by William Hill
Liam grabbed Carol and pushed her past him, as Drew pulled Scott, into the room that had suddenly opened up behind them. Just as Liam started to turn and enter himself, he caught a glimpse of a man's shadow coming into the kitchen. Drew pulled Liam in as Scott and Carol swung the panel closed. There was a sound like that of a pop bottle cap being opened — phissst — as it shut. At the same time an overhead light came on illuminating the room. Liam noticed that beside the door on one side was a wall-mounted telephone; on the other side was a monitor. On it was an on-off switch, which Drew reached over and turned on. Instantly the picture that appeared on it was of the kitchen they had just escaped from, and they could see six men standing in it. Five of the men were police, four uniforms and a plainclothes with a badge on his coat pocket. The sixth man needed no identification. They knew who he was.
Smith stood in the doorway from the dining room, looking around, with the same look on his face as the rest, one of bafflement. The kids could hear through a small speaker mounted above the monitor the plain-clothes officer, as he turned to Smith behind him and spoke.
"You sure we have the right address?"
"Yes! My agent saw all of them enter this house. They have to be here somewhere. Search everywhere."
The kids watched as the men left the kitchen.
"That was close. We're lucky they didn't see us." Scott whispered.
"What is this place?" Drew asked.
"I saw something like this on a TV movie. It's called a 'Panic Room', I think," Liam told him.
"Good," Carol interjected, "because I'm panicked!"
"Yeah, I saw that movie too. This is like a safe, steel walls and door, unbreakable and hermetically sealed, so no gas or anything can get in. The phone is to call for help. You know, 911 or something," Drew remarked.
"Yeah well, it might keep them out, but we're trapped like rats until they leave," Liam noted.
"We'll just have to stay here until they leave," Carol observed.
"Do you think we should use the phone here to call the cops?" Scott asked.
"Why bother?" Drew said looking at his younger brother like he was an idiot. "They're already here."
"Don't give me the look!" Scott told him angrily. "I was just trying to be helpful."
"Come on, guys! Save the sibling rivalry for later, okay? Maybe Scott's got a good idea, except maybe we should call my Uncle Del instead," Liam suggested, as he pulled the cell phone from his pocket. He realized, again, that he didn't know any numbers by heart.
He looked up at the others and said with resignation, "I don't know his number."
"Check the contacts list in the phone," Carol offered.
"Hadn't thought of that," Liam said, sheepishly. He went through the program lists and found the contacts app. Opening it, he found no names, just two numbers. Then he noticed that there was no network connection.
"Too much metal surrounding us," Drew told him when he showed him the phone.
"I guess so. I’ve got a bad feeling."
"You sound like your Gran," Carol told him.
He wondered how much, if any, of her prescience he might have inherited.
"I have an idea about how we can get outta here," Liam said.
"How? You can bet that they'll leave a cop here, or Smith's spy will still be around to watch the door," Drew told him.
"Are you forgetting who, or rather, what we are? We can leave, and stay at the same time. If there is a cop out there we can run. He can even catch us, but he can't keep us! And if there isn't, but there is a spy for Smith hidden out there watching, then he'll tell Smith we've left, and even if he follows us, at some point he'll lose us! We'll just 'disappear', then really leave here and go in the opposite direction."
"Excellent, Liam!" exclaimed Scott.
"Except for one thing. Where would we go if we left here? Actually left, I mean. We can't very well walk the streets, or endlessly ride the Metro, with both the police and Smith's people looking for us. We need to go somewhere where they won't think to look for us, where we'd be safe, and could stay awhile. And, more importantly, we can't stay hidden forever; we need help from somebody, but who do we call? Whom can we trust if your uncles are being watched? Maybe we should stay here," Carol said.
"We could stay here, except there's no food or anything to drink, except the bottle of pop in my hand. We'd have to leave in a day or two in any event. I don't know who to trust, except you guys. And, I don't know where we could go, either. I need to sort this out," Liam responded with resignation. “I think we better plan on spending the night here anyway. Maybe in the morning something will come to us.”
Liam woke up and saw everyone else asleep except Drew.
Seeing Liam awake, "Been thinking," offered Drew. "If we do as you suggested, Liam, you visioning us outta here so we can be seen, and all, and look like we're leaving, and, as you said, pop back here and then leave, the question is still to where?" He added, “We don't even know where we are."
"I do," Liam told them, "and I think I have the answer! I'm gonna try a vision. If it works, I'll be back in about two hours or so. If not, sooner and we'll have to try something else." Liam closed his eyes and concentrated.
He tried to imagine what he'd look like in fifteen years. He'd been told repeatedly by his father while growing up that he was the spitting image of his uncle Gene. Liam had to admit that he could also see the resemblance. He was already about his uncle’s height and weight — Gene wasn't as tall or heavy as his brother Del or Liam's dad — so Liam concentrated on Gene's facial features, remembering what he looked like. Satisfied that it didn't have to be perfect, he then envisioned step two of his plan.
He remembered that the last time, before last night, he'd been in Arlington, specifically Ballston, there had been a car rental place just a few blocks from the church. While the family had been visiting there, their car had had a mechanical problem, his dad had taken it just down the street to a dealership for repairs, and they had walked the half-dozen or so blocks and rented a car for the day at the place. He was sure he could find it again if he started at the church. He figured he could envision having a driver's license and credit card in Gene's name. Should be easy enough to do since he'd done it before, sort of, when he had imagined he had money to buy fish and chips from a real-life street vender in his vision when he took himself and Gran to England. The money had been real enough then, so why shouldn't a license and credit card work as well? He knew his gift was strong enough to take him to the church; he guessed it had to be five miles, or so, from here, and hadn't he envisioned himself and the brothers from his home to Smith's for the meeting last week, a distance of at least twenty miles? Really, Liam, he told himself, where’s the problem? You took Gran all the way to England, didn’t you? He mentally envisioned the area next to the church - a small graveyard. He could see it taking shape.
He opened his eyes.
He was there.
Chapter Twenty Three: The Impersonator
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”
