idea?” I asked Frank as we both sprinted after him, with Darity and most of GTT right behind us. “How do we know he’s really tracking and not just making a break for freedom?”

  “Look.” Frank pointed. Killer had stopped at the path. His nose was to the ground, sniffing around busily.

  It was actually pretty impressive. The dog would follow one trail for a yard or two, then double back and try another.

  Finally he seemed to find the scent he wanted. With a flurry of barks, he took off again.

  For the next half hour, Killer led us all on a merry chase. We ran across campus, then headed into the woods. Then deeper into the woods. Really deep.

  There was a moon, and Frank and I had our flash-lights. Even so, it wasn’t easy going. The footing stunk. There were vines and thorns everywhere.

  I spent most of my spare energy trying to keep Killer in sight. But once in a while I glanced back to see how the others were keeping up. The group kept shrinking with every passing minute.

  When Killer paused at the bank of a creek, Frank looked worried. “Uh-oh,” he said. “Hope he doesn’t lose the trail here.”

  But Killer leaped across the creek. He only sniffed around for a second before he let out an excited bark. Then he continued to follow his nose.

  Farther, deeper into the woods . . . Once again, I couldn’t help wondering if the dog was just messing with us. For all we knew, he could be tracking a deer or a squirrel. That police training had been a long time ago.

  “Look!” Frank shouted, pointing ahead.

  I gasped as I saw what he’d just seen. Lights! Something was definitely flickering through the trees.

  “What’s that?” Dr. Darity was breathing so hard he could barely get the words out as he caught up to us.

  I was surprised. And kind of impressed. By now almost everyone had dropped back except for Spencer and two or three others. I hadn’t even noticed that the headmaster was among them.

  “Looks like someone’s up there,” said Frank.

  “But who?” Darity sounded confused. “This part of the forest is completely uninhabited. It’s all Firth land in this direction.”

  “Well, somebody’s up there,” I said, my gaze trained on the flickering light. “Come on, let’s find out who.”

  Killer had disappeared by now. From somewhere up ahead, he let out several loud, fierce barks.

  “Hurry!” Frank took off, with the rest of us right behind him.

  We burst out into a clearing. A small but tidy hunting hut stood in the middle. That was where the light was coming from. It spilled out through the windows into the clearing, illuminating a startling sight.

  Ellery was standing there. He was holding a huge knife in one hand. And he was staring angrily at his own father!

  Blood Brothers

  I froze, not sure what to do. Nobody else seemed to know how to react either.

  Except Killer. He lunged forward, knocking Ellery down. The knife flew out of his hand.

  I dove for it. My hand closed over the handle, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hey!” Ellery yelled.

  Then everyone started talking at once. Dr. Darity tried to call for quiet, but nobody paid any attention.

  “Silence!” Mr. Marks thundered.

  That did the trick. When that guy talked, people listened. It was no wonder he was a huge business success.

  “That’s better,” he grumbled. “I’m not sure what you’re all doing here, but this is no business of yours. I’ll thank you to leave my son and me alone. Now.”

  I opened my mouth to protest. But Ellery spoke first.

  “Get real, Dad,” he said. For once he didn’t look calm, cool, collected, and cynical. There was a haunted look in his eyes. “It’s too late. They’re all going to know now.”

  “Know what?” Spencer sounded confused. I knew how he felt.

  Ellery swallowed hard. “It was me,” he said. “It was all me. All the graffiti, the threats—I did it because I don’t want to be in GTT.” He glared at his father. “And I especially didn’t want to join the Brothers of Erebus.”

  “The whos of what?” Joe asked.

  Mr. Marks looked furious. “Shut up!” he hissed at his son.

  But Ellery wouldn’t be stopped. “It’s this stupid secret society,” he told us all. “Like a frat within a frat—the members are all from GTT, but not all the GTT brothers even know it exists. It’s like the power center of GTT. Of Firth, for that matter.”

  “That’s enough.” The tone of Mr. Marks’s voice made my blood run cold.

  “Dr. Montgomery is a member,” Ellery went on. “And my dear old pop here was president in his day.” He turned and sneered at Spencer. “And don’t look so shocked, Mr. President. I knew all along that’s why you were such a big supporter of my bid. You knew my father’s rep, and you wanted to make sure you were the one who brought in the next generation.”

  “You mean you’re in this Erebus group too?” Joe asked Spencer.

  Spencer didn’t respond. Or meet his eye. That seemed answer enough.

  Ellery shrugged. “I always knew I wasn’t cut out for that kind of thing. I don’t crave power or any of that. I just want to play with my cameras.” He shot his father another sour look. “But that was never enough, was it, Dad?”

  “But why’d you cause all that trouble?” Joe asked. “Why not just say you didn’t want to pledge?”

  “I tried. Nobody believed me. After all,” he added, his old sarcastic tone back full force, “everybody wants to be in GTT.” He shook his head. “I did everything I could to make myself undesirable as a brother. But nothing worked. Not talking back to the actives, or refusing to take part in the hazing, or making fun of the whole rush thing. If anything, it seemed to make them want
me more.”

  “Ellery . . . ,” Spencer began in a choked-up voice.

  “And then I saw that you guys were planning to admit Lewis despite his even worse personality issues.” Ellery shook his head. “So I decided to stop messing around with the minor-league stuff. Desperate times called for desperate measures.”

  “Like attacking your own father?” I asked, glancing at the knife in my hand.

  “That’s pretty desperate,” Joe said.

  “That’s not what was happening here,” Mr. Marks said. His voice suddenly sounded less commanding than weary. “Ellery wasn’t about to attack me. He was trying to attack himself.”

  “Yeah,” Ellery said. Seeing our shocked looks, he added, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not stupid enough to actually off myself or anything. I just figured if I cut myself up some, I’d have to leave school for a while. That way I could avoid the whole issue. Especially since I just found out after I planted that acid that Dr. Montgomery and the trustees have ordered the frats back in business starting tomorrow.”

  “What?” Darity blurted out, looking startled. “You must be mistaken. I didn’t authorize any such thing.”

  “Well, you’re not a Brother,” Ellery sneered. “So I wouldn’t expect you to know much.”

  “Enough, son,” Marks barked out sharply. Then he turned and stormed off into the darkness.

  “Hang on, Mr. Marks . . .” Darity took off after him.

  Spencer and the other GTTers were sort of milling around, leaving me and Joe to continue questioning Ellery. He actually seemed calmer now that he’d said his piece. He even wandered over to Killer and gave him a pat.

  That reminded me of something. “The dog attack,” I said. “What was that about?”

  “What dog attack?” Ellery rolled his eyes. “It never happened. I just wanted to get that nutty Hunt woman fired.”

  “Why?” Joe asked.

  Ellery shrugged. “I was afraid she’d seen me messing with that fuse. Didn’t want her to rat me out, so I faked the whole attack. Even paid off that Chip guy to play false witness, and made sure my mother heard about it so she’d get hysterical and call the school to make sure Hunt got fired.”

  I stared at the bandage on his arm. “So that’s all for show?”