She sank into Walt’s arms, overwhelmed. “How could he—”
“Shhh,” Walt said, giving her a hug. “I know it’s horrible, but we’ve got to keep moving, Teri. We don’t have time.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” She did her best to buck herself up. It was just that—
“You take that row, I’ll take this one.”
She nodded. There were four occupied beds on her side. The first two were empty and cast in a thick, neglected shadow. There was a small fluorescent lamp above the third bed. Its light fell over the soft face of a little girl who looked to be ten or eleven years old. Teri stopped and held the girl’s hand, amazed at how tiny and delicate her fingers were. How old was she really? And how long had she been here? And who were her parents? Had they searched for their daughter the way Teri had searched for Gabe? Of course, they had.
“Teri!” A sharp whisper of admonition from Walt.
“I’m sorry.”
She went down the row, one bed at time. Gabe was not one of the occupants, thank God. This was where he had been, though. She had no doubt of that. He had slept here in this cold room, maybe in one of these darkened beds, a tube going into his arm to feed him, another coming out to drain him. No love. No mother. No father.
Oh, Gabe, I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.
“He’s not here,” Walt said.
“What are we going to do?”
“Keep looking.”
“No, I mean about these children. We can’t just leave them here.”
“Teri, we can’t take them with us, either.”
She knew that, of course. Though it was something she did not readily want to admit to herself. She had already let Gabe down, how could she do the same to all these other children?
“We’ll make a report,” Walt said. “Tonight. As soon as we get back, all right?”
Teri nodded.
“All right?”
“Yes,” she said.
And then the door behind them opened.
[131]
Gabe sat up in bed, leaning on his cast. He thought he had heard something coming from the next room, something that had sounded like voices. Cody, who had been asleep for a good long while, stirred uneasily.
“Cody!”
“What?” he moaned, one eye opening reluctantly.
“Listen.”
[132]
“Excuse me, you folks lost?”
Teri Knight looked as if she might clutch her heart and fall over dead right there. Her mouth opened, her eyes widened, her coloring went instantly white. Walter Travis, on the other hand, hardly seemed surprised. He pulled the woman to his side, and shined his flashlight in Mitch’s face.
“Get rid of the light,” D.C. said.
Obediently, the man turned it off and dropped it to his side.
“No, I think I better take that,” Mitch said.
The man passed it handle-first, no resistance. Folks tended to be cooperative when they had guns pointed at them. D.C. had learned that years ago, and it was just as true today as it had been the very first time he had tried it. Mitch frisked both of them, finding a nice little Ruger P-85 strapped under Mr. Travis’s left arm. He took possession of it, along with both of their backpacks, and stepped back again.
“So, now that we’ve checked your luggage, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” D.C. asked.
“Where’s my son?”
“And you are?”
“You know who the hell I am.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Teri Knight. My name is Teri Knight.”
“Well, Teri Knight, if he’s not here, then it’s my guess you’re probably looking in the wrong place. Maybe the mall would be a more likely place. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I want my son,” she said firmly.
“We don’t always get what we want, Mrs. Knight. Though, I suppose it never hurts to ask.” This was as true for him as it was for her, of course. D.C. had not wanted to find himself in this position. It wasn’t going to make Webster happy, him with his blunt warnings. Nor was it going to make walking away from the Institute any easier. “Why don’t we take a little walk?”
He took them upstairs to a small office on the second floor, using the elevator this time. There was only one door. Plenty of windows. No way out unless they were tempted to try a swan dive into the rock walkway below. Not as secure an environment as D.C. would have liked, but secure enough to hold them until he could decide what to do next.
Things are getting exciting now!
[133]
“Did you hear it?” Gabe asked.
“Sounded like someone talking,” Cody said, still wiping the sleep from his eyes. He sat up in bed, looking a little younger and a little more fragile than he had when he had first been wheeled in by Miss Tilley.
“Exactly.”
“You think it’s Tilley?”
“Did it sound like her?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think it was my Mom,” Gabe said, hoping that just saying it out loud didn’t jinx the possibility it might be true. “Mom and Mr. Travis.”
“Who’s Mr. Travis?”
“He’s a friend of hers. A detective.” Gabe threw off his covers and climbed down from the hospital bed, the tail of his gown hooking on the side railing until he pulled it free. The floor felt cold against the bottom of his feet. He went after his slippers. “My Mom said he used to work for the police.”
“Really?”
“No lie.”
“Maybe he came looking for us?”
“Bet he did,” Gabe said. His slippers had somehow made their way underneath the bed, all the way to the other side. He found the right one first, underneath the box top to the Monopoly game Tilley had brought in when he had first arrived. He leaned against the edge of the bed, balancing on one foot, and managed to get the slipper over his toes and hooked across the back of his heel. Then he went about finding the other one.
“What are you going to do?”
“Maybe I can get their attention.” The left slipper was stuffed into the corner between the bed frame and the wall. Gabe dug it out, got it onto his foot, and went to the door. He pressed his ear against it.
“Hear anything?”
“Uh-uh,” he said, shaking his head. It was completely silent on the other side, not even the restless sound of the ocean, like you heard when you held a sea shell to your ear.
“Maybe they left already.”
That’s what he was afraid of… they had come downstairs to check on something and they hadn’t seen the door, or if they had, they hadn’t imagined anyone would be on the other side, and they had left without checking to make sure.
Gabe slammed the palm of his hand against the cool, smooth metal surface, and heard it echo on the other side. Someone had to have heard that. It sounded as if a cannon had gone off. Someone had to have heard it.
Another slam, harder this time.
“What are you doing?”
“Help!” The word resonated at the back of his throat. “Help! We’re in here!”
[134]
“It seems like every time I turn around, I’m asking this question again,” Teri said, sitting on the edge of a desk. The fear that had screamed its lungs out downstairs was quiet now, subdued by the knowledge that at least for the moment they were out of danger. It didn’t prevent the queasiness from churning in her stomach, though. That fear might not settle for several more days, assuming the two of them were afforded several more days.