Striker (The Alien Wars Book 2) (5 page)

“I’m Kenneth. I’m
trying to help Derek and Molly. We were at the military compound and they
didn’t have a clue, so we came here.” He put out his hand, but the man didn’t
take it.

“I’m sorry about
Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, but I don’t know where they are. Now, if there isn’t
anything else …” He sniffed as a figure raced up the driveway. “Is she with
you?”

Kenneth looked
back and saw Molly hurrying up the driveway. “Yes, she’s Derek’s sister.”

“Ah, I see.” Mike
quickly took his hand out of his pocket. “I have something cooking on the stove,
so if that’s all, I better get going.” He headed inside just as Molly reached
the others.

Puffing and
panting, Molly stared at the door that had just closed. “Wasn’t that Mike?”

Derek nodded.

“Then why is he
going inside? Did he already tell you about Mom and Dad?”

Kenneth put a
hand on Molly’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to say he hasn’t seen or heard from them in
some time.”

Molly looked at
Derek anxiously. “Is that true?”

Derek shrugged. “That’s
what he said.”

“We tried our
best,” Kenneth said, trying to comfort her.

Molly removed
Kenneth’s hand from her shoulder. “We didn’t go to the national park yet.”

“
Yellowstone
?”
Kenneth asked

“Of course.”
Molly looked at her
brother. “Didn’t they say they were staying in the closest town by the north
entrance to the park?”

Derek thought. “Ah,
yes, I think so.”

“So that’s where
we’ll look next,” Molly said.

Kenneth stared at
Molly. “Sooner or later you might have to accept the truth that—”

“They’re dead?” Molly
interrupted, looking defiantly back at Kenneth. “Is that what you were going to
say?”

Kenneth
hesitated, but since he wasn’t one to mince words, he told Molly how he felt. “Yes.
It’s been three weeks, which is an awfully long time.” He threw his hands up at
Derek. “Tell her
it’s
crazy going to
Yellowstone
just because that’s
where they were staying at one point!”

Derek glanced at
his sister. Seeing the hurt and desperation in her eyes, he pleaded with
Kenneth, “It might be crazy, and it might only be a slim chance, but it’s all
we have.” He walked over to Molly and put an arm around her.

Kenneth stared up
at the sky as though searching for the right words. “Sooner or later you’ll
have to move on.”

“What about your
parents?” Molly asked.

Kenneth frowned.
“What?”

“Don’t you love them?”
Molly said.

“I’ll always love
them,” Kenneth replied.

“Then can’t you
see we’re just like you?” Molly said.

Kenneth didn’t
speak as he ran away and plopped down on a patch of grass. The teens shared something
between them before they came over.

Molly edged in
beside him. “I won’t feel like I’m living a normal life unless I have my
parents beside me. I’m just trying to get them back. Can’t you see?”

Kenneth wasn’t
one to get emotional often, but he was close to tears as he spoke. “Molly, believe
me when I tell you this.” He cut his eyes to Derek. “And this goes for you as
well.” He hesitated and then took a deep breath to calm himself. “When will
enough be enough?”

The teens shared
a glance before Molly spoke. “Once we find our parents. And if they’re not
alive, then at least we’ll know.”

Kenneth pointed
at Derek. “Is that what you also think?”

Derek squared his
shoulders without hesitation. “Now that our grandmother’s dead, it’s just them
and us.”

Kenneth shook his
head in annoyance. He stood up and paced back and forth. “Why can’t you get it
through your heads that you might not ever find them?”

“But we will,”
Molly insisted.

“How do you know?”
Kenneth cried out. “Be happy and live your life as it is. If you find them,
great, but if you don’t—”

“Shut up!” Derek
shouted when he saw that Molly was crying. He put an arm around her as he stared
at Kenneth. “Can’t you see you’ve upset her?”

Kenneth sighed. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean to make her cry.”

“Why don’t you
leave us if you don’t want to help us find our parents?” Molly shouted.

“But I do want to
help you,” Kenneth said. “You’re just not getting what I’m saying. You’re too
young to throw your life away—”

“You don’t know
the first thing about us!” Derek interrupted, really angry now. He stood up and
tried to punch Kenneth in the face.

Kenneth grabbed
Derek’s arm. “Trust
me,
I know what you’re going
through.”

“As if you do!”
Derek retorted and
tried to get free of the stronghold Kenneth had his arms in.

“Just listen and
stop struggling!” When Derek went limp, Kenneth continued. “I know exactly what
you’re going through.”

“How could you?”
Molly muttered.

Kenneth sighed.
“Because I was just like you.”

“What do you
mean?” Derek asked.

Kenneth let Derek
go and sank to his knees. Holding his head in his hands, he continued. “It’s
been more than seven years since it happened.”

“Since what happened?”
Molly asked,
not understanding what Kenneth meant.

“It was a really
cold day in
San Francisco
. I was sitting at home waiting for my girlfriend to call me. The
phone rang, but it wasn’t Amy. It was Frederick Jacobson asking me if my
parents had changed their travel plans.” Kenneth’s cheek twitched as he thought
back to that day. “Over the next forty-eight hours, Logan and I were on the
phone every hour trying to get in contact with the police in
Tanzania
.
Finally, as Christmas Day approached and there was still no sign of my parents,
Logan and I flew to
South
Africa
. From there,
we caught a connecting flight to
Nairobi
, where we met up with
Frederick
. We hired a vehicle and
traveled
hundreds
of miles across grasslands and deserts, trying to find any trace of them.”

“Were they in a
tour group?” Molly asked.

“No. They always
wanted to go to
Africa
, so when Dad’s business friend told them his wife had just had a
baby boy, they’d decided to go over and see them. They made contact with him
once they landed in
South
Africa
, but then
they just vanished. We did find a record of them flying into the city of
Dodoma
, where they hired a car. But that’s all.”

“So they just
vanished,” Derek said.

Kenneth nodded. “They
mentioned driving around
Lake Victoria
before going to
Nairobi
, but Logan and I drove around that lake trying to find a trace of
them with nothing to show for it. We stopped at every imaginable place. It was
exhausting. Three weeks later, we said goodbye to Frederick and left.”

Molly wiped tears
from her eyes. “That’s a sad story.”

“That had to be
tough,” Derek said.

Kenneth sighed. “It
was the hardest choice I have ever had to make. If it had just been me
searching for them, I probably would still be there, but
Logan
persuaded me
to come home. Arriving back at the airport without our parents hit us hard. Not
long after,
Logan
quit pursuing his degree in economics and joined the military.”

“And what did you
do?” Derek asked.

“I went to school
for a business degree and got a job working with computers. It’s not exciting
work, but at least it’s stable. At least, it was until the alien invasion.”

“So what do you
think happened to them?” Molly said.

“I don’t know.
Even to this day, I don’t have a clue.” Kenneth sighed and took a deep breath. “But
I’ve moved on now.” He turned to the teens. “Now you know why Logan and I
decided to help you, and why I tried to tell you that you can’t keep searching
forever.”

Molly hugged him.
“Thanks for everything.”

Derek shook his
head. “Isn’t it weird how we ended up together? It’s almost as though my car
was supposed to break down on that road last week.”

“Fate works in
mysterious ways.” Kenneth chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. He cracked his
aching bones and hefted his pack.

The teens
followed, but then Molly halted. She glanced back at the house and then at the
barn. “Hey! I just remembered why I came rushing up to you.”

Kenneth stopped
and stared at her. “What?”

“I saw something,”
Molly said, lowering her voice.

Sensing that
Molly had something important to tell then, Kenneth huddled in close with them.

“I was waiting
patiently by the bicycles, when, just before the door opened, I saw something
walk down the side of the mountain,” Molly said. “Wanting to see what it was, I
grabbed the binoculars and looked through them.”

“Was it a Seod?”
Kenneth asked.

“Well, that was
my first thought, but when I looked through them, I saw a person in a dark-hooded
jacket. They were hurrying toward the house where you were, but then, suddenly,
they stopped.”

“Maybe they
didn’t want to be seen,” Derek said.
“But why?”

“I don’t know.
Anyway, they turned around and hurried back to the barn. As they reached it,
they stopped and glanced around. I hid behind that bush down there. Right after
that, they stepped inside. That’s when I decided to join you two.”

Kenneth frowned
as he glanced back at the house. He saw nothing. “Come on, let’s go.”

“But aren’t you
going to—” Derek said.

“Just follow me.”
Kenneth jogged down the driveway. Once he had reached the road, he climbed on
his bicycle and rode away.

“Hey, wait for
us!” Molly hopped onto her bicycle.

But Kenneth
didn’t wait. He
pedaled
fast until he reached a bend
in the road. Just past it, he slowed and climbed off the bicycle.

The teens caught
up with him as he pushed the bicycle into the bushes.

“What’s going
on?” Molly asked.

“I’m not sure,
but I want to find out why that person didn’t want to see us,” Kenneth replied.
“Are you sure it wasn’t a Seod?”

“Well, they were
dressed in a jacket and wearing a cowboy hat, so it was impossible to see his
face,” Molly admitted.

“What about their
legs?” Kenneth asked.

“Dark blue cargo
pants. But if it was a Seod, why would he dress up as a human? It doesn’t make
any sense.”

“No, it doesn’t.
That’s why I intend to get to the bottom of this.” Kenneth looked up through
the trees. “If we stay within the tree line, we should be able to get level
with the barn.”

“Sounds like a
plan,” Derek said. “Let’s do it.”

The three of them
hiked up the mountain. No one spoke as they each tried to think of a reason why
someone would hide in the barn. None of them could think of a suitable answer,
and as they caught sight of the barn, they were all eager to find out the
truth.

Kenneth held up
his hand as he hid behind a tree. “Let’s wait here for a few minutes and see if
we hear or see anything.”

The teens each
chose a tree to kneel behind. Two minutes passed before they heard footsteps as
Mike approached.
 
He cautiously made his
way to the barn, stopping every now and then to glance around. Once he reached
the structure he opened the side door and entered.

As Mike
disappeared from sight, Kenneth hissed at the teens, “Follow me and be as quiet
as possible. We can’t afford for Mike to know we’re here.”

“Gotcha,” Derek
replied.

“We’ll be as
quiet as mice,” Molly said.

Kenneth crept toward
the barn. Silence reigned. After reaching the cover of the structure, he leaned
against the wall of the barn. The teens did the same and everyone listened.
They heard nothing.

“Maybe they’re
talking on the other side of the building,” Molly whispered.

“Or maybe they’re
just quiet,” Derek said.

“We’ll try
another wall,” Kenneth muttered.

Keeping close to
the building, he stalked along the side of the structure until he reached the
door Mike had gone through. Stopping just short of it, he leaned against the
wall.

The teens ran up
and joined him, making an effort to be somewhat quiet. They all grinned as they
heard voices on the other side.