heard anything about his mother. I wasn’t sure what to do.
Mrs. Morgan swept her eyes to her son, a sharp flame, before closing the door behind herself.
Victor let out a long breath, finding my hand and squeezing. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“About what?” I whispered. My mind had blanked out. I kept trying to recall the last few minutes and figure out at what possible time she could have walked into the office and listened to us talking.
Victor turned his eyes on me. “I didn’t mean to make you sound unimportant. I’d rather her not know about how close we are yet.”
How close? Exactly how close were we? “Why not?” The wrong question slipped out first and I was stuck with it.
“I have to share you with the guys,” he said. “I don’t want to share you with the world.”
NEW PLANS
––––––––
W e joined Silas in the entertainment room. He was in one of the leather armchairs, watching a baseball game on the screen. He sat up in expectation as we entered.
“Are we friends now?” he asked. “Can we play again?”
“Yes, you big oaf,” Victor said. He nudged me ahead of him, directing me to sit in one of the chairs next to Silas and then took the one on the other side of me. “Now turn the game off. We’ve got work to do.”
“What are we doing?” Silas asked. He fished the remote from his lap and clicked the television off.
“I don’t know yet,” Victor said. He sat back in the chair. “But we can’t go back until we’ve got a lead on who it is.”
Silas huffed. “Are we sure it isn’t Greg?”
Victor frowned. “I doubt it. He’s not that smart.”
“I think we should turn the phones back on again,” I said.
Silas arched a thick, dark eyebrow. “What?”
“Well,” I said, unsure of how to ask this. They’d rejected my other idea. It made me nervous to suggest something else. “Maybe we can’t lure him out by walking around school, but we might be able to get more of those messages. Then we can possibly learn more about what he wants and what’s going on if we just see what he sends. And if we can reply back somehow and provoke him, maybe it’ll reveal more about who he is if he responds. Or he’ll slip up or something.”
Victor and Silas stared at me, mouths hanging open. They turned to look at each other. Since they had to do it over my head, I started twisting my head back and forth to try to catch their speechless communication.
“She’s got a point,” Silas said. “We turned it off because of the GPS. Can we turn those off but leave the reception signal?”
“No. The phone company will shut it off if they can’t tell where the phone signals are coming from. I think it prevents phone fraud.” Victor smoothed his fingers through his hair. “But we could change course. I could make it look like she’s at her house. Or at school. That way if he has the ability to track it, she wouldn’t be there if he goes to find her.”
“How do we get him to respond back?” I asked.
“I could reply to that email.” Victor tapped his chair, twisting his lips as he thought. He stood up, starting to pace. “We need something to draw him out somewhere we can control.” He raked through his wavy hair, turned around and started to jog down the hallway.
I bounced up, following after him, excited to see him enthusiastic again. Did I do good?
Victor was in his office, collecting our phones and a laptop. He went to the closet door, opening it. It was dark inside so I couldn’t see much from where I was, but he only leaned in a moment, dragging out a satchel. He closed the door again, shut the doors to the balcony, and scanned the room before he dropped the phones and the laptop into the bag.
“What are we doing?”
“We’re going out,” he said. He fished into his pocket for keys.
VICTOR, TALENTED
––––––––
V ictor swung the BMW into the parking lot at a McDonald’s.
“Dinner time?” Silas asked. He sat in the back this
Mrs. Morgan swept her eyes to her son, a sharp flame, before closing the door behind herself.
Victor let out a long breath, finding my hand and squeezing. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“About what?” I whispered. My mind had blanked out. I kept trying to recall the last few minutes and figure out at what possible time she could have walked into the office and listened to us talking.
Victor turned his eyes on me. “I didn’t mean to make you sound unimportant. I’d rather her not know about how close we are yet.”
How close? Exactly how close were we? “Why not?” The wrong question slipped out first and I was stuck with it.
“I have to share you with the guys,” he said. “I don’t want to share you with the world.”
NEW PLANS
––––––––
W e joined Silas in the entertainment room. He was in one of the leather armchairs, watching a baseball game on the screen. He sat up in expectation as we entered.
“Are we friends now?” he asked. “Can we play again?”
“Yes, you big oaf,” Victor said. He nudged me ahead of him, directing me to sit in one of the chairs next to Silas and then took the one on the other side of me. “Now turn the game off. We’ve got work to do.”
“What are we doing?” Silas asked. He fished the remote from his lap and clicked the television off.
“I don’t know yet,” Victor said. He sat back in the chair. “But we can’t go back until we’ve got a lead on who it is.”
Silas huffed. “Are we sure it isn’t Greg?”
Victor frowned. “I doubt it. He’s not that smart.”
“I think we should turn the phones back on again,” I said.
Silas arched a thick, dark eyebrow. “What?”
“Well,” I said, unsure of how to ask this. They’d rejected my other idea. It made me nervous to suggest something else. “Maybe we can’t lure him out by walking around school, but we might be able to get more of those messages. Then we can possibly learn more about what he wants and what’s going on if we just see what he sends. And if we can reply back somehow and provoke him, maybe it’ll reveal more about who he is if he responds. Or he’ll slip up or something.”
Victor and Silas stared at me, mouths hanging open. They turned to look at each other. Since they had to do it over my head, I started twisting my head back and forth to try to catch their speechless communication.
“She’s got a point,” Silas said. “We turned it off because of the GPS. Can we turn those off but leave the reception signal?”
“No. The phone company will shut it off if they can’t tell where the phone signals are coming from. I think it prevents phone fraud.” Victor smoothed his fingers through his hair. “But we could change course. I could make it look like she’s at her house. Or at school. That way if he has the ability to track it, she wouldn’t be there if he goes to find her.”
“How do we get him to respond back?” I asked.
“I could reply to that email.” Victor tapped his chair, twisting his lips as he thought. He stood up, starting to pace. “We need something to draw him out somewhere we can control.” He raked through his wavy hair, turned around and started to jog down the hallway.
I bounced up, following after him, excited to see him enthusiastic again. Did I do good?
Victor was in his office, collecting our phones and a laptop. He went to the closet door, opening it. It was dark inside so I couldn’t see much from where I was, but he only leaned in a moment, dragging out a satchel. He closed the door again, shut the doors to the balcony, and scanned the room before he dropped the phones and the laptop into the bag.
“What are we doing?”
“We’re going out,” he said. He fished into his pocket for keys.
VICTOR, TALENTED
––––––––
V ictor swung the BMW into the parking lot at a McDonald’s.
“Dinner time?” Silas asked. He sat in the back this
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