Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

75

"This is your plan?" Iggy's voice held disbelief.

"Yep. Grab your backpack."

The Gasman didn't say anything, but Fang wondered if he was wishing he'd decided to go with Max. The first day it had seemed like an adventure. Now it was starting to seem just...painful. But there was no way Fang was going back-until Max ditched the cretin.

The offices of People magazine were on about four floors of a colossal building in downtown LA. Fang was sure that if Angel were here, it would be no problem for them to see the president of the whole company and convince him to publish an entire special issue about Itex and their evil ways.

But he was Fang, and he could work his own wiles. He held up a bag of deli sandwiches, and the front guard signed them in. "Delivery elevators in the back," he said in a bored voice.

"Let's take the stairs," Gazzy whispered.

"We're going to the twenty-seventh floor," Fang whispered back.

Basically, stepping into the elevator felt like volunteering for psychic trauma. It was small, enclosed, and full of other people, all of them better dressed and significantly more hygienic than the bird kids.

On the twenty-seventh floor, they practically leaped out of the elevators into a designer reception area bustling with people. Fang held on to his bag and approached the main desk.

A guy in his early twenties with mod rectangular glasses looked at them as though they were three scruffy homeless children.

"Can I help you?"

"I need to speak to your top reporter," Fang said coolly. "I have a story with worldwide implications. You print what I tell you, and this magazine will go down in history."

The reception guy was unimpressed. "Do you have an appointment? With anyone?"

Of course not. That would require a level of forethought that Fang hadn't mastered yet. He felt the deli bag had been a master touch. "I just need to speak to someone, right now."

The guy sneered. "I don't think so."

"If they find out you didn't let me talk to someone, you'll get canned so fast you'll feel like tuna."

That was when the guy pressed the button for security.

Fang tapped Iggy's hand twice. "Let's go! Now!"