“That,” I said, carefully, “I don’t know. Yet. But I figure if we can uncover it, then we have a bargaining chip with Butler. We can make the retraction stuff all go away, and end whatever they’re doing too. No way this is all above board. Butler’s too determined to keep it hidden.”
“Huh. Okay.” Devin leaned back. “Apology accepted. I’m in.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about this before?” Maddy asked.
“I told you, I didn’t want to get you in trouble. With or without extra sprinkles. I wanted to know more before I brought you guys in. But we’ve run out of time for that . . . and I’m not sure I can do this on my own.”
James still hadn’t said anything.
Finally, he did. “Corporate donations to the school have increased big time in the last couple years. Butler’s brought in a whole bunch of companies to form research partnerships. I’ve met some of the senior execs from Advanced Research at fundraisers for Dad, and I’d believe they’re into anything, as long as it’s something they aren’t supposed to be into.”
“I heard Butler got a whole bunch of new computers from them early this year,” I agreed.
“Could that be a bribe? Or a pay-off, at least?” James asked.
I wouldn’t have banked on anything James had to say being helpful. But he was surprising me. “Could be. At least, a pay-off of a sort. You know Butler well enough to know he wants to shoot foxes or skeet shoot or whatever the nouveau riche do to pretend they’re your kind, with generations of money. I think he wants the connections. The power.”
James didn’t disagree, though he shifted in his seat when I mentioned his kind of rich people.
“Is there any way for us to figure out when Hydra started taking up the Warheads’ afternoons?” he asked. “We could see if it matches up with the donation.”
Devin considered. “I looked back at last semester on a couple of their records the other day and it wasn’t there. Looked like a new thing, this semester only, so can’t be longer than a few weeks? They could have been going over the summer, I guess—but if they were, it didn’t show up on their transcripts.”
“Whether it coincides exactly or not, it’s probably not a coincidence,” I said, throwing James a bone.
I didn’t need to bust his chops about his family all the time. It’s not like anyone got to choose who they were related to, not really.
“How are we going to find out what they’re doing in time?” Devin said. “I could try hacking into Advanced Research’s system, but it’ll be way tougher than the school’s firewall. It would take me days. If I could do it, it would be after Monday.”
Monday was Perry’s deadline. We couldn’t risk waiting that long. “And if you got busted, you could be in real trouble,” I pointed out.
Not that a little thing like that would stop me, but I didn’t intend to get these guys in any more trouble if I could avoid it.
So I decided on a course of action. I would get into the lab, but not quite yet. I wanted a better idea of what was happening once the Warheads arrived there. And if my luck didn’t screw things up, what I had in mind would be enough evidence to convince Perry why the retraction request had been made. Enough to save the Scoop.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll bug them.”
“With killer bees, or . . . ?” Devin trailed off.
“No, not with killer bees.” I rolled my eyes. “With a small unlikely-to-be-detected sound-and-heat-signature-capturing device. A bug. I figure Anavi will be the easiest to slip one onto. She always carries her backpack. If we do it first thing Monday morning, we should have enough for Perry by the end of the day. I’ll be the responsible party and take the heat if someone has to, so don’t worry about getting caught.”
Assuming we wouldn’t get enough information from this method, I was working up a plan B . . . or was it a plan C? But the rest of them really didn’t need to be involved in that. I had learned my lesson, though probably not the one Butler intended: don’t get people in trouble if you want them to be your friends.
The plan, plan A, my original plan when I arrived in Metropolis—well, that was toast. My dad and I would have to work something else out. Because I had no choice but to get in trouble. To not fit in. To make enemies and rock the boat so hard it might capsize with me in it.
No choice but to do what was right.
“A bug.” James was shaking his head, the old disbelief back. “Where would you get one?”
Just when I was feeling like James might be all right. “Doubting me? Have a little faith. I’ll bring it to school.”
I happened to know that Dad had a stockpile of all sorts of handy tools in a locked cabinet in his office. Finding the key would be a challenge, but I was up for it. And once I did I’d have access to all kinds of things, like the latest generation of listening devices and spy gear.
I focused on Maddy. “You think you’re up to helping me plant the bug?”
“Oh, yes, definitely,” Maddy answered instantly. “Are there videos I can watch to get ready? Research I can do?”