Entrance to Nowhere Page 12

  “Who?”

  “Thomas Layne.”

  “Oh. I guess I forgot his first name.”

  “You’re a private eye. You’re not supposed to forget anything.”

  “It’s been a busy day. The last thing I’m thinking about is someone’s first name. I’ve got other things to think about.”

  Pete came up from the Safe Room. “Griz and Scott are going to drive the ATVs to a secure spot. They’re taking the back way so they won’t be seen. Layne’s come around to our way of thinking after spending time with us. He’ll be on the road with his car and bring them back. I’ll take the Jeep up the road and it’s going to break down, just in case they’re watching. I’ll pull it off the road.”

  “You’re going to make your Jeep break down?” Aunt Martha sounded puzzled.

  Pete raised his eyebrows. “It won’t really break down. I’ll just make it look that way. I’ll open the hood and try to fix it. Then I’ll walk through the woods like I’m taking a shortcut back. Layne will be waiting for me around that sharp curve to drive me back.”

  “And then?” my aunt asked.

  “Then we’ll leave in the motorhome while you two take a walk. They’ll think we’re driving into town for parts.”

  “You hope,” I said. “I thought the Jeep was parked behind the Safe Room.”

  “It is, but I won’t be seen until I’m on the road. They’ll think they missed me when I left the mansion. They’ll assume I parked it in Trap’s garage.”

  “It seems like there’s plenty of thinking and assuming going on,” my aunt said.

  “We can only hope for the best.” I was hoping with all my heart. “We came into this cold, not really knowing anything, and we’re doing all we can, Auntie.”

  Pete left shortly after that.

  We heard a helicopter fly over and I knew Griz and Scott were moving the ATVs to their designated hiding place. Everything was going as planned.

  My aunt stood and walked to the window. “It’s starting to get dark.”

  “We’ll leave for our walk soon. I sure wish we could go with the men to follow these guys, but they’re right; we need to stay here to make things look normal.”

  “Pulease! These brainiacs know things aren’t normal. Don’t you think they’ll wonder why we’re staying here alone? After all, they’ve been here twice, and I was attacked.”

  “You’re right, but do you have a better plan?”

  She hesitated, appearing to think things over. “No, not really.”

  “Are you nervous?” I asked. “Do you think you can follow through on this without having a panic attack?”

  “I do not have panic attacks, Sandra. Ever.”

  “Okay.” Something about her tone of voice made me feel just a tad meek. “Let’s get some bottled water to take with us. We might be out on the trail for quite a while.”

  “We’ll give it one hour. After that, if they haven’t shown up then they’re not going to.”

  Again, I heard something in her tone of voice. Oh! She was taking over. Uh, not on my watch.

  “We’ll give it as long as it takes, Aunt Martha. We’ll take our walk and lose ourselves in the woods, and then we’ll sneak back to keep an eye on the house. This isn’t my first rodeo, you know. I’ve done plenty of surveillances in my time.”

  She looked surprised. “You’re the boss.”

  I glanced at my watch.

  Layne and Pete pulled up to the front of the house and climbed out of the car. Griz and Scott opened the door of the Safe Room and joined my aunt and me.

  Griz winked at my aunt when he walked by, and the two men walked outside to talk to Pete and Layne. I noticed they used a lot of hand gestures while they spoke.

  “Don’t overact,” I said softly, watching out the window.

  Pete came to the door to tell me they were leaving. “We left the dogs in the Safe Room.”

  I nodded.

  Anyone watching would think he was telling me about the Jeep breaking down.

  The men piled into the motorhome and drove away.

  “Our turn,” I said. “We’re on. Let’s go.”

  “I’ll be back in a minute. I want to get the bottled water. If we were going for a long walk, we wouldn’t be going empty-handed.”

  “Good idea.”

  She returned with the water and two flashlights and we walked outside where we stood on the porch.

  I stretched, for effect, and pointed toward the woods. “We’ll go that way.”

  My aunt nodded and we started our walk, taking our time like we didn’t have a care in the world.

  “Maybe those brainiacs will think that we think we scared them off.” Aunt Martha took a sip of her water.

  I had a feeling she was more nervous than she was letting on.

  We started strolling down the path to the woods.

  “Where did Scott put the other thumb drive? Are you sure they’ll find it?” My aunt was starting to think things over and look at the details.

  “They put it in the other slipper. We saw the intruder check one slipper and find the drive. His first inclination will be to check the other one, I’m sure.”

  We walked – and we walked. It was darker in the woods than out on the path.

  Aunt Martha stopped and turned on her flashlight. “What if we run into them?”

  “If they’ve been watching us, they’ll have an idea of where we are. They’ll avoid us like the plague. They just want to get inside the house and take the flash drive.”

  “Thumb drive,” my aunt corrected.

  “Uh huh. Turning on your flashlight is a good idea. They’ll be able to keep track of us.”

  “And we want them to know where we’re at during all times.”

  “Yes, until we want to watch them. Then we turn off the flashlights.”

  “But how will we find our way back to the mansion?”

  “Trust me, Auntie. I’m paying attention to where we’re going. I know exactly where we are. And I did some scouting earlier. I paid attention to landmarks.”

  “Good work.” My aunt was beginning to understand how things worked.

  We turned south at her request. “I want to show you where the helicopter pad is.”

  So we were sightseeing, among other things. She showed me the location. It was well hidden and camouflaged. You’d never know it was there unless you were specifically looking for it, and even then it would be difficult to find. It was on the edge of the woods. She and Layne had found it by accident.

  We turned and headed back into the woods.

  I glanced at my watch again. We’d been walking for about half an hour.

  “Turn off your flashlight,” I said.

  I couldn’t see her face, but her voice sounded surprised. “No. Why would I do that?”

  “Don’t question me. Just do it.”

  Her light went out.

  “Mine has a couple of settings,” I explained. “I’m turning it to low and putting my fingers over the light so we’ll be able to see where we’re going but we won’t be so visible.”

  She put her hand on my arm so she wouldn’t lose track of me, but didn’t comment.

  We walked until we were near the mansion and I turned off the flashlight.

  “Now we wait,” I whispered.

  We found a couple of fake boulders and sat down, surrounded by tall bushes.

  My aunt sipped on her water.

  “Stop drinking,” I whispered.

  “Why? I’m thirsty.”

  “Because if you keep drinking, you’ll need to find a bush to take care of business. You’ve got to stop asking questions and do what I tell you.”

  She may have nodded – I don’t know – but she didn’t say anything.

  We heard a rustling noise in the bushes behind us.

  My aunt’s hand was suddenly squeezing my arm and I felt her stiffen.

  “Just a squirrel or something,” I said softly.

  “You know what I do when I’m afra
id of the dark?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “I sing, rather loudly. I figure it scares everything in the dark away. My mother taught me that; your grandmother.”

  As if I didn’t know who her mother was.

  She kept talking. “Graveyards are a good place to sing. They make me nervous. I’ve never walked down a dark alley at night, but I’ll bet I’d sing there. I wish there was a moon out tonight.”

  “I didn’t think anything scared you.”

  “You’d be surprised.”

  We heard the sound of a car and in a moment the brainiacs, as my aunt called them, came into view. They were wearing masks again, not taking any chances of being seen. There were two of them this time.

  They exited the car and held up a remote, opening the front door. It looked like they were carrying guns.

  My aunt squeezed my arm.

  “Don’t sing,” I said, keeping my voice down.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  We waited patiently, although the intruders weren’t in the house that long. Apparently they found the fake thumb drive.

  “I hope everyone’s in place,” I said. “Maybe we’ll get Trap back tonight.”

  “I hope so. Andrew is a very special young man.”

  We waited a few minutes, debating about whether to go back inside the mansion. The kidnappers surely wouldn’t be back.

  There was more rustling in the bushes, only this time it was much louder.

  My aunt started singing When the Saints Go Marching In at the top of her lungs and too fast. I turned my flashlight on her.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Didn’t you hear the noise? It’s something big this time.”

  She began singing again, only faster this time.

  At that moment, Bubba began howling. Clementine tried to join him, but she didn’t seem to quite know how to howl. It came out as a mere squeak.

  “Bubba, come,” I ordered.

  He ignored me and kept howling.

  “Aunt Martha, stop singing. You’re scaring the dogs.”

  Abruptly, she stopped and snorted, and she started laughing. I flashed my light at her again and she laughed so hard that she cried.

  Bubba stopped howling.

  Clementine ran over and jumped onto my lap, licking me for all she was worth. The poor little thing was terrified. She didn’t understand what was going on.

  I picked her up and looked her in the eye. She licked my nose, repeatedly, and I held her away.

  My aunt laughed even harder, if that was possible. She had trouble catching her breath. Was she hysterical? Should I slap her?

  “Clementine, stop licking,” I said. Even though she couldn’t reach my face, her tongue kept flicking. “And, Aunt Martha, get a grip.”

  I handed the little dog to my aunt, and she became the center of attention for all the licking.

  Bubba stood in front of me and grinned.

  The world had finally gone mad. At least, my little portion of it.

  I stood up. “Let’s go inside.”

  My aunt had stopped laughing, but every few seconds I’d hear a giggle. She put Clem down and the little one fell in behind Bubba.

  “This has got to be one of the craziest nights I’ve ever spent.” And I giggled, too.

  “Nerves,” my aunt said. “Although, that’s the best laugh I’ve had in years.” She seemed quite happy.

  “Again, all we can do is wait. I wonder how long it’ll take Pete and the guys to come home with Trap, which I have no doubt they’ll do. Think positive, Auntie.”

  “Let’s go see if those twerps took the bait.”

  “They left so quickly that I’m sure they found it.” I led the way back to the mansion.

  Yes, indeed, the fake drive was gone.

  “I sure wish we knew what they were planning,” I said. “It has to be something big for them to kidnap a famous billionaire and to go after his technical information.”

  “Really big.” Another giggle escaped my aunt’s lips. “Sorry, but every time I think about Bubba and Clementine howling, it just cracks me up. Is my singing that bad?”

  I avoided answering her. Yes, her singing could clear out a building full of people in thirty seconds flat.

  She didn’t push me. “I’ll go make us some tea.”

  “Good idea.”

  While she was gone, I paced around the living room, picking things up and setting them back down. This evening was going to be every bit as long as the day had been.

  The dogs watched each move I made. I felt like I was performing for them.

  My aunt returned with a tray bearing two tea cups and saucers and a plate of cookies. She handed me my cup and saucer. “Andrew seems to enjoy the finer things in life.”

  The pieces were white on white with gold trim, made of fine china.

  I noticed Bubba watching the plate of cookies. His nose twitched.

  My aunt giggled.

  “Okay, enough. It’s time for all of us to calm down.”

  I glanced at my mutt and laughed right along with my aunt.

  “You’re right, Aunt Martha. Nerves.”

  “I noticed you didn’t sing,” she said.

  “You sang enough for both of us.”

  The wait began.

  We sipped the tea and munched on thin, crispy cookies.

  I glanced at my watch. Time was practically standing still.

  “Would you like to play cards?” I asked.

  “I don’t know how.”

  “I’ll teach you, if I can find some cards.”

  “I’ll go look in the Safe Room. Cards would be something to help wile away the hours if you were stuck down there for a long time.” My aunt left us in the living room while she took my remote to open the door and went downstairs.

  I looked at the dogs. “I don’t know how you got out of that Safe Room, but I’m glad you did. I doubt that Aunt Martha has very many truly humorous moments in her life.”

  I looked at the clock on the mantle. Had it only been forty-three seconds since my aunt left the room? I pursed my lips before I sighed.

  Tick tock, tick tock. The moments dragged by.

  “I found a deck of cards.” Aunt Martha rejoined us.

  I taught her how to play War, a childhood game that I remembered. I didn’t think she was ready for poker, and I certainly didn’t want to insult her and play Old Maid.

  We played a couple of games and I glanced at the mantle clock again.

  Tick tock, tick tock.

  “Sandy, stop watching the clock. You can’t hurry time.”

  I nodded.

  I looked at Bubba when I heard a loud snore. He was sound asleep and dreaming. His legs were twitching. Or maybe it was because Clem was licking his face.

  I pushed my tea cup away and leaned back. The next thing I knew I was waking from a deep sleep.

  Glancing at my aunt, I noticed she was sleeping, too. Her mouth was open and I saw what I thought might be a speck of drool on her lip.

  The clock on the mantle showed that two hours had gone by, although it felt like at least five.

  “Aunt Martha,” I said, shaking her arm, “wake up.”

  “Huh?”

  “Wake up. It’s ten o’clock and the boys aren’t back yet.”

  She blinked a few times and dabbed at her lip before abruptly sitting up straight. “Ten o’clock you say? They should have been back by now.”

  “We don’t know where the brainiacs are keeping Trap, so there’s no telling how long they’ll be. I wish Pete would at least call and let us know what’s going on.” I felt like I was waiting to hear the results from a doctor after major surgery.

  Bubba was still sleeping soundly with Clem snuggled up to him, but he suddenly raised his head and went on doggie alert.

  “Someone’s coming,” I said. “Look at Bubba. He hears something.”

  My aunt held up her hand for silence. “I think I hear the motorhome coming.”

  I didn�
�t hear a thing. Her hearing was better than mine.

  She stood and walked to the window.

  After a moment I heard it, too. It was definitely the motorhome pulling in. Griz cut the engine and the door opened, followed by men’s voices and the slamming of the door.

  Aunt Martha turned on the outside light. “I don’t see Andrew.” She sounded like she might cry.

  I’d seen Layne jump when the light went on.

  “Don’t get excited,” I said. “Let’s wait to hear what they have to say.” I have to admit, I felt a little deflated, too.

  My blood pressure rose a notch when I realized there were only three men. Scott wasn’t among them.

  “Scott’s not here,” Aunt Martha said. “I hope the old goat didn’t let them catch him. What’ll we do? First Andrew was gone, and now Scott is missing, too.”

  “They don’t look upset,” I said. “That must mean something.”

  The men entered the house and stood, staring at us.

  “It’s almost over,” Pete said.

  “What’re you talking about?” I sounded a little panicky myself, I had to admit. “You come back without Trap and one man short? What’s going on?”

  Pete walked to me and gave me a hug. “Sit down and we’ll tell you all about it. Oh, and both Trap and Scott are okay.”

  Griz took my aunt by the hand and led her to the couch.

  I turned to Layne who looked almost jubilant. “I never thought my life could be this exciting,” he said. “I feel like an undercover police officer, or a spy. A spy would be better. Yes, I’d like to be a spy.”

  I rolled my eyes at him and sighed at Pete. “Give. What happened?”

  “Sit down.”

  I did.

  “They’re keeping Trap in a deserted strip mall about twenty miles from here. There were four small stores and they all went out of business a few years ago. They’ve set up one store like an office where they’ve got all kinds of computers and electronics. They’ve got Trap in another store where they’ve got him working on another computer.”

  “Did you talk to Andrew? Why didn’t he come back with you? Where’s Scott? Why are you just sitting here? Why aren’t you doing something?” My aunt sounded like she was on the verge of becoming the old Aunt Martha.