The Water Wars - Cameron Stracher [78]
Ulysses parked the truck near the main entrance to our building. He and Sula descended first, and Cheetah bounded out behind them. Will and I stopped by the open gate, taking in the familiar sights of home. Our apartment was just as I remembered it. Painted shutters brightened the windows. Two cacti flowered in a terrarium by the door. A welcome wreath hung from the railing.
We climbed the rickety steps. The lights were off in our neighbor’s apartment, although there was nothing unusual about trying to save credits on electricity. I knocked on our door, and the sound echoed hollowly inside.
“Maybe they’ve gone shopping,” said Will dubiously.
We both knew our mother could not leave the house. If our father was gone, something had happened.
I knocked again. This time we heard shuffling and scraping, and then the door opened. Our father stood there, smiling wearily, not surprised at all, as if we had simply returned late from water team.
“We’re home,” I said.
The man who stepped between us was instantly recognizable. His trim beard and tight face. His white teeth razored perfectly between his lips.
“Hello, Will. Hello, Vera,” said the chief administrator.
There was something familiar as well about the two men in blue shirts who flanked him. Then it came to me: they had been watching Kai at the gaming center. But who were they? And why was the chief administrator here?
“I’m sorry,” said our father. “He insisted on waiting for you.”
“What’s going on, Dad?” asked Will.
Before our father could respond, Cheetah sprang into the room, followed by Ulysses and Sula. One of the blue-shirted men went for his belt, but Sula knocked the gun out of his hand before he could even grip it. Ulysses pulled his gun on the other man while Cheetah held the chief administrator at bay.
“Please!” said the administrator. “There is no need for fisticuffs.”
“They just want to talk to you,” added our father.
“Then talk,” said Ulysses, still holding the gun at the administrator’s temple.
“It would be a more pleasant conversation if we could all be seated.”
Cheetah growled.
“Talk,” repeated Ulysses.
The administrator harrumphed. He was not used to taking orders from pirates, but Cheetah looked as if she was hungry.
“Very well,” he said, eyeing the dog. “We understand you’ve just had an interesting adventure with some of our friends on the coast.”
“You know all about it,” I said.
“Yes.” The administrator tried to smile, but his teeth prevented his lips from closing. “And we know all about your friend as well.”
“Kai?”
“Finds water with his nose. Very useful.”
“You saw the wi-cast. He can find hidden aquifers.”
“How fortunate for the republic. To have this valuable resource right here—in our own town.”
“Yes,” I said cautiously.
“Not the sort of thing you’d want to waste. By sharing him with another republic, for example.”
“That aquifer runs all the way to Minnesota,” I said. “And the water that’s in it falls from the sky. No one owns it.”
“But you’re wrong,” said the administrator. “The Canadians own it. And the Minnesotans. And the Europeans too.” A tiny fleck of blood darkened his lower lip. “Why shouldn’t we take what’s rightfully ours?”
“Because it’s not rightfully ours.”
“The boy lives in Illinowa. In Arch. He can make us all wealthy.”
“It’s that kind of thinking that turned the forests to deserts.”
“Don’t be naïve, girl. You’ll never get the rivers flowing. Your friend Kai needs to help his own people, and we need your help convincing him.”
I shook my head. Now I knew why the administrator was here, and why the men had been following Kai at the gaming center. But I would never help him steal the water for himself. I told him none of us would.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said. “One you will regret.”
Ulysses raised his gun, but I silenced him. “No,” I said. “It’s you who’ve made the mistake, taking what doesn’t belong to you. Now we need you to leave.”
“You heard Vera. Leave.” Ulysses motioned to the door with his gun, and Sula shoved the man in front