Winter's Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge
Date: 2009-03-12 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Young Adult; Science Fiction; Fantasy; Paranormal; Dystopia; Fiction; Romance; Paranormal Romance; Thriller; Supernatural
Description: Assumptions: I am a normal human being. I'm an average fifteen-year-old. I have always lived here, and I always will. This year will be like every other. But I'll soon find out... none of these assumptions are true.

WINTER’S AWAKENING

The Metahumans Emerge

Book 1 of The Winter’s Saga

By

Karen Luellen

Winter’s Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge

By Karen Luellen

Copyright 2011 Karen Luellen

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, or people, living or dead, is coincidental.

For

My best friend and husband, Dan

And for
our children Kathryn, Connor, John and Caiden

~*~

“… whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31

~*~

“Be at peace. Keep your eyes and your heart to heaven. We’re walking right beside you.” ~The Angels’ Song

Prologue

(12 years ago)

Margo’s Beginning

Location: The Institute of Neurobiological Studies

The little girl was crying even before the door opened. Huge droplets streamed down her plump cheeks. Large dark eyes widened as the man in the white coat entered the room. She looked so small, so helpless.

Dr. Margo Pullman stood looking into the girl’s room through a one-way mirror. Everything in the room looked staged, out of place and plastic, like a bad set-up for a play. It was supposed to look like a little girl’s bedroom, but they couldn’t mask the true intent—it was a laboratory.

The floor was plastic and dipped slightly toward the center where there was a drain like the kind found at the bottom of a shower. The walls were bleached white and bare. Built-in green countertops had a series of electric outlets across the backsplash.

But that wasn’t the worst thing about this room. The worst part was the bed. Straps were obviously positioned at the head and feet. Straps on a child’s bed! Why would they need to tie her down? Oh dear God, what were they doing to this little girl?

The look in the little girl’s dark eyes was tragic. She was terrified but too exhausted to care and the combination came across to Margo as clearly as if she had spoken the words. “Just get it over with. Kill me quickly so I can feel peace.”

The child knew there was no escape. Margo’s heart broke for her, and she ached with a pain she’d never felt. This little girl was past hope.

Even as the child cringed into a fetal position and let out one anguished sob, a man in a white lab coat was poised over her with a syringe behind his back.

Margo couldn’t watch anymore, but she knew Dr. Williams was measuring her for a reaction, so the young doctor pretended to study the sign below the one-way mirror.

This little girl was called “Case M57” according to the sign. “M” indicated her class: Metahuman. She wasn’t four years old yet and she had been a test subject since she was an infant.

Margo’s stomach churned. This was just a baby. What had they done to her?

All Margo wanted to do when she became a doctor was help people. She focused on research in her studies. She felt compelled to help in the development of a cure for neuroscience disorders like autism. Everything she had done was theory until two years ago when she was hired as a researcher in the pathology lab here at The Institute of Neurobiological Studies (otherwise known as “The Institute”).

Margo worked herself to exhaustion in her quest to find answers that would someday bring hope to those who lived with autism. The closer she felt to a cure, the harder she would push herself. She got noticed by the company’s chief executive officer, Dr. Kenneth Williams, for her “drive and ambition.”

Margo was given a promotion and assigned to the company’s pet-project. It was categorized “Top Secret” so she had no idea what she was getting into when she naively agreed to the assignment.

Now, here Dr. Pullman was, staring at one of several “case studies” that would be part of her new work, and she felt like she was going to throw up. Her stomach churned loudly as her tour guide, Dr. Williams, continued his sales pitch.

“And in this room you’ll see the ongoing study of the effects on a two-year-old male subject.” Margo was afraid to look. Truly afraid. But she also couldn’t stop herself. What would this little boy be like after two years of “treatments?”

Her eyes scanned the room. At first, she didn’t see him. Then she saw the lumpy bundle under the bed. He was hiding, or sleeping, or both.

As Dr. Williams continued sharing information about “Case M61,” Margo had to look away and concentrate on her breathing so she wouldn’t let her panic attack show.

“And last, but not least, here is our newest addition to the test subjects. Case M74 is a one-week-old male. We acquired him in a similar fashion as the other subjects. What started as an unwanted pregnancy now has a purpose.” The doctor’s voice took on a strange tenor as though he’d switched to preacher-mode and went on to add, “Now his life will be put to use as we perfect our work in him. He was just given the most advanced version of the formula an hour ago.”

Dr. Margo Pullman couldn’t stop staring at the tiny baby lying all alone in his industrial-looking metal crib. The company hadn’t even gotten around to setting up the room to look like a nursery. It had the same design as the other two, plastic floors with a drain in the center.

But this room looked even more heartbreaking with dusty cardboard boxes shoved against the opposite wall labeled “Archives Case M1 through 24.”

The baby was crying so hard, his lips quivered with the effort. His tiny arms were in the open, startled position. Every ounce of Margo’s humanity screamed in pain for that innocent baby. She wanted to reach in there and steal him away.

“The subjects we treat here are expendable in the grand scheme of things. We’ve lost dozens already and these three cases are no more likely to survive, but their lives will have saved millions. The Infinite Project was named because the possibilities are just that, infinite!”

Margo tried desperately to contain her rage as she realized all the years of effort she spent thinking she would be helping children. Instead, she was part of a machine that was torturing and killing them!

That’s when she snapped.

Chapter 1 Meet the Winter Family

The three of us shuffled around the kitchen yawning, half asleep as we gathered the fixings for breakfast. We’re obviously practiced at this task. Alik grabs the milk and pours just enough into the bowl of eggs I’m stirring with a whisk and Evan sets a pat of butter into the pan as it gets hot. Yummy breakfast smells filled the air.

A soft whimper came from under the kitchen table. Apparently, Maze wanted us to be quieter as he finished his beauty sleep. Silly animal.

I’m Meg, the oldest at fifteen. Fixing breakfast for the family is our usual chore. That’s why we’re all so automatic about it. We can almost do this in our sleep. Almost.

I grabbed a spatula from the drawer and began stirring pieces of ham into the sizzling pan. I’m sure I looked a mess standing there in my fuzzy pajamas with my dark, curly hair in a knot at the back of my head, but I really didn’t care. Who was I trying to impress?

We were homeschooled and the nearest neighbors lived twenty-five miles away. I loved living on the ranch, but lately it was starting to feel a little stifling. Okay, a lot stifling.

Slumped in his seat at the kitchen table was my younger brother Alik. At fourteen, he was the middle child who had an easygoing way about him. Alik stood at least six feet tall and naturally carried a lot of muscle mass so he outweighed me by sixty pounds. Next to his size, it was his crisp blue eyes that were his most striking feature. Not that I could see his eyes this morning. Apparently, he was looking for cracks in his lids. The poor kid was exhausted.

Evan, the youngest in the family at twelve, was setting the table with drinks for everyone. He is my height, about 5’6” and growing fast. His sandy blonde hair hung into honey-colored eyes. I was more than capable of cutting his hair, but it was a rare day that he’d hold still long enough for me to trust myself with scissors around him.

Evan was very well read. That kid has read every book in mom’s huge home library. Come to think of it, he’s probably read half the books twice just out of boredom. And here I think I’m feeling cooped up on the ranch. Poor Evan was itching to devour more knowledge but there just wasn’t anything left for him to learn inside these walls. Mom couldn’t bring home enough books to satisfy him.

A quick glance at Evan’s concentration as he filled each cup with the same amount of orange juice had me shaking my head in wonder. I remember him as a baby and even then he seemed so much older than he was.

What will he do when he grows up? Maybe he’ll be some kind of engineer. His brain seems to understand how things work. He can build anything. He can take things apart, use pieces of various things and put them together to make other things. He’s amazing.

And Alik? He has an awe-inspiring photographic memory. He’s agile and quick, too. I suppose he could do about anything with those skills. For some reason, he was really interested in law. Specifically, law enforcement. He would make a great investigator or detective.

As for me, I have to get out of here soon, but it’s a little scary. Mom has always been super protective of us. We live in a bubble, and I’m not exaggerating. We don’t own a television or a radio. We only listen to mom’s old records. So we’ve grown up listening to Elvis, Neil Diamond, The Bee Gee and ABBA. We get no mail, newspapers or magazines. Like I mentioned before, mom has a huge library of books for us to read and she does homeschool us so we’re all really good at history, math and literature.

Personally, I’d just like to eat at a restaurant and go shop at a department store. Sounds like a simple dream, but what can I say, I’m a simple girl.

Mom flew into the kitchen all smiles and full of good morning kisses for everyone. It never ceased to amaze me how she could wake so chipper every morning, no matter how little sleep she got the night before.

“How are my handsome babies this morning?” she nearly sang to her sleepy crew as she poured herself a cup of coffee. Maze came out from under the table and sat patiently waiting for a rub between the ears. He’s so predictable.

“How can you be so awake, Mom? You must have stayed up half the night working on that speech.” Alik echoed my thoughts exactly.

“I’m too excited to be sleepy. You know how long I’ve been working on this project. To be able to share my results with the scientific community is a dream come true!”

She had worked hard. We’ve been watching her, helping when we could. But most of the time we just tried to be quiet and let her work in her lab at the back of the house. This morning she was positively bubbling.

“Okay, so here’s the plan,” mom began a play-by-play of the next two days for the umpteenth time. “I’ll leave here in twenty minutes and drive the four and a half hours to the DFW airport to catch my 1:47 flight to Los Angeles. I’ll call to let you know I landed safely at 7pm your time. My conference begins with that big boring dinner at 7pm Pacific Standard Time, that will be 9pm your time. I won’t call afterward because it will be too late and you had better be sound asleep.” She said all this without taking a breath while adding to her ever-growing list of chores we were to accomplish in her absence.

I marveled at her meticulous organization, at her ability to talk and write at the same time, at the beauty she hid behind those dorky glasses. I remembered when she first came home wearing them. I think they came with a guarantee to not only correct her vision but as an effective man repellant.

Mom never dated. Ever. She was only forty-two and drop-dead-gorgeous behind those fifties glasses. She was a brilliant-minded scientist but never once did she even mention finding a companion. And don’t ask me about our father. I have no idea what happened there.

I zoned for a moment and must have missed something very important because mom is staring at me expectantly.

“Well, Meg?”

I have no idea what she just said. “Sure, mom. I’m on it.”

“Excellent. All right then, boys. Help me get the bags to the truck, please. Remember, there is plenty of food in the pantry, and I made extra lasagna. Bedtime is at 8:30 sharp. Brush your teeth, say your prayers and wake on time.

“I may very well call in the morning just to be sure you’re not wasting the day in bed. I love you all so much. I’ll be home tomorrow night at 10pm your time. Don’t wait up for me, but know I’ll come in to kiss you when I get home.”

All this she said as she marched with purpose outside to the truck. Her simple briefcase filled with her laptop and power point presentation, was slung over her shoulder. She looked confident and exhilarated until she turned to hug us good-bye.

“Now listen to me you three. I have never left you alone before, and I’m really anxious about the idea of doing it now. Bringing you with me isn’t an option, but leaving you here doesn’t completely ease my fears either.” Mom kept talking and my mind began wandering.

Did I mention she tended to be a little paranoid? Okay, a lot paranoid.

Mom had trained us to protect ourselves, to survive battle and kill if necessary, since before we could even remember. See, she put herself through medical school by serving in the military. There, she had been some sort of special ops soldier. Our mom may look fragile on the outside, but inside she has nerves of steel and the training to back it up. I wouldn’t want to go up against her. She’s got some serious skills.

Our homeschooling wasn’t just based on reading, writing and arithmetic. No, we had several other subjects in which we were schooled.

While other moms are out there watching cooking shows, our mom was watching us design and disarm explosives. Other moms were driving in a carpool while our mom was teaching us how to drive our fists through slats of wood. Other kids our age played soft ball and had band practice. We played laser tag and simulated target practice. Mom was paranoid, all right. And she taught us to think there was good reason to be.

“I love you all so much. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

“Nothing’s gonna happen, Mom, except you may find yourself missing your flight and your own coming-out science party.” Alik grinned sweetly. He loved to tease her.

“Oh, you’re right Alik. I’d better go. Expect my call at 7pm! I love you!” She was still waving as she drove down our dirt road. Dust billows rose behind the conservative SUV and lingered in the air long after mom was out of sight.

Evan, Alik and I looked at each other warily. Maze let out a soft whine and stared anxiously after mom. It was going to be a long thirty-six hours.

Chapter 2 Found

The supple leather chair hugged him as he sipped his cup of coffee. It had been a long night, but it was about to be well worth it. Now he was just waiting for his cell phone to ring with confirmation that they found her.

In his hand, he held two steel marbles. He loved everything about them, the way the light reflected off their perfectly smooth surface, how they clanked together when he held them in his hand and when he rolled them around each other, he loved to hear their metallic scraping sound. It was out of habit that he carried these with him. Now he stared at his distorted reflection in them and smiled.

After all these years, nearly a dozen, he would finally be able to wrap his hands around the data that was stolen from him. Too bad the data was all inside her head. Ah well, there were ways of extracting information from the mind.

He didn’t usually like getting his hands dirty with such undesirable tactics, but this time, well, he would make an exception. He was salivating at the thought of watching her eyes glass over with pain.

Her fate was determined the moment she walked away with his work twelve years ago. His pocket began vibrating. A smile curved the corners of his mouth as he flipped open the phone and listened. The marbles moved methodically in his right hand.

Oh yes, it was going to be a wonderful weekend.

Chapter 3 Maze

When we were younger Alik, Evan and I would run around the ranch chasing the goats and cattle. Sometimes, when we weren’t focused on our studies or developing our survival skills, we’d play a game of hide-and-seek. I think we loved the friendly competition, the chase and the thrill of the hunt. It was during one of those carefree days of childhood, some three years ago, when I befriended a coyote.

Mom always warned us to be very careful of wild animals as we were living in their world and if we crossed them, they would only see us as a threat. But I wasn’t thinking of mom’s warning that bright morning as I wandered a little too far during one of our infamous hide-and-seek games.

I saw her crouched in bushes as she stalked a prairie dog. I stood motionless a dozen yards away from her when she sprang to life and snapped the rodent’s neck in one swift motion. She turned to watch me, even as her breakfast hung still warm from her dark mouth. She was beautiful. We stared for a moment, sizing each other up. Convinced that I wasn’t a threat, she trotted back to what was her den. She stopped at the entrance and looked back at me as if to say, “Come along, then.”

I followed her to the opening of her cozy hole in the ground and saw her beautiful pups. Three of them. They nuzzled to nurse as soon as their graceful mother curled herself up to them. Mom ate, the pups drank and I learned a whole new level of awe.

I remembered that day so long ago as I stroked Maze’s head. He was such a handsome creature. He was silver coated, like his mother. And like his mother, we had an immediate connection. Maze was one of the pups I saw that day. Who knew he would turn into my best friend. Who knew his doting mother would disappear (probably killed) and leave him and his two sisters alone to die.

See, I went to check on the coyote family the very next day. The pups were there, curled into a loud whining ball of fluff, but their mother never showed up. Thinking she was out hunting and that I just missed her, I left the pups undisturbed. I returned that night; sure I’d find all four of them snuggled together. But they weren’t. Even before I confirmed with my eyes, I could hear the babies crying painfully from their den. I stayed with them looking for any signs that their beautiful mother had returned in my absence. Nothing. The dirt wasn’t disturbed around the entrance to their home. The pups’ cries were unbearable and unrelenting.

It broke my heart to leave them that night, but I knew my mother would worry if I didn’t return home soon. The whole way, I thought about what I should do if the mother coyote never returned. Surely that wasn’t going to happen. Surely when I check the next morning the mother will be right there and all will be safe and sound.

I couldn’t sleep that night.

I flew out the door immediately after breakfast calling out a quick “see you in a while, gotta go check on something” even as the door flapped close behind me.

When I approached the den, I strained to hear a sound—any sound. But there was only silence. My worst fears came true when I looked in and saw the babies alone and obviously weak from hunger. Oh, no. For the first time, it occurred to me that these little ones could be dying right in front of me. I had to help.

So afraid was I of disappointing my mom, that the idea of telling her I’d disobeyed one of her cardinal rules of living on the ranch was terrifying to me. I wasn’t supposed to have been near a wild animal, and here I was stalking a whole litter of them!

But these babies needed milk, and I needed mom’s help to take care of them. I knew I had no choice but to tell her about the coyote family. The thought of those three babies dying of hunger all alone drove me.

My mom never ceases to amaze. Instead of a lecture, she was grabbing the keys to the Jeep and rushing me out the door. I didn’t even have time to finish my explanation.

We arrived at the den just as the sun was setting. The pups barely put up any fuss as mom reached in to collect them one by one. Maze was the littlest. His sisters, though obviously wanting for nourishment, seemed relatively strong. Maze wasn’t holding up nearly as well.

We put the girls in a box on the floor of the Jeep, but I couldn’t bring myself to add the little boy. I wondered if he would even survive the ride back to the house. In my hands he lay limp, and though I could feel him breathing, his heartbeat was barely tapping against my sensitive fingertips. I held him close to me hoping my warmth would revive him, and hoping the sound of my heart beating would remind his of what it was supposed to sound like.

In her lab, mom made a coyote pup cocktail of goat’s milk and sugar. She handed me a dropper and told me to start with the littlest one while she fed the sisters. “Don’t put him down, Meg. He needs to feel your warmth, your love. Keep putting drops of milk on his lips and see if he’ll take any of it in. When you’re tired, let me know and I’ll take over. We’ll work in shifts. Okay?

“Are you up for this, Meg? Do you understand that even after all your effort, all your love, he may still die?”

I looked down at the tiny ball of fur in my arms. He was so little he could fit into the palm of my hand. How amazing he was. This beautiful gift. I loved him immediately and unconditionally. “I understand, mom. I’ll take care of him as long as he’s here. Every minute with him is…,” my voice caught in my throat, “precious.”

Mom nodded with a wisdom I’d never noticed before echoing across her face. “All right, then. Let’s get to work.”

The whole night long I stayed up with the littlest coyote. My neck was stiff and my arms ached and I really had to go to the bathroom, but I couldn’t put Maze down. At 1am, he finally started to lick the milk off his lips. By 2am, he was letting me put the drops right on his tongue. By 4am, he had finished four ounces of his special milk and was sound asleep. Only then did I start to feel like this little guy might make it. My little fighter. He was so amazing to me. And that is how he got his name. Maze.

His sisters were more easily revived. By the third day, all three of them were rolling around on top of each other like the pups they were. The girls play-fought pretty rough, so I kept Maze with me much of the time. He was still smaller than the little ladies, and I didn’t want him getting caught in the middle of a skirmish or worse, becoming the center attraction in some sort of coyote she-pup smack-down.

As soon as he could keep up, Maze followed me everywhere. He would trot behind me like a fluffy shadow as I went about my daily chores, working on my studies or playing with my brothers. I’d look over at him and he would cock his head to the side, let his tongue loll out of his muzzle and smile at me as if to say, “Hey, you. What’s up?”

Pretty soon, the entire family started talking to Maze as if he completely understood every word we said. He fast became my confidant, my entertainment, my protector and my best friend.

Mom says I imprinted on him just as much as he did on me that first night when I nursed him back to life. I believe it.

By the fourth month, Maze’s sisters had wandered off preferring life in the wild. They didn’t make a huge production of good-byes or anything. They were playing in the field behind the house one morning when some yummy scent caught their attention in the brush. They took off after it and stayed out all night. The next day, they came back for a drink of water and a quick “hey” to their domesticated brother. They left and haven’t been back since. That was more than two years ago.

As for Maze, it never even occurred to him to leave. For some reason, that silly coyote thought I was worth sticking with. I think it would be more fun chasing my nose in the wild, but I’m very thankful Maze didn’t agree. So he slept on my bed, and ate at my feet, and draped his now huge furry body across my lap when I read a book on the couch. My wild coyote was anything but wild.

Sitting with Maze at that moment, watching the way the light shinned off his soft, thick coat, seeing the look of unconditional love in his sweet, expressive eyes, I felt a wave of thankfulness for my life and my family.

Forget leaving the ranch. I love it here. I love my goofy brothers and my fiercely devoted mom.

I never wanted things to change.

Chapter 4 A Watched Pot Never Boils

Our chores were long since done. I warmed up the lasagna for our dinner and we ate in relative silence—each of us lost in our thoughts. We three had just tried killing some time playing a board game, but it really wasn’t fun without mom. She would always get us laughing at something and we would get so lost in the fun we wouldn’t even care who won. But tonight, with just the three of us all so competitive and tense, it didn’t feel like the same game. We gave up an hour ago.

I was working on a puzzle, Alik was reading about the Civil War (again) and Evan was calculating triple digit multiplication problems in his head then checking his answer with a calculator. Yeah, he’s scary smart.

Just when I located the last of the “edge” pieces, I noticed the clock. Mom was late. She was supposed to have called to check in by now. Sensing a change in my demeanor, Maze looked up at me with those beautiful yellow eyes. I didn’t want to say anything and worry the boys so I pretended not to notice the time and kept working. But now I couldn’t concentrate. I kept glancing up at the clock—trying to be inconspicuous. Pft. I’m horrible at keeping things from the boys. They can’t keep anything from me either. It’s like we have this sixth-sense about what one another is thinking and feeling. Sometimes it’s helpful. But times like now, it’s irritating.

“Why hasn’t mom called?” Alik asked.

“Maybe her flight was delayed,” Evan responded logically. I promise you, it’s as if that kid is a walking computer. Sometimes I wonder if I got all the emotions and he got all the brains. He rarely got upset; he was too pragmatic for such things.

“She said she’d call us at seven. She’s really running late. It’s nearly eight o’clock now.” I spoke my thoughts as they came to me. “I hope she’s all right.” Now that I had started, it was difficult to control the flood-gate of worry I’d been holding in. “Would someone call us if she was hurt? How would they know where to find us? Oh my goodness, what if mom’s hurt and in the hospital and they know her name, but they don’t know she has children. Mom has no family for them to contact besides us. She would be all alone in that bleached white sterile room shivering cold with tubes sticking out all over her…”

“Meg, you have to stop reading those paperback suspense novels. You’re overreacting just a smidge, don’t you think? Mom’s flight was running late and she had to hurry to her dinner conference. I’m sure that’s all that happened. She’s probably going to call us at 8:30 to make sure we’re all in bed.” Evan was calm and logical. It was maddening.

Alik stayed silent and turned a page in his book.

I tried to shake the mental pictures that blossomed into my mind’s eye. Darn it, I had too vivid of an imagination. It was helpful sometimes, but not tonight. Tonight, I was feeling very on edge, and if the boys were being truthful about it, they were too. Mom was never late. She was meticulous about punctuality, organization and planning. She would have found a way to keep her promise to call at 7pm even if they were circling the city waiting for a storm to pass, or something. She would have found a way. There were phones on planes. It would have taken one swipe of a rarely used credit card into the back of the seat in front of her and punching ten little digits to call us. Something was wrong. Mom would never have allowed her promise to be broken unless something stopped her from keeping it. Something bad happened.

All three of us, suffering with unspoken worries, watched the second hand fly around the wall clock. At 8:25 we headed upstairs to brush our teeth, softly so we could hear the ringing of the phone over the schwish-schwishing of our toothbrushes. But the phone didn’t ring. We all knelt at the side of my bed and prayed together, quietly, listening. But the phone didn’t ring. We gave one another a quick “goodnight” before dragging ourselves to our bedrooms, lying quietly in bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening for a phone that still didn’t ring.

Chapter 5 Check Out Time

He spared no expense. He hired the best. This collection was going to happen perfectly.

She was being followed this very moment. Leaving the airport in a taxi, she was headed directly to the hotel in which she had secured reservations. Everything was unfolding perfectly.

Very soon, she would be right here. She’ll be coming home; full circle. He chuckled to himself at his play on words as the metallic spheres danced in his hand.

Chapter 6 The Phone Call

Morning sunlight spilled across my face startling me awake. I sat bolt upright just sure that something bad was going on, but not being able to remember what it was. Then the cogs in my mind caught and it all flooded back to me. Mom never called last night. I even checked the voicemail at midnight and there were no messages.

I took the steps two at a time rushing down to check the voicemail again. Maybe she ate a bad shrimp at the convention and was sick all night and couldn’t leave a message till early this morning. My mind raced with what I was begging to be plausible explanations for her silence.

The light wasn’t blinking on the phone.

I held down the message button, anyway. “You have no new messages. You have no saved messages. For the main menu, please press eight,” a synthetic voice advised me. Oh my goodness, what are we going to do? Maze licked my hand. His warm, wet tongue woke me from my fog.

There was an emergency list taped to the inside of the cabinet directly above the wall phone. I hadn’t even thought about this list before now. It had been taped in place for so many years; my eyes didn’t even see it when I opened that cabinet to retrieve something. The list was such a fixture in my mind, it was just something to ignore.

I couldn’t ignore it now. It had only three numbers. The first was 911, of course. The second was Poison Control. And the last phone number was labeled “Dr. Andrews.”

All I knew about Dr. Andrews was that he went to medical school with mom and they were hired by the same pharmaceutical lab right after graduation. They worked together for a few years there and that’s when mom had us with her ex-husband. Mom eventually quit her job at the lab and moved us here to Texas to “escape the rat-race and raise us in a wholesome environment surrounded with nature” while she worked on her scientific theories.

We’ve been here for some twelve years. Come to think of it, I don’t have any memories of life anywhere but here. But mom had a life before our ranch and in that life she had trusted Dr. Andrews; trusted him enough to keep him on our emergency list.

As the oldest, I felt a deep sense of responsibility for my little brothers. It was my job to make sure they were okay when mom was away. A chill ran through me.

I stared at the phone number written in mom’s neat script. The ink was faded with time and the paper was yellowing. My left hand gripped the telephone. My right hand clutched the edge of the counter. How long has this list been here? What was she thinking when she added this name? Did she write the number hoping we would never need to call it? Or did she write it knowing we would need it? What kind of relationship did Mom and Dr. Andrews have, exactly? Did Dr. Andrews know our father? Was this number still current for him? What was I supposed to say to him? “Hi, you don’t know me but you know my mother and she’s missing?” That sounded pretty stupid to me.

Evan padded into the kitchen so softly that when he spoke I jumped, “Hey Meg, any word?”

“No, no word Evan. I was just looking at the list of emergency numbers and thinking about how much more time we should give mom before we contact this ‘Dr. Andrews.’ What do you think?”

Evan shrugged his slender shoulders. “What does Alik think?”

“What does Alik think about what?” Alik plodded into the kitchen and jumped up to sit on the counter. Something he would never get away with doing if mom was here.

“I’m wondering how much more time I should give mom before I contact the one person she has listed on this old emergency list.”

Alik rubbed his eyes. “Mom still hasn’t called? I was sure she would have left a message on the machine by morning.”

Yeah, he was upset. I can always tell when he’s upset because there’s this vein that starts turning blue and bulbous in the middle of his forehead.

“I’ll call this Andrews guy. Worst thing that can happen is already happening. He won’t know where she is or how to find her.”

“Or maybe the number will be disconnected and we can’t find him at all.” Evan added.

“Exactly,” I said.

I picked up the phone and started dialing not knowing what was going to happen, but feeling a deep sense of ominous fear seeping into my heart.

Chapter 7 Er…That Went Well

A female voice answered on the third ring. “Hello?” she said.

“Um, hi, I’m Meg Winter. I’m looking for Dr. Andrews.”

“Oh, sure! He’s out back mowing the lawn. Give me a minute Meg, and I’ll get him for you,” she said cheerfully. Now, I know I don’t get out much, but she seemed super nice, in a creepy sort of way. Couldn’t put my finger on what it was that struck me as insincere about her.

A male voice interrupted my thoughts, “Hello?”

“Hi, Dr. Andrews?”

“Yes. Meg was it?” he asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“Meg Winter, yes. I’m calling because yours was the only number besides the authorities on our emergency contact list, and I need to know if you can help me find our mom,” all the words spilled out of my mouth. I held my breath waiting for his response.

“Well, who’s your mother?” he asked the million-dollar question.

“Margo Winter. Dr. Margo Winter. She told me once that you knew each other in college and worked at the same place for a few years and that you knew my dad—” I let my voice trail, hoping he’d jump in and help me because I was feeling like a complete idiot.

“Margo,” he almost whispered. “Your mother is Margo? Wow, I’m floored! I thought I’d never hear from her again. Where is she? Where are you? Are the boys with you too?” His questions bubbled to the surface so fast; I didn’t know which to answer first once he paused.

“Mom is at a conference in LA, I’m in Texas, and yes Alik and Evan are here with me.” I tried to answer specifically.

“Margo had my name on an emergency list?” Dr. Andrews wondered aloud. He was putting it together now. “What’s going on? What’s the emergency?”

“She hasn’t contacted us in,” I stopped to look at the wall clock, “twenty-three hours, and she was supposed to call us last night when her flight landed. We—we’re worried and we didn’t know who to call for help.”

“You said she was at a conference in LA? What kind of conference? Was she presenting? Did she tell you who would be there? Where is she staying? Why did she leave you alone? Don’t you have family you can call? Friends? Neighbors?” Dr. Andrews sure had a way of squeezing a lot of questions into what sounded like one run-on sentence.

“We live out on a ranch here in Texas. Our nearest neighbor is twenty-five miles from here. We don’t really have friends, besides one another. Mom homeschools us. She likes us to live an ‘unpolluted way of life that focuses on our intrinsic gifts and the development of our intellect’.” I quoted mom’s mantra without thinking.

“Let me make some calls, and I’ll call you right back. I can’t leave you three alone. Listen, if I can’t locate her right away, I’ll come get you, and you’ll stay with us until your mom returns.

“I know this sounds far-fetched, but you have to understand me when I say if your mom is gone, it’s not because she wants to be. You and your brothers need to be hidden until she’s safely returned.”

“What are you talking about? Our mom was just going to give a speech on biogenetic engineering to a bunch of other egghead scientists. What could have happened to her?”

“You’re going to have to take a leap of faith here, Meg. I’ll call you back within the hour.”

Click.

Chapter 8 What The…?

Have I mentioned how impatient I am? I relayed the entire conversation to the boys. They were both looking as confused and frightened as I’m sure I did.

“Leap of freaking faith!” Alik spat the words. He seemed to chew on that statement with a look of disgust. “What the heck is going on?”

“I don’t know, honestly I don’t.” I groaned miserable with worry.

“I wonder if this has something to do with the documents I found in the library.” Evan commented calmly.

“What?” Alik and I both barked.

“What documents are you talking about?” Alik looked like he was about to wring someone’s neck and Evan was looking like the perfect someone.

“Well, you both know what a voracious reader I am. I discovered, quite by accident really, an expandable folder full of documents on the uppermost shelf in the library between The Encyclopedia Britannica copyright 1939 and the biography of William Dursel.”

“Forget Britannica and Dursel! What were the documents?” I yelled. (Told you I was impatient.)

Evan didn’t have time to answer before the phone started ringing. I slapped my hand on it and threw it up to my ear. “Dr. Andrews?”

“Meg, I’m coming to get you and the boys right now. Pack a bag for each of you. Bring enough clothes for several days.”

“Wait a minute, who did you call? What did you find out about our mom? Where is she? Is she all right?”

“Meg,” the doctor’s voice was strained and for the first time I could hear the fear in it. “You’re going to have to take that leap we talked about before. You’re the oldest; the boys will do what you tell them to do because they know you love them. You want to keep them safe, right?”

“Of course, I want them safe. But you’re not answering my questions. Where is…”

Dr. Andrews interrupted me, “You are not safe there. Do you understand me? You are not safe now that your mother has been found out.”

My mind was racing. Mom’s been “found out” by whom? What was she hiding and why? We are “not safe” in our perfectly secluded little ranch? What was that supposed to mean? What was happening?

“The boys are there in the room with you, right? They’re watching you and trying to figure out what’s happened. When we hang up, you have to calm their worries and tell them coming with me is the best way to find your mom. I am catching the first flight out of Kansas City airport, but you have to tell me where you are, exactly.”

“Tell you where we are,” my voice sounded monotone, even to my ears. I stared at Alik and Evan and forced my brain to think. What do I do? How am I supposed to know if I should trust this stranger? He was on our emergency list written in mom’s handwriting. He wanted me to leave my home because we aren’t safe here. What if mom was fine and she had tried calling but there was something wrong with our phone? Wait, if there was something wrong with our phone, then I wouldn’t have been able to call Dr. Andrews. Nor could he have called us back. What if he…

“Meg, we’re running out of time. Tell me where you are so I can come get you and your brothers.”

“Do you have a pen?” Though my heart was racing with fear, my voice miraculously, didn’t give me away. Twelve years of isolation from the world was about to come to an end.

Chapter 9 There’s A Stranger In Our Midst

Alik and Evan took a lot of convincing. Even as I talked, though, I was digging through the bottom of the hall closet hoping to find a duffel bag. It’s not like we owned a lot of luggage. We never went anywhere…well, before now.

“He said mom was in danger? What did he say about mom, Meg?” Alik and Evan were taking turns arguing with me about the logic behind my decision to trust Dr. Andrews.

“I already told you what he said, boys…twice! Don’t fight me on this. Please trust my instincts. We don’t have much time. Find a tote or something and start packing some clothes. Don’t forget your toothbrushes. Get moving…go!”

The boys exchanged a look of resigned frustration and headed for their rooms. I heard shuffling and grumbling, but at least I didn’t hear any more arguing. Thank God. I found myself praying, even as I worked, “Please God. Please help mom. Help her be safe. Please help me make the right decisions for the boys. And PLEASE let Dr. Andrews be a good and honest man who will do as he says he will.”

A cold wet nose nuzzled my leg. I turned to look in to the worried eyes of my Maze. He’d never seen me pack before. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have packed. He looked upset. And if a coyote could cry, I would say he had tears in his eyes. But coyotes can’t cry, right? “Maze, it’s okay boy. We’re going to be fine. We’ll find mom and bring her home.” He looked at me with sorrowful eyes and whined. I felt the same way.

I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. My bag was packed and I’d set the animals out to graze so they wouldn’t starve. The goats would be just fine. I was more worried about the cattle. But there was plenty of green grass because of rains we’ve had over the past few weeks, and for the same reason, the pond was full of water for them to drink. They should be okay for a few days. I still wasn’t sure what to do about Maze, but if I stopped to think too much I may just curl up into the bottom of a closet and bawl my head off. What good would that do anyone?

The doctor was catching a direct flight to DFW from Kansas City, then a commuter plane to Tyler—the nearest town to us. He told me he would rent an SUV and be at our house no later than 5pm. He warned me not to answer the phone unless he called using our signal (one ring, hang up, then three rings). Or any knocks on the door. (Again, one knock, silence, then three knocks.) This sounded pretty hokey to me, but I agreed we needed some sort of code so I’d know it was him, considering we’d never met.

“I’m all packed, Meg. I also grabbed the documents I mentioned before. They may help us.” Evan looked older suddenly. His eyes had shadows under them and his face had a gaunt look to it. The poor kid shouldn’t have all this to worry about. This wasn’t fair to him. ‘Course, none of this was fair to any of us.

“Backpack filled with clothes and toothbrush, ma’am. I’m ready for my next assignment.” Alik was being stupid and sarcastic and I wasn’t in the mood.

“You can secure the house including all doors and windows. Everything needs to be in lock down. You could also stop acting like mom’s disappearance is my fault. That’s going to get old fast.” I didn’t want to fight with Alik. I needed him for moral support.

“Your wish is my command, your highness,” he quipped.

I shot him my I-could-kill-you-with-one-punch look too late. His back was to me as he strode down the hall, obeying my orders.

That whole day was weird. I kept hovering by the phone willing it to ring, and silently dreaming I’d hear mom’s voice on the other line full of explanations and apologies for not calling sooner. That never happened.

Some hours blinked by. Others dragged and felt like each minute hung suspended in the air for way too long before the next minute was allowed to begin.

The doctor’s warning, “she’s been found out” kept echoing in my mind. Found out? By whom? What had she done? She was such a good person. Mom had a heart of gold and the discipline of a soldier. I couldn’t imagine her ever doing something to make anyone hunt her down for retribution.

And why would Alik, Evan and I be in danger from them? What kind of sick puppies would hurt children? Now, we aren’t as helpless as the average kid with all the skills mom drilled into our heads, but still, they didn’t know that, did they?

Alik still wasn’t talking to me by 4:31 when we heard an SUV pull up. I peeked out the window without disturbing the drapes. A silver minivan, obviously a rental, was parking in front of our house. From the driver’s side a man emerged and glanced quickly around as if looking for any signs of danger. He strode up our walkway and knocked once…waited…then knocked three times.

Dr. Andrews had arrived.

I opened the door and found myself looking up at a man with crystal blue eyes and light hair who stood at least a foot taller than me. “Hi,” I said stupidly. “You must be Dr. Andrews.”

The stranger at my door smiled for the first time and relaxed just long enough for me to see he had a friendly demeanor, when he wasn’t scared out of his gourd.

“Hi, Meg. Are you guys all packed? We have a flight leaving in one hour from Tyler.”

Alik and Evan were standing behind me, quiet till now. “We’re packed. But before we get into your car, we want some answers,” Alik looked ready for a fight. I willed him to breathe and calm down. “Where is our mother, from whom are we in ‘danger’ and what are you going to do to get our mom back safely?”

“You must be Alik,” Dr. Andrews beamed at him. He was oblivious to the threatening tone Alik had just used on him. “I’m really glad to meet you and your siblings.” He said the last part while looking directly at Evan. “I’ll try to answer your questions. First, according to my sources, your mom’s plane arrived on-time at LAX. She had reservations at the Hotel Barton in LA, so we can assume she was headed there. She never showed up for her reservation. Your second question is a long story, but since we’re short on time, I will tell you you’re in danger from a corporation that wants your mother’s research and data that was based on you three. And the last, I’ll do everything I can to get Margo back safely. She’s probably the best person I’ve ever known. I respect her, and I owe her. There…are you ready to go now?”

The boys looked like perplexed statues, so I spoke for them. “Yes, our bags are all right here, and Maze can ride in the back of the SUV without a crate.”

“Who’s Maze?” Now it was Dr. Andrew’s turn to look confused.

As if on cue, my three-year-old silver-backed coyote weighing in at a whopping fifty-five pounds sauntered into the foyer. He sniffed the air gently with his keen nose, and for a moment, I could tell he was judging the doctor. It only took a few seconds for Maze to be convinced of the stranger’s good character before he sat relaxed on his haunches, cocked his head and let his tongue do that lolling-out-of-the-mouth-thing. There was another good sign. Maze trusted Dr. Andrews.

Smiling to myself at Maze and his ways, I glanced back at the man standing in our doorway. He must have been leaning down to pick up one of the bags when he locked eyes with Maze. He was frozen.

“Is that a coyote?” his voice was barely a whisper and gave away a tremor.

I’d never introduced Maze to anyone before, so I was trying to imagine what that big sharp-toothed coyote looked like to the typical suburban dwelling person. My smile grew. Yeah, he was a pretty fierce looking beast. Excellent!

“Yep, I raised him since he was a pup. He’s my…” I searched for the right word because “pet” didn’t fit him at all, “best friend. He comes too. That’s not open for discussion.” I added the last part with a hint of a threatening tone.

“Oh, okay, but he rides in the back. The airline is going to insist on a crate for…him. And probably papers, too.” The doctor stammered. It cracked me up that someone could be so afraid of this walking ball of furry love. Maze never hurt a fly. He eats dog food, for goodness’ sake!

“Well, I’ve got his vet papers here, but he won’t like to be crated. I guess you would know more about what airlines would allow than me, so I’ve got a crate we can bring. It’s collapsible so it should fit in the SUV for the drive.”

Chapter 10 We Don’t Get Out Much

The boys were already loading the rented SUV with our meager belongings. Maze took up the entire back of the vehicle even with the third row seats folded down.

I was the last one out of the house. I locked the door behind me, climbed into the SUV full of Y-chromosomes and took one last hard look at my home. Would I be back soon? Will anything have changed in my absence? Did I leave the light on in the pantry? Ugh. I had to force myself to stop worrying about every little thing.

One step at a time, Meg. First we get to town, and I get on the plane. That was scary enough because A) I’d never been to town and B) I’d never been on a plane. What if I hurled? I looked back at the boys. They were both staring out their windows with their arms crossed and faces skewed with worry. I imagine they’re just as anxious as I am. They’ve never done anything like this before, either. We were all taking a huge leap of faith.

As for Maze, he was sound asleep, snoring. On one hand, I was glad he was handling the car ride and the stranger so well, on the other hand, his nonchalance was getting on my nerves!

The look on the ticket agent’s face when he saw Maze was priceless! I seriously had to stifle my laughter because the poor fellow looked as though he added some decorative spots to his shorts. All Maze did was yawn in the agent’s direction. So he has a lot of teeth! He’s a coyote, for goodness’ sake!

That scene finally broke the chip that had been hanging out on Alik’s shoulder since morning. He was laughing so hard he got hiccups.

Evan wanted desperately to read the pilot’s manual while we were in the air. At first the pilot thought he was a quirky smart little kid, so he handed over the four inch thick guide with a shrug and a smile. He didn’t find it nearly so cute when Evan walked into the pilot’s cockpit and informed them that their dials weren’t all indicating the precise readings they ought to be and in essence, they were doing it wrong.

All I’ve got to say is, maybe we should rent an SUV from Dallas on the return trip. I’m pretty sure this small commuter airline would remember us—what with our huge coyote and smart-alecky brainchild.

I had never seen so many people in one place as I did when we walked off the plane and into Dallas Fort Worth International airport. It was huge. People swarmed everywhere! And all the different kinds of people, too! There were so many hair colors and styles, clothing, languages and accents.

And the smells! I didn’t even know what all of them were, but the aromas wafting from all the different shops, restaurants and vendors were dizzying! I was on some kind of sensory overload.

I kept looking over at my brothers desperately needing to exchange sympathetic looks of “Oh my goodness, what is all this!” But they were too engrossed in their own sensory overloads to notice boring ol’ Meg.

I’ll tell you what people noticed about us, but I bet you can guess.

Yep, Maze. I sat with him on a little golf cart-like thing and held his kennel while we zoomed past pedestrians. It was good someone else was driving, because by the time we stopped I was completely lost. If someone told me they would give me a hundred dollars if I could point to where north was I’d have to walk away empty handed.

I said as much to Alik and he looked at me like I was nuts. “What do you mean you don’t know which way is north? It’s over there.” He pointed casually toward what looked like a random wall. Sure it was, I thought. And how would I prove him wrong, I ask you? My point, exactly. I couldn’t.

Chapter 11 Some Q and A

The flight from Dallas to Kansas City was on a much bigger plane. Quieter too. I finally had time to try to get some answers from the good doctor. I knew we were strapped into these seats for the duration, so I started firing away. “How well do you know my mom?”

A shadow moved across his face as his eyes darted down. “She was my best friend for a long time. We met in college, she told you that much. Then we got hired by the same company after graduation. We were still friends for several years, but eventually we fell out of touch. She knew I would always be there for her, and she for me. Time just started slipping by too fast and our lives got busy. Then she moved away, and I focused on my medical career. We lost track of each other.” He sighed deeply and kept looking at his hands as if there was some clue to life buried there. I felt a wave of pity for him, but didn’t know why.

“Did you know our dad?” I pretended not to want to know anything about my father in front of mom. She would always get this seriously pained expression on her face when I would bring up questions about our dad, so eventually I stopped asking. But this was a rare opportunity to ask about him from someone who may have known him and wouldn’t feel hurt answering my questions. Or so I thought. My peripheral vision I caught Dr. Andrew’s face turning white. What the heck? Was my dad a serial killer or something?

“Yeah, I knew him. Sorta.” He answered noncommittally. “All I know is that he wasn’t ready to be a dad and took off before Evan was born leaving your mom to raise the three of you by herself. That’s what your mom told me.” He looked really uncomfortable. Hum.

I decided to drop that for now. There were other pressing questions, and I didn’t know how much longer he was going to put up with the queries. “What trouble do you think mom is in?” He took a deep breath and a sip of the soda the flight attendant put in front of him.

“Listen, Meg. A long time ago, your mom and I were working for a company we thought was trying to develop a cure for autism. Do you know what autism is?”

“I know just the basics.”

Dr. Andrews put on his metaphorical white lab coat and started explaining, in way too much detail, autism. He lost me pretty close to the start of it so rather than let him see me start to pick at a string on the edge of my sleeve; I decided to interrupt, “Um…Dr. Andrews, please don’t think I’m rude, but you’ve completely lost me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Meg. I get pretty passionate about autism. It’s something I worked on for so many years.

“Okay, here are the highlights: 1) autism happens in the brain 2) we don’t know exactly what causes autism 3) the level of functionality varies a lot from patient to patient 4) the standard treatments are simply medicines that help regulate the symptoms of autism and 5) there is no known cure.”

“That was better, thanks.”

“No problem,” the doctor said with a likeable smile then continued his story, “So you can imagine how excited we were to learn that some of our work was being used to generate a serum that had a lot of promise. The company was experimenting on living subjects. They saw a lot of potential in the path your mom was going with her ideas. She was given a promotion and put on the Neurobiological team that was working on a highly top-secret division of The Institute. They called it ‘The Infinite Project.’

“I saw her the day she had been given her first tour of the facility.” Dr. Andrew’s face took on a distant, haunted expression as he remembered. “She looked grief stricken. She was going on and on about her life’s work all being ‘for nothing.’ She wasn’t making a lot of sense.

“I thought she was just over worked. I mean, it was impossible to think of Margo as incoherent. She’s the most organized, precise, detailed person I’d ever met. And here she was on the verge of tears and babbling something about ‘babies.’ I offered to drive her home, but she insisted on going back to the lab. That was the last time I saw her.” He stopped talking, but it didn’t look like that was all he could have said. I could see it in his face. There was much more to the story.

“I’m really tired, Meg. Do you mind if we continue the inquisition when we get to the house? I’d like to close my eyes for a while.” He wasn’t lying about that. It was as clear as the nose on his pale face. He needed quiet.

I nodded and looked around to check on Alik and Evan. Alik was drinking his complimentary beverage like it was the most delicious thing he’d ever experienced—actually moaning with joy. And Evan, well he was playing with the button that leaned his chair back, then upright, then back, then upright. Then he started playing with the folding trey, up and down, then up and down. The final straw was when he located the “Sky Mall” magazine in the pocket in front of him.

Oh, my goodness. I gave apologetic looks to the passengers in front of and behind the boys. I’m sure they were irritating the heck out of them with all their bumping, reclining, and generally strange noises and comments. I was feeling like we couldn’t be more conspicuous. Then I heard a loud, mournful howl coming from the cargo hold under the floor. Shut up, Maze! I yelled in mind, but on the outside I just sunk deeper into my seat. Oh yeah, we just blend right in.

Chapter 12 Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Three black luxury SUVs rolled up to the Winter’s ranch house. Once stopped all the doors flew open and out poured men wearing nondescript black suits. They walked with a purpose to the front door. The first to arrive wasted no time with the lock. He unloaded one clean shot into it and kicked in the door.

Once in the house, they split in teams of two and swarmed the rooms. Every drawer was spilled, every closet riffled through, every mattress was tossed and sliced open and every cushion stabbed.

Margo’s computer was unplugged and carried out to the SUVs. Anything ever typed, saved, erased or received on this PC would be resurrected in hopes there was data on the metas that could be recovered.

The house was otherwise of no use and had been ordered burned. Gasoline was the chosen accelerant. The house was an inferno in minutes and the black SUVs had left as quietly as they had come.

Standing off in the field, two goats stood chewing and watching the blaze. One flicked its tail, turned and walked away. The other followed.

Chapter 13 We’re in Kansas Now, Toto

The Kansas City airport was tiny compared to DFW’s. The first thing we had to do when we got off the plane was use the facilities, though I was eager to go claim Maze. I was sure he had all the excitement he could stomach for one day, but the boys were taking forever in the bathroom.

Dr. Andrews went in to see what was taking them so long. Moments turned into minutes and my patience turned into fury. What in the heck were they doing in there?

I was not in the mood for this: Our mom is missing, we’re on the run with a stranger, I’ve left my home, I flew on airplanes, I walked through a human jungle of people at two airports, and my furry best friend had been in a cage all day. My nerves were shot. What was taking them so long in the stupid bathroom?

Just when I was about to march in to the men’s room myself, the door swung open and there stood my brothers with the doctor. Evan was wet. Not a just little wet, but…well, like he had stood in a shower, wet. Alik was a bit damp himself but he looked just as disgusted as I did.

“What happened?” My eyes shot back and forth between the brothers.

“Don’t look at me, Meg. Talk to Mr. Fixit over here,” Alik said the last part while rolling his eyes back at Evan.

“What did you do, Evan?” I asked between clenched teeth. “And why are you soaking wet?”

“Oh, calm down Meg. I was just figuring out how the faucets worked—motion sensors, by the way—when I noticed one of the faucets wasn’t working like the others. Well, I thought I could fix that myself, so I found the storage closet, jury-rigged the lock, found some tools and started to get to work. It would have been fine too, had Alik not come up behind me and kicked the back of my knee. My leg buckled, my hand slipped, the faucet exploded—could have happened to anyone.” Evan said all this with his typical infuriating nonchalance.

“I’ll let someone know they need maintence in there, and quick.” Dr. Andrews looked like he was trying to keep from laughing, which was a good call because I was about ready to kick someone’s butt and at this point, I really didn’t care whose.

The special claims agent was standing nervously at the counter when we walked up. She looked from the doctor, to the soggy boys, then to me. When she saw our claims ticket was for the large, toothy canine, she was quick to process us.

The moment I unlatched the cage, Maze started licking my face like it had been smothered in gravy. Touching his warm thick fur was an immediate tonic to my racing mind. For just a moment, while Dr. Andrews loaded our bags into his personal SUV, I allowed myself to burry my face in Maze’s thick coat. I breathed deeply and felt a wave of nostalgia. I missed my home. I missed my mom. Maze can read me so well; he let out a soft whine on my behalf. I loved my Maze, and he loved me.

Chapter 14 Everyone Likes Pizza

The ride to Dr. Andrew’s house was uneventful, so I found myself watching the scenery. Growing up in Texas hasn’t exactly given me the opportunity to experience true seasons. It’s pretty much hot at the ranch. The live oak, mesquite, and pecan trees that are so prevalent at home were nowhere to be found here. These trees were huge! And the colors! I had never seen a tree make such mesmerizing reds, oranges and browns. The painted leaves danced in the breeze as we drove. What a beautiful place.

We drove south for a while. I only know this because I overheard Alik talking to Dr. Andrews.

“We live in a suburb south and west of Kansas City. It’s called Olathe. Great schools, beautiful homes, lots of shopping, not too crowded but close enough to the city. My wife, Michelle, and I bought a house together two years ago when we married. She’s anxious to meet you three, but she won’t be home till late. She’s stuck at the office right now. She’s an attorney.

“But my son Cole will be home. He’s about your age, Meg. He’ll turn sixteen in December.” I heard two things in his voice when he talked about his son: 1) He loved him very much, and 2) He felt an old sadness. I had a gut feeling so I ran with it.

“You and Michelle were just married two years ago? So, where is Cole’s mother?” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I regretted them. The doctor’s face flinched as though I had physically struck him.

Nothing like a little gentle probing, Meg. I scolded myself. Geez!

“Cole’s mom died eight years ago. Cancer. He misses her a lot.” I could almost hear him add, and so do I. But I just felt those words; he didn’t actually speak them aloud.

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” It was clear he wasn’t over his first wife. How sad life was sometimes. Sad and unfair.

Changing the subject, the doctor started pointing out things along the way. There was the mall. Down that road was the hospital where he worked as an ER doctor. There was a yummy barbecue place he claimed was “world famous” for their sauce. That was Cole’s high school, and so on.

I have to tell you, the one thing that really seemed weird to me was the color of the houses. In Texas, we use bricks on the outside of our homes. But around here they must use something else entirely because there were houses of every color. Pink, green, purple, blue…seriously, how weird is that?

I had to ask, “So what’s up with all the different colored houses? Where’s the brick?”

Evan spoke first, “Brick is more readily available in the South, so it’s affordable. It costs too much to ship brick this far North so they use siding instead. Siding can be painted.”

“Thank you, Evan-i-pedia.” Sometimes my brother’s uber intelligence was a little annoying. Then again, I really wasn’t in the best mood to begin with. I should cut him some slack.

“Well, gang, we’re here.” I watched the house as we pulled up into the driveway. At least it wasn’t pink! The doctor’s house was a dusty blue with darker blue trim. It stood two stories tall and had large trees growing around it. One of the trees looked like it had tennis balls hung like ornaments from all the branches.

“What are all those yellow balls hanging from that tree?” I had to ask.

“Oh, that’s a hedge apple tree. Those are its fruit. Don’t try to eat them though. Pretty much, just squirrels and birds eat them. I keep meaning to trim it back. When one of those darn hedge apples drops, it can leave quite a dent in the truck.”

Strange place, Kansas.

Before we even walked up the steps, the door flew open and out bounded a boy, all grins. This must be Cole, I thought.

“Hey dad! How was your trip?” He had an easygoing way about him that was immediately likeable.

“Hey Cole, everything went fine. Here are the kids I told you about,” he waved his hand and pointed to each of us in turn. “This is Meg, and Alik and Evan. And this,” he raised his brows as Maze jumped out of the back, “this is Meg’s coyote.”

“Holy cow!” he yelped as he jumped back a few feet. I had to keep myself from laughing; didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot or anything.

“His name is ‘Maze’ and he’s completely harmless, unless you’re a prairie dog or a rabbit,” I added trying to lighten his mood. “I found him as a tiny pup. His mother never returned so I took him and his two sisters home and nursed them to health. The sisters took off when they were big enough, but Maze never left my side.” Okay, I didn’t know why my mouth kept talking. I kept willing myself to shut up. Instead, more came out.

“When your dad offered to come get us, I just couldn’t imagine leaving him back at the ranch. He’s too domesticated. He eats dog chow, for goodness’ sake. I don’t even know whether he could hunt if he had to.” Shut up, shut up, shut up, I thought to myself. Why was I so chatty with this guy? Who cared what he thought of me or my Maze?

“A coyote for a pet? Wow. That’s just—different. Have you taught him tricks like you would a dog?” Cole seemed sincerely interested so I answered him honestly.

“Maze can do everything a dog can do and lots more. For starters, he can understand me. Not just simple commands like sit, lie down and roll over. Maze can understand directions, emotions and conversations. He is really amazing. That’s how he got his name, after all.” I was rambling again. Ugghh!

“Hum…really.” Cole said thoughtfully. Now this was weird to me because I couldn’t tell if he believed me or thought I was making it all up. I was too worried about how my clothes probably looked all wrinkled and how his cologne smelled so handsome.

I bit my tongue to keep from adding to my nervous chatter as we walked into the house. I stopped in the foyer to take in the sights around me. There was a beautiful sitting room to my left and further down the main hall was the formal dining room. To the right, was a comfortable area with a receiving table and chair where the doctor threw his keys and wallet. Next to that was a steep staircase that must be fifteen steps up. I assumed the bedrooms were upstairs.

At the opposite end of the main hallway was an adorable kitchen and nook, with windows everywhere. They were all open to showcase the mature autumn trees growing out of the creek some two hundred yards from the back porch. Everything looked so inviting. I had to push away the nagging feeling that I arrived at a place that was somehow always supposed to have been my home. Stupid, déjà vu.

Cole and his dad were carrying our bags up the stairs. “Thanks for setting up the rooms for our guests while I was away, Cole,” he smiled at his son and continued. “Meg, the front room will be yours because it has its own bathroom. Boys, you’ll have to share this room by the hall bathroom. It’s already set up with bunk beds. I hope that’s okay. My room is down this hall and Cole’s is across from yours Meg.” He stopped on the upstairs landing and looked around at us as we stood awkwardly in our new surroundings. I’m not sure about the boys, but I know I was really tired and I missed my mom so bad I could almost imagine hearing her voice.

“Listen, guys. I know this is all a little overwhelming to you. I’ll do everything I can to find your mom, honest I will.” He looked like he was teary eyed for a moment as he spoke. A quick sniff and his emotions were back in check. “Go ahead and settle in, unpack and get cleaned up. I’ll order some pizzas in an hour or so.”

He started to walk downstairs when he must have seen Maze sitting patiently on the first floor landing. “Um, Meg? Do you think Maze would like to hang out in the backyard?” I smiled to myself. Can you imagine what the neighbors would think if I took him for a walk? “Yeah, I’m sure he’d love it. I’ll get some food and water set up for him too.”

Though tired, I found myself heading down the stairs with a spring in my step. Where the heck did that come from? Oh, then I remembered. Cole. Did I mention how good looking he was?

I closed my eyes and shook my head. What am I thinking? Were my hormones that out of control that the first boy I see who’s not a brother of mine makes me all ga-ga?

I focused on Maze now. He leaped out the back door and immediately started chasing a squirrel. That poor little brown thing flew up his tree to a pile of scraggly brown twigs and leaves nestled in the crook of a branch. That must be his home. My imagination pictured him…

…panting at his front door…lovely Mrs. Squirrel looks up from her knitting.

What’s the matter, dear?

You are never going to guess what just moved into the neighborhood.

Is that a real coyote?

Yes, it is. I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to stay at your mother’s house for a while. Pack the nuts.

I was still chuckling to myself at the thought of how a squirrel must feel with Maze around, when I noticed Cole watching me from the back door. Self-consciously, I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked away. He’s probably just wondering what kind of freak his dad just brought home. Ugh.

As if on cue, Maze raced up to me with a hedge apple in his mouth. He dropped it at my feet and looked up pitifully. In my mind he was saying, “C’mon Meg, after the day you put me though? You owe me a few rounds of playtime!”

“All right, all right fur ball,” I responded to his unspoken dialog, leaned down, grabbed the toy and threw it. Okay, so I’m not used to fences and boundaries. And my throw, though gentle for me, flew over the creek behind the house. That didn’t bother Maze. He leaped to the top of the fence, caught the wood with his front legs then pushed off with his back legs never losing sight of his target. Within seconds, he had jumped back over the fence in one easy leap and dropped the hedge apple at my feet.

Well, if Cole just saw that, he’s sure to have some questions for me. I was too afraid to turn around to see if he’d been watching. I’ll just assume the worst and wait for the sound of the door opening behind me followed by a barrage of, “How did you DO that?” What can I say; I’m pretty strong for a girl.

Moments passed as I rubbed Maze’s head, and all was quiet from the house. Whew! Maybe no one saw. I kept the game very low key from then on and Maze got bored fast. I was too tired, anyway. Actually, a hot shower sounded like a great idea. Something about being surrounded by all those people at the airports made me feel covered in germs.

I headed back inside the house and left Maze sniffing in the bushes. Maybe we won’t be here long. Maybe Dr. Andrews will locate our mom tonight and we can go home tomorrow. I wished so hard that would happen, but the cynic in me knew better. Things were probably going to get a whole lot worse before they got better.

Chapter 15 Dr. Winter’s Awakening

She could hear the ticking of what had to be a clock. The more she strained to hear something besides that tick-tock, the more deafening the silence became.

Everything hurt and her foggy brain wasn’t helping.

She remembered landing at the airport and heading toward a taxi cab outside. And that’s it. That was the last thing she could remember.

Next thing she knew, she woke lying on a clammy floor of a darkened room with her wrists and ankles tied with duct tape. She could feel the thick layer of adhesive digging into her skin, itching like crazy, and tight enough to cut off circulation.

But if that was her only pain, she would be overjoyed. Though she didn’t remember how it happened, she was very sure something was wrong with her head. She could feel her heartbeat pounding behind her eyes and she smelled the coppery, thick scent of blood around her. She had no doubt that she’d suffered a pretty serious head trauma.

Margo willed herself to breathe slowly and deeply, hoping the extra oxygen would help her think.

For twelve years, she waited for this day to come. And for twelve years, she prayed and planned and tried to prepare herself for its eventuality. But even after everything she did to try to set it up so the children would survive, nothing could prepare her for the desperation she felt for their safety now.

If the company found her, did they know where the children were too? Had they already captured them? Were they experimenting on them, again? Or did they decide to eliminate the evidence of their “metahumans?” She shook her head slowly trying to clear it and saw pain-filled stars for her efforts.

The more she thought about the children in harm’s way, the angrier she got. The angrier she became, the more clearly her mind worked.

She was far from helpless.

Growing up in a small Kansas town in a middle-class family, she knew the only way out was going to be with a lot of hard work. She couldn’t take anything from her parents, though they wanted to help her pay for school. They had enough to cope with. You see, she had a baby sister who was special.

Becca was a beautiful baby girl who came home from the hospital with mom and dad when Margo was five. By her first birthday, they started to notice Becca was different from other babies. By the time she was three, they had a definite diagnosis. She was autistic.

There are different levels of autism. Becca was high functioning. There were times when she would just astound the family with her intelligence and humor. But those times were few and far between. Most of her days were spent repeating her comfortable patterns. She loved her “hot pink” marker and carried it around everywhere. She wore shirts with no tags. She liked to play peek-a-boo and organize her letter tile squares into perfect rows of ten.

Becca was thirteen when Margo was accepted to West Point Academy. At eighteen, Margo dedicated herself to military service for the next ten years. In exchange, she received a West Point education and an active duty tour highlighted by special ops training. Then there were four years of medical school at a prestigious university squeezed in for good measure. Life was nonstop, and the time flew by in a blur.

After her military contract was fulfilled, her superiors tried to convince her that her place was with them. She disagreed. Now, she needed to fulfill her next goal. She wanted to find a cure for autism.

There was a small list of laboratories that fit her criteria so it didn’t take long for her to choose The Institute of Neurobiological Studies in Upland, California. If Margo knew then what she knew now, things would be so different. But as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty. She loved her parents so much and missed them terribly. Their passing left a huge hole in her heart.

Memories kept flooding back to her in full color and crisp audio. Adrenaline does that to a person.

She was trying to loosen the tape around her wrists. The ties were so tight they were cutting into her skin with each movement she made. Pain was something she could control. Margo wasn’t worried about the pain. She was worried about damaging herself to where she couldn’t fight when given the chance.

How long had she been here? What day was it? What time? If the company hadn’t captured the children, then where were they? Though she trained them to fight and survive, she was aware that they would have been completely caught off-guard. An involuntary wince had her biting her lip as she continued to work on her binds.

Margo’s mind couldn’t stop racing. What if the children thought to call that number on the emergency contacts lists? And if they did, would her old friend help them? Would he even know how?

All these unknowns were maddening.

“I just need to survive so I can protect the children, God. You can take me as soon as they’re safe. I don’t want to live without them. Please help me, please.” She didn’t even realize prayers were streaming through her mind. She was so focused on loosening the binds around her wrists.

Physical excursion was making her slick with sweat. The moisture was working on the adhesive. Maybe, if I could twist like this, she thought.

A wave of despair crashed over Margo. She was angry at herself for leaving the children alone and angry she let her guard down. Margo was beating herself up with all the “what if’s.” What if I hadn’t published that paper? What if I hadn’t agreed to come to this convention?

She now knew she had fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book. Get someone to think they won an award so they come to collect the prize, and whammo! Caught! She was feeling furious at herself for being so naïve.

And that’s when she heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Her wrists burned with numbing pain as she redoubled her efforts.

Focus, Margo, she thought angrily to herself. It doesn’t matter how I got here. I’m getting my children, and I’m getting out!

Margo steeled herself with renewed determination. I will not give up my children, she silently screamed. One more agonizing twist and her right hand ripped free of its binds. As she shook the numbness out of her bloody and aching arms, a sense of calm enveloped her. Now she was ready. One more prayer and the door to her cell opened.

Chapter 16 Honey, I’m Home

Alik, Evan and I have tasted pizza before. I mean, we didn’t live in the Stone Age back at the ranch. It’s just, we’d never tasted this kind of pizza before.

The kind that showed up at your door carried by a kid wearing a uniform and a huge sign attached to his beat up car. The kind that came in a cardboard box that when opened, steamed hot juicy mouthwateringly scrumptious smells. The kind that when you lifted a slice from the others—strands of gooey cheese remained attached to the rest of the pizza, as if resisting your advances. The kind of pizza that when you took your first bite, you knew it wasn’t going to be your last. Red sauce dancing between the chewy dough and gooey cheese covered in crispy slices of salty pepperoni.

This was heaven-in-a-box good. This was eat-till-you-hurl good. This was the stuff that made us know our civilization was at the pinnacle of advancement. So even though I say we’ve had food that came in a frozen box labeled “pizza” before, I must confess, I had never had real pizza before tonight.

After dinner, Alik, Evan and Cole headed to the basement to watch a movie. You would never have believed they just met Cole that afternoon. They were like three peas in a pod laughing and joking around with each other as though they’d been friends for years. ‘Course, knowing my brothers, they were still just delirious with joy over the meal they devoured.

As for me, I was so full that all I could do was sit on the basement stairs and play with Maze. From that spot, I heard the garage door rumble open. I stopped and listened up the stairs. High heels clicking on concrete, pausing, door to the house opening…then closing. I heard keys jingle and more heels clicking before a few thuds. That was probably her purse or briefcase being set down heavily. “Honey,” she called. “Hun, are you upstairs? Theo?” Michelle was home.

Maze and I scooted up the steps a little more so we could hear.

“I’m here Michelle, in the kitchen.” Dr. Andrews responded. “I’m glad you’re home. I, um…we have guests.”

“The Winter children? They’re here? What are they like?” Michelle sounded anxious.

What the heck was she talking about? She was acting like she expected us to be freaks. Suddenly, my full stomach felt like revolting.

Ugh, why did I eat so much? I thought miserably.

The doctor responded in a whispered tone, probably trying to encourage Michelle to lower her voice. “They seem completely normal to me. Of course, I didn’t examine them or anything. Their mother kept them secluded from the world on their ranch so they seem fascinated at the most ordinary things.” I heard his voice smile as he said that last part. I’m sure he was thinking about Evan and the airport faucet.

“The oldest, Meg, has an unusual pet, though. A coyote she’s raised since he was a pup. She named it ‘Maze’.”

“A coyote for a pet? Well, that’s weird. Where did she leave it?”

“Leave it?”

“Yeah, where did she leave the coyote when she left to come here?”

All I could hear was silence.

“Wait a minute. She didn’t bring it with her, did she? Theo, you didn’t let her bring a coyote to our house, did you?”

There was a loud clanking noise, like a pot being slammed down on the stove. Then, what sounded like a cabinet door banged, then another.

Well isn’t this just wonderful, I thought to myself. “I feel so welcomed, how ‘bout you?” I whispered into Maze’s ear.

“What have you told them about their mother?”

“I’ve told them everything I know…just that their mom was known to exit her plane at LAX and that to keep them safe they needed to come home with me.”

Click, click. She was walking again.

“I’m going upstairs to change.”

Click, click—thump. Then silence.

Michelle’s voice had an edge to it. I didn’t get a good vibe from her at all. She certainly didn’t come rushing downstairs to meet us, or even to say hello to her stepson, Cole. Warm and fuzzy, she wasn’t. I wondered what else she wasn’t.

Chapter 17 Sleep

The sheets sounded crisp when I pulled the covers down on the bed. I had never slept in a bed besides my own, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to relax enough to nod off here. I crawled under the covers and sat up looking around the room assigned to me.

Above the headboard of the bed hung a large quilt showing off an early American pattern all in pastel pinks, greens, blues and beiges. The goose-down comforter on the bed was covered by another quilt of equal detail and colors but a different pattern. There were teddy bears piled neatly on the long dresser to my right, and across from where I sat was a large window with a decorative arch above it. To my left was a walk-in closet.

This room was obviously used as storage for Michelle’s baskets, bears and quilts. I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if I opened that closet and found it stacked ceiling to floor with more of the same.

The room smelled of cinnamon and vanilla and nutmeg. For the first few minutes, I found the scent interesting and maybe even nice. But now, an hour later, it’s an overwhelmingly pungent odor. I’m sure it was a potpourri of some kind, but it was incredibly strong as I lay back on the too firm pillow. What did she do, make her own scented oils in this room? It’s as though the oils saturated the bedding. Ugh.

Yeah, it was going to be tricky falling asleep here.

But I should be thankful that this family came to help me and my brothers. My mother always raised us to be thankful for what we have and not even look at what we don’t have. “We are blessed,” she would often remind us when we were acting a little bratty.

Right about now, I was trying very hard to maintain my composure by counting my blessings, because if I let myself just sit and think about all that happened to me in the past forty-eight hours, I’m sure I would burst into tears. And what good would that do anyone? The boys need to see me as strong and confident—not a whimpering baby.

I made myself lie back down and position the pillows as best as I could. I must have drifted off because the next thing I remember was waking to sound of voices yelling.

Chapter 18 Something Wicked This Way Comes

He stretched his legs, first his right, then the left. Working his way up his body, he next stretched his back by sitting up straight and twisting first right then left. Now his arms he lifted above his head and stretched his triceps then rolled his shoulders. He tipped his head up first, then let it slowly roll to the right listening to the ever present crack, crack, cracking from the stiffness, then he continued the roll around to the front, then left (more cracking). He shook his head quickly trying to wake his face. It had been a long night with very little activity to report.

Their source had given them excellent information. The doctor and the children had arrived at Kansas City International on time. They drove directly to this address. They spent the evening indoors, except for the girl who took the dog to the backyard for a while, then left him outside while she returned inside. Nothing extraordinary happened there. It looked like the family was asleep by 11pm. There has been no activity since.

Being assigned to stakeouts wasn’t his favorite activity, but it was often the precursor to what he enjoyed the most. A strangled smile cut across his scarred face. He was thinking about what he’d like to do to that little girl before he turned her over to his boss.

Oh, yeah…this was going to be fun.

Chapter 19 Meg the Meglodon

The boys were already awake. I could hear them outside. Of course, they were yelling so loudly, I’m sure the whole neighborhood could hear them. Ugh. I threw on blue jeans and a T-shirt, amazed to note that I’d barely disturbed the bedding. Despite it smelling like a potpourri shop, I must have slept like a rock.

I was about to run down the stairs but hesitated and headed right back to the bathroom. First things, first. However loud they were being, a girl’s got to brush her teeth!

Okay, so I wasn’t just a brush the teeth kinda girl, I had to floss, too. Flossing is super important, I think. It has always felt more like a massage to my gums than a chore to me. So floss first, then brush, then go tackle the two little noisemaking goof-balls outside. Nice, short to-do list.

I hopped down the stairs and flew passed Dr. Andrews heading out the back door.

“Morning, Meg. How did you sleep?” The doctor watched me run past as he sat at the kitchen table reading the newspaper.

“Fine,” I chirped just before the door shut behind me.

“What are you two doing? You’re making enough noise to wake the dead, for crying out loud!”

“Morning, Meg!” When Alik smiled, it was very hard to be upset with him. He was just such a cute kid.

“Hey there, Meglodon,” quipped Evan smartly. A meglodon was a giant shark that lived in prehistoric times, for those of you who didn’t know. Evan likes to turn my name into obnoxious words like, “Megabyte” or “Megalomaniac.” You get the idea. He obviously wanted a butt-whoopin’ this morning.

I heard a snicker behind me and turned to see Cole. He stood more than six feet tall and was casually leaning his shoulder against one of the beams supporting the upstairs patio. He was wearing blue jeans and a green rugby shirt. I hadn’t noticed last night, but wow, his eyes were strikingly handsome. His dark lashes stood in stark contrast to his light green eyes. They were the color of my favorite apples. And now, those beautiful eyes were watching me.

“What are you guys doing out here?” I asked, turning my back to Cole and focusing on the brothers.

“We’re just sparring. Evan and I just started practicing our kata. Of course, that just got us warmed up.” Alik’s face was flush with exercise and his eyes glistened mischievously. “But it’s always more fun sparring with three.” That was all the warning he gave me before he assumed fighting position and sent his fist flying toward my face.

Mom would always tell us when you’re upset or worried, karate was a healthy escape. She taught us in the classical Japanese karate style insisting, the other forms of martial arts had their place, but for children the purest, most honorable and disciplined form was core. This was exactly what I needed—a good hour of hand-to-hand combat with my brothers.

I easily blocked Alik’s punch and delivered a double to his chest in response. Evan moved into position and the three of us maneuvered into a loose triangle watching every move the other made.

Now, it didn’t matter that we were standing on thick Kansas grass being watched by any number of people. We weren’t thinking about our missing mom, or what was going to happen to us. All that mattered now was the battle, just the way we were taught. We were grinning like dorks with the pure joy of it.

Evan’s move toward Alik was smooth and fluid. His timing was perfect, and the quick roundhouse had Alik sprawled on the grass. He landed expertly, letting his body absorb the impact and used the momentum to spring back to his feet. I spun and served Evan a side kick to the chest. Evan was usually so good at maintaining his balance, but this time he stumbled back. He corrected himself just in time to block a striking punch from Alik. We all repositioned into our triangle and moved without a signal into a choreographed fight.

Throughout our years, we had created several fights. Mom didn’t want us killing each other when we practiced, so she had us plan our moves. We were taught to, say punch with full strength but stand so the punch didn’t connect with full force. The idea was to hit, but not injure during these sparing sessions. We finished one choreographed fight and started another without missing a beat.

It was exhilarating to stretch my muscles—to move with purpose and speed. My hair, pulled back in ponytail at the nape of my neck swung freely with every turn. I was having so much fun fighting, my cheeks hurt from smiling by the time we had our fill. And though I was doubled over breathing deeply, I felt peace, for the first time in two days.

“That was awesome!” Cole had been watching the entire time.

My face turned three shades of red. Oh my goodness, I was so engrossed in the fight, I completely zoned out the fact that Cole Andrews was right there.

“How did you learn to fight like that? The way you punched and he ducked and you kicked and he blocked and—”

If I weren’t so embarrassed, I would have stopped and watched how his smile created one dimple in his right cheek. As it was, I turned and sprinted back inside the house leaving the boys to bask in all the compliments.

I was surrounded by my brothers and my soldier/scientist mom my whole life. It never occurred to me until now how I must look to anyone when I fought. The sheer joy I felt when I was in battle mode was its own reward. But just now…ugh.

I bolted up the stairs, turned and locked the door behind me, grabbed a towel and hit the showers. Maybe by the time I get back downstairs everyone will just forget the backyard skirmish. One can only hope.

Chapter 20 Okay, Now What?

By the time I came downstairs, the boys were finished with breakfast and sitting with Cole in front of the television. Cartoon characters danced on the screen and from the look on Alik and Evan’s faces, it was the most remarkable thing they’d ever seen. Their jaws hung slack and their eyes were glassed over. Good grief! No wonder mom didn’t allow television. I could almost hear their brain cells shriveling up. They didn’t even notice me as I walked past the living room into the kitchen. Dr. and Mrs. Andrews were sitting at the breakfast table drinking coffee and talking in hushed voices. They stopped when they saw me.

“Well, hello Meg. I’m Michelle—so good to finally meet you.” Michelle smiled with her perfectly straight teeth and waited patiently for me to respond with like pleasantries. I supposed I ought to comply, though I didn’t feel her sincerity at all. Matter of fact, my hair was standing on the back of my neck.

“Hello, Michelle. Thank you for allowing my brothers and me to stay at your home while we find our mom.” No matter what I sensed, or what I overheard last night, I needed to keep the peace.

“Well, I understand it’s not just you and your brothers, but you have a pet coyote too? How unusual!” I remembered with clarity how disgusted she sounded last night when she found out about Maze.

“Yes, ma’am. Maze slept outside last night and is still there. I’m sure he won’t be any trouble to you. He’s harmless, really.” I made excuses for Maze not for my sake, but because I didn’t like how Michelle treated Dr. Andrews when she was angry and I didn’t want to be the cause of her venom.

“Well, we’ll give him a chance, won’t we,” she forced a smile and patted her husband on the arm in strangely controlling way.

“Are you hungry, Meg? Looks like you and your brothers worked up quite an appetite with all the—exercise this morning. That was amazing, by the way.” Dr. Andrews didn’t stop to wait for an answer before he put a plate of pancakes, bananas and a glass of milk in front of me. He motioned to the syrup as he waited for me to respond.

“Oh, you saw that, huh? Yeah, the boys and I practice like that all the time back at the ranch. Mom taught us.” My pancakes looked delicious so once they were properly covered in syrup, I dug in. With my mouth full of food, the adults got the hint that I was done talking about the fight club on the lawn.

After a big swig of milk, I changed the subject. “So, what’s the plan? Where are we going to start looking?”

“First, there is no ‘we.’ I will look for your mother myself and you’ll stay safely here. And second, the plan is for me to locate sources and see what they’ve found. I’ve had people working on this since you called me yesterday. When we get it narrowed down, I’ll fly to wherever the hottest tip leads me and take up the search myself.” He said all this with earnestness in his voice. I could truly feel the sincerity behind his words so I didn’t want to disrespect him with what I needed to say.

“With all due respect sir, Alik, Evan and I are no safer here than we were back at the ranch. The reason I agreed to come with you was because you have connections we don’t. Just the fact that you’re an adult opens doors behind which valuable information can be found. I understand your concern, but you have to believe me when I say there is no other way. The boys and I are a unit. We work together. Mom trained us to fight and defend. We won’t weigh you down; on the contrary, we may help you.”

The doctor stared into my eyes as if trying to read the depth of my resolve. I saw worry and uncertainty shadow his face. But after several moments, I also noticed his jaw tighten and set. He was decided.

“Margo taught you well. This morning’s demonstration outside proved that. She also taught you to have a mind of your own. She would want you to be safe, but you’re probably right about being in danger here, too. If she’s where I think she is, she didn’t go willingly and those people are even more interested in finding you and your brothers. Let me make those phone calls and see where we are. When I go, you three will come with me. Okay?”

“I’m coming too, dad.” Cole and the boys were standing at the far entrance to the kitchen. They had been listening to us.

“There is no way I’m going to allow you to come. On top of it being ridiculous to involve you, you can’t miss school.”

“I’m already involved dad, because you are involved. You’re all I’ve got left. Mom would understand. She would have wanted us to stick together.”

I glanced over at Michelle to take in her reaction at the mention of Cole’s mother. She was pursing her lips together like she had just licked a lemon. That just confirmed my thoughts. No wonder, Cole didn’t feel close to Michelle. She was a cold and uncompromising woman. How on earth did this sweet widowed doctor end up marrying her? I’ll never understand some people.

The doctor and his son were staring at each other. They were exchanging unspoken emotions. I saw tenderness, fear and devotion from both of them. They were a lot alike, these two men. How beautiful, to see yourself in your child. I wondered if mom felt like this when she looked at me.

I’ve come to realize in just the last day, that I’m really good at reading people. I mean, I can’t read their minds, I don’t think. I just watch their body language and can read what they truly mean. Being isolated from people, the way I have been my whole life, I just never had a chance to use this skill. Seems like the closer I am emotionally to the person, the less I can read them. How annoying is that? No wonder I’d never noticed this ability!

In front of me, these two men exchanged one final moment before the father spoke.

“All right son, if I go, you go.”

Relief filled both of their faces. Everyone was quiet for a moment before Michelle broke the silence.

“Well, you’re sure as heck not leaving me with that coyote!”

I chuckled to myself as the doctor said, “Good grief! Looks as if we’ll have to rent a small bus to accommodate this motley crew.”

Chapter 21 Bait

Dr. Andrews was on the phone for at least an hour making his calls. I don’t know exactly who his sources were, but I trusted him not to reveal too much while pursuing as much information as possible. I hovered outside his office waiting for him to emerge. When he did, he was pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked very worried.

“Okay, tell me what you know.” I said with a forced calm.

The doctor looked up at me and sighed. “According to my sources, your mom is still in California—a small town outside Los Angeles. Apparently, there was never going to be a conference. She was contacted by someone pretending to be with a legitimate scientific organization interested in her research, but it was all an elaborate lie. She was tricked. They collected her from the airport. My sources think she’s being held by them right now, probably as bait.”

“Wait a minute. Who has her? And bait for what?” I was trying to keep it together, to keep from bursting into tears. The more I focused on the details and kept this at a business level, the more I could help. At least, that’s what I told myself.

“The Institute has her. My guess is it’s all being handled by Dr. Williams himself. Williams is the Chief Executive Officer of The Institute and he’s been looking for Margo for many years now. As for the bait, well they’re holding her because they really want to get you.”

“Me? What do they want with me? I’m just a kid!”

“They want you and your brothers. And no, you are not just regular kids. But you know that, don’t you? I mean, you have to have realized by now that you’re different.” He looked earnestly into my eyes but all he saw was confusion and pain. “She never told you? Any of it? You don’t know who you are?”

“What are you talking about?” I was honestly confused, and my heart hurt so much for my mom being held against her will. It was hard to concentrate on what he was saying to me.

“Let’s get the boys. They need to hear this too. It’s time you three heard the truth.”

Chapter 22 The Truth

Everyone gathered in the living room. The boys looked scared, and I imagined I did too. Alik, Evan and I sat together on the sofa. Cole sat on the floor close enough to my legs that I could feel his warmth. He was trying to be supportive, and I appreciated him for it.

Michelle sat next to Dr. Andrews looking slightly bored. That woman was annoying me more and more by the minute.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what I know, but I don’t know everything. Margo and I attended medical school together. She was there on military scholarship and I was working two jobs trying to put myself through medical school and take care of my wife and young son.” He stopped and looked at Cole with absolute love in his eyes.

“We were assigned to each other as lab partners one semester and were immediately great friends. My wife, Cole’s mom, Jenna loved Margo too. She would often come spend time with me and my family outside of school. Margo was like your aunt, Cole,” he added with a nostalgic smile on his face.

“I was so exhausted from my studies and work that it wasn’t unusual for me to lean on Margo to help me through a class. She was a true friend, honest and loyal. I couldn’t have graduated without her.

“After graduation, her military superiors asked her to stay on though her contract was up. Margo declined their offer. She was determined to get to work on her real goal.

“See, Margo had grown up with a sister who was autistic. She loved Becca so much, but the autism made it so she could never be close to her. Just when she’d get a glimpse of who Becca was she would slip back into her world and leave Margo with a shell instead of a sister. She swore to herself that she would do anything she could to help find a cure for autism.”

I had so many questions for Dr. Andrews now, but I feared interrupting. I was afraid he would stop telling me the answers to everything I’d always wondered about. Mom never told us anything about her past, her family or her dreams before us. The few times I had asked, she would hug me and say, “This is all that matters, Meg. My world didn’t matter until I had you.” So I bit my lip and listened to his words.

“We were hired by a company called The Institute for Neurobiological Studies but everyone just called it The Institute. They had us both in research and development. Margo was brilliant and had a determination that was mistaken for ambition. She was promoted. The project she was assigned to was beyond my clearance level so I didn’t know details. I just knew the name: The Infinite Project.

“On the day she was given her first tour of the facility housing her new assignment, she called my voicemail and left a panicked message. She asked me to meet her at a coffee shop where we used to hang out. I told you this part on the plane, Meg.”

I nodded not wanting to interrupt him. The boys looked at me inquisitively.

“But I didn’t tell you everything. Margo told me that this project was initially intended to be a cure for autism, but they found if they used it on an average child, it could alter their minds in powerful ways.

“They were testing on human beings, and not just adults, but children and babies, too. These ‘test subjects’ were being held against their will right there at The Institute. She said she saw three young children who had been injected with test serums. Dr. Williams, her new supervisor, talked about dozens of others who had been killed in the development of this formula.

“She was beside herself with grief and fury. She believed her work had been used to hurt children instead of help them. She told me her plan. She was going back to the facility that very night with the excuse that she needed to set up her office so she could hit the ground running her first official day on the job.

“Instead, she was going to steal the children away from the company and hide them, if she could. She hinted she knew where she would be going with them, but she said it would be better if I didn’t know. That way, when asked, I could honestly claim ignorance.

“Though it had only been a matter of hours since her tour of the facility had ended, she had already plotted the entire rescue down to every detail. You know your mom. She’s all about the details.

“She wouldn’t tell me anymore, but I knew it was happening that night. I offered to help her, but she refused saying that she was endangering herself and she wouldn’t risk me or my family too.

“That was the last time I saw Margo.”

Silence enveloped the room as Dr. Andrew’s words sunk in.

Evan spoke first. “We’re the children she rescued.” His voice sounded monotone.

“She’s not our biological mother, and we are not really siblings,” added Alik with hollowness in his voice.

It was my turn to speak. “Now everything’s making sense. That’s why mom always kept us separate from the world—homeschooling, no television, no radio or internet. She didn’t want us to be found.”

“And she didn’t want us to compare ourselves to other children either because she knew the treatments would have altered us and we would be different.” Evan’s mind was working quickly.

“So this company, The Institute, has been searching us all these years and now that they captured mom …” Alik began.

“… They know we’ll come to find her and they’ll try to pick up where they left off with us,” and I finished.

“Metahumans,” Dr. Andrews said. “Margo told me they called you ‘metahumans’ meaning ‘beyond human’.”

Metahumans? What the heck! What was that supposed to mean?

I felt Cole’s hand, warm and accepting, reaching out to find mine. He looked at me with a pure heart as he warmed the chill coursing through my body. I was shaking but hadn’t realized it till now.

“Hey Meg? Remember those documents I told you about back at the ranch? The ones I found in mom’s library?” Evan, ever the realist, was already thinking logically. And here I was still stuck on the fact that the woman who raised me wasn’t my mother. And if she wasn’t my mother, then who was? And my father? Who was he? And these boys I’d always believed to be my brothers, weren’t.

Dr. Andrews spoke this time. “What documents are you talking about Evan? Can you show them to us?”

Chapter 23 Numerous Notes

Evan came downstairs with an armful of papers. They looked to be several hundreds of pages neatly organized in expandable file folders. I wondered how he had room to pack all this and his clothes in his small bag. I made a mental note to check what clothes he brought because it would be just like Evan to have left everything except these papers and maybe a toothbrush.

“Here they are,” Evan plopped the folders down with a thump then picked the one on top and handed it to me. “The documents are in chronological order according to the dates written on the folders. Here’s the file with the oldest date, so it must be the first.”

I opened the folder and began skimming our mother’s (or Margo’s, ugh, what do I call her now?) neat script. It looked to be a journal of sorts. Except, the information she documented wasn’t about her. It was mostly about us. The first entry read:

We’ve arrived unnoticed to this large ranch in Texas. The acquisition of it was done under an assumed name that I may as well keep. I’m now Dr. Margaret Winter. I’ve already got a trusted source working on creating a whole new identity for me and my children.

And yes, they are mine now. Mine for as long as God will let me have and hold them. These three precious gifts are in my care, and I will do everything in my power to protect them from The Institute and anyone else who means them harm.

I’ve named them. The three-year-old little girl with the soulful eyes, I named Meg. The two-year-old blue-eyed little boy, I named Alik. As for the tiny baby, I named him Evan.

I loved them from the first moment I saw them.

In this journal, I hope to document the changes observed because of the treatments they were already given. All three children have been branded like cattle, bless their hearts, with a symbol on their upper backs. It’s the symbol for infinity.

∞

The experiment was called “The Infinite Project.” I’m sure it was Dr. Williams’ sick joke to sear that symbol onto his subjects. Baby Evan’s mark is still raw and healing.

As for the “meta” characteristics, it’s all theory right now. Though Meg was experimented on for three years, she may show no more signs of her meta self as Alik. But Evan was given the most updated formula. The one they had perfected after all the dozens of failed trials before him.

Any or all of them could begin to manifest their alterations at any time and in any way. But no matter what, I will love them just the way they are. And I will pray daily that our enemy’s efforts to locate us are thwarted.

By the time I read the last line, my voice was cracking with tears. My mother, because that is what she deserved to be called, loved me and my brothers so much she risked her life for us. She rescued us from torture and death. And in that decision, the course of all our lives was drastically altered. And now The Institute had found her, and they were using her as bait so they could get their experiments back.

I reached over to Alik and pulled down the back of his shirt. There it was.

∞

I’ve seen this mark on my brothers and me before, but it never really occurred to me that it meant anything.

I remember asking mom about it a long time ago. She just shrugged and said our dad wanted to give us all a small mark to help us feel connected, always. That sounded like a strange idea to me, but I never questioned anything she told us. Besides, as far as I knew, lots of kids had been given a mark that represented their families. Just one more of those things I didn’t realize was abnormal because I was secluded from the real world.

Evan reached over and tugged down the back of my shirt. The look on his face read the same as mine, no doubt. His eyes showed more amazement than anything else. All three of us had been branded like cattle? Bizarre.

Changing the subject, I asked, “Hey, Evan. Why didn’t you show us these documents earlier?” It just occurred to me that Evan had been sitting on these priceless documents and never let on that they were so powerfully filled with details of who we were.

“Look at the cover, Meg.” Evan motioned to the front cover of the huge file folder. “Mom wrote the word ‘Private’ on the file. I had to respect her wishes so I didn’t read it. I just knew it existed. When mom disappeared, it occurred to me that these ‘private’ documents may hold some important information that could help us find her. Apparently, I was right.”

Of course that was Evan’s response! That kid didn’t have a dishonest bone in his body. I loved that about him, but right about now, I felt like hitting him over the head with his integrity!

“Keep reading, Meg. What does the next entry say?” Alik spoke up now. He looked as if he’d been crying. His nose was pink and blue eyes glistened, but he was so quiet about it. Maybe he was working hard to seem tough, too.

Dr. Andrews smiled and nodded, encouragingly. Beside him on the couch, Michelle yawned.

I took a deep breath, flipped the page and continued reading to the room.

Chapter 24 Dr. Williams

He watched her from the doorway for a few moments. His thugs were standing behind him in case Margo gave him any trouble, but he highly doubted she would. Light from the hallway streamed around him and poured into the darkened holding room blinding her for a moment. He waited patiently for her to register who he was.

Her hands and ankles were bound and she must still feel nauseous and dizzy from the chloroform they’d used to sedate her. Since he was a detail man, he also noted that she hadn’t eaten in at least twenty-four hours. Nor had she been given water to drink. Her lip was swollen, her right eye blackened and her hair was matted with dried blood.

From his report, his collection agent had a bit of a surprise when she attacked him a few hours into her transport here. Apparently, he hadn’t taken the file on Dr. Margaret Winter seriously when warned of her military training. It was a shame to see such a beautiful face marred.

She stared at the man in the doorway with a hatred only a woman could feel. He watched her with calculated amusement for another moment. Out came the silver marbles and, without thinking, he began rolling them in his hand.

“Ms. Winter, is it?” Dr. Williams baited. “Well, well, young lady. I’ve been looking for you for quite some time. Been enjoying your Texas ranch, have you? And the children, how are they? I imagine the female is about fifteen, the oldest male is fourteen? And the youngest male is merely twelve. Typical teenagers, are they?

“I am truly curious, you see, because they hold the most successful of all the serums we ever created. They were the answers we needed to stay on the right path of future advancements. Once you stole them and destroyed their documentation, especially the male infant, our scientists had to start from scratch.

“You see, the formula delivered to the children had a unique factor my scientists have been unable to replicate. Something about the exact formula created a different reaction in the DNA—a “sleeper-like” effect. The metahumans are all very intelligent, very strong and quick to heal, but M57, 61 and 74 showed evidence of this sleeper gene. They were enhanced somehow. Heightened.

Nothing Dr. Williams was saying was new to Margo. She read every note made on her children when she confiscated them then destroyed them. Yes, the case studies were quite impossible to replace.”

She sat completely still, only half listening to the rantings of this crazed man. She was, however, very much focused on the thugs standing stupidly behind him. There were two of them flanked on either side of the monologue-ing idiot. The men had thick physiques and even thicker skulls. Outwitting them wouldn’t be a problem. But the demon doctor over here was another story. He was a wimp, but he was definitely not standing here without several alternate plans to maintain control over this conversation.

She was determined to get one answer. So she played her part as the beat-down hostage. “Where are the children?” Margo almost whispered her one question, exaggerating her exhaustion. “Just please tell me. Where are my children?”

Chapter 25 Road Trip

Okay, I have been in an SUV before. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I had never been in an SUV with my two brothers, Cole, Dr. Andrews and Maze. It was a little cramped, and I was drowning in testosterone.

We had decided to drive to California not because we were masochistic, though now I have to wonder about that, but because we had items that would not pass security at an airport.

Leave it to the Midwesterners to be avid hunters who were determined to protect the metahumans with their big burly guns. (read: I’ll be saving their butts before this is all over.)

We had stocked up on healthy snacks and drinks before we left. Michelle was no help whatsoever. She got dressed for work, wearing something called Prada strappies and Dolce and Gabbana suit and headed into the office that Monday morning. (I only know the names because she kept barking at Maze to stay away from her “gorgeous Prada strappies and Dolce and Gabbana suit that cost more than his pelt could get on the black market!”)

She barely waved good-bye to Cole and gave her husband a brief and lipstick stained kiss on the side of his mouth. I promise you, I will someday knock that woman senseless. I could just feel my blood boil every time she walked in the room.

It was probably a very good thing that she never even offered to come with us. Being stuck in the SUV with that she-witch for the twenty-three-hour drive would have been horrible! What did Dr. Andrews see in that woman?

The road trip began uneventfully. We stopped to gas up first. I didn’t even let Evan out of the SUV to investigate the pump machine. Lord knows we didn’t need to create an explosive geyser right now. It was far more important to maintain an air of anonymity.

The doctor came back to the SUV with an armful of goodies for us. These definitely would not be categorized as “healthy” snacks. But oh my goodness! If I didn’t like the doctor before, I love him now! Whoever invented those little white donut pastries in an easy-to-carry package was an absolute genius! Now I know why mom never brought these to the ranch. The boys and I would probably want to survive on only their meager nutrients for the rest of our lives!

I looked up from my now empty package only to see Cole watching me with a laughter that was barely contained.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, miffed.

“You. You’re such a weird girl. One minute you’re scissor-kicking your brothers and the next, you’re licking the inside of a donut wrapper. You have white powder all over your face!” Cole’s laughter just bubbled up from his tummy. If he weren’t laughing at me, it would have been fascinating to watch because he was so darn cute. As it was, I was blushing mad.

“You think I’m ‘weird?’ Hey doc, pull over. I think your baby boy here needs to see how ‘weird’ I can get.”

“Come on now, we’ve got a long ride ahead of us. We don’t need to start off on the wrong foot.” The doctor was trying to keep the peace, but his spawn had just started a fight, and I was itching to put him in his place.

You would think, after all the years I’ve spent with my brothers, they would know when it was a good idea to tease me and when it wasn’t. Apparently, they’re not that observant.

“So Meg, the white powder is very becoming on you. Maybe you’d like to open the jelly donuts and add a bit of color to your lips?” chirped Alik.

“And how about some eye shadow? You could use some melted chocolate. Then you’d look downright yummy.” Evan chimed in.

They were all snickering at the images they’d created in their minds.

Now, I know I should have just laughed this off. They were just boys being boys, and everyone was feeling a little anxious and bored. They’re just teasing to letting off steam. Blah, blah, blah.

But I couldn’t.

Maze, who had been sound asleep in the far back seat sat up and whined. He was looking right at me, expecting what was about to come.

So, did I mention that one of the techniques we were taught in karate was how to battle on our knees? No? Well, I’m pretty sure Cole didn’t know about it either.

I didn’t need the doctor to pull over. It just probably would have been safer for the passengers if he had. No matter.

With one quick motion, I unbuckled my seat belt and elbowed Alik in the chest catching completely off guard and in mid-laugh. Evan had half a second to brace himself before my palm made contact with the side of his face.

Cole didn’t know what hit him. Since he was sitting in the front passenger seat, the best tactic to use on him was to wrap my arms around his neck and pull. Did I mention how strong I am?

So now the quick-to-learn doctor pulls the SUV over and barks at me to back off.

“Good grief, Meg! You have to learn to control that temper! They were just teasing you, for goodness’ sake! You don’t need to kill someone for that, do you?” The dear ‘ole doc was a bit miffed at me.

“Depends on what they’re saying,” I mumbled still fuming.

I’m learning all sorts of things about myself on this adventure. First, I love powdered donuts. Second, I hate being teased. And third, apparently I’ve got a temper. Oh yeah, this adventure was sure to be even more enlightening with every passing day.

Chapter 26 Road Trip, Take Two

Things calmed down for a bit. I was reading a dictionary. (I know that is a little strange. But what can I say, I love words.) Alik was working on adding to his physique, as usual, by doing handgrips. And Evan was working on multiple Sudoku puzzles at once. (That’s the only way they were any bit challenging for him.) Cole had been reading a book, but stopped, yawned and reached to turn on the SUV’s radio. He looked kinda gorgeous when he wasn’t laughing at me and calling me ‘weird.’

“Oh, this is a great song.” Cole said to no one in particular.

I listened for a minute, trying to figure out who was singing and what they were saying. But mostly I was trying to figure out what was so “great” about this song. It sounded like some man with a strange voice talking (not singing) over a background of pure base rhythms. What on earth?

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought this music was horrible because Alik piped up, “This isn’t music! This is noise!”

“Don’t you have any disco we can listen to?” Evan asked innocently.

“Disco? Are you kidding me?” Cole turned around in his seat to give Evan a look of disgust.

“Hey now, there’s nothing wrong with disco,” the doctor said defensively.

“Aw, come on, guys. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Arizon Flush! His rifts are topping the charts daily. He is truly solid, a revolutionary!” Cole was smiling and moving his shoulders to the rhythm.

“Are we still talking about the music?” Alik’s brow was furrowed in confusion.

“We should try to give this genre a chance. Maybe it takes awhile before we can appreciate it.” Evan was so diplomatic, it made me sick.

Or maybe I was feeling sick from the SUV ride. Or, and this was a stretch, it could have been the seven packages of powdered donuts I just inhaled. Maybe I’ll just lean my head back, close my eyes and take a nap.

I took a deep breath, relaxed my shoulders and tried to think of nothing. But wouldn’t you know, the moment I try to think of nothing, images of my mom flash in my mind. Mom tied up and being beaten. Her dark hair matted with blood. In my imagination there were voices yelling at her demanding information, threatening her with more pain if she didn’t give them what they wanted. And what did they want? Us. They wanted Alik, Evan and me.

I moaned. My poor mom. All she ever wanted was to help and protect, and now these monsters had her and wanted to use her to get to us. Well, they’re going to regret it, because when I get my hands on them they’re going to see the true meaning of “metahumans.” I was seething with anger just thinking about what I wanted to do to the swine holding my mom. Evan’s calm voice responded to my thoughts as if I’d spoken them out loud.

“We’ll find mom, Meg. We’ll find her and make it so that Williams guy never hurts her again. She must have known this day was coming all these years. That’s why she trained us to fight. She had been keeping track of each of our unique developments so she could help us hone our skills even more.

“Remember in her documents she chronicled how strong we were? How we didn’t injure like normal children. How much faster we healed than normal children.

“And as we each got older mom would play those games with us. She wrote about how she would test our intellectual quotients periodically and found we were way above average kids. She knew from the start we were different, but she never made us feel like freaks. She wanted us to develop free from fear of what society would think of or do to us.

“She had all those entries on each of us. Meg, she knew you had a heightened ability to feel and sense emotions. Your interpersonal skills were past intuitive, almost to the point of mind-reading. But because of the nature of your specific talent, you could get too caught up in the emotions of the moment to interpret clearly. That’s why you have a hard time coping when you’re upset. Your emotions are like a superconductor, processing and receiving at an astronomical rate.”

I was staring at Evan now and remembering what we had read in mom’s journals as clearly as if they were in front of me now. The rest of the SUV was quiet as we listened and applied Evan’s interpretation of mom’s notes to our own understanding of the situation.

“And you Evan,” Alik spoke up now. “She played those test games with you too and you blew them all out of the water. Your quantitative and qualitative scores were off the charts. Even those adaptive assessments, those without a ceiling, couldn’t give mom an accurate score because you found its ‘nonexistent’ ceiling. Your ability to learn and relate that knowledge to countless applications was like a plant’s ability to absorb sunlight and turn it in to food.

“Your only problem was that mom found your sheer logic somewhat robotic. You feel emotions, but your logical mind would override emotional reactions. You are the exact opposite of Meg.”

I was amazed at my brothers’ interpretations. They had summarized in two minutes what took us hours to read.

“Alik, mom said it took you longer to open up when she first brought us home.” It was my turn to speak. I had been looking at Alik with new eyes since first reading mom’s entries about him.

“You were so traumatized by The Institute and their ‘treatments,’ you would just curl up in a corner and cover your head with blankets for hours at a time. But once you started to trust mom, you would come out and be with us. You would play mom’s assessment games too though you didn’t speak much. She discovered through the nonverbal tests that your memory was phenomenal. Maybe that was why it took you so much longer to open up; because your memory of the traumas was so acute. You could remember every detail of what happened since you were given your first dose of the serum. Your recollection of the facility, the scientists, the smells, sounds, pain was as clear in your memory as if it had just happened.

“Mom wrote about how one night when you were about five, a strong storm hit the ranch. It was that night that you ran to her and curled up against her side, knowing she would protect you.

“From then on, you spoke and played and even laughed. But your memory, mom said it was more than photographic, it was ‘videographic.’ She coined the term just for you because you didn’t just see pictures in your mind, you could replay the whole event with every detail. You could rewind and fast-forward the memory. You were astounding to her.”

Dr. Andrews added, “Then in her later entries she made blanket observations about all of you. You were all highly intelligent and extraordinarily quick to learn any skill, physical or mental. She predicted that your abilities hadn’t finished manifesting, relating you to a caterpillar that lives as such for a while before it goes through metamorphosis and changes into something else. She wasn’t sure what the catalyst of the change would be, or if it were just a matter of time. But she feared that the abilities you’d been given were going to have to be used against the people who forced them on you.”

We all sat in silence as this sunk in.

Then Cole piped up, “Well, I made a B on my math test last week!”

The SUV continued down the highway with laughter spilling out of the closed windows.

The driver of the black sedan three cars behind them was not at all amused.

Chapter 27 Fine Dining

After the first twelve hours on the road, having only stopped twice to use bathrooms and gas up, we were ready for a real break. The first restaurant we found was an all-night truck-stop. I only know that because of its name, “Trudy’s All Nite Truck Stop.” I wondered who Trudy was and did she know she misspelled “night.”

After a quick glance around her restaurant, it became very clear her customers probably wouldn’t have caught the error.

“Hey Alik, where are we?” I whispered to Mr. Map.

He looked around and said, “Do you mean metaphorically or literally?”

“Literally, dork.”

“Well, we’re on I-40 west heading toward Albuquerque. This is just a small…small…town on-route. Population 301, I believe the sign read.”

“I don’t care how small the town is as long as this place has hamburgers and fries on their menu.” Cole declared.

“Hi there dolls, table for five?”

“Yes, please.” Dr. Andrews nodded and then followed as the waitress led the way to the tables. She quickly pulled two together for us.

I was glad we were close enough to the window so I could look out and check on Maze. We had to leave him in the SUV, but I made sure the windows were half open. I could see his nose sticking out of the opening as he sniffed the deliciously greasy smells wafting from the grill. I reminded myself to order an extra piece of meat on my burger for Maze.

We had all placed our orders when Evan mentioned that he’d like to go retrieve the map. Alik looked at him inquisitively, but said nothing. Dr. Andrews passed him the keys and he headed out to the SUV.

I was sipping deliciously sweet iced tea and listening to the boys’ discussion about which was better, a waffle fry or a shoestring fry, when I glanced out the window. Evan’s legs were hanging out of the driver’s side, toes pointing up.

“What in the heck is that boy doing now?” I scowled.

Everyone at the table stopped talking and followed my eyes. We all saw his feet kicking a bit then stop. He sat up and stare at something in his hands for a moment. Then he stood, tucked whatever it was into his pocket and sauntered casually back into the restaurant.

“Have a hard time finding the map?” Alik watched him with one raised brow.

Evan walked up to our waitress and whispered in her ear. She handed him a pen with a wink and a smile. Evan sat and began writing on a napkin.

THE MAP FELL ON THE FLOORBOARD. WHEN I REACHED DOWN TO GET IT, I SAW SOMETHING THAT LOOKED OUT OF PLACE ATTACHED TO THE UNDERSIDE OF THE DASH. IT LOOKS LIKE AN AUDIO TRANSMITTER AND GPS. SEE FOR YOURSELVES, BUT DON’T SPEAK. SOMEONE IS LISTENING.

Fortunately, the restaurant was pretty quiet. No annoying music playing or crying babies, else I’m sure Evan wouldn’t have brought the small black mechanism in here. He removed it carefully from his pocket and turned it around in his hand so we could all see it from every angle.

Dr. Andrew’s face went white and he looked like he was about to throw up. He took the piece out of Evan’s hand and laid it on the floor gently before lifting the old-fashioned wooden chair he had been sitting on and slamming the leg down on it repeatedly. Pieces flew off as it shattered.

The waitress was standing a few feet away holding a huge tray of our food. The doctor took one look at her and calmly said, “We’ll take it all to go. And this should cover our check and any damages.” He politely slipped a couple hundred-dollar bills on the table, stood and escorted us all back to the SUV. Just a few minutes passed before the waitress came out with bags of food. I’m sure she wanted to get rid of us just as much as we wanted to get out of there.

We were being tracked, and more than that, our SUV had been bugged. They heard everything we said for the last twelve hours. I felt too sick to eat. Instead, I was replaying all our conversations in my head trying to remember what we may have given away. Ugh. We talked about everything. It would be easier to think about what we hadn’t given away.

Chapter 28 Margo’s Stand

A little closer. Come on you psychotic freak. You know you want to. Just step a little closer.

Margo silently willed for Dr. Williams to continue his ranting a little closer to her. She figured four more feet and he’d be within range. She was going to try to take out this monster. Her eyes were on his jugular and she was pretty sure she could do some serious damage. If she were lucky, maybe even strike a fatal blow to his throat. At least, that was the unofficial plan.

Her ankles were still tied, but she didn’t care. Her hands were free. If all she did was kill Dr. Williams over there, then the nightmare would be over for her children. Of course, his thugs would finish her off before they even checked their boss for a pulse, but that didn’t matter. What mattered to Margo was that Williams wouldn’t be alive to hunt her children.

“And all this time you lived on that pathetic little ranch in the middle of nowhere? Amazing. I know you must have watched the children carefully for their metamorphoses. I’m anxious to hear all their developments. I feel like a father who has missed more than a decade of my children’s lives.”

And that was just about all she could stomach. So caught up in his one-sided conversation was he that he moved those last few feet, closing the gap between them.

He didn’t even have time to react beyond making a stupid surprised expression on his greasy face. With all the fierceness of a lioness, Margo sprang and attacked. Her hands, though cut and bleeding, were exact in their movements. Knuckles out, she went for a lethal throat strike. She hit her mark. He went down clutching his throat and gurgling.

That was the last thing she heard before she blacked out. The thugs were on her.

Chapter 29 Anyone For a Plan B?

Evan thoroughly checked the rest of the SUV for any more devices that would be tracking, eavesdropping or exploding.

Nothing.

It was just that one piece. And it wasn’t very professionally planted either. Evan only had to lean down a bit and he saw it. A professional would have hidden the device in a much less conspicuous place. It made us all start to wonder out loud about who put it there. I had my suspicions, but it didn’t seem polite to name names, especially when that person had the same last name as the good doctor. Michelle did this.

We had driven off course a bit hoping to lose whoever was following us. Just after midnight, I knew we needed to find a place to let Dr. Andrews rest. He looked exhausted and he was the only one with a license to drive. (Oh, believe me, Evan, Alik and Cole all offered repeatedly to take over driving duty, but only Cole had a driver’s permit. And apparently his dad didn’t want to permit him to drive during this particular point in our ever complicated adventure.)

We had two choices, as far as I could tell. Either find a place to pull over and settle down to sleep in the SUV, or locate a motel and crash there. Considering we had bad guys following us, I felt a little better about voting for the motel. At this point, I didn’t even care if I had to sleep on the floor. It had been an exhausting day.

“I vote for motel.” I yawned loudly.

“I second that,” said Evan.

“Motion carried,” Dr. Andrews joked through his yawns.

A few miles ahead we saw a motel that looked as uninteresting as any of the other hundreds we’d passed so far. Dr. Andrews pulled into the parking lot, walked up to the teller’s desk and checked us in.

He returned to the truck and began driving slowly passed the many identical doors looking for the one to which we had been assigned.

“I’m Mr. Moore, by the way.” We all looked at him through tired, squinted eyes.

“I paid in cash and used an assumed name. If it comes up, thought you should know; we’re the Moore family.”

Alik started to chuckle to himself. He gets giddy when he’s super tired. “The Moore family? Morbid family. Morose family. Monitored, maintained, migrating, metas, mortuary, marred, martyred…tired.”

The last word had him crashing into the first bed he saw. I wasn’t going to bug him about brushing his teeth. I would have felt like a hypocrite, ‘cause little ol’ Meg was skipping the brush, too. I was dog-tired…which reminded me of Maze.

I forced myself to let Maze outside to find a nice patch of grass then we both dragged our weary butts back into the motel. I locked the flimsy door behind me thinking how easy it would be to kick this in. Then I turned around to see that every bed in both adjoining rooms had a boy in it. Four beds, four boys, one girl and her coyote. Stupid men.

I thought about kicking Evan to Alik’s bed, but I was too tired, so I grabbed an extra pillow and a thin towel off the rack and lay down on the floor with Maze curled up beside me. I honestly don’t even remember falling asleep.

Two things happened that night of monumental importance. First, I woke briefly only to realize I was being carried, gently, and placed on a soft bed. Covers were pulled up around me. I snuggled in, just sure I was dreaming.

I didn’t see who carried me, but very early the next morning I found myself in the bed Cole had been sleeping in and he was sprawled out on an uncomfortable looking chair. His head tipped so far back I was sure I could see the pulse in his throat. He was going to wake with a horrible crick in his neck, no doubt about that. It was about 4am and I watched him sleep for a while smiling to myself before I dozed back off.

And that’s when the second event happened.

The door handle to our motel room was moving.

Chapter 30 Wake-Up Call

At first, I thought maybe someone had the wrong room and they’d find that their key didn’t work, feel foolish and move along. I thought I remembered reading something like that happening in a novel once. But that’s not what happened here.

Instead, barely audible pins clicked into place inside the knob. I was almost mesmerized by what I was seeing—caught between awake and asleep, not sure that this was a dream. Still and silent I remained until…

CRACK!

The silence of the morning was shattered as harshly as the door. The shards of wood and frame didn’t have time to land before I was on my feet, yelling, “You picked the wrong room, buddy!”

“Shut up! Get down on the floor! Everyone! Get down on the floor and put your hands behind your head! Now! MOVE!”

Four dark figures moved like grease into the dark motel room pointing guns directly at our faces and snarling orders.

Fully aware that my brothers were already as poised to fight as I was, I stole a glance at Dr. Andrews and Cole. Even in the dark of the room, their faces shown pale, their eyes wide with fear. They were obeying orders and lying down. Good, they needed to be as out of the way as possible. This was going to get ugly.

“Who the hell are you? What do you want?” Alik growled menacingly at the intruders.

“I said, ‘shut up’ punk,” the huge framed man positioned nearest to him snarled in a low voice. Alik slowly moved into compliance and lay down. Near him, Evan followed his brother’s lead. Only I remained standing in the blackened room, watching the moonlight glint off their guns while trying to anticipate their next move.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something shift low to the ground. It was Maze. He was crouched and ready to surprise attack; his yellow eyes like mirrors of light glowing in the dark room.

“What do you know fellas? They warned us these kids were gonna be tough, but look at ‘em! Damn, I’m disappointed! I was hoping for a good fight, but look what we got instead?” The snarling thug began laughing.

He pointed directly at me with his weapon and said, “Come here, baby. Daddy’s gonna take you for a ride.” I could almost hear him drooling with anticipation. There was more laughter, this time from the obvious leader’s minions.

“Who warned you?” I asked in a calm voice.

“What? I said, come here!” The thug stepped closer to me.

“Get away from her, dork-wad!” It was Cole’s voice. The anger and fear in it was very real and very touching. He had no idea, but he would see in a moment.

I’d had enough of these disgusting men. I could sense what the intruders were thinking and it was vile enough to make me blush with rage.

I gave a sharp, low whistle into the blackened room. That was one of the many signals mom trained us to use. It was all my brothers had been waiting for.

Alik sprang to his feet and hurled himself toward the biggest of the thugs, slapping the gun out of his hand and plowing him across the room. They crashed against the wall—the bad guy knocked out cold.

In the same instant, Evan took a three-step run and jumped feet first at the thug nearest him, grabbed him by the neck between his ankles, spun him down to the ground and pinned him in one fluid and well-calculated motion. A barrage of punches to strategic pressure points rendered his attacker helpless.

Maze, upon hearing my whistle, flew across the room to the thug farthest from us and propelled his sixty-pound body right into the man’s chest, teeth snapping and ripping at his neck. The terror behind the ski mask was real but his screams of panic came to an abrupt stop. A ceramic lamp lay in pieces around the thug’s head. Dr. Andrews had helped Maze finish the guy off. And since there was a pretty good amount of blood pooling through the ski mask, it was clear this guy wasn’t getting up anytime soon.

I only had eyes for the foul-minded creature who spoke to me. It was in that instant that I found myself smiling with anticipation. I felt a thrill ripple through my body as surprised registered in the man’s dull eyes. I leaped toward him in attack position. With my left hand I grabbed his weapon, and with my right, I delivered one quick strike to his nose with my palm that had him gushing blood and stumbling around.

Even though I was pumped and ready to finish him off, I thought better of it. I put him on the ground, face down and pulled his arm up and behind his back. He was in a lot of pain, but I had some questions and he better have some answers for me.

Chapter 31 The Messenger

This all had happened so quickly I hadn’t stopped to think about everything that could have gone wrong.

“Check in,” I called out just as mom had taught us.

“I’m good,” Alik wasn’t even a little out of breath.

“Me too,” Evan called out casually.

“I—I’m okay,” the doctor stammered a bit, but otherwise sounded fine.

“I’m freaking out, but okay,” Cole answered honestly. Maze was sitting on my right side, but he wanted to be sure I knew he was okay because he gave my hand a big slobbery lick.

Mom always said, “If you know you’re in for a battle, strike first and strike to win.” She would be proud of how we handled these goons.

“Come on in here guys. I’d appreciate your help asking this one some questions.”

Cole came flying from where he had ducked for cover. After quickly scanning the room and confirming that the bad guys were all subdued he blurted, “You guys are awesome! That was amazing! Oh, my gosh! I wish I had that on video! I would so put that on Yout—” he stopped mid-word and stared at the bad guy under me.

I was balanced on my guy’s back, my knee digging into his right shoulder blade, my arms wrapped around his right arm painfully pulling it back and up. The guy was trying valiantly not to scream like a little girl. (Well, a regular girl.) Cole looked back and forth from the guy’s cringing face, to me. I’m sure he was thinking, she only weighs 120 pounds, tops, and she brought that giant down?

“They had guns! They were coming to kill us?” Dr. Andrews was downright furious now.

“Well, I have my suspicions, but let’s just go ahead and ask this fella right here. So, were you sent here to kill us?” With the last word I yanked his arm a little further, and then eased off enough so he could talk through the pain.

“I ain’t telling you nothin’!” the thug spat through his bloody face.

“Ohhh, wrong answer.” I made a soft tisk-tisk noise with my tongue before I grabbed the hair on the back of his head, lifted and slammed his face into the crusty motel carpet.

I heard the doctor and his son gasp simultaneously. Good grief, they really didn’t have the stomach for this! Mom must have trained us really well. This was no big deal to us. I confirmed my thoughts by looking over at my brothers. Yep, they were both standing with arms crossed looking annoyed at the guy; no pity in their eyes at all. I guess growing up playing war games will desensitize a person.

The idiot under my knee was groaning. “Wanna try answering that question again?” I growled in his ear.

After several wet coughs and one uncontrolled sob from the pain, he answered, “We weren’t gonna kill you. Our orders were to bring you back to The Institute.” He was telling the truth, I could tell.

“Who gave you these orders?” I demanded to know. He hesitated one fraction of a second too long for my nonexistent patience, so he got another face full of carpet.

This time he came up spitting out a name, but it was too garbled to understand.

“Say that name again, slowly.” And to his credit he enunciated the best his broken face would allow, “Dr. Williams.”

Evan stepped closer and asked the most important questions, “Is our mother alive? Does Williams have Margo Winter?”

But it was too late, he had passed out. Darn it! Why didn’t I ask those questions first? Why did I have to be so rough on the three-hundred-pound thug? Why do I have to be so emotional all the time!

I felt myself start to cry, and then the doctor’s hand was on my elbow. Cole rushed to my other side and they walked me to the nearest bed.

“Are you hurt, Meg?” Cole asked gently.

I looked around the room through tear-filled eyes and saw Alik and Evan working on lining the four guys against the far wall. With quick movements, they were tying them up using the thugs’ own belts and shoelaces.

“My body feels fine. Never better. But my heart hurts, and I’m mad at myself for not handling that interrogation better. I really needed to hear that mom was alive.”

“Well, we can try to revive any of these other guys and get them to talk, if you want, Meg.” Alik said with a slight kick to one of the guy’s boots.

“As much as I want to know, we don’t have time. We’ve got to go. They weren’t planning to kill us, but they didn’t seem to care either way about Dr. Andrews and Cole. Besides, I’m sure the rooms around us heard the fight and someone has called the police. We need to get out of here. Fast.”

“I agree,” Evan said grabbing his bag. “But before we go, lemme check the SUV real quick for explosives, tracking devices, or anything else out of place.”

“Good call,” Alik smiled, appreciating his brother’s mechanical prowess and thinking. Dang, the three of us make a good team.

Chapter 32 Rage Begets Reason

Inside ten minutes we were back on the road. Everyone was beyond hungry again, so we went to a fast-food drive-thru and ordered lots of breakfast tacos. Have you ever had these things? Oh, my gosh, they are flour tortillas wrapped around juicy sausage bits and fluffy eggs with cheddar cheese and served with salsa packets. I’m drooling just thinking about them.

I started chuckling to myself. I never realized how much I’d been missing out in the food department because I lived in a bubble on the ranch all those years. I’m going to have to be careful not to pack on the pounds out here in the real world.

“What’s so funny?” Cole’s voice woke me from my food-filled daydream.

My sheepish grin and accompanying blush were completely genuine. I couldn’t tell him what I was really thinking. So instead I reversed the moment and asked, “So what happened last night? Were you that desperate to sleep in a chair?”

Now it was his turn to blush. “I just thought you needed some real rest,” he looked down at the edge of his shirt and shrugged casually.

“That was very sweet of you. I appreciated it, right up until the thug-fest.” We smiled at each other warmly.

“So…Evan, have I ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?” Alik was grinning at Evan.

“Why no, Alik. Thank you! You know, I noticed when you passed me the last packet of salsa for my breakfast taco this morning. That was very considerate of you!” Evan batted his eyes obnoxiously at Alik, and they exchanged goofy grins.

“Will you two shut up?” I barked. For the next ten minutes or so, I stared out the window and vowed to get my revenge. Stupid brothers.

In a decided effort to change the subject, I asked Dr. Andrews the question none of us had dared ask, but of which we were desperate to know the answer. “So what are we going to do when we get to The Institute? I mean, we know that’s where Dr. Williams is and that’s probably where he’s holding mom. But I can’t imagine they’re just going to open the doors wide and say, ‘Come on in, kids’.”

“Sure they are, Meg. They’ll be happy to have us walk in to the building; the problem will come when we want to walk out.” Evan specified.

“He’s right. We really need to come up with a plan. And we don’t have that much time to formulate it. We’ll be in California by nightfall. Are we going to try to break into the facility? Are we going to walk in there guns blazing? Is there a way to offer a deal? I mean, what do we know about this guy besides the fact that he’s a mad scientist bent on destroying children for his own sick gains?” Alik was thinking outloud.

“All I know about Dr. Williams is pretty much what I’ve already told you. He’s the guy in charge of The Institute.” Dr. Andrews stared at the road in front of him thinking.

“Well, wait a minute. How does he get his funding? Is there no board of directors he has to report to? Shareholders?” Evan’s voice trailed off as he was thinking.

“How about an ethics committee?” Cole added cynically.

“I think he does enough legitimate pharmaceutical business to afford his pet projects like Infinite. As far as I know, he reports to no one except the Food and Drug Administration, and they sure seem to have turned a blind eye to what’s really going on behind those walls,” said Dr. Andrews.

“Why can’t we go to the police or the feds?” Cole asked sensibly.

With a deep sigh, I started to explain, “Listen, until two days ago, I thought I was just a regular kid living with a quirky mom who wanted me and my brothers to live an ‘unpolluted lifestyle that focused on our intrinsic gifts and the development of our intellect’. Needless to say, everything has changed.”

I had been thinking of possible options from the moment I first knew mom was taken. “So, we go to the authorities and say what? A woman who claimed to be our mother for the last twelve years was really our rescuer from a neurobiological facility that was using us as human guinea pigs for their formulas? And, oh yeah, she stole us away from this facility in the dead of night, acquired an assumed name to help us hide and maternity tests would prove she is not our biological mother, nor are we siblings.

“She would claim that she rescued us. They would claim that they had no idea what she was talking about because The Institute does not now, nor ever has, used human beings as test subjects. How ridiculous!

“Dr. Williams would admit Margo worked for his company but, as evidence to her poor character, she didn’t show up for work one day and they never heard from her again. If Margo has these children, she must have acquired them through illicit means and the police need to charge her with kidnapping.

“It would be our mom’s word against this huge multimillion-dollar conglomerate. If you were the cops, who would you believe?” Though my logic was dead on, I felt sick saying it.

My brothers sat quietly on either side of me, both of them staring out of the window closest to them. I wondered if they wished none of this ever happened and that we were back on our ranch living in ignorant bliss again. I know that’s what I was wishing. My eyes drifted to the window, too. The scenery passed so quickly, it blurred into one stream of color.

And the more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

The injustice of it all! They took me away from my biological parents, they tortured me for nearly four years while keeping me caged like an animal. They forced Margo into becoming a fugitive to save us. And when they kidnapped her, they took away the one person who ever loved me even though she knew that love would jeopardize her life!

I felt a rage build inside me so intense, heat poured from my skin. And from this fury, I drew strength. My mind was racing with possible solutions and probable outcomes: if this, then this. If this happened, then I would respond with this. When Dr. Williams said this, I would say that.

Then, my mind raced smack into a wall of clarity.

I was so enraged at the evil that hurt me and my family; I finally saw what I needed to do. Oh, yeah. Dr. Williams was not calling the shots anymore. From now on, he would have to react to my aggression. I’m going to take that evil monster down, and he won’t know what hit him. This is my game now. This is my world, and he’s about to feel my wrath.

“What are you thinking, Meg?” Alik asked with a worried tone. Apparently, he’d been watching the emotions on my face change from what probably looked like despair to triumph.

I looked back from Alik to Evan with a smile curling the corners of my lips.

Chapter 33 Reporting to the Institute

Four rather large men sat slouched in their seats as the rented minivan coasted along.

They were hurting.

The driver, Freddie, was the lead in this assignment. This failed assignment. It was supposed to be so easy.

They follow this SUV, they wait till dark, they break in and get the kids and hightail it back to The Institute. That’s it. He’d done similar things dozens of times before.

But this time, damn.

This time he and his idiot team got their butts kicked by kids. Kids! And what the heck was that dog-thing? It looked more like a wolf. It ripped the heck out of Mick’s shoulder.

That little girl, she was so strong! That’s just not right! And the younger boys, they dealt blows like—well, they just weren’t normal! He shook his head in disbelief remembering the scene in the motel.

Freddie glanced over at Mick sitting shotgun. He didn’t look so good at all. Face was whiter than a new T-shirt. He was still bleeding a lot. Bright red seeped through the make-shift bandage they put on him. It wasn’t big enough for the wound, but that’s the biggest bandage the gas station had. They couldn’t take him to a doctor, or anything. A wound like that would definitely get them noticed.

Joey and Leo weren’t doing much better. Freddie glanced in the rearview mirror to check his other two guys. Crap! Joey’s left eye was swollen shut and he was missing teeth. Leo couldn’t breathe really well, or walk or sit. We’re thinking he has some broken ribs.

Anger, pain and humiliation grabbed him by the collar. He slammed his palm down on the steering wheel. No one even moved to look at him. Everyone was in too much pain.

He could feel his heart beating in his face. Freddie was worried about his guys, but in truth, he looked more mangled than any of them. His nose looked like it’d been through a meat grinder. Both eyes were exploding with huge bruises and his lips looked shredded. Both front teeth were knocked out.

But none of these injuries worried them as much as the phone call that was going to have to happen now. Freddie, as the lead, had to call their boss and tell him what happened. He knew he’d messed up badly and was already trying to find some way to make up for it. He needed another chance to make things right. But he heard this guy gave no mercy for mistakes.

He felt a wave of nausea as he reached into the center console to retrieve the cell phone. Not allowing himself to procrastinate anymore, he pressed and held down button number two. Speed dial registered the command, and the phone began to ring.

Chapter 34 Friends Along the Way

Dr. Andrews had a friend named Gregory Burns who lived in Flagstaff, Arizona. After having Evan check his cell phone for possible bugs, he called Michelle back in Kansas and had her look through his old files for Greg’s number.

Their conversation wasn’t filled with the usual, “How are you?” and “Are you safe?” or even the standard, “I love you and miss you.” Or God-forbid she ask, “How are the children?” Nope. I was going to have to ask Cole about his dad’s relationship with her, but it would have to wait till we could talk privately. There was a lot more to that story, and I was curious to learn it.

“Are you sure this guy would be willing to help us?” Alik asked, doubtfully.

“Why haven’t you mentioned him before?” posed Evan.

Dr. Andrews explained, “It’s been ages since I talked with Greg, but it won’t matter. He will drop whatever he’s doing to help, because that’s just who Greg is. And if he ever needed me, I’d be there for him.

“These aren’t just words. We’ve lived it. Ten years ago, Greg was there when Cole’s mom lost her battle with cancer. And four years after that, I was there for Greg when his wife left him. Through it all, there was no judging, no strings attached.

“We were just two guys who would sit and watch sports together pretending not to notice the tears. Instead of offering a tissue or a shoulder, we’d do what guys do and offer each other a beer and a slice of pizza.”

Dr. Andrews stopped talking, but memories were still tracing lines in his face. Then he continued, “We’ve been friends since we were kids. We grew up in Kansas together, our houses facing each other, sharing a cul-de-sac. We were always hanging out together. We both played baseball in high school. Heck, we even shared a dorm room in college.

“Yeah, Greg would be able to help. On top of all that, he’s a cop. No one else may believe our story. But even if he didn’t believe, he would still help.”

The nostalgia slipped away from his eyes. I could tell the story was done, and I had to admit. This Greg guy sounded like a good idea.

“That’s great, but you didn’t answer my question,” Evan wasn’t as easily convinced.

“I thought of him before now, but really didn’t want to burden anyone else with my decision to help Margo and her children. This old score needed settling and it had nothing to do with Greg.

“But after the motel incident, I decided I need some backup. Literally. The Institute had crossed the line from harassing to extremely dangerous.” Dr. Andrews waited for an argument from Evan, but received none. He hadn’t seen me and my brothers exchange glances that decided Burns was an okay idea, but Evan still looked somewhat suspicious. And though he may be right, my plan could work better with more help from good guys.

The doctor took our silence as consent. He picked up his phone and dialed. The truck full of kids listened intently to only one side of the conversation.

“Hey, Greg! How’s it going? Yeah, it’s been too long, buddy. Listen, I have a situation I need your help with. Well, I can’t discuss it over the phone. I’m about an hour away. Do you mind some company for lunch? The usual place sounds great. Go ahead and get us a table for six. Yeah, I said six. I’ll explain everything. Thanks, man. See you there.”

It felt good to have something to look forward to besides my possible demise at the hands of an evil scientist. Looking around the truck, I felt everyone’s spirits lifted with the prospect of finding an ally in Flagstaff.

Chapter 35 Peanut Shells on the Floor

About an hour later, we pulled into the graveled parking lot of a place called Sizzling Steaks by Samuel and it struck me that lots of places use a name in their title. I was a little pumped and not just at the idea of meeting Dr. Andrew’s friend. But because this was the first real restaurant I’d been in besides Trudy’s, and I gotta tell you that didn’t even count because of the earthy atmosphere and the fact that we had to take our food to-go.

I was hoping for a restaurant like I’d read about in books. You know, the lit candles and fancy table cloths, and square plates with delicious food arranged artistically. I wanted to go to the kind of restaurant where the waiters pulled out the tables for you to sit and offered you a sorbet to cleanse the palate between courses.

“Hey there, welcome to Samuel’s! Table for five?” The hostess greeted us with enthusiasm, braided pig-tails and red lipstick on her front tooth. But she wasn’t the most striking thing about Samuel’s. No, it was more the layer of peanut shells covering the hardwood floors of the entire room that caught my attention.

If it weren’t for the delicious scent of steaks enveloping my senses, I would have been sorely disappointed. Maybe I needed to just appreciate what was around me and not be so bothered by atmosphere. I forced a smile onto my face and tried not to grimace at every peanut shell as it crunched under my shoes.

We were led to the large booth in the back corner. A dark-haired man in his forties stood grinning through his heavy mustache at the doc. He jumped from his seat and bolted toward us. And for a moment, I saw the two men as children giving each other a big hug and hearty slugs against the shoulders. It was pretty neat to watch.

“How the heck are you, you old dog? You look great! Get to the gym sometimes. Time’s treatin’ you better than me. Naw, look at all this gray hair!” They were talking on top of each other.

“Wow, Theo. You’ve been busy. Are all these kids yours?” Greg motioned toward the booth inviting us to all sit down.

Laughing, the doctor said, “No man, you remember Cole. He’s my only kid.”

“Ohhh, wow Cole, you’ve grown! Last time I saw you, you were, what, ten?” Greg spoke directly to Cole.

“Yes, sir. Good memory.” Cole smiled widely at his dad’s friend.

“Who are the rest of these kids?” Greg got right to the point.

“Um, this is Meg, Alik and Evan. They are Margo’s kids.” Dr. Andrews waited for recognition to sink in.

“Margo? Margo’s children? But that means these are the…”

“Yes, these are the children from The Institute.” Dr. Andrews finished tactfully.

“My goodness!” He stared at each of us as if we were the most curious creatures he’d ever seen. I felt like crawling inside my purse and hiding. My brothers, who sat on either side of me, tensed too.

“Margo’s missing, and I’m pretty sure you can guess who has her.” The doctor looked meaningfully into his friend’s eyes.

“That piece of crap has been hunting her all this time? Of course, from your stories he sounded like one sick son-of-a-gun. I guess I shouldn’t put it passed him to hold a grudge. Has he contacted you? Is that why you’re heading back to California?”

“You always did catch on fast, Greg. No, he hasn’t contacted us directly. But he did send four meat-heads to ‘collect’ us and take us back to The Institute. We also found a GPS and audio transmitter in the truck.

“He’s probably hired a whole team of people to track us and make sure we get to where we’re going. But they haven’t been too worried about whether Cole and I survive. They just want the kids back.”

Greg was frowning deeply. I wondered what he was thinking so I watched his facial expressions and listened to the tone of his voice when he spoke.

“You always had a way of befriending the hard-luck cases. Why you ever got involved with this, I’ll never know! No offense to you kids, but Theo, you have to think about Cole. He shouldn’t be a part of this. He’s already lost one parent, for Pete’s sake! You don’t owe Margo anything. You helped her as much as you could twelve years ago. Both you and Jenna did! These kids can be turned over to the state. They’re almost of age anyway.”

“Stop right there, Greg.” Dr. Andrews’ voice was stern and his face hardened. “I knew what I was getting into when I met Margo, and I knew what I was getting into when I flew down to Texas to pick up her children when she went missing.

“Yes, Cole has lost his mom. So now it’s up to me alone to teach him the importance of faith, integrity, right and wrong and friendship, Greg. A part of me died with Jenna, and the only reason I didn’t give up entirely was because of our little boy. Jenna loved Margo and if she were here today she would be sitting beside me at this table asking you to help these children. This is the right thing to do, and you know it!”

Three things happened while I heard this heart-felt speech from the doctor.

1. I knew Dr. Andrews had loved my mother deeply.

2. I knew he was here because he felt obligated to be.

3. I knew my brothers and I needed to release him of that obligation by handling Dr. Williams and The Institute alone.

Before Mr. Burns had a chance to speak, I asked to be excused to use the restroom and signaled my brothers to follow me after a few moments. I had no doubt they’d figure some excuse to leave the table.

Three minutes later, we met up by the restrooms. And I could tell by the looks on their faces, we all knew what I was about to say.

“It’s time to let the good doctor and his son off the hook,” I said.

“Yeah, he’s done more than enough,” agreed Alik.

“It’s getting way too dangerous for them, now,” Evan nodded.

“What are we going to do? We are in the middle of Arizona and have no way of getting to California on our own?” I shuffled my feet into a pile of peanut shells as I thought.

“So, why are we hanging out by the bathrooms?” It was Cole’s voice.

I looked up and saw his sparkling eyes smiling at me and my brothers. We must have looked as if we just got caught with our hand in the cookie jar.

“Hey, Cole. We were just,…” Alik stammered.

“Yeah, well, we got to thinking maybe it would be a good idea if, er…um,…”

“We’ve decided we need to finish this on our own,” I said.

“Well, I wasn’t planning to help anyone use the bathroom!” Cole teased, trying to lighten the moment. He knew something serious happened just before he walked up and he was bracing himself for what it might be.

“You and your dad have been so great to help us. Your dad flying down to Texas to get us, searching for our mom’s whereabouts, driving us all the way here… it’s just—it’s just getting too dangerous for you two,” Evan explained.

“Mr. Burns was right, and we like you guys too much to see you get hurt because of us,” I said, trying not to blush.

“We were just trying to figure out how to go from here,” Alik said.

Cole looked at each of our faces measuring our resolve. He pressed his lips together and nodded slowly. Then he shrugged and said, “Well, you’ll need the wheels. I’ll head back to the table and get the keys. Meet me at the truck in a couple of minutes. After you leave, I’ll stall dad telling him you three were needing some time to talk, or something, so he won’t come looking for you right away. Okay?”

My heart thundered in my chest. Cole wanted to help us and he understood this was the best way he could help. Without thinking, I stepped up to him, wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my face in his chest. So unexpected was my display of affection, that it took him a moment to respond. But when he did respond, wow! I could almost see the sparks shooting off of us as we held each other for just a moment.

“Come on, you two! We’re not saying good-bye, forever. Cole, we’ll contact you once we find our mom. Count on it!” said Alik.

“The plan will only work if we maintain our secrecy, guys. We’ve gotta go!” Evan urged.

We slipped out the back door of the restaurant. Moments later, we were at the truck. True to his word, Cole met us there and handed the keys to Alik. “Take care of yourselves. I’ll be waiting for that call.”

The boys slugged each other on the shoulders in that guy-to-guy affectionate way, and we loaded up fast.

“Meg,” Cole called just before I closed the truck’s door. He looked so sincere as he leaned toward me and brushed his warm lips against my cheek in a gentlemen’s kiss. I was breathless. He smiled that dimpled smile and closed the door for me.

With Alik at the wheel, we pulled out of the lot and headed down the highway. I don’t think I stopped grinning for an hour.

Chapter 36 Just the Three of Us…Well, and Maze

We drove in silence for a few hours, each of us lost in our thoughts. Maze woke us from our trance with an annoying whining sound.

He had to find a bush, and quick. I’d been so caught up in our worries; I’d completely neglected my best buddy. Alik pulled the truck over and we got out to stretch our legs while Maze found the perfect spot on which to pee.

“So, you ready to let us in on your plan, Meg?” Alik spoke just above a whisper, though we were completely isolated. I think he was worried I was going to get all moody and crazy on him. Poor fellow. It must be tough living with a walking emotional superconductor all the time.

I smiled ruefully at my brothers.

Back in the truck, Evan worked as my scribe as I shared my skeleton plan with them. “Alik, how much detail do you remember about The Institute’s floor plan?”

He caught on fast and smiled. “Everything. They had an emergency exit map laminated beside the door to my room. That is, assuming they haven’t changed the layout.”

“Right,” I said, “We’ll just have to hope they didn’t.”

“Evan, they’re bound to have a pretty high-tech security system set up in multiple stages throughout the facility. Do you think you can get us past them?”

“I’ll need some equipment, but yeah, I think I can figure out how to bypass anything they’re using.” Evan said with an uncharacteristic smile pressing his lips.

“As for me, I will be able to find mom once we’re in there.”

“What do you mean, you’ll ‘be able to find mom’?” Alik asked.

“Listen, I’ve been noticing something since we left the ranch. Maybe I could always do this and just didn’t need to. I mean, I’ve only had you guys, mom and Maze to work with. Or maybe I’ve just started developing this skill … kinda like what mom hinted to in her journals. But, if I concentrate, I can feel people.” I said all this in a near whisper as if it were a huge secret and outside ears wouldn’t understand. Or maybe I just felt stupid putting what I’d been feeling into words.

My brothers both looked over at me with raised eyebrows.

“Don’t look at me as if I’m crazy, you idiots! I’m telling you I can feel people. I can feel what they’re feeling. It’s how I knew we could trust Dr. Andrews and how I know Michelle Andrews is the one who put the tracker in the truck. I knew what the thugs were thinking when they attacked. I’ll be able to feel mom. It’s like knowing there’s a fresh baked pile of cookies hiding in the house and following your nose to find it. That’s the best way I can think to describe it. If I’m close enough, I can find her by following her scent.”

“Wow, Meg. You’re a real freak, you know that? I mean, I’ve always known you’re an emotional nut-job, but now you can feel the emotions of others?” Alik glanced over at me from the driver’s seat, clearly teasing me. It made me want to punch him square in the jaw.

Evan, ever the diplomat, spoke up. “I have a bit of a confession too. I mean, I would have told you guys sooner, but I always worried about saying too much in front of Dr. Andrews and Cole. Besides, it just started showing up a few days ago. Kinda like Meg, I don’t know if I could do this for a while and just never had the opportunity on the ranch, or if it recently came-about.”

“What is it? What are you talking about Evan?” I was excited to know that maybe I wasn’t alone in my newfound abilities.

“I can pretty much unlock any machine.” Evan said simply.

“That’s not new. You’ve always been good at taking apart and putting together all things mechanical.” Alik said matter-of-factly.

“Well sure, and Meg has always been hyperemotional. That’s not what I’m saying. I can crack any mechanism nearly instantaneously. All I have to do is look at it and I can see in my mind its inner workings. Then, I can manipulate those workings.” Evan looked to me for understanding then continued. “Now sometimes I need equipment to help me accomplish that, but that’s just a necessity. I’m not magical!”

“Wait. Back up. You can make machines do what you want it to do? Like what, make an ATM spit out money?” I asked.

“Well, yeah, I could probably do that. But I don’t think that would be very ethical. I don’t like the idea of stealing; besides mom would flip her lid.”

“You got that right!” Alik blurted. “It’s bad enough we took this truck from Cole and Dr. Andrews.” Alik pointed out with a hint of guilt in his voice.

“We did what we had to do to protect them. It’s not like we abandoned them on the side of the road. I’m sure Mr. Burns will help them get back to Kansas safely.”

Truth be told, I missed Cole and Dr. Andrews. Those two men had truly honest souls and only wanted to help us. I wondered what Cole thought of me and remembered his tender good-bye. Was he relieved to be done with us? Would he think of me? Would I ever see him again?

From a passenger’s viewpoint the doctor’s SUV was comfortable and functional. Now that we were in the driver’s seat, so to speak, we got to appreciate the bells and whistles.

Evan took one look at the GPS and quickly did a search for The Institute’s address. Within moments, he had a map pulled up on the screen displaying the approximate drive time. It was only three hours twenty-three minutes away. Our mom was so close I just wanted to fly to her side and kill the monster that had taken her.

But before the fury and anxiety merged into one of my typical uncontrollable rages, I made myself breathe slowly and think. It would do mom no good to rush The Institute half-cocked with no decisive plan, all guns blazing. That could be fatal, for all of us.

“Listen guys, we need more time to prepare our strategy. Let’s not rush it. You mentioned that we need to gather equipment, right Evan? We’re going to need to create a diversion too. Explosives?” I was just thinking out loud ticking off ideas as they came to me.

A thought occurred to me. I reached over and popped the glove compartment open. There sat the two guns Dr. Andrews had packed.

“That’s not going to be enough,” Alik and Evan said at the same time.

“Nope, not nearly enough.” I agreed.

Evan leaned back to the onboard computer. With a few flicks at the screen, he pulled up three addresses of sporting good stores in the area. Reading briefly a basic list of the merchandise each offered, he zeroed in on his top pick.

“What are you thinking, Evan?” I could almost hear his thoughts racing with a solution to our needs.

“Well, I believe I’ve got a plan, big sister.” He looked up at me with a mischievous grin.

Oh yeah, this is exactly what we need! My heart cheered.

Chapter 37 The Audacity of That Woman

He had quite enough of this impudence. How dare her! Her little display of ungratefulness left a serious mark on his neck. He could barely swallow or talk.

The pain medicines he administered to himself kept wearing off too fast, so he’d just established his own morphine pump. All he had to do was push a little button and a wave of deliciously numbing medicine pumped into his vein. But he had to be careful not to overdo it. He had to maintain all his faculties. After all, he had a lot of work to do, and he needed a clear head to do it.

His personal bodyguards made very short work of Ms. Winter. Considering the injuries she brought on herself, she may very well die before the children arrive. No matter, she was just the bait. The true goal has always been to bring the children home. Once they’re here, he was sure they could be persuaded to embrace their roles.

They had so much catching up to do. So much had happened since they were stolen away and he was anxious to involve them in all his newest ventures. He had great plans for them. Ah, so much to do, so little time.

His group of four collectors had failed him miserably.

He pressed the little button for the second time in five minutes.

But they served a purpose they knew nothing about. No matter. A good general always sends his pawns in first.

The children were coming to him just as he had planned. When they arrived, he would have a welcome home party the likes of which they’ve never seen.

A morphine-induced grin showed jagged, yellow teeth.

The children will see how much they were missed. The gifts he had given those children had been squandered by that wretched woman all these years.

Now, the children would have the long overdue opportunity to thank him for all he did for them.

He was anticipating that moment with great zeal.

Chapter 38 Immaculate

It was late. We arrived in town around 7pm and decided to drive around The Institute to get a feel for what kind of security they may have.

The center building stood seven stories tall and covered one square block, at least. There were four smaller buildings connected to the main structure at its corners. They stood glistening stone-white in the setting sunlight. Blackest windows etched into a symmetrical pattern across the external walls. The entire compound covered four square blocks and was maintained flawlessly.

Every shrub and tree was trimmed perfectly into neat little cubes or spheres. The deep-green grass encircling the buildings looked soft enough to sleep on. There was a stone pebble walking path that snaked around the complex intentionally highlighting the immaculate landscaping, but it was just for looks. There was no one on it except the landscaping crew of guys. They must be out here daily to keep this place so pristine.

An inconspicuous steel rectangular sign was angled near the entrance of the main building. It simply read: The Institute of Neurobiological Studies - Dr. Kenneth Williams CEO.

Oh, yeah, this guy was full of himself and not afraid to plaster his name all over a building that housed horrific and illegal scientific practices. He truly must see himself as exempt from the law, from ethics and from humanity.

Although I didn’t see any security as we circled the complex, Evan did. His trained eyes knew what to look for. He pointed out cameras, could spot “hidden” sensors, and even got an idea what kind of system and guards would be just inside the lobby doors.

“Alik, does this bring back memories?” I asked my brother gently, not sure if coming here had just opened Pandora’s Box.

He pressed his lips together tightly and squinted straight ahead looking like he was really concentrating on the road. I gave him some time to answer. I felt him working through his inner turmoil with the flood of images passing through is mind while collecting the necessary blueprint data we needed.

“Yeah, I remember everything.” He gestured with a nod of his head at the large center building. “The executive suites were on the top floor of that building. Williams’ office should be there. Floors two through six were offices for researchers, developers, assistants, etcetera.”

His blue eyes looked with unrestrained hatred at the smaller building on the southwest corner. “And that’s where they kept us while they worked on their top-secret Infinite Project. That’s where they made the metahumans.”

All three of us stared at the building with our personal degrees of loathing. Being here was going to be harder than I imagined. I could feel my brother’s anguish and it nearly caused me a physical reaction.

I needed to concentrate. It was time for me to try to find mom.

With effort, I pushed back the waves of emotion streaming toward me from Alik and Evan and tried to focus instead on trying to sense mom. I took some deep breaths and closed my eyes. I thought of my mother, the beautiful woman who raised me. I allowed myself to remember the little things that brought waves of emotion crashing down on my heart.

In my mind, I saw my mother’s strong, gentle hands. They were always the right temperature. If I were feverish, they felt cool and soothing on my forehead. If I had chills, my mother’s hands felt like warming mittens against my skin.

In the evenings, when we sat around the living room playing games or reading, my mom would always have to have her hand or her toes or something touching us. If I were sitting next to her on the couch, she would make sure we were snuggled against each other. Even if we didn’t say one word, lost in our own leisure activities, we were always near each other.

Mom had the best laugh. Her eyes would squint up into slits as her wide smile pushed her cheeks up. Her smile was dazzling and her laugh was addicting. We would do anything to hear that genuine, belly-rolling, till-you-cry, laughter of mom’s.

I remembered how mom always smelled so good. I don’t know how she did it, but she always had a hint of a floral fragrance about her. I remember when I was a little girl I would curl up in her lap, snuggle my face into the crook of her neck and fall asleep feeling so safe with her strong arms and scent encircling me.

In the middle of those memories, I felt a tugging in my heart. It was weak, but it was there. I felt my mother somewhere in those buildings. She was in so much pain and was so scared. The more I knew where to focus the stronger the connection I could make with her emotions. Mom was alive, but barely.

“Meg, Meg! What is it? What do you feel? Is mom in there? Is mom alive? Meg wake up! What’s happening?” The boys were shaking my shoulders to bring me back to reality. I had been crying.

My heart still ached so deeply from the pain I felt emanating from our mother, but I managed a nod. Then I forced myself to tell my worried brothers everything I had just felt.

“They’ve hurt mom. She’s hurt and barely alive,” I said through quivering lips.

“Williams is going to burn for this.” Alik was shaking with anger.

“But she’s alive,” Evan said as if needing to hear the words out loud again. “Mom’s alive, and we’re going to get her back. Alik, you need to drive, man. We’re looking too conspicuous stopped here on the road.”

Thank God for Evan. He was always so level-headed, and boy did we need level-headed now. Alik pulled away slowly from the curb and pointed the truck away from the ghostly white compound. We had work to do and each of us felt both heavier with the weight of the endeavor at hand, and lighter at the hope our plan gave us. Mom was alive, and we were on our way to get her. Each of us prayed silent prayers for strength and skill, for the sake of our mother.

Chapter 39 Ammo and Donuts

Whoever said boys don’t like shopping has never been with them when they walked into a sporting goods store. Their eyes lit up like stars shooting across a dark night sky when they peeked into the window.

“You ready, Ev?” I asked, attempting to revive him from his ammo ogling.

“Oh, yeah,” he grinned.

We decided to walk through the sporting goods store before closing so Alik could memorize the merchandise layout. We wanted a very specific plan to get the necessary items for tomorrow’s operation and though Evan was pretty sure he could disengage the alarm system so we could move around undetected for as long as we needed, we didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

Just one rent-a-cop walking around with a flash light for a nightstick could completely ruin our plans. And mom didn’t have time for us to waste. She was alive, but wouldn’t be for too much longer without proper medical help. She was depending on us. There was no room for errors.

We left the store at 8:30 that night. We would be back at 2am, so we had some time to kill. Personally, I was getting a tongue-sore for those white powdered donuts. A quick stop at a gas station filled the truck, and my need for that particular sugar rush.

Evan drove us to a nearby dog-friendly park, where we did just that, parked. Maze jumped happily out of the truck and stretched. First he leaned forward, then back with his tail high in the air and finally he shook all over. That boy sure can shed, I thought as a silver cloud billowed around his shaking coat. Then he let out a wickedly huge yawn and trotted off to find, undoubtedly a place to sniff. I couldn’t help but smile after him. I have never had to use a leash with him. He’s always just come when I called to him. He’s like my constant shadow, ever present and dependable. Through this whole traumatic week, my sweet boy has been by my side.

All these thoughts were warm and fuzzy around my mind right up until I caught sight of Maze running full speed chasing a brown furry thing. Oh, good grief. Maze found a squirrel to torment. You’d think that boy would learn, I thought shaking my head. He let out some playful barks up into the tree; paws perched halfway up the trunk. He just wanted the yummy smelling brown thing to come down and play with him.

My brothers were walking toward the park’s restrooms stiffly. We were all so tense. It would be good for us to hang out here for a few hours and just run around, like, oh, I dunno, kids, maybe? I made a sour face at that thought. Williams tried to steal our childhoods, our lives. But mom gave it back to us. We knew how to play. Well, we knew how to play fight!

I raised my hands above my head and pulled myself easily up on point, stretching. I allowed my back to roll down so I touched my toes. I held my nose to my knees for a moment just enjoying the feel of my muscles.

Keeping Maze within sight, I found a nice spot of grass and sat down. I stretched one leg out to the right and leaned down to drape myself flat on it. Then I stretched the other leg out to the left and crawled in an arch around to stretch across it, too. Mom and I used to warm up like this when we’d do yoga together. I focused on my breathing … in through my nose, out through my mouth. I glanced toward the bathrooms, but Alik and Evan hadn’t come out yet.

I breathed again, in through my nose and out through my mouth, and abruptly stopped. I held my breath. My heart started racing with adrenaline as my fight-or-flight instinct kicked into overdrive.

Something wasn’t right.

I could feel it.

Chapter 40 Playtime at the Park

I took a quick inventory trying to figure out what I was sensing. Maze was nosing in the grass by a sycamore tree some fifty yards away. Evan and Alik were still not back from the restrooms.

Something wasn’t right.

Shoot. What is it?

I focused on feeling for my brothers and felt nothing unusual. They were still in the restroom where it felt like Evan had devised a way to increase the efficiency of the toilet. Apparently, it was broken and was constantly running, wasting water. Evan, our environmentalist, couldn’t just let that go. But his handyman efforts were annoying the heck out of Alik, as usual.

Maze was fine. I was too far away to feel mom. It wasn’t that. Then, what was—?

And that’s when I felt eyes boring into the back of my head. In one quick movement I jumped up, around and into a crouched position. My eyes caught sight of a red dot dancing on my ankle. What the heck?

Then I felt him. He was grinning into his weapon’s telescope relishing the feel of the trigger, wishing he could aim a few feet higher at my heart. The red dot was coming from a laser sniper rifle!

Without thinking, I jumped and dove to my left, toward our parked truck just in time to hear a sharp whistle and thump. The dirt where I had been crouched half a second before exploded in a whisper as the bullet hit.

I felt his anger at the missed shot. Staying on my belly, I crawled commando-style the rest of the way to the truck to use it as a shield.

He had been so excited to see me separate from my brothers, even if it were just for a few minutes. He figured the best way to take us down was one-by-one.

I let out a low whistle getting Maze’s attention. His ears perked up immediately and his sharp yellow eyes locked onto mine. Maze didn’t just run, he flew toward me and was at my side almost instantly. He looked at me, ready for instructions, the fur on the back of his neck standing and a low growl deep in his throat told me he understood there was danger and he was ready for battle.

I peered around the edge of the truck looking toward where I sensed the gunman. Pushing my panic aside, I forced myself to feel.

He wasn’t alone and these guys had revenge on their mind. Oh my goodness, they were the same group of thugs that attacked us at the motel. We had embarrassed them to their boss, and they wanted payback.

Just then, I realized my brothers were about to walk out of the brick building that housed the bathrooms. They were about to be sitting ducks to the shooters. We were strong and fighters, but we weren’t invincible. I had no doubt we could be shot and killed.

All this time, I’d been so worried about rescuing mom I hadn’t even considered what would happen if I were captured. If we’re caught, Williams would no longer need to keep mom alive. Matter of fact, she was a liability because of all the information she knew about him. If we die, she dies.

Panic rose in my throat hot and violent enough to make me feel sure I was going to throw up. Swallowing hard, I allowed myself to react instinctively.

I slipped the truck’s front passenger door open and crawled inside, ordering with just a glance, for Maze to follow. I thought I remembered Evan leaving the keys in the ignition when we first pulled up, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw them still dangling from the steering wheel’s column.

Moving as quickly as I could, while still ducked down, I slipped over to the driver’s seat.

Okay, now may be a good time to mention that I’ve never driven a car. I know I’m the oldest of the kids, but I just never had cause to learn to drive. Besides, it was easier to let the boys do it so I could boss them around with both hands. I was wishing I’d made them teach me, but there was nothing I could do about, now.

I didn’t let myself think, I turned the key just as I’d seen the boys do dozens of times and felt the truck roar to life. Peeking over the dashboard just enough to see where I was going, I grabbed the truck’s handle thingy and forced it to move so the red line pointed to “D” which I hoped stood for drive and not self-“D”estruct.

The truck lurched forward as I tried the pedals. Okay, I’m a fast learner and all, but when I guessed the correct pedal to move me forward, I didn’t gauge how hard to step on it. Suffice it to say, I now understood the expression “burned rubber.”

In a matter of two seconds, I’d closed the distance between where the truck had been parked and the restrooms where my brothers were already hurrying out. Apparently, they heard some idiot peeling out in the parking lot (rolling eyes).

Positioning myself between the guns and my brothers, I slammed on the break, and started screaming, “Alik, Evan…get in the car! They’re shooting at us! Quick! Jump!”

Alik grabbed the passenger side door and yanked it open just in time to hear a bullet shatter the back glass. He threw Evan in the truck then slammed the door shut. I could feel him seething with anger and boy, I could relate. He opened the door to the back seat and jumped in yelling, “Drive, go, Meg! Go! GOooooo!”

He didn’t have to say it because I was already doing it!

Bullets from at least three separate guns riddled the left side and back of the SUV. I prayed that none of them made contact with any of my family or the tires…or the gas tank. Running out of specifics to pray for or the sensibility to think at all, I just found myself begging God, oh, please, oh please…over and over.

I guess he heard me because only a few minutes had passed between when I first felt something was wrong and our escape through a rain of bullets. Somehow we were able to get away unscathed, except Evan who was nursing a headache from being slammed into the center console of the truck by his overprotective brother.

Now we were cruising down the highway in a Swiss-cheese looking vehicle, with no back glass. But we were alive. For now.

“What happened, Meg! Who was that?” Alik had finally found his voice.

“Wait, before you answer. Pull over and let me drive. No offense Meg, but you look pretty shaken,” said Alik.

“Gladly,” I breathed.

Evan was still quiet. “You okay, Ev?” I asked.

“We’ve got some acetaminophen in here somewhere, don’t we?” he moaned.

“You’re alive…how about a ‘thank you’?” Alik smiled at his brother, just happy to see he was okay.

After we played musical chairs and were back on the road, I explained what happened to my brothers.

“You sensed him? You could feel his thoughts? Wow, Meg, you gotta know how cool that is!” Alik kept looking over at me like he was seeing me for the first time.

“He was aiming for your ankle. He wasn’t shooting to kill. Just maim. Williams is still trying to bring us in to The Institute his way. He wants us injured and unable to fight. He wants us to plead for our mother’s safety.” Evan’s way of viewing the world was always so clear-cut, unclouded by all these erratic emotions that not only tied me down but gave me wings. I admired him.

“He’s in for one heck of a surprise tomorrow.” Alik’s voice had an angry edge I completely understood.

Tomorrow needed to end well.

Chapter 41 So What Were You Doing at 2am?

We drove till we were too anxious to drive anymore and decided to park behind a quiet church surrounded by middle class homes in an unassuming neighborhood. The shattered back window let all the California night’s chill into the truck, so my brothers layered on as much of their clothes as possible. We found that the doctor had a large comforter folded neatly under the far back seats, so the boys used that.

I didn’t need anything besides my Maze. He instinctively knew to snuggle up to me and share his fur. We rested like this for a few hours, though I don’t think any of us slept. We were not only terrified for mom, but worried the thugs would jump out of the dark and start shooting.

At 1:45am Evan sat up straight, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and nudged Alik and me. It was time.

We drove to the same sporting goods store we visited six hours before. All the lights were out and the parking lot was empty, except one rusted-out compact car backed into a spot on the far left of the store. My guess was that it didn’t start when the owner tried to leave today and it was left here with plans to attempt revival come daylight. Maybe those were just my hopes, because if that car belonged to a night guard, we were screwed.

The boys and I sat and watched the store for fifteen minutes just in case there was someone in there. No lights turned on. No one drove up. No police cruiser. Just we three, and Maze, staring at a store chockfull of what we needed to save mom.

“I vote we move,” I whispered to the boys.

“Looks good to me, too,” Alik nodded.

“Okay, it’s unanimous,” Evan said. “We approach through the loading docks. Alik, pull around back and back up to the door. We’re going to need the back door open so we can load up,” he gave these instructions with an icy calm to his voice.

Once we were positioned, Alik popped the truck’s back door and jumped out. I followed motioning for Maze to stay and be quiet.

Evan stepped confidently up the three steps to the back door of the shop. There was a security panel, all right. He flipped the cover open and looked at the buttons. With a quick motion, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a Swiss Army knife and popped open its simple screwdriver. Within one minute, he had the faceplate off the panel and we were all looking at colorful wires sticking out of the wall. A quick adjustment of the knife showed him put the screwdriver away and flip open the miniature wire cutters. With a confident hand he chose two of the wires, and cut them. Then took two others, spliced them and made them connect. One final spark of a connection and the door made a buzzing noise then popped open.

He smiled triumphantly to himself and stepped inside first. After he closed the door behind us he explained that not only had he disarmed the alarm and motion sensors, but he had created a loop by which the parking lot video surveillance would continuously show an empty parking lot.

“Wow, it’s a good thing you’re on our side, Evan. That was scary, cool!” Alik didn’t pass out compliments too often so I was proud to see him show his appreciation now. Evan nodded once then pulled out the shopping list from the front pocket of his jeans.

“Okay, you know what you have to do, guys. Get to it!” Evan spoke with authority.

We each ran to get a shopping cart and to our preassigned section of the store. I was to head to the clothing department to retrieve coveralls, canvas sack, boots, socks, ball caps and a helmet.

Alik was to head to the camping/hunting section to get backpacks, ropes, first aid kits, night vision glasses and binoculars.

Now Evan, he went running to the locked safe where this store kept their ammunition, explosives, detonators, wires, and everything else he needed to make a lot of Williams’ building go boom.

We made quick work of our collections and met up at the back door to load up the truck. Evan carefully placed his volatile items in the front seat then went back around to help load the rest of the equipment.

Alik disappeared for less than a minute while Evan and I finished up.

We were in and out, in thirty minutes.

“We did it! Excellent! Did you guys get everything on your lists?” Evan was pumped!

“Yeah, I got everything.” I said, my heart still racing.

“Everything. We’re set.” Alik smiled.

“Hey, Alik. Why’d you go back after we were loading up? Did you forget something?” I asked my brother. That was very unlike him to disappear when there was work to be done. Even if it were just for a minute.

“Naw, I didn’t forget anything, but I had to go do something,” Alik said with a sheepish grin.

“What’d you do?” I asked.

“Well, remember back at the ranch how mom kept that box of spinach in the freezer?” Alik asked.

“You put money on the counter, didn’t you?” Evan blurted.

Mom always kept a thick stash of cash in the house. The best hiding place was in the freezer in what looked like a regular box of frozen spinach. Clever, huh? Mom’s pretty brilliant.

“She always said it was for emergencies only. Well, when Andrews was coming to get us to go find our missing mom, it felt like an emergency to me.”

We three looked at each other, smiled and nodded.

“I just left a thousand on the cash register. I’m hoping that’ll cover what we took. We still have plenty left. I was just sure mom wouldn’t want us to turn into thieves even if it was to rescue her.” Alik said all this with a shrug and a smile.

Evan and I beamed at our brother. Yeah, he did the right thing. Gotta love my good-hearted brother!

Chapter 42 Margo’s Memories

She always taught the children to be fighters. There was always a plan, even when there was no plan. Action. Move. Never give up. There was always a way. Look for options and choose one. Just don’t lie still and take it. That’s what she had taught them. And right about now, she was trying to take her own words to heart.

She was in agony. After her failed attempt to punch the life out of Williams, his thugs were given a free hand to teach her a lesson. She gave up trying to assess what was broken or bruised or ruptured. Everything hurt. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to blink. Even the air on her skin hurt.

She had never been so close to death, even when she was in the military special ops and her helicopter crashed into a mountain. Even then, she could still feel the adrenaline pulse through her veins, pumping her full of a strength she had never felt, deadening the pain so she could perform her directive.

This is what dying felt like. She realized that and with a very saddened heart was having to come to terms with it.

Her poor babies. She remembered the night she stole them away from here. She only had two arms and there were three children. She couldn’t just waltz right out the front doors with the kids in her arms.

Even if she could carry all three of them, there was no way she could slip under the radar so conspicuously. So, she devised a simple plan. She would ask the janitor for a laundry cart to help her load items from her car and bring them back into her new office so she could set up. She remembers smiling sweetly at the man whose name tag read Kevin. He happily passed a cart to her, even offering to help her, if she liked. Margo remembered politely declining his offer and promising to bring the cart back when she was done. It was late so the corridors were eerily vacant as she pushed the empty cart toward the children’s rooms. She remembered hearing the one squeaky wheel that spun stupidly as she pushed.

When she arrived at the first door, she only had to swipe her badge gently across the metallic keypad and the door clicked, unlocked. She was sure the little girl would be asleep considering the hour and how quiet her room was. But as she stepped closer to the bed, her breath caught in her throat stifling a surprised gasp. The little girl was sitting up, her dark curls framing her face and her dark eyes watching expectantly.

Margo remembered feeling a moment of panic that the child would scream and give them away before she could explain she was there to help her. But before she said a word, the little girl raised her arms to Margo in the universal baby sign of, pick me up. Without a word exchanged, Margo lifted the three-year-old with those dark-brown eyes and held her for just a moment in a gentle hug before she placed her carefully at the bottom of the laundry cart. Margo remembered adding one of the blankets from the child’s bed to the cart before placing her index finger over her lips showing the child they needed to stay silent. The baby girl nodded, as if she completely understood.

Margo quickly and quietly wheeled to the next room where the little boy would be and repeated the swiping of the badge, opening of the door and silent walk into the dark room.

Feeling the top of the bed empty, she knelt down and felt around under the bed. Sure enough, a warm little bundle moved under her searching hand. She gently scooted the baby boy out from under his bed, lifted his still sleeping body and watched as the dark-eyed girl tried to make room for the next child to be rescued. Margo remembered praying that the little boy wouldn’t wake crying and give them way. But that’s all she could do, pray. And in the end, that was more than enough.

The last room held the newborn. The cart was heavier this time as she pushed it. In the darkened “nursery,” Margo had to feel around for the metallic crib she saw earlier that day. It was exactly where she remembered it. Reaching into the crib, Margo felt the softness of the baby’s arm. He was so soft and so cold.

Oh, dear God. Please don’t let him be dead, she remembered praying as her blind hands moved further up toward the baby’s face waiting to feel any movement, breath, anything. She held very still and waited for what felt like an eternity for his chest to rise and fall. He was breathing, but not very well. Oh God, please help me save this little guy. Please.

It was as though the pain wracking her body with such precision awakened clarity to her memories. Margo remembered exactly how it felt to lift that cold little baby into her arms. Her heart was screaming for strength, for a way to save them.

The little girl with dark eyes held up her arms, this time seeming to understand that the small bundle Margo held needed special care. Margo placed one baby into the other baby’s warm and open arms. She had grabbed more blankets off the crib to drape on top of her stolen cargo.

Margo prayed with every step that no one would stop her as she pushed her filled cart closer and closer to freedom. Just as she was rounding the last corner before the exit doors, a voice called out from behind her.

She remembered that panicked moment in which she debated whether she should stop, turn around and try to talk her way out of here, or make a run for it. Something told her to turn, and there stood Kevin, the janitor, smiling flirtatiously.

“So do you need any help, after all?” he asked.

Margo had tried to disguise her tremendous relief to see it was just this unassuming fellow who had stopped her. With an attempt at a casual smile she said, “Thanks for the offer Kevin, but I got it.” A quick wave good-bye and she had kept walking, pushing her little stowaways.

In her mind’s eye she saw herself hurrying to her car still waiting for sirens to blare and a chopper to swoop down, but nothing happened. She put the children on the floor of the back seat, left the empty cart in the parking lot and drove away from The Institute hoping she would never come back.

And here she was. Lying on the floor of a dusty, empty, locked room thinking how grateful she felt.

She smiled, though it hurt tremendously to do so, thinking how blessed she had been to have spent twelve years with the most precious gifts from God. She felt honored that they called her mother. She knew she had done the best she could teaching them about life and love, faith and family.

Margo lay slowly dying from the wounds inflicted by a monster, but she was at peace. Because though the devil meant it for evil, God turned it to good.

Chapter 43 The Beginning of the End

The back of the truck was packed with their newly acquired supplies. They decided the safest and most logical thing for them to do now was to try to get a motel room. They needed a place to rest, pack and plan. But just as importantly, they needed a place to spread out as they designed and built the explosives.

It was four in the morning when they drove around looking for a place that seemed likely to accept cash and ask no questions about their ages. Alik looked the oldest, so he was going in to talk with the desk clerk.

Pulling into a modest establishment that had lights spilling from its front lobby windows, Alik jumped out of the truck and walked confidently up to the doors.

As I watched him, I tried to imagine what others saw when they looked at my brother. I had a clear view of the empty desk and smiled ruefully when it was a younger, cute blond girl who appeared behind the desk. She smiled sweetly at my brother. He was patting around his jean pockets and running his hand down the sides of his jacket as if feeling around for something.

He was pretending he couldn’t find his wallet, where his ID was held. But look at this, he found a wad of cash in his jeans. Would she mind just letting him pay cash and when he found his wallet, he’d bring it back to check in properly?

The girl glanced from side to side as if looking for her boss. Her eyes locked onto Alik’s for a moment, and she let loose with a huge grin. Alik passed her several bills and in exchange she gave him a room key. He flashed one thankful glance back at her before he walked back to the truck where Evan, Maze and I were waiting.

I shook my head in amazement. My brother, the flirt! I was still chuckling to myself when Alik returned. He whispered, “Hush. I got the room, didn’t I?” He knew he had laid it on pretty thick for the girl. But I didn’t feel too bad for him. He seemed to be enjoying his newfound ability to sway girls.

“You got the room or two nights, right Alik?” asked Evan.

“Yeah,” Alik yawned.

Room 117 was perfect for us. It was around the back of the building, so passersby wouldn’t see our bullet hole riddled truck and there would be fewer, if any, people to witness us bring our multiple bags into the room, with no sign of an adult.

Alik backed our truck up to the door of the room. Just a few steps and we’d be out of view—safely inside. We jumped out of the car and got to work.

I opened the door and ushered Maze inside, hitting the light switches as I went. Maze jumped up on the bed and lay down as if he was trying hard to stay out of the way.

Evan came in first, arms loaded down with items. Close behind him came Alik, both of his ample arms were balancing even more merchandise. The boys put everything on the floor between the beds and Evan walked out to retrieve the fragile materials that would be the juice behind our explosives. I followed him out, closing the truck’s door behind him as he used two steady hands to hold these goods.

Once the truck was unloaded, the curtains drawn and the door locked, it was time for some rest. We would be no good to mom exhausted and making stupid mistakes during her rescue.

“Five hours, guys,” I said as I set the bedside clock’s alarm. “We sleep until ten. That’ll give us plenty of time to work on explosives and nail down the game plan.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Evan mumbled sleepily as he crawled on the nearest bed and closed his bloodshot eyes. It always struck me how baby-like his features still were when he was sleeping.

“Get some sleep, yourself, Meg,” Alik whispered to his sister as he flopped down next to Evan and closed his tired eyes.

“Sleep well, boys. Tonight we get mom back,” I said encouragingly.

I leaned over to Maze and rubbed him behind his ears. He was snoring, peacefully. I lay next to him, buried my face in his fur and fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter 44 Game Plan

It felt like we just laid down ten minutes before when the alarm started screeching at us to wake up. After a quick breakfast and fast showers, we were ready to get to work.

We positioned the small desk right next to the long dresser then unplugged the television and moved it to the useless closet. We were going to need all the work space we could get.

We didn’t even stop to think about what came next. This part was automatic. Mom taught us everything we needed to know to prepare the materials.

Evan began unpacking the items and organizing them on the make-shift worktable. Alik sat on the edge of the bed and bent down over a notebook. His face was creased in concentration as he began sketching The Institute’s layout. I knew his memory was good, but I had no idea he would be able to access perfect details from something he last saw when he was two!

His hand flew across the page. Every stroke added even more definition to an already elaborate map. After a few more minutes, he was done.

“Evan, come over here. We need to plan this. I’ve drawn everything I can remember about The Institute’s layout,” Alik said.

“This is awesome! Ev, you have to see this. Alik, you truly have a gift. You recreated a picture you saw twelve years ago when you were only two years old. Amazing.” I was so thankful for my brother. With this map we’ll be able to plan our entrance and where to plant the explosives and detonators so they will do the damage we want them to do. And when it comes to our rescue and exit, well, at least we’ll know the options.

Alik, Evan and I spent the rest of the day preparing ourselves, sharing tactical ideas and organizing our equipment. We walked through the plan from start to finish one last time. It was four o’clock, time to go.

The boys loaded the truck while I stayed back to talk with Maze. Yes, talk with him. “Listen, we have to go get mom now. You can’t come with me. There’s no place for my Maze in the plan we set up. You could get hurt, and I can’t have that. You have to stay here, but I’ll come back for you, okay?”

I nuzzled my face into my best friend’s neck and breathed deeply, drawing strength from his familiar scent. He held very still for me and let me hug him, seeming to know that’s the best way he could help me right then. I pulled back and looked into his warm yellow eyes. He whined and licked my face with his soft wet tongue. I stood slowly and gave him one last scratch between the ears. Eight steps brought me to the motel room door.

I turned around once more to be sure Maze had stayed like I told him to. He always obeyed me, and I had no reason to think he would do anything but comply now.

There sat my Maze in the glow of the bathroom light watching me with only love in his eyes. He scooted toward me and let out one last whine just as I closed the door behind me.

Chapter 45 Into the Monster’s Lair

We sat in silence during the ten-minute drive to The Institute. Each of us was going over our part of the plan repeatedly in our minds. We were depending on each other with such certainty; our plan would only work if each of us did exactly what we were supposed to do.

Evan pulled the truck up to a curb one block away from The Institute. For just a moment, my brothers and I shared one last silent exchange. We would not see each other again until it was all over.

Turning quickly, I began sprinting back toward the white buildings. The air was crisp as it struck my face and in response my eyes began to tear. I barely noticed the cold, or the way the sidewalk felt under my feet, or how I must have looked to passersby. Nothing mattered except the plan, and the first step was about to happen.

I rounded a corner, waited for a car to drive past, then closed the distance between me and the front gate. Another hundred yards and I was standing right in front of the main doors.

They slid open to reveal a large lobby. Sculptures of geometric designs hung from the ceiling from steel wires. Large plush area rugs were positioned on either side of the room. White leather sofas, chairs and sectionals were arranged on each rug. Soft music was playing, echoing off all the otherwise hard surfaces surrounding me. Directly in front of me was a solid black granite desk where a beautiful redheaded receptionist sat. She didn’t even look up until I was right in front of her, and when she did look up, she seemed both surprised and annoyed. It occurred to me that people didn’t ordinarily just walk in here off the streets.

“May I help you?” Red asked with undisguised irritation.

“I’m here to see Dr. Williams,” I said in a voice that sounded small and insignificant.

“Have you an appointment?” she asked as she opened a leather bound calendar. I could feel her wishing I would just go away.

“No, but I am sure he’ll want to see me.” I was attempting a more confident voice.

Red looked up at me with bored green eyes. She sighed deeply, raised her brow and asked, “Name?”

“I’m Meg Winter. The doctor knows my mother, Dr. Margo Winter,” I said these words watching carefully for a change in her demeanor. She was blank.

“One moment, please,” she said automatically and pushed a button on the console in front of her. “Dr. Williams, I apologize for the interruption, but there is someone here to see you without an appointment. Her name is Meg Winter.”

Red’s face turned…well, redder as she listened to the CEO’s response. She stood abruptly and stared at me with a new level of respect. She continued to blush as she said, “Yes, sir. I understand. Right away.”

Even as she was disconnecting the call she was removing her head set and hurrying around the desk. She smiled sweetly and stammered, “I— I’m so sorry. I had no idea who you were. Dr. Williams insists I escort you directly up to his office. That is…um…after a quick security check.”

Even as she was finishing her sentence three armed guards approached us. One was female.

“Miss, do you have any weapons?” One of the male guards asked, one hand on his waist belt that housed his gun.

“No, of course not.”

“I’m required to check your person for weaponry.” The female guard began patting me down while the redhead looked on with wide eyes. The male guards never let go of their gun belts. I stood quietly and tolerated the pat-down.

“She’s clean.” The guard announced and stepped away from me.

“Um…yes, well,” Red stammered. “Right this way, Miss Winter.”

We walked to the elevators and stepped inside. I remained quiet, though Red felt compelled to chatter about the weather nervously. When the doors slid open again, we were standing right across from two huge mahogany doors. Red walked directly to the doors and gave three quick knocks before opening the doors wide.

“Come right in, Meg,” called a raspy voice. Red gave me a look of awe as I walked into Dr. Williams’ office with a false confidence.

“Meg, welcome my dear! How wonderful of you to visit me!” His voice was sickeningly sweet. A quick glance around the room and I was sure the same decorator that handled the reception area had worked his geometric magic in this room too. The only difference I saw was a huge window overlooking the front of the compound.

“Dr. Williams,” I began without hesitation. “I’ve come for my mother.” I stared into his dull eyes. Though my body looked calm and confident, inside I was terrified. Here stood the man who had given the order to torture me and my brothers. This is the man who sent thugs to hunt us. This man is the reason my mother was feeling anguish this very minute.

“My dear girl, it’s clear Margo didn’t teach you proper manners. What a pity. Well, let’s begin again, shall we? Please, have a seat. Let’s chat for a while. Catch up. It’s been too many years, and I am so very pleased you’ve come back to me.” He motioned toward a black leather sofa and positioned himself across from me on a matching chair. Not sure what to do, I obliged.

“Where are your brothers? I assumed they would be with you.” As he spoke, I tried to push my nearly palpable fears aside so I could focus on his emotions. I needed to read him so I would know how to proceed with this conversation. But the harder I tried to concentrate on him, the more upset I felt and the less I could sense anything besides the most obvious: This was an egotistical man who was truly happy to see me. I wanted to vomit.

“My brothers are at the police station right now. We have made arrangements. I am to be allowed to walk out of this building with our mother. A taxi will be waiting for us at the front of this main building. It will take us directly to the police station to meet my brothers. We will then disappear and you will never have any contact with any of us again.” My voice sounded to me as if it were coming from somewhere far away. It wasn’t the voice of a fifteen-year-old girl who grew up on a ranch. My voice sounded like my mother’s. Confidence reverberated from every phrase.

“What an interesting way to start a conversation, my dear,” he said condescendingly. “Why on earth would I want to see you or your mother go? You’ve only just got here. And I have so many wonderful plans for us!” Williams smiled as if all that talk about police was some of the cutest stuff he’d ever heard.

I chose to ignore his patronizing tone and continued, “If my mother and I have not arrived safely before the deadline, the local, state and federal authorities will be given highly incriminating evidence pertaining to the unethical and illegal operations you have conducted at The Institute.

“Inside an hour, they’ll be pounding on that lovely set of mahogany doors over there with warrants to search the entire campus. Oh, and they’ll have another warrant specifically for your arrest. You’ll be charged on multiple counts including the kidnapping of Dr. Margo Winter.”

I finished my speech and felt a wave of fury flash through the madman in front of me. His face turned an angry red and for the first time, I noticed a flesh colored bandage wrapped around his neck that had been somewhat concealed by the high collared shirt he wore under his suit. Inside I cringed because I knew who would have inflicted that injury. And if he was injured and not killed, then mom’s attempt failed. This must be the reason for the tremendous pain I felt emanating from her. She had been punished.

“You impudent little girl! How dare you come into my world and threaten me! Ungrateful brat! You differ from regular children; don’t you realize it was I who gave you those gifts?

“I was always there for you and your brothers. It was my gifted mind that created the original formula. My efforts brought you and the boys to live in luxury while we cared for and nurtured your new talents. Your biological parents never wanted you! I saved you from being aborted, and this is the thanks I get?”

I could feel his anger wean just enough for him to fake a syrupy sweet tone again. “Contact your brothers and invite them to come here with you. I already have my chefs preparing a delicious banquet of food in your honor. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. I’ll take care of you, my Meg. You and your brothers will live in peace here where we can celebrate your unique gifts and provide a proper education.” His voice was completely calm again. It amazed me that he was so delusional, but I let him keep talking. The more time he wasted the better.

“You know, Meg, You three are not alone.” He said this with a conspirator’s air. At first, I thought he meant that he wanted to be with us. More of that same goo he spewed a couple of minutes before. But then, I felt something different. He was beaming with a sick kind of pride.

“What do you mean?” I broke my cool silence to ask.

“Well, there were others before you and still more after.” With a dismissive wave of his hand he added, “Not all the subjects survived, but a lot of them did, like you and your brothers. You see, Meg. You have family here, with me. Just as much love and loyalty as you feel for…oh, what are the boys’ names?” he asked as if their names weren’t terribly important to him.

“My brothers are Alik and Evan,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Yes, yes, of course. You have lots of family right here with me. Dozens and dozens of them who would love to see their long-lost sister.”

“You mean we weren’t the only ones to survive?” For some reason, I had assumed we were the only living subjects.

“The only ones!” The doctor sat up straight in his chair, grinned and leaned closer to me. “My dear, you have a very large family of siblings just like you!”

“Like me? You mean ‘Metahumans.’ You made more metahumans out of babies?” I couldn’t help it. My plan to deliver my calm speech and then remain cool until it was time just flew out the window.

“Well, not exactly like you and not just babies. You and the boys were the only surviving subjects from the original formula. When Margo stole you away from me, she also destroyed all data documenting the treatments you three had been given. She wiped out everything,” he said shaking his head sadly.

“We spent months trying to recreate the formula, and eventually we did, but it was never exactly the same. There was an element to yours that was still evading my scientists. But here you are now, back where you belong. And now my scientists can pick up where they left off all those years ago.”

I was feeling dizzy, nauseous and furious. “Why! Why did you create us?”

“Oh, my dear. Don’t you understand? I created my metahumans to help mankind. You and the others like you are the ultimate race. You’re stronger, more resistant to illness, far more intelligent and quick to heal. Why, I’ve created a race of superhumans far better than God’s original. He made people fragile, breakable, weak and needy. He wanted to keep all the glory and power for himself. Through science, I’ve created a superior race of people whose bodies and minds are beyond…above…meta! God either couldn’t or wouldn’t give us that gift. You see, Meg, you’re no longer a ‘child of God.’ You’re a child of mine!” His voice resonated triumphantly around the marble room.

I must have looked completely stricken because the doctor turned to me, frowned ever so slightly and said, “Oh my dear, I’ve upset you. Here, let me get you a glass of water.” He snapped his fingers and in marched a beautiful woman, this one blond.

“Yes, sir?” she asked

“Mary, please bring our Meg a glass of cool water. She seems a bit flush.”

“Right away, sir.”

“Meg, would you like to lie back on the sofa?”

My world was turning upside down. What was I hearing? There were others like us? This doctor created us because he loves us? He gave us gifts we were to be using for the betterment of mankind? I have a family here?

Blondie returned with a tray carrying a tall crystal glass of water. It looked delicious, so without thinking, I accepted it and took four big gulps. Only then did it occur to me it may have been drugged.

“Yes, I think I will lie back,” I said truly worried I was about to tilt off the edge of sanity.

And just as I felt the cool leather envelop me, I thought of something very scary. Not once had Dr. Williams seemed the least bit concerned about authorities.

Chapter 46 House Keeping

Having been raised on a secluded ranch in Texas, the children never had reason to learn the proper etiquettes involved with motel stays. Not that they were terribly worried about etiquette these days, no they had bigger things to deal with. But the one little detail they forgot to do before they left the motel was about to cause a pretty chaotic moment for a sweet, unassuming lady named Barb.

Four sharp knocks at the door to the room in which Maze was waiting for Meg caused his ears to perk up. Four more sharp knocks made Maze run to the door. So by the time Barb, the cleaning lady had called, “Housekeeping!” she was already opening the door with her master key.

Maze crouched, as if stalking a prairie dog back on the ranch. Carrying an arm full of towels, and humming the theme to her favorite soap opera, Barb shuffled two steps into the room. That’s when Maze sprang at her, more to get her to move out of the doorway than anything else.

In a flash he had her flat on her back, white towels still floating to the ground. This all happened so quickly that Barb didn’t even have a chance to scream before Maze climbed on top of her rather ample body, leaned down toward her face with his mouth open, teeth bared and gave her a big ol’ sloppy ‘thanks for opening the door’ lick across her face.

Maze was half way across the parking lot by the time Barb found her voice and started screaming. He really wasn’t concerned about that, though. He was thrilled to be free! His nose quickly picked up the scent he was looking for and ran at full speed to find his Meg.

What was that little piece of forgotten motel etiquette?

The kids forgot to put the “no housekeeping” card on the door before they left.

Chapter 47 The Plans

Evan checked his watch and glanced at his map once more. He was wearing tan coveralls, the kind he saw the maintenance crew wearing yesterday. He walked confidently around the perimeter of the complex with a large pair of sheers and a canvas sling pack. At each predetermined spot Evan casually leaned into a bush, took out one of the explosives, adjusted the remote access detonator and placed it gently against the building.

Dressed as a laborer, no one even took a second glance at him as he continued his work. After planting the sixth and final explosive, Evan sauntered over to the smaller building at the southeast corner of the compound.

Alik was just hanging up the cell phone when Evan walked up to him. They had picked up the phone that very morning from a mobile phone dealer conveniently located across the street from their motel room.

“Everything’s happening as planned,” Alik whispered, while looking through his binoculars at the tall white building.

“Yep, so far, so good,” Evan whispered back. He was examining the remote detonator. Once he was satisfied with the way it looked to be functioning, he put it carefully down beside him in the grass and picked up his binoculars.

“What time do you have?” Alik asked.

“Seven minutes. She has seven minutes left.” Evan was sounding a lot more confident than Alik felt. Alik was starting to worry. They hadn’t seen any sign of their sister since she first walked into the building nearly forty-five minutes before. What if they lost both their mom and sister? How would he be able to take care of Evan and himself? How could he live with all the detailed memories of how awesome life used to be before a real-life monster killed half his family?

There was nothing he or Evan could do, but wait these last few minutes. That was the plan. But the dark scenarios continued to burn through his mind. This whole plan they’d devised was feeling less and less airtight. Too many variables were beyond their control. Things could go very badly. Very.

Chapter 48 All That Glitters…

“Would you excuse me for a moment, dear? I must get a message to an old friend. They’ll be anxious to hear of your arrival. I’ll only be a moment. Please relax.” Dr. Williams shuffled out of this main part of his office to what looked like an adjoining private suite and closed the door gently behind him.

I was grateful for the time to think. I needed to clear my head. I needed to check the time. Seven minutes. I only had seven minutes left before part two of the plan went into effect.

What was I going to do? Was Williams a bad guy like I believed for the last week, or was he just misunderstood? Was it really my mom who had chosen badly for us when she took us away from all this science and privilege? We could be so much more useful to our society.

Metahumans like us were far superior, far more capable of accomplishing great things. Imagine if a brain like Evan’s worked on that cure for autism mom was always searching for? Or if we had a president like my brother Alik who could memorize and juggle all historical facts and apply that knowledge to future decisions for the betterment of our country? Or what if I worked as a diplomat? I could use my extrasensory emotions to say and do the right things so we could avoid wars. I could help keep peace between nations.

Those are great things—great uses of the gifts Dr. Williams gave us. Living in seclusion like mom would have us do is a waste! Maybe she is holding us back.

And then, out of the edge of my awareness came a cry of such absolute pain, it made me sit bolt upright. Mom! What was happening with mom? I opened myself up by concentrating on her.

Chapter 49 Visiting Hour

“Your daughter has come to see me, Margo. I thought you would like to know.” Dr. Williams had used his private elevator to leave his seventh story suite and made his way to the southeast corner to pay one last visit to his old friend.

Margo was in a fog of pain so thick she was sure she was hallucinating when she saw that demon of a man walk into her cell. His voice brought her back to consciousness, and his words cut like razors.

“Meg? Meg is here?” Her voice was raspy and she had a lot of difficulty moving her mouth because of the broken jaw she’d suffered.

“Oh yes, she’s here. She’s right upstairs lying down in my office. She’s had such a rough time, Margo. But she understands now that I was the good guy. I gave her gifts and nurtured those gifts. She’s come home to live with me now. I just didn’t want you to worry anymore about her. She’s safe.” He said all this with a triumphant excitement in his voice.

“No, no, NNnnooo!” Margo was screaming now. The anguish she felt for her daughter was a deep pool of black water that slipped up around her nose and mouth choking off any chance of breath.

“You can’t have her! You can’t have my baby!” she continued to scream and drowned in the horrific realization that the demon had his claws in her little girl.

She lay sobbing on the dirty floor feeling no hope, no peace—only darkness.

Dr. Williams smiled gleefully, nearly giggling with joy and closed her door behind him. As he walked away from the broken woman, he was thinking about all the wondrous times that lay ahead for him and his newly returned children.

Oh, but he had to talk Alik and Evan into joining their sister. Just a matter of time, really, and then we’ll be one big, happy, powerful family!

Chapter 50 Awake

Meg heard everything through her mother’s broken heart. That devil of a man went to gloat to my dying mother that he had won my allegiance!

Monster!

No word fit Dr. Williams more perfectly. He is a monster, and he has just awakened a fury in me the likes even I had never felt.

He was on his way back up to his suite. I had just enough time left to do what I knew needed to be done. He was a feeble old man. It would only take a few strategic blows and his evil would not hurt anyone anymore.

Even as I paced the room feeling the adrenaline burn through my veins, I was thinking how stupid I had been to allow him to plant those vile thoughts into my head.

He wasn’t trying to help mankind by creating Metahumans. He was stealing babies, caging them up, and torturing them with experimental concoctions just to see what it would do. He didn’t care if the children lived or died. He just wanted to create a perfect race. He didn’t love me or my brothers. He was just as happy to see us die in one of those cells! He called me his “child” and at that memory I had to double over and breathe slowly and deeply so as not to vomit from sheer disgust.

I heard noises from the next room and readied myself. This man’s actions demanded judgment. He needed to pay for what he’s done to me and my family. Glancing at my watch, I had only two minutes to do it before the boys began their part of the plan.

His door opened and in walked a young man who looked to be about twenty-years-old dressed in military fatigues. His eyes were crystal blue and his hair was chopped short. Right behind him was Dr. Williams.

“Oh, good. I see you’re feeling better now. How wonderful. Meg, I’d like to introduce you to Gavil. Gavil is a metahuman like you.” Williams waved his hand with a flourish at the athletic specimen like he was showing a contestant what she just won on a game show.

Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen. Let’s look at what Meg has won. Well, she’s won the opportunity to get her butt kicked by a militant looking guy—and not just any guy—no sir, only the best for you, Meg. This guy is a finely tuned metahuman. Top of the line—fresh out of boot camp—testosterone charged—metahuman.

I forced myself to stop the ridiculous mental chitchat. I do that when I’m under a lot of stress, like now. ‘Course I couldn’t think of a time when I’d felt more stress … shut up Meg. Focus.

Williams was saying, “Gavil this is Meg. She was the first human subject to survive the treatments. Meg is our first Metahuman.”

Neither of us said anything for a few moments as we stared at each other from across the room.

Everything was feeling so surreal anyway, I found my mouth saying something pretty crazy, “So, Gavil. I know this guy, Williams, made us and all, but he’s pure evil. You’re gonna have to trust me on that one. I was about to give him a good butt kicking. You good with that, or are we going to have to fight first?”

You should have seen the look on old man Williams’ face. Apparently, he’d never seen someone do a 180 like me. Welcome to my emotional roller coaster, buddy.

“What on earth are you talking about, child? Just moments ago, we were planning your welcome home banquet!”

“Now it’s time for your go-away party,” I said as I took three huge strides toward him. Gavil stepped between us.

“It’s your funeral,” I said with a shrug and assumed fighting position.

And that’s when the buildings around us began to explode.

Chapter 51 Boom

“It’s time.” Evan said matter-of-factly. “Ready?” he asked Alik who was sitting in the truck with it already running.

“Let’s do it.” Alik’s eyes never left his target. He was aiming right for the emergency exit of the building in which his mother was being held.

“On the count of three: 1 – 2 – 3 – NOW!” Evan yelled while pushing the silver button on his custom-made detonator. The six bombs around the complex began exploding.

Alik floored the truck and probably got to at least 40mph before he rammed the emergency exit’s glass door.

Explosions rocked the earth beneath his feet as Evan ran after the truck to help his brother.

They knew crashing the truck into the building would be dangerous for the driver, so they rigged the seatbelt to be even safer by adding a padded body harness. They both prayed it kept Alik safe enough to continue the rest of their plan.

The entire truck stopped inside the building. Just the back bumper stuck out of the cavernous hole it had made. Evan tried to find a way around the truck so he could get in and help Alik get out, but the body of the vehicle blocked the entire opening. Without missing a beat, Evan climbed into the truck through its broken back window.

“Alik, are you okay? Alik? Talk to me!” Evan was scrambling past the rows of seats to climb to the front. His brother hadn’t answered. “Alik!” Evan saw right away what had happened. His harness had held his brother perfectly so he wouldn’t hit the steering wheel or the front windshield upon impact. But what he couldn’t have predicted was that a steel pipe from the wall of the building would burst through the driver’s side window. Alik had a pretty good gash on his left temple. He was slumped over as far as the harness would allow.

First thing Evan did was check for a pulse. There was one. His brother was breathing. He could tell because his chest was rising and falling. “Alik!” Evan began undoing his harness while trying to rouse him. “Alik! Come on, Al, we gotta get out of here. Mom’s waiting. We gotta go!” With that, Evan unbuckled the last of the straps and caught Alik before he fell out of his seat.

For a moment, he sat there holding his unconscious brother, whispering pleas for him to wake up. Evan felt like a very small child, lost without his big brother. And just when he was about to burst into tears he had never shed before, Alik moaned.

“Alik! Alik a pipe hit you on the head when the truck crashed through the door. You were bleeding considerably through the three-inch gash, but I’ve already got that to stop with localized pressure. How do you feel? Can you walk?” Evan’s relief was obvious.

“I feel like I got hit in the head with a pipe, but I’m okay. Come on, we gotta get moving.”

Carefully, they crawled out of the wrecked truck, and for the first time, looked at their surroundings. There was no one to be seen. Exactly as they’d hoped.

All the explosives were strategically placed so the few people still in the building at this time of day would rush away from the blasts and out exit doors on the opposite side of the compound from where the boys entered with the truck.

“Now we gotta find mom,” Alik said as if ticking off a to-do list.

The building, though smaller than the main office, was still three stories tall. They were depending on Meg to meet them there so they could use her senses to help with the search. The explosions were her signal to run.

“Where’s Meg?” Evan asked the obvious question.

“I don’t know. Maybe she ran into some trouble with Williams.”

“What should we do?” Evan asked.

“I’ll start searching for mom, you go and find Meg. Get back here quick, okay?”

“Okay,” Evan turned to run down the hall but stopped and called back, “Tell mom I love her if you find her before I get back.”

“Will do, Ev. Get moving!”

And with that, Evan bolted down the corridor back to the main office building to search for his sister.

Chapter 52 Meg Versus Gavil

“What in the world is going on?” Williams ran to the window just in time to see several of his beautiful white buildings burst with clouds of smoke and dust.

While Gavil was distracted, I took the opportunity to deliver a solid round house kick to the side of his head. He spun and flew across the room. Seething anger shot from his eyes as he crouched recovering.

It registered for a moment how little that affected him. An ordinary person would have been knocked-out cold, easily.

I dismissed Gavil from my mind for just one moment and focused on Williams. He was still ranting about what was happening outside and hadn’t even noticed the battle had already begun right here.

Just as I was reaching out to spin the doctor around so I could look him in the eye when I broke his nose, something hit me.

I flew across the room and crashed into a chair before landing hard on the floor. What in the heck was that? I thought to myself rolling over and trying to recover. It felt like a metal baseball bat hitting my ribs.

Gavil was watching me with amusement. He held nothing close to a bat in his hand. What hit me was his fist. Oh, crud. This guy was super strong.

I stood, grimacing, and tried to shake off the pain. I had to look for a weakness. He got in the ready position again and held perfectly still watching every move I made. I was as strong as three men myself, but this guy was as strong as Alik, and that’s saying something.

Just then he rushed and grabbed me by the throat. His hands were like steel. Stepping around his leg I shifted my weight and knocked him off balance. He landed on the floor dragging me with him. He blocked my throat strike and threw me with brute force. I regained my footing, wincing with pain.

Without missing a beat, he took a running start at me and was setting up for some hand-to-hand, so I braced myself. For every punch, I blocked, again and again, faster and faster. He stood in the ready and attacked with strike after strike. I refused to back down, but even blocking his blows hurt tremendously.

I finally had to change the pace. Ducking, I swiped my leg under him in an effort to trip him. He jumped over my attempt, landed smoothly and kicked me square in the jaw with his powerful leg.

I flew (for the second time in five minutes) and hit the doctor’s granite desk.

Looking around for something to use as a weapon, my eyes caught the glimmer of a gold letter opener on top of Williams’ desk. Gavil was circling me, positioning himself for the next strike. With a well-trained flick of my wrist I threw the knife-like object directly at his chest, hoping it would find its mark.

In a blink of an eye, Gavil reached up, caught the knife in mid-flight, and in the same motion threw it right back at me. I jumped, but not fast enough to get out of the way. The weapon, thrown by this ultimate Metahuman, dug deep through my blue jeans and into the meat of my left thigh. Oh, dear God, what was happening?

I could hear sirens in the distance and knew the city fire department and police were coming, but that wasn’t going to be soon enough for me or my mom.

Williams scurried out of the room toward the elevators and yelled behind him, “Kill her. She is of no use to me now.”

Darn it, I thought. There goes evil, out the door and here I am bleeding around a six-inch gold knife stuck in my leg. If I weren’t such an optimist, I’d feel pretty screwed right about now.

I allowed myself to let out a hurt whimper. I wanted the boy to come closer to me. I wanted him to think I had given up and was resigned to dying at his hands, just as the doctor ordered. If he got close enough, I would yank the knife out of me and stab him with it.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Gavil growled as he approached me. “You may have been the first Meta, but I am the best. My generation is far more advanced than you. I’m stronger, faster and better trained. Dr. Williams has developed an entire army of us. We are the superior race. You were just a guinea pig that escaped your cage. You’re a mutant rodent that begs to be put out of your pathetic misery.”

Rage etched across his face and spittle hung from his thin lips. He was leaning inches from my face. Allowing myself to try to sense him, I felt nothing but his raw hatred of me. He saw me as an embarrassment. How dare the doctor call me the same word he called him. I was no Meta, I was a biological mistake.

Suddenly, Gavil took hold of the knife’s shaft as it still jutted out from my leg, and twisted it, hard. I couldn’t hold it in. I screamed till my voice echoed off every corner of the room. He twisted the knife again and again ripping my wound wider and deeper.

White hot searing agony exploded from that muscle and burst throughout my body.

Gavil was grinning wickedly through his drool-filled mouth. My blood was covering his hand as he played with my pain. This wasn’t supposed to happen, I thought as shock started to set in. He was still whispering disgusting filth into my face when I felt the weight of his body suddenly gone, and a loud thump a few feet away. I was lying in a pool of my blood and more was pumping from the gaping wound, but I had just enough strength to open my eyes and see my Maze tearing that beast apart.

Chapter 53 Marco? Polo?

The blow to his head hurt much worse than he let on to Evan. But he wasn’t allowing himself to think about that. Right now he had to find mom.

He pulled up, in his mind’s eye, the blueprint of this building and zeroed in on the part where he and his siblings had been held all those years ago. He had to get to the third floor. The stairs were to his right, but he wasn’t sure he could maintain his balance for those, he was still too dizzy.

Wonder if this is what it feels like to have a concussion, Alik thought to himself. His head was pounding painfully with every beat of his heart.

He decided instead to use the elevator. Not exactly the safest thing to use in light of explosions and such, but in this case, he was sure this building wasn’t going to sustain any more damage. That wasn’t part of the plan, so the elevators should be fine.

Halfway down the hall stood the metal doors with the recognizable UP button. He pushed it and immediately one set of doors opened.

Stepping inside the vacant space, and feeling a horrible sense of déjà vu, he pushed the button labeled three and waited. As the machine climbed, Alik prayed.

A thought occurred to him. What if Williams moved his mother since their surveillance yesterday? He may have decided he didn’t want to take a chance leaving her on this campus knowing we were coming to get her.

Alik’s stomach churned painfully at the thought of not being able to find his mom, especially knowing she was hurt. All he wanted to do was have his family back. He was thinking how much had changed in the past few days as the elevator chimed and the doors opened.

The third floor had one long corridor stretching the length of the building. Across that main hallway were three other hallways. In his mind’s eye, he pulled up the level-three floor plan. There were about twenty-seven rooms in which mom could be held on this floor alone. Ugh. This could take awhile.

Alik ran down the main hallway to the farthest east corridor. Systematically, he began opening doors and running through rooms calling out “MOM!” over and over. Every room he came to looked abandoned, as if someone had moved all the equipment, files and the researchers themselves elsewhere.

Alik was working his way from east to west running down every empty hallway, opening every door and calling for his mother till his voice started to give out.

He was feeling desperation mount after each room came up just as empty as the last. By now, Alik had searched more than half the floor when he heard a muffled crashing sound coming from the far west side of the floor. He ran as fast as his still unsteady legs could carry him to try to find the source of the noise. He tried to quiet his breathing so he could listen … listen for his mother … listen through the sirens and megaphones from outside.

“Mom! Mom, it’s me, Alik! If you can hear me, make a noise! I’m trying to find you, Mom. MOM!”

One small scrapping sound is all he heard from the farthest room, and that one small sound was all he needed. He sprinted down the hall and flung the door open.

There, lying in the dark next to a toppled metal stool was his mother. She opened her eyes and blinked slowly at the light shining in from behind her son.

“Alik,” she whispered.

“Oh, Mom.” He was at her side now, trying not to burst into tears at the sight of her. She was so badly beaten that if he hadn’t known with all his heart that this was his mother, he wouldn’t have recognized her. “Mom, we have to get you out of here. I’ve called an ambulance; they’re waiting for us out front. Come on, mom … MOM!” Alik was trying not to panic as he saw his mother’s eyes roll back into her head. He watched her for a moment to be sure she was breathing. She was, but barely.

Oh dear God, please let her keep breathing. Please help me have the strength to carry her outside. Please be with us!

Alik prayed for help as he looked around the room for something with which to wrap her. She was going into shock and needed to keep her heat to maintain organ function. On the other side of the relatively empty room there was an old towel. He ran to it, shook it free of dust and returned with it to his mom. With gentle hands, he wrapped the cloth around her and lifted her small frame off the cold hard floor.

Usually lifting her wouldn’t be difficult at all. He was naturally the strongest of all three of the children. But the head injury he’d suffered when he drove the truck into the building was making him feel incredibly dizzy, nauseous and weak.

“Come on, Mom. We’re getting out of here,” Alik said, knowing his mom couldn’t hear him. He held her as gently as he could, carried her out of the room and tried to remain steady as he walked back down the west corridor to the main hallway. He kept talking to his mother as he carried her. “Evan and Meg are here too, mom. Boy, are they going to be happy to see you! We’ve been so worried about you.” Alik had been keeping his eyes on the walkway in front of them, trying to make it to the elevator. But he stole a glance down at the precious cargo in his arms as they were rounding the last corner.

Her eyes were open and she was staring up at him. “Mom? Mom, can you hear me?”

With a very small whisper his mother said, “I don’t have very much time, my sweet Ali. I’m so thankful I got to see you once more.” She winced hard and her body spasmed uncontrollably.

“Mom, we’re almost at the elevators. I’ll have you with medical help in just a few more minutes. You hang in there! You stay with me! Do you hear me? Mom!”

Her body had stopped convulsing. And now she was scary still. Alik ran with her the rest of the way to the elevator and pushed the down button. The doors opened immediately and he carried his mother inside, hitting the ground floor button with his elbow. He waited for the doors to close. “Come on, come on!” Alik begged.

Everything was moving in slow motion. The ride down to the first floor took an eternity. Alik steadied his breathing to try to calm himself and regain his focus.

He was afraid to look at the saint in his arms. So torn up with pain was Alik, that he feared he’d break down before he got her to the ambulance.

Finally, the doors opened and Alik quickly stepped into the main corridor. He knew the fastest way out would to be to go west. There should be a set of doors that opened to the main courtyard. The closer he got to the glass doors, the better he could see the lights of emergency vehicles shiny against the dark night. Just a few more steps and his mom would be safe.

BOOM!

Alik was nearly knocked off his already unsteady feet by a huge explosion that came from one of the buildings closest to them. Instinctively, Alik covered his mother’s body with his own, shielding her from flying debris.

This was not part of the plan, Alik thought with fury.

Chapter 54 The Seventh Floor

Evan was just stepping off the elevator onto the seventh floor of the main building when a series of earsplitting explosions rocked the floor beneath him. He intuitively covered his head with his hands.

What in the heck was that? Evan felt panic rising in his throat as he recounted the explosions he had personally detonated no less than fifteen minutes ago. Where did these come from? What was happening!

Unless…

There must have been combustible materials in one or more of the buildings. The heat from his homemade explosives could have created an environment in which flammables would ignite, causing a chain reaction.

Terror crawled up his spine as he saw smoke climbing the elevator shaft behind him. The dark cloud of noxious fumes poured into the hallway.

This building was on fire.

He had to find Meg, and fast.

According to Alik, this entire floor was Dr. Williams’ personal executive office. Logic would dictate that Meg was on this floor.

He had to find her, now.

Chapter 55 I Love You, Now Go Away!

I passed out from the pain and blood loss, but began to come-to when a huge, slobbery tongue kept smothering my face with licks.

“Maze, get off me. Ugh!” I managed a gentle wave of my hand to push the coyote’s muzzle away from my still dazed face.

And then I remembered where I was, and why my leg hurt like heck, and why I felt incredibly weak. And I remembered Maze bursting in the room and saving my life from that meta-monster. I turned to where I last saw Gavil and noted that he wasn’t moving. Thank goodness!

“Oh, Maze…you crazy, fool! You wonderful amazing coyote! Thank you for saving me. ‘Course it would have been nice if you had arrived a few minutes sooner, but …” and I laughed, despite my pain, at his facial expression.

His head tilted to one side, ears perked straight up and his floppy ol’ tongue lolled out. “You completely disobeyed me. I told you to stay in the motel room and out of harm’s way. You could have been badly hurt by that guy if you hadn’t surprised him the way you did.

“You ran miles and miles to find me, didn’t you? You clever boy! I don’t know if I should be scolding you or hugging you!” And with that, I wrapped my weak arms around my knight in furry armor. “You’re the best friend a girl could ever have, Maze. I love you.”

And then my whole world went BOOM!

What in the heck was THAT? More explosions!

We had to get out of the building, and quick. I felt the floor under me shake and the walls seemed to vibrate in their spots as if trying to uproot themselves and fly away.

“Come on Maze, we gotta get out of here.” I tried to stand and then caught myself on the edge of the table before collapsing from the shooting pain. Warm wetness trickled down my leg and I knew I was losing even more blood. Darn it! I couldn’t walk at all.

Maze started whining as if completely understanding the gravity of this moment. Here he had come all this way to save me for an extra five minutes before a building collapsed on both of us. Ugh!

I sat on the floor and tried to drag myself with my arms. That only got me a yard closer to the door. My body hurt so badly, I just wanted to curl up in a fetal position and wish it all away.

Maze watched me with his warm yellow eyes. “Go on, Maze! Get out of here. Go downstairs and get help.” I said to the coyote logically. Only he wasn’t listening to me anymore. He looked at me with an expression that read, are you kidding me? After you leave me back at the motel, and put yourself in danger. I escape and rescue you. Now you want me to leave you again? No way, kid. We’re doing this my way.

Then he sat his butt right next to me and let loose one heck of a howl.

I rolled my eyes out of frustration at my stubborn coyote. No more cute little whimpers coming from my furry friend. No, Maze howled loud enough for our goats back at the ranch to hear. It was deafening! And as if that weren’t annoying enough, he started barking between howls.

Oh, good grief. If I’m going to die, at least let me do it in peace, you silly, stubborn, noise-maker! I thought to myself, only half kidding.

But even through the ear piercing show of loyalty my Maze was putting on for me, I felt a voice calling from out in the hall.

Chapter 56 Evan, Meg and Maze

“Meg, are you there! Maze?” Evan called.

“Oh, thank God! Evan! We’re in here! Evan!”

Evan came running into the room and looked around for his sister. “Meg, where are you?”

“I’m down here, behind the desk. I can’t walk on my own, Evan. And we need to get out of the building, like five minutes ago!”

“Good grief, Meg! What did you do to your leg?” Evan asked staring at all the gore.

“I tripped and fell on a toothpick, what the heck do you think? I was fighting that guy over there,” I motioned over toward the meta-monster, “and he decided to go excavating in my thigh.” I was so relieved to see my brother that the pain was more manageable … at least, as long as I didn’t move.

Evan was ripping off a piece of cloth from the elegant black curtains and making a tourniquet for my leg. He positioned it right above the wound and tied a good and tight knot trying to reduce the blood loss. I kept talking as he worked, trying to be brave through his pinching and tugging.

“Just as that guy, who’s a super strong Meta by the way, was about to finish me off, Maze came out of nowhere and saved me.”

Maze whined at the sound of his name. Yeah, he knew I was singing his praises.

Glory-hungry fur ball, I thought affectionately.

“Oh, my goodness, Evan. I’ve been so happy to see you I haven’t asked the most important question: Where are Alik and Mom?”

“Alik is looking for her right now in that southeast building. When you didn’t show up on schedule, he sent me to come find you.”

“What happened to Williams?” Evan asked, still bandaging my leg as well as possible.

“He escaped while that guy beat the tar out of me.”

“At least you’re alive…”

“For now, we gotta get out of this building. What was up with the additional explosions, by the way?”

“I’ll tell you my theory later. Meg, I’m going to have to carry you. You can’t walk on this leg at all.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know.” I grimaced as he easily lifted me off the floor. It’s a good thing Evan is as strong as at least three adult men.

The room spun. I hope that was just me, because if the room were really spinning, we’d both be screwed. Maze whined to tell me he was right beside us.

“Keep talking Meg. I need you to stay awake for me. So keep talking.”

“Awake?” I yawned. “Now that you mention it, I am really sleepy.”

“Your body is close to going into shock from the loss of blood.” Evan said this sentence in the same tone one might use when reading off the weather forecast for the day: Today’s skies will be partly cloudy with a slight chance for rain in the afternoon.

I started giggling at him. Evan frowned at me, probably thinking I’d completely lost it. He was speaking, so I told myself to pay attention.

“…have to take the stairs. The elevators are not safe.”

The further we went, the more smoke there was. Apparently, whatever exploded had done so on the bottom floor. Too bad, because that’s exactly where we needed to go. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I closed my eyes with a blissful sigh. I was so tired. Just a little nap, that’s all I needed.

“Meg…come on Megglet. Stay with me.” Evan pleaded.

At hearing Evan call me “Megglet,” I forced my eyes open just a bit. That was mom’s pet name for me. I missed mom so much, and I must have been mumbling that because I heard Evan say, “I know Meg, I miss her too. Alik must have found her by now and has gotten her to safety. Just stay awake, okay. Mom will want to talk to us when we get outside. You have to stay awake to talk with Mom, Meg….MEG!” But it was too late. My body hung limp in my little brother’s strong arms. I had gone into shock and blacked out.

Chapter 57 Alik and Mom

Once the explosions stopped, Alik sat up and tried to see what was hit through the clouds of dust around him. He felt a cold breeze drift across his face. There, not twenty yards away, was a large gaping hole in the side of the building. He could see the lights of the emergency vehicles outside. He could feel the cold night air pouring in pushing the dust around and causing him to shiver. Though he didn’t know if he was shivering from cold, shock or joy. Maybe all three.

He looked down at his mother. She looked so pale, so peaceful, and that scared the heck out of him. He picked her up as gently as possible and started running toward the opening.

“HELP! HELP! MY MOM NEEDS A DOCTOR!” Alik yelled. From the ambulance, three paramedics ran toward them with a stretcher. Alik kept moving away from the buildings fearing another round of explosions. They helped Alik put his mother on the stretcher and even as one of them rolled her further away from the burning buildings, the other two were working on her.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Alik’s voice cracked with emotion.

He saw the two who were taking her vitals exchange a look before one of them spoke. “We’re going to do everything we can to save your Mom, son. She’s badly hurt but we’re not giving up, okay?”

Tears were spilling down Alik’s cheeks as he watched them load her into the ambulance and begin their stabilizing techniques. A warming blanket was put on her body and an IV was started.

Another paramedic came up to Alik trying to get him to lie down on a stretcher, too. He would have to be treated for a gaping head wound with possible concussion and smoke inhalation. Not a good mix.

Alik didn’t care what they did to him as long as he could stay next to his mom as they did it. If he could look over at her, reach out and touch her, they could do whatever they wanted to him. He just wanted to be with his mom.

He was put on a stretcher next to his mother. Just before he passed out from his raging headache, he saw them put a bag to her face and start to breathe for her.

Oh, please God, was his last conscious thought.

Chapter 58 Find a Way Out

Evan reached the bottom of the seven-story building and frantically looked around for an exit. The front entrance was completely blocked by huge debris from the explosions.

He remembered there were connecting corridors to each of the four smaller buildings, but it was dark and smoky and he was worried about tripping on something and dropping Meg.

“Maze, buddy, we need your help,” Evan pleaded. “Find a way out, Maze. I need you to find a way for me to get Meg out of here.” Evan looked into the coyote’s soft yellow eyes.

And with a quick bark, Maze bolted. Evan looked down at his sister in his arms. “I just sent Maze to find us a way out. I hope he understood me because without him, we’re in trouble.”

As he continued making his way through the darkness looking for a lighted “exit” sign, Evan wondered why there were no fire sprinklers going off. Why would you have all of this important research here and not have multiple fire extinguishing mechanisms? Something wasn’t right.

Not two minutes had passed before Evan’s thoughts were interrupted by Maze howling. He carefully followed the sound of Maze’s voice. He was so turned around after walking in the dark; he honestly didn’t know which direction he was heading. He had to completely trust Maze to lead them to safety.

Evan was mumbling to himself, “Maze if you found a way out for us, I’m getting you the biggest steak you’ve ever seen.” And just as he finished his sentence, Evan felt cold air blow in toward him. Maze barked happily at an opening in the wall. “You did it, Maze! You’re awesome!”

Evan was so thankful to see emergency vehicles that he nearly cried. Nearly.

Exiting the building with Maze at his heels, Evan started to yell, “HELP, Help! My sister’s hurt! Help!”

Two paramedics came running pushing a stretcher. Evan laid his sister down gently on it and watched as the professionals tended to her. He felt so much relief to have gotten his big sister to safety, but in his mind he was calculating how much blood she possibly lost.

Even as he was thinking it, one of the paramedics said, “She’s lost a lot of blood. We need to get her some O-Neg stat!”

Evan’s mind raced. If he and his siblings had been treated with a mind altering formula that hyper developed their bodies and intellect, then maybe they had different blood than regular people. Maybe regular blood would hurt Meg, not help her.

“She can have mine. She’s my sister and we have the same rare blood type. Take my blood and give it to her.” Evan said all this with a calmness in his voice that made the adults around him stop and stare.

“Get in the ambulance; we’re taking her to Saint Frances Medical Center. We can get your blood transfusion there,” the paramedic said and finished pushing my sister’s stretcher into the rig. Evan climbed in next, and just before the doors were slammed shut, Maze jumped into the ambulance. He stood protectively next to Meg’s unconscious body. The paramedics looked at each other with wide eyes.

“There’s a coyote in here,” one of the paramedics whispered.

“He’s with us,” Evan said patting the coyote’s soft fur. Maze let out a soft whimper and licked his hand.

Not willing to argue, the paramedics signaled the driver to move. Moments later they were speeding down the highway with lights and sirens blaring.

Chapter 59 Saint Frances

The emergency room was busy though all other ambulances had been diverted to surrounding hospitals while St. Frances took all the injured from The Institute’s explosions.

The first ambulance rig to arrive carried a female in her forties and a male who looked mid-teens. The paramedics only knew that they were mother and son but had no other identification or background information to share with the emergency staff.

The female had suffered an unbelievable amount of damage. The trauma looked to have happened well before the blasts tonight, so the doctors were already suspecting foul play. They got right to work on repairing her ruptured organs and setting her broken bones. Jane Doe, because that’s what they call female patients who arrive with no identification, was holding on to life, but barely.

The male, John Doe (male version of “Jane Doe”), was given a CT scan and treated for a concussion. He was also sedated, hydrated and given oxygen to help with the effects of smoke inhalation.

Ten minutes after the first rig arrived, a second pulled up to St. Frances’ emergency room doors. Out jumped what looked like to the residents, nurses, and staff to be a coyote. But after working in the ER for all these years, these professionals were pretty tough to surprise. They focused not on the nearly sixty-pound dog that jumped out of the ambulance, but on the young people inside.

A female named Meg Winter was badly bruised and had several broken ribs. But most urgently, she was suffering from a large knife wound in the left thigh and had lost a significant amount of blood.

Her brother, Evan Winter, insisted that they had the same rare blood type and that he be her direct donor should she need a transfusion. A quick test confirmed the boy’s claim, so they set Evan up immediately to draw his blood. As one nurse worked on Evan, two nurses and a doctor worked on Meg.

“Were you the one who put this tourniquet on?” the ER doctor asked Evan.

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, son. You probably saved your sister’s life by doing that. She would have lost too much blood otherwise. Well done.”

“Thank you, sir. I am well read on all first aid medical lifesaving techniques.”

The doctor glanced up at Evan who was watching him with keen, curious eyes. “Have you ever thought about becoming a doctor?”

“Yes, sir. Well, a scientist. Like my mother, Dr. Margo Winter.”

“Your mother’s name is Margo?” The doctor stopped briefly and looked up at Evan.

Holy cow, his mom! Alik! “My mom and brother were at The Institute too. Have they been brought in yet?” Evan tried to stay calm knowing the needle drawing his blood would work more efficiently if he held still.

“We’ll have someone check to see who else was brought in. Betty, do you mind looking into that for Mr. Winter?” The doctor said all this without looking up from Meg’s wound.

“Right away, doctor,” Nurse Betty responded to the obviously respected physician. She squeezed Evan’s shoulder encouragingly as she walked out the room.

“Margo is your mother? She used to work at The Institute, right?” The doctor sounded like he was fishing, and Evan was not about to take the bait.

“I’m feeling a little dizzy,” he said changing the subject.

Chapter 60 Flight 217 From Kansas

He had received a phone call from Alik Winter earlier this afternoon warning him of what was to happen that night and asking him if he would help.

Alik sounded scared but determined and nothing Dr. Andrews said would sway him from his plan to save his mom.

He and Cole grabbed the first flight out of Kansas to LAX. The children needed him, and he was going to be there for them.

The good doctor and his son had just climbed into a rental car when they heard the news flash on the local radio station.

“Just after 5pm this evening The Institute of Neurobiological Studies in Upland, California suffered a series of explosions causing extensive damage. Most employees had already left the buildings by the time the blasts hit, but there were a handful of victims who have been taken to St. Frances Medical Center for treatment. No word yet on the extent of those injuries. Dr. Kenneth Williams, noted scientist and Chief Executive Officer of The Institute, could not be reached for comment. We’ll keep you informed with more details as they’re brought to our attention. This is Kat Kirpatrick for 106.1FM.”

Dr. Andrews was already leaning over the car’s GPS typing in St. Frances and getting directions.

“Do you think they’re okay, dad?” Cole asked, truly worried about his friends.

“I don’t know son. I’ll make some phone calls as we drive. We’ll see what we can find out. The computer says drive time from here is fifty-four minutes. We’ll get there as fast as we can.”

Cole’s brows were furrowed. “Why did they have to do this, dad? Why did all this stuff have to happen to them? They’re just kids like me! Just three kids who wanted their mom back.” Cole was trying hard not to cry.

“You’re right. None of this was fair or right. Those children didn’t deserve to have their lives altered by Dr. Williams when they were babies and they sure as heck didn’t deserve to have their mom stolen away from them now. Their mom is their whole world, all they’ve ever known. They feel she’s the only person who ever loved them. If you think about it from their point of view, they had no choice. They had to go fight to get her back.” Dr. Andrew’s voice was calming to Cole.

He thought about the depth of devotion the Winter family felt for one another, and thought he understood. Being an only child of a single parent, his dad was his world.

Michelle, his stepmother, was cold and distant. She never even tried to be Cole’s friend. Sometimes Cole felt even further from his dad when she was around.

But yeah, if his dad was taken like the kids’ mom was taken; Cole thought he would do whatever it took to get him back, too.

“What are they going to do if their mom dies? Where will they go? Who will take care of them? What if that bad guy, Dr. Williams, keeps trying to hunt them? How are they ever going to feel safe?” Cole’s mind was spinning with questions.

“I don’t know, Cole. But I do know our friends need us now, so we’re going to help them. We’ll figure the rest out one problem at a time.” Dr. Andrews found himself speeding up a little. He was just as anxious as his son to get to the hospital.

“Let me call Greg Burns. He’d want to know what happened to the kids, too. He felt awful that he said what he did back at the restaurant in front of the kids. He’s been blaming himself for their disappearance ever since. And I wonder if he can get us any information besides what the news is telling the public.” With that, Dr. Andrews picked up his cell phone and made his call.

Chapter 61 Identification

Evan’s blood donation for his sister went fine. They were administering the transfusion now. He sat quietly in a chair beside her and watched. Just as he was starting to worry again about his mom and Alik, Betty the nurse, knocked lightly on the hospital room door and peeked in.

“Evan, there were three unidentified people brought in for treatment from The Institute. Would you like to go see if any of them are your family?” The nurse asked gently.

After swallowing his fear back hard, he responded, “Yes, I would.”

“I’ll go get a wheelchair and be right back,” she saw Evan’s questioning expression and responded with a shrug, “It’s hospital policy.”

She returned moments later with a wheelchair. Evan eyed it suspiciously, but obliged. He was worried about what he may find when he went to view the patients. He took one last quick glance at his sister lying still in her bed drawing strength just knowing she was still alive.

“Ready, Evan?” The nurse asked gently.

“Yes, I’m ready.” Evan responded and felt her push the chair forward. It was only a quick ride down the elevator and they were back in the emergency room area.

Evan was in a fog of fear when he heard Betty, his nurse ask someone if the John and Jane Does were still in the area. He was wheeled forward to a curtain that was drawn around a bed. It was obvious there was a person lying in the bed; he could hear all the machines that were connected to him beeping and humming.

“Okay, Evan,” the nurse said in a prepare-yourself voice. “This is the younger male. He suffered a lot of lacerations to the head and neck.”

When Evan heard that, he knew this wasn’t Alik. This was the guy who had hurt his sister and got mauled by Maze. A quick glance confirmed his suspicions.

“This isn’t my brother. I don’t know this guy’s name.” Evan said honestly. He was already craning his head around looking for the two other persons he was to be shown.

“Okay, let’s go find the Jane Doe. She’s across the hall.” The nurse continued pushing the wheelchair, but not fast enough for Evan’s liking. He jumped from the chair, rushed into the room and stopped dead in his tracks.

There was a body under all those tubes but he couldn’t tell whether it was female or male. He stepped closer to try to see the face and immediately regretted what he saw.

This poor person had been badly beaten. Badly. He looked for any indications that this could be his mother, but everywhere he looked was covered in gauze, tubes or swollen bruises. He couldn’t tell if this was his mother.

Evan stood over the mangled patient and began to sob. His tears weren’t gentle or quiet. He didn’t know if he should wish this to be his mother. His heart was breaking and there was no amount of logic or intellect that could rescue him from being human.

“Please sit down, Evan.” The nurse helped him back into the wheelchair. His sobs were so full of pain, the veteran nurse felt awful for this poor lost little boy. “Oh, sweetie,” she cooed wheeling him out of the room. “I was going to warn you how badly injured this patient was, but … well. Could you tell if she is your mother?” The nurse was passing tissues to the child now waiting for a response to her question.

Evan simply shook his head, no.

“Do you think you’d like to see the last John Doe, or do you need a break?” she asked thoughtfully.

Evan stuttered through his tears, “N-n-o br-reak. Let me see h-him.”

With a weary look, she rolled the child down two doors and on the right. Fortunately, the person lying on the bed was sleeping peacefully.

“Alik! Alik! That’s my brother, Alik! Oh, thank you, God. My brother!” Evan was crying fresh tears, but this time, of joy. He hugged his brother with unrestrained happiness. The nurse looked on with tears in her eyes. Thank God, he found some of his family.

“Mmmm...ugh…ouch. Evan, dude…get off me.” Alik smiled through his fogginess. The pain medicine they’d given him to help with the concussion was working wonders now. “Where are Mom and Meg?” Alik asked. He tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea hit him and he lay back down even before the nurse had a chance to object.

“Meg is upstairs. She had to fight a…” Evan realized he couldn’t say ‘metahuman.’ So he changed in mid-sentence, “…a bad guy who hurt her leg pretty badly. They’ve stitched her up and she’s gotten a blood transfusion. I made them use my blood, Alik,” again acutely aware that the nurse was listening, “because of our special blood type.”

Alik frowned, then understanding slipped into his eyes, “Right, our special blood type. Good thinking, Ev. What about mom? I brought her to the ambulance. She was beat up really badly, Evan. Do you know where she is?”

Evan’s eyes were crying again with the realization that the mangled faced woman was his mother. “Yeah, Alik, I saw mom. She’s here. They’re trying to help her, but she looks really…”

“…bad, I know.” The brothers huddled together on the hospital bed and prayed for help as tears continued to flow.

Chapter 62 Old Friends

A familiar voice interrupted the boys’ quiet discussion.

“Nurse, would you please make arrangements for Alik Winter to be moved to the same room as his sister, Meg?”

Everyone turned to see who just spoke. Dr. Andrews smiled genuinely at the boys.

“Dr. Andrews? You came!” Evan jumped from the bed and ran to the kindhearted doctor who had helped them back when their mother first disappeared.

And then another familiar voice spoke, “I couldn’t let dad have all the fun.” Cole peeked around the curtain with a mischievous smile.

“Cole! Oh, man it’s good to see you guys!” Alik called from his bed.

“What do you say, nurse? Can we get all these kids in one room?” the doctor asked politely.

“Of course, doctor. I’ll see what I can do.” Nurse Betty smiled and squeezed Evan’s shoulder as she left to make arrangements.

Chapter 63 Just the Beginning

“I’ve reviewed your mom’s file myself. I can’t stress enough to you how fragile her condition is. She has a long road ahead of her.” Dr. Andrews was sitting in the large hospital room where Meg and Alik had been transferred.

Evan was sitting on a chair between his siblings, so obviously thankful to be back together.

“When she’s stable, I’d like to have her transported back to my hospital in Kansas where I can oversee her treatment, personally. Would you guys be okay with that?” Dr. Andrews asked.

“Well, we wouldn’t want to be away from our mom…” Meg’s voice trailed.

“Oh, of course not! You three would come with us. You could stay with me and Cole as long as your mom was still sick. After that, Margo would decide where you guys live,” Dr. Andrews said.

The boys looked over at Meg. It was she who could tell if the doctor was earnest.

Meg smiled widely and answered for all of them. “Yes, thank you, Dr. Andrews. I know our mom would agree. As soon as you feel she can handle the trip, we’re in.” This time her eyes caught Cole’s and held it for a moment. She sensed a wave of affection pouring from him and blushed.

“What’s going to happen with Dr. Williams and The Institute?” Evan asked.

“Yeah, how are we going to explain to the police why we did what we did to get mom? No one would believe the truth.” Alik’s blue eyes looked bloodshot. He really needed to rest.

“You remember my friend, Greg Burns? He’s working on that part for us. Try not to worry too much. You three just focus on getting better. Okay?”

“Dr. Andrews, I have to tell you before I forget,” Meg began feeling sleepier by the minute.

“Williams told me there were others, dozens of metahumans he’d created. He went on and on about his devotion to this ‘super race.’ He bragged about how powerful they were. He kept hinting about all the ‘great things’ he would have them do for mankind.” She breathed deeply and forced herself to go on though fatigue and medicine were trying to drag her under.

“He told me the boys and I were three of the first metahumans and something about the original formula was unique. He couldn’t replicate the ‘gifts’ he gave us. When mom took us from The Institute, she destroyed or took all the data on our formula. They had to start from scratch after we were gone. And though they did create a working formula, it was never the same as the original. He wanted me and the boys because we were the only link to that original blueprint.

“He’s not going to stop hunting us. And he created an army of metas to help him do whatever he wants. We’re going to have to find him before he finds us. We have to stop this monster…” her voice trailed as a wave of exhaustion overtook her.

Meg’s battle wasn’t remotely over, but for now, she was going to have to let her body rest. She was trying to calm herself by thinking about her family. Her brothers were safe. Her mother was alive and getting help from Dr. Andrews, a very trusted friend. And her best friend Maze, much to the hospital’s chagrin, was sound asleep under her bed.

The room continued to talk softly as she drifted off. I just need to sleep a little, and then I’ll get back to planning what to do next.

Epilogue—A New Focus

Location: Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean

His hand slipped into his pocket and pulled out two silver orbs. He began rolling them in his hand hoping the familiar scraping of metal on metal would soothe his fury.

Beside him his companion shifted in her seat. Her taste was impeccable, Dr. Williams noted. Her Prada shoes were almost as stunning as her legs. But even they weren’t enough to distract him from his thoughts.

How dare those puny, insignificant rodents come to him and threaten him! How dare they challenge him, disobey him!

Of course, it was deliciously ironic that those kids just moved his plan forward a few days. He had the fire extinguishing sprinkler system secretly disabled and his research moved to his new facility the week before. The Institute was to have a tragic and accidental fire due to some faulty wiring and aided by the additional explosive chemicals he brought in to the main building.

Good, he’ll just collect on his multi-million dollar insurance policy that much quicker, and those rodents will be held responsible for the destruction. Foolish imps!

Ah, but what a waste. All those gifts he gave them, and look at the thanks he got. Oh, and that miserable woman Margo! She started all of this, the ungrateful wretch.

Wasn’t it he who discovered her right out of college and gave her all the opportunities in the world to work on meaningful research? She was to be his new shining star working on the Infinite Project. Hadn’t he been watching her for two years before he handpicked her? Hadn’t he personally escorted her around his lovely facility and shown her the glory of which she would be a part? How could he have misjudged her so badly? She had been so ambitious. All that military training should have taught her to follow orders.

She had no family of which to speak. Her parents and sister had been killed in a car accident years ago. She was the perfect candidate for his work. She would have come with him when he developed the training facility. She could have had everything. Hadn’t he given her every opportunity?

Venom coursed through his veins and a flash of bile chased up his throat. He would get revenge. He would have those children, dead or alive. And he would kill that vile woman with his own hands.

More twirling of the familiar metal balls helped him take a slower, deeper breath. Well, he should be at peace and know that retribution would be his new motivation. And he always obtained his goal when given a focus. He should almost thank the Winter family for giving him a new reason to develop his army even faster. They were headed for battle.

Winter’s Storm Ahead

A thousand miles away, Maze, who was sleeping at the foot of Meg’s hospital bed, sat up and growled at the dark figure standing in the doorway of the room she and Alik shared. In the blink of an eye, he shifted into a fighting position. The silver hair bristled on the back of his neck and his sharp teeth glistened in the dim light.

About me

I grew up the only girl in the middle of two brothers. I adored both of them in their own ways, but never really fit into their worlds. Like my characters Alik and Evan, the boys were very different.

If I wanted to have a playmate, I had to gear up to go dirt-clod fighting, be the losing team of (broken) green army guys or brave the flimsy bicycle ramp my older brother was focused on.

Either that, or plan on helping to erect intricate Lego architecture while hearing the mathematical algorithms and possible big-bang theories of what happened to dinosaurs from my little brother.

Needless to say, I suffered a lot of skinned-up knees, elbows and even scraped off an eyebrow or two trying to keep up with the older brother and probably still have a Lego imbedded into my thigh from sitting on the floor surrounded by the teeny-tiny pieces in my little brother's realm. (Oh, and did I mention I hate math?)

Often by myself, recuperating from my brothers' attentions, I created entire worlds of make-believe and adventure with my stuffed animals and books in my bedroom. Hours of storytelling, personally made sound effects and character voices entertained me to the point of utter happy distraction. Hindsight shows me, I've been a storyteller all my life.

Thanks to my brothers, I have a lot of stories to tell. I love you Jeremy and Field. You're the best brothers a girl could have—even if you did scar me for life on more than one occasion.

I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to email me at mailto:karen.luellen@gmail.com or visit me on Facebook under Winter’s Saga. Thanks for reading!

Hugs,

Karen Luellen

PS: Winter's Storm—Retribution, the sequel to Winter's Awakening, is nearing completion and will be released through Kindle Publishing, November 2011.

Brace yourselves. The Storm is coming!