Max (Maximum Ride 5)

"Sometimes two-point-seven seconds," Iggy added. "Don't dawdle. And man—try doing that with the barrel full of Spam sometime!" He and Gazzy chortled and slapped high fives.

About a minute later, the lieutenant colonel rubbed his eyes. "Class dismissed."

38

LIEUTENANT KHAKI, whose name was actually Lieutenant Morgan, sat at her desk, reading Lieutenant Colonel Palmer's report. Every once in a while she looked up at us sharply, as if she were having trouble believing it. Finally she put it down and laced her fingers together.

"So you're saying these children can easily run four miles carrying heavy packs?"

"Yes, ma'am," said the lieutenant colonel, looking straight ahead. The flock and I were lined up against one wall.

"They outperformed the rest of the cadets in every way?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"The eight-year-old beat your best cadet in hand-to-hand combat?"

"So did the six-year-old girl, ma'am. Actually, she beat the instructor also."

I tried not to grin. The self-defense instructor had given all of us a pass, but the hand-to-hand combat instructor had been more stubborn. For a while.

"So, like, we want to thank you for this great experience…" I began, shifting from foot to foot. "But now that we've gone through all your BS, can we go rescue my mom?"

The lieutenant looked at me. "Yes," she said finally, and my heart leaped. "Tomorrow."

"What?!"

"We're putting you on the USS Minnesota," she went on smoothly. "Which is a state-of-the-art, Virginia-class nuclear submarine with many enhanced offensive and defensive capabilities. It's on its way here now from San Diego. It will arrive here at oh-three-hundred hours tomorrow, will refuel, and be ready to deploy at oh-six-hundred hours. You will be waiting on the dock at that time. If you are two minutes late, it will leave without you. In addition, while on board the USS Minnesota, you will obey every senior officer without question, you will comport yourself with decorum and maturity, and you will do nothing to endanger the ship, its cargo, or its personnel."

I opened my mouth to say something, but the lieutenant plowed on. "Failure to follow these rules to the letter will result in your being disembarked at the closest possible location, and the mission will be scrubbed. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Her icy blue eyes raked each of us one by one. I prayed that the others would stifle their trademark lack of respect and intolerance for bull and, for once, keep their mouths shut. My mom's life was riding on this.

Then, a miracle happened. No one said a word. I heard cautious, even breathing as each of us bit our lips and stru

ggled mightily against our true natures.

Don't wait too long, I begged the lieutenant silently. Please dismiss us before we blurt out something bad, against our will.

"Oh-six-hundred hours then," she said curtly. "Dismissed."

39

SO WHAT DO you do if you have thirteen hours to kill before you rescue your mom? Well, if you're wacky, devil-may-care bird kids, you go swimming!

Pearl Harbor was in a bay off the coast of Oahu, this close to Honolulu. In fact, Honolulu means "sheltered bay," according to a little sign by the mess hall. (See? Who says you never learn nothin', hanging out with us?)

Some of the shoreline near the base was off-limits, but there was a public part too. Despite it being early evening, the weather was perfect and balmy, and the water was blissfully warm. The beach wasn't crowded, but there were people swimming and collecting shells. I was starting to see Fang's point about just finding a tropical isle and letting the rest of the world go crazy without us.

"Keep your Windbreaker on," I told Angel, who was shimmying out of her tiny uniform. "Bird kids weren't exactly designed for bathing suits."

She made a face but nodded. "I think there's like dolphins or something out there. I can hear things thinking, but they're not human."

Concern shot through me. "Not human? Do they feel evil? They're not, like, Erasers with fins or something, right?"

Angel giggled. "No. They're not Erasers. And they feel totally not evil. Okay, bye!" She ran across the sand and threw herself into the water. I watched as her golden curls submerged and disappeared. I sighed and sank down on the sand next to Akila and Total.

Fang sat next to me, still looking out of character in nonblack clothes.