Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23 "AMY, NELLIE, RUN!" Dan shouted. Mr. Malusi was racing toward him. Dan ran to the assegai, picked it up, and threw it toward one of the glass walls. The spear pierced the network of vines, shattering the wall in a deafening explosion. Dan ran to the wall at full speed, leaping around the plants. He jumped through the hole and out of the pod. The vast central room, with its winding pathways between pods, was in chaos. "STOP HIM!" Mr. Malusi's voice bellowed. From the left. Dan's eyes scanned the area, and he sprinted right, clutching his backpack. Amy and Nellie

were running toward him now. "Follow me!" he shouted. A loud thrum permeated the complex. Bright emergency floodlights flickered on overhead, circling columns of blinding white light around the rooms. On all sides, Dan heard the thumps of closing doors. "The escalator!" Nellie said. Dan glanced upward. The door above the escalator had opened, and men in white suits were streaming in from the other building. "I don't think so," he said. "Come on. Let's move to the outer wall and follow it." The dense network of overlapping pods made the wall the best place to hide. They crept slowly along it. In the chaos, Dan heard a high-pitched shriek above them. "Duck!" They went down, but Dan realized it was a bird. It must have flown in through the gardener's door. The door. Where was it? He glanced around frantically. There. It was shut tight, way above their heads.

Next to it was a metal-mesh cage. An elevator cage. "Follow me!" he shouted, sprinting to the bottom of the cage. The elevator was resting on the floor, its door open. Inside were two broken clay flowerpots and sections of garden hose. "Get in!" When Nellie and Amy were inside, he shut the door and swung a metal dial to the ON position. The elevator rose slowly above the chaos. They shrank down against the soil-encrusted elevator floor, out of sight, unnoticed by the swarms of screaming Tomas below. "STOP THEM!" a voice bellowed. Almost unnoticed. The elevator suddenly stopped. "Dan!" Amy screamed. The top ten or so inches of the elevator door had risen into the frame of the old warehouse exit. It was big enough for a human body. Dan yanked open the elevator door, then cupped his hands. "We can do this. Amy, you're first." "I can't leave you!" Amy protested. "Hurry, before they lower this thing!" Dan said.

He hoisted her up and she squeezed through the opening. "You next, little guy," Nellie said. "And don't even think of arguing." She boosted him through. Dan tossed aside his backpack, leaned in, and reached down for Nellie. Together he and Amy grabbed Nellie's arms and pulled. The elevator creaked and juddered. It was sinking now. "PULL!" Nellie screamed. She was halfway through, but the space was closing. From behind them, a man's arm reached into the elevator opening. The palm pressed upward against the elevator's ceiling, while the elbow jammed against the ground. The elevator groaned, then stopped moving. With his other arm, the man grabbed Nellie. Dan stiffened. No time to wonder. No time to look. "Heave-ho!" the man shouted. "YEOOWWWW!" Nellie squeaked through,

tumbling onto the grass. Dan and Amy tumbled with her, as the elevator sank quickly out of sight. "You dropped this?" a deep voice said. Dan turned to face the man who had saved Nellie. Mr. Bhekisisa held up the Shaka box. He was not smiling. "Where did you find this?" Mr. Bhekisisa demanded. "I didn't mean to steal anything. I'll give it back!" Dan said. "We— we can work this out together!" "Come with me, all of you," he said. "Now!" He began running down the hill, away from the front door of Ubuhlalu. Amy had no intention of following this guy into… what? "Where's he going?" she asked. "Do you need an invitation?" Mr. Bhekisisa said. "Come on," Dan said. "He has the box!"

As Dan, Amy, and Nellie raced after him, Mr. Bhekisisa called out, "They have not had a security breach like this. You are lucky. I told them you had found the secret tunnel network. That will occupy them for awhile." "Wait… you're—" Dan said. We do have a spy within, but to achieve anything against these people, you practically need an army…. That's what Mr. Mondli had said. "You're a spy!" Dan blurted. Mr. Bhekisisa was moving fast. "I was… a Tomas," he said breathlessly. "Now… I am as I was born. A South African. Hurry. There are more of us waiting." "More?" Nellie said. "How did they know?" "Hurry!" Mr. Bhekisisa headed down the slope, toward the woods. There, a group of men and women were trudging upward toward them. Dan ran after him, with Amy and Nellie close behind. His eyes were focused on the man in front. He was instantly familiar, his face etched with wrinkles and a long scar, his eyes gray-green. His khakis and button-down shirt were a much