On the Run Read online

  Piper agreed. “And we’re the only ones who can help them.”

  “So what are you going to do?” Cody asked.

  “The only thing we can do,” Piper answered. “Look for them.”

  “Way up in the mountains?” Willard asked.

  Zach nodded. “If that’s what it takes.”

  “There is a high probability that you may be walking into a trap,” Willard warned.

  “I know,” Zach said. “But like Piper says, what else we can do? We’ll just have to be careful.”

  “Yeah,” Piper nodded in thoughtful agreement.

  “Very careful.”

  Monica watched as the tow truck hooked up their van and prepared to take it to a garage for repairs. Her left eye was twitching, her right foot was tapping, and she kept swallowing. Translation: She was on the garage’s phone with Shadow Man.

  “You ssshall come to the compound immediately,” Shadow Man hissed. “Follow the route you think they will take. They are coming here, sssearching for their parentsss. If you misss them on the road, we ssshall grab them here.”

  “Yes, sir,” Monica replied. “There’s just one thing.”

  “Yesss . . .”

  “There’s this man. Twice when we came close to nabbing those brats, he appeared from nowhere and blocked us.”

  There was no answer, only a loud, raspy gasp.

  “Sir?”

  Still no answer.

  “Sir, are you there?”

  When the voice returned, it was a harsh whisper.

  “And ssso it has come to thisss.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The enemy . . . He is sssending reinforcementsss.”

  Monica gulped. “Enemy, sir?”

  “SSSILENCE!” he shouted. Then more calmly, he continued. “You will sssearch for them as you make your way here. And, thisss time, you will make no more missstakesss.”

  “Y-yes sir. No mistakes.”

  “We have no room for failure. Sssoon the boy will be oursss to control or kill as we sssee fit.”

  Monica gulped harder.

  “Sssoon. Very, very ssssssoon.”

  Chapter One The Chase Continues

  The tires of the old RV squealed around the turn.

  Piper flew across the motor home, slamming hard into the door. “Zach, slow down!”

  Of course, her big brother didn’t listen. What else was new? But this time he had an excuse. Driving the RV up the winding mountain road was tricky. Especially when people were chasing them.

  Especially when those people wanted to kidnap their little brother.

  Especially when they had guns.

  He took another corner, throwing Piper in the opposite direction. “Zach!”

  He grinned, pushing aside his handsome black hair — handsome if you like haircuts that look like they were trimmed by a lawn mower.

  Throwing a look out the back window, Piper saw the green van, driven by their pursuers, closing in.

  She glanced at six-year-old Elijah. He was sound asleep. Although she loved him dearly, the kid was definitely odd. He seldom, if ever talked, but he always seemed to know things no one else did.

  Then there were the miracles — healing a girl in the hospital, raising a puppy from the dead. Of course the family tried to keep the stuff secret, but people always found out.

  Which was probably why the bad guys were after them.

  Which was probably why their parents had been kidnapped and hidden somewhere in these mountains. Someone very evil was using them as bait. And Piper and Zach were the only ones who could save them.

  “What if it’s a trap?” Piper had asked as they started out on the journey toward The Operation’s headquarters. “What if Mom and Dad didn’t send that message wanting us to rescue them?”

  “Then it’s a trap,” Zach shrugged. “What other choice do we have?”

  Of course he was right. It was just hard to remember little details like that when you were being thrown around a motor home like a human Ping-Pong ball.

  They took another corner, faster and sharper than all the others.

  “ZACH!”

  The driver of the green van was a skinny guy by the name of Silas. He was shouting to his red-haired passenger, Monica. “Are you sure they’re going to break down?”

  “That’s what Shadow Man said.”

  “Right, but — ”

  “Has he ever been wrong before?” she asked.

  “No, but — ”

  “Then shut up and keep driving!” (Monica was not exactly the polite type.)

  A third voice called from the back. “Shadow Man — he’s like my hero.”

  Silas and Monica rolled their eyes. They always rolled their eyes when Bruno spoke. He was a huge man with a tiny brain.

  “Wanna know why?” he asked.

  “Why?” Silas said.

  “’Cause he brought me and Monica together.”

  Monica stole a look over her shoulder. As always, the man was all misty-eyed and ga-ga over her.

  As always, she felt her stomach churn.

  And, as always, she answered in her most pleasant screech. “Put a sock in it!”

  “Yes, my sweets.” He sighed dreamily. “Whatever you say.”

  The RV gave a loud clunk.

  “Oh no!” Piper cried “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know.” Zach pressed on the gas pedal, but it did no good. CLUNK! CLUNK! They were definitely slowing.

  “There’s a gas station.” Piper pointed to the right. “Pull in there.”

  “And just wait for those creeps to grab Eli?” Zach argued.

  CLUNK! CLUNK! CLUNK!

  Piper glanced at her little brother, who was now wide awake and looking out the side window. Not only looking, but grinning and waving.

  Piper followed his gaze to the road. No one was there.

  CLUNK! CLUNK! CLUNK! CLUNK! The engine finally stopped.

  Zach shifted the RV into neutral and coasted the rest of the way into the station.

  “LOOK OUT!” Monica screamed.

  Silas looked up just in time to see an old hitchhiker standing in the middle of the road. He hit the brakes. They skidded out of control and swerved, barely missing the old-timer.

  “WATCH IT!”

  Now they slid toward the guardrail and a 200-foot drop-off.

  Silas cranked the wheel hard, and the tires smoked . . . until the van hit the rail and bounced back onto the road.

  “WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!” Monica demanded.

  “I’m trying to keep us alive!”

  “You almost got us killed!”

  “I’m not the one standing in the middle of the road!”

  “The old coot!” Monica looked back over her shoulder. “He could have gotten us all — ” She stopped. “Wait a minute, where did he go?”

  Silas glanced into the mirror. Try as he might, he could not see the old man.

  “Did we, uh, squash him?” Bruno asked.

  “I don’t think so.” Silas started to slow down.

  “What are you doing now?” Monica said.

  “We better go back and check.”

  “We’re not checking anything!”

  “But — ”

  “If he wants to get hit, that’s his business. We got some brats to catch!” Monica turned back to watch the RV in front of them. There was only one problem.

  “Where is it?” she asked.

  Silas searched the road before them and saw the same thing.

  Nothing.

  The motor home they’d been chasing all this time was nowhere to be seen. “Where’d it go?” Bruno asked.

  “I don’t know.” Silas frowned. “They were right in front of us a second ago.”

  “Well, step on it!” Monica shouted. “Don’t let them get away!”

  “Did you see that?” Zach asked. He watched as the green van continued up the highway, passing them and the gas station.

  “They didn’t even see us!” Piper said. �
�They were too busy swerving and skidding.”

  Zach searched the road. “I wonder why.”

  “Maybe they were trying to miss a deer or something.”

  Zach shook his head. “No, there was nothing there.” He glanced into the mirror to see Elijah sitting in his seat, smiling back at him.

  Piper spotted him too. “Looks like the little guy knows something we don’t.”

  Zach nodded and let out a weary sigh. “So what else is new?”

  Mom and Dad sat chained to opposite walls in the cold, dark room.

  “How are you holding up?” Dad asked. His voice was hoarse and cracked from lack of water.

  “I just can’t stop thinking about the kids,” Mom said.

  He heard the worry in her voice and nodded. “We just have to . . .” He swallowed back the emotion in his voice and tried again. “We just have to be strong.”

  Outside, there was the rattling of keys. The door creaked open, and a guard just slightly smaller than a semitruck entered the room. “Time to see the boss,” he grunted as he stooped to unlock their chains.

  “Please . . .” Mom’s voice quivered. “Not again.

  There’s nothing we can tell him.”

  “It’ll be all right,” Dad said. But inside he didn’t believe it for a second.

  “I just can’t face him.” Mom began to cry. “The way he burrows into my thoughts with those awful eyes.”

  “Stop your whining.” The guard hoisted each of them to their feet. “It’ll be over soon enough.” He pushed them into the dimly lit hall. “If you’re lucky.”

  Chapter Two The Plan

  “I just feel like we deserted them,” Cody said as they entered the cluttered garage.

  “Them?” Willard, his pudgy friend with curly hair said. “Or her?”

  “Her, who?” Cody asked.

  “Her, Piper,” Willard answered.

  “What are you talking about?” They walked around another one of Willard’s failed inventions:

  The Nuclear Powered Dental Flosser — a giant, two-story machine designed to automatically floss your teeth while you slept. Not a bad idea, except instead of cleaning your teeth, it sort of yanked them out.

  “I see the way she looks at you,” Willard teased. “Course, it’s no big deal ’cause all the girls do that.”

  “Yeah, right,” Cody scoffed.

  Willard had to smile. Cody was clueless over his good looks and the effect he had on girls, which is probably why the two of them were still best friends.

  “There’s only one difference,” Willard said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I also see the way you look at her.”

  Cody glanced down, embarrassed. “It’s just that she . . .” He caught himself and tried again. “It’s just that we’re back here, and they are all alone in that motor home up in the mountains.”

  “Not exactly.” They stopped in front of another gigantic pile of junk. Willard reached in and dug out a laptop computer along with a pair of night-vision goggles.

  “Cool,” Cody said. “You get those goggles from the Army?”

  Willard shook his head. “It’s another one of my inventions.”

  “Uh-oh . . .”

  “No, listen, these are way cool. Check ’em out.”

  Willard pulled a cable from the pile and began attaching it. “These will let us watch Piper and her brothers wherever they are.”

  “I hope they work better than your helio-hopper.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “’Cause that almost killed us . . . twice.”

  “No,” Willard insisted. “These are perfectly safe.

  You just plug them in, like so . . .” He finished attaching the cable to the computer and then the goggles.

  “Willard, I don’t think — ”

  “Then you put them on, like so . . .” He fitted the goggles over his thick glasses. “Then you enter their email address, like so . . .” He typed Zach and Piper’s email address into the computer.

  “Willard, are you sure — ”

  “And then finally you turn them on, like so.” He flipped a switch on the side of the goggles and waited.

  Fortunately, nothing happened.

  Cody gave a sigh of relief.

  Unfortunately, Willard wasn’t done. “Maybe there’s a short.” He looked to the keyboard. “Maybe . . . Wait a minute! Of course! I forgot to hit Enter.”

  “Willard, I really don’t — ”

  He pressed the key, and the goggles lit up like a Christmas tree. Only it wasn’t just the goggles. It was also . . .

  “Willard!” Cody shouted.

  That’s right, the boy’s face now glowed like a nightlight. And his body shook like a bowl of Jell-O on a jack hammer.

  “T-t-t-turn i-t-t-t off fff . . .” he cried.

  “How?” Cody yelled. “Where?!”

  “D-d-d-de-leeet-e!” Willard shouted. “Hit-t-t-t d-d-delete!”

  Cody reached over to the computer and hit the Delete key. Instantly the goggles went off and everything was back to normal.

  Well, almost everything . . .

  It seemed Willard’s hair was still smoldering. Actually it wasn’t so much hair anymore. Now it was more like smoking peach fuzz.

  “Are you okay?!” Cody asked.

  Willard pulled off his goggles and sighed. “I hate it when that happens.”

  “Boy, you did a number to this baby.” The old mechanic slammed shut the engine compartment to the RV.

  Zach and Piper traded nervous looks.

  “How much is it going to cost?” Zach asked.

  “Well first you got your alternator. That’s a hundred and sixty bucks. Then you got your battery. That’s gonna be — ”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Zach held up his hand. “We don’t even have the one sixty.”

  “Then I’d say you got yourself a problem.” The mechanic wiped his hands on an oily rag and limped away. Zach and Piper ran to catch up.

  “There must be something you can do,” Piper said.

  “I can let you use my phone to call your folks.”

  “I wish it was that easy,” she mumbled.

  The old man blew his nose into the oily rag, then checked it for results. “If I ain’t fixin’ it, you ain’t leavin’ it here,” he said.

  “Right.” Zach looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

  “Can we get back to you?” Piper asked.

  The old-timer shrugged. “If you ain’t got the money, you ain’t got the money. ’Less, you’re expectin’ some sorta miracle.”

  The word touched off an idea in Zach’s mind, and he turned to Elijah. As usual, his little brother was clueless — unless you call playing with a caterpillar on a nearby tree having a clue. Still . . .

  Zach glanced over to the roadside diner next door. “Can we grab a bite to eat before we give you an answer?”

  “Suit yourself. Just don’t take too long.” The mechanic blew his nose again and checked for results. This time he was more pleased.

  Mom and Dad entered the dark office. In the shadows, a huge man sat behind his desk. They’d seen him before — felt his chilling power.

  “Welcome,” he hissed.

  Mom shifted, trying to get a better look. But no matter how she moved, his face seemed to stay in shadow, even when light hit it.

  “What do you want from us?” Dad demanded. His voice sounded strong, but Mom could tell he was terrified. Who wouldn’t be?

  “SSSILENCCCE!” the man shouted. “I am the one who assksss the quessstionsss.” The room grew very, very still. Ever so slowly, he rose from his desk. “Where isss he?”

  “You’ll get nothing from us.” Dad said.