Operation Redwood

by S. Terrell French

  There was nothing in the world Julian would rather do less than call his aunt. He would rather eat grubs. He would rather run to the Greyhound station and take the first bus that came along.

  “What would I tell her?”

  Robin’s eyes opened wide. “Well, for starters, you could tell her my dad didn’t kidnap you!”

  He took another deep breath. “You’re right. I should call her.” He dialed her home phone quickly before he lost his nerve. He would think of what to say when she answered. He heard his uncle’s voice on the answering machine and hung up with relief.

  “Doesn’t she have a cell phone?” Robin asked.

  Of course she had a cell phone. The problem with the cell phone was, she’d probably answer it. It was better not to think. He’d started slowly punching in her cell phone number when he heard the sound of a car coming up the driveway.

  Robin looked out the window. “It’s the sheriff car.”

  Julian felt like he was going to faint. He had the sickening feeling that all the trouble he’d ever been in before was just a drop compared to the ocean of trouble ahead.

  “Come on!” Robin said urgently. Julian just stood watching the patrol car pull up next to Bob’s white truck. “Julian! Hurry!”

  He followed Robin onto the back deck and down the stairs. There she turned sharply to the right and pulled aside a wooden lattice. They crawled under the deck, then Robin carefully slid the lattice back into place.

  The crawl space was dark and musty and filled with old leaves. He could barely see Robin as she crawled up the uneven slope toward the front of the house. He tried to scramble after her without putting any pressure on his sore left knee. As he moved awkwardly forward, he felt the sticky, elastic tangle of a spider web paste itself to his mouth. He sat up to brush it away and hit his head against the cement foundation so hard the pain seemed to ring through his whole body. When the pain had dimmed, he bent down again and slowly crawled next to Robin. She was looking out of a lattice that Julian figured must be just to the left of the front door.

  A beefy man in a uniform was standing next to the patrol car, wiping his sunglasses with a handkerchief.

  “Hey, Ralph,” they heard Bob say.

  “Good afternoon,” Ralph replied, squinting and holding up the sunglasses for inspection.

  “What brings you out here? Did Martha give the green light to our little fishing expedition?”

  “I guess you didn’t get my message.” Ralph put his sunglasses back on and glanced in the side mirror of the car.

  “Something wrong?”

  “Well, you might say that. We seem to have a little situation, here. I spent a good fifteen minutes on the phone this morning with a woman named Daphne Carter. Ring any bells?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Why don’t you get out of the sun.” They both stepped into view, under the shade of the oak trees. “Any relation to Sibley Carter?”

  “Now that you mention it, she happens to be his wife.”

  “Is there some trouble next door?” Bob asked, looking worried.

  “She seems to think you’re in some trouble. Says you’ve kidnapped her nephew.” Ralph crossed his thick arms. The corners of his mouth were tight.

  “Kidnapped her nephew! What in the world?” Bob’s face was a picture of amazement.

  Ralph gave a low chuckle. “It was worth coming out here just to see the look on your face.”

  “What? Is she crazy?” Bob said.

  “I don’t know,” Ralph was still chuckling and shaking his head. “She’s a piece of work. Misplaced her nephew. Must have run away. I would too if she was my aunt.”

  “But why would she think I have anything to do with it?”

  “Said she had information you’d lured him up here. I couldn’t get it straight. Something about Robin too. Kid’s name is Julian.”

  “Julian?” Bob’s face crumpled. He put his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes for a moment.

  “Wait a minute,” Ralph said, his smile fading. “You actually know this kid?”

  Julian felt his fingers and toes go numb.

  “I was afraid of something like this.”

  “What’s going on, Bob?”

  “Almost two weeks ago, at lunch, Robin says she’s invited a new exchange student up here from San Francisco. Says they were pen pals. Name’s Julian Li. Chinese, or half–Chinese, I guess. Good–looking kid. I picked him up at the Greyhound.” Bob shook his head ruefully. “I knew something wasn’t right.”

  “He didn’t mention the Carters?”

  “Not a word. Says his mom’s out of town. I left a message. Nancy wanted to keep him. He’s been here ever since.”

  “So how in the world did this kid get hooked up with Robin?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Well, I guess it is a good thing I dropped by,” Ralph said, shaking his head. “I’d better let Ms. Carter know we found the boy.” He lumbered over to the car and disappeared inside.

  Julian’s foot had fallen asleep and his throat itched. He tried to swallow softly to keep from coughing. He glanced at Robin, and she made a silent grimace but stayed perfectly still.

  Bob was less than ten feet away. Julian tried to read his expression. He didn’t look furious, but it was like a dark shadow had passed over his face.

  After an almost unbearable amount of time, Ralph got out of the patrol car. “Well, Bob. Seems like you’re going to have the pleasure of meeting Ms. Daphne Carter yourself.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Apparently, she couldn’t wait for the sheriff’s office to clear this up. She’s on her way here. She called the office about an hour ago.”

  “Ralph, I’m sorry about all this,” Bob said. “I had a feeling that boy wasn’t telling me the whole story.”

  That boy. Julian thought of the hours he had spent with Bob in the workshop, in the garden, at the table. That Julian, it seemed, no longer existed. He was a stranger again, just some kid off a bus who’d conned Bob into letting him stay.

  “Why don’t you come inside for now?” Bob said to the sheriff.

  Just as their feet banged overhead, a low rumbling began in the distance. The two sets of footsteps stopped, then headed back outside. Julian could see Ralph putting on his sunglasses and staring down the driveway. “Looks like you’ve got company, Bob,” he said.

  Daphne’s silver SUV rattled up in front of the house in a cloud of dust. Julian took advantage of the noise to shift his position slightly and scratch his nose. Robin started furiously brushing something off her legs. When the engine noise died, they froze again. Julian immediately wished he’d straightened out his legs more. They were already cramping up.

  Out of the SUV stepped a man wearing a pink knit shirt and tennis shorts. He looked vigorous and, at the same time, harmless. He loped around to the passenger side and opened the door. Daphne emerged, sporting a pair of cropped black pants and a sleeveless blouse.

  “Thank you, Sergei,” she said with pointed politeness.

  “Ms. Daphne Carter, I presume,” said Ralph, stepping toward her.

  “Who are you? The sheriff?”

  “Deputy sheriff. We chatted on the phone this morning. Ralph O’Brian.”

  Daphne ignored his extended hand. “Where’s my nephew?” she demanded.

  Ralph turned toward Bob.

  “I’m sure he’s in the house, or running around somewhere with my daughter,” Bob said.

  “Do you mean to tell me you haven’t even located him yet?” Daphne asked. “This is an outrage! This is unbelievable!”

  “Well,” said Ralph slowly. “If Bob says your nephew’s here, I’m sure he is.”

  She gave him her coldest stare. “You don’t take me seriously, do you? Well, let me tell you something. I’m thinking of pressing charges! My nephew has been missing for almost two weeks. Apparently, he was lured up over the Internet by this Bob Elder.” She turned to Bob. “That’s you, I presume. And when I report this crime, doe
s the sheriff’s office even lift a finger to help me?” Daphne paused, finger in the air. “No! If it hadn’t been for directory assistance, and Sergei, here,” she said, giving him a proprietary glance, “I’d never have found Julian.”

  Sergei gave a little wave and an apologetic smile.

  “Now, ma’am, I can see you’re upset,” said Ralph.

  “Don’t you ‘now, ma’am’ me,” Daphne said. “My entire day has been ruined. I wasted almost four hours driving up here. I had to cancel all my appointments. One of them took me two months to get! If you don’t produce Julian this instant”—she paused—“I’m calling the CIA. And the FBI. You’ll regret the day you condescended to me!”

  “I believe there’s been a misunderstanding,” said Ralph in a placating tone. “But why don’t we get Julian. Maybe that’ll help straighten everything out. What do you think, Bob?”

  Bob stood still with his arms crossed. Julian remembered that look. It was the same way Bob had watched him when they’d first met in the parking lot.

  “Maybe you can clear something up for me,” he said. “Julian informed me that his mother is out of the country. Is that correct?”

  “His mother!” Daphne rolled her eyes. “She goes off for the entire summer without making any arrangements for Julian. No lessons. No camps. I had to set up everything, at our expense, I might add. Then, when I call to find out about sending Julian a little package I’d prepared for him, the camp says he never showed up! I nearly had a heart attack!”

  “You thought he was at camp?” Bob asked.

  “Listen,” she snapped, “the tuition was paid in full. His duffel bag was packed!” Daphne stopped herself. “I don’t have to defend myself to you.” She turned to Ralph with a look of astonishment on her face. “Why am I the one being interrogated here?”

  “Well, of course, we have to ensure that you actually are Julian’s legal guardian before we turn him over to you,” Ralph said calmly.

  “You have to ensure what?” Daphne suddenly lowered her voice. “I lived with the boy under my roof for nine weeks. Nine! Weeks!” She stood with her mouth open for a moment, suddenly at a loss for words. “I gave him a room, fed him,” she said, picking up steam, “supervised his homework, even threw parties for him. If I’m not in charge of him, nobody is!”

  Bob studied her another long moment. Then he said, “I’ll go fetch him.”

  Julian could hear the heavy thump of his footsteps above them and then the ringing of the dinner bell.

  Robin started sliding down the slope. Julian followed close behind. Somehow, he seemed to be making a lot more noise than she was. His feet had fallen asleep and he felt like he was moving on stumps. He wiggled his toes, trying to make the pins–and–needles feeling go away.

  “Do we have to come out?” he whispered. The cobwebby crawl space was starting to seem like the perfect place to spend the afternoon.

  “Obviously, we can’t stay under here forever,” she whispered back. “Those ants were making me crazy! They were crawling all over me.”

  When the sound of the bell had died away, they heard Bob’s footsteps as he crossed back to the front of the house, and they emerged slowly from underneath the deck. Robin replaced the lattice and gave Julian a critical look.

  “You’re a mess,” she said. Julian wiped his face on his T–shirt, which only served to cover it with grime. The white bandana around his knee was now filthy and spotted red with blood. Robin looked clean and composed, as always.

  They walked slowly to the front of the house, where Bob and Ralph were speaking together in muted tones. Julian braced himself as Daphne directed her furious gaze toward him.

  “Julian, I could kill you!” she said. “Your uncle is going to have something to say when we get back. There are going to be serious consequences.”

  Julian’s knee was still throbbing with pain.

  “When I called High Sights Academy to send you a little package I’d prepared,” Daphne continued, “do you know what they told me?” She came to a halt, eyebrows raised. “They said you were on an African safari!”

  The outraged look on Daphne’s face, coupled with the memory of Danny chatting on about wildebeests, was too much for Julian. His shoulders started shaking with laughter. He tried to maintain a solemn expression, but the more horrified Daphne looked, the less Julian was able to control himself.

  Finally, Daphne stopped gaping and shrieked, “Do you think this is funny? Because let me tell you, the humor is lost on me! I nearly killed myself trying to track you down!”

  “What in the world is going on here?” At the sound of Nancy’s voice, Julian sobered up instantly. He turned and saw Nancy with Jo–Jo in her arms. Molly was at her side, her face paler than ever.

  “Julian’s aunt is here to take him home. Daphne Carter. Sibley Carter’s wife.” Bob’s eyes signaled a kind of warning. “Julian, do you have anything to say?”

  Julian looked uncertainly around him. He wasn’t sure what Bob was asking him for. An apology? His opinion about returning home? An explanation for why his aunt was there, ranting and raving?

  He decided that an apology would be the safest route. And he was truly, deeply sorry, now that he saw himself through their eyes—an imposter, an outlaw, taking advantage of their kindness and trust.

  “I’m really sorry, Bob.” Julian kept his eyes down. “And Nancy,” he added, turning to where Nancy was standing.

  “You stood there and told us you weren’t running away,” Bob said. All the warmth had drained from his face.

  “I wasn’t running away, really, I just . . .” Everything was so complicated. Better to say as little as possible. “I guess I should have told my aunt and uncle where I was going,” he continued halfheartedly.

  “Perhaps, he has ze bags?” Sergei said helpfully.

  “Go get your stuff,” Daphne directed. “And clean yourself up!” she shouted as Julian turned and headed inside. “I don’t want those filthy clothes inside my car.”

  Before the front door closed, Robin slipped inside after him. They climbed silently to the loft, then Robin said, “I tried to think of something to say to help, but I couldn’t.”

  “What could you say? It was a nightmare.” Julian threw his clothes into his duffel bag. “I guess Operation Redwood is over.”

  “Maybe a way will open,” Robin said doubtfully. “Maybe.”

  “I better get out of these clothes,” he said, and she left. A moment later, he saw the tips of her fingers push a large Band–Aid up from the loft steps. The voices outside were growing louder. Julian could hear his aunt’s high, demanding tone and Nancy’s voice, low and urgent. Then Jo–Jo started wailing. He’s probably tired, Julian thought. It’s time for his nap.

  “. . . wouldn’t talk that way to a dog,” he heard Nancy saying when he stepped outside again. The voices stopped. Bob had moved over to stand next to Nancy and the children. Nancy and Daphne were glaring at each other and Ralph was standing between them with his arms apart, like a referee.

  “I’m ready,” Julian said softly.

  Without saying a word, Daphne turned, climbed into the SUV, and slammed the door. Julian walked over to where the Elder family had gathered. “Good–bye,” he said. Jo–Jo took his thumb out of his mouth and said, “I don’t want Julian to say bye.”

  Julian could barely lift his eyes to meet Nancy’s. “Thanks for having me,” he said. “Thanks for everything.”

  She gave him a hug with her free arm. “You take care,” she said. “If you need . . . ,” she began, but Bob put a cautionary hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for all your help with Jo–Jo,” was all she said in the end.

  Glancing at Ralph, Julian said again, “Sorry for the trouble.” He looked last at Robin, standing barefoot on the front steps. She waved and looked like she was about to cry.

  Sergei took his duffel bag and put it in the trunk. “Off ve go!” he said cheerfully.

  Julian climbed into the backseat. The car spun around an
d started down the long driveway, and Julian watched Robin and her family recede through the tinted glass of the rear window.

  s Daphne’s tirade in the car went on and on, Julian pretended he was a secret agent who’d been captured by the enemy. His mission: to determine how much Danny had revealed. He didn’t know when they’d have a chance to talk and he wanted their stories to match. Fortunately, the enemy was more interested in complaining about her ruined day than interrogating him. From what Julian could gather, Daphne and Sibley were still in the dark about two key facts: first, that he’d opened his uncle’s e–mails, and second, that Robin’s family was connected in any way to the IPX property.

  Eventually, Daphne grew tired of craning her neck over her shoulder to make sure that Julian was still listening. Her performance at Huckleberry Ranch had drained her energy. She ordered Sergei to find the nearest latte, then spent the next hour rehashing the story of Julian’s rescue on her cell phone. After she had repeated the story four or five times, Daphne called the housekeeper and instructed her to remove the phone and television from Julian’s room.

  When they finally reached San Francisco, Julian was sent straight upstairs and told to stay in his room until further notice. His bedroom had been stripped bare. There wasn’t even a pencil. He sat by the window and listened to the sounds of the house: the garage door opening, the muffled roar of the vacuum cleaner, the click of Daphne’s high heels.

  Outside, the foghorn sounded its low, rhythmic honk. The gray fog completely hid the Golden Gate Bridge and was so dense that it was impossible to gauge the time of day. When the streetlights came on, Julian jumped.

  It was hard to believe that the summer sun was setting far away at Huckleberry Ranch. Julian stood for a long time, staring at the drifting fog. Had it been worth it? he asked himself. He was in disgrace, but with his aunt and uncle, that was nothing new. If he hadn’t opened Robin’s message, he would never have gone to Huckleberry Ranch and he would have missed out on the best weeks of his life. He hadn’t known that such a world existed.

  He wondered what Robin and her family were doing right now. No doubt Robin was in trouble. Daphne might not have made the connection between his running away and Big Tree Grove. At least not yet. Bob and Nancy, however, certainly wouldn’t think it was just a coincidence that he was Sibley Carter’s nephew. What would Robin tell them? Would she reveal her secret e–mail to his uncle? Or make up some story somehow putting the blame on Julian? She might as well, he thought bitterly. He’d probably never see any of them again.