Chapter16
1613 Words
“It has now been four months since the disappearance of Allison Saunders, Kirsten Balmer, Tom Woods, and Annette Simon, residents of Glee County. We also have new information that another missing person has been added to the list. Officer Anna Simon of the Glee County Sheriff’s Department has also been reported missing, and she has been missing for two months. Glee County and Charton County officials are working together on this case. Anna Simon was a former police officer for the Charton City Police. Officials say these disappearances may all be related, and a motive has not been released. We will keep you up to date as this story goes on. Monica Sawyer, Channel Ten news.”
Paul shut off the TV. He missed Anna dearly. He took a sip of the liquor bottle he was holding and sighed. He began drinking more and more since the day Anna never came home, and he blamed Xander.
He knew it, even if no one else would believe him. The sheriff told him that she was doing everything in her power to find her. Anna was one of the best. His best friend. Paul took the last swig of the liquor that was left in the bottle and passed out onto the couch.
******
“Okay. See you then,” said Xander and hung up the phone.
His father called and said he would like him to fly to Guatemala to see the project he had been working on. Xander had a feeling his father was up to no good and wanted to see what he had been working on.
Xander agreed to go, and his father had booked him a flight that left in a few hours.
“You are all packed,” said Helen, walking into the room, and Xander smiled at her.
“Thank you, I still don’t know why you won’t come with me. Get out of the country for a few days,” he said as he took her into his arms, and she gave him a knowing smile.
Helen was a doctor, and he knew she wouldn’t leave her patients, even if it were only for a few days.
“Xander, a couple of days will make us miss each other,” she said and hugged his waist.
He smiled at her and kissed her cheek.
“Okay, well, feel free to stay in the manor, so you don’t have to drive back and forth from the city.”
“I may just take you up on that offer,” she laughed.
“Mr. Maverick, you are ready to take off,” said a man, walking into the room.
Xander smiled at Helen, and she patted his chest.
“See you in a few days,” she smiled.
He kissed her and then left the manor. Xander thought about Anna as he headed toward the plane and was surprised she hadn’t stopped by. She had called him a few days ago, and seemed a little off, almost as if she was drunk or drugged.
Maybe she was celebrating her graduation because she said something about her completing training, coming home, and she couldn’t wait to see him. Then, she got distant and said that if anything happened to her, she loved him.
After that, the line went dead. He tried to trace her call, but wherever she called from had a block up against tracing calls. He thought that was odd, but dismissed it.
After all, she was on a military base. If she hadn’t come by, by the time he got back, he was going to find her himself. He missed his best friend a lot. Also, maybe she could help him with finding out what his father was really up to.
He sighed and shook the thoughts from his head. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Xander decided he would deal with Anna when he got back.
******
The ride across the country wasn’t too bad, Xander’s plane landed on a dusty old landing strip, and a car waiting for him. The ride to the facility was twenty-five minutes away, and when the car stopped in front of a building, he got out of the car. Two guards stood in front of a steel door, and he looked at the building.
It looked more like a prison than a facility. It was fenced in with razor wire at the top, and guards sporadically stood around the building. He walked into the building and found his father standing in the middle of the long hallway.
There was a desk off to the side of the entryway where a nurse was sitting, and two nurses were standing with his father.
“Glad you could make it, son,” said Leonard, smiling, and Xander nodded.
His father waved him over, and he walked toward him.
“Come, come see the lab.”
The hallway was lined with glass doors that were cells, and they were empty. The cells and building were made out of hard clay and two bunks sat on each side and the window on the back wall had bars through them.
Xander followed his father down the hallway when he came up to the last two cells he noticed they weren’t empty, and saw Allison and Kirsten leaning on each other, and they looked sick and weak.
Allison looked up, raised her eyebrows, ran to the window, and banged on it, but he couldn’t hear her.
“Mr. Maverick!”
Xander’s eyes widened, and he looked at his father in shock.
“Soundproof glass, son,” he said with a smirk.
“Dad, these…”
“Are volunteers to be tested on.”
Xander stared at his father, and his eyebrows shot down in anger.
“Dad, these are not volunteers! These are the missing kids from Glee,” he exclaimed and looked in the next cell.
His heart sank and knew his father was going to pay for this. It was Anna’s mother, and he gasped as he turned back to his father.
“Anna’s mother?”
His father looked at him and smiled.
“They are not important people, son. They are just a mere speck in a small town. No one even knows who they are.”
Xander couldn’t believe his ears. His father was crazy.
His father put a hand on his back and led him towards what Xander thought was the lab door.
“Now, son, you can not tell me you actually care about these people.”
Before Xander could answer, he was pushed into the room with Anna’s mother, and the door slammed behind him. He turned and ran at the glass and banged on it with his fist.
“Dad!” he yelled.
His father made a gesture that he couldn’t hear by cupping his hand to his ear, and Xander glared at him.
“He can’t hear you, Xander,” Annette said, softly.
He turned toward her and frowned. She had dark circles under her eyes and her once pretty, healthy, shiny hair was matted and dull.
She had needle marks up and down her pale, clammy arms, and her clothes were dirty, torn, and had blood on them. She was shaking, and it wasn’t cold in the room.
He wondered if they fed them at all. He walked over to Annette and sat beside her on the bunk, and she patted his knee.
“Don’t you worry, my dear child Anna will come for us. She is a very special girl,” she said in a shaky but peaceful voice.
His heart broke even more. He wanted to tell her Anna was missing too, but he couldn’t bear to hurt her any more than she already was. He knew that it had to be up to him to get them out of there, and he vowed to do it.
Xander checked his pocket and found his father hadn’t taken his cell phone and pulled it out. There were no service bars, but he decided to send Anna a text anyway. Maybe if he moved around, the phone would catch a signal.
‘Help us! My father has us all trapped, your mother is here. Please, hurry.’
He hit send and put his phone back in his pocket. He didn’t want any of them to see him with his phone. It might be their only way out of there.
“Mr. Maverick? Xander?”
He heard the girl’s voices, looked up, and saw a vent in between the two rooms.
“Allison, Kirsten, are you alright?” he asked.
He thought so himself, that it was a stupid question.
“No. Not really, your father has been experimenting on us.”
“I couldn’t hear you before, the glass is soundproof,” he said.
“My father has lost his mind.”
He heard a scoff, and Annette snickered.
“You are just now figuring that out?” asked Allison, and Xander smirked.
“Have you talked to Officer Simone?” asked Kirsten.
Xander sighed. He wasn’t going to tell them that she was missing, but he was going to tell them that he had talked to her.
“Yes, a few weeks ago, she was on her way home from training,” he lied.
“I sent her a text just a few moments ago. I don’t know how much good it will do, because there is no service, but maybe it will go through, somehow.”
“We will figure something out,” said Annette.
She looked so weak and vulnerable. Xander sighed. He hoped that she was going to be okay.
- Writer
