Race Against Time Read online

  I ran toward the exit, following the route I had taken in the dream. I hoped to God both the kid and the janitor had the sense to get themselves out. But when I reached the door, a cop blocked my way. He was Officer Banks, the cop from my dream. From my work at the paper, I knew most of the cops in town.

  “What are you doing in here?” he demanded. “We aren’t allowing anyone in yet.”

  “I followed a kid in here. I was trying to get him out.”

  The cop paused as if he found that suspicious. “Do you know his name?”

  I shook my head. “He was in his mid teens. Not much taller than me. Skinny. He was wearing a red hoodie with a skull on the back.”

  “We’ll take a look for him. In the meantime, I must ask you to leave.” He held the door open for me, but I didn’t go outside. I had to stop him from allowing the students back into the school.

  “I understand you didn’t find a bomb.”

  “That’s right.”

  “The kid I saw seemed to be on a mission.” I paused, aware I was about to accuse the kid without proof. In the past, I had gotten an innocent teen in trouble by misreading my visions. “What if that kid went back in to set a bomb after you finished your sweep?”

  “And why would you think that?” he asked me. He smirked. “Did you see it in one of your visions?”

  So he had heard about my second sight and clearly didn’t believe in it. I hesitated. “A dream,” I said finally.

  The cop appeared annoyed. “Look, most of these bomb scares are just pranks,” he said. “But we have to check, to be on the safe side.”

  “Then check again,” I said. “That kid ran in here after you searched the school with the sniffer dog.”

  “I asked you to wait outside,” he said.

  I put a hand on his arm. “Please, you’ve got to take this seriously. The lives of all these kids are at risk.”

  Officer Banks looked down at my hand until I removed it from his arm. “I take this bomb threat very seriously,” he said. I understood. It was me he didn’t take seriously. He strode back down the hallway.

  I stood at the door for a moment longer, unsure what to do. I had no idea who the bomber was or where he was. But I was certain a bomb would go off in that school. Officer Banks wouldn’t listen to me. I had to find someone who would.

  FIVE

  I ran from the school with my heart pounding in my throat. I was afraid the building was about to blow up behind me. When I turned the corner of the school, I ran right into Fire Chief Wallis.

  “Whoa there, Claire!” he said, holding my shoulders to stop me from falling. “What the hell were you doing in the school?”

  I struggled to catch my breath. “That boy I ran after. I think he may have set the bomb. Why else would I dream about him?”

  “But the cops haven’t found a bomb. They’re about to let the kids back in the school.”

  “I know. I just talked to Officer Banks. Chief, for god’s sake, don’t let them send the kids back in that building!”

  Jim eyed me, puzzled. “What’s going on, Claire? I’ve never seen you like this.”

  “The building is going to blow. I know it is.”

  To my surprise, Jim didn’t try to talk me out of the idea, as both my editor and Matt had—at least, not right away. “And you think you know who’s responsible?” he asked. “That kid you chased into the building?”

  “Yes. Chief, I know he was up to something.”

  “Maybe he really had to use the washroom.” Jim grinned, trying to joke me out of my panic.

  “Jim, in my dream the school exploded right after that kid ran into the building.”

  “So it should have blown by now, right? Come on, Claire. You’re making yourself crazy. The bomb threat was just some stupid kid’s prank.”

  The chief looked past me as his attention was drawn to someone approaching. I turned to see a girl in her mid teens walking toward us from the back of the fire truck. She was pretty and blond and wore a stylish fake-fur coat and pink beanie. Her family obviously had money.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the chief. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I heard you talking.” Then she turned to me. “You’re right about Tyler.”

  “So you know who the bomber is? Is that his name? Tyler?”

  She nodded. “He’s the kid you chased into the school. I’m sure he made the bomb threat.” She paused. “I don’t know anything about a bomb though. I mean, a real bomb. Is there a bomb?”

  Jim stepped in. “The police used the sniffer dog to sweep the school. The building is clean.” He squeezed my arm, warning me to be quiet. “There is no bomb,” he assured the girl.

  “When you chased Tyler into the school, I figured you already knew he made that threat, or I would have said something earlier.” She turned back to the chief. “I overheard Tyler in the hallway talking about a bomb scare at another school, something he saw online. He thought the bomb squad and the fire trucks were cool. He was trying to talk the other kid into pulling off something like that here.”

  I took out my notepad and scribbled a few notes. “Is Tyler a friend of yours?” I asked.

  “My science teacher forced me to be his lab partner. But I never talk to him outside of class. He doesn’t talk much to anyone, really. At noon he just hangs out in the basement with his dad.”

  “His dad?”

  “The janitor.”

  I felt that chill run through me again. The kid was the janitor’s son. I had dreamed of both Tyler and his dad.

  “You’ll let the cops know?” the girl asked.

  “Stay here,” Jim said. “I’ll tell Officer Banks your story. I’m sure he’ll want to talk to you.”

  “I may have more questions for you myself,” I said. “What’s your name? How can I reach you?”

  “Ashley,” she said. I added her name and cell number to the contact list on my phone.

  Ashley stepped back to wait by the fire truck, her hands in her jeans pockets. I started to follow Jim to the school, but he held out a hand. “I think it’s best if you wait here as well,” he said.

  “Because you don’t think the cops will listen to me.”

  The chief held my gaze for a moment, then nodded. “Let me do the talking for you.”

  He headed toward the school, and I called after him. “Jim, what if I’m right?” I glanced back at Ashley. I didn’t want to alarm her by mentioning the bomb again, but I couldn’t let this go. “What if there really is a bomb?”

  “I’ll make sure the cops do another sweep,” the chief said. “We won’t let the kids in until we’re sure it’s safe. Okay?”

  I nodded. “Okay.” Yet his words didn’t calm me. I was getting that sick feeling that always meant something was about to go terribly wrong.

  SIX

  I tried to look calm for Ashley’s sake as we watched the cops through the school windows. One of them led a sniffer dog from classroom to classroom. “Do you really think there is a bomb?” Ashley asked me.

  I shook my head. “Jim is right. In most cases, a bomb scare at a school is just a prank.” There was no point scaring her further. “Can you tell me anything else about Tyler?” I asked. “You said he was your lab partner.”

  Ashley shrugged. “I don’t know. He seemed out of it this past year, depressed. The only thing he really got into were the rockets we built in class. He even bought more to set off at home.”

  “Model rockets? Don’t you use gunpowder to launch them, like in fireworks?”

  “It’s not gunpowder exactly,” she said. “Gunpowder explodes. The rocket fuel is made of the same three chemicals as gunpowder, but they’re mixed differently. That way the rocket fuel burns, moving the rocket upward. If you used gunpowder, the rocket would explode on the launchpad.”

  “But those same chemicals could be mixed to create gunpowder and an explosion.”

  “I guess.”

  “And there must be some way to fire up the rocket safely, from a distance?”
/>   “Sure, the igniter. Toy rockets come with them. We also learned how to hook up the igniter to a digital timer, so we could count down to a launch.”

  “So I imagine Tyler would have nearly everything he needs to make a pipe bomb right there,” I said, mostly to myself. Then I realized my mistake.

  Ashley’s voice rose in panic. “You really do think there’s a bomb in the school, don’t you?”

  “I’m just trying to get all the facts,” I said. “If someone makes a bomb threat, there’s always a slim chance he might follow through.”

  “But the cops and the dog would find the bomb, right?”

  “As long as the dog is in the same room as the bomb, so it can smell the explosives.” When Ashley’s eyes widened, I added, “I’m sure the police will do a careful sweep.”

  Ashley bit her nail as she watched the cop and sniffer dog move to the next classroom.

  “How about that kid you saw Tyler talking to in the hall?” I asked her. “Do you know his name? If we can track him down, he can back up your story about Tyler planning a bomb threat. Or maybe he’s involved too.”

  “Spider. He’s that kid over there, the one with the pierced lip.”

  I looked over at the boy, who was dressed all in black. Even his hair was dyed black. His eyes were rimmed with black eyeliner. The ring through his lip glinted when he elbowed the kid next to him and laughed.

  “His name is Spider?” I asked.

  “That’s what he calls himself. Everyone does. I don’t know if that’s his real name or not.”

  “I’ll go talk to him,” I said. But just then Jim left the school and came back to the fire truck. I waited for him.

  “Ashley, go to the office,” he said. “Officer Banks will talk to you there before the assembly.”

  Ashley nodded and jogged into the school.

  “What’s going on?” I asked the chief. “Why are you letting Ashley into the school?”

  “They’re letting all the kids back in.”

  “Jim, no!”

  “The school is clean. There is no bomb.”

  “How about the kid I saw running into the school? Tyler, the janitor’s son?”

  “The cops haven’t found him yet.”

  “They have to find him before they let the kids back in. Jim, you can’t let this happen.”

  “Claire, the threat is over. There is no bomb.”

  “But Jim—”

  “Let it go.”

  “At least get Banks to talk to that kid over there, the one with the pierced lip. Ashley says Tyler tried to talk him into making the bomb threat.”

  “Ashley is likely telling Banks all that herself right now. Claire, let the cops do their job. They don’t need your help.”

  I crossed my arms as I watched the teachers herd the kids back into the school. The cops didn’t believe me. The chief didn’t believe me. I had no proof that a bomb would go off in that school. All I had was a sick feeling in my stomach, a gut instinct that convinced me the explosion in the dream would happen. I just didn’t know when.

  “The school staff are taking the kids directly into the gym for an assembly,” Jim said. “Officer Banks is going to explain to them how dangerous it is to make a bomb threat. He’s asked our firefighting team to stand with him.”

  “I should come in. Take a few photos for the paper.”

  “Fine, but stay clear of Officer Banks. He isn’t too pleased with you right now—or me, for that matter.”

  “But I was only trying to help.”

  “I tried to explain how your visions have solved crimes in the past. Banks brushed it off but searched the school again anyway. Now he feels we wasted time and money.”

  The last of the students filed into the school. “We’d better get in there,” I said.

  “You behave yourself.” The chief gave me a stern look. “I don’t want to hear any more about the school exploding. You’ll scare the kids.”

  I followed Jim inside and took a few photos of Officer Banks as he lectured the kids. The other cops and firefighters stood in a row behind him. Many of the boys laughed nervously. Some of the girls cried.

  As Officer Banks wound up the presentation, I took a few photos of the kids. It was then that I saw Tyler, the boy in the red hoodie with the skull on the back. The janitor’s son. He peeked around the door to the gym.

  I followed the wall behind the kids to reach him. As I did so, I heard Principal Sloan directing the students back to class over the intercom.

  “Tyler,” I said.

  He turned to me, looking scared. “You’re that reporter,” he said. He held up both hands as if defending himself. “I heard kids saying I made that bomb threat, but I swear it wasn’t me.”

  “Tyler, you’ve got to tell me the truth. Did you hide a bomb in this school or not?”

  “God, no. Wait, there really is a bomb?”

  Before I could answer, the students started pouring toward the gym exit. Kids bumped into us from every direction as they hurried out the gym door. Ashley glanced first at Tyler and then knowingly at me as she brushed past me. An instant later the boy with a pierced lip knocked me against the wall so hard that Tyler took my hand to help me keep my balance. “Freak,” Tyler called after him. But Spider only sneered at Tyler.

  “Spider, stop!” I said. “I need to talk to you!”

  Then I felt a whoosh, as if I was plummeting down a tunnel. Suddenly I found myself alone in the school hallway. The kids had disappeared.

  What the hell? I thought.

  “Claire.”

  I swung around at the sound of the man’s voice and found the janitor there in the hall with me. He wore his gray uniform and held a mop.

  “We need to get to the furnace room—now.” I felt odd as I said that, as if I was listening to someone else. Then I felt my body run down the stairs after the janitor, but I didn’t feel in control. I felt like I was following myself.

  As soon as the janitor opened the furnace-room door, I ran to the corner behind the furnace. There it was, a homemade pipe bomb hidden near the furnace. Wires attached a digital timer and a small ignition device to it. The bomb was about to go off. The timer clicked out the last few seconds on the screen. Ten, nine, eight, seven…

  “We’re out of time!” I cried. I turned and fled toward the door. But just then the boom of the explosion sounded, throwing me across the hall and against the wall. An instant later a ball of fire roared toward me, and I knew I was about to die.

  SEVEN

  I jolted back to myself in a gym full of kids. My heart pounded in my chest. I was still alive! More to the point, I was back in the present. A moment before, I had visited my own future, a future in which I died.

  “You okay?” Tyler asked me. “You zoned out. You need to see a doctor or something?”

  I looked down at Tyler’s hand holding my elbow. In the past, I had visions of a person when I held something they owned, like a piece of clothing. This time, Tyler had held my arm as I had the vision. So, I thought, Tyler was the bomber.

  I dragged him toward Officer Banks. “Come with me,” I said.

  “I didn’t tweet that bomb threat.”

  “Then you won’t mind talking to the cops.”

  I led Tyler to the front of the gym and handed him over to Banks. “I believe you were looking for Tyler?”

  Banks nodded. “We were. I’ve got some questions to ask you, young man.”

  As Banks interviewed Tyler, I pulled the chief to the side. “Jim, I know where the bomb is.”

  “Claire, for god’s sake, there is no bomb. The sniffer dog didn’t find any explosives.”

  “I’m telling you there is a bomb, and I know exactly where it is.” I glanced at Tyler. I was nervous of getting another kid in trouble without proof. But then, Banks was already questioning him. “And I’m pretty sure Tyler is the bomber.”

  The chief watched me for a moment. “You had a vision.”

  “Yes, just now. I was talking to Tyler when i
t happened. He was holding my arm. Jim, the bomb is in the basement. It’s a homemade pipe bomb with a timer. But the bomb is set right by the furnace. If that thing goes off—”

  “It could blow this whole building, I know. Okay. Let me take it from here.”

  “But I’ve got to tell the cops what I saw.”

  The chief shook his head. “Claire, you know what they’ll say.”

  “But we’ve got to get these kids out of here!”

  Jim took me by both shoulders. “Claire, calm down. Let me handle this.”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”

  I watched the chief as he approached Officer Banks. Tyler looked panicked as he overheard what Jim had to say. Then Banks took the arm of the principal and spoke into her ear. She ran from the gym. Within moments I heard her voice over the school PA system.

  “Teachers, please lead your students outside to the field by the nearest exit. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Everyone must leave the building immediately.”

  As the principal repeated the announcement, Banks appeared to give Tyler the okay to leave too. The boy fled from the gym. Then I saw the chief round up his team and talk briefly with the cops. When they all marched toward the gym door, I followed. Jim took me by the arm.

  “Claire, you can’t come with us. You need to wait outside with everyone else.”

  “But Chief, in my vision I saw exactly where the bomb is. It’s hidden. They may not find it otherwise.”

  “The cops have the sniffer dog, and they know their job.”

  “You don’t understand. I’ve got to help. I’ve got to be there.” My voice rose loud enough that the cops turned at the gym door to look at me. “I was there in my vision.”

  “Claire!” Jim lowered his voice. “You’re making a difficult situation worse. Please, just go outside.”

  But Banks was already striding toward us, anger hot on his face. “That’s why you’re sending us back to the basement?” he asked Jim. “Because Claire had a vision? You said you overheard some kids talking.”

  The chief ’s face reddened in embarrassment. So he had lied to help me, to help the kids.