“Who gave you these orders?” I demanded to know. He hesitated one fraction of a second too long for my nonexistent patience, so he got another face full of carpet.
This time he came up spitting out a name, but it was too garbled to understand.
“Say that name again, slowly.” And to his credit he enunciated the best his broken face would allow, “Dr. Williams.”
Evan stepped closer and asked the most important questions, “Is our mother alive? Does Williams have Margo Winter?”
But it was too late, he had passed out. Darn it! Why didn’t I ask those questions first? Why did I have to be so rough on the three-hundred-pound thug? Why do I have to be so emotional all the time!
I felt myself start to cry, and then the doctor’s hand was on my elbow. Cole rushed to my other side and they walked me to the nearest bed.
“Are you hurt, Meg?” Cole asked gently.
I looked around the room through tear-filled eyes and saw Alik and Evan working on lining the four guys against the far wall. With quick movements, they were tying them up using the thugs’ own belts and shoelaces.
“My body feels fine. Never better. But my heart hurts, and I’m mad at myself for not handling that interrogation better. I really needed to hear that mom was alive.”
“Well, we can try to revive any of these other guys and get them to talk, if you want, Meg.” Alik said with a slight kick to one of the guy’s boots.
“As much as I want to know, we don’t have time. We’ve got to go. They weren’t planning to kill us, but they didn’t seem to care either way about Dr. Andrews and Cole. Besides, I’m sure the rooms around us heard the fight and someone has called the police. We need to get out of here. Fast.”
“I agree,” Evan said grabbing his bag. “But before we go, lemme check the SUV real quick for explosives, tracking devices, or anything else out of place.”
“Good call,” Alik smiled, appreciating his brother’s mechanical prowess and thinking. Dang, the three of us make a good team.
Chapter 32 Rage Begets Reason
Inside ten minutes we were back on the road. Everyone was beyond hungry again, so we went to a fast-food drive-thru and ordered lots of breakfast tacos. Have you ever had these things? Oh, my gosh, they are flour tortillas wrapped around juicy sausage bits and fluffy eggs with cheddar cheese and served with salsa packets. I’m drooling just thinking about them.
I started chuckling to myself. I never realized how much I’d been missing out in the food department because I lived in a bubble on the ranch all those years. I’m going to have to be careful not to pack on the pounds out here in the real world.
“What’s so funny?” Cole’s voice woke me from my food-filled daydream.
My sheepish grin and accompanying blush were completely genuine. I couldn’t tell him what I was really thinking. So instead I reversed the moment and asked, “So what happened last night? Were you that desperate to sleep in a chair?”
Now it was his turn to blush. “I just thought you needed some real rest,” he looked down at the edge of his shirt and shrugged casually.
“That was very sweet of you. I appreciated it, right up until the thug-fest.” We smiled at each other warmly.
“So…Evan, have I ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?” Alik was grinning at Evan.
“Why no, Alik. Thank you! You know, I noticed when you passed me the last packet of salsa for my breakfast taco this morning. That was very considerate of you!” Evan batted his eyes obnoxiously at Alik, and they exchanged goofy grins.
“Will you two shut up?” I barked. For the next ten minutes or so, I stared out the window and vowed to get my revenge. Stupid brothers.
In a decided effort to change the subject, I asked Dr. Andrews the question none of us had dared ask, but of which we were desperate to know the answer. “So what are we going to do when we get to The Institute? I mean, we know that’s where Dr. Williams is and that’s probably where he’s holding mom. But I can’t imagine they’re just going to open the doors wide and say, ‘Come on in, kids’.”
“Sure they are, Meg. They’ll be happy to have us walk in to the building; the problem will come when we want to walk out.” Evan specified.
“He’s right. We really need to come up with a plan. And we don’t have that much time to formulate it. We’ll be in California by nightfall. Are we going to try to break into the facility? Are we going to walk in there guns blazing? Is there a way to offer a deal? I mean, what do we know about this guy besides the fact that he’s a mad scientist bent on destroying children for his own sick gains?” Alik was thinking outloud.
“All I know about Dr. Williams is pretty much what I’ve already told you. He’s the guy in charge of The Institute.” Dr. Andrews stared at the road in front of him thinking.
“Well, wait a minute. How does he get his funding? Is there no board of directors he has to report to? Shareholders?” Evan’s voice trailed off as he was thinking.
“How about an ethics committee?” Cole added cynically.
“I think he does enough legitimate pharmaceutical business to afford his pet projects like Infinite. As far as I know, he reports to no one except the Food and Drug Administration, and they sure seem to have turned a blind eye to what’s really going on behind those walls,” said Dr. Andrews.
“Why can’t we go to the police or the feds?” Cole asked sensibly.
With a deep sigh, I started to explain, “Listen, until two days ago, I thought I was just a regular kid living with a quirky mom who wanted me and my brothers to live an ‘unpolluted lifestyle that focused on our intrinsic gifts and the development of our intellect’. Needless to say, everything has changed.”
I had been thinking of possible options from the moment I first knew mom was taken. “So, we go to the authorities and say what? A woman who claimed to be our mother for the last twelve years was really our rescuer from a neurobiological facility that was using us as human guinea pigs for their formulas? And, oh yeah, she stole us away from this facility in the dead of night, acquired an assumed name to help us hide and maternity tests would prove she is not our biological mother, nor are we siblings.
“She would claim that she rescued us. They would claim that they had no idea what she was talking about because The Institute does not now, nor ever has, used human beings as test subjects. How ridiculous!
“Dr. Williams would admit Margo worked for his company but, as evidence to her poor character, she didn’t show up for work one day and they never heard from her again. If Margo has these children, she must have acquired them through illicit means and the police need to charge her with kidnapping.
“It would be our mom’s word against this huge multimillion-dollar conglomerate. If you were the cops, who would you believe?” Though my logic was dead on, I felt sick saying it.
My brothers sat quietly on either side of me, both of them staring out of the window closest to them. I wondered if they wished none of this ever happened and that we were back on our ranch living in ignorant bliss again. I know that’s what I was wishing. My eyes drifted to the window, too. The scenery passed so quickly, it blurred into one stream of color.
And the more I thought about it, the angrier I got.
The injustice of it all! They took me away from my biological parents, they tortured me for nearly four years while keeping me caged like an animal. They forced Margo into becoming a fugitive to save us. And when they kidnapped her, they took away the one person who ever loved me even though she knew that love would jeopardize her life!
I felt a rage build inside me so intense, heat poured from my skin. And from this fury, I drew strength. My mind was racing with possible solutions and probable outcomes: if this, then this. If this happened, then I would respond with this. When Dr. Williams said this, I would say that.
Then, my mind raced smack into a wall of clarity.
I was so enraged at the evil that hurt me and my family; I finally saw what I needed to do. Oh, yeah. Dr. W
illiams was not calling the shots anymore. From now on, he would have to react to my aggression. I’m going to take that evil monster down, and he won’t know what hit him. This is my game now. This is my world, and he’s about to feel my wrath.
“What are you thinking, Meg?” Alik asked with a worried tone. Apparently, he’d been watching the emotions on my face change from what probably looked like despair to triumph.
I looked back from Alik to Evan with a smile curling the corners of my lips.
Chapter 33 Reporting to the Institute
Four rather large men sat slouched in their seats as the rented minivan coasted along.
They were hurting.
The driver, Freddie, was the lead in this assignment. This failed assignment. It was supposed to be so easy.
They follow this SUV, they wait till dark, they break in and get the kids and hightail it back to The Institute. That’s it. He’d done similar things dozens of times before.
But this time, damn.
This time he and his idiot team got their butts kicked by kids. Kids! And what the heck was that dog-thing? It looked more like a wolf. It ripped the heck out of Mick’s shoulder.
That little girl, she was so strong! That’s just not right! And the younger boys, they dealt blows like—well, they just weren’t normal! He shook his head in disbelief remembering the scene in the motel.
Freddie glanced over at Mick sitting shotgun. He didn’t look so good at all. Face was whiter than a new T-shirt. He was still bleeding a lot. Bright red seeped through the make-shift bandage they put on him. It wasn’t big enough for the wound, but that’s the biggest bandage the gas station had. They couldn’t take him to a doctor, or anything. A wound like that would definitely get them noticed.
Joey and Leo weren’t doing much better. Freddie glanced in the rearview mirror to check his other two guys. Crap! Joey’s left eye was swollen shut and he was missing teeth. Leo couldn’t breathe really well, or walk or sit. We’re thinking he has some broken ribs.
Anger, pain and humiliation grabbed him by the collar. He slammed his palm down on the steering wheel. No one even moved to look at him. Everyone was in too much pain.
He could feel his heart beating in his face. Freddie was worried about his guys, but in truth, he looked more mangled than any of them. His nose looked like it’d been through a meat grinder. Both eyes were exploding with huge bruises and his lips looked shredded. Both front teeth were knocked out.
But none of these injuries worried them as much as the phone call that was going to have to happen now. Freddie, as the lead, had to call their boss and tell him what happened. He knew he’d messed up badly and was already trying to find some way to make up for it. He needed another chance to make things right. But he heard this guy gave no mercy for mistakes.
He felt a wave of nausea as he reached into the center console to retrieve the cell phone. Not allowing himself to procrastinate anymore, he pressed and held down button number two. Speed dial registered the command, and the phone began to ring.
Chapter 34 Friends Along the Way
Dr. Andrews had a friend named Gregory Burns who lived in Flagstaff, Arizona. After having Evan check his cell phone for possible bugs, he called Michelle back in Kansas and had her look through his old files for Greg’s number.
Their conversation wasn’t filled with the usual, “How are you?” and “Are you safe?” or even the standard, “I love you and miss you.” Or God-forbid she ask, “How are the children?” Nope. I was going to have to ask Cole about his dad’s relationship with her, but it would have to wait till we could talk privately. There was a lot more to that story, and I was curious to learn it.
“Are you sure this guy would be willing to help us?” Alik asked, doubtfully.
“Why haven’t you mentioned him before?” posed Evan.
Dr. Andrews explained, “It’s been ages since I talked with Greg, but it won’t matter. He will drop whatever he’s doing to help, because that’s just who Greg is. And if he ever needed me, I’d be there for him.
“These aren’t just words. We’ve lived it. Ten years ago, Greg was there when Cole’s mom lost her battle with cancer. And four years after that, I was there for Greg when his wife left him. Through it all, there was no judging, no strings attached.
“We were just two guys who would sit and watch sports together pretending not to notice the tears. Instead of offering a tissue or a shoulder, we’d do what guys do and offer each other a beer and a slice of pizza.”
Dr. Andrews stopped talking, but memories were still tracing lines in his face. Then he continued, “We’ve been friends since we were kids. We grew up in Kansas together, our houses facing each other, sharing a cul-de-sac. We were always hanging out together. We both played baseball in high school. Heck, we even shared a dorm room in college.
“Yeah, Greg would be able to help. On top of all that, he’s a cop. No one else may believe our story. But even if he didn’t believe, he would still help.”
The nostalgia slipped away from his eyes. I could tell the story was done, and I had to admit. This Greg guy sounded like a good idea.
“That’s great, but you didn’t answer my question,” Evan wasn’t as easily convinced.
“I thought of him before now, but really didn’t want to burden anyone else with my decision to help Margo and her children. This old score needed settling and it had nothing to do with Greg.
“But after the motel incident, I decided I need some backup. Literally. The Institute had crossed the line from harassing to extremely dangerous.” Dr. Andrews waited for an argument from Evan, but received none. He hadn’t seen me and my brothers exchange glances that decided Burns was an okay idea, but Evan still looked somewhat suspicious. And though he may be right, my plan could work better with more help from good guys.
The doctor took our silence as consent. He picked up his phone and dialed. The truck full of kids listened intently to only one side of the conversation.
“Hey, Greg! How’s it going? Yeah, it’s been too long, buddy. Listen, I have a situation I need your help with. Well, I can’t discuss it over the phone. I’m about an hour away. Do you mind some company for lunch? The usual place sounds great. Go ahead and get us a table for six. Yeah, I said six. I’ll explain everything. Thanks, man. See you there.”
It felt good to have something to look forward to besides my possible demise at the hands of an evil scientist. Looking around the truck, I felt everyone’s spirits lifted with the prospect of finding an ally in Flagstaff.
Chapter 35 Peanut Shells on the Floor
About an hour later, we pulled into the graveled parking lot of a place called Sizzling Steaks by Samuel and it struck me that lots of places use a name in their title. I was a little pumped and not just at the idea of meeting Dr. Andrew’s friend. But because this was the first real restaurant I’d been in besides Trudy’s, and I gotta tell you that didn’t even count because of the earthy atmosphere and the fact that we had to take our food to-go.
I was hoping for a restaurant like I’d read about in books. You know, the lit candles and fancy table cloths, and square plates with delicious food arranged artistically. I wanted to go to the kind of restaurant where the waiters pulled out the tables for you to sit and offered you a sorbet to cleanse the palate between courses.
“Hey there, welcome to Samuel’s! Table for five?” The hostess greeted us with enthusiasm, braided pig-tails and red lipstick on her front tooth. But she wasn’t the most striking thing about Samuel’s. No, it was more the layer of peanut shells covering the hardwood floors of the entire room that caught my attention.
If it weren’t for the delicious scent of steaks enveloping my senses, I would have been sorely disappointed. Maybe I needed to just appreciate what was around me and not be so bothered by atmosphere. I forced a smile onto my face and tried not to grimace at every peanut shell as it crunched under my shoes.
We were led to the large booth in the back corner. A dark-haired man in his f
orties stood grinning through his heavy mustache at the doc. He jumped from his seat and bolted toward us. And for a moment, I saw the two men as children giving each other a big hug and hearty slugs against the shoulders. It was pretty neat to watch.
“How the heck are you, you old dog? You look great! Get to the gym sometimes. Time’s treatin’ you better than me. Naw, look at all this gray hair!” They were talking on top of each other.
“Wow, Theo. You’ve been busy. Are all these kids yours?” Greg motioned toward the booth inviting us to all sit down.
Laughing, the doctor said, “No man, you remember Cole. He’s my only kid.”
“Ohhh, wow Cole, you’ve grown! Last time I saw you, you were, what, ten?” Greg spoke directly to Cole.
“Yes, sir. Good memory.” Cole smiled widely at his dad’s friend.
“Who are the rest of these kids?” Greg got right to the point.
“Um, this is Meg, Alik and Evan. They are Margo’s kids.” Dr. Andrews waited for recognition to sink in.
“Margo? Margo’s children? But that means these are the…”
“Yes, these are the children from The Institute.” Dr. Andrews finished tactfully.
“My goodness!” He stared at each of us as if we were the most curious creatures he’d ever seen. I felt like crawling inside my purse and hiding. My brothers, who sat on either side of me, tensed too.
“Margo’s missing, and I’m pretty sure you can guess who has her.” The doctor looked meaningfully into his friend’s eyes.
“That piece of crap has been hunting her all this time? Of course, from your stories he sounded like one sick son-of-a-gun. I guess I shouldn’t put it passed him to hold a grudge. Has he contacted you? Is that why you’re heading back to California?”
Winter's Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge (Winter's Saga #1) Page 9