Entrance to Nowhere

by Marja McGraw

  “I feel so inept,” I said. “We’ve never dealt with a kidnapping. What about Griz and Scott? Have they dealt with something like this before?”

  “Scott has, but it was an entirely different situation.”

  I placed four glasses of iced tea on a tray.

  Pete took the tray from my hands and carried it to the security room.

  Scott looked up at us. “Thank you,” he said, taking a glass off the tray.

  “I’d rather have a beer or two,” Griz said, “but now’s not the time.”

  “Are the cameras showing any movement?” I asked.

  “Only your aunt and Layne. They seem to be having a good ol’ time exploring the property.” Scott pointed at the screen. “It looks like they’re on their way back.”

  “I don’t get it,” Griz said. “I know these dirt bags are watching us, but I don’t know how. You’d think we’d see something.”

  “Doesn’t matter how,” Scott said. “We want them to see us. Don’t forget, they can’t see inside the mansion, and right now that’s the important part. They don’t know there’s a Safe Room, which is as it should be.”

  One of the screens showed images of the inside of the building. I saw my aunt and Layne enter through the front door. She’s been given a remote so she could get back inside on her own. Bubba and Clementine followed in their footsteps.

  I could hear her talking.

  “They must be in the Safe Room,” she said, heading for the hidden door.

  “I couldn’t believe those fake rocks,” Layne said.

  “Fake boulders,” my aunt corrected.

  “Okay, boulders.” Layne sounded ever so slightly irritated. “I do wish you’d stop correcting me.”

  “Sorry,” she said. “Old habits are hard to break. The boulders must cover something important. Maybe electronics? Maybe more cameras? I don’t know.”

  “I’m amazed that we found the helicopter pad.”

  My aunt nodded, looking excited. “It’s so well hidden. We just found it by accident. Of course, that was due to my wanting to sit down for a rest.”

  “Not to mention that big dog was sniffing around,” Layne said.

  The only word I could think of to describe the sound my aunt made was sputter. She sputtered. “Well, Bubba only sniffed there because I was sitting near the pad.”

  She held up the remote and aimed it at the hidden door, pushing a button. It didn’t work. She kept pushing, but nothing happened.

  Scott pushed a button on the console and the door whooshed open. “That remote only works for the front door. There’s a different one for getting inside the Safe Room.”

  Aunt Martha fanned herself with a piece of paper on her way down the stairs. “It’s hot out there.” She immediately made her way to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

  “Anything new?” Layne asked.

  “Not a thing.” Griz smiled at the young man indulgently.

  “Martha and I were talking while we explored. Did you happen to notice that the men who broke into the house were all wearing gloves?”

  Pete glanced at him. “Yes. They didn’t want to leave fingerprints.”

  “Oh. That makes sense.”

  A cell phone rang and Griz picked it up off the console. “It’s Trap’s phone.” He glanced at the caller ID and sighed before answering. “Yes, Greta, what is it now?”

  Trap’s secretary was talking so loud that I could hear her even though the phone wasn’t to my ear, although I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

  “No, Greta, you may not speak to Mr. Trapper.”

  He paused.

  “No, he’s not upset with you. Why? Should he be?”

  He paused again.

  “You sound nervous. Is everything okay?”

  Once again, he waited for her reply.

  “Uh huh. Well, he’s out for the day, and he may be gone tomorrow, too. And, no, I can’t tell you where he went.”

  Quiet.

  Griz sounded frustrated. “Because it’s none of your business. Now don’t call again unless it’s an emergency. You know how to run things while he’s gone.”

  He hung up without fanfare.

  “That woman makes me want to tear my hair out!”

  “Now, Griz,” Aunt Martha said, “if you can put up with me, you can put up with her.”

  He laughed, shook his head and set the cell phone back on the console. “You’re kinda cute. She isn’t.”

  My aunt looked surprised, and so did Pete and Scott. Layne simply smiled.

  I glanced at my watch. Time had apparently decided to speed up. It was late afternoon.

  “Why don’t we think about eating,” I suggested. “It won’t be that long until we’ll have to put our plan into action.”

  Griz grunted, Pete nodded and Scott ignored me.

  My aunt and I hurried up to the kitchen in the mansion rather than cook in the Safe Room.

  “Let’s do something easy and fast for dinner this time. How about wieners and beans, and I saw some frozen French fries and onion rings in the freezer. There’s a fresh watermelon in the fridge, too.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said. “Pete and I ate lots of beans and wienies when we were stranded in that ghost town.”

  “What ghost town?” She sounded intrigued.

  I turned on the oven to preheat it and gave my aunt the short version of being stranded in Wolf Creek. She loved the story. A town suddenly deserted with a history of murder and a strange cowboy hanging around? Of course, she loved it.

  My aunt dumped a couple of cans of pork and beans into a pot and added sliced wieners. “You know, the older I get, the less I like to cook. If it was just me, I’d probably be eating a TV dinner.”

  “You need to start eating healthier,” I said.

  “I’ll think about it. Sometimes I’m tempted to eat some of the prepper food I’ve got stored in the basement.”

  “What are some of the other things you keep in your basement?”

  “Oh, not a lot. I’m not really expecting anything to happen. However, I do have a good supply of batteries and paper goods, like toilet paper. I’ve got salt and plenty of sugar, and lots of beans. Stored correctly, they’ll keep for a long time. I’ve got plenty of coffee and tea bags. You know, they’d be good for trading if things were desperate.”

  “I’ve heard alcohol would be good for bartering, too.” Since I wasn’t a drinker, it wouldn’t bother me to trade booze for something I needed.

  She found a cookie sheet and covered it with the fries and onion rings. “Let’s see. I’ve got some canned goods and rice. Oh, and I’ve got a good supply of chocolate.”

  I grinned. “Chocolate?”

  “I consider it comfort food.”

  “We’re more alike than I realized, Auntie. Now that I think about it, I wonder if Trap has any around here.” I started pulling open drawers and cupboard doors.

  No chocolate.

  “Go check the prepper food in the basement. I mean the Safe Room. My moods are much better when I’ve had my chocolate fix.”

  I laughed. “I’ll go look right now.”

  I’d been given a remote for the Safe Room, so I had no trouble getting in. I was surprised to see that Pete and Griz were gone.

  “Scott? Where’d they go?”

  “They’re bringing the motorhome around to the front. Pete’s going to leave your Jeep behind the Safe Room so he can go hide it later.”

  I let him be while I made my way to the entry tunnel in search of chocolate. Certainly Trap wouldn’t mind if I took some chocolate, if he had any.

  Besides, we needed our strength to face danger after dark.

  Chapter Twenty

  I can’t say I was surprised to find chocolate among the food on the shelves in the tunnel. Like my aunt, Trap also had lots of batteries – so many he could open a battery store. He also had several lanterns, including some that had to be wound up for light. He had several cases of bott
led water and I even found medical kits. I wasn’t surprised when I found waterproof matches and things like battery-operated cell phone chargers.

  His stock of supplies made me feel just a bit paranoid about the future.

  Picking up a couple of chocolate bars, I carried them back to the kitchen.

  I handed one to my aunt. “I took a better look at his supplies. He’s ready for anything. I’d feel inadequate if something actually came to pass.”

  “So stock up.” My aunt stirred the beans and wieners. “Fifteen minutes and we’ll be ready to eat. Why don’t you get out the watermelon and slice it?”

  I did.

  “I’m going outside for a few minutes,” I said. “After looking at Trap’s preparations, I need some fresh air and sunshine.”

  “Wimp.” Aunt Martha laughed.

  I ignored her.

  Truly, after looking at Trap’s supplies, I had to wonder what the intruders wanted to hack. Could it be something as disastrous as the economy? Or the country’s electrical grid? Certainly not. It had to be something simpler. Was anything worth hacking actually simple?

  I jumped when Pete touched my shoulder.

  “When did you and Griz pull in?” I asked.

  “About five minutes ago. He parked by the side of the mansion.”

  “What’s going to happen, Pete?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking things over, and Griz and I talked. We need to put ourselves in the minds of the kidnappers, or hackers, or whatever they are. We’ve got to try to think like them, and they’re certainly ticked off by now.”

  “That’s putting it mildly. We’ve messed up their plans twice. If we do it again tonight, they might get rid of Trap and go about this whole thing in a different way.”

  “But we won’t get in their way tonight. They’ll think you and your aunt are the only ones here, and we’ll conveniently leave them an old flash drive that looks legit.”

  For at least the moment, I had other things on my mind. “Sweetie, have you ever thought about prepping? You should see the stash of supplies Trap has in that tunnel. It made me think about things that never would have entered my mind a few days ago.”

  “Like what?”

  “Oh, solar flares, hacking, wars, financial ruin. You name it. I don’t like the thoughts I’m having.”

  “So turn your attention in other directions. Griz and I have talked. We could stock up on a few things, but we can’t foresee the future, and we can’t live in fear like Trap seems to live. I’ll take each day as it comes and hope for the best. They – whoever they are – say you should have at least two weeks worth of supplies in case of a natural disaster.”

  I smiled at my husband. “Thank you. Your no nonsense attitude makes me feel secure, and that’s only one of the things I love about you.”

  He pulled me to him and gave me one of his great bear hugs.

  “Whatever you do, don’t talk to Stan about this. He’ll spend the next five years searching for the best survival supplies. You don’t want to be responsible for that, Sandi.”

  I laughed. “Felicity would never forgive me.”

  “Neither would I. He’d drive us all nuts and he’d spend all his time thinking up what could happen.”

  “He would, wouldn’t he? Okay, let’s get back to the business at hand.”

  The front door opened and Bubba and Clem ran outside, almost knocking over my aunt.

  “Idiot dogs,” she said. “Come on, dinner’s ready.”

  “We’ll talk while we eat.” Pete took hold of my hand and whistled for the dogs.

  After sitting down and eating quietly for a few minutes, I had a thought. Shocking, I know, but occasionally I come up with something.

  I spoke to everyone. “We’ve been coming at this from the wrong angle, in a way. These guys aren’t like the thugs we usually deal with, and we need to start thinking out of the box. Know what I mean?”

  My aunt was quick. “I do. We’ve been looking at this in terms of kidnappers who want information from Andrew. We need to think of them as brainiacs. Whatever they’re up to is certainly unethical and illegal, but I don’t think they’re your everyday criminals. We need to outsmart them.”

  Griz rolled his eyes at my aunt. “We are. We’re letting them come inside and find a thumb drive that looks like the real deal.”

  “There’s more to it than that, Donald. Yes, you need to follow them when they leave, but we also need to find out what information they already have. Saving Andrew is our number one task, but they could be part of a group. If they’re up to something dastardly, then they’re probably not working alone.”

  “She’s right,” I said. “There may be a lot more to this than we realize.”

  I glanced at her.

  “Dastardly? Really?”

  “It’s a good word,” she said.

  “It’s an outdated word.”

  She shrugged, sticking to her guns.

  “You’re all right,” Scott said. “Our priority is to find Trap, but after that we need to put a stop to whatever they’re up to. This could be huge. Once Trap is safe, we need to call in the FBI or the CIA, or someone. They’re better equipped to stop whatever’s going on. Then again, maybe we can take care of things.”

  Layne choked and took a drink of water.

  “Think about it,” Griz said. “They took a chance by kidnapping a billionaire. Whatever they’re into, it’s big – really big.”

  Layne cleared his throat and started to speak, but he had to stop to clear his throat again. “I want out. I didn’t ask to get involved in this.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have come out here,” Aunt Martha said. “If you don’t help us, we’ll have to lock you in the Safe Room until it’s all over, young man.”

  “I’m not a child and don’t try to act like you’re sending me to the principal’s office.”

  Pete smiled. “That’s pretty much what she’s doing, pal. Whether or not you help, you’re staying here until it’s over.”

  “But I’m just an accountant!” I could hear the panic in his voice.

  Aunt Martha stood and looked down her nose at him. “Well, I’m just a retired teacher, but you don’t see me wimping out. National security could be an issue here.” She left the room and returned with another plate of fries and onion rings.

  “What makes you think we can handle a national security issue?” I asked.

  She gave one of her withering looks and set the plate down. “We’re smart. That’s what. We’re here now, and we’ve been handed an opportunity to do the right thing.”

  “You’re here by accident,” Pete said. “If you hadn’t come for a visit, you’d have no idea what’s going on.”

  “Ah, but was it really an accident that brought me here? Your victim is my favorite student, and you and Sandi are involved. If I hadn’t come to see my niece, I never would have met Griz.” Her expression looked like she wanted to bite her tongue. “And Scott and Layne,” she added quickly. “Why, I’ve never had so much fun.”

  “Oh, good grief, Aunt Martha. You sound like my mother. No matter how much trouble there is, she always looks at things like they’re an adventure. It’s not an adventure. Get that through your head.”

  “Watch how you speak to me, Sandra.”

  “And that’s another thing,” I said. “When she gets upset with me, she calls me Sandra instead of Sandi, too. What is it with mothers?”

  “You’ll find out one day and you’ll be sorry for ever questioning us.”

  “Not likely.” I stabbed a piece of wiener and shoved it in my mouth.

  “Now, ladies, let’s not argue.” Layne should have known better than to jump in between two women arguing.

  “Shut up,” Aunt Martha said, angrily. “You have some nerve coming between my niece and me.”

  “Yeah, buster, leave me and my aunt alone.”

  He looked like he wanted to hide under the table.

  My aunt and I glanced at each other and starte
d to laugh.

  “He meant well,” she said.

  “He must not have much experience dealing with women. Let’s have chocolate for dessert.”

  “You read my mind.”

  My aunt and I walked arm in arm into the kitchen, forgetting about our little spat.

  We left a deadly silent room in our wake. Layne might not have known what to do, but the other men did. Nothing. Not a blessed thing.

  Bubba sat on the floor in the kitchen, while Clementine watched him with admiration in her eyes.

  “People should take lessons from dogs,” I said. “They deal with things in short order and then it’s over.”

  “I never had a dog,” my aunt replied. “If I did, I’m sure it would have been a big one, like Bubba.”

  While we talked, I realized that we’d done exactly what the dogs would have done. We’d dealt with our situation and let it go.

  “I’m not sorry, Sandi. I am having fun.”

  “We’ll see how you feel after our walk tonight.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  While the men returned to the security room, my aunt and I sat in the living room and chatted, catching up on a lifetime of stories.

  While we didn’t really have enough time for that, it felt like that’s what we were doing.

  “I’m going to call your mother.” Aunt Martha reached for her purse and ultimately her cell phone.

  I placed a restraining hand on top of hers. “No. Do not call my mother until this is all over. I’ll call her and tell her you’ve decided to stay for a couple of extra days.”

  “Why don’t you want me to call her?”

  “Because you’ll blab and she’ll want to get involved. One of you is all I can handle. Two sisters would be too much right now.”

  “Are you calling me a blabbermouth?”

  “If the name fits…”

  Were we going to get into another argument?

  Apparently not because she started to laugh. “Just call me Aunt Blabby. After all, I guess I did say too much to Thomas.”