by Marja McGraw
“Good point.”
“Let’s go look at the cars. We don’t want one that will stick out. It’s got to be low key.”
We walked out to the garage where we found some pretty expensive vehicles, like a brand spanking new Mercedes, a Ferrari and a Jaguar. We hurried past those, although I noticed Pete inspecting them with longing on his face.
At the other end of the garage we found a souped up 1936 Buick sedan – like no one would notice that. Next to it sat a nondescript 1956 Chevy Bel Air. It had dents and the paint was in poor condition. Pete gravitated toward that one. It didn’t appear to have been rebuilt and I didn’t think anyone would pay much attention to it.
Pete opened the driver’s side door, which sounded like metal rubbing against metal. He slid in and started the engine to make sure the car still ran. We looked at each other and laughed. The car may have been nondescript, but we were pretty sure the engine had been replaced with something powerful.
“This is definitely the one,” Pete said. “We won’t have to worry about it dying by the side of the road.”
“Will wonders never cease?”
“Hey.” Ethan had joined us. “My brother is into old cars. He’d like that one.” He pointed at the ’36 Buick.
“What do you need?” Pete asked.
“We were talking, and we’d really like to be able to clean up. Would you see if The General left our personal things at the mall? Like clothes and maybe our laptops?”
“Sure,” I said. “I can’t imagine why he’d take your clothes, unless he was trying to make a point. The laptops might be gone, though.”
“Thanks.” He turned to leave, but stopped and returned to the car. “Yeah, my brother would slobber over this car. I’ll have to take a picture and tell him about it when I finally get to go home.”
We heard a whistle come from the front porch. “Come on,” Ryan yelled. “He’s still at it.”
The three of us ran back to the house.
We barely got to read the note before it disappeared from the screen.
“You’ve got four hours to make up your minds. Don’t go back to the strip mall. We have a new place set up for you. I’ll contact you on one of your cell phones with the location. If you’re not there with the fat cat in four hours, I’ll hunt you down and you’ll pay in ways you can’t imagine. DO NOT bring the cops in on this.”
I looked around and saw fear on the faces of all the young men. I couldn’t blame them. I’d be scared, too.
“We’d better get moving,” Pete said. “We’ve only got four hours before his manhunt begins.”
I saw Ryan cringe.
“Poor choice of words, Pete.”
He seemed to think about what he’d said. “I think you should all go down to the Safe Room and stay there until we come back.”
The boys nodded and headed for the door.
Trap stepped forward. “I’ve been thinking, and I’d like you to take Thomas with you.”
“Layne?” Pete looked skeptical.
“Yes. In fact, I insist. He has skills that might come in handy.”
I glanced at Layne. “What? He holds the world record for fastest fingers on a calculator?”
I took a second look. He might be short, but in street clothes he looked like he might have buffed up like Jason had done, at least a little. And without his hair slicked back, he had a whole different look. I studied him for a moment. His spoiled child demeanor disappeared. What was going on here?
“Mr. Layne can tell you about himself while you travel to the strip mall. That is, if he so desires. You must trust me on this matter.” Trap seemed determined.
My aunt had been standing quietly in the background, which was unlike her. “Andrew, I want a word with you.” She headed for his office and he followed, his shoulders slumping just a little. He seemed to know he was about to be on the hot seat.
Without a word, Pete headed out the front door, toward the garage.
Layne followed in his footsteps, and I brought up the rear.
They boys had taken Bubba and Clem to the Safe Room with them so I didn’t have to worry about the dogs.
For a shorty, Layne’s stride was long and determined. At the garage, he stood in front of the car we’d chosen to drive and looked at the others sitting nearby.
“Good choice,” he said.
“Shot gun,” I called. I hoped he knew what wanting to sit in front meant.
“Of course.” He did, and he smiled at me before climbing into the back.
I sat down in the front seat, Pete started the car and we were off.
The ride was quiet for the first ten minutes. It was uncomfortable. Between Pete and Layne, I could practically see the testosterone level rising in the car.
“Any idea what we’ll be looking for?” I tried to break the silence, but got no reply.
After a couple more minutes, Pete pulled to the side of the road and shut off the engine.
“Okay, pal,” he said. “Who are you? Really.”
Layne’s mouth worked for a moment and he reminded me of a cow chewing its cud.
“You don’t want to know,” he finally replied.
“Yeah, we do,” I said. “Who are you?”
Before he could reply, Pete sat up straight and banged on the steering wheel. “What’s the matter with all of us? Of course The General knows where the mansion is. He sent the nerds there, didn’t he? And that’s where he kidnapped Trap!”
“We were concentrating on all the wrong things,” I said. “I can’t believe that neither one of us… We knew, but it didn’t sink in. It was like coming into a movie when it’s halfway over.”
“You’re catching on,” Layne said.
Chapter Thirty-one
“I could tell you this is all an elaborate plot,” Layne said, “and that would be pretty close to the truth. Instead, let me say that the less you know, the better.”
“You’re a fed, aren’t you?” Pete asked. “I should have known. Why else would you be the only one to know where the mansion is?”
Layne shrugged.
“Of course,” I said. That pesky little gnat disappeared. This was what had been nagging at me. “It makes perfect sense. That’s why Trap wanted to stay at the mall when Pete and the others tried to rescue him. That’s why he didn’t seem frightened. He knew something like this was going to happen, and he knew you had his back. Right?”
Layne stared at me, but he didn’t reply.
“You’re not an accountant, but you’re a federal agent.” I was finally catching on.
“I am an accountant,” he said.
I noticed he didn’t correct me about being a fed.
“What about that secretary – Greta? She didn’t really do anything, did she?”
“Oh, that story is true. She’s been defrauding Trap for a long time.”
“There’s more to her story, isn’t there?” Pete asked.
“Yeah.” Layne didn’t elaborate, but leaned back in his seat and watched us.
“What’s really going on?” I asked.
“You’ve heard the old saying; I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” He smiled. “I’m only joking, of course. You’ll learn more as things progress.”
Pete looked at me, pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes. “And we thought he was a mere accountant.”
“I am,” Layne repeated. “It’s just that I do more than juggle figures. Can we go to the mall now? Time is important.”
“You bet it is,” I said. “Especially now that we realize The General knows where the mansion is.”
Pete started the car and we took off, headed for the strip mall.
Layne and Trap didn’t act like they were the least bit concerned about their safety, or the safety of the others and that bothered me. I wished he’d open up to us. I guessed – or hoped – that he would when the time was right.
When we arrived, Pete drove around the block and parked on the street behind the mall. We did a little r
econnoitering before approaching the rear of the buildings. It didn’t appear that anyone was watching the empty shops so we entered through a rear window in an alley, something Pete seemed familiar with from his last trip to town.
The two rooms had been cleared out, with only trash, some papers and the boys’ personal belongings left behind. We began searching the room the young men had occupied before thinking about the room where Trap had stayed.
Pete and Layne started sorting through the loose papers left on the floor while I looked around.
“Look up, look down, look all around,” I said to myself.
I glanced up and sucked in my breath. “Look!” I whispered, pointing at a corner of the ceiling. It may have been hidden at some point, but now it was in plain view.
Both of their heads snapped up and they turned to the corner my finger indicated.
“I need something to stand on,” Layne said, hurrying over.
“Is it what I think it is?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s a camera,” Pete replied. “I saw a rickety ladder in the alley. Give me a minute.”
He climbed back out the window and it didn’t take long before I saw him shoving a five-foot ladder through the window. I hurried over and took hold of the end, pulling it into the room, and held it up while Pete climbed back inside. He lifted it and carried it to the corner where Layne stood it up and climbed skyward.
He only had to climb a couple of steps in order to reach the camera. “At least it’s not working,” he said.
“So they’re not watching us,” I said.
“No.”
I noticed he’d taken a piece of paper up the ladder with him and held onto the camera with it while he took it down.
Ah. Fingerprints. I doubt if whoever installed it had worn gloves, but you never know.
“Maybe this will give us something,” Pete said.
“It’s the first mistake they made that we’ve found here,” Layne said. “Where there’s one, maybe there’s another – mistake, that is.” He descended the ladder and set the camera on another piece of paper. “I should have brought something with me to – “
I knew where he was going with this and interrupted him. “I’ve got a baggie in my backpack.” I was glad I’d brought it with me. “I was going to put some treats in it for Bubba, but in the rush to leave our house I forgot.”
I pulled the baggie out and handed it to Layne.
“Thanks. We might find fingerprints, and we might be able to come up with something about the camera itself. This ain’t a cheapie. We may be able to trace where it was bought and who bought it.”
Layne excused himself and went outside, returning without the camera.
My eyebrows couldn’t have shot up much higher. “There’s someone else out there?”
He smiled, once again not replying and leaving everything to my imagination.
“You’re a very frustrating man,” I said.
He ignored me and returned to helping Pete sort through papers.
I, on the other hand, continued to search the room. After all, if I’d found a camera, maybe they’d left something else behind, too. I searched every nook and cranny, but there was nothing else to find.
Next I searched the room where Trap had been held. There was nothing, not even a scrap of paper.
“We need to hurry,” I said, returning to the other room. “The boys are running out of time, and who knows what might happen after four hours.”
Pete and Layne nodded, scooped up the papers from the floor and carried them out to the car.
While they were gone, I thought about the camera. If I were going to spy on someone, what else might I do? I glanced at a gym bag one of the boys had left behind and narrowed my eyes. It was worth checking.
I opened the bag and methodically checked every piece of clothing, along with the bag itself.
“Son-of-a-gun,” I said, noticing a difference in the stitching inside the bag.
I was about to rip it apart when Pete and Layne returned.
“Take a look at this.” I motioned them over. “Someone has restitched this bag by hand.”
Pete pulled a pocket knife out and cut the stitches before pinching and feeling the area to see if it contained anything, and pulling out a small object. He held it out to Layne.
“Is that some kind of GPS tracker?” I asked. It didn’t look like any trackers I’d ever seen.
He didn’t reply, but carried the object outside just as he’d done with the camera.
While he was gone I turned to Pete. “Sneaky guy, huh? I didn’t see anyone out there when I looked out the window.”
“They’re there. They know more about surveillance than we do. We could take some lessons.”
“Let’s look through the rest of this stuff,” I suggested. “They left two laptop computers under the gym bags. Wouldn’t you think they’d have taken those, too?”
“And that’s what makes me suspicious,” Pete replied, “the fact that they’re still here.”
“Along with his other talents, do you think Layne might know something about computers?”
“We’re about to find out,” Pete said, looking out the front window. “Here he comes.”
“Are you sure we can trust this guy? So far, everything we’ve found of consequence has disappeared out the door with him.”
“If Trap trusts him, then I’ll take a chance on him, too.”
I watched Layne approach the door. He did everything but whistle, trying to appear nonchalant. Actually, he looked so lackadaisical that I never would have given him a second thought if I’d seen him on the street.
“Okay,” he said, “let’s get out of here.”
“Wait,” I said. “What about the laptops? What if they’ve got something embedded in them?”
“Good point,” he replied. The look on his face told me he’d probably already thought about the computers. Was he testing us? Surely not.
Since no tables had been left behind, he sat down on the floor with the laptop, appropriately, on his lap. He booted it up and while we waited he talked.
“Have you heard back from your friend Stan yet?” he asked.
“How did you know I called him?”
“I know everything.” He accompanied his comment with a knowing smile that was beginning to irritate me.
“Here we go,” he said, tapping some keys on the computer.
I watched his fingers fly.
Meanwhile, Pete went through the boys’ clothing more closely before shoving it back into the gym bags and setting them aside.
“Uh huh,” Layne said. “Uh oh,” he added. “Mmm hmmm. Okay, we’re going to leave the laptops here.”
“What’d you find?” I asked.
“We’ll talk later. Let’s go.”
Pete and Layne left by the window and I tossed out the gym bags before I followed them.
It was a quiet ride back to the mansion, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
Layne used his cell phone once, and all he said was, “Yeah. It’s a go.”
He paused.
“Take the laptops, too.”
It’s a go sounded cryptic to me. I wanted to ask him what that was about, but I knew he wouldn’t answer me. I assumed it meant they were going to clear out the buildings at the mall.
Pete took a chance. “What was that all about?”
“It had to do with what I found on the laptop. That’s all I can tell you.”
Pete scratched his chin. I could tell by his expression that he had something on his mind, and he chewed his lower lip thoughtfully.
“What’re we going to do now?” I asked.
Before Pete could reply, Layne said, “It’s time to pull out the big guns.”
“And what are the big guns?”
“Believe it or not, it’s everyone out at the mansion.”
This did not bode well in my mind.
Chapter Thirty-two
The rest of the ride to the mansion was almost too quiet.
I didn’t know what the men were thinking about, but I was beginning to boil because it appeared Layne was going to use some innocent people for his own purposes.
Almost as though he’d read my mind, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, Sandi. I’m not planning on putting anyone in danger.”
“The key word there is planning,” I said. “If anyone is hurt, you’ll have to answer to me.”
“And you’ll do what?” he asked.
I thought for a moment. “I’m not sure, but I guarantee you won’t like it.”
Yeah, like that would really scare him. I’d discuss it with my aunt. She could be a terror when she wanted to be.
I thought about my aunt and realized that I was actually glad she was with us. Now, that surprised me. Until now, I’d only known her as an intrusive, cranky, pushy woman with no agenda other than to involve herself in the lives of others. It turned out she was full of surprises. She had a sense of humor, which was something I’d never seen or heard before. She was a prepper, of all things. My little aunt? A prepper? She could be demanding, but she could also be sweet. And her interest in Griz absolutely boggled my mind.
We pulled up to the mansion and my thoughts were cut short.
Aunt Martha stood on the porch with her arms crossed, and she was tapping her foot. Why did I have a feeling Layne was about to receive the ire of a very strong woman?
Layne and I climbed out of the car while Pete drove it around to the garage to hide it. The dogs ran past my aunt and followed the car.
“Mr. Layne,” my aunt said, “just who do you think you are? If you were one of my students, you’d be receiving quite a dressing down right now.” She continued to tap her foot. “There’s one thing I won’t abide under any circumstances, and that’s lying.”
Layne stepped forward. “I’ll assume that Trap told you the truth about me?”
“Not willingly,” she replied. “At this time, the only thing I don’t know about you is which government agency you work for, but I’m sure you’ll rectify that situation.”
“Not anytime soon,” he said, shrugging and heading for the front door. “I’d rather have a dressing down from you than from my boss.”
