by Marja McGraw
The young brainiacs looked surprised when they heard Scott’s high voice, but none of them commented.
Ryan introduced us to his friends. “These are my friends, Jason, Ethan and Mason.” He glanced at them. “Say hello to Sandi and Martha.”
They each nodded at us.
“Thank you,” Mason said. “I have to admit, we were pretty scared for a while. Who came up with the great escape idea?”
Pete glanced at me. “My wife. She was here, talking to Ryan, so she was able to figure out what was going on.”
Trap stood and walked over to me. “Thank you, ma’am. I think in the grand scheme of things, you saved my life.”
Scott walked out of the security room. “Would you please call your secretary first thing in the morning? She’s left several messages and she’s drivin’ me nuts. She thought you were avoiding her.”
“I’ll do that, Scotty. But first we all need some sleep.”
There wasn’t enough room for all of us to sleep in the Safe Room, so Pete and I took my aunt upstairs with us and settled into our rooms. Andrew went to his own room, Layne slept in a guest room and the brainiacs slept in the Safe Room. Griz said he’d sleep in one of the chairs in the security room.
~ * ~
Pete arose and left the bedroom early in the morning. I glanced at the clock and saw it was about four-thirty. He’d only had a few hours of rest. I needed more and rolled over, but I couldn’t go back to sleep.
I heard a light tap on my door.
“Yes?”
The door opened and my aunt stepped into the room. “I can’t sleep. I tried, but I only got about two hours.”
“I can’t either. Why don’t we get cleaned up and head downstairs to make some breakfast?”
We met down in the kitchen.
Trap was already there, reading the news on his laptop computer. He pointed toward the sink top. “There’s coffee ready if you’re so inclined.”
“I am, and thank you,” my aunt replied. “I’ll put some breakfast together for us. Is there anything in particular you’d like, Andrew?”
“I never eat breakfast, but take care of everyone else.”
“This morning you’re going to eat breakfast.” Her no nonsense tone of voice was in place. “And I’ll brook no arguments.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He glanced up and smiled at her.
“We need to talk. After the past few days, I’m sure there’s plenty to discuss,” I said. “Honestly, this isn’t over yet.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Andrew and my aunt talked while she cooked, and she fixed enough to feed a small army. I guess that’s what we were, in a way.
I tried to help, but my aunt said she could do it herself.
She glanced at Trap. “We’ll discuss the current situation later. How are your parents, Andrew? I was told your family moved to Boston after graduation.”
“My parents are both gone now,” he said, a little too matter-of-factly. His face was unreadable.
“They were never close,” she told me as an aside. “They were all work and no play, which I believe has something to do with the way Andrew turned out.”
His head snapped up and he looked surprised. “I didn’t know you knew anything about my parents.”
“Of course, I did. They never came to the Parent/Teacher Conferences, but I spoke to them on the telephone. It didn’t take long to realize they were business-oriented and didn’t get out much. Work, work, work. But at least they had each other, and you.”
He didn’t smile. “Well, they had each other. I think I was excess baggage, so to speak.”
“Oh, now, Andrew. They were quite proud of you. They just didn’t know how to relate to anyone except each other.”
This was an interesting conversation, but I felt out of place. “I’ll let everyone know breakfast is about ready.”
As I was leaving the room, I overheard Trap say, “Mrs. Goldberg is right. This isn’t over yet. The man behind this is a pushy gentleman – “
“Don’t call him a gentleman. He’s a lot of things, but not a gentleman. And you may call my niece Sandi. Loosen up and try not to be so formal.”
I left them to their conversation and found everyone gathered in the security room. Ryan was giving Scott a few tips on developing better security.
“You think you can do better than Trap?” Scott asked.
“I do. He’s a computer guru when it comes to most things, but I honestly know more about this particular type of security. That’s one of the reasons The General latched onto me and my friends. He figured that between Mr. Trapper and his expertise, and us and our expertise, he could kill the government.”
Griz’s head snapped up.
“No, no. I didn’t mean to literally murder the government people. I meant take it down. Make it useless.”
“That could happen one day,” Pete said, “but not today, and not tomorrow. We’re going to figure out who this guy is and take him down. Are you sure he’s got followers helping him?”
Ethan looked at Pete. “Well, he says he does. We don’t have any reason not to believe him.”
“He could be playing you,” Griz said, pushing some keys on the control panel.
“Ya think?” Mason smacked Ethan’s arm. “I’ve been trying to tell these guys that The General is a blowhard with a big mouth. The problem is that I can’t tell for sure. I think he’s working alone, but I could be wrong.” He’d started off sounding sure about his ideas, but in the end he kind of deflated.
Jason jumped in with both feet. “We aren’t the ones who kidnapped Mr. Trapper. The General did it, and two guys dropped him off at the strip mall. So we know there are at least two people helping him. Or, I guess The General could have been one of the two men. There’s no way to know for sure. We didn’t see their faces.”
I remembered when we’d had our fight with intruders in the office, one of them had been muscular, although maybe a little uncoordinated. Jason was the muscular one. The other two had average builds.
“Put this aside for a while,” I said. “Breakfast is almost ready.”
The four boys didn’t need to be told twice. They were hungry and headed upstairs without another word.
“What do you think about those guys?” Pete asked, turning to Griz.
“Honestly, as far as what Ryan said, I think they know what they’re doing regarding our security. Think about how easily they shut things down and broke in here. God help me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think they’re in on this crazy hacking plan. I think they were coerced into it.”
Scott turned his chair around. “I agree with Griz. In fact, I’m going to ask Ryan to help me update some of these programs. I want to know exactly what he does. I’ll talk to Trap about it, but I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”
“Let’s go eat,” I said. No one seemed to want my input, so for the moment I’d just listen and learn.
Thankfully, Trap had a large dining table so there was room for everyone. Since he never invited people out to the mansion, I was surprised.
Layne had already seated himself. He’d cleaned up and didn’t have that greasy gunk on his hair this time, which made quite a remarkable difference in his appearance. He was also wearing jeans and a casual chambray shirt. His glasses were gone and his ears didn’t seem so prominent. He looked like a different man.
While we ate, the brainiacs told us a little about themselves. They seemed open and honest, and I got the feeling they might be a bit too trusting, which was probably their downfall. The General seemed to have been watching them and learning where their vulnerabilities were.
I noticed that Trap ate slowly and listened intently. He seemed to take in every word and mull it over. I suspected he was a man who always thought things over carefully before reacting.
Scott swallowed a bite of something and turned to Jason. “You look like you work out.”
He nodded, but didn’t reply right away. When he did, he looked slightly emba
rrassed. “When I was a kid I got bullied for being one of the class nerds. I decided to bulk up so that would never happen again.”
He reached for the salt and knocked over a glass of milk. He jumped up but my aunt, who was sitting next to him, put a restraining hand on his arm.
“I’ll take care of it.” She disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a fistful of paper towels and a wet sponge.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
He tried to take the paper towels from her, but again, she stopped him. “I’ll take care of it,” she repeated. She spoke gently, which surprised me. Could she be seeing a little of Trap in Jason?
Trap watched with interest, and spoke for the first time. “You remind me of myself, Jason. I was teased a lot when I was a youngster.”
“Now, Andrew, you were my favorite student. I – “
“No,” Trap interrupted, “I know what I was like. While the other youngsters wore jeans and shirts, I work slacks and jackets. I carried a briefcase, and I rode a bicycle while others drove vehicles.” He smiled, but looked melancholy. “Can you imagine what the others thought when I wore a red bowtie at Christmastime that said ‘Merry Christmas’ on it? There was one young lady, though, who always treated me kindly.”
He glanced in my direction.
“You look a little like her, Mrs… Sandi. She was about your size and coloring, and she had beautiful blue eyes, just like you. She always had a kind word, and occasionally she’d shoo the bullies away. She was one of their crowd, but for some reason they listened to her instead of bullying her, too. She made suggestions from time to time. For instance, she told me to take off the bowtie and put it in my pocket.”
“Did you do it?” Jason asked.
“I did, and I thanked her for her sage advice. Her name was Christine. I did some research and found that she married and had two children. She studied and became a teacher, like you, Martha. I was amazed to find that she teaches computer science.”
My aunt smiled. “I remember Christine. She acted like a mother hen when she was around you.”
Trap shook his head. “Well! That’s enough of that. We must all keep a stiff upper lip and do our best to resolve the situation we find ourselves involved in.”
Jason poured himself another glass of milk, but he poured too fast and the milk… Well, my aunt had another mess to clean up.
This time he jumped up, but he didn’t push his chair back far enough and he tripped over the leg, landing with a thud and knocking the chair over.
“See?” he said. “How much worse can it get? A geek and a klutz.” He picked himself up and righted the chair, grinning sheepishly.
I smiled at him when Stanley came to mind. “You remind me of a friend of ours, and he’s one of my favorite people. His wife is just like him. They make a cute couple.”
“Then I guess there’s hope for me.”
“Of course,” Aunt Martha said. She walked out to the kitchen and returned with a roll of paper towels.
Changing the subject, Scott turned to Trap. “Did you ever call Greta back? That secretary of yours has been driving me nuts.”
Layne leaned forward. “I want to talk to you about her, too.”
“We’ll speak in a little bit, Thomas.”
We’d all been calling him Layne. I’d forgotten that his first name was Thomas.
Right on cue, the phone rang. Scott excused himself and answered the call.
He listened for a moment before turning to Trap. “It’s her again, and she sounds like she’s ready to tear me apart.”
“Please inform her that I’ll return her call when I’m through eating my breakfast.”
Scott turned back to the phone. “He’ll call you back. Don’t bother me again.” And he hung up on her.
He was mumbling to himself when he retook his seat.
Pete started to laugh. “This has turned out to be a very entertaining morning.”
A few people turned surprised expressions in his direction and it got quiet.
He shrugged.
Trap started to laugh and the others seemed to relax.
“You’re correct,” he said. “This has been a morning for humor and confessions. Would anyone else care to confess?”
He paused.
“That was just a little joke.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
With breakfast over, Trap had Layne follow him to his office. “Now, what is it you wish to speak to me about? Has Greta been annoying you?”
“No, sir. I’ve discovered some discrepancies and…”
We didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, but I had a feeling Greta would be receiving a call from Trap that would ruin her day.
Bubba and Clementine had managed to make friends with the boys and they followed them downstairs to the Safe Room.
“The little one seems to have a crush on the big one,” Ethan said. “The little one is cute, but she sure licks a lot.”
“You must taste good,” Mason said, laughing.
Pete and I walked outside to take a break from the mild insanity of the morning.
“Trap seems like an okay guy,” Pete said. “He’s kind of formal, like Stanley used to be, but I like him.”
“I do, too. You know, listening to the kids and Trap talk about being bullied in school makes me want to go back and change a few things I said and did when I was young.”
“You were a bully?”
“No, not really, but I do remember making a few uncalled for comments to other kids. I guess I thought I was being funny. There was one boy named Albert Truck and he was very overweight. I recall saying something to a friend like, ‘Albert, Albert, Albert Truck is big as a truck.’ The thing is, I liked him and he overheard me. I apologized ‘til I was blue in the face, but he never forgave me. I still feel bad about that.”
“Let it go, Sandi. You were young, and it sounds like you learned something valuable that day.”
“I did. Maybe that’s why Christine stuck up for Trap. Maybe she’d been through something like what I did. I’ll bet she’s taught her kids a few things about bullying. I can remember sticking up for a couple of kids from time to time after that, too.”
“Live and learn,” Pete said. “If we learn from our mistakes, then it’s all good.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes and eventually found ourselves near the helicopter pad.
Pete studied it for a moment. “Scott said that with the cover on the pad, you can’t see it from the air.”
“Oh.”
“Would you like to take a ride on a helicopter?”
“I did that once. My shoulder was so sore from hanging on to a strap over the seat that I don’t care to do it again. I mean, I was hanging on for dear life.”
My husband chuckled. “I thought it was your mother who hated to fly.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe it runs in the family.”
We turned and headed back to the mansion. I still couldn’t get over the fact that this place existed out in the middle of nowhere. Most people wanted to show off their wealth. Trap wasn’t one of those. He simply wanted all the comforts, but not where anyone could see them.
I took hold of Pete’s hand. “Did you ever imagine we’d become involved in something like this? It sure isn’t like anything else we’ve ever worked on. Hackers? The General? Taking down the electrical grid? Times have sure changed.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Yesterday I had a plan to take down the hackers, but today it doesn’t seem to fit,” I said.
“What was your plan?” Pete seemed interested.
“It really doesn’t matter now that we know those kids were coerced into the whole thing. I have to admit that something keeps rolling around in my brain, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it. It’s like being nagged, but you can’t see who’s doing the nagging.”
“It’ll come to you.” Pete squeezed my hand before letting it go.
Yes, something had been nagging at
me, but not enough to give it much thought. It was kind of like having a gnat dive bomb you over and over again. You keep waving your hand to shoo it away, but it keeps coming back.
I stopped walking and turned to Pete. “I still think we should call the FBI or the CIA or someone. Don’t you think?”
“Yes, but Trap said to leave it alone. I get the feeling he knows something that we don’t. I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m sure you will. Considering The General’s plan, someone should be alerted.”
When we entered the house I could hear my aunt working in the kitchen so I meandered out to help her. No one else was around so Pete wandered down to the security room.
“Are Trap and Layne still talking?” I asked.
She handed me a towel. “As far as I know.”
I pointed to the dishwasher. “Why don’t you just put the dishes in the dishwasher?”
“Believe it or not, sometimes I like to wash them the old-fashioned way. It distracts me and gives me time to think things over.”
“What are you thinking about?” I asked, smiling. “Couldn’t be Griz, could it?”
She didn’t bother to look at me. “Actually, no. I’m thinking about those kids and the spot that General guy put them on. I want to say he’s not very smart because of the way he handled things, and yet I don’t want to underestimate him. He’s a man with a plan, and you never know how far he’ll go to accomplish his goals.”
“True. I still think we need the government in on this.”
My aunt finally looked at me. “I thought so, too, but I talked to Griz about it and he said now’s not the time. Andrew knows something that we don’t, and he won’t share the information with Griz or Scott, or Pete. He says the time isn’t right.”
She dried her hands and turned around to look me in the eyes.
“You’re the private investigator. Figure it out. Andrew is being too secretive about something. What is it?”
That nasty little gnat flitted past me again, figuratively speaking. My brain wanted to tell me something, but the rest of me wouldn’t listen. Maybe I was trying too hard. If I distracted myself, something might come to me.
