The Super Spies and the Pied Piper

by Lisa Orchard

  Scrambling up the steps, Sarah rushed inside where she found her mother and aunt engaged in a tearful reunion. “Mom!”

  Her mother turned toward her and swooped over, giving Sarah a bear hug. “Oh honey, it’s good to see you,” she whispered into her hair.

  Tears rolled down Sarah’s cheeks once again. She cried away the ache that had taken up residence in her heart when her parents disappeared. She pulled away and dried her eyes.

  Her mother stroked her hair and inspected her. “You certainly have grown since I saw you last.”

  Sarah studied her mother’s face, making sure the moment was real. She gazed into her green eyes that were so much like her own and saw the worry there. Her mother had lost weight. Sarah could tell because her eyes appeared larger in her face. There were new wrinkles too, and the worry line between her brows was more pronounced. A lump rose in Sarah’s throat as she took in the changes in her mother’s appearance. She knew the last few months had taken a toll on her.

  Her father cleared his throat. “Okay… let’s all take a seat and I’ll explain everything.”

  Sarah pulled her mother toward the couch and squeezed in between Scoop and Lacey. Her heart thundered in her chest as she waited to hear her father’s story.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mr. Robinson was the last to enter. He closed the door and gave everyone a tight smile. Rubbing his head with a nervous hand, he glanced around the room. His intelligent blue eyes accessed everyone with a calculating look. His long nose seemed too large for his face and he seemed uncomfortable. He rested his lanky body against the door with his hands clasped behind his back.

  Sarah shifted in her seat and focused on her father while she held her mother’s hand. Lacey sat on the other side of their mother and clung to her as if she were afraid if she let go of her she would disappear. Sarah understood the feeling; after all she had disappeared once already.

  Scoop sat next to Sarah. He fidgeted, cleaning his glasses and running his hand through his snow white hair.

  Sarah’s father cleared his throat and looked at the FBI agents. “I just want to clear up any misunderstanding.” He gave Sarah and Lacy a smile before continuing. “There has been no kidnapping here. I’m here under my own volition and so is my wife.”

  Sarah’s mother nodded and gave her daughter’s hand a quick squeeze.

  “I don’t understand,” Sarah protested. “Why did you disappear? Why didn’t you call us?”

  “Yeah.” Lacey dropped her mother’s hand. She twisted the hem of her shirt in her fingers. “We were really worried about you.”

  Another spurt of anger ignited in Sarah’s belly and travelled throughout her body. Her fingers tingled with it and she fidgeted in her seat. Her mother squeezed her hand. Sarah was sure the squeeze was meant to settle her down.

  Her father held up his hand to ward off the questions. “Please, I’ll explain everything.” He exhaled a deep sigh and glanced around. “You know, I could use a chair.”

  Mr. Robinson straightened to his full height and left the room. He returned seconds later with what appeared to be a dining room chair. He set it in front of her father and quickly returned to his original position.

  Aunt June who stood next to him gave Mr. Robinson an unsure smile. Sarah read the question in her aunt’s eyes. Are you friend or foe? Sarah wondered the same thing. What is Mr. Robinson’s role in this whole mess? And why do I get the feeling there’s more to this story than what my dad is about to tell us now?

  She gave her father a long look. Her skin prickled. There’s something going on here. “Okay, Dad. We’re all ready. Tell us the story.”

  He gave her a nod and then glanced at Mr. Robinson. A look passed between them and Sarah’s radar turned up a notch. It was a look of silent communication. She’d seen looks like that pass between her parents millions of times. Pressing her lips into a tight line, Sarah stared at her father. This story is going to be good.

  He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “This whole thing started when I received a call from Mr. Robinson while your mom and I were on vacation.”

  “That’s right.” Her mother nodded a little too vigorously.

  “Anyway,” her father continued. “He called and he was very concerned about his son.” He paused and shifted in his seat again. “You see… Mikey was very sick. It seems he had a reaction to a drug my company makes and he wanted me to come up with another drug to counteract the negative effects.”

  “Why couldn’t you tell us? I don’t get it?” Sarah’s heart was heavy with hurt and her eyes misted over.

  “Yeah, Dad. That’s really kind of lame,” Lacey said with a pouty look, but her eyes flashed with anger. “I mean we were sick with worry.”

  Sarah sent him a pointed look. “That was totally inconsiderate.”

  He stared at the floor and heaved a heavy sigh. “I understand your frustration.” He glanced at his wife and gave her a pleading look.

  “There are extenuating circumstances that we can talk about later,” Sarah’s mother said, patting both girls on their knees. “You’ll understand everything. I promise.”

  Sarah gave a stiff nod, but inside she was boiling. How could they do that to us? What could possibly be the extenuating circumstances? And how can any circumstances justify what my parents did? She stared down at the floor trying to restrain her anger. It raged through her body like a forest fire out of control. Bitter tears welled in her eyes as she thought about all the nights she had lain awake feeling guilty about the last time she’d seen her parents. The anger burned away her guilty feelings. Serves them right.

  Her mother must have sensed Sarah’s burning fury because she leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. “You’ll understand everything. Just give us a chance to explain.”

  Sarah tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry as dirt.

  Agent Gray had been watching the scene with a dispassionate eye. “What about your employee?”

  Mr. Robinson stirred from his position and seemed to come back to life. “What do you mean?”

  Agent Gray stood to his full height and his shoulders seemed to fill the room. “He was caught red-handed abducting this young girl.” He tilted his head toward Sarah, never taking his eyes off of Mr. Robinson.

  Mr. Robinson held his hands up in a surrender position and said, “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “Really?” Agent Gray asked in a voice filled with sarcastic disbelief.

  “Yes. Really.” Mr. Robinson crossed his arms over his chest and gave the FBI man a challenging stare.

  “We’ll have to see about that. We’re going to go down and question the suspect.”

  “Be my guest.” Mr. Robinson stepped away from the door and allowed the agent to walk through. “He acted on his own volition.”

  “We’ll be back.” He motioned for Agent Black to follow him and then gave Mr. Robinson a long hard stare before walking out of the room.

  They sat in silence waiting for the outer door to close; the signal they could speak freely.

  “All right. He’s gone. Now tell us everything,” Sarah demanded, clenching her hands into fists.

  Her father gave her an imploring look and heaved a heavy sigh. “All right… we really were kidnapped.” He gave Mr. Robinson a measured look and then continued. “We were on vacation in Jamaica when Burton grabbed us and forced us into a car at gunpoint.” He paused.

  Sarah scowled. “What?” Before her father could answer she stared and Mr. Robinson and gave him a frosty glare.

  He gave her a non-committal shrug and averted his eyes.

  “That’s right,” her father responded and raised his eyebrows at Sarah.

  She stared at him as rage swirled through her body like hot smoke. “Why?” she managed to choke out before her anger took over her senses.

  “The reason I explained before, my company created a drug his son reacted to. He wants me to come up with an antidote or a cure before his son dies.”

&nb
sp; “And you couldn’t call us?” Sarah asked. The fury reached the surface and angry tears filled her eyes.

  “I didn’t want to call you at first because I was afraid Mr. Robinson would come after you if I couldn’t come up with an antidote.” Frustrated tears welled in her father’s eyes.

  Sarah was taken aback. She’d never seen her father cry before and it was unnerving. “Oh… I guess I didn’t think of that.” She felt a stab of guilt as she thought about the position her parents had been in and her anger dissipated.

  “That’s all right, Sarah. We were just trying to protect you.” Her father seemed to understand how she was feeling and gave her a tender smile.

  Sarah wiped her eyes, but it didn’t do any good. They filled again and the tears ran down her face. She stood and ran to her father and gave him a hug. He hugged her back, and then gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  On her way back to her seat, Sarah glared at Mr. Robinson. She let her fury go unchecked as she stared at him. What a total snake. A worm of the highest order. She sat down and snuggled next to her mother, never taking her angry eyes off of her parents’ kidnapper.

  Facing her father, she said, “So have you got the cure?”

  Her father sighed. “No… not yet. But I’m close.”

  Sarah stiffened in her seat. “Why didn’t he just sue the company?” She glared at Mr. Robinson again and clenched her fists.

  “He did, Sarah.” Her father ran his hand through his hair and scowled. “But those lawyers can drag out a lawsuit for years and meanwhile his son is wasting away. He wants a cure… he doesn’t really care about the money.”

  “So the company didn’t get in trouble for making a bad product?” Lacey asked.

  Her father shook his head. “Not yet. They’re claiming they didn’t know… nothing showed up in the testing process… yada… yada… yada.”

  “Is that true? Nothing showed up in the testing process?” Sarah asked. She sat on the edge of her seat and leaned forward, breathless as she waited for his reply.

  “No, it’s not true. I ran several tests and found this problem. I wrote a memo to my superiors and included the test results with it. They told me they would take care of it. That’s when I left for vacation.” Her father shifted in his seat, then glanced at his captor before continuing. “I didn’t know the product was on the market until I, ah… ran into Mr. Robinson.”

  “Okay. So where is the lawsuit now?” Sarah asked.

  “Well… a trial date hasn’t been set and we’re still gathering evidence. Piper Drugs is claiming they had no knowledge of the problem before the product went to market so we’ve got to prove they did.”

  “Dad… you’ve got your proof. The memo you sent, right?”

  Her father gave her a smile. “That’s right. Unfortunately, the company has destroyed my memo and test results or changed them in some fashion.”

  “So… Piper Drugs is lying?” Lacey asked. Her eyes widened and her voice was filled with shock. “I mean why in the world would they do that?”

  “Because it would cost a lot of money to recall the drug.” He looked down at his hands. “And they were banking on the fact there would be isolated incidences of this kind of reaction. They thought they could keep it quiet. That’s what I’m guessing anyway.”

  Sarah stood. “But Dad… don’t you have a copy of your memo and your results?”

  Her father sighed. “Yes, I do… but the problem is I can’t get to it.”

  Sarah placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “Why not?”

  “Because it’s in my office, and I can’t just walk in there after my disappearance and grab it.”

  Sarah started pacing. “So, we have to find a way for someone to get into your office and get it, right?” Her thumbnail worked its way to her mouth and she started chewing as she concentrated.

  Her father chuckled. “That’s right, Peanut. The problem is I don’t know who changed the information. So, I don’t know who I can trust in the company.”

  “That is a major problem.” Sarah sighed and walked toward the bay window facing the street. She gazed out at the deserted road and chewed on her nail. “So we can’t let anyone know where you are until we get the memo, right?”

  “That’s right.” Her father stood and came up behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders and gave them a quick squeeze.

  “You mean you can’t come home with us?” Lacey’s voice trembled with raw emotion as she bit her lip.

  Sarah whirled toward her sister and her father turned with her. Lacey stared at her father waiting for his answer. Tears brimmed in her green eyes and her bottom lip trembled. Sarah could tell she was trying not to cry, but she knew her sister and knew the battle was already lost.

  “I’m afraid not, sweetheart,” her father said in a tender tone.

  The dam broke. Lacey burst into tears.

  Her father rushed forward and pulled Lacey into his arms. “Oh… honey…”

  “It’s not fair,” Lacey cried.

  “Shh… shh… you’re right, it isn’t fair.” Her father stroked Lacey’s hair as he held her.

  The only sound in the room was Lacey sobbing. Sarah’s mother stood and walked over to her and put her arms around her daughter and her husband.

  “Lacey, everything’s going to work out,” her mother said. She patted Lacey’s shoulder.

  ”Yeah, Lace.” Sarah closed the distance between her and her family. She put her arms around everyone. “We’ll just have to figure out a way to get Dad’s memo from the company.”

  “How are we going to do that?” Lacey asked. Her sobs had quieted and her voice held a tinge of hope.

  “I don’t know yet. But we’ll figure something out.” Sarah gave her sister’s shoulder a squeeze.

  Lacey pulled away from the familial embrace and wiped her face on her sleeve. She sniffled and got her tears under control. “All right.”

  “That a girl,” Sarah said and gave her sister a gentle nudge.

  Scoop, who’d been silent throughout the whole conversation, cleared his throat. “We really need to get back to town.”

  Aunt June gave the girls a compassionate smile. “Yes, you girls have school tomorrow.”

  “I don’t want to leave yet.” Lacey’s lip trembled and tears welled in her eyes again.

  Her mother put her arms around her and hugged her fiercely. “I don’t want you to leave yet either. But your aunt is right. You need to get home and be ready for school tomorrow.”

  “School? You really think I care about school right now?” Lacey scowled at her mother.

  Sarah stifled a grin. She’s starting to sound like me. Clearing her throat, she said, “You know Lace, Mom’s right. We have to act normal so no one knows where Mom and Dad are.”

  “You think so?” Lacey made eye contact with her sister.

  “I really think so.” Sarah put her arm around her and squeezed. She could smell the flowery scent of her shampoo in her long hair. “We have to figure out a way for Dad to get the memo, and then he can come home.”

  “That’s right.” Her father winked at Sarah. “Now, you girls head home.”

  “All… right,” Lacey agreed reluctantly.

  She hugged their parents and then stepped aside and Sarah hugged them too.

  After everyone said their goodbyes the girls walked out into the cool late afternoon air. The sky was slate gray and the clouds obscured the sunlight, casting a drab shadow over the town. A slight breeze blew and Sarah pulled her jacket tighter as the group walked toward Scoop’s car.

  She stopped. “I guess we’re all riding with you, Scoop.” She raised her eyebrows in a questioning look.

  “Looks like it. We lost our other vehicle.”

  Sarah sighed. “We’re all going to be so squished… Maybe I should stay here with Mom and Dad.”

  “I want to stay with Mom and Dad, too.” Lacey brightened at the thought.

  Scoop gave Sarah an exasperated look. “It’s not going to
work. Climb in so we can get going.”

  Sarah grumbled but didn’t say anything.

  “I’ll sit in front.” Aunt June said after giving Sarah a warning look. “You girls can climb in back.”

  When Aunt June turned her back to open the door, Sarah stuck her tongue out at her and then proceeded to climb in the back seat. She knew she was acting childishly, but she didn’t care. It felt good in a way, releasing her from the heavy emotions she’d been carrying for so long.

  Once everyone was inside, Scoop started the car. Sarah glanced at the house as they pulled away from the curb and waved. Her parents had stepped out onto the porch to see them off. A wave of sadness swept through her. She wanted her parents to come home. She watched them until they disappeared from sight.

  Turning back around, she shifted in her seat until she was comfortable. Glancing at her sister, she beamed at her. “We found Mom and Dad.”

  “But they can’t come home yet,” Lacey pouted.

  Sarah’s smile faltered. “True. But at least we know they’re alive.”

  “Good point.”

  “We just have to figure out a way to get the memo.”

  “How are we going to do that?”

  “We’ll figure out a way.” Sarah patted her sister’s arm and then looked out the window. She stared at the back of the retired reporter’s head. “Scoop did you do any research on Piper Drugs?”

  Scoop glanced in the rearview mirror and made eye contact with Sarah. “Yes I did. But I still have to do more. I’ll do some research while you kids are in school tomorrow.” His eyes made their way back to the road.

  Sarah sighed and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I wonder which drug Dad is talking about?”

  “I wonder,” Lacey echoed.

  “Didn’t your dad say it was released while he was on vacation?” Aunt June gazed over the seat at Sarah.

  Sarah pursed her lips and wiggled her fingers. They tingled and she was having a hard time sitting still. “He did.” She stared at her aunt.

  “I’ve got my phone here…maybe I can look it up on the internet.” Aunt June fumbled around inside her purse. She pulled out her phone and went to work. The worry line appeared, and for the first time Sarah didn’t react to it. She knew her aunt was concentrating and not stressed out.