“You’re quiet again,” he said. “Don’t be. Please. I didn’t mean to have that effect.”
“I’m just thinking,” I said. But I couldn’t tell him that I was thinking about him and the effect he was having on me. So I told him something else. Trust me, he’d said, when he helped rescue the fox. For some reason, I did trust Kit now.
“I saw something the other day in the woods,” I said as we sat at the bar. “Something that’s going to sound unbelievably crazy to you. I almost can’t believe I’m saying this. To you, or anybody else.”
I stopped myself from going on. Kit looked a little alarmed, but I definitely had his attention.
“What did you see, Frannie? Finish what you were about to say.”
I stared into Kit’s deep blue eyes.
God help me.
I bit my lip.
What if I was making a mistake?
You don’t knowathing about me, he’d said.
“I saw a little girl… I think she was about eleven or twelve. A wild girl. And this is the really crazy part, Kit. She had wings—this girl has wings like a bird’s.”
His expression froze and his mouth dropped open a little.
I wished I could take back my words, but I couldn’t. It was too late for that.
“I know,” I said. “Sounds unbelievable. But, Kit, she was as real as I am sitting here. I saw a little girl with wings. And I saw her fly.”
Chapter 43
KIT FELT THAT THE TOP of his head had just blown off. He was trying not to show it. He had to remind himself that he was a professional, an agent with the FBI, a smart, pretty sane person.
So, he had been right that something was going on out here. He’d been right to follow the case to Colorado, and anywhere else it would take him now. Why in hell had the Bureau pulled him off this case? It made no sense. Jesus, Jesus! Frannie O’Neill has seen a little girl with wings. And she’d just told him about it. That was important, too. It meant she couldn’t be part of it. Didn’t it?
“When did this happen?” he asked. He didn’t want to interrogate Frannie, but he had to know what she had seen. A little girl with wings? Experiments on humans? What kind of experiments? What was happening out here?
“You believe me?” Frannie said, and did a double take. She looked surprised, and then pleased.
He thought that when she looked at him like that he could probably believe the earth was flat, the moon was made of blue cheese, that there was such a thing as unconditional love at first sight, and happy endings, and little girls who could fly.
“I do believe you, Frannie,” he repeated.
“Good, because I saw the girl twice.”
Frannie looked like a young girl herself as she recounted both sightings in the most vivid detail, with great enthusiasm and obvious emotion. Her arms actually flapped when she described the girl and recounted how she had flown. Her eyes were huge as saucers, and she was talking even faster than she usually did. She didn’t frown at him once.
In fact her innocence and exuberance made Kit want to tell her everything he knew, things he shouldn’t tell anyone about the case, but especially not a woman whose husband might have been involved. I shouldn’t lie to Frannie, though. Not ever again. Lying to Frannie isareally bad thing to do, he told himself.
“Listen, first thing tomorrow morning,” he finally said. “We’ll go and look for the girl. We’ll look together. We’ll find her.”
“So you really do believe me?” Frannie asked. She continued to look incredulous, and maybe even a little needy.
“I really do,” Kit said. He gave her a big wink. “And I’m trained to know whether or not somebody is lying.”
Then Kit reached out for Frannie, took her into his arms, and he gently, gently kissed her in their quiet corner of the bar.
And Frannie O’Neill finally did surprise him—she kissed him back.
Book Three
FOUR AND TWENTY
BLACKBIRDS, BAKED IN A
PIE
Chapter 44
THE SOUND OF SHATTERING GLASS interrupted the quiet of the house in the upscale suburb of Denver. The sudden noise jolted Dr. Richard Andreossi from his peaceful slumber.
Baby Sam was asleep across his chest, both of them having dozed off for a mid-afternoon nap. Sweet dreams of the best kind, visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.
More glass rained and clattered to the hardwood floor. Jesus, the sound was coming from the study.
Dr. Andreossi carefully lifted Sam off his chest, so that he didn’t wake. He laid the infant boy in a nest of couch cushions.
“Be right back, Sam the Man,” he whispered. “You just sleep. Hush, baby, hush.”
Richard Andreossi had been meaning to cut down a branch that was banging at the window of the study. He’d been too busy, too tired out by the newborn and his responsibilities as a father. Forty-seven-year-old softies aren’t built for this, he knew, but Megwin had desperately wanted a baby and now there was no looking back.
He hoisted his blue-plaid Gap boxers up around his ample waist. Stepped into his scuffed-up, off-white sneakers. He heard another crash. Sounded like a lamp going over! What the hell?
Had an animal gotten inside? Squirrel? A small bird? He quickly shuffled his sneakered feet down the hall, looked into the room.
It took him a couple of confused seconds to comprehend what he saw, and even then he didn’t completely understand.
A tall, well-muscled man dressed in a hooded, gray running suit and Nikes was methodically dropping things onto the floor, making a huge mess in the study. The mess seemed calculated. The man was doing this on purpose. Dr. Andreossi recognized who it was.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Andreossi finally asked. “Why are you here? What do you want?”
The intruder had knocked half the heavy books and loose papers off the antique rolltop desk. Dr. Andreossi could feel sweat rolling down the back of his neck, his sides.
He gauged the distance to the intruder. He was worried about his own safety, but even more about little Sam’s.
“It won’t work,” the man said. “You can’t move that fast.” Suddenly, he drew a pistol like some kind of Western gunslinger. He pointed it at the doctor’s face.
“What do you want from me?” Dr. Richard Andreossi’s mind flashed through the full grid of logical possibilities. He was a bright man and his brain was operating at full capacity.
“Nothing. Not a thing,” said the man with the gun, a Smith & Wesson semiautomatic. “There’s nothing you can do now. Two of the children have escaped from the School. You let us down at the worst possible time, Doctor.”
Suddenly, Dr. Andreossi confronted the possibility that he was about to die. His body went cold. His head became light. His insides were screaming Sam, Sam, Sam.
“My baby?” he whispered. “On the couch.”
“Don’t worry. Megwin will be home soon,” said the cold-eyed gunman. “Your baby will be fine. We wouldn’t harm your baby. We aren’t monsters.”
Then Harding Thomas pulled the trigger three times.
Chapter 45
MAX WAS SERIOUSLY AFRAID, but she was determined not to let her fear stop her from doing the right thing. She had to act grown-up now. She had to return to the scene of the crimes; she was headed home. She needed to see if Matthew was being held there, and some other worrisome stuff, too. Important stuff, no way around it, no more dodging the bullet. Home again, home again.
Of course, flying at night, without the help of radar or autopilot, was super dangerous and maybe not the smartest thing she’d ever done in her life. It was cloudy and threatening to rain, and she sure wished the light was better.
Watch out! She nearly crashed skull-first into a hill as she banked out of a raggedy-assed patch of fog. She rolled quickly to the left, flapped her wings hard and strong. Then she rose up above the cool, smoky air. Close call. Too close.
She was thinking about the School now, couldn’t h
elp it. She knew from “Uncle” Thomas that the model for the way it ran was military schools. She also knew that Thomas had been a soldier at one time, that he’d taught at the Air Force Academy, even that he had grown-up children of his own. She and Matthew lived in a small dormitory. Everything in their lives had been on a tight, no-nonsense schedule: breakfast, study, testing, exercise, lunch, work projects, study, more testing, dinner, study, then bed. Then do it all over again. Then do it again. Do it again.
It was always like that until Mrs. Beattie came. She did school-work with them as well as all the irritating testing, but she also introduced them to an amazing concept: playtime. Mrs. Beattie had never been in the military. They had loved her. Until Mrs. Beattie was put to sleep.
Around the time Mrs. Beattie came, there had been other improvements as well. A “boxcar” from the Boxcar Children series was installed. So was a new Apple computer. And on the weekends they got to go to woodworking and an art studio. Max had the idea that “art” was part of the constant testing, but she didn’t care. If the tests were more fun, she wouldn’t have minded them either.
The School used the latest technology—it was an AMP Smart House, for one thing, which was pretty neat, and convenient, and efficient of course. All the lights, thermostats, and door locks were on a tight schedule, too. They were always watched by a video security system. Guards could call in to their cell telephones to open doors, even to run a bath or shower.
Maybe that was why she loved her new freedom so much.
Suddenly, she could see the School down below. She was almost home again. She flew easily, her wings very stable now. Then she power-dived toward the cluster of familiar buildings. This was it—now-or-never time. Put up or shut up, Maximum.
Something was wrong—she could see it immediately. She pulled out of her dive, fluttered, almost stalled out, and then set down quietly in the woods.
She could feel the skin on her neck and back prickling with fear. She gasped, choked, couldn’t quite catch her breath. Oh God, oh God, this was her worst fear.
Max watched several men in dark, scary jumpsuits rushing in and out of the buildings. They were loading heavy boxes into big gray trucks that were almost as scary as they were. It looked as if they were closing down the place, moving out, shutting the School.
There were too many of the suckers walking around out there. No way could she get closer and definitely no way could she get inside the School buildings.
She even heard guards in the nearby woods, so Max moved farther away from the School. She had to—she couldn’t bear to get caught now. She felt like crying, but she wouldn’t let herself break down.
I can’t get caught.Ican’t! I’m the only hope, she told herself. I’m the only one who can tell.
She made herself angry, and the anger gave her more strength. It always did, never failed.
She hurried back deeper into the woods.
Safe for now. She had no idea about the time, but it must be close to morning. There was just enough light to see, and to be seen by the creepy bums in the woods.
She heard the movement close behind her. Someone was there. And they were coming fast.
Max turned—and realized too late that she had it all wrong. It was much worse than she’d thought. This was the end for her. No way out of this.
The mountain lion was too close, less than ten feet away. It was gray and tawny brown, about five feet from head to tail, easily two hundred pounds. It had stopped moving when she turned around.
The two of them began to play a survival game of dare to stare; dare to move first; dare to do anything except be scared out of your mind, and show it in your eyes.
The cat started to growl, and she could see huge, powerful, stained yellowish-brown teeth. She couldn’t tell if it was afraid of her, or if it had sensed something different about her, but the cat hadn’t pounced and killed her yet.
She wondered if she could run, and then maybe she could get up off the ground? If airborne, she might be okay. She might live to tell about this.
The lion continued to growl under its breath. Its mouth was open a crack. Otherwise, they were both motionless, their eyes still locked together. She couldn’t imagine how this stalemate could possibly end with a good result for her.
Max needed to take a breath. She was suffocating, which limited her choices. She really had to chance it.
She began to draw in a slow breath—when the cat pounced. It leaped at her with lightning speed. It knew exactly when to attack. Instinct!
Max yelled, but amazingly, the sound came from anger and fierceness, not fear.
She spun away—faster than she thought she could move, faster than she ever had before.
I’m fast—like this cat, she thought, hoped, prayed, then knew.
The large cat stopped and turned, seemingly with one fluid, powerful move. Its huge paws were like brakes in the dirt. It seemed a little surprised, though.
Max sent a powerful swipe to the side of the cat’s head. The cat staggered sideways, but quickly came at her again.
Max showed a flash of wing, then pulled it away even faster. She swiped at the cat again, connecting solidly with jawbone. She couldn’t believe how good it felt. The animal spun out of control.
This gave Max time to run a few steps, to take off into the air. In a rage at losing its kill the cat ran after her and jumped, took off as if it too had wings. The big jaws snapped fiercely, but got only an air sandwich.
Max continued to climb stairs of air until she felt safe. Then she turned and looked down at the frustrated mountain cat. She made a face. “Meow,” she mouthed, as she flew away.
Chapter 46
KIT AND I SEARCHED the dense, hilly woods high above the “Peak-to-Peak” highway. The “Peak-To-Peak,” Colorado Route 119 runs along the top of the foothills and the beginnings of the big mountains to the west. It was pretty futile going. We were like bloodhounds who’d lost the scent.
I had never done this kind of thing before. It was weird for both of us, and even weirder that we were doing it together.
We looked pretty good, anyway. Kit had on a pair of green hiking shorts and not too much else. He’d already stripped away a Dartmouth Law T-shirt to beat the sticky heat. I’d picked khaki shorts, mountain boots, and my lucky workout top; but so far we hadn’t been too lucky.
The girl had to be somewhere, but where? Where wouldIhide ifIhad to seek cover out here? How would an eleven- or twelve-year-old be thinking?
My curiosity about her was a living thing now. I had grown up in 4-H, been a Westinghouse Science Award winner, honors biology major, could have gone to medical school to be a people doctor, if I’d chosen to. I wanted to know anything and everything there was to know about the girl with wings. Who wouldn’t? Who could possibly resist?
The comfortable cool of the morning had given way to a typical, blistering-hot summer afternoon. My backpack was pretty full, and heavy, and I was eager to put it down for a while.
I heard Kit panting lightly beside me, and I was glad I wasn’t looking into his blue eyes right now.
Last night, I’d kissed him with my heart full of sentiment and the rest of me high on sixty-dollar brandy. There was something so different about him, a sensitivity I didn’t see in most of the men I knew, and which I hadn’t allowed myself to see at first.
Maybe what had happened to his wife and two children started it, but I kind of thought Kit had always been that way. On the other hand, as he’d said himself—you don’t know whoIam.
“What do you think?” he asked, when we reached an elevated point in the trail. “Which way do we head? You have any idea?”
Sure, I was full of ideas. “I vote for the southern slope of that hill,” I said. “If I were a runaway, maybe I’d hide where I could get a good view of the valley.”
“That slope?” he asked and rolled his eyes.
“It’s only two or three miles from here,” I told him.
He mouthed, “Only two or three?”
Cute. Funny. He definitely was that, but he had a serious side that I liked even more. The night before he had told me that he wasn’t a hunter, but I didn’t know much about what he was, did I?
“We can be there in a couple of hours if we put some real energy into it,” I said. “You’ll be surprised.”
“Aye, aye, Captain. Whatever you say.”
“That’s the spirit, Kit Carson. That’s how the West was won.”
After another two hours of slip-sliding and hoisting ourselves up and down rocky inclines, we finally arrived on the leeward side of the slope the town is named for: Bear Bluff.
“Let’s take a short break,” I said to the perspiring man alongside me. Actually, Kit looked even better with a sheen of sweat covering his body. I think he knew it, too. He was that rare person who was mildly cocky without being obnoxious. He was confident in himself, but there was also a touch of humility that I liked.
“You don’t have to coddle me,” he said and grinned. “I’m in decent enough shape—for a city boy.”
I laughed at his humor. Yes, you certainly are in fine shape, I was thinking to myself. City boy or not.
I eased out of my backpack and looked at my watch. It was a little before five in the afternoon. I dug a couple of navel oranges out of my pack and tossed him one. It was a wild throw but he caught it, anyway.
“Good hands,” I said, grinning like the fem village idiot. I kind of liked being goofy with him, though. I realized that I already trusted him enough to be my goofy self.
While we devoured the sweet juicy oranges, I looked around. I saw nothing too unusual, though. Some flattened grass where deer had probably slept. A shallow cave, too small to shelter a human. Turkey vultures circling above us turkeys.
What was I expecting to find up here?
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