Foreverland by Nicole C. Kear

Author:Nicole C. Kear
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Imprint

CHAPTER 20

Jaime takes off running, then turns left down a smaller path. If I can barely keep up with him when he’s walking, then I don’t stand a chance when he’s sprinting.

By the time I catch up to him—which I do only because he finally stops—my lungs are about to burst.

We’re standing in an empty area, in between the Majestic Theater and a gift shop that sells customized magic wands. It’s pretty deserted. He sits on a bench and pulls something out of his pocket.

I brace myself for a curling iron or a meat cleaver, but what he’s pulling out is a walkie-talkie. A small, black, official-looking radio exactly like the one Schmidt was using. He turns a knob and it makes a crackly noise.

“What are you doing?” I whisper, sitting down next to him on the bench.

“You don’t have to whisper,” he says. “They can’t hear us unless I press the TALK button.”

“Where’d you get that?”

“Tell you later.”

“I’m keeping track of the info you owe me, by the way,” I say. “So don’t think—”

“Shhhh. I can’t hear.”

“But nobody’s talking.”

“Exactly.”

I have no idea what he’s talking about, which is a familiar feeling by now. So I just get up and walk over to the water fountain nearby because it’s about 150 degrees and I feel like I’ve just run a marathon. Jaime, on the other hand, hasn’t even broken a sweat.

When I get back to the bench, I ask, “Where are we, anyway?”

He stands and points over the top of a high row of bushes to our left. I make out the back side of the security booth with the Valuables Lost and Found. Then Jaime starts talking, fast.

“Okay, I know you love plans, so I got one for you. You ready?”

I nod.

“Step 1: You run into the Lost and Found and get your backpack.”

I wait for him to continue, but that’s it. That’s the whole plan.

“That’s not a plan. That’s a telegram.”

“What’s a telegram?”

“You don’t—”

He shakes his head. “Whatever, not the point. You ready?”

“No!” I almost shout. “What about Schmidt? How am I supposed to get by him?”

“Schmidt’s going to run out of that security booth in a minute, and he’s going to leave in a hurry, which means he probably won’t lock the door on his way out.”

“Annnnnd?”

“And you’re going to run in, grab the backpack, and run back here.”

“What if someone else is there?”

“No one will be there.”

“What about dogs? Police dogs?”

Jaime tilts his chin down and stares at me for a long second without saying anything. “What if your backpack is being guarded by police dogs? For real?”

I shrug. “It’s possible.”

“Well, yeah,” Jaime says. “Anything’s possible. But I think police dogs probably have better stuff to do. Like catching drug lords and all that.”

He shakes his head. “Why am I even talking about this? There are no police dogs here. You’re getting us off track.”

“I’m getting us off track?” I say. In all the time I’ve spent with Jaime, I don’t think he’s even been within miles of the track.

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