Public Enemies by Gordon Korman

Author:Gordon Korman [Korman, Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Meg heard the thump, sat bolt upright, and got a faceful of plush castle.

What the —

Then she remembered. The Book Nook.

A shaft of harsh sunlight assailed her bleary eyes. Morning! Head in a fog, she searched the walls for a clock.

Eight-thirty. Oh, no! The library opens at nine!

Another thump. She peered out the window. Car doors! The staff was already arriving for the day!

She shook her brother. “Aiden, get up!”

He rolled over. “Wha —”

“We overslept! We’ve got to get back to the bathrooms! Now!”

One advantage of life on the run was that the Falconers had learned to go from deep sleep to frenzied action in the blink of an eye. They were out of the Book Nook, sprinting through the periodical section, when they heard the key in the lock.

Meg came to a stop so suddenly that Aiden ran into her from behind. The bathrooms were thirty feet away, but for them it might as well have been thirty miles. To get there, the fugitives would have to cross the glass entrance of the library — five feet in front of the employee at the door.

The door swung open, and in stepped a young man in a tweed jacket. Aiden and Meg stood frozen as he began switching on lights. Never before had they been trapped in a place with absolutely zero cover, without so much as a potted plant to hide behind or a shadow to lurk in.

The new arrival set down a briefcase, a newspaper, and a carton full of books. Meg calculated their chances of escape. If we bolt, will he grab us? Or will he be so surprised …

The man turned. In half a second, he’d be looking right at them.

Run —

Just as Meg was about to fly, dragging her brother behind him, the man walked back out to his car.

It was the kind of luck Aiden and Meg knew not to waste. They blasted past the entrance and disappeared into the bathrooms.

In a stall, perched on the toilet tank, Meg had to press down with both feet to keep the trembling of her legs from rattling the seat.

* * *

It took twenty minutes for the machine-gun beating of Aiden’s heart to return to normal. Every time someone entered the bathroom, he practically jumped out of his skin.

Calm down, he tried to soothe himself. This is what you’ve been waiting for. The sooner the library is reasonably crowded, the sooner you can get out of here without attracting attention.

He heard the door open with its characteristic squeak. Two men entered in mid-conversation.

“… I don’t know what takes more guts — running from the FBI or going toe-to-toe with the Mouth of America.”

“Look who you’re admiring,” the second man commented. “She’s an outlaw; her brother, too! They’re probably both traitors, same as the parents.”

“According to the girl, the parents are innocent.”

“Yeah, and so was Al Capone. Some kid calls up the Mouth and says she’s right and the entire United States government is wrong. Get real.”

“I don’t know.

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