by Kim Jewell
“Can I help you look?”
“Sure. Just check along the seams of the house. Under the roofing, around the windows and down the eaves spouts. I’ll take care of the landscaping and the yard.”
In about ten minutes, Clint was satisfied that they covered all the necessary hiding places for surveillance equipment, so they headed inside. As they rounded the house, it occurred to Sam that he should warn Clint to act normal.
“Hey, be sure not to act too weird around my mom,” he projected into Clint’s head.
Clint’s eyes bugged when he realized that Sam’s lips weren’t moving, then he relaxed again and whispered: “I still can’t get used to you being able to do that.”
Sam laughed. “You’ll adjust. It’s a whole lot easier to communicate discreetly once you remember we can do it.”
They headed through the house slowly. Sam picked carefully through the refrigerator to grab drinks, then the pantry to get a bag of chips. He stopped to have a conversation with his dad about the Chiefs game that was on that night. Then paused to ask his mother what was for dinner. All of this was a stall tactic. He was moving the two of them gradually through the house so Clint could scan the downstairs without making a scene.
Once they got upstairs, they went straight to his bedroom, where Clint performed a more intensive search. His reasoning was if there were going to be any serious surveillance efforts, they were most likely going to be aimed specifically at Sam and Lexi. Nothing turned up in his bedroom, so on they went into the bathroom.
Normally Sam wouldn’t even notice the boxers lying in the corner of the bathroom – a sign of his bad basketball skills, as he totally missed the laundry hamper and neglected to pick up his mess. And if it were just Clint there, he wouldn’t have even bothered, but knowing Leesha was in the next room, he was suddenly aware of his foul and bent over to put them in the hamper and close the lid.
He turned to Clint, “See anything?”
“Nope. Clean.”
“Lexi’s room is right through here.” He knocked on the door and entered before an answer. He could hear them talking excitedly already, and couldn’t wait to participate in the download.
“Did you guys find anything?” Leesha asked as she looked up.
Clint was still scanning Lexi’s room, but answered “No, not yet. I don’t think there’s anything to be found.”
“The guy would have to be pretty stupid to come to our houses and install cameras or bugs,” Lexi piped in.
“You’d think so, but he had the nerve to put tracking devices on our cars,” Leesha said. “Now, he could’ve done this while we were at school, so not necessarily trespassing on private property, but still a violation!”
“Uh-huh.” Lexi nodded.
Both of them are a little uptight about this…
Clint finished his search. “Nope. Nothing here.”
“Well, that’s good,” Sam tried to act reassuring. “That’s good news, guys. We know that he’s not watching our homes or listening to our phones. Yes, he’s tracking our cars. But at this point, that’s all he’s doing. Let’s just be aware, make sure we don’t let him get any closer for now.”
Sam brought in a couple of bean bag chairs and the boys settled down on the floor in Lexi’s room to start yet another download from this weekend’s research. As the group was uncovering larger amounts of information, the need to meet was obviously becoming more and more urgent.
Sam projected his research findings to both Leesha and Clint, and then Lexi turned to Clint to tell him everything she was able to uncover about the medical substances that were being tested in the laboratories. Since her information sounded much like a chemistry assignment, their mother didn’t think much of what she overheard as she came around the corner.
“You kids doing okay?” she asked, standing in the doorway. Normally it was a steadfast rule that kids of the opposite gender were not allowed in the bedrooms, but since this was a group, she let it slide. She noticed the boys were sitting together on the other side of the room, and the scene looked pretty harmless. Not that it kept her from checking in, which was exactly what she was doing.
“We’re good Mom!” Lexi responded too quickly to sound casual.
Tone it down, Lexi.
“Okay,” Mrs. Dixon said. “I was just checking on you guys. Clint and Leesha, would you like to stay for dinner?”
Clint mumbled something, without looking up, at the same time Leesha politely said, “Thanks Mrs. D, but we’ve probably overstayed our welcome already.”
“Oh, it’s no imposition. And there’s plenty of food – we’re grilling burgers and brats…”
Clint looked up at her finally, “Well, that does sound pretty good. Are you sure?”
“I am. We’d love it if you would join us. Leesha, you’ll stay too, please?” It was more of an announcement than it was a request.
“I’d love to, thank you,” Leesha smiled at her genuinely. Her mother wouldn’t be home for another – well, who knows when – so a home cooked meal was appreciated.
Satisfied that she wrangled these new friends into family time, she turned back around to start dinner preparations. Sam could hear her filling in his father about the new guests, and then open the freezer door to grab more hamburger patties and another package of brats to thaw.
“Your mom seems nice,” Clint said.
“She is,” Sam said, still listening to her pace back and forth between her kitchen preparations and the bottom of the stairs where she was monitoring the sound of the group. “She’s a little overbearing with the friends thing… She wants to know everyone we are friends with. They’ll grill you two at dinner, just be prepared.”
Lexi laughed. “Yeah, and she’s up here checking to see if we’re behaving. I’m not supposed to have boys in my room! Oooohhh… They’re both really strict, but we’re on to them, and know how to work around them!”
“Lexi,” Sam gave her a knowing smile, “you know she’s down there pacing back and forth as we speak.”
“I figured.”
“I think you guys are pretty lucky,” Leesha looked at both of them soberly. “My mom’s a wreck. Always has been. I’m the adult in our house, and I’ve never had a father around. Count your blessings.”
“Yeah,” Clint said. “My old man is great, but he has to work all the time to make ends meet. We usually end up passing each other coming and going – say hey to each other on the way. We don’t get to spend a whole lot of time together.”
“What about your mom?” Lexi asked.
“She passed away right before my tenth birthday. Cancer.”
Sam heard Lexi’s heart skip a beat and he saw her eyes fill with tears, just a little. “That’s awful, Clint. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. Thanks. I had a good ten years with her.” He tried to brush it off, and the room went quiet for a minute.
“Hey Clint, let’s go see if Dad needs any help with the grill.”
“Okay,” and the boys walked out of the room. Their meeting was over for now.
Chapter Thirty-four
Dinner went by well. The Dixons seemed to enjoy the company of new friends – Leesha turned up her charm, complimenting Mrs. Dixon on her potato salad and fresh lemonade. Clint had Mr. Dixon in stitches with his sarcastic remarks about the inept talent of the Cardinals pitching rotation this season. (Sam forewarned him that his dad was a Cubs fan.)
Both Sam and Lexi were more at ease, knowing their parents were relaxed and approved of their new friends. The four kids helped clear the table, then retreated back into Lexi’s room to talk some more about their next steps.
Leesha took the lead, “I think that it’s time for a trip down to Arizona to see Dr. Rowe. Ultimately I would like to talk to him – ask him about these medicines that have been tested, and what their effects are on humans. But first, I think we should just scope him out, figure out what we can about his home life and the situation at his office.”
“I agree,” Sa
m said. “He’s really our only connection to Blevins at this point. We know where he is, so let’s capitalize on that, take a weekend and get down there and make contact with him.”
“So we really are going to take a road trip?” Lexi looked excited. “How do we pull this off?”
“It won’t be a problem for me,” Leesha shrugged. “My mom never knows when I’m coming or going. I’m good.”
“Me too,” Clint said. “As long as I keep my nose clean, my dad pretty much lets me do what I want. I’ll just tell him I’m going on a weekend trip with some buddies.”
Lexi turned to Sam. “You know it won’t be that easy for us, Sam. Mom’s not just going to let us leave for the weekend without knowing exactly what we’re doing and where we’re going. And Dad’ll back her up.”
“I know… Let me think about this for a minute.”
Clint smirked. “I think I may already have the answer for you,” he said and pulled a bright yellow flyer out of his back pocket and handed it to Sam.
“A church mission trip?!” Sam rolled over, completely lost in a laugh that came from the pit of his belly. “Oh man, do you EVER have my mom pegged… She’ll eat this up! Where did you get this?”
Clint smiled back at him, angelically. “Why, church of course. I thought it sounded like fun, and thought that you three would like to join the effort. We’ll be helping erect a shelter for the homeless in the parish that my pastor used to work in.”
“Nice one, Clint. You’re right, Sam – there’s no way Mom won’t go for that!”
“It’s next weekend. Do you think we can get everything together and ready to leave next Friday after school?”
“Sure!” Leesha said. “I’ll go over all the research and map out the locations we need to visit, get information from and put together a list of questions that we want to ask Rowe.”
“One question,” Lexi piped in, worried again. “How do we get there without Blevins knowing? He’s tracking all of our cars.”
Clint gave her a reassuring smile. “You let me worry about that. I’ve got it all figured out.”
After the other two left, Sam and Lexi went downstairs to check in with their parents and get their overall assessment of Clint and Leesha. If their parents were positive, they planned to broach the subject of the mission trip. As a rule, they normally didn’t lie to their parents, but given the circumstances, they didn’t want to put them in any more danger than necessary. And they both agreed, if their parents knew what was going on and where they were going, they might be in danger. Ignorance was best in this instance, and they would continue to call in and check on their parents to make sure they were okay while they were gone. Neither one wanted to take any chances on this.
As they came down the stairs, their mom looked up from cleaning up the kitchen. “Oh, hey you two. Are you all done with your homework?”
“Yep.”
“Oh yes,” Lexi crooned. “I finished mine in study hall on Friday.”
She just loves to make me look like the slacker.
“Okay, good. Sam, can you take this bag of trash to the garage?”
“Sure Mom,” he turned his back to his mother and projected to Lexi: “Hey suckup, why don’t you ask Mom about the mission trip while I’m gone?”
Since she was right next to her mother, she couldn’t do anything but exhale at him, which did not go unnoticed. He decided to take a little longer in the garage, partly because he wanted her to suffer a little alone, but also because he wanted to scan the garage for anything unusual. Clint hadn’t gotten to see the entire house, so he gave Sam instructions on what to look for, and where to look.
Mental note: I need to check Mom and Dad’s room, too.
By the time he returned, Lexi was having an animated conversation with their mother. “Tell her Sam, tell her how many kids are going and how much fun it’s going to be!”
“Yeah, Mom. You know I don’t usually get too fired up about stuff like this, but it sounds like there are a bunch of kids from high schools all over the area going. Should be a good time – a great way to meet new people and do something worthwhile.”
“I don’t know…”
“Here, Mom,” he handed her the flyer. “Here’s the information Clint gave us – there’s a web address if you want to find out more. Please, Mom. I promise we’ll call every day.”
“Every HOUR if you want us to.”
“Well,” she sighed, looking down at the flyer. “It does sound like a good activity. Let me talk to your dad about it.”
Sam shot Lexi a smile, which she returned. They both knew it was in the bag.
“Hey Dad,” Sam looked up at his father in the recliner. “Is the game getting ready to start?”
“Kick off’s in about five.”
“I’m coming. You want popcorn?”
“You bet! Bring me some tea, too, pal.”
“You got it, Dad.” He threw a pack of popcorn in the microwave, filled a couple of glasses of tea, and got settled in for a night of Sunday Night Football with his dad.
The next morning, Sam and Lexi got the green flag from their parents for the weekend getaway. Since the following Monday was a holiday, they were going to get three days of work done in Scottsdale, but they were still quite worried about the length of travel needed to get there.
According to driving directions on the internet, they were looking at about twenty-one hours on the road, not counting gas, bathroom and eating stops. They were going to have to drive through the night and get as much done as they could while they were there. There wouldn’t be a lot of time once they got there. It wasn’t going to be an easy trip, but they really didn’t expect it to be. Still, it was a vital one to make, if they wanted to get further in their research.
Lexi texted the “All systems go” message to Leesha, while Sam texted Clint to tell him they were free to go the next weekend. His text included the nagging question of how to get there, and how not to get detected.
Clint’s response was: “You worry too much. Leave it to me. I’ve got it covered.”
I hope he knows what he’s doing… There’s a lot riding on this trip.
Chapter Thirty-five
Sam didn’t see Lexi all morning on Monday, and only guessed something was up as she strolled by his lunch table and caught his eye with a telling smirk painted on her face. Her expression puzzled him enough to tap into her brain so they could have a silent conversation.
“What’s up, Lex?”
She paused at the vending machine, appearing to consider her options. “As of eight minutes ago, I am flashing again!”
“Did you log it?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re flashing right now?”
“Yep!”
“Why do you look so happy?”
“Well, first of all, because the pain is not nearly as hot as it’s been in the past.”
“Good, good. That’s progress.”
“And because it means my powers are back!”
“Lexi…”
“I know, I know. I won’t do anything here. Gosh, you’re such a buzz kill…”
“What are you smiling at?” Sam’s mind snapped to attention when he heard Ty’s question. He didn’t realize that his face was reacting to a conversation that Ty couldn’t hear.
I really need to be more careful around Ty… What do I say?
“Nothing. Just eavesdropping on those two freshmen girls behind me. They’re talking about AJ’s butt… Girls are so stupid sometimes.”
Ty looked around him to see the girls who were being singled out. He chuckled and picked up his sandwich to continue eating. While he chewed, Sam glanced back at the vending machine to see Lexi look back at him and nod towards the door.
“I’m heading to French. I’ll catch you after school!”
“Bye Lex. Stay visible.”
“Duh, moron.” Sam could hear her laughing in her head as she walked away.
Sam turned to Ty, feeling a little guil
ty that he hadn’t spent much time with him lately. He’d been so wrapped up with Lexi and his two new partners, and just now realized how much he missed time with his best friend.
“Hey, Ty… What are you doing tonight? Do you have to work?”
“No, thankfully. I put in double shifts all weekend long. We were short staffed due to the flu. Why?”
“Wanna go see a movie?”
“Sounds great! Are girls invited?”
Hell no! I don’t want to be stuck with Mena…
“Let’s just do some guy time. That okay with you?”
“Perfect. I was hoping you’d say that. Mena has been getting on my nerves…” and he started to tell Sam about their latest arguments. Sam acted like he was listening, but instead started a list of things to pack for the foursome’s upcoming road trip.
He got home that afternoon after school, very much looking forward to his evening out with Ty. He had a little homework he could get done before dinnertime, which would leave the rest of his evening guilt free. Since most of his Blevins research was on hold until they could go and interview Dr. Rowe, there wasn’t much he could do in that area either. Ty suggested the new slasher film, and Sam was amped up about blood and gore – and time with Ty.
Lexi beat him home and was in her room when he got upstairs. She was sitting on her bed with her laptop in front of her.
“Hey Lex. Homework?”
“Yep. Almost done.”
“I’m headed over to do the same,” and he walked into his room and set his book bag down next to his bed. The “click, click, click” of Lexi’s keyboard was too loud to concentrate, so he decided to shut both his bedroom door to the hall, and the door to the bathroom that they shared.
Kicking off his shoes and grabbing his bag, he settled down at his desk to tackle his trig homework.
Ugh. I hate this…
He was halfway through his fifth problem when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lexi appear in his bedroom. He jumped, more out of shock than fear, and realized that he didn’t hear her come in. He looked – both doors were still shut.
“Lexi! You just about gave me a heart attack. Where did you come from? And how, when my ears hear every cotton pickin’ thing, can’t I hear you open and shut a friggin’ door?”
