My blood ran cold.
Ravana.
I'd successfully driven him from my mind for the last few hours. Maybe my brain was trying to shield me from what had happened. The truth was that I'd never forget him. Not for as long as I lived.
'Two kids? Ravana?' Brodie said. 'How can you be sure?'
Dan shook his head. 'I have no idea,' he said, wincing. 'It comes and goes. One second, I'm here, and then I'm in their heads. Ravana is using that…probe on their hands. It's a girl and a guy.'
The probe.
I felt like throwing up. Swallowing hard, I tried to calm myself. We needed to help them if we could, but I had no idea how.
'Do you know where they're being held?' Brodie asked.
Focusing for a minute, Dan gazed across the city. 'I'm not sure,' he said. 'I get a feeling the building is that way.' He pointed east. 'That's it. That's the direction.'
Fortunately, we had another car, this time a late model convertible, also thanks to Dan. All it had cost us was a copy of the daily paper that the man at the car dealership thought was twenty thousand in cold, hard cash.
I'd deal with the moral implications of that later. Right now, we had to see where all this was taking us. Brodie and I took the front seat, and I drove while Dan focused on trying to locate the building. It was like driving around with a human metal detector. We spent the next half an hour with Dan saying things like it's getting warmer, and now we're moving away.
Finally, I pulled over, feeling both stressed and frustrated. All we'd done was drive around in circles and use a lot of gas. I was also worried that the cops would pull us over at any moment for car theft.
'I think you need to focus,' I told Dan.
'I'm trying.'
Brodie frowned. 'Can you move out of the minds of the kids?' she said. 'Maybe latch onto someone else's mind. Someone nearby?'
'Okay,' Dan said, thinking. 'I'll try.'
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and focused. For the next few minutes, he said nothing. Then he finally cleared his throat. 'I'm with someone in the elevator,' he said. 'It's a guy. He doesn't know Ravana or his organization. He just works in the building. The elevator's slowing down. It's stopping. It's at ground level. He's getting out. Leaving the building. I can look back. I can see…' Dan's eyes opened wide. 'I can see it! I can see the building! It's the Roxton building on East Seventy-First Street!'
'Yes!' Brodie punched the air. 'You're incredible.'
Dan wiped the sweat from his brow. 'I know.'
'Modest, too,' I said, laughing.
We drove through the city. It didn't take long for us to reach the place. It was a tall, modern-looking office block surrounded by similar buildings. It was hard to believe two kids were being held here.
The thought turned my stomach as I remembered Ravana.
I will ask you questions, and you will give me answers.
Climbing from the car, I felt more than a little inadequate. I was the spare wheel in our tiny team of do-gooders. Brodie could single-handedly battle an army. Dan could move objects with the power of his mind and get into people's heads. I could—
Well, I know how to drive, I thought. Maybe I'll be like Alfred in the Batman comics.
I could dust the apartment and make hot chocolate when required.
'I know this is probably too much to expect,' I said, eyeing the building. 'But any idea which floor they're on?'
Dan shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'We'll have to wing it from here.'
Entering the lobby, we crossed to a chart of the building's occupants. There were a lot of them, and we spent the next few minutes perusing the list before finally turning to each other in frustration.
'Nothing stands out,' Brodie said, frowning. 'Why can't bad guys identify themselves as such?'
'You mean, like Evil Inc?' Dan asked.
'Yeah,' I say, reading the list. 'Or Bad For U?'
A guy entered and disappeared into an elevator. Dan frowned as he watched him go. The elevator departed.
'I picked up something from him,' Dan whispered.
'The flu?' I said.
'I couldn't get a clear picture, but it was a negative vibe.'
Well, it was better than nothing. We wandered over to the elevators and watched the changing display. The elevator stopped on the twenty-fifth floor.
'Stanley Imports,' I read. 'What do you think?'
Brodie shrugged. 'We've got nothing to lose. Let's go.'
It seemed strange standing in the elevator as it ascended. My throat was dry, and my heart was beating like crazy. I glanced at Brodie and saw that a sweat had broken out on her brow. Only Dan seemed confident.
It's because he's younger than us.
A chill ran down my spine. How old is Dan? Maybe fifteen. Brodie and I weren't much older. How stupid are we? We were about to launch an attack on Ravana and his cronies, and we didn't have a plan.
The idea made me dizzy. We aren't prepared for this. I was about to speak up when the elevator drew to a halt and the doors opened.
One thought kept bouncing around in my head.
This is a bad idea.