The Windy City Read online

  I,Q SERIES

  Book One:

  Independence Hall

  Book Two:

  The White House

  Book Three:

  Kitty Hawk

  Book Four:

  The Alamo

  Book Five:

  The Windy City

  OTHER NOVELS BY ROLAND SMITH

  Storm Runners

  Storm Runners: The Surge

  Storm Runners: Eruption

  The 39 Clues: Shatterproof; Cahills vs. Vespers, Book 4

  Tentacles

  Elephant Run

  Peak

  Cryptid Hunters

  Zach’s Lie

  Jack’s Run

  The Captain’s Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe

  Sasquatch

  Thunder Cave

  Jaguar

  The Last Lobo

  Legwork (e-book)

  PICTURE BOOKS WITH HIS WIFE, MARIE SMITH:

  B is for Beaver: An Oregon Alphabet

  E is for Evergreen: A Washington State Alphabet

  N is for our Nation’s Capital: A Washington, DC Alphabet

  Z is for Zookeeper: A Zoo Alphabet

  W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet

  OTHER NOVELS BY MICHAEL P. SPRADLIN

  Killer Species: Menace from the Deep

  Killer Species: Feeding Frenzy

  The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail

  The Youngest Templar: Trail of Fate

  The Youngest Templar: Orphan of Destiny

  Spy Goddess: Live and Let Shop

  Spy Goddess: To Hawaii, with Love

  Spy Goddess: The Spy Who Totally Had A Crush On Me

  PICTURE BOOKS

  The Legend of Blue Jacket

  Texas Rangers: Legendary Lawmen

  Daniel Boone’s Great Escape

  Baseball From A to Z: A Baseball Alphabet

  The Monster Alphabet

  www.IQtheSeries.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors’ imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2014 Roland Smith

  Copyright © 2014 Michael P. Spradlin

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Smith, Roland, 1951-

  The Windy City / written by Roland Smith and Michael P. Spradlin.

  pages cm. -- (I, Q ; book five)

  Summary: “When Quest (Q) and his stepsister Angela head to Chicago for their parents’ concert, they uncover another plot by the terrorist group Ghost Cell in the Windy City”-- Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-58536-824-2 (hard cover) -- ISBN 978-1-58536-823-5 (paperback)

  [1. Spies--Fiction. 2. Terrorism--Fiction. 3. Stepfamilies--Fiction. 4. Musicians--Fiction. 5. Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.)--Fiction. 6. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Spradlin, Michael P. II. Title.

  PZ7.S65766Win 2014

  [Fic]--dc23

  2013038500

  ISBN 978-1-58536-823-5

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  ISBN 978-1-58536-824-2 (case)

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  This book was typeset in Berthold Baskerville and Datum

  Cover design by Lone Wolf Black Sheep

  Cover illustration by Kaylee Cornfield

  Printed in the United States.

  315 E. Eisenhower Parkway, Suite 200

  Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108

  © 2014 Sleeping Bear Press

  visit us at sleepingbearpress.com

  For the Fays, a family of readers. Kim, LaNae, Little Brian, Holly, and Big Brian.

  —Roland

  To my uncle Pat Patrick (the Wildcat) and his wife, Kathy. For kindnesses immeasurable.

  —Mike

  Contents

  Cast of Characters

  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10: 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon CST

  Incoming

  Running Into Trouble

  Running Errands

  New Rules

  All in Good Time

  Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust Us?

  Rude Reception

  Caged Leopard

  Counterattack

  More Questions

  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10: 12 noon to 6:15 p.m. CST

  We’re Going to Need New Stuff

  On the Move

  Walking Tour

  Changing It Up

  On the Move. Again.

  Avoidance

  Everybody Talks About the Weather

  Clueless

  Change of Plans

  The Leopard Pounces

  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10: 6:15 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. CST

  Backwards and Forwards

  High Stakes

  Ding Dong

  The Show Must Go On

  In the Wind

  The Martyr

  THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11: 12:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. CST

  Up All Night

  Preparations

  Under Undercover

  Additions to the List

  Leopard Unleashed

  Angela Unleashed

  Up on the Roof

  Getting In

  The Leopard Waits

  No Place to Hide

  The Big Problem

  Getting Out

  Mad Dog

  Changes

  Resolve

  MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15: 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. CST

  Out of Options

  MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15: 12 noon to 5:30 p.m. PST

  The Show Must Go On

  Chinese Food

  About the Authors

  Cast of Characters

  Quest (Q) Munoz: Q is thirteen and wants to be a famous magician when he grows up. His idol is the great magician Harry Houdini. Q is ambivalent about school, but gets As in math and writing. He is seriously opposed to his new stepfather’s vegetarianism and sneaks junk food at any opportunity. Tall with blond hair, he dresses the same way almost every day, usually in some variation of cargo pants or cargo shorts and a polo or T-shirt.

  When Q is nervous, he shuffles cards and practices card tricks. It helps him relax and concentrate. He has a complicated relationship with his biological father, Speed Paulsen. Q is prone to premonitions, occasionally feeling that something bad is about to happen. He calls these feelings “the itch.” The itch proves useful to Q and Angela on more than one occasion.

  Angela Tucker: Angela, fifteen, has shoulder-length black hair with bangs, and olive skin. She has dark brown eyes and, upon first meeting her, Q thinks she is thin and a little frail-looking. But Angela is anything but frail. She wants to be a Secret Service agent like her mother, Malak Tucker, who died in the line of duty. Angela is smart, observant, and highly organized.

  Angela always carries a small tattered backpack, in which she keeps extra hats, sunglasses, and other items that help her disguise her appearance when she practices her countersurveillance techniques and tradecraft (a term spies and agents use that refers to the techniques of trailing a suspect, eluding a tail, and other methods they use in performing their duties). Angela keeps her desire to be an agent secret from her father, Roger, who would not approve of her desire to join the Secret Service.

  Blaze Munoz and Roger Tucker: Q’s mom and Angela’s dad have recently married. They are musicians and perform together as the duet Match. After marrying in a ceremony in San Francisco, they take Q and Angela on tour with them across the country.

  Tyrone Boone: Boone is an old roadie (someone who travels with
musicians and musical acts, performing all kinds of tasks on a tour). Boone is in charge of tour security and keeps an eye on Q and Angela. He travels with his very old, nearly toothless, and quite smelly dog, Croc. Boone is a former NOC (No Official Cover) agent for the CIA. He now uses a network of former spies to run “off-the-books” or unofficial operations.

  Malak Tucker: Angela’s mother and a United States Secret Service agent.

  Eben Lavi: A rogue Mossad agent. (Mossad is roughly the Israeli equivalent of the CIA.) Eben is tracking a terrorist he believes is responsible for his brother’s death. He believes the assassin known as “the Leopard” has a connection to Angela.

  Ziv: The mysterious Ziv is a NOC agent for Mossad.

  Buddy T.: Buddy T. is Blaze and Roger’s manager. Though he is obnoxious and offensive in practically every way, he’s still one of the most successful managers in the music business. Roger jokes that the “T” stands for “To-Do,” because when Buddy talks he sounds like he’s giving everyone a “to-do” list.

  Dirk Peski: Dirk is nicknamed “the Paparazzi Prince” because he takes photos of the rich and famous and sells them to tabloid newspapers and gossip websites. Dirk is one of Ziv’s operatives, or agents.

  J. R. Culpepper: J.R. is the president of the United States, or POTUS, as he is referred to by the Secret Service. Before being elected president he served in the U.S. Senate, was vice president, and was director of the CIA.

  Marie and Art: Marie and Art are Roger and Blaze’s personal assistants, or PAs. Buddy T. thinks that he hired them but in fact they are highly trained agents and bodyguards working for Boone.

  Heather Hughes: Heather is the president of a record company and responsible in large part for putting Match back on the charts. She knows Boone well from all her years in the music industry. Mostly her job appears to be keeping Buddy T. mollified and out of everyone’s way.

  P.K.: P.K. is short for President’s Kid, the Secret Service code name for Willingham Culpepper, son of J. R. Culpepper. P.K. is ten years old, but smarter than most and wise beyond his years. He knows the location of many of the secret passages in the White House and has a Secret Service radio, which he uses to keep tabs on the agents so that he can practice eluding them.

  Bethany Culpepper: J.R. is widowed and his daughter, Bethany, takes on the role of first lady.

  Speed Paulsen: Q’s biological father. Speed is a rock star and loves to play the part. He earned the nickname Speed because he could pick guitar strings faster than anyone alive. It’s been a while since Speed has had any hit songs and he is jealous of his ex-wife’s sudden, newfound success. Speed is annoying, hapless, confused, in and out of rehab, but at the same time strangely likeable.

  Agents Charlie Norton and Pat Callaghan: Secret Service agents whom J.R. assigns to Boone’s team. Both men are capable, trustworthy, and devoted to J.R. and his family.

  The SOS team: A group of Boone’s most trusted operatives. SOS stands for “Some Old Spooks.” The team consists of:

  X-Ray: The technical genius. He spends most of his time in a beat-up old van the team calls the “intellimobile.” There is no computer system and no database or piece of electronic equipment X-Ray cannot hack, master, construct, or duplicate.

  Vanessa: The team’s designated “world’s deadliest old broad.” She is a master knife thrower, and Boone refers to her as a “human lie detector” due to her ability to read people and determine if they are telling the truth. Vanessa is also an exceptional driver and adept at tailing suspects without being noticed.

  Felix and Uly: Formal Special Forces operatives. Given their size (both are nearly six feet eight inches tall) and matching buzz cuts, they could easily be mistaken for brothers. Their strength, expertise in hand-to-hand combat, and knowledge of nearly every type of weapon imaginable make them invaluable members of Boone’s squad.

  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

  10:00 a.m. to 12 noon CST

  Incoming

  I had the itch. Again.

  It’s a feeling I get sometimes. And it usually means something unusual is about to happen. Almost always it’s something bad. Like I’m about to get kidnapped. Or an international terrorist group is going to blow something up. But this itch wasn’t like my other itches.

  I first felt it when my mom smiled at me this morning. It was a mom smile. An “as soon as I get a second we’re going to have a talk. And you aren’t going to like it” smile. Something was up. I tried hard to think if Mom could know anything about what happened to us in San Antonio last night.

  I mean the news about Sheriff Hackett and the shootings was all over the media. So of course she’d heard about that. But Boone had managed to keep us out of it. I don’t know how. But I didn’t know how Boone did a lot of stuff. Did Mom overhear something? Had we slipped up? Could she have found out that Angela and I helped stop the ghost cell from blowing up the Alamo Memorial? While she was on stage with Roger? I just couldn’t see it.

  So it had to be something else. But what?

  Angela and I sat in the back of the private plane carrying us to Chicago. It was the next stop on the tour. She was absorbed with something on her laptop. Up in front Mom was huddled with my stepdad, Roger, their manager, Buddy T., and Heather Hughes. Heather was the president of their record company, which owned the plane. Marie and Art were sitting midway back. They were Mom and Roger’s personal assistants. Actually they worked for Boone. Both of them were doing the spy thing where they noticed everything going on around them, but made it look as if they weren’t actually watching anything.

  Every so often Mom glanced back and made eye contact with me. The itch got worse when she did because my mom is usually pretty laid back. But something was wrong.

  “Angela, I think we need to put our shields up,” I said.

  “Huh?” she mumbled, looking up from the screen.

  “My mom is giving me the stink eye. I’m worried maybe she knows. I have a feeling that once that little meeting is over up there, we’re in for … something.”

  “What? What something?” Angela asked, sounding confused.

  “I don’t know. That’s what has me uneasy. So be ready. You’re a much better liar than I am,” I said.

  “Uh. Thanks?” Angela said.

  It was true. Angela could snap her fingers and come up with a gigantic but totally believable whopper. I was pretty horrible at fibbing. Although I had gotten better at it in the last ten days or so. Ever since we met Boone I’d gotten a lot of practice.

  Boone.

  Why wasn’t he here? He was the best liar of all. All of this started when we picked him up in the desert at the beginning of our parent’s tour. Our coach broke down at night in the Middle Of Nowhere, Nevada. Boone was sleeping outside and I nearly tripped over him when I stepped out of the bus the next morning. There he was with some camping gear and his old dog, Croc. It was a strange coincidence.

  Which of course was not a coincidence at all. As a longtime roadie, Boone was experienced at all the things you needed to know to run a successful tour. But he was also a spy. And a lot more than that. Right now he was driving our parents’ motor coach from San Antonio to Chicago. Along with the rest of the SOS crew, which stands for Some Old Spooks and is Boone’s posse of computer hackers and trained assassins. Seriously. Assassins. Well, maybe not technically assassins. But Felix and Uly and Vanessa could probably get work as assassins if they wanted.

  “What makes you think we’re in any kind of trouble?” Angela asked.

  “It’s that feeling I get. Mom has been kind of weird all morning. We haven’t had much chance to talk. But when we did, she was kind of short with me. Well, not short exactly. You know how parents have that tone when you’ve been found out? And they’re trying to wait to calm down before they say anything? So they don’t bite your head off?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Like that.”

  Angela yawned and stretched, casually looking over her shoulder at the adults up front. Just in tim
e to see my mom glance up and give me a stare. I had just been held hostage by a bunch of terrorists less than twenty-four hours ago. I spent most of that time terrified. But parents have a special ability to put their own unique brand of fear in you.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. Removing a deck of cards from the pocket of my cargo shorts, I started cutting and shuffling them like crazy. Moving them through my hands has a calming effect on me. It also bugs Angela. An added benefit.

  “Do you think she saw something on the news? Or overheard something about what happened last night?” Angela was looking at me again.

  I shook my head.

  “I don’t think so. If that were the case she would have gone ballistic already. If she had even an inkling of what’s been going on she’d have scorched Boone. To the point where he would be beardless and bald. And he’s pretty hairy. Remember, my mom used to be married to Speed Paulsen. She has a built-in lie detector almost as good as Vanessa’s. I don’t think it’s that. But she’s making me a nervous wreck. Her Momdar is definitely picking up something.”

  The group finished their little chat. Mom and Roger stood up and made a beeline to the back of the plane.

  “Incoming,” I whispered. Angela shut her laptop.

  Mom took the seat next to me. Roger plopped down next to Angela.

  “Hey, Mom!” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “How was your meeting?”

  “It was fine, Q, thanks for asking,” she said. She handed me a brochure. On the front of it was a fancy-looking brick building with a lot of ivy growing up the sides. There was very fancy script reading “Haversham Boarding Academy” at the top and the caption “A Place for Learning and Growing” at the bottom. The brochure gave me an instant sinking feeling.

  “What’s this?” I asked, genuinely confused. I stole a quick glance at Angela. She tried to keep her expression neutral but looked a little pale.

  “Well, it’s interesting you should ask, Q,” Roger said.

  Uh-oh. Whatever had my mom up in arms, she had shared with Roger. Before discussing it with me. We were going to get double-teamed. Not good. Not good at all.