Indigo Incite (The Indigo Trilogy) (18 page)

“Did Ian
tell you where the compound was?”

“He
mentioned that it was in a mountainous area near a desert, but he didn’t want
to tell me specifics. He said that the less I knew, the safer I was, and I was
fine with that.”

“If you
know all of this, then you’ve talked to him since he left,” Tyler said. “Do you
know where he is now?”

His
question was again answered with a smile. “Ian disappeared because he didn’t
want to be found. If his whereabouts were known, he would be in danger. He
holds too many secrets that could be exposed. The IIA doesn’t want him
wandering around with no one to answer to. Even if I did know where he was, I
wouldn’t be much of a friend if I was willing to reveal his location to the
first person who came along looking for him.”

“But we
aren’t just anyone,” Tyler said. “They have my brother. We just want to get him
back.”

“I would
like to believe that,” Patricia replied, “but like I said earlier, many people
have come to my door in search of Ian. I have no way of knowing that you aren’t
working for the IIA, as well. But if you are who you say you are, it is
possible, even now, that they know you’re all here. You took a gamble by coming
here.”

“I
know,” Tyler said, “but we didn’t have much of a choice. Ian is the only one who
can lead us to my brother. Are you sure that you can’t tell us where he is?”

Patricia
shook her head. “I would like to help you, but my first responsibility is to
keep Ian safe. But I also understand that you are in danger. If the IIA finds
you, they
will
take you, especially now that they know you’re aware of
them. They’re going to want you on their side one way or the other. Let me
think on it for a few minutes. I need to go see to a few things. Can you wait
here for a few minutes until I return?”

They nodded,
and she promptly departed.

She
returned fifteen minutes later with an envelope in hand and a set of keys.

“It just
so happened that Ian called while I was in the other room,” Patricia said with
a wink. “I explained your situation, and he was able to sense your presence. He
believes that you are who you say you are. It’s not safe to talk over the phone
with any details, but he is willing to see you. You’re going to have to be
careful though. I don’t know how you’ve managed to travel as far as you have
without getting caught, but if you’re using credit cards, they
will
track you. From now on, use nothing but cash. There can’t be any trace of where
you are or where you’re going. If you’re going to go see Ian, you can’t let
them follow you.

“Take
this.” She handed the envelope to Eddie. “You’ll find enough cash inside to get
you by for a while.” Then she handed him a set of keys. “You can’t take the
Jeep that’s parked outside. They’ll track any vehicle that is linked to you. I
have a car parked in the garage. It was left here by a professor who is doing a
sabbatical overseas for a year. They would never think to track it. It should
keep you off the radar for a little while. Take it and leave your Jeep parked
in the garage. You can come back for it whenever you’re ready."

Eddie
accepted the envelope and glanced inside. “I don’t know what to say. This is a
lot of money. Why are you helping us?”

“Because
I was never able to help Ian as much as I would have liked, and because he said
that he trusts you. You need help, and right now it looks like I’m the only one
in any sort of a position to help you.

“Of
course, keep in mind, you won’t be completely safe. This will help get you
ahead of them for a little while, but if there are trackers after you, they
will
eventually find you.”

“I don’t
understand though,” Grace said. “If the trackers are capable of finding us, how
come they can’t find Ian?”

“I don’t
know. That would be an excellent question to ask him once you find him. I can’t
give you an address, because even I don’t know where he lives exactly. I can
tell you to go to Roswell. Once you’re there, Ian will sense your presence and
find you.”

“Roswell?
As in…New Mexico?” Tyler asked.

“Isn’t
that the alien place?” Liliana asked.

Patricia
smiled. “Yes, it is a popular tourist spot for alien enthusiasts.”

“Cool!”
Tyler said with a chuckle.

“Thank
you,” Eddie said. He gave her a hug in appreciation.

“I wish
you all the best of luck.” She turned to Tyler and gave him a hug. “I hope that
you’re able to rescue your brother.”

She
showed them to the front door so that they could retrieve their bags from the
Jeep and transfer them to their new vehicle. When she swung the door open, they
were stunned motionless at the appearance of a man and woman on the front walk.
They appeared to be in their late fifties. The man was balding and had a rotund
belly. The woman was just as rotund and had a curly head of white hair.

“Bonnie?
Chuck?” Sarah questioned. “What are
you
doing here?”

Patricia
turned to Sarah. “You know them?”

“Um…yeah.
They flew here with me from Washington. We kind of met up along the way and
became travel buddies.”

“Hi,
Sarah. So sorry to show up here like this,” the man said, sounding truly
apologetic.

“Everyone,”
Patricia began, “I’d like to introduce you to Chuck and Bonnie…Ian’s parents.”

“Well,
let’s not stand right here with the door wide open to the world,” Patricia
said, noticeably irritated at the arrival of her newest visitors. “You might as
well come on in.”

“Thank
you,” Bonnie replied. Without further invite, she stepped into the entryway
with her husband close on her heels.

Patricia
closed the door and locked it with a resounding click. Sarah noticed that she
also bolted the safety chain. It occurred to her that this seemed an odd thing
to do, since the enemy was now inside the premises, but she said nothing.
Instead, she followed them into the front living room and sat on a plush
sectional couch between Grace and Liliana. Chuck and Bonnie took a seat on a
nearby sofa. Eddie and Tyler took their places behind the girls and stood with
glaring suspicion, their arms firmly crossed.

Patricia
strode across the room and closed the horizontal blinds on the three picture
windows that lined the room. Then, for good measure, she pulled the heavy
drapes across, leaving the room in near darkness, until she turned on a variety
of floor and table lamps that sat upon rustic wood end tables. Seemingly
satisfied that they couldn’t be seen by additional outside intruders, the
author took a seat in an oversized, southwestern-style chair.

Confused
and outraged that she had been misled by the unassuming, older couple, Sarah
surprised herself when she found the courage to speak first. “You followed me?
Why? I thought you were my friends.”

“I know
you must be angry,” Bonnie began. “Please, give us a chance to explain.”

“What is
there to explain?” Tyler asked from behind Sarah. “It seems pretty clear cut to
me. You traveled with Sarah so that you could track us all down. What more is
there to say? What do you plan to do now that you’ve found us? That’s the
question.”

“It’s
true, we did follow Sarah,” Chuck said, “but our motives aren’t quite as you
would think. Yes, we do work for the IIA, but we aren’t trackers, not by any
sense of the imagination. That isn’t our job. Our job is to recruit and test
prospective students. That’s why we were in Washington. We were there for a
recruiting convention. When we got word that two trackers had located a target,
we thought there might be a chance it was Ian. We had to see for ourselves."

“It
wasn’t our son, though,” Bonnie said. “It was Sarah. When we got to the diner,
in Granite Falls, the trackers were there, too. When they saw us, we had to
explain what we were doing there.”

“They
decided that they were going to use us to follow Sarah,” Chuck went on. “One of
the trackers felt that Sarah was suspicious of their presence, and they worried
that their cover had been blown. So, they decided to turn their hunt over to us
and instructed us to follow her.”

“We
didn’t want to! Believe me, sweetheart,” Bonnie said. Her pleading expression
and apologetic tone almost made Sarah believe her. “We didn’t want you to be in
danger, but we also didn’t have a choice. When you work for the IIA, you have
to do as directed.”

“They
suspected that I was onto them?” Sarah questioned. “It
was
that couple
back in the diner, wasn’t it? The man and woman who were dressed in fancy
trench coats?”

“That
was them,” Chuck affirmed.

“So,
you’ve been following me ever since and have been reporting back to them? Does
that mean that they’re going to be here any minute to pick us all up, or is it
your
job to bring us in?”

Chuck
shook his head. “No. If anyone brings you in, it’s definitely not going to be
us. After we dropped you off at Eddie’s house, we called to inform the agency
of the location, and then we were directed to return to the research facility.
Halfway there, we were both overcome with guilt. We saw how the agency took
over our son’s life, and we knew we couldn’t let that happen to you. We turned
around and drove all night to come back and warn all of you. We were sitting in
the car this morning, trying to figure out the best way to explain it all when
we saw you drive away, so we decided to follow.”

Sarah
was still skeptical of their sincerity. She wanted to believe them, but knowing
who they worked for made it difficult to trust them. She examined their
expressions for signs that they were lying. “So you followed us because…you
wanted to warn us?”

Bonnie’s
expression didn’t flicker, and she didn’t hesitate when she replied, “Yes. They’ve
assigned a local tracker to find you. They don’t know that you’re in Sedona,
but it won’t be long before they do. We came here to try to throw them off, to
give you a head start.”

“But
won’t they be suspicious if they find you here?”

“Not at
all,” Chuck replied. “They know we come here from time to time, in hopes that
Patricia will tell us where our son is.” He turned to the author with an intent
gaze. She had remained quiet throughout the conversation.

“I still
don’t know where Ian is,” the author lied.

“Of
course you don’t,” Bonnie said with a forced smile.

Tyler
seemed to sense the tense emotions between Ian’s parents and the author. He
turned to Bonnie in an attempt to change the subject. “Did you know that they kidnapped
my brother?”

She
looked to Tyler with apologetic eyes. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Do you
have any idea where they might be keeping him?”

“No, sweetheart.
I’m sorry. Our work has always been restricted to the school and the research facility.
More than likely, they would keep him at the training compound. From what I
hear, it’s a very secure and remote location. When Ian was sent there to train,
he was never allowed to tell us where he was.”

“Look,
kids,” Chuck said, “we could talk all day, but the fact is, you need to leave
before anyone shows up looking for you. We’ll stay and do our best to throw
them off your trail. Hopefully that will buy you some time.” He turned to
Sarah. “I know you must be angry with us. I hope you understand our motive to
find our son.”

Sarah
nodded. “I understand. I do.”

Chuck
patted her on the shoulder in silent response. Enough had been said.

“If you
happen to see our son along the way, please let him know that we would like to
see him, again,” Bonnie said.

“I
will,” Sarah promised.

*****

Sarah
and Eddie took turns driving the borrowed, Lincoln Town Car, while Liliana,
Grace, and Tyler snoozed in the backseat. As she drove, Sarah glanced at her
wedding ring and twisted it so the diamond faced up. A single tear formed in
the corner of her eye. Before Eddie had a chance to notice, she hurriedly
swiped it away. With her emotions kept in check, she could forcibly hold back
the tears but knew she wouldn’t be able to, if compelled to talk about her
husband. This was not the time or place to be tearful and emotional. She had
plenty of other worries to consider, like how she planned to keep her baby
safe.

We’re
going to be fine
.
The voice in her head interrupted her thoughts. She glanced at Eddie, who gazed
out the passenger window. He obviously hadn’t heard anything. She thought more
about the voice. It hadn’t said, ‘
You’re
going to be fine.' She was certain
that it had said, ‘
We
.'

Sarah
placed a hand on her belly. Would they have to spend their lives on the run in
order to keep him safe? After a hundred miles or so had passed, she found that
she had ended up with a headache but no conclusions.

“Your
baby’s right,” Liliana whispered, from the backseat. “We’re going to be fine.”

Sarah
glanced in the rearview mirror. “You heard him?”

“I did.
I sense that there’s something special about him.”

Sarah
glanced in the mirror, again, and smiled at her new friend. “Thank you.”

“Hey,
Sarah, you about ready for a break?” Eddie asked. “It looks like Albuquerque is
just ahead. We can stop and stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. Then I can
take over driving, for a while if you want to rest.”

“Did I
hear something about food?” Tyler yawned as he sat up in the backseat.

“A break
sounds good to me,” Grace said as she too awoke. “How close are we to Roswell?”

“We’ve
got about three hours left,” Sarah replied, “but it’s just about dinner time.
If we stop now and eat and gas up, we should be able to continue on without
stopping until we get there.”

They
pulled into a truck stop on the outskirts of town. When Sarah stepped out of
the car, she stretched her arms and turned her face skyward. The wind whipped
her hair wildly about her head, but she didn’t care. It was nice to stand in
the fresh air. For the moment, no one knew where they were, and she felt
momentarily at peace. She had the feeling that this was like the eye of the
storm. It was inevitable that the sense of calm would soon pass and they would
once again be running from danger, but for now she was happy to enjoy the
moment.

“I’ve
got to find a bathroom before we eat!” Grace said.

“I hear
ya,” Sarah told her. “This baby’s pushing on my bladder. I’ll come with you.”
She turned to her travel companions. “Do you guys want to meet us in the
restaurant?”

“I’m
just going to gas up the car so it’ll be ready to go,” Eddie said. “I’ll meet
you girls, inside.”

“Well,
I’m all about trying the pie,” Tyler said. He pointed to the hand-painted
picture of pie on the restaurant window beside a sign which declared that they
had twenty-four flavors.

“Mmm, my
favorite is chocolate cream,” Liliana said as she and Tyler headed for the
building.

They
walked away side by side, and Sarah smiled as she noticed how comfortable they
seemed with each other. Then she grabbed her purse out of the car and turned to
Grace with a smile. “Right then. Let’s go find the restroom.”

As they
walked across the parking lot, Grace sighed and said, “I’ve seen the way Eddie
looks at you, and I’ve seen his aura when he’s around you. You know he likes
you, right?”

“
Eddie
?
He can’t possibly. He knows I’m married. And seriously, I’m pregnant.” She
placed a hand on her abdomen for emphasis.

“Of
course he knows all of that, but sometimes when you like someone, you just like
them, regardless of the fact if it’s practical or not.”

“Yeah,
well, I hope he realizes that he doesn’t have a chance with me. I’m madly in
love with my husband, and there’s not a chance that I would ever leave him.”

“I’m
sure he knows that,” Grace said, “and I’m sure one of these days he’ll realize
that there are other girls. But for now, he only has eyes for you.”

Grace’s
tone of voice revealed more than her words, and Sarah turned to her in
question. “You like him, don’t you?” The door chimed as they entered the gift
shop area of the truck stop.

Grace
located the sign directing them toward the restrooms. She didn’t look at Sarah,
but walking straight ahead, she said, “Well, it doesn’t matter if I like him or
not. He’s not interested in me.

“And
anyway,” Grace continued a few minutes later as she looked in the restroom
mirror to fluff her hair, “it doesn’t matter if he likes me or not. When all of
this is over, I’ll be in Utah and he’ll be in Arizona. It’s not like it would
ever work out between us anyway. Right?”

“You’re
probably right,” Sarah agreed. “Are there any guys waiting for you back home?”

“Actually,
yeah. I do have a boyfriend.” They headed for the back of the store, where the
restaurant was located. “His name is Derek. He’s cute and really sweet. He’s
just not…”

“Not
your soul mate?”

“Exactly!
I mean, we get along great and everything, but I just don’t feel that special
spark, you know? Did you know your husband was the one, when you first met
him?”

“I did.
There was never a question in my mind.”

“See,
that’s what I want.”

“Give it
time. How old are you?”

“Sixteen…I
know, I know, I’m only sixteen and I have plenty of time, but isn’t it only
natural to dream about the man you’re going to marry one day?”

“Of
course it is, and one day, you’ll find him. Probably when you least expect it.”

“Yeah,
you’re probably right. It’s just that…”

“What?”

“It’s
just that, when I first saw Eddie, he’s just so…”

“Gorgeous,”
Sarah concluded for her.

Grace
laughed. “Exactly! But that’s not all of it. I mean, Derek is pretty good
looking, too. Granted, he’s not as beautiful as Eddie. It’s just that, I feel
this pull or connection to Eddie that I can’t explain.”

“Well,
if he truly is your soul mate, then eventually you two will be together.
Destiny has a way of bringing people together, even if they don’t try. If it’s
meant to be, it will happen.”

“You’re
right,” Grace said, after a moment. “I guess I just need to find a little
patience.”