03 Trapped by Shadows Read online

  “All right, sweetheart,” Dad said as they shot through the thick woods. He tried to sound reassuring, but inside his fear continued to grow. What if we don’t get to the kids before they do?

  He glanced to his wife and thought back to the beginning.

  Mom had been pregnant with their third child, Elijah. She had just left the florist’s with a giant bouquet of daisies for her sister’s birthday. As she walked — more like waddled — toward the car, a bearded old man with a tattered jacket stepped in front of her, bringing her to an abrupt stop.

  He spoke quietly, almost in reverence. “Your son will work miracles.”

  She blinked, more than a little surprised. How had he known she was going to have a boy?

  He continued. “The Scriptures speak of him.”

  “Who?” she asked, hoping to slip inside the car and get away from the crazy man — not an easy feat when one is holding a bouquet of flowers.

  “Your son.”

  She stared at him a moment, then nodded slowly, uneasily, as she opened the car door and got inside. She locked the car and put the key in the ignition. She glanced back at the man, but when she turned he had vanished. The old man was nowhere to be seen.

  Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of the strangeness. It soon got stranger.

  Just after Elijah was born, Mom and Dad began to notice little things. Like how their baby laughed and cooed as if he saw something above his crib … when there was nothing there at all.

  Or the time he was in preschool and his teacher ran out of snacks … or thought she did. No one could explain how, when she kept reaching into the graham cracker box, she never ran out of graham crackers — not until the last child was served. Amazing. Well, to everyone but Mom and Dad.

  That was the good weird. But there was also the bad …

  More and more, they got the sense that people were watching them. Sometimes it was a dark blue car that followed them at a distance when they pushed the baby stroller down the street. Other times it was a tall, skinny man in overalls who always seemed to be trimming hedges or sweeping a sidewalk when they went outside.

  Then came the fateful Saturday morning when the strange old man appeared once again — but this time on their doorstep.

  Spotting him through the window, Mom called upstairs to Dad. “Mike! That man from the florist — it’s him! He’s here!”

  Dad bounded down the stairs and threw open the door to confront him. But the old man said only three words:

  “You must leave.”

  “Guess again,” Dad said. “I don’t know who you are or what’s going on, but you’re the one who has to leave.”

  The man shook his head. “No. You must go. For the boy’s safety — and your own.”

  Dad snorted in disgust and started to shut the door when the old man raised his voice. “Please … there is an organization.”

  Dad hesitated.

  The old man continued. “They are watching your son to see if he is the one of whom the Scriptures speak. Once they are sure, they will move in.”

  Dad frowned. “Organization?”

  “They are empowered by a dark and sinister force, and they will show no mercy when they come for him.”

  Dad bristled. “That’s enough. If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the police. Do you understand?”

  The old man remained. “You’ve seen his gifts.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You’ve seen his powers. You’ve seen — ”

  Without a word Dad slammed the door.

  “I’m not sure if you should have done that,” Mom said.

  “The guy’s a loony!” Dad replied angrily. He turned, checking through the door’s peephole.

  Nobody was there.

  That was when they decided to pack up the kids and move … the first time.

  But no matter how they tried to hide Elijah’s special gifts, the little guy would do something that caused people to start talking … and asking questions.

  Then, just a few days ago, a redheaded woman and two men with guns showed up at the house. Mom and Dad tried to act as decoys to draw them away, giving their children a chance to escape to safety, but the plan backfired. Instead, the parents were kidnapped and taken to a mysterious compound where they first encountered … Shadow Man.

  They had escaped. It was a miracle from God — there was no doubt about that.

  But Shadow Man wasn’t about to give up — there was no doubt about that either.

  Chapter Three

  Arrest

  “We’re going to fly?!” Cody’s voice cracked. It hadn’t done that since he was thirteen, but raw fear can do that to a guy. “AGAIN?”

  “No,” Willard chuckled, “we’re not going to fly. ”

  “Whew, that’s good.”

  “Technically, we will simply be resisting gravity.”

  Somehow, that didn’t make Cody feel much better.

  “We must locate Piper’s parents,” Willard said as he slipped into his antigravity tennis shoes. “We must inform them of the tracking device my equipment has discovered under their car. This is the only way to warn them.”

  “If we survive,” Cody said, giving the shoes a doubtful look.

  Willard ignored him. “I’ve triangulated their last email transmission with their cell phone call. But we must proceed there quickly before we lose them.”

  Cody was silent, frowning down at the tops of his tennis shoes.

  “Look, I know what you’re thinking,” Willard said. “You’re recalling the time my Remote-Controlled Pencil Sharpener flew out the window, crashed into the power station, and shorted out the entire town for a week.”

  “Actually,” Cody said, “I forgot that one.”

  “Then perhaps it was my Inviso-Bug Spray which I brought to summer camp that made us both invisible.”

  “Actually,” Cody corrected, “it just made our clothes invisible.”

  “Ah, yes.” Willard nodded. “That was rather embarrassing. However, I promise you there will be no such occurrences on this occasion.”

  “Don’t you think we should at least test them?” Cody asked.

  “Under normal circumstances, yes, you would be correct. A positive outcome of a trial run is crucial before the operation of any new device.”

  “Good!”

  “However, we have no time.”

  “Bad!”

  “I assure you, all my data indicates these shoes will perform perfectly.”

  Cody gave him a look. He knew Willard wanted to help. He also knew that not a single invention of his had ever worked … well, had ever worked the way he’d planned for it to work. Still, Willard was right. The family was in trouble, and they had no time to waste. So, with a heavy sigh (and a prayer that someone somewhere would someday find their bodies) Cody slipped into the shoes and laced them up tightly.

  Willard reached for the control panel strapped to his wrist and hit a flashing red button. “Hopefully, we won’t have any problems. Hold on.”

  “What do you mean, hopefully?” Cody’s voice cracked again. “And what do you mean, hold on?”

  “I mean…

  “WHOOOAAAAAAAH!”

  Suddenly Willard shot up and hovered in the air. For that matter, so did…

  “WHOOOAAAAAAAH!”

  … Cody.

  There was only one minor problem.

  “We’re upside down!” Cody shouted, dangling from his feet. He kicked and spun around in the air as he tried to right himself.

  “Yes, I am aware of that fact, however …”

  “However what?”

  “We have no time for repairs! We must depart now!”

  Before Cody could protest, Willard pushed a little joystick on his control panel, and they took off. Still upside down. And still shouting.

  “WHOOOAAAAAAAH!!”

  Mom and Dad pulled to a stop at the agreed-upon location: the parking lot of the Desert Sands Motor Lodg
e. They sat quietly in the Jeep, holding each other’s hand, waiting eagerly and impatiently for their children. Dad tried to relax, nervously drumming his free fingers on the dash while Mom peered anxiously into the night.

  “Mike!” she suddenly shouted.

  He sat up and looked through the window, just in time to spot a pair of headlights coming up the highway. They belonged to the RV.

  “It’s them!”

  Piper, peering out the window of the RV, gave a start. Her heart leapt as she cried out. “There they are!”

  “I see them!” Zach exclaimed. He pressed down on the accelerator, urging the old vehicle forward.

  Piper spun around and, in her excitement, gave Elijah a hug. The family would be together again at last. Maybe now things would finally get back to normal. No more kidnappings. No more escapes. Soon they’d be back home in the family room, munching popcorn, and watching the latest DVD.

  The motor home pulled up beside the Jeep, and the doors to both vehicles flew open. Zach, Piper, and Elijah spilled out of the RV, while Mom and Dad raced out of the Jeep. Before they knew it, everyone was wrapped in one giant bear hug.

  “Okay, okay,” Zach gasped. “I can’t breathe, give me some air.”

  Piper was enduring her own brand of suffocating, but the love felt too good to complain.

  Finally they broke up, Mom wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. “Are you kids all okay?”

  “We’re fine,” Piper said, blinking back her own tears. “What about you guys?”

  “Couldn’t be better,” Mom laughed and threw her arms around them again for more hugs and suffocation.

  “Whew,” Dad waved his hand in front of his nose. “Son, what’s that smell?”

  Piper rolled her eyes. “Nuclear Burrito breath.”

  Elijah giggled as the family joked and hugged and teased. After all this time, they were together. How long they stood in the parking lot like that, nobody knows. But eventually, they split apart and headed back to the vehicles. Mom and the kids would ride in the Jeep, while Dad would follow behind in the RV.

  It was time to go home.

  Zach slid into the front seat beside Mom as she started up the Jeep and pulled onto the road. Elijah sat with Piper in the back. He snuggled against her and quickly fell asleep.

  “I’ve got a ton of questions,” Zach said.

  “Me too,” Piper added.

  “Me three,” Mom exclaimed.

  “Okay,” Zach said. “It was kinda weird when we came home from school and there’s the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the floor — ”

  “Along with all the clothes from the dryer,” Piper added, “and the dirty dishes piled up in the sink.”

  “Yeah,” Zach said, “it was like you guys got raptured or something.”

  Mom nodded. “Okay, let me tell you what happened. I was watching the news on television when — ” Her eyes caught something in the rearview mirror.

  “What’s wrong?” Zach asked.

  Piper turned and saw Dad flashing his high beams at them. “Mom?”

  “I see,” Mom said. She had also seen the bright blue lights of a police car flashing behind Dad.

  “Oh, no,” she groaned.

  “What?” Zach asked.

  “Your father is getting pulled over.”

  Chapter Four

  The Trap

  Back in the RV, Dad had spotted the police car and signaled Mom. He pulled onto the gravel shoulder and was relieved to see his wife doing the same up ahead.

  He watched in his mirror as the police officer approached, the blue light on top of his car still flashing. The officer’s flashlight beam poked around inside the RV until it finally arrived at Dad’s side. He tapped on the glass and motioned Dad to roll down his window.

  “May I see your license please?”

  “Certainly,” Dad said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it, produced his license and handed it to the officer.

  The man took it, shined his flashlight on the picture, and then on Dad.

  Squinting in the bright light, Dad asked, “Is there a problem, Officer?”

  Without answering the question, the man ordered gruffly, “Step out of the vehicle, sir.”

  Dad opened the door and obeyed. “Is this really necessary? I don’t think I was speeding. Maybe if you just told me — ”

  The officer cut him off. “Come around to the rear of the vehicle.”

  Again, Dad did as he was told.

  “Put your hands behind your back.”

  “Officer, what’s going on?”

  “Put your hands behind your back, and I’ll explain.”

  Dad shrugged and obeyed. That’s when he felt and heard the metallic click of handcuffs.

  “You’re under arrest.”

  “What?!”

  The officer said nothing but looked ahead to the Jeep where his partner was also ordering Mom and the children outside.

  Piper could tell her mother was confused and more than a little angry. “I don’t understand,” she was saying to the officer. “What do you mean, we’re under arrest?”

  “Please remain quiet. We’ll explain later. Put your hands behind your back.”

  “Mom,” Piper said, “what’s going — ”

  “Please, put your hands behind your back.”

  “Mom?”

  Reluctantly, Mom obeyed. Immediately her hands were cuffed.

  Elijah tugged on Piper’s shirt, and she glanced down to see his worried expression. “It’s going to be all right,” she said.

  But the look in his eyes said he knew better.

  Zach knew better too. “You’re no cop!” he said.

  “Put your hands behind your back and keep quiet.”

  “You cannot arrest my children! We have done nothing wrong!” Mom cried out in protest, straining against the handcuffs.

  “Real cops don’t act like this,” Zach insisted. “And real cops don’t drive Hummers.”

  Piper whirled back around to the police car and squinted. He was right. It wasn’t a police car! It was hard to see, with the RV lights between them, but in the darkness she could just make out the shape of a Humvee.

  “It’s a trick!” Piper yelled. “Mom, it’s a trap!”

  Before anyone could respond, Elijah suddenly took off running.

  “Hey!” The officer lunged for him, but the little guy was too quick. He dodged the man and ran toward Dad and the RV.

  In the confusion, Zach broke free and raced into the darkness of the woods.

  “You! Stop! Get back here!”

  Piper tried to follow but she only managed a step or two before the officer spun around and grabbed her from behind.

  “Let go of me!” she yelled.

  “You’re staying right — ”

  “Let go of me!

  He produced another pair of handcuffs and before she knew what was happening he was cuffing her, too. “You’re staying here!” he ordered. Then he spun around and took off after Elijah.

  “Run, Eli!” Piper shouted. “Run!”

  She could tell the RV’s lights blinded her little brother as he held up his hands, shielding his eyes from their brightness. Only then did she see the shadowy form standing in front of those lights.

  “Elijah, look out!”

  But she was too late. He ran straight into the folds of a large black cloak that quickly wrapped itself around his tiny body.

  Mom saw it too and gasped:

  “Shadow Man!”

  Elijah sat in the back of the speeding Hummer trying not to cry. Beside him was the dark, mysterious man of shadows. Up ahead, one so-called officer was driving the RV. The other was driving the Jeep.

  And far behind them, handcuffed and left alongside the road were Mom, Dad, and Piper.

  The man of shadows pressed the intercom button and spoke to the driver. “There isss a river on the other ssside of thisss tunnel,” he hissed. “Tell the driversss to leave the other cars wh
ere they are and join usss.”