Raise the Stakes Read online

  The Benefactor knew he’d been doing research. How?

  Bugs. Of course. There could be a camera somewhere in the apartment. Or a keystroke tracker on his computer. Or . . .

  But that was ridiculous. How would anyone get into his apartment to plant bugs?

  He stared down at the note. It didn’t matter how. The Benefactor knew what he was up to. Had been watching him. And now Colin had been warned. He wasn’t supposed to ask questions or do research or try to figure out what was really going on.

  Colin crumpled up the note. Part of him wanted to email the Benefactor and say he was quitting. But part of him thought that the best way to find out more was to keep playing along. Do some more tasks. Maybe some pieces would start to fit together and make sense.

  He kept remembering the girl’s face. He recognized the look she’d given him. Terror. Doing something she didn’t really want to do. She had to be a contestant. And he was pretty sure she wasn’t Ana Rivera. That meant he knew three of the four people in the Contest: Ana, this girl, and himself. Maybe he wasn’t the only one in the dark here. Or maybe he was. Either way, if he could talk to one of the other contestants, he might get more information.

  As long as he could do it without the Benefactor knowing.

  The alarm on his watch went off. His suspension from the Contest was over.

  Colin turned to the computer at the counter and pulled up a web browser.

  TASK 5

  Go to Olsen High School tonight after sundown. Wait for a boy on a bicycle to arrive. Take the bicycle without being seen and bring it home.

  Colin huffed out a breath. Seriously? Stealing a bike? This told him nothing about the Benefactor’s master plan.

  At least this task was in his own neighborhood. At his own high school, in fact. It would be convenient, if nothing else. And maybe he’d learn something he wasn’t expecting. Maybe the boy on the bike was also involved in the Contest. If so, Colin could try to talk to him—find out if this dude knew more than he did.

  He would just need an excuse to leave the apartment tonight without making his mom suspicious. Right now, that seemed like the least of his worries.

  *****

  “Hey, Mom, I’m going over to Matt’s to study for our history test.”

  His mother eyed him carefully. “Is Matt going to be the only one there?”

  “What? Yeah.”

  “So not Drew and whoever else you were with when you skipped class on Monday?”

  “Oh. That.”

  “Yes, Colin. That. I’m not crazy about the idea of you getting high with your friends on a weeknight. Or any night.”

  “We’ll just be studying, Mom. And it’ll just be Matt and me.”

  “So if I were to call Matt right now, he’d say the same thing?’

  “Yeah.” He kept his face as innocent as possible, hoping his mom wouldn’t call his bluff.

  She smiled. A tired smile. “All right then, honey. I’m trusting you.” Colin’s stomach clenched. This was maybe the worst part about the whole thing. Lying to his mom. Especially because she did trust him. “Now I gotta get back to the store.” She kissed him on the cheek, and Colin swallowed down his conscience.

  *****

  Fall in Minneapolis was just plain cold. Colin shivered in the bushes across the street from his high school. He adjusted his body so that his shins were the only thing in contact with the ground. It was 1:30. He’d been out here for hours, way longer than he’d expected. His mom was going to be completely pissed when he finally got back.

  But the guy with the bike still hadn’t showed up. Colin felt he had no choice but to keep waiting.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw movement. An African American guy about his age rode up on a bike. That must be the bike. And this must be the last contestant.

  The kid rode right up to the bushes where Colin was crouched. Colin ducked down farther. He wanted to talk to this guy, but first he needed to make sure he wasn’t walking into trouble.

  He heard the kid rummaging around in some kind of bag. Then the clink of cans. The clinking continued, fainter and fainter, as the guy crossed the street.

  Colin peeked over the top of the bush. The bike was resting right in front of him. Its owner was standing in front of the school now. The guy looked around—left, right, left again. Nervous, thought Colin. Then the guy started to spray paint the wall.

  Well, this kid didn’t seem that threatening. Colin figured he could approach him without putting himself in danger.

  He straightened up and opened his mouth to call out to the guy—then froze.

  Spray-painted red letters had taken shape on the wall of his school: CB

  Colin’s initials. His stomach clenched. The guy kept spray painting, working fast.

  we know

  This was a message. A message for him. And it had to be from the Benefactor. This guy was definitely part of the Contest.

  about your brother.

  Danni. This person was threatening Danni. Calling her “your brother.” Could this spray painter be the same person who had beaten Danni up the other day?

  time is running out

  Colin felt numb. The threats this afternoon had been bad enough. But this—this crossed a line.

  He had to get out of here. He had to make sure Danni was safe.

  Without thinking, Colin grabbed the bike and got on. He shouldered the guy’s backpack, which had been resting on the handlebars. And then he took off, pedaling as fast as he could.

  As he pedaled, the rage and fear faded just enough to let him think. The Benefactor wasn’t just using the contestants to do big tasks. He was using them against each other. Contestant Three, leave a threatening note for Colin. Contestant Four, spray paint a threat on Colin’s high school wall. Colin, steal Contestant Four’s bike.

  There was no doubt in Colin’s mind now. This Contest was a trap. And the Benefactor wasn’t just shady or mysterious.

  This person was evil.

  CHAPTER 9

  The guy’s backpack was empty, so Colin couldn’t learn anything from that. He stashed it with the bike behind the dumpster in the tiny parking lot behind the store. Someone could come along and steal it again by morning, but Colin had bigger problems to deal with.

  “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”

  As soon as Colin walked into the apartment, his mom practically tackled him. She looked scared—really scared. As scared as he felt. Which was weird, because she wasn’t the one caught up in the Contest.

  “I’m sorry, Mom, I really am—”

  “I called Matt’s, he said you weren’t there. I called your phone, you didn’t answer.”

  “I—”

  “What is going on, Colin? Just tell me!”

  She looked like she’d been crying. A lot. Colin had a sinking feeling in his chest. His mom never cried in front of them. She might get mad, she might worry, but not like this. He hadn’t seen her this close to a total breakdown since his dad died.

  “Are you OK, Mom? Is everybody OK?” If something had happened to Danni . . .

  “No, I’m not OK! You disappeared! It’s almost two in the morning, and I couldn’t get hold of you—”

  Danni came running out of her room. She looked at Colin and sighed with relief. But then gave him the stink eye as she turned toward their mom. “Mom, don’t do this right now. Let’s all just get some sleep and talk things through in the morning.”

  To Colin’s relief, Danni looked fine. Other than the black eye, which was fading. And the glare she was giving Colin. “Go back to bed, Mom. We’ll deal with it in the morning.”

  Danni managed to coax Mrs. Burnett back to bed, but when Colin started to go to his own room, Danni grabbed his arm.

  “Mom’s freaked out because she found a threatening note at the store. She thinks it was for me.”

  The note. Hadn’t he thrown it away? He remembered crumpling it up. But he must’ve left it on the counter. The words were burned into his brain: Do not displease us
again. Or it will be the last nail in your coffin. Vague enough to mean just about anything.

  Danni was looking hard at Colin. “So. Are you going to tell me what you’re doing?” She sounded eerily like their mother.

  “I—it’s a long story.”

  The look on Danni’s face was one Colin had never seen there before. Disappointment, mixed with something like anger mixed with something like fear. “Well, you’d better come up with something better than that by tomorrow morning.”

  *****

  Colin got maybe two hours of sleep. Maybe. In the morning he told his mom he’d lied to her. Which was true. Just not for the reasons she thought.

  “Look, Mom, the thing is—I kind of have a girlfriend.”

  His mom and sister stared at him across the kitchen table. For a minute Colin thought they didn’t buy it.

  Then Danni broke into a grin. “Are you serious? Why didn’t you just say so?”

  Colin shrugged. “I dunno. It wasn’t, like, official till last night. Didn’t want to jinx it, I guess.”

  “Who is it?” Danni demanded.

  “Nobody you know.”

  “I’m not surprised. I don’t know anyone in their right mind who’d date you.”

  Colin smiled in spite of himself. “I didn’t say she was in her right mind.”

  Danni laughed. “What’s her name, at least?”

  Before Colin had to make up a name, his mom cut in. “You could have at least texted me last night to let me know you were safe.”

  “I know. I’m really sorry. I—we fell asleep.”

  “Too much information,” said Danni.

  “Hey, you asked.”

  Their mom let out a long breath. “Well, I have to admit I’m relieved. I was afraid—I don’t know. I didn’t know what to think. But you shouldn’t have disappeared. There’s no excuse for that.”

  “You’re right,” Colin said, and he meant it.

  He’d dodged one bullet, at least. Danni was back to teasing him. Their mom was back to looking only generally worried instead of panicked to death.

  But Colin knew the Benefactor was still watching him. Trying to control him. And willing to hurt his family if he didn’t do as he was told.

  *****

  The guy’s bike was still out back where he’d left it. Colin figured he might as well ride it to school and lock it up there till he figured out what to do with it. When he lifted up the backpack, he realized it wasn’t empty anymore. A small envelope peeked out from the partly unzipped front pocket. It couldn’t have been there long, or it would’ve been stolen by now.

  Right on cue, Colin’s hands started sweating. Was this another threat?

  He tore open the envelope and pulled out a credit card. With his name on it.

  And there was another card in there too. A driver’s license. It looked exactly the same as Colin’s license. Except that it said he was twenty-five years old.

  This couldn’t possibly be as awesome as it looked.

  Then he took out the last item in the envelope: a typed note.

  Colin: Check the website for your next task. Only use the credit card and ID as instructed.

  Yeah. This couldn’t be good.

  When he put the note back into the envelope, though, he noticed some tiny handwriting on the inside of the envelope. He squinted to see what it said.

  Meet me at tonight at 8:00 p.m. in the Minneapolis Central Library. 1st floor, Nonfiction, Me-Na. Signed, Hammer Girl.

  CHAPTER 10

  The graffiti seemed to take up the entire west wall of Olsen High School. Colin tried not to look at it as he rode up and locked the stolen bike at a bike rack. Don’t think about the threats. Think about how to stop this.

  Before he could decide whether to meet the mysterious girl, Colin had to check the Contest’s website. He brought it up on his phone.

  TASK 6

  Go to the tobacco shop on Lowry Avenue by 5:00 p.m. Ask for Pablo and tell him you would like to buy some venison. He will provide you with a gun, ammunition, and a diagram of the gun’s parts. Use the credit card to pay him. Then take the gun apart and put it in a bubble envelope with the bullets and the diagram. Deliver the package to Ana Rivera by 10:00 p.m. Saturday.

  So he had to buy a gun. Colin was not prepared for that.

  He found himself pacing, wiping his hands off on his jeans, his mind racing.

  Then he stopped. Of course. He knew what to do. The simplest solution.

  He could quit.

  He could end all of this right now, at least for himself and his family.

  Colin pulled up his email account and sent the Benefactor a message. I’m out. I withdraw from the Contest.

  There. That felt better.

  *****

  The second Colin walked into the store, he knew something was wrong. His mom looked completely spooked.

  “Mom? What’s going on?”

  “Well, for one thing, someone smashed our back window this afternoon. Did you see?”

  “I missed it.” The Benefactor again?

  “And for another thing, I think someone stole our insurance papers for the store.”

  “What? Why would someone do that?”

  “I don’t know, honey. But that’s not what shook me up most. When I called the insurance company to let them know and ask for replacement papers, they said we didn’t exist. We aren’t in their database. Which means we have to start from scratch with a new policy. With money we don’t have. And until we can get the new policy . . . well. We have to cover any damages to the store ourselves.”

  Colin swore and slammed his fist on the countertop. His mom jumped. “Sorry, Mom,” he mumbled. “This is just—awful.”

  And he was 100 percent sure it was his fault.

  “It probably won’t end up being a problem,” his mom said. He could tell she was trying to keep it together, for his sake. “It just rattled me a little. But don’t worry about it. Let me just run this report, and then the store’s all yours.”

  While his mom ran a sales report on the computer, Colin pulled out his phone and checked his email. Sure enough, Benefactor had responded to his message.

  We regret to inform you that withdrawal from the Contest is impossible. If you want to protect your family and their business, you will continue to compete.

  So the Benefactor wouldn’t let him quit. And if Colin insisted on backing out—refused to do the next task—something terrible might happen to his family.

  He had to buy that gun.

  “Uh, Mom, I gotta go, really sorry, back in forty-five minutes!”

  And he was out the door before she could call after him.

  *****

  At the dirty little tobacco shop, Pablo handed Colin a pistol, some ammunition, and a piece of paper. The guy smiled in a creepy way when he saw Colin’s sweaty, shaky hands. Colin was too freaked out to be offended. He just stuffed everything into his backpack, turned on his heel, and practically ran out of the shop.

  He didn’t even want to guess what the gun might be for. But it made the Benefactor’s threats seem even more real. The stakes were getting painfully high.

  If he didn’t have to get back to the hardware store, he would take the gun to Ana’s house right away. He didn’t want this thing anywhere near him. But as it was, he’d probably have to wait to deliver it until Saturday.

  Meanwhile, he’d meet Hammer Girl tonight.

  Colin was pretty sure the Benefactor didn’t know about Hammer Girl’s note. And even if Colin’s home was bugged, it didn’t seem likely that the Benefactor had also planted cameras or listening devices in the downtown public library. It wasn’t like Colin spent a lot of time hanging out there. So if he played this right, the Benefactor wouldn’t know Colin was meeting with Hammer Girl. And maybe Hammer Girl wanted to find a way out of this mess too. If they could work together, behind the Benefactor’s back, they might come up with a plan. A plan that involved everyone getting out of this Contest alive.

  CHAP
TER 11

  When Colin got back to the store, his mom was almost too worn out to give him a hard time. Almost. He let her think he’d dashed off to see his new girlfriend. To make up for it, he promised to finish up the shift at the shop and then do inventory for the next three days. That was enough to quiet his mom down. But not enough to make her feel any better. Colin could see how disappointed she was and how confused. He’d never done anything like this before. Even if it was all because of a girl, it didn’t make sense. He was worrying her.

  But she’d be even more worried if she knew the truth.

  At seven, Danni came in to take over at the register.

  “Hey loser, go get supper. Mom made really good stew.”

  Colin could smell the gravy and vegetables wafting off of Danni. His stomach grumbled.

  Colin shouldered his backpack. “Um, I can’t, actually. I have plans.”

  Danni frowned. “What plans? Not the girlfriend again. Mom said you skipped half your shift to hang out with her earlier.”

  Colin shrugged, trying to act casual. “Well, I like her a lot. And she likes me.”

  “Colin, you’re going to give Mom a heart attack if you keep this up. Can’t you just stop being so secretive about it? You’re acting really shifty. It’s weirding us out.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s about time I was the weird one, don’t you think?” He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. They sounded awful—cruel. Danni looked as if he’d punched her in the stomach. “I didn’t mean it like that—”

  “How did you mean it?”

  “I just—”

  “Don’t bother. I don’t need to hear more lies. Go ahead—go see whoever it is you’re seeing.” The hurt showed in her eyes.

  “Danni.”

  “I told you, I don’t want to hear it.” She didn’t believe him. She didn’t believe the girlfriend was real. Colin could read it in her face. She thought Colin was doing something shady. And she was right.

  Colin didn’t know what else to say, so he left.

  *****