Joe glared at him. “Yeah, right. Just kids. Kids who killed an innocent man, a clerk at a 7-Eleven, and started a fire at their own high school, which totaled nearly fifty thousand in damage.”
“I didn’t do any of that, and how could you think my brother could even be involved? It was Samuel Herrington. He’s the one behind all of this. His men have been chasing us all over the country. I’m telling you, I’m being framed.”
Joe shook his head. “Highly unlikely. Your parent’s company, Hi-Core Industries, has been working with our authorities the entire time. Told us all about your folks, how they were always difficult employees. Never filing all their studies with the company, always taking off for days and weeks at a time. They found out they’ve been stealing private, secure information and moving it out of the lab and they discovered where it’s been going and I can tell you, it’s not to Herrington. Unless the guy is a genius covering his tracks, it’s another group entirely your folks are probably working with and don’t think for a moment someone isn’t looking into connections in Europe or the Middle East.
“Hi-Core has put a bounty on your head and you’re going to be turned over to their agents and my department will be millions richer. Rich enough to take care of the wife and three kids of that Scout Master you offed in your hometown.”
Michael beat at the bars. “They’re lying to you—to everyone. These are the same people who took my parents—who blew up my house. Please, you have to get us to the FBI, the CIA, someone. You can’t just turn us in for the money.”
“Oh, I can’t?” the officer spit out. “I think I very well can. So do us all a favor, kid, and stop pretending. The feigning innocence act isn’t working. We both know who and what you are and this complaining is just making you look stupid. You’re a spy just like your parents, and now a murderer, too.”
There was a jingling of keys and a door opened. Another cop brought Danny into the containment area. He was still sniffling but someone had been kind enough to give him a lollipop and he was sucking on it sadly. Michael could see the grape stain on his lips. The guards brought Danny over to another cell, directly across from Michael.
“At least put him in with me, for God’s sake,” Michael said. “He’s just a little kid.”
Officer Joe shook his head. “Not a shot. He might be a little kid, but I’ve got explicit instructions to keep you two separated, though I think this whole thing is a load of crap. None of our guys have seen any sign of anything from this kid. All he did was bawl in the backseat.” He stormed over to Michael’s cell, his face so full of anger and disgust Michael stepped back fearfully. “But I will tell you this. I think it’s despicable what your family has done. I love this country and would do anything for it, and to think your parents put me and my family in jeopardy.” The officer glared at him.
Michael spoke softly. “I didn’t kill anyone.” He was stunned at this change of events. What people thought of him. What he was being accused of.
“Yeah, right. Lucky for you Hi-Core’s coming. They’ve supposedly got lawyers coming out of their ears and are working with the FBI, Homeland Security, and anyone you can think of to find out the depths of depravity your family has committed. If Herrington wasn’t so well lawyered, he’d be sitting where you are right now as well. Rotting in a jail cell, where you both belong in my opinion. Trust me, I won’t lose any sleep thinking about you in a United States prison.” He turned and opened the door to the containment area, pausing to put the keys back on the peg. One last look at them and he left, slamming the door shut behind him.
As soon as they were alone, Danny ran up to the bars of his cell and thrust his hands through. Realizing he couldn’t reach his brother he sat on the cot and started to cry again.
Michael signed to him. “Are you okay, Birdman?”
Big tears ran down Danny’s cheeks. “I want to be with you.”
“I want to be with you, too, but the important thing to remember is we’re both okay.” He trudged around his cell. He had to come up with an idea, fast. He slammed his fist against the wall in frustration. What were they going to do? He’d promised Danny he wouldn’t let anything happen to them, but here they were, locked up in jail cells and now everyone in the country thought he was a killer and Herrington’s people were on the way to get him. Loneliness and despair washed over him, filling his heart with dread.
Frustrated, he paced his cell, when suddenly he had an idea. He snapped his fingers and turned to his brother. It was a long shot, but hell, why not give it a try?
“Danny, can you do anything else, besides talk to birds?”
Danny shrugged his shoulders.
Michael pressed him. “I mean, do you have any other powers I don’t know about, yet? Can you move things with your mind or can you make people do things?”
Danny made a face and shook his head no.
He started pacing again. Think. Think. He sat on the bare cot and put his head in his hands. Sitting there, he felt a light breeze against his temple. He absently brushed aside a strand of hair on his forehead. Glancing up, he noticed the barred, narrow window against the far wall of his cell. He quickly ran over and peered out. There was only about five inches of space between the bars and Michael could only tilt his hand sideways and push it through. He groped around outside but all he could feel was the cold concrete and the cool outside air.
He turned back to Danny and started signing excitedly. “Danny, can you call birds to you if you needed to?”
Danny nodded. “But Mommy told me not to call them unless they come to me first. Unless she used the machine.”
“The machine actually calls birds to you?” Michael asked.
Danny nodded. “Mommy says the waves call them, but I don’t know what that means. But, I don’t need the machine. I can still call them by myself. Mommy says the machine just finds the ones who are looking for the light the hardest. It sends out some really strong light stuff the birds look for, but I can make a light, too. Just like the machine. Do you want me to show you?”
“Yes. Do it, Danny. Call some really small birds to come help us. Remember—think small. They have to be able to fit through the window.”
Danny walked over to his own window and put his hands together. He lowered his head and shut his eyes tight and Michael saw a bright yellow light emanate from his hands. First it lit up his palms and then it spread quickly to his fingers until they were bathed in the light, the yellow splitting into the colors of the spectrum as they intertwined like rainbows between his fingers. Michael stood enthralled, amazed that his brother actually had the power to summon this type of magic. His gaze flitted to Danny’s window and he gasped when a delicate little hummingbird, no more than four inches long from the tip of her bill to the tip of her tail, suddenly alighted on the windowsill in Danny’s cell. Danny peered at his brother, smiling. “See, I told you I could do it. This is Mrs. Carmichael. Isn’t she pretty?” He put his hand out. Mrs. Carmichael flew into the cell and perched gently on Danny’s finger. “She saw the light and wants to know if I can send her there.” He looked at Michael expectantly. “Can I?”
Michael shook his head. “Not yet. Can she understand me if I talk to her?”
The bird chirped and spread her wings.
“See, she understands you,” signed Danny, one handed.
After getting over his initial shock, Michael spoke directly to the bird. “Mrs. Carmichael, we need your help. My brother can definitely send you on to the light, but first we need you to do us a favor. Some people have locked us up because they want to abuse the powers that Danny has. You know what he does is good. He can send people on to the light who can’t find their way. We just need you to get us those keys hanging on the peg over there,” he pointed. “If you can just bring them to me, I promise Danny will try to send you to the light.”
The bird made no reaction. Michael turned to his brother. “Did she understand me?”
Danny shut his eyes and concentrated. Then he nodded. “She
understands, but first she wants to know if the light is a good or bad place. She doesn’t know, and that’s why she hasn’t tried to go there yet. She’s scared.”
Michael sighed and spoke to Mrs. Carmichael. “I wish I had an answer for you, but I don’t. I really have no idea if the light is good or bad, but my brother has been able to see more of its qualities than anyone. He feels that it’s a good place, a safe place everyone is drawn to. Is that what you’re looking for?”
Mrs. Carmichael didn’t move and Michael thought she didn’t understand when suddenly she flew over to the peg and rested on its hook. There were five keys on the chain, which were well over half her size. The bird slowly shoved the key chain with her beak and feet and pushed it forward on the peg until it dropped to the floor. Then she flew down and dragged the chain, inch by inch, until Michael could reach his hands out through the cell bars and grab it from her.
“Thank you,” he said, as he unlocked his cell door. Then, he ran over to Danny’s and unlocked his as well. Both boys then turned to Mrs. Carmichael. “Are you ready to go?” Michael asked, gently.
Mrs. Carmichael sat in the hallway for some time, apparently making up her mind. Then, she slowly lifted and flew into Danny’s outstretched hands where he gently cradled her shivering body. Danny closed his eyes and seemed to be whispering to the bird. Mrs. Carmichael relaxed in his palms.
Suddenly, a bright white light shot from his hands illuminating the room for a brief second and then quickly vanished.
Mrs. Carmichael’s bird body immediately collapsed. Danny opened his eyes and glanced up at the window. Michael followed his gaze and could swear he saw a faint shadow shoot up out of his brother’s hands and soar through the window.
Danny laid Mrs. Carmichael gently on the bunk and smiled. “She’s happy. She told me so as she flew up to the light. She’s not scared anymore.”
Michael took a deep breath. “You did awesome, Birdman. Let’s get out of here.”
They made their way down the steps and started to tiptoe through the corridor on the right. That’s when they heard the cops talking to someone on the phone.
“No, they’re locked up good. There’s no way they can get out.” The officer paused, and then his voice rose up defensively. “No, I don’t have anyone with them. I told you, I locked them up. What do you think they’re gonna do? Fly away? They’re steel bars.” There was some more arguing and finally the officer slammed the phone down, exasperated. Michael heard him address another cop. “The folks at Hi-Core think the kids are gonna get out somehow. Do me a favor, Ray. Just take a look since the cameras are down. Gotta fix those things for times like this.”
The other cop muttered something Michael couldn’t hear, but he was sure it wasn’t good.
Michael and Danny turned and instead of going back upstairs they ran down the hall going in the opposite direction. At the end of the corridor they came to a stairway and two long hallways jutted off, going left and right. Doors lined the two halls. Michael turned left, and tried each door, but all of them were locked.
He broke out in a desperate sweat, searching for someplace for them to hide when he heard Officer Ray running back down the stairs screaming at the top of his lungs. “Everyone, get out here now. They escaped.”
Michael felt a tug on his elbow. Danny pointed to a door off to their left he hadn’t noticed before. It was obstructed by a large metal garbage can. Michael ran over and moved the can aside and opened the door. It led into a storage room. He ushered Danny inside and locked the door, just as he heard the rest of the cops join in the hunt.
They moved farther into the room, searching for either a place to hide or a way out. He heard the officers run down the hall, trying the doors. “They didn’t pass us so they must have come this way. Don’t worry, they couldn’t have gone far. Martinson, check the doors on the left. Walsh, check the ones on the right.” Someone tried the storage room door.
“Hey, Joe!” someone yelled. “What’s behind here?”
“It’s the storage room. Why, is it locked?”
“Yeah, go get me the master keys. My key won’t work on this lock. We’ve got to try every room in this hallway, locked or not. I’ll bet my share of the five million they found a way into one of them. Hurry. Hi-Core’s people will be here in less than an hour, and I want these kids found before they get here. I’m not going to have us blow five million dollars because of incompetence.” Michael heard the man turn away from the door to try another one.
Frantically, he searched the room. The ceiling was lit by a row of emergency lights, enough to see his general surroundings. The room was overcrowded with equipment and storage shelves. He squeezed by a tall metal storage shelf which stretched across the entire room and stood nearly eight feet high. When he turned, he hit the edge of the next shelf with his shoulder. He couldn’t imagine how the cops found anything in this place.
Looking up he saw the shelf next to him stacked high with ammonia bottles, buckets, sponges, and a whole assortment of products. Another ledge was lined with police uniforms. Everything from shirts and pants, to riot gear and all-purpose jackets.
The last unit was filled with survival gear. Flashlights, lanterns, dry food rations. Michael grabbed one of the flashlights and turned it on. The beam was strong. He searched through the piles for anything he could use to protect them. He found a pocketknife and grabbed it to replace the one the cop had taken from him, but he didn’t feel it would be a good match against a gun. He also grabbed a can of Mace and stuffed it in his pocket.
Finally, he found something he thought might at least delay the officers for a while—a blow up raft. Michael took it down and dragged it to the door. Then, after pushing Danny back so he wouldn’t get in the way, he pulled on the cord. With a loud hiss, the raft inflated to a full five feet by nine feet. Michael wedged it in front of the door and ran back to the shelf for some industrial tape. He stretched it across the raft, securing it to the walls, the shelves, everything and anything that was near the door. Then he grabbed a metal file cabinet next to the wall and pushed it in front of the raft. Standing back, he paused, considering his work. If anyone tried to get in, they would first have to rip the raft away from the door and then get through all the other obstacles. He turned, staring around the room and trying to figure out how he was going to get out of it.
In the distance, Michael heard the cops coming back, the hollow echo of their shoes on the tile floor growing louder as they neared. The sound of keys jingling made his skin crawl. He swept the flashlight around the room again and in the far upper left hand corner of the ceiling he saw a hole in the tiles. He jumped over some boxes to get a better look. The flashlight showed him that the entire ceiling was suffering water damage and many of the tiles were lying on the floor. Above, just like in the movies, there seemed to be an air conditioning vent lined with piping which ran above the ceiling. They didn’t have much choice.
“Danny, come here.”
Danny ran over while Michael climbed up one of the metal-shelving units. Halfway up, he turned and signed again to Danny. “Grab my hand and crawl up me. I’ll lift you into the hole and then I’ll follow you, okay?”
Danny nodded.
There was a muffled grunt as one of the cops tried to open the storage room door. Michael’s barricade was working. The door wouldn’t give.
“Dammit, what the hell is wrong with this lock?” Michael heard the cop ask. “Did you give me the right keys?”
Without waiting to hear more, Michael took a deep breath and, yanking on Danny’s arm, helped him to climb up and then pushed him into the narrow space. The shelving unit tottered under his weight and he practically threw his brother into the vent and through the ceiling tiles, which crumbled like paper-mache and scattered all around him. Once Danny was safely through, Michael hoisted himself onto the shelf as far as he could and grabbed onto the pipes, pulling himself through the narrow opening. It was tight for Danny, but worse for him. His jeans ripped against the notche
s on the pipe and his shoulders were crushed against the sides of the vent. This was not like the movies where you simply crawled through a clean, smooth aluminum tube.
Michael patted Danny on his rump and his brother moved tentatively further, balancing himself on top of the pipes.
There was a sudden sharp cracking sound, like an axe being hit against the door, and he knew he had to hurry. He shined his flashlight in the direction he wanted Danny to go. They crawled another fifteen feet before Michael heard the officers finally get into the storage room and a loud explosion as the raft blew apart. The officer’s shouts to search the room echoed through the vent, bouncing off the aluminum walls.
Michael glanced down at a light coming from the grating vent below him and saw a row of urinals and green and white floor tile. He tugged on Danny’s foot to get his attention and then lifted the grate, lowering himself into the bathroom, squeezing through the opening like toothpaste trying to get through the tube. He hung from the pipe and jumped the extra four feet to the ground.
“Come on, Danny, I’ll catch you,” he signed, as Danny balanced from above. First, Danny let his legs dangle, and then he dropped sideways into Michael’s arms, pushing him close to the floor from the force.
“Let’s get out of here,” Michael said, standing up. He partially opened the door to get a view of the outside hall. They were back in the original passageway, right next to the stairs, which led up to the cells. No one was in sight, but Michael could hear the cops around the corner, cursing in the storage room. Michael grabbed Danny’s hand and they quietly made their way out into the hall and past the room where they had first heard the cop speaking to Herrington’s men on the phone.
The hallway twisted again, but Michael could now see exit signs in bold, neon red and followed them outside.
Once free, Michael headed quickly for the two police cruisers in the lot. He felt conspicuous in the well-lit area and moved fast. Unfortunately, both of the cars were locked. “Damn, I was hoping we could use these.”
As Michael thought of what to do, he heard motors approaching. He grabbed Danny and they raced around the side of the building, where they wouldn’t be seen from the road.
Flying to the Light Page 10