Hear the Children Calling

by Clare McNally

  As Natalie made strange noises behind the gag, the guard plunged a needle into her arm. It hurt like hell—he was no professional—but within moments pain didn’t matter. Natalie slumped back into darkness.

  Carefully, the guard shut and locked the door again. Then he went to see what damage the police might have done and how much he had to cover to keep himself on Adams’ good side.

  45

  A SHAFT OF LIGHT POURED THROUGH THE HOLE IN the roof of the cave, warming Michael’s face. Still asleep, he tightened his eyes until something in his brain told him he couldn’t shut out the light and forced him to wake up. Groggily, he pulled himself to his feet, scratching his head. His skin itched from the fine layer of dirt that had come to rest over his body, and his mouth had a disgusting taste. For a few moments, he just stood there, not really thinking and hardly seeing the other two sleeping figures. In spite of all their efforts to keep watch for the grown-ups, they had finally fallen asleep.

  As he became more wakeful, Michael was aware of an urgent need to relieve himself. He moved toward the far wall and started to unzip his jeans. Then he remembered Jenny’s presence. Worried she might wake up and see him, he crossed the room to the passageway. Even though he hadn’t had a thing to drink since last night, he peed as if he’d taken in quarts of water. His stomach hurt and he wished there was something for breakfast. Michael thought of the great pancakes his mother used to make and of the French toast his father learned to prepare after his mother disappeared. Tears rose in his eyes, making them sting. He rubbed them away, determined not to cry. Crying wouldn’t change things.

  Because his mother and father weren’t really his mother and father. They had lied to him.

  Jenny was stirring, and her moans started Tommy waking up. In a moment, they were both sitting, looking up at Michael.

  “I feel gross,” Jenny said.

  “I’m starving,” Tommy put in.

  Michael frowned at them. “Is that all you guys think about? After what we read last night . . .”

  Jenny crawled over to her bag and took out a comb. Tommy shook his head, supposing that only a girl would think to run away with a comb. As she worked it through her hair, she said, “Michael, we don’t understand everything we read in those papers. You didn’t even see our names.”

  “Oh, yea?” Michael answered. He picked up the file folder, now neatly put together again, and opened it. He read, “Subject: Male, Age three. Signs of possible telepathy, pyrokinesis. Quick response to treatment. Surrogate parents number 23517. Subject: Female, age four. Telepathy, telekinesis. Stronger treatment needed. Surrogate parents number 58672. Subject: Female, Age three—”

  “Okay, already,” Tommy snapped. “So we’re part of some weird project? I never did feel my mother really loved me, and now I know why. It’s kind of a relief, you guys. This may be weird, but I’m glad she’s not my mother. Then at least I know it wasn’t my fault she treated me like that.”

  Jenny nodded solemnly. “Me, too. Alice was just too mean to me, and even though Daddy was nice, he never stopped her being that way.”

  Michael put the folder down on a rock and sat beside it. “I guess if my parents had been like that,” he said, “I’d feel the way you guys did. But my mom and dad were really good to me. My dad was the best, only now I found out he lied to me. He never told me I was adopted.”

  “Maybe he couldn’t,” Jenny said. “Maybe he was afraid.”

  Michael looked over at her. Now that she’d combed her long dark hair, she looked neat and clean despite the dirt smudges on her face.

  “He did try to get you out of there,” Jenny went on. “And since he gave you that file it means he was going to explain everything. Maybe he was even going to tell you about your real parents.”

  “I don’t think I want to know mine,” Tommy growled. “They gave me up.”

  Jenny shook her head. “I’m not sure. Do you remember that lady I told you about? I saw her again last night, when I was dreaming. I mean, it felt like a dream, but it felt real too. The way it is when I see someone or hear voices. I tried to ignore her, but she kept calling to me. She said that a man was coming to help me and that I should keep listening until she could tell me where he would be. She said the man would look a lot like me because . . .” She drew in a deep breath. “Because he’s my real father.”

  Michael’s eyes rounded. “That lady is your mother?”

  “I don’t know,” Jenny said. “But I know she’ll help us.”

  “She’s an Outsider,” Tommy warned.

  “There aren’t any Outsiders,” Michael snapped. “It’s just a big lie Adams made up. Jenny, where are we supposed to meet this guy?”

  “She didn’t tell me,” Jenny said. “I think he’s on an airplane, coming here. I keep trying to contact the lady, but there’s nothing there.”

  “Maybe she’s asleep,” Michael suggested.

  “I think so,” Jenny agreed. She looked up at the hole in the roof. “Sure do wish we knew what time it was.”

  “Time for us to get out of here,” Tommy said. “We’ve stayed too long for this hideout to be safe. Jenny, Michael, can you sense if anyone’s nearby?”

  Both children closed their eyes and concentrated. Jenny shook her head, then Michael.

  “It’s clear, as far as I can tell,” Jenny said. “But you can bet there’ll be another search team out. We’d better go while we can.”

  Gathering their things, the three children walked single-file through the passageway and out into the valley. They saw now that they were facing a roadway, about sixty yards ahead of them. It was fined with a Cyclone fence, and when they drew closer, they saw a sign on it that read: ST. MARTHA’S RIDGE. Cigarette butts and an occasional crushed can littered the otherwise peaceful scenery. None of the children could be sure it was left behind by tourists or by the search team. They followed the road for a while, sensing there was no one nearby, until Michael stopped and said, “Someone’s calling me.”

  “I don’t hear anything,” Tommy said.

  “In my head,” Michael said. “It’s that girl, the one with red hair like me. She’s really nearby.”

  “She may be with someone from the center,” Jenny warned.

  Michael stopped and closed his eyes. In his mind, he saw the red-haired girl, looking as dirty and disheveled as he. What had happened to her? he wondered. And with her was a man he hardly recognized for the bruises on his face.

  His father!

  “My dad got away,” Michael cried. “He’s coming to look for me.”

  “And Adams is probably following him,” Tommy said. “Come on, Michael, let’s get off this road. It isn’t safe. That sign over there says Albuquerque is in that direction, so we should make our way there.”

  “But my father.”

  “If your father is looking for us,” Jenny said, “it’d be safer to meet him in the city. Dr. Adams wouldn’t dare try anything with other people around.”

  Michael hesitated, but Tommy pulled on his arm. “Come on! Your dad and that other girl will find us easy enough, but we can’t walk into a trap. We’ve got to get to the city before Adams starts looking for us again.”

  Nodding in reluctant agreement, Michael followed his friends into the crevice between the huge boulders. A moment later, there was no sign at all of the three children.

  46

  AT PRECISELY ELEVEN A.M. MOUNTAIN TIME, THE wheels of Flight 444 from Boston bumped hard on the ground, waking Danny Emerson from a deep sleep. He gazed out the window as the plane taxied to its final destination. The airport was washed with a mellow, soft light, beaming down from a sun that hung in a clear blue sky.

  Danny didn’t have Kate’s sense of ESP, but somehow he could feel Laura’s presence. She was there, somewhere, in those mountains. Locked up in a horror town called the LaMane Center. But he’d get her out as soon as he could, even if it meant storming the place and taking her forcibly. As long as Kate was able to contact their daughter, Laura would
know he was coming and she’d be ready.

  When he disembarked the plane, burdened with only a large overnight bag, he hurried toward the exit. He paused at the coffeeshop, thinking he might need sustenance. But it was just a moment’s pause. Laura was waiting for him, after all.

  He noticed, but hardly registered, the souvenir shop two doors down from the cafeteria. There was a strange hole in the middle of the glass window, with cracks radiating from it. A yellow police banner blocked off the area.

  He was passing the Rent-a-Car desk when he casually glanced at a young woman sitting on a nearby bench. He wouldn’t even have given her a second thought if the woman didn’t stir suddenly and sit up, stretching her arms. Danny stopped in his tracks. Could that be who he thought it was?

  He went to the woman and leaned forward a little, looking down at her.

  “Jill? Jill Sheldon?”

  For a moment, she didn’t recognize her old schoolmate. Then a big smile spread across her face. “Danny Emerson,” she cried. “What on earth are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same question,” Danny said.

  “It—it would be hard to explain,” Jill said. “I’ve been waiting on a rental car and haven’t had any luck yet.”

  Danny studied her for a moment. Was it only coincidence to find a friend here? A woman who had also lost a child when she was living in Wheaton, Michigan? He ventured a guess. “We’re both looking for our children, aren’t we?”

  Jill gasped.

  “I’m right, then,” Danny said. Jill moved the overnight bag she’d used for a pillow last night and Danny took a seat. “What do you know so far?”

  Jill told him all that had happened, ending with the incident up on the mountains the previous night.

  Danny whistled softly. “These people aren’t kidding around,” he said.

  “We could have figured that out already,” Jill grumbled. “They kidnapped our children.”

  “We’ll get them back, Jill,” Danny vowed. “Now that we aren’t alone, we’ll be stronger.”

  Jill nodded in agreement. Danny Emerson had gone to school with her back in Wheaton, a member of the football team who had been taken in by a pro team. She wondered why he’d quit, and guessed it had something to do with Laura’s death. But she didn’t ask, realizing it was all a moot point now. Laura was no more dead than Ryan.

  She stood up, stretching. Her muscles felt like frayed rubber bands. “I don’t know about you,” she said, “but I can’t do a damned thing if I don’t have another cup of coffee. It’s my fourth this morning. We’ve got a big day ahead of us, so we’d better fortify ourselves and make some definite plans.”

  “I’m all for that,” Danny said.

  In the coffeeshop, Jill said, “You don’t know how happy I am that you’re here, Danny. But where’s Kate?”

  Danny explained what had happened to the boys and how his wife had a breakdown.

  “Two boys,” Jill cried. “Are they . . .” She paused for the right words, but Danny filled in.

  “They aren’t like Laura,” Danny said. “Chris and Joey were born after Laura disappeared. By God’s hand, that is. I’m afraid I rushed Kate into taking that horrible drug because I was so anxious to have a child.”

  Jill nodded, understanding. After four years of trying, she was an easy target for Ronald Preminger herself, although it had been Jeff who recommended that she see him.

  “How we could have been so stupid—” she began.

  “We weren’t stupid,” Danny said. “We were two young couples with a normal desire to have a family. And no matter what we say about Neolamane, it did give us our children. It was the lab people who took them away.”

  Jill drank some coffee. “So, where do we start today?” she asked.

  “I’ll give Kate a call,” Danny said. “She’s been trying to keep in contact with our daughter, to tell her I’m coming. If she was able to reach her, then we’ll have an idea where the children might be.”

  “The pay phone is right across the hall,” Jill said. She opened her purse and handed him a roll of quarters. “Ten dollars ought to give you a few minutes.”

  She wouldn’t listen to Danny’s protests about taking the money, so he got up and went to the pay phone. When he reached it, he instinctively began to dial his home number. Then, remembering where Kate really was, he made a call to the hospital. A recorded voice asked for more money, and he deposited quarter after quarter until the call went through.

  Kate’s voice was so clear that he knew she was wide awake, and probably had been for hours.

  “Kate, you’re not going to believe this,” Danny said, “but Jill Sheldon is here. She says she got messages from her son the way you heard from Laura.”

  “Thank God you’re not alone,” Kate said. “There’s safety in numbers, and I think you’re going to need to take all the precautions you can get. I reached Laura last night.”

  “Where is she, Kate?” Danny asked anxiously.

  “She isn’t exactly sure,” Kate said. “And I’m not certain I convinced her of our sincerity. But this morning I saw her again. She didn’t acknowledge me, but I saw a sign that might help. She’s in the mountains, Danny, near a place called St. Marta’s Ridge. At least she was an hour ago. Danny, she’s run away from the center. She’s stranded in those mountains with two little boys.”

  “Keep trying her, Kate,” Danny urged. “I’m going to hang up now and get a map. I’ll call back in two hours, okay?”

  “I love you, Danny,” Kate said. “Please, bring our baby girl home to me?”

  “I won’t leave here without her,” Danny said. He hung up and went back to the coffeeshop. Jill had already paid the bill and was waiting at the door. Danny relayed Kate’s message.

  “They ran away?” Jill gasped. “Now what do we do? How are we ever going to find them out there?”

  “Kate says she thinks the children are near a place called St. Marta’s Ridge,” Danny reported. “Do you know where that is?”

  Jill shook her head, then bent down to pull her map from the pocket of her overnight bag. Carrying it to a wooden bench, they spread it across their laps and studied the territory around Albuquerque.

  Jill was the one to find it, and she pointed. “Look, it’s right next to where the Balloon Festival is taking place,” she said. “I bet we could use that to our advantage.”

  She told Danny about the festival taking place that day. Then she glanced at her watch. “It’s early still. If we hurry, we can get there while the balloonists are still setting up. I’m sure we can convince someone to give us the first ride. Once we’re up, we’ll have a good view. And this”—she took out her telescope—“will improve our view.”

  “This,” Danny countered, stealthily opening his wallet to show it was stuffed with money, “will help us bribe one of the aeronauts.”

  As they passed the shattered window of the boutique, curiosity got the better of Danny and he stopped to question the young security guard.

  Tito shook his head. He had related this story many times over and still hadn’t gotten tired of the attention it brought him.

  “Craziest thing I ever saw,” he said. “This guy had somehow jumped through the window, and it cut his body right in half.”

  Jill shuddered and Danny felt something ice up in his big chest.

  “There were two other guys inside,” Tito said. “One of them was dead, but the other one had had a heart attack. I don’t even know if he’s alive.”

  “What in the name of God happened?” Danny asked.

  “There was a woman here who said she was the dead guy’s mother-in-law,” Tito said. “She said some crazy people were after them, that they took their granddaughter. I don’t doubt it, if you just look at the place.”

  Something about his words set off an alarm in Jill’s head.

  “Someone took their child?” she asked. “Could you—could you possibly tell us the woman’s name?”

  “Sure,” the yo
ung security guard said. “It’s been in all the papers. Lillian Blair.”

  It didn’t ring a bell, so Jill pressed on. “How about her son-in-law?”

  “Him?” Tito thought a moment. “I think his name was Morrison, or Morse. I’m pretty sure his first name was Stuart.”

  “Stuart Morse,” Danny repeated.

  “We aren’t alone, then,” Jill said.

  They quickly thanked the guard for his information and went on their way. As they exited the airport into the clean, cool morning air, Jill had a stern reminder.

  “Those people murdered our friend,” she said. “Hideously, and in view of witnesses. Yet no one seems to know what happened. It should give us pause and make us think what these creeps are capable of pulling off.”

  They crossed the parking lot to where the rental cars were waiting. Jill’s was easy enough to find. Other than the one she’d brought back last night, it was the only car in this part of the lot. She realized how lucky she was to have it.

  “We have to trick them,” Jill said. “We have to call the children to us, but in a way that they won’t be discovered until it’s too late. The LaMane people are still looking for my original rental, and we can’t let them find out we switched cars until we have those children on board a flight out of here, safe.”

  Jill glanced across the parking lot at the spire of the airport chapel.

  “I wish we had time to say a prayer,” she said. “I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

  47

  LOU VERMONT’S WIFE BLOCKED THE VIEW OF THE television set, snapping the screen off and setting her hands on her ample hips. She wore a bright-red apron over her dress, decorated with a dozen child-size hand prints. It was the one she wore every Saturday when her grandchildren came to have dinner with her.

  “You are not going to sit in front of the TV set,” she said. “Hilary and Davie are bringing the kids today. And Julie and Sam said they may come, too. You’ll be so tired you won’t be able to pay attention to them.”

  Lou rubbed his eyes with a thumb and forefinger. How long had he been watching those films? He looked at his watch. It was nearly eight o’clock.