Kathy Reichs - Virals

“Where are our prints? On this surface they should have lasted several weeks.”

“Maybe the janitor cleaned the machine,” said Hi.

“Or someone wiped it down,” said Ben. “To remove their own prints.”

Crap.

We’d broken into a government building for nothing. I was about to concede defeat, then had one last idea.

“Let’s check the Gazette film before we leave. No one else would’ve pulled that reel.”

Hi groaned, but hurried to retrieve it.

“Don’t touch it yourself!” Loud whisper.

Using his cat burglar mask to cover his hands, Hi teased the correct volume from the shelf and set it on the table.

Touching only the edges, I crisscrossed the reel with the light.

Nothing.

Disappointed, I scanned the opposite side.

Bold as high noon, an oval glowed white.

Repressing a squeal of delight, I dusted with the powder. The print emerged in spectacular detail.

“I’ll be damned,” Ben muttered under his breath.

“Let’s bag her and scram.” Shelton handed me a roll of scotch tape and an index card.

Moving cautiously, I pressed a section of tape over the powdered print. Then I pulled it back and stuck it on the card. A gray swirly pattern transferred to the paper.

Finally something went right.

For a nanosecond.

Thunk.

A car door slammed.

Hi raced to the window.

“Damn!”

Flashing blue-and-red light bathed his face.

“Outside!” he yelped. “Cops!”

CHAPTER 31

I hit the deck, crawled to the window, and peeked over the sill.

Two police cruisers were parked outside. Three officers stood in a group, flashlights probing the library grounds.

“How?” I couldn’t muster more. It didn’t seem real.

We were in major trouble. Those were real-deal cops, and this was a no-joke breaking and entering. Our parents couldn’t bail us out of this one.

“Silent alarm?” Hi’s head was buried in his hands. “Motion detectors? Psychics?”

“Oh man, we’re the worst burglars ever!” Shelton lay on the floor, defeated by the roller-coaster ride of the last few days. “Forget it. I give up!”

Ben popped Shelton on the head, conveying his opinion of surrender. Then, hunched over, he scuttled to the door to check the main lobby.

“Two more cops out front. We can’t go that way.”

He moved to a fire exit at the back of the room. Found the door unlocked.

Like rats fleeing a cage, we scurried down the stairs. Back on the ground floor, we slipped into the room through which we’d entered the building.

From the direction of the front entrance, I heard keys rattle. Hinges creak. Voices.

I pulled the door closed.

“5-0 in the alley!” Shelton hissed. “Down!”

I dropped like a boulder.

A cruiser was slowly rolling up the alley, its radio sputtering static. It stopped outside our window. A powerful beam shot through the glass. Red and blue lights swirled on the walls.

I lay on the floor, motionless, barely breathing. Thanking every deity I knew that we’d closed the window coming in.

The spotlight sniffed the corners of our hidey-hole. My heart banged like a kettledrum. My cheek pressed deeper into the musty old carpet. My nose inhaled decades of library grime.

An eon passed. I was sure we’d been spotted. The room seemed far too small to hide four teenagers.

Finally, the cruiser edged forward down the alley.

No one budged.

A knob rattled. Close. Footsteps clicked and echoed in the hallway. Adrenaline did another loop of my body.

Cops. Inside. Hunting room-to-room.

The door had no lock. I waved frantically at the others.

They got the message.

The blue and red lights faded. The alley went dark as the cruiser turned the corner.

Ben sprang to his feet and threw up the window. I scrambled out, flew across the alley, and dove into the bushes on the far side.

Hi followed. Shelton. Ben emerged last. I watched him struggle to shut the window. The sash inched downward, jammed a hair short of closed.

My pulse went bonkers.

Move! Get out of there!

Ben gave up and ran for the bushes. He was halfway across the alley when another squad car rounded the corner, spotlight slicing the darkness.

Ben blasted through the azaleas and kept on running. Shelton, Hi, and I followed. No one looked back.

Heedless of the dark and the fog, we ran through the night. Even Hi, whose fear of arrest trumped his physical imperfection.

Two blocks from the library, we heard a siren wail, then saw a squad car zip by. The fog? Who knew. The cops failed to note the frazzled teens bombing through the streets.

We pumped on. A shame no one recorded our sprint times. Personal bests were undoubtedly set.

Ten minutes later we were aboard Sewee , gasping and puffing, sweat coating every inch of our bodies.

Ben started the engine, Shelton untied the lines, and we nosed into the misty harbor. The water was as still and flat as glass. Hushed. Unruffled. A welcome offset to the turbulence of the last hour.

I was enjoying the serenity when Shelton snorted, then cackled.

“We may suck at breaking in to places, but we’re money at sneaking out !”

Shelton’s laughter was contagious. Hi chuckled, then lost his breath and ended up coughing.

This only made things funnier. I started to giggle. Even Ben got caught up, hooting into the wind as he steered. Pent-up tension evaporated into the night.

I slid next to Hi.

“You okay?”

When Hi looked up, his eyes were pinched, and his jaw was skewed at an unnatural angle. He started to speak, but his lips froze. For a second his pupils glinted in the moonlight. Then his eyes rolled backward into his head.

“Hi!” I screamed.

Hi slumped forward, unconscious. I lunged to catch him before his head smacked the deck.

“Ben!” I yelled. “Something’s wrong with Hi!”

Ben cut the motor and hurried to join me in the stern. Though Hi was out, he was breathing normally.

“Did he crack his head on something?” I struggled to remember how to treat a concussion.

“Hiram, wake up man!” Shelton slapped Hi’s cheeks, then rubbed his arms. Not exactly Web MD stuff. I gently eased Shelton back.

Hi’s lids rose slowly, revealing eyes that looked very wrong. His soft brown irises were gone, replaced by golden orbs split by dark, black pupils.

Driven by instinct, I backpedaled, stumbled. Hit the floorboards.

What was that?!?!?

“Something happened to his eyes!” I said.

Ben and Shelton stared in my direction. Neither had been close enough to see. They moved to Hi, expecting the worst.

Hi blinked. Sat up. His irises were their normal chestnut brown.

“That felt weird.” Hiram shook his head, trying to realign his thoughts. “Did I black out?”

“Yep,” answered Shelton. “You okay? Your eyes working all right?”

Hi raised and lowered his lids. “Of course.” Then his voice went high. “Wait, why? What’s wrong? Is one hanging out or something? Tell me!”

Shelton and Ben glanced my way.

“Nothing, Hi, my fault,” I said. “It must’ve been a trick of the light. Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

It was true. His eyes looked fine. Whatever I saw was gone. Or never existed.

“This is what happens when a jellybelly tries sprinting a mile,” teased Shelton.

“I don’t see you on the track team, pal.”

“Let’s get home.” Ben moved to the wheel. “It’s past two, and we’ve got school tomorrow.”