Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3 (60 page)

“You will feel no remorse when it’s necessary to kill people.”

Five times five is twenty-five
.

“You will not have an emotional connection to Nadia, Mallory, or Jameson.”

I felt myself slipping and knew I needed to do something more. My efforts weren’t enough. Not nearly enough.

Nadia

I was the worst friend in the world. I left Mallory behind. It wasn’t that I wanted to; it was that I had to. Getting Russ out of the house was all I could manage. I couldn’t have done two of them. Besides, I figured she was safe enough. She’d already had her date with the Deleo. I didn’t think Mr. Specter could do any more to harm her.

“Where are you going?” Mrs. Whitehouse said. I didn’t blame her for being mystified. We were all headed in different directions and no one had explained anything to her.

“Forgot something in my room,” I said grabbing a second triangle of toast. I looped my hand around Russ’s arm and maneuvered him out the door. “Be right back!” I said in as normal a voice as possible. All the while, I was jerking on Russ’s arm and thinking we had to go faster. Faster. Faster. My flight instinct had kicked in—in a big way. I sensed that Mr. Specter was not going to back down. Something bad was going to happen, if not now, then later. And I wasn’t going to wait around and see it happen.

“All right then,” Mrs. Whitehouse called out. “I’ll put your plate in the kitchen.”

I finished swallowing my bite of food. “Okay!”

I had a general idea of where the front entrance had been, and when I found it, I was euphoric. Even better, the massive front door easily swung open when I pulled on the handle. “Let’s go,” I said to Russ, who didn’t react at all. It was like talking to my mom’s cat, Barry.

Once outside, I headed toward the bus. My thinking was that if Kevin had left the keys in the ignition, I could drive to the closest town and get help. There had to be a U.S. embassy in Peru that would help us. At the very least I could call home collect. That would go over well, I thought ruefully. After something like this, my mother wouldn’t let me leave her side until I was thirty-two, if then.

“Wait here,” I said to Russ when we reached the side of the bus. He stood there, hands at his side. He wasn’t going anywhere. I pressed on the folding door and miraculously, it opened. “We are in!” I scrambled up the stairs, and sat behind the wheel. No keys. A crumpled candy bar wrapper was on the floor near my feet; some folded bills and change were in the compartment next to the driver’s seat, and on the jutting out part of the dashboard, sat Mr. Specter’s GPS. I scooped up the money and the GPS, and stuck them in the front pocket of my sweatshirt. I did a quick walk through the bus to see if there was anything else, but our group had been tidy and efficient and taken all their stuff inside when we’d first gotten here. Crap.

I jumped down the steps onto the packed dirt. “Russ, we’re going to have to walk. Let’s go.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction of the front gate. If we could get past the gate, and get a head start, we had a chance. We couldn’t outrun a car, but we could hide.

The driveway was long and we were visible from the house, but hopefully no one was looking. “We’re going to be fine,” I said aloud. “We’re going to get out of here and get help and everything is going to be fine.”

“Everything is going to be fine,” Russ agreed speaking in even tones.

One foot in front of the other, that’s what I concentrated on. Every step was another step away from the house, another step closer to the gate. I thought the gate probably opened from the inside. If not, I’d worry about it when we got there.

Russ was proving to be good in a crisis, considering his brain had been hijacked. He moved at a fast clip right alongside with me, didn’t contradict my instructions, and still looked good. The way to the front gate was longer and more curved than I remembered from our arrival. Of course, we’d been in the bus then. Russ and I were jogging now, hand in hand, me leading the way around the deep ruts in the packed earth. Even as we were fleeing for our lives, I was glad to be doing it with him and no one else. “You know,” I said looking up at his profile, “I really love you, Russ.” I didn’t plan to say it or anything. It just popped out of my mouth. Something about thinking you might die soon makes it important to get it all out.

I thought I saw him smile, and I know I heard him murmur something, but I didn’t quite catch what he said because at the same moment, I heard the sound of a car engine revving.

I looked back and so did Russ, probably because he was copying me. I saw the glint of sunlight on the SUV as it came barreling down the drive directly toward us. “Run!” I yelled. He must have sensed the danger through his mental fog, because he immediately increased his speed to match mine. Our legs pumped almost in unison and my heart and lungs threatened to explode, but I wasn’t stopping.

Looking back, I could see the front grill of the vehicle getting closer. In my heart, I knew it was over. Still, we kept on. When we reached the gate, we skidded to a halt. My breathing was labored and my legs shaky, but there was no time to worry about anything but getting out of there. The gate was made of wrought iron bars too close together to slip through, and the walls on either side were way over our head and topped with barbed wire and shards of glass.

I let go of Russ’s hand and frantically looked for a push pad on this side of the gate, but there wasn’t one. I had a sudden thought. Maybe I could reach the one on the other side? I slipped my arm through the gate and stretched, but my fingertips feel just short. It was too late anyway; the car was nearly here, coming at full speed, the spinning wheels kicking up dust. If we’d had more time we could have run the perimeter of the fence, looking for a weak spot. But I knew we couldn’t run anymore.

The car screeched to a halt about twenty feet away from us. I felt a stab of panic in my chest until the door popped open and I saw that it was Elena behind the wheel, and she was alone. She got out, and motioned for us to get away from the gate.

She glanced back nervously at the house, before trotting toward us, the car keys dangling from her fingertips. “Must go fast.” Another surprise—she held the keys out to me. “You drive?” Out in the daylight, she looked younger, less hunched over and more determined. “You know how?”

I hesitated, confused. “Yes, I drive.” Which was true, sort of. I had my learner’s permit and I’d been out practice driving a few times with my dad, but that had been a few months ago. I thought I could do it, though. It’s not like I’d forgotten any of it, and at least here they drove on the same side of the road as we did back home.

She took a remote control out of her pocket, aimed it at the gate, and pressed a button. The door swung towards us. “Go,” she urged, forcing the keys into my hand. She pointed to the road. “Hurry. Drive fast.” She turned to walk back up the driveway.

I looked down at the keys, processing what had just happened. She was letting us take the car, just us, by ourselves. Relief and joy washed over me. We had to move, and quickly. I ran around to the passenger side. “Russ, get in,” I said, suddenly recharged by the thought that we could really get out of here after all. Russ seemed more with it than he did a few minutes ago. He climbed into the SUV and shut the door on his own.

Once I got the seat adjusted, I started the car, and we breezed through the front gate. I realized then that I didn’t know which direction to go in, so I made a decision and turned opposite of the way we’d arrived. “You know where we’re going, Russ?” I said.

“Where?’

“Far, far away.”

Russ

The fog in my head was lifting. I knew who I was, and I knew I was in a car, being driven by Nadia. The fact that it was Nadia at the wheel should have surprised me, but I didn’t have room for surprise because I was busy processing everything around me, which was turning out to be a full time job. Being me was a struggle. I could move and think and react, but actually initiating anything took gargantuan effort. I wanted to communicate, but between thinking of what to say and forcing my lips and tongue to say it there was an impenetrable wall. I couldn’t manage it. I wondered if this is how it felt to be a stroke victim. Everything was muddled and I was so tired. I closed my eyes just to rest for a moment and before long I felt the pull of sleep. Maybe a few minutes of dozing would help…

Nadia

It took about fifteen minutes for the adrenaline to wear down and a feeling of dread to kick in. What had I done? I was barreling down a country road in Peru in a stolen vehicle, with no idea where I was going. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Russ’s head was drooping and his eyes had closed. His breathing was rhythmical like he’d already fallen asleep. Must be nice. Here I was gripped with panic while he was so relaxed he could nap.

Self-doubt and fear washed over me. I wasn’t made for this. At home I didn’t have enough self-confidence to look a cashier in the eye, and now I thought I could make a run for it and find help in a country where I didn’t speak the language? With Russ out of it, I was essentially alone.

But I couldn’t turn back.

The road went from dirt to gravel, which I took as a good sign. The grass on either side seemed greener, and the landscape was hilly. There were no signs of people, which was fine with me. I kept looking in the rear view mirror, checking to see if we were being followed, but nothing. Maybe no one had noticed the missing SUV, or if they had, went the other direction. Either way, we were fine for now.

I had a theory about Elena, and why she’d helped us. A really good guess. As the housekeeper, she listened to everything that went on in the convent and knew more than she let on. When I’d touched her hand to take the keys, I’d picked up on empathy and concern. I felt she was a mother, with grown children of her own, and that creating an escape is what she’d have wanted for her kids if they were in danger. That mother instinct was stronger than I’d realized.

I wondered if I’d ever see my own parents again. At the thought, despair settled in the pit of my stomach. To keep my mind off it, I gripped the wheel and concentrated on driving.

Russ

When I woke up, I felt almost myself again. I’d been a downed swimmer fighting my way to the surface, and now I’d succeeded in popping up for a lungful of air. I saw the windshield, the dashboard, and Nadia, in that order, and pieced together what had happened. Nadia’s hood was up with only the tip of her nose visible. Ahead of us was more road, and on either side, softly rolling hills. I sat up, rubbed my eyes and said, “Where are we?”

The SUV veered wildly, tires screeching. We got so close to the edge of the road we almost wound up in a ditch. She pulled over to the side and threw the car into park. “Don’t do that!” Her hand went to her heart. “You scared me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

“I was concentrating on driving and I thought you were sleeping.”

“I
was
sleeping, but I woke up.” I reached over and tugged on her hood. “You really don’t need this, you know. I like it better when I can see you.”

Her eyes searched my face hopefully. “Russ? You sound okay. Are you okay?” The last few words came out slowly, like she was afraid of the answer.

“Now I am. For a while there, I felt like a zombie.” I yawned, covering my mouth with the back of my hand. “I was really out of it.”

“I mean, how much do you remember?”

I shrugged. “I remember thinking that making a run for it was a really good idea.”

“What else do you remember?”

“Everything, I guess.”

“Hmm.” Her mouth showed doubt. “So what happened with Mr. Specter when he strapped that thing over your eyes?”

“The Deleo?”

“Yeah.”

I gestured to the road ahead. “Aren’t we supposed to be getting away as fast as we can? We can talk while you drive.”

“In a minute.” Nadia held up a finger. “I just want to know what it is you’re thinking first.”

“I’m not really thinking anything. I’m looking at you.”

“No, I mean, what is it you believe you remember?”

A realization hit me. “You think I’ve been brainwashed!”

“Have you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m still me. Everything’s the same.”

“That’s exactly what someone who was brainwashed would say.” She tapped her fingers on the wheel. “Tell me what happened back there, what you can remember.”

I thought back. “Mr. Specter asked a few questions like how to spell my name, how long I’d lived in my house, that kind of thing. Then we talked about my birthday being tomorrow and he said we’d have cake and candles, blah blah, blah…”

“Your birthday’s tomorrow?”

“Yes, it is. I’ll be sixteen. Tomorrow.”

“I thought you were already sixteen.” She couldn’t hide the shock from her voice.

“Nope, I’m young for my grade, as they say. My mother struggled with that. The preschool teacher advised her to keep me back, but she didn’t.”

“So you’ve been fifteen this whole time?”

I thought she knew that already, but from the look on her face this was a complete surprise. “Yes, fifteen the whole time. Which means,” I raised my eyebrows, “you’re involved with a younger man.” I felt my face widen in a grin. “How scandalous.”

For a second she was motionless, caught off guard, and then when the full meaning of what I’d said sunk in, she lunged toward me, her arms clasped tightly around my neck, tears coming down her face. I heard and felt her sobbing, the heaving of her chest against mine, and breathless gasps accompanied by attempts to talk, which weren’t working out so well. The words were a jumble. “I. Was. Didn’t. Think. So afraid.”

“It’s okay.” I made circular motions on her back. “Don’t cry. It’s okay.” Most of her had crossed the center console of the car and was up against me now. I held onto her for a long time, stroking her hair and making the kinds of shushing noises you make when someone’s upset. “Don’t worry. Everything’s good.”