Ellie: Get up here now.
By here, Ellie means the main office where she’s still an aide. Claiming it’s an emergency, I ask Mr. Allen if I can use the bathroom. I then hurry through the hall, taking the steps two at a time as I head for the office. As I pass the girls’ bathroom just off the lobby, the door opens and Ellie pulls me inside.
“What are you doing?”
“Relax, no one’s in here,” she says. “Something big is going on. A couple men in suits looking all official came in earlier. They said something to Mrs. Engen, and she turned so pale I thought she might pass out. All the aides were told to go to the library for the rest of the period. I doubled back and came in here. Stranko came out and offered to shake hands, but they wouldn’t take it. They’re all up in his office right now.”
“Who are they?”
“I’m not sure, but they weren’t very friendly looking.”
“I don’t get it,” I say. “What does this have to do with me?”
“I’ll show you.”
Ellie checks the hall to make sure it’s safe, and we step out, giving us a clear shot of the lobby.
“That,” Ellie says, and I look to where she’s pointing.
Oh.
Taped above the office door on the glass frame is one of our replica Chaos Club cards.
“Wheeler,” I say.
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
“This can’t be good.”
“Where are you going?” Ellie asks.
“To find out what Wheeler did.”
Two minutes later, I find Wheeler in the foreign language lab. He’s at a computer with headphones on, repeating into a microphone what the animated Spanish-speaking mouse on the screen is saying. Wheeler’s so focused it takes a second to get his attention.
“What did you do?” I say once he joins me in the hall.
“Huh?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Men in suits came into Stranko’s office. Ellie saw the Chaos Club card you put up.”
An evil, satisfied smile slowly creeps across Wheeler’s face.
“Oh man, it worked.”
“What the hell did you do, Dave?”
“Nothing big. I just sent a couple emails from Stranko’s account.”
“Didn’t he deactivate it by now?”
“Yeah, but I can still use his email by logging into his office computer. This building is basically deserted if you get here early enough.”
I’m afraid to ask, but I have to.
“What were the messages?”
“Just some private thoughts Stranko shared with the White House. It turns out he really doesn’t agree with a lot of the president’s policies. Apparently, he’s angry enough to make some very specific threats.”
“So those guys—”
“Are probably Secret Service,” Wheeler finishes, and once he starts laughing, he can’t stop. “Did they take him out in handcuffs? Please tell me they did.”
“It’s not funny, Wheeler. He could end up in jail. I’m no fan of Stranko’s, but he’s never going to stop looking for us now. Don’t you get that? You didn’t take care of anything. You’ve just pissed him off for eternity.”
“He’ll get over it.”
“You’ve committed a federal crime, Wheeler.”
“Oh, just stop. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No, but I do know I’m not done with Stranko yet.”
“What’s next? Framing him for murder?”
He only answers with raised eyebrows.
I walk back to Navarro’s room, expecting the Secret Service to drop out of the ceiling to waterboard me in the janitor’s closet. The two granola bars and can of Red Bull I downed after second period crash in my stomach like a tidal wave reaching land.
I’d talked myself into being okay with Adleta’s and Malone’s pranks, justifying what they did by believing the lie that their victims deserved the revenge, but Wheeler’s crosses a line I can’t ignore. Potential federal prosecution will do that to a guy.
Back in Navarro’s room, I send a text to all the other members of the Water Tower Five.
Meet in the theater before lunch.
? ? ?
The rest of the crew is already at the front of the stage when I walk in an hour later. I can hear them even from the back of the theater, and they’re making no effort to hide their conversation.
“Oh man,” Adleta’s saying. “Practice is going to suck tonight.”
“Sorry about that,” Wheeler says.
“No, it’s worth it. I only wish we could’ve heard those Secret Service guys grilling him. I hope they did a full body-cavity search.”
“They looked so serious,” Ellie says. “I’ll bet Stranko had to change his boxers afterward.”
“Yeah, I wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall in that meeting,” Malone says.
Wheeler sees me coming and says, “Max is pissed at me though.”
Malone says to me, “You’re worried he’ll get caught?”
“Partially that, yeah.”