Parking a small distance away from Megan’s house, Ethan switched off the engine and turned to Amelia.
“Promise me you won’t go anywhere on your own, at least not for a while. I have to agree with your parents on this.”
She gave him a helpless look and fluttered her eyelashes at him.
“Okay, Ethan, if you feel that strongly about it. I promise never to go anywhere on my own until it’s safe for me to do so. I guess that means you’ll have to stay by my side 24/7, to protect me.”
Laughing, Ethan got out of the car and came round to the passenger door to open it for her.
“In that case, let me escort you to your friend’s house,” he said, holding out his hand to her.
Climbing out laughing, Amelia refused to let him walk her to the house in case they were seen. She said it was okay if he wanted to watch her until she went in through the gates.
Ethan kissed her on the cheek. Amelia touched her face and smiled at him, taking a few steps backwards. Then she turned and ran towards Megan’s house. Looking back as she reached the gates, she blew him a kiss and ran in.
Megan’s phone rang.
“I’m in the back garden, is it safe to come in?” asked Amelia.
“No, mom and dad are in the kitchen, I’ll sneak down and walk you over, wait at the gate for me.”
Megan put on her shoes then crept quietly downstairs and out through the front door.
“I feel like a burglar in my own house, my heart’s pounding,” she laughed when she joined her friend.
“My heart’s doing the same but for a different reason,” said Amelia.
She told Megan about her meeting with Ethan, and the kiss on the cheek.
“I knew you too would get together eventually. By the way, you’ve had a hot chocolate, a nice warm bath and a snooze in my bed - just so you know.”
The girls hugged and said goodbye.
As Megan tip toed through the front door, her parents raised voices came from the kitchen. That was very unusual, as they hardly ever disagreed on anything.
“It’s not like you to come home drunk, Grant. I hope you didn’t drive.”
Her mother was clearly upset.
“Lydia, I didn’t drink that much and I came home in a taxi. I’ve had a really bad day. There are some important decisions I have to make and this business with Kaden isn’t helping.”
His wife’s voice softened when she realized how stressed he was.
“I know. If we’re feeling this upset, what must it be like for the Seagers? Why don’t you go freshen up while I start supper? You’ll be more at ease after a nice, hot shower.”
Grant Brubaker sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I might have a bath instead, I ache all over. Is Megan upstairs?”
Lydia remembered that Amelia was expected home.
“The two girls are up in Megan’s room. Will you ask Amelia to come down so I can walk her home? I promised Estelle I would.”
Megan, who had been sitting halfway up the stairs, ran to her room. She would hate her parents to find out she had been listening to their conversation. Her father knocked on her door and put his head around it.
“Hi sweetie pie, are you okay? Where’s Amelia? Lydia said she was up here with you?”
Grant’s daughter ran across the room and threw her arms around his neck.
“I’m fine, I walked Amelia home half an hour ago and by the way Dad, you reek of alcohol.”
Megan kissed her father on the cheek and went back to sit on her bed.
“Okay, okay. I’ve already had that lecture from your mother,” he laughed.
“I’m going to have a bath before supper, will you go tell your mother that Amelia’s gone home. Maybe she would appreciate some help in the kitchen. Be a sweetie and put her in a good mood for me, eh.”
He ruffled his daughter’s hair and ducked as she threw a pillow at him.
Unwinding in a warm bath, Grant gathered his thoughts and came up with a plan. He would need to convince his father to go along with it. If he refused, Kaden would most likely wind up dead. Lloyd would never give up searching for him. He would have to be fully convinced of his son’s death.
“It’s time we took a trip to Mexico,” Grant said to himself.
When this was suggested at the supper table Lydia and Megan clapped their hands in delight.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The van was at the head of a queue, waiting to board a ferry. Because it was the first sailing of the day, there were only two other vehicles behind carrying supplies for the towns scattered throughout the area. The weather being good made for a calm sea, which allowed the ferry to dock earlier than the van driver had anticipated. This meant he had plenty of time to reach the depot, which was a good thing. There was always the risk that some of his sleeping cargo would come round en route. Usually he only had three or four to deal with. This time there were six of them.
It took two hours to reach his destination and it would be another two before anyone regained consciousness. The driver took a left off the road and followed a track until he came to some tall, solid gates set in thick boundary walls ten feet high. He parked up and immediately four men came running out from a side door to help unload the sleeping boys.
Their stretchers where wheeled into a white building, which blended into the landscape so well, that if it didn’t have any windows or doors, you wouldn’t know it was there. Once inside, they were wheeled into lifts and brought below ground to a large, well lit but windowless chamber. The men unstrapped the boys and left them there, unconscious.
In another room a doctor was preparing twelve syringes, two for each boy. The driver had left with the van, carrying goods that were to be transported to the nearest airfield and flown to a clinic in Mexico. While the boys were still unconscious the doctor and two armed guards entered the quiet room where they slept, injecting all of them twice, in the left shoulder and at the base of the skull. A number was then tattooed in black ink onto the left side of each boy’s neck.
The doctor used a stethoscope to make sure their breathing was normal as they were still in a deep, drug induced, sleep. Then he ran a scanning machine over the young prisoners to check their vital organs, particularly the lungs in case of fluid build-up. He wasn’t happy with the amount of drugs that had been administered. Satisfied that all was well, the three men left the room.
In an office a few doors down, one of the guards sat at a desk compiling a file on each of the boys. He was recording the data given to him by the van driver, which was a log of their journey including the drugs they had received, and the readings from their body scans. Another guard was stacking up six ready-made meals on a counter for when the boys came round. It had been a long time since they had eaten and it was important they keep their strength up.
The guard sitting at the desk, watching a monitor, informed the doctor when the boys were awake. There was a camera in the room and as soon as Tuck woke up he saw it above the door. He looked at Kaden, who was sitting upright, arms outstretched, and spotted his tattoo.
“Hey, Teach, is there a number stamped on my neck?”
Kaden saw it and nodded.
“What about me?” he asked, turning his head from side to side.
“Yes, you have one too. Look, so has Smokes. I bet we all have. Wonder what that means,” said Tuck.
It wasn’t long before the guards came with hot food and drink.
“What’s the idea with the tattoos? How many more trips are we going to take? Can’t we do a bit of sightseeing before the next one, maybe buy a few souvenirs?” Tuck sarcastically shouted after the guards as they left the room without uttering a word.
Nobody spoke as the meal was eaten. After a while, the boys were allowed to use a bathroom and then told to get wrapped up in their warm clothes. They were to roll up their sleeping bags and tie them to their rucksacks. The room was so claustrophobic they were all glad to be leaving it, in spite of not knowing where they were
going.
Waiting just inside an open door the boys could see a strange white, bus-like vehicle on the snow outside. It was really high and ran on tracks. In single file, the group were led out of the building and told to climb into the strange mode of transport. As he walked, Kaden scanned his surroundings to see if there was a chance of making a run for it. For the first time none of them were handcuffed, which gave them a sense of freedom, even though there were armed guards in front and behind. Tuck was doing the same thing, but both of the young men knew they wouldn’t get far with rifles trained on them.
One by one, the boys helped each other up into the vehicle, putting their rucksacks in an overhead cabinet and taking their seats. The guards took their places at the front and rear and two more men climbed aboard, one of which was the driver.
Tuck and Kaden sat beside each other, watching for any sign of life - a house, a truck, a dog. Anything that would give them a clue as to where they might be. After a few miles the boys began to relax. It was the first time they could see the landscape they were travelling through. It looked barren, cold and dangerous, but also very beautiful. For a while they almost felt like they were going on vacation. One of the boys shouted with surprise that he thought he could see a polar bear. Everyone, except the guards, strained to see out of the windows.
“Are there polar bears out there?” Kaden asked.
“They make great watch dogs. The Rottweilers didn’t take to the cold as well as the bears did,” said the driver.
The guards laughed at the joke, making the boys feel uneasy again, reminding them of their captivity. Tuck, who had been staring with the amazement of a tourist at the passing scenery, turned to Kaden. He was quickly brought back to reality by the look he saw on his friend’s face.
“I know where we are,” he whispered to Tuck. “Antarctica. We’ll never be able to escape from here. This must be our last stop, we can’t go any further south than this.”
They quietly spread the word to their companions. Wolf had seen the huge white animal running in the distance and knew it was a polar bear. He remembered learning about them in school when he was seven years old and being fascinated. The students had been shown a documentary about their relocation from the Arctic to Antarctica.
Tuck pointed to the window and remarked that it didn’t look so bad out there. Kaden looked out onto a landscape of ice covered mountains that lay under a clear, blue sky.
“This is a good time of year, in a couple of months it will be a lot colder,” he said.
Both young men sat quietly, lost in their own thoughts. The others carried on chatting and discussing who had seen what, oblivious as to how serious their situation really was. Only the guards remained as quiet as Kaden and Tuck.
After hours of travelling, at quite a slow speed because of the uneven terrain, the vehicle pulled up outside a compound. A sign over the gates had something written on it. Tuck asked Kaden if he know what it said.
“Dum Vivimus Servimus” said Kaden, surprised that he knew what it meant.
“It’s Latin for, While We Live We Serve.”
Tuck elbowed his friend and laughed.
“It must be a fast food training school, that’s not so bad, is it, Teach?”
The joke brought a smile to Kaden’s face.
When the gates opened the bus drove through and parked in front of a thick, glass sliding door. The boys were herded into a white building, similar to the last one they had been in. Going through a reception area towards some double doors, they were led down what looked like a hospital corridor, at the end of which was another door.
This opened into an enclosed courtyard with a glass ceiling, reinforced with wire. A very long, white table sat in the centre, benches on each side of it. Black, deep cushioned sofas lined the walls and a set of shelves held a selection of paperback books. Besides the door through which they had come, there were six more off this courtyard, two in each wall. Having no handles, they just swung open and closed.
The boys were shown into one of the rooms, containing four bunk beds, two of which were already made up and had sleeping bags on them. Radar was the last one to enter and as he did so, the door slammed shut behind him. There was a loud click as it locked them in.
“Surprise, surprise, there’s no windows,” Smokes remarked as he walked around the room.
Opening a door between two of the bunks he found a bathroom with urinals, toilet cubicles, showers and wash hand basins with hand driers nearby. There was two of everything. It was almost verging on luxurious, but clinical.
“Hey guys, check this out, hope we don’t get a bill for staying here,” Smokes called out to the others who were busy arguing over bunks.
Tuck, Kaden and Wolf, being the oldest and tallest, got first choice and all three picked upper beds. Paco and Radar chose two bottom ones near each other and that left one upper bunk for Smokes, as the other two lower ones seemed to be already taken. The boys crowded into the bathroom, and some of them decided to test out the equipment.
“Look at this shower,” Radar said, randomly pushing symbols on a digital panel until steam began to fill the cubicle. Then came a cascade of cold water which was followed by a blast of hot air.
“I could stay here all day playing with this little beauty,” he laughed.
Kaden began to feel light headed and sat on a bench in the middle of the bathroom. Smokes could see by his face something was wrong.
“You okay, Teach?” he asked, sitting down next to him.
“I’ve been in one of those showers before,” said Kaden, “I think I’m remembering places I’ve been. The landscape here made me think of snowboarding. Somehow, I know I’ve done that, and I have regularly used that type of shower - maybe where I live or in a hotel. If I knew my name, it might trigger some more memories.”
Kaden rubbed his neck. Something was pinching him. He turned his back to Smokes and asked if there was anything sticking into his skin.
“Can’t really say, but I think there’s a small cut just at the hairline.”
Smokes pushed it with his finger.
Kaden winced, “It must be a spot. I’ll scrub it in the shower later.”
Looking around the room he noticed there were no mirrors, but a polished, stainless steel panel at the back of the washbasins offered a good reflection. Kaden stood up and walked over to see how his face was doing. The swelling had gone down, but it was black and blue and there were some cuts still healing. As Kaden stared at his reflection the image of a man with dark hair, just like his, began to form in his head. He wondered if this was his father, and tried hard to think of names.
All of a sudden, Kaden fell to his knees, his head cradled in his hands. Smokes called out for help as he tried to pick him up off the floor.
Tuck came running into the bathroom.
“What happened, did he bang his head?”
“I don’t know. He was looking at his reflection one minute, and on the floor the next,” said Smokes.
He helped Tuck bring Kaden, who was groaning in agony, back to the bedroom. They laid him on one of the lower bunks. The other boys crowded around but Tuck pushed them back.
“Give him some air. Hey, Teach. Can you hear me?” he asked, kneeling beside the bed.
Kaden nodded then winced.
“My head feels like it’s going to explode. I think I was starting to remember things and then it felt like a knife slashed through my brain. It’s easing off a bit now, but I really need to sleep.”
He turned onto his side and faced the wall. Tuck pulled a sleeping bag over him, promising to wake him if a guard came in.
A while later, there was a loud click and the door swung open. The boys were called out into the courtyard. Tuck shook Kaden awake and half carried him through the doorway. They were told to sit down by a man, in his mid-fifties, wearing a white coat. He informed them he was to be addressed simply as Doctor. There was a strained silence as he paced up and down the room. Two armed guards remained at the e
ntrance. The doctor stood still and sternly looked each boy in the eye before speaking, making them even more anxious.
“Now, I want you to listen carefully to what I am about to say. Don’t ask any questions. You will be told exactly what you need to know. So keep quiet and pay attention.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Martha and Jasper made breakfast together, at ease in each other’s company. They had come to an arrangement about school that the social worker handling their case was happy with. Martha would teach Jasper at home, until he was ready for high school. As they were discussing what subjects to study that day, the phone rang. It was the police asking if they could call over.
“Sure you can, we were just about to have breakfast. We should be finished by the time you get here.”
Martha assumed the visit was about the missing teenager case.
“Maybe they have some good news about the Seager boy” she said to Jasper, who was dishing out scrambled eggs and bacon.
As they were cleaning up the kitchen the intercom buzzed. Two officers arrived at the door, a man and a woman.
“Oh, is Detective Matthews not with you?” Martha asked.
The officers quickly exchanged glances then the woman cleared her throat to speak.
“Ma’am, we have some bad news for you, let’s sit down for a minute.”
Crossing the room to the sofa Martha still thought the visit had something to do with Kaden.
“I hope it’s not about that poor Seager boy, his family must be distraught,” she said.
The female officer sat beside Martha.
“I’m so sorry about this, but your son, Kyle, was involved in an accident late last night. His car went off the road and caught fire.”
Martha stood up slowly, not wanting to hear any more.
“Please don’t tell me he’s dead,” she cried.
The male officer looked down at the floor as he spoke.
“He never made it out of the car, ma’am. We know it was him because he didn’t come back to campus last night and his roommate reported him missing this morning. Forensics officially identified the body using DNA. Can we get you anything or call someone for you?”
Finding 01 Finding Kaden Page 9