Free The Secret: A Thriller by David Haywood Young Page B

find Robbie.”
    She nodded and I thought she was about to speak. But instead she leaned forward, put her face to the ground, and made a keening sound. A soft wail, a sound I heard as utter failure.
    I wanted to do the same thing. For her sake, for Robbie, for myself. But I had to stay alert, with my .45 in my hand.
    Okay, I’d been wrong. This was worse than what happened to Mom and Dad.
    And the day wasn’t over. I wasn’t looking forward to the next part.
     
    * * *
     
    R ebecca insisted on bringing us all inside to hear my story. I didn’t like the idea, but I wasn’t going to argue with her.
    After being outside all day…I couldn’t decide whether the basement was dank and oppressive or a sanctuary. Some of both, I guessed.
    We gathered in the larger room—why hadn’t we brought a table, and some sort of chairs?—and I decided to hold off talking about Robbie for a little while. Instead I told them what I’d learned. It took a while, and the girls seemed to lose interest early on. Natural for Abby at nine, maybe. But Rachel and Felicia? I figured they had their own reasons to distance themselves from the rest of us just now.
    When I was done, Tim leaned back cross-legged against the wall separating our rooms. “Ash, if I hadn’t seen what I’ve seen, I’d never believe a story like that.”
    I shrugged. “Yeah. Me either.” I glanced at Rebecca, who’d withdrawn from the conversation a while back. “I don’t buy the ‘terrorist’ angle, though. Too many targets, too widespread. It really sounds, I don’t know, more—”
    “Official,” Tim said. “Like somebody screwed the pooch on a national level. Trying a new drug on prisoners or the military again, maybe, and it got away from them.”
    I quirked an eyebrow at the “again” part, but let it go. Maybe he knew what he was talking about. Or not. But either way, I couldn’t do anything about it.
    Felicia spoke up. “Dad? Can Rachel and I take Abby into the next room? We could play cards or something. All this talk is, just, I don’t know…”
    “Sure, hon,” Tim told her gently. “Maybe you could get some—”
    “No,” I interrupted, a little louder than I’d meant to be. “I need to know what happened with Robbie first, Felicia. Do you want to tell me about it?”
    Tim’s face froze. “Hold on, Ash,” he said. “They’re just—”
    “No,” I repeated. I looked at both of his daughters. Felicia was bright red, and Rachel was staring at the floor, doing her best to behave as if nothing were going on.
    Rebecca seemed to wake from a daze. “Ash? What are you talking about?”
    I shrugged. I was more angry than I could remember being…but I didn’t think yelling would help. I needed truth. “On the face of it, Robbie went out on his own for reasons unknown,” I said. “Which is—well, it’s bullshit. You kids don’t do anything without talking about it. Plus he’s been whispering with Rachel ever since this started.”
    I could see Tim wanted to object. But he didn’t.
    Rebecca’s face darkened, then went white. “Rachel,” she asked quietly, “where did Robbie go?”
    “We don’t know!” Felicia shouted. “Don’t yell at us, we’re not the ones who didn’t—”
    Moving faster than I’d have believed she could, Rebecca grabbed Felicia by the shirt and slammed her into the wall. Felicia’s head hit the concrete with a thunk, and she staggered.
    “Damnit, Rebecca!” Tim shouted. “Leave my kid alone!”
    I walked to Rebecca and put my hands on her shoulders. Slowly, she turned her head to meet my eyes.
    “Rachel,” I said, and looked for the least accusing way to put it. “Robbie left to look for your mom. Didn’t he?”
    Tim, holding Felicia’s shoulders and looking anxiously into her eyes, froze. “Oh my God,” he said. “Rachel? Did you…”
    Rachel snarled. “She’s my mom! Somebody had to care!”
    Rebecca lunged toward her, but I jumped between them. “Rebecca! Calm down!” I yelled.