It took about four minutes for Lexi to open the files and Clint to snap the pictures. After everything was placed back in the proper order in the top drawer, they turned their focus on the bottom drawer. Most of the files were office related policies and procedures – all but the last four files in the very back of the drawer. Lexi read the labels and a chill ran up her spine.
“Sam, there’s four files in the bottom drawer – one for each of us.”
“Grab them, Lexi. I want those files.”
“I would but…”
“But what?”
“They’re empty, Sam. He must keep the contents with him.”
“Oh.” Silence.
“Sam? Are you still there?”
“Yes. I’m just thinking. I guess there’s not much else we can do in there. We know he knows about us, has information on us. You guys come on back out here. We’ll head back to headquarters and figure out our next plan of attack.”
“Okay Sam, we’re on our way.”
Chapter Forty
They had fallen off the grid.
He didn’t notice at first. The Dixon truck in the church parking lot made sense. Those goody-two-shoes were always doing church activities. It wasn’t their normal church, but when he found the flyer on the bulletin board inside the lobby about the youth retreat, it made sense.
The cycle in the shop was not a new occurrence. He made a note to put a tracker on Daddy McKay’s vehicle, as that was the kid’s backup when the cycle was down. Three vehicles stationary.
It was the pattern of the fourth that threw up the red flag. The stop at the liquor store was strange, but what teenager didn’t buy beer anymore? The stop at the video store didn’t cause him concern either. It was the thirty minutes spent at the emergency veterinarian clinic that gave him heartburn.
She didn’t have a dog. Or a cat. Not even a goldfish. He had done enough surveillance on this one over the last year and change to know everything about her home and lifestyle. He had the layout of her house mapped out on a chart he drafted when he broke in shortly after the flea market sighting. He followed them home that day, and had been watching her activity on and off – mostly on – since his lucky encounter.
Out of curiosity, he loaded his laptop into the car and drove over to her neighborhood. It was late and the street was dark, so he parked just a few yards away from her house, across the street. Her car sat in the drive.
According to his computer screen, her car was driving on the west bound loop on the other side of town.
Which meant the device was located. And moved to another vehicle.
They were on to him. They knew he was tracking them.
He realized the placement of the other vehicles was probably just a decoy too. And now they just disappeared, right from under his nose.
What were they up to? And where were they?
He cursed, threw his laptop in the backseat – what use was it now – and started his car. He didn’t know how he would find them, but he vowed that he’d figure out what they were up to.
Maybe it was time he had a little chat with the gang. They needed to start cooperating with him, now that they knew. And if they didn’t?
If worse came to worse, he’d just have to start watching their parents. If they didn’t want to work with him, he could use Moms and Dads as leverage.
Chapter Forty-one
They picked up sandwiches on the way back to the bunk house, and settled into the living area to hash out a new plan.
“Okay, so it’s safe to assume,” Leesha started, licking ketchup off her finger, eating and talking at the same time, “that Dr. Rowe is working with Dr. Blevins on our case, right?”
“I think that’s a safe assumption,” Sam agreed. “Unless… Unless Dr. Blevins isn’t involved at all.”
“I think we have to assume Blevins is involved,” Lexi interjected, the left side of her mouth filled with French fries. “He’s the one with the right background, and he’s the one who went to prison. We came across Rowe – who was just a resident at the time we were born, not even experienced enough to pull this off – because he was visiting Blevins in jail.”
“Right. Good point,” Sam agreed. “But why would he still be gathering information on us now?”
“He must have been involved from the start,” Leesha pondered. “My bet is that he kept updating Blevins while he was in jail, which explains the visits.”
“Then why would he just suddenly stop?” Clint asked. “I mean, why would he just up and move to Arizona?”
“Good question,” Sam swallowed the bite of cheeseburger in his mouth before continuing. “I think it’s safe to say there was probably not a lot of work they could be doing, information to compile, while we were still children. Nothing out of the ordinary started happening until now. Plus, we know he was visiting Virginia – maybe Blevins sent him here to monitor his mother’s case. I think the better question is why didn’t Rowe move back to St. Louis around the time our flashes should have kicked in?”
“We’ve got too many questions,” Leesha sighed. “I think we’re going to have to talk to him. There’s no amount of poking around that’s going to give us the answers that only he knows.”
“I’d still like to get my hands on the files he has on each of us,” Lexi said in a huff, like her privacy was being invaded.
“Me too,” Clint agreed. “I wonder why he’s got a file on me when I’m not even officially a part of this.”
“I think it’s safe to assume at this point,” Sam noted, “that you are a part of this. I’ll bet that Blevins sent you to us. How he found you, I don’t know. But my guess is that he is feeding our names to Rowe, who is then putting together charts on us.”
“Why wouldn’t Blevins be doing this himself?”
“I’m not sure, Lex, but I suppose it may have something to do with the fact that he can no longer practice medicine. Rowe, however, still has access to any and all medical information and technology at his fingertips.”
Leesha smiled. “You may be on to something, there, Sam.”
“There’s only one way to know for sure. I think we need to get a good night’s sleep and head out early tomorrow to talk to Rowe.”
Uh-oh. Lexi’s worried.
“Do you think he’s dangerous?”
“I don’t know. But there are four of us. We got each others’ backs, right?”
“Absolutely!”
“No problem.”
“Right!”
As they headed off in their separate directions to unpack and get ready for bed, Sam was once again grateful for the extra time and space for the weekend mission. He decided to thank Clint again for the work he put into the trip.
“Clint?” he said, popping his head into his bedroom door.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks again for all of this. You really pulled through for us – the plane, the place to stay, helping Lexi in the office… We couldn’t have done this without you.”
“No problem. I mean, thanks for saying that. I kind of feel a little useless in all of this.”
“Well, you’re not. I promise. You’ve pulled more than your share of the weight.”
“Sam?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Do you really think I’ll have a power?”
Sam smiled. “It’s kinda fun to think about, once you wrap your head around it, isn’t it?”
Clint grinned back. “Yeah. Plus, I got a little taste of it when Lexi took me with her tonight. It was really cool! Do you think I will?”
“I do, Clint. I think that is why Blevins sent you to us. And I believe that is why Rowe has a file on you. You saw it – you saw your name in that drawer.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“It’ll happen. Just be patient.”
“So what do you think it is?” Clint nudged.
“What? What do you mean?”
“My power… What do you think it is?”
Sam laughed. “I don’t know, man. We??
?re all different. I guess you could have one of our powers, or something entirely different.”
“Huh…”
“What do you WANT it to be?”
“I dunno. Maybe I could fly!”
“Dude, you can already fly.”
“Yeah, I just meant… Well, maybe I can throw fire or something like that.”
Sam laughed again. “That’s just kind of weird and evil… What are you going to do, walk around and burn things?”
“Right. I’ll have to think more on that.”
“Don’t think too hard. It’s not like you’re going to get a choice.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Clint’s head turned down.
“But Clint… It’s gonna happen. I just know it.”
“I hope you’re right. I get a little jealous when I watch the three of you in action.”
“I know. Hey, maybe Rowe will know something. We can always hope!”
“That’ll be first on my list of questions for him.”
They both laughed, and said goodnight.
Chapter Forty-two
The group was up and moving around 6:00 a.m. the next morning. With the time change, that would have been seven their time, which was still early for teenagers to be up, but they were all excited about the day’s task list.
They took turns rotating in and out of the bathroom for showers. Sam noted the speed in which the girls got in and out of there.
Usually Lexi takes forever… She must be anxious to get to work!
As promised, the kitchen was well stocked, and the kids’ banter was lively as they ate breakfast of bagels and cereal. Sam could feel the tension and electricity in the air. The group was antsy to get to Rowe’s house, but they decided any time before eight o’clock was too early for their assault of questions.
“Did you gals sleep okay last night?” Clint asked as he poured a glass of orange juice.
What a suck-up.
“We did,” Leesha answered, “once we finally stopped whispering about everything that happened last night.”
“Speak for yourself,” Lexi interjected. “My bed was lumpy! Did we keep you guys up?”
“Not me,” Clint said. “I slept like a rock.”
“I heard you two yapping.”
“Nothing like an eavesdropper with super ears,” Lexi scowled at her brother.
“Remind me to start following you on your dates from now on,” he shot back.
Leesha and Clint grinned at each other, enjoying the sibling banter.
Deciding to get the group back on track, Clint turned towards the table and said, “You know, it’s about twenty minutes to the house. We probably ought to load up and head over.”
“Yeah,” Leesha followed his direction. “Let’s get over there and look around the neighborhood.”
They all headed towards the Jeep, everyone ready for their next mission.
They turned onto Rowe’s street at approximately 7:50 a.m., which gave them a chance to circle the block twice to find the right parking spot.
Sam wanted to approach Rowe solo, rather than have him feel like he was being bombarded by a group of four teenagers, all wild with questions. The other three insisted on staying close enough to watch what was going on, just in case the conversation went south.
“I still don’t understand why it has to be you,” Lexi asked, sounding worried. “You should stay here – you can listen from the car and keep everyone here in the loop. If I go, and he gets angry, all I have to do is disappear and run away.”
“True,” Leesha interrupted, “but I’m the only one who can physically affect him, stop him. I should be the one to go.”
“But neither one of you can tap into his thoughts. Get inside his head. Know what’s really going on in there during the conversation.”
“Oh,” they both said in unison.
“Listen, if I need reinforcements, I can tell you right away. Leesha if I need your physical force, you can help from here.”
“Okay,” she agreed, begrudgingly.
“If anything looks weird, Lexi can disappear and meet me there without him noticing. But right now, we don’t know what he’s aware of… We don’t want him on the defense right off the bat. Let me go to him one-on-one, get his reaction before we tag team him.”
“Okay,” the girls said together again.
“Now, did you guys notice,” Clint spoke for the first time since they parked, “that Rowe has come outside since you three have been playing your power tug-of-war?”
The three of them snapped to attention and followed Clint’s eyes toward the front of the yard. Sure enough, a man was coming out of the open garage door with an extension ladder under his arm.
“Is that him?” Sam asked to no one in particular.
“Yep,” Lexi answered. “I saw a picture of his family on his desk last night. That’s him all right.”
“What do you think he’s doing?” Leesha leaned over Lexi in the back seat to peer out the window.
They watched him extend the ladder and set it against the front of the house, a big black trash bag hanging out of the back pocket of his pants.
“Looks like he’s getting ready to clean the leaves out of his gutters,” Clint said.
He looked like a fish out of water, this man teetering on a ladder, trying to juggle getting the leaves out of the gutter in one hand and putting them into the garbage bag in the other. He was definitely out of place in his designer jeans and rugby shirt, his top of the line running shoes trying to keep his footing on the seventh rung of the ladder.
He looks like a doctor who hires someone to do this for him.
They watched him for a while in silence, each one trying to figure out the best way to approach him, how to interrupt his dirty job to talk about yet another one. Just then, the doctor leaned a little too far to the right and the ladder started to slip. Sam heard it first, the grinding metal on metal, before the rest of the group noticed the tilt from their naked eyes.
“Leesha! The ladder…” Sam said out loud. “Hold it. I’m going in.”
“Got it. He’s fine until you get over there,” Leesha responded.
When Sam approached him, the doctor was gripping the eaves spout on each side of the ladder, and from the panicked look on his face, he apparently noticed he was seriously in danger.
“Hey mister,” Sam started out innocently, “can I give you a hand?”
“Oh, thanks,” Dr. Rowe looked down, his face taken over with a sense of relief.
Sam took the ladder in both hands and steadied it as the doctor descended.
“It’s a good thing you came along when you did. I think I was about ready to take a header!”
“Here, let me prop this ladder back up. Hey, do you want me to climb up and do this for you?” Sam tried to act helpful, while coming up for a reason to prolong his stay.
“No, I’m already dusty and grimy from the job. I’ll get back up there,” the man answered. “But…”
“Yes?”
“If you’ve got a few minutes?”
“Sure. What can I do to help?”
“I’d feel much better if someone were just holding the ladder. I’ve got just girls in the house – my wife and two daughters.”
Sam didn’t let him get any further. “No problem! Here, I got it…”
He watched as the doctor climbed back up to finish what he started. He stood there in silence, struggling for what to say next. Instead, he just watched, deciding not to distract the man from his task at hand.
“Hey!”
I have got to get her to stop doing that…
“What, Lexi?” Sam answered, gritting his teeth at the fact that his sister knew how to get his attention, even from across the street.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m just helping him. Holding the ladder.”
“We can see that. When are you going to make your move?”
“I’m not sure. I’m waiting. For the right time.”
“Do you think we’ve got all the time in the world?”
“I know, Lexi. I’m just figuring out what I need to say. How to bring up the subject.”
“Well, hurry up. We’re getting stir crazy in here.”
His nostrils flared in anger, and he was glad that neither the kids in the car, nor the doctor on the ladder could tap into his brain.
After about a half an hour, he and the doctor worked their way around the entire house, getting all of the gutters cleaned. Three trash bags full, at the end of the drive, and the doctor finally came down for the last time from the ladder.
“Thanks again for the help, and the company,” he said, wiping his hands on his jeans so he could shake Sam’s hand. “You’re a good kid. I’m sure your parents are proud. Where did you come from, by the way?”
“Oh, I just saw you from the sidewalk…” Sam tried to sound evasive.
“Well, I am fortunate you came along when you did.” Just then, his phone buzzed from his belt clip.
Sam sensed what it was before he heard him read the text. “Here it comes guys,” he projected to the gang in the car. He heard the doors open from the Jeep, as quietly as possible.
The doctor took his phone from his belt clip and read the text. Sam heard his mind as he read it: “The kids are gone. Have you seen them?” Sam heard his mind race from wonder and curiosity to just a little shiver of fear down the back of his neck. He heard his answer as he texted back: “No. All clear here.”
He looked back up at Sam as he put his phone back in his clip, his smile a little too forced. “Sorry about that. Now, what were you saying?”
Sam looked at him and just decided to jump right into the conversation. “Dr. Rowe, is he dangerous?”
His expression changed from pleasant to shocked in an instant. “Who?”
“Blevins.”
“You didn’t just happen here, did you?”
“No, sir. We came here to see you.”
Dr. Rowe looked back at Sam with fear in his eyes, and then he glanced over Sam’s left shoulder to see the three others standing by the Jeep, watching the conversation.
He’s scared. I can hear it.
“We’re not here to harm you,” Sam said, trying to reassure him. “We were just hoping to talk to you… To get some answers.”
Sam watched him size up the other three at the Jeep, then look back at him. His eyes cleared a little. “Are you Sam?”
“Yes sir,” he said, extending his hand in greeting. “Sam Dixon.”