I Spy

Chapter 9

I snapped pictures of the documents I needed, now less worried about the mission given to me by the director, and much more worried about my own mission: finding out what all this had to do with my parents. I put everything back the way I'd found it, and after looking under the door to check that the coast was clear, I slipped into the hallway. But immediately, I heard footsteps, that were unmistakably a mans. I didn't give myself the time to find out whether it was the Senator or Thomas, or someone else. I ran, moving without making a sound, and slid into the room where Thomas and I had been caught and yelled at by the Senator a few days before. At least that would give me some reasoning. All I would have to say was that I wanted to see what I hadn't had the chance to look at before.

Thomas' voice rang out, "Thea? Thea are you up here?" I heard him yawn, and I stuck my head out of the door, and I smiled at him. "'Bout time you woke up, Sleepy-head! You fell asleep, and I didn't want to wake you up, so I decided to walk around." He beamed at me, and the lie stuck in my throat. It was getting harder and harder to lie to him. Oh well, I thought to myself, sighing quietly, I had a job to do, even if it wasn't quite the job it had originally been. "I understand," he whispered, slipping his arm around my waist. "This room is awesome, isn't it?" I nodded. He smiled again.

"Come on, let's go back downstairs before my dad comes home and starts screaming again," he said, kindly, and we walked together back down toward his room. Thank god, he didn't suspect a thing. I left shortly after, telling Thomas that I had plans, which was partially true. I needed to go to the Kingsley's.

Knock, knock, knock. I banged on the door, not bothering to mess with the coded doorbell system. They would know who it was, regardless. It wasn't as if they were known to have many visitors. But minutes passed, and no one came to answer the door. Eventually, I broke down, and rang the bell, timing the rings to the code.  I waited, and waited, but still no one came home. This was unusual. The Kingsley's were always home at dinner time. They didn't believe in eating out, and they hated being in public anyway, due to their lack of trust in the general public.

After I had been standing on their porch for nearly ten minutes with no answer, I conceded to my last resort. I climbed back down the steps, and to the gap between their steps and the neighbors'. There was a large black rock laying in the corner, flat, and unnoticeable if you didn't know it was there. I kicked it to the side, and lifted the plastic baggie out of the hole beneath it. I flew back up the stairs, pulling the key out as I went,  unlocked the door and ran inside. "Uncle Kevin?" I called, feeling extremely nervous. Something was wrong, I could just feel it. "Aunt Ginny?" I strolled through the house. Nothing seemed particularly out of place, but I kept looking, knowing that if something had happened, there would be something to indicate it. 

I walked up the inside stairs, and began to look around the second story of the apartment. I checked my aunt and uncle's room, the guest room, and the bathrooms, before finally walked toward my own. There it was, the one thing that was out of place, that someone who didn't live here would have missed. Or that someone who did would leave as a sign that something was wrong. Though my door was always shut tight, both by me and by the Kingsley's, it was standing slightly ajar. I reached for the knife that was tucked into my boot, and pulled it out, scared of what I might find when I entered. 

I kicked the door completely open with an expert kick, but the room looked completely ordinary. Well, except for the little sheet of paper on the floor. Perfect. I slid over to it, grabbing it and plopping down on the perfectly made bed. It was short, in Aunt Ginny's handwriting. Simple and straight to the point, but as soon as I read it, I knew it was the opposite of what I would decide to do.

DO NOT COME LOOKING FOR US. IN DANGER. WE LOVE YOU.

In danger? That didn't sit well with me. I knew there had to be more to the story, and I wasn't going to rest until I found out what it was. I wanted my family back, and I didn't believe for a moment that they would just up and leave without telling me, unless they truly believed that they were in danger, but why would the not say more than that? They knew better than to believe that I wouldn't come looking for them--- That was it. Of course they knew better! This was their plan, it had to be. Knowing that I would come looking for them, even though they said not to. And it wouldn't alert anyone else to what was going on. It was the perfect plan.

I searched the apartment up and down for another clue to where they were, knowing that if that had been there plan, they would have left me something. It took ages, but I finally found it, though I wasn't looking for it when I was. I had gotten hungry, and decided to get something to eat from the kitchen, where I'd found a basket of banana nut muffins in the fridge. I knew it would be there as soon as I saw it, and I dug through the muffins until I found a small slip of paper with a quickly jotted message in Uncle  Kevin's handwriting.

Favorite childhood memories are wonderful things, indeed.

Favorite childhood memories? I gulped down some orange juice that was sitting in the fridge, and tried to think what would be considered my favorite childhood memory. Our "family" trip to Disney?  No. Baking muffins with Aunt Ginny? It couldn't be. Playing in Central Park? My eyebrows flew up. Of course! I grabbed a jacket from the closet, locked the door behind me, and ran toward the nearest entrance to the park.