Enders Read Free Page B

looked up from the airscreen.
    “Are you all right?” he asked.
    You know what I can do now, Callie. Understand?
    I nodded.
    “Can you continue?” the detective asked.
    “The girl seemed nervous. She was looking around.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Go on.”
    “She stood in front of the shoe store. All of a sudden, there was an explosion. I closed my eyes. And—and then I saw she was dead. She must have had the bomb on her.” My voice broke as the pain of the awful memory returned.
    He looked at me. His expression softened and he seemed sympathetic. I almost wanted to tell him the truth. But I didn’t dare.
    “That’s all I know,” I said.
    He detained me a while longer. I saw Tyler stand. Michael escorted him in the direction of the long walk to the mall exit.

    By the time I left the interrogation, the Old Man had left me. I knew because I heard the vacuum, the total silence whenever he disconnected. I guessed he had to talk to his minions, maybe whoever had controlled poor Reece. I was thankful he had any reason at all not to be with me.
    I walked like a ghost through the empty mall. I remembered what my Ender friend Redmond, Helena’s tech guy, had told me. He’d predicted that the chips in our heads might act like bombs and explode.
    Poor Reece. How had the Old Man done it? Why? To prove that we could demolish Prime but not him? Or just to terrorize me?
    My stomach tightened. I really hated this chip—this
thing
—in my head. I was not going to let one creepy Ender control me for the rest of my life.
    Big words, trembling hands.
    I felt unsteady. I stepped into an alcove near a service door and took a few deep breaths. I couldn’t get the image of Reece and her shoe out of my mind. Was there anything I could have done to save her? I wrapped my arms around my belly to calm myself down, hold it in, pull myself together.
    I looked back. I was far enough from the disaster site that no one would notice me. I pulled out my phone and called Senator Bohn. I made an effort to sound calm and rational. I was pretty sure I succeeded at rational.
    The senator had helped me take down Prime Destinations. He was one of the few people who knew the whole story and had the connections to do something about it. I explained what had happened. He had been trying to locate the Old Man, without any success. I explained that the bombing was his doing.
    “I have an idea how we might track him down,” I said, describing my plan.
    Senator Bohn listened. After a moment he said, “Callie, let me see what I can do. We’re going to need a special search warrant. If I pull favors, I might have it in a couple of hours.”
    After we hung up, I called my guardian, Lauren, and filled her in. And then there was something else I had to do. I was going to have to break a promise.
    Michael and Tyler were waiting for me at the mall exit. I saw through the glass doors that marshals were stationed outside to bar anyone from entering. We paused there, still inside, all of us looking a mess.
    “How did it go?” I asked them.
    Michael threw his hands up in the air. “We told them what little we knew.”
    “A big explosion.” Tyler followed by putting his arms up too, and spreading them to shape a huge ball.
    I couldn’t help but hug him. “You’re squishing my nose,” he said with a muffled voice.
    He was handling it much better than I’d expected. Maybe living on the streets had actually toughened him. I let go and turned to Michael.
    “Can you take Tyler home and help him clean up?” I asked.
    Michael cocked his head. “Where are you going?”
    “I’m going to wash up in the restroom. Then I have something to do.”
    Michael didn’t look happy. “Come on, Tyler, let’s go. She’ll catch up to us later.”
    I took both of them into my arms in a group hug. Michael felt warm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”
    “You won’t have to worry about that,” he said close to my ear.
    I turned to look at him. “Thank