by Char Webster
“It looks like someone was just making mischief. My guess is that it was probably one of the teens who has gone through the system. Some files were thrown around, and items from the desks and shelves are on the floor. You’ll have to come in to see if anything was taken, but I don’t believe that you will find anything missing.”
“Do I have time for a shower?” she asked.
“Yes, take your time. We’re securing the window they used to gain entry,” he told her.
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.” She hung up the phone and flopped back down on the bed for a second. Why would the office be vandalized? She had a really uneasy feeling about it.
Forty minutes later, Dawn walked into the office to examine the damage. The outer office was a mess, but nothing seemed to be missing. Sheila, the receptionist, would be angry when she came in. Dawn got a bit of a chuckle thinking about it. The woman was miserable half the time anyway, so this would just get her mood started right away. They wouldn’t have to wonder if it was the good or bad Sheila that day. It would be bad Sheila.
Her office looked like a tornado had hit it and stayed for a while. Nothing was left in or on her desk. The drawers were all open and the contents were thrown on the floor. Her unease grew as she noticed the filing cabinet was torn apart and the files thrown everywhere. She became worried when she noticed her computer had been left on. She had always shut down her computer every night and never left it on. This was not kids making a mess. This was someone looking for something, she thought.
The filing room where most of the case files were located was in mild disarray. Only one drawer’s contents were thrown around. That drawer was labeled “T.”
She went back to her office, righted her chair, and sat down with a sigh. She was getting a headache, and she was nervous. This couldn’t possibly be about the Taylor kids, could it? Should she tell someone of her suspicions? Would anyone believe her? The Brooks were a very wealthy and powerful family. Dawn had heard that they had mansions all over the country. She didn’t need to start something with a powerful man. He had given her bad vibes on the phone, but that could have been him lashing out from not getting his way. Powerful people were not used to hearing the word no.
She was glad that she had taken the file home, but was it safe there? She needed to think. She also needed to make sure the file stayed hidden and those kids remained safe. Should I warn Kate? No, not yet. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. I need to watch and wait.
Chapter Five
Kate was content.
She smiled at the kids lounging in the family room. Cindy had stopped by to meet the kids and fell in love with them instantly. She still thought Kate was a little crazy but she understood.
It was raining hard outside and the kids decided to watch a movie while waiting for it to stop so they could swim in the pool. They had become fish in the week they had been there. They also appeared to be making friends with some of the other kids in the neighborhood, Zach especially. He was spending a lot of time with Eric from next door. Eric would be in the grade ahead of him at school in September.
Alex was still hot and cold, but she didn’t display the hostile attitude that Dawn had mentioned. She spent time in the pool with everyone but was still standoffish around the other neighborhood kids. She was also alone in her room a lot of time.
A loud noise on the back porch startled Kate. She looked up to see Eric with his face plastered to the back door. He was wearing a bright green raincoat and was holding up an even brighter yellow one. Zach jumped up with a smile and ran to the door. Eric stood there dripping on the area rug with a huge grin on his face. Zach looked at Kate. “Can I?”
Kate laughed and said, “Sure, it’s just raining out. Come inside if you hear any thunder.” With that, both boys rushed off into the rain.
Kate was glad for the chance to have some alone time with Alex. Maddy was taking a nap, so this was the perfect opportunity.
Almost as if she read her mind, Alex got up and headed for the stairs. “Alex. Wait a minute. Please sit down.”
Alex huffed, folded her arms across her chest and flopped down. She wouldn’t look at Kate.
“Stay and finish the movie with me,” Kate said to her.
Alex remained in the same position and didn’t speak. She stared at the TV but wasn’t really watching the movie.
After a few awkward moments with Kate just staring at the TV as well, she heard Alex say, “How long am I going to have to sit here?”
Kate frowned, looked at Alex and answered, “I just want to spend some time with you, Alex, I’m not trying to torture you and make you just sit here.”
Alex turned to her in horror. The look of fright on her face was obvious, so Kate asked her what was wrong.
“Nothing, nothing,” Alex replied, still visibly shaken.
“Obviously something is wrong. You don’t hide your emotions that well,” Kate told her.
Alex just continued to stare at Kate.
“Alex, do you not like living here?” Kate asked.
“NO! It’s fine,” she exclaimed. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to move to another place.”
“Is that the only reason you’re saying it’s fine? You don’t want to be here, but you don’t want to move again?” Kate prodded.
Alex shifted in her seat, not really looking up at Kate. “No, I like it here.”
“Then what is it?” Kate asked. “Please talk to me. I really want to help you, but I can’t do that unless you start talking.”
Alex didn’t answer.
“I know you miss your parents,” Kate said gently. “You can talk about them.” Alex still remained quiet. “Do you miss any friends from your old school? I know this last school year you were bounced around a lot. You can try to contact someone from before if you want.”
Alex turned her back on Kate. There isn’t anyone. No one cares.
“I care,” Kate said quietly.
With that, Alex swung around to face Kate. Her eyes were huge. “You heard me?” Alex asked.
Kate sighed. “Yes I heard you. You said, ‘There isn’t anyone. No one cares.’”
Alex just stared at Kate, not saying anything. She jumped up and said she was going to look for Zach and ran outside.
Kate walked to the back door, looked out into the slowing rain, and wondered what had just happened.
~*~*~
Alex ran out into the backyard, not even noticing the rain. She had to find Zach. She crossed over to Eric’s yard, looking for the boys. She spotted a bright flash of yellow in the woods behind the yards and followed the color there. Both boys were in a tree, trying to get to a remote control plane that was stuck in the higher branches.
“You know you’re going to fall out of that tree, Zach. It’s all wet and you’re going to slip,” Alex called.
“What are you doing here, Lex?” Zach asked her impatiently.
“We need to talk, like now.” Alex was tempted to pull him down out of that tree.
“Go away, Alexandra,” Eric sneered, and almost fell out of the tree, losing the effect.
Alex ignored him and turned to Zach. “Now, Zach. It’s important.”
“What, Lex?” Zach huffed. He clearly was not in the mood to deal with his sister. He was having fun, and she had a way of spoiling that. She needed to just relax.
“I think she’s like us. . .” Alex said with unease. The shock from hearing her say that caused Zach to slip and fall out of the tree. Luckily, he was not that high up, and he was able to land on his feet.
Scrambling up, he called out to Eric, “I gotta go.” He pulled Alex farther into the woods. “What the heck do you mean, she’s like us?”
Alex paced around aimlessly while Zach picked at the bark on the tree he was leaning against.
“Okay, so you’re saying she read your mind. Are you sure? Could it just be that you’re paranoid now that we’re in a new place and we messed up a few times with her already?” Zach asked.
“You messed up. You were the one who almost got us caught,” Alex shot back, stopping to look directly at him.
“You’ve done it too. The last place we were at was all your fault,” Zach yelled back.
“Whatever,” she said as she continued to pace. “You weren’t there. She heard my thoughts. She repeated exactly what I was thinking. She just didn’t realize I hadn’t said anything out loud.” She blew out a loud breath and leaned up against a tree facing Zach.
“So what if she can hear us?” Zach said finally. “I like it here. She seems cool.”
“You just like the house and the pool and having your own room,” she shot back.
“So what if I do? Don’t you? It’s a lot better than any of the other places we’ve been stuck in,” Zach replied. “You’ve been miserable this whole time. Don’t you like it here?”
“Yeah, I like it here,” she relented. “But, I don’t know if we’re safe here. If she can hear us, we might not be safe.”
“Mom said there were others like us. She’s probably one of them,” Zach said to her.
“Yeah, but Dad told us about the Division,” Alex said with a shiver. “She could be one of them.”
Zach just stared at the ground for a few minutes, not saying anything. They both were lost in thought.
Zach finally said, “No way. She’s cool. She can’t be part of the Division. Kate cares. I can tell. She’s not going to hurt us.”
“I don’t know,” Alex uttered, almost defeated. “We need to be really careful.”
“Or we can tell her, and she can help us,” Zach said hopefully. “If she’s like us, she’ll understand and not freak out like everyone else. We won’t have to be so careful all the time. We can just be normal.”
“You are so not normal, Zach,” Alex said jokingly.
Zach teased her back and said, “Like you can talk.”
Alex looked serious again. “We can’t tell her yet. We need to be sure we can trust her.”
“Okay, we wait, but just don’t mess this up, Lex,” Zach relented. “Kate’s been trying with you, and you’ve been a jerk to her.”
“I haven’t been a jerk,” Alex pouted.
“You have, too, and you know it. Can you just try to be nice to her? She’s kinda cool. She’s not like any of the other people we’ve been stuck with.”
Alex just looked at the ground.
“Seriously, Lex, I don’t want to move again. We could end up in a really bad place,” Zach pleaded. “Just try.”
“I’ll try,” Alex agreed.
“Cool. Gotta go,” Zach dashed off in search of his friend.
Alex trudged through the rain-soaked leaves in the woods for several minutes before returning to the back porch. She sat down on the top step and looked out at the backyard. The rain had stopped during her talk with Zach and the sun had come out with a vengeance. It was starting to get hot. Her clothes were wet from the rain and sticking to her but were already drying slightly from the heat.
She was procrastinating. She didn’t want to talk to Kate yet. She knew she owed Kate an explanation, but she just didn’t know what to say, so she was hiding out there on the porch.
Kate noticed that Alex had come back and was on the porch. She watched her for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do. She ventured outside and settled down on the top step next to Alex. Both of them sat there in silence.
“I know you think that no one cares about you, Alex, but that’s not true. I care about you, and I care about Zach and Maddy. I really want this to work with us,” Kate said gently.
“I’m sorry for running off,” Alex said quietly.
Kate smiled at her. “Come on; let’s go make some lemonade slushies.”
~*~*~
Frank hated to bring bad news to his boss. He never wanted to be the one to tell Brooks that he couldn’t have something that he had wanted.
The break-in at Family Services was supposed to be easy: go in, get the info, and get out. The problem was, the file wasn’t there. He even broke into the computer but there was nothing. The file had to be somewhere. Maybe it was misplaced or it was on another desk. Everything should be straightened out now. The staff would surely clean up all the mess and make sure everything else was all organized. People usually went overboard cleaning everything after a break-in.
He would have to go back in quietly and look again, this time alone. The boys he had brought with him last time had made way too much noise and a huge mess. They seemed to think it was fun dumping things. Now it would be a lot harder to get in unnoticed. Security would be tighter, and he would have to be more cautious. He couldn’t fail again. Brooks was counting on him to get those kids.
~*~*~
There was a carnival in the next town over, and Kate thought it would be a great place to take the kids for some fun. Zach begged for Eric to come with him and Alex seemed to want to bring Emily. Kate was happy to see Alex making an effort to have a friend. It had been three days since they had spoken on the porch, and Alex seemed to be letting her guard down somewhat.
Kate decided to take the SUV that her parents had left parked next to her garage so that all the kids and the car seat could fit in one vehicle. She really should have been driving it occasionally instead of letting it just sit there. Now that she had three kids, it would probably get used more.
The older kids took off for the rides as soon as they got there, and Kate reminded them to check in with her in an hour and not to wander off beyond the carnival grounds. Kate watched them head straight for The Whip, a ride that swung them around quickly in an arc. She was glad that they had not eaten yet. People were known to get sick on that ride.
She pushed Maddy in the stroller and meandered through the colorful vendor booths that were selling all kinds of unusual items, and some very normal souvenir-type things. A big flower balloon caught Maddy’s eye, and she kept pointing and chanting, “Flower, please,” with a huge smile. How can I resist?
Maddy pointed to an area off to the side that had a small petting zoo. Kate held her hand as they walked through the miniature barnyard. She dug a few quarters out of her purse so that Maddy could feed some of the goats who kept nudging them with their noses. Other baby animals approached to lick the remaining food from her fingers. Kate loved hearing Maddy’s giggles.
The kids checked in and wanted to get some junk food, so Kate gave them some money and off they headed toward the food tent. She was sure that they would be stopping at the cotton candy vender and the popcorn cart. Kate watched Zach wave around a corn dog on a long stick and then try to poke his sister with it. She smiled at their antics.
Everyone seemed to really be enjoying themselves, and Kate was thrilled. The kids needed a fun night. A scream from the tent area caught Kate’s attention just in time to see Eric dump icy water down his sister’s back. She waited to see what Emily would do in retaliation, but it seemed as if the girl was waiting until later for her retribution.
She ran into several of her students and their parents and stopped to chat with many of them. Kate was having a great time, soaking in lots of happy vibes from everyone around.
Booth attendants called out to Kate as she strolled by with Maddy. Each of them tried to entice her into playing their game. She paused at the water gun competition. Several teens were squirting their water guns onto the target to try to win a giant stuffed dog. The youngest of the competitors won the race and was jumping up and down excitedly.
She continued walking, turning down the end of one aisle to loop around to the next, when she was overwhelmed by a feeling of anger and rage. She looked all around but didn’t see anyone who looked like they would feel that way. Most of the people she saw were laughing and enjoying the carnival. Kate quickly moved down the row to get away from those awful feelings, but they seemed to follow her. She kept looking around for someone, but she didn’t see anyone who seemed angry. The feelings were so strong that they caused her to have chills down her back. She picked Maddy up from her stroll
er and held her, needing to assure herself that the little girl was close.
Kate secured Maddy on her hip with one arm as she hurried to push the stroller with her free hand. She wanted to go to the food tent to check on the kids. The feeling of rage followed her through the carnival, not lessening at all. It was almost as if someone was moving along behind her, although as much as she looked around her, she didn’t see anyone. The chills she felt wouldn’t go away. She was not one to scare easily, but she had never felt such strong emotions before.
The food tent finally came into sight. Many more people around, so it was a little harder for her to determine where feelings were coming from. She started scanning the area around the food tent. Suddenly, a hand clamped down on her shoulder. Her heart was thundering and she felt a tightness in her chest. Goosebumps lined her arms and not the good kind. She stifled a scream as she was turned slightly around.
A tall guy with short, chocolate-brown hair and very dark-brown eyes stood directly in front of her. Kate noticed his muscles bulging under his fitted green polo shirt and admired the way his dark jeans fit him. She noticed his black work boots looked well-worn and contrasted with his nice attire. Kate guessed him to be in his mid-twenties, but his eyes seemed to reflect a much older man. She thought he was attractive, but some of it was taken away by his intensity and almost fierceness. Kate quickly did an inventory of the emotions around her. Maddy was pensive and had been unusually quiet during Kate’s dash through the carnival.
She focused on the guy standing before her and was shocked. She didn’t feel anything from him at all. Nothing. It is almost as if he has no emotions. Kate stared at him.
He reluctantly dropped his arm from her shoulder but didn’t step back. Kate felt a little crowded by him and tried to take a step back. He towered over her in height, looking as if he were well over six feet. It seemed as if he wanted to take another step forward, but he stayed where he was.