I Am Phantom by Sean Fletcher Read Free Book Online

me?”
    I
snorted but put up my hands before Cody could get the wrong idea. “No, it’s not
you. You’re asking the wrong person, Cody. Have I noticed anything? I have no
idea what I’m looking for.”
    In
truth, I had noticed them spending a lot of time together, even when not in the
Lab, and especially considering the year had just started. And Melanie seemed
to laugh more when Cody was around. Was that a sign? It was possible something
was there. Or maybe I was reading it all wrong. Also possible.
    “I
just thought…I don’t know,” Cody said. What do you think, Matt?”
    “Me?
You want my opinion?” He looked totally put off, like we had just asked him to
jump through a flaming hoop on a snowmobile. I’m still learning metaphors.
    “You’re
a guy,” Cody said. “And you’re our friend. What do you think?”
    Matt
shrugged his slender shoulders. His hand started massaging his bruised chest
again.
    “I
think she likes you.”
    Cody’s
eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”
    “She
puts up with you. Nobody would put up with you unless they liked you.”
    I
laughed. Then I stopped. Somebody had screamed. Cody and Matt both looked just
behind us.
    “You
heard it too?” I said.
    “Yeah,”
Cody said. “Was that someone—?”
    Another
scream, followed by breaking glass.
    “Come
on,” I said. I hoofed it back one road and took a turn down a narrow street. We
definitely hadn’t come this way, but whatever was going on hadn’t sounded good.
    Cody
and Matt huffed behind me. “Drake, I think we should—whew—call
the—police.” This time the person sounded in agony.
    “You
do that, I’m going to go see what it is.” The road came to a T. There was
nothing to my right, but to my left…
    “Back
up!” I hissed.
    Cody
nearly dropped his phone as I pushed them back. “Hello? Yeah, we
have—what do we have, Drake?”
    Four
men in hoodies stood in the middle of the street, all circled around a broken
form. A sobbing woman huddled against a car just behind them. One of the men
kicked the guy on the ground.
    “Stop
it!” The woman sobbed.
    “Give
us the keys, man,” one of the hoodies said, ignoring her. Give us the keys and
we’ll stop hurting you. You want us to hurt your girlfriend too?”
    “Come
on, man,” another said. “Maybe he don’t have them. I don’t want to kill
anybody, get it?”
    “Shut
up,” the broadest of the four said. He bent down and rolled the man over so
that he faced us. His face was a bloody mass. His fingers were broken. “Listen,
pal. There ain’t anybody here to help. All we want is your car. Give me the
keys or we may have to strip search your girlfriend to find them. You want us
to do that?”
    “Car
jacking,” I said. “And one guy in really bad shape.” Cody relayed the
information and a minute later hung up.
    “They’re
on their way,” he said.
    “They
won’t be in time,” I said. “You guys stay out of sight.”
    “We
can—Drake!” They couldn’t do anything, but I could. I wouldn’t stand by
and watch this man bleed out on the pavement.
    I
approached the men from behind, trying to be as non-threatening as possible.
    “Hey!”
I said, holding up my hands. They turned. The broad one stood up. I tried to
read their posture. A couple looked ready to fight, tire irons clenched in
their fists. The other two just looked annoyed. The broad one gestured with his
iron.
    “Get
the hell outta here, man. You don’t want any of this.”
    “I
don’t want trouble. Just stop hurting him.”
    “You
have a car we can borrow instead?”
    These
guys must have really been in need of some transportation. “I don’t, but I know
it’s not worth killing someone over.”
    “Man,
you don’t know jack.”
    “But
I do know Jill,” I said, trying to calm him down. The man looked confused.
“Jack and Jill, you know…the nursery rhyme…” I added weakly. Screw it. “Just
leave him alone.”
    I
heard pounding feet as Cody and—wow—even Matt ran up behind