The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (31 page)

“
You did? From
who?”

“
Your Doctor. Doctor
Huitre told me.”

“
He did?” Cassie asked
unbelieving.

“
Oh yes. He told me that
you were pretty special. And that what you can do is
amazing.”

Cassie paused, eyeing Trace
suspiciously. “What did he say I could do?”

Dr. Trace continued conspiratorially,
“Well, he told me that it was best for me to see it for myself.
That’s how I would be the most impressed. Would you show
me?”

Cassie pursed her lips together
thinking it over.

“
I promise I won’t tell
anyone. It will be our special secret.” Dr. Trace pantomimed
locking her mouth and throwing away the key.

“
Promise?”

Dr. Trace nodded her head up and down
solemnly. Her eyes were wide and she was on the edge of her
seat.

Cassie stood, sliding the chair back.
“I’ll need a sheet of paper, some markers, and a big bag of
pretzels please.” Cassie put her hand out.

“
Why?” Samantha Trace
sputtered. “What for?”

“
Dr. Huitre told me when I
visited him that he didn’t know what was more amazing: my coloring,
or how fast I finished the entire bag of pretzels. I told him
‘both’!” Cassie had a big smile on her face.

§

“
Misssss JORDAAAAAAAN”
Grater bellowed. The alarm had been turned off so his voice was the
only sound echoing throughout the circular building. “What the hell
is going on here? How is it that a little girl is able to evade the
four of us?”

“
I thought I heard her
making noise a couple of times.” Barrios responded.

“
But every time we go
towards the sound, there’s nothing there.” Added one of the two
other guards that were on duty that night.

“
I took you two out of the
video monitoring room to help me and Barrios here. But you guys are
completely useless!” Grater spat.

The fourth guard added meekly, “Sir,
it’s like she knows where we are. Like she’s got radar or
something.”

Grater moved in towards the fourth
guard, pushing his face close to his subordinate’s, “Radar?
Ray-DAR?” Grater sounded out the word. “Are you out of your
freakin’ mind? Where is this radar? Oh, let me guess. Is it in her
head? Maybe it’s some kind of super power? I know, she’s got mental
radar that lets her see where we are and avoid us!” The fourth
guard was cowering.

“
Sir?” Barrios
interrupted, hoping to get Grater off of his current
tack.

“
What!” Grater barked
still staring down the fourth guard.

“
She must be using the
stairwells to pop between the floors. She’s leading us around by
the nose.”

“
Do you have a suggestion
on how to catch her, Mr. Barrios?”

“
There are three
stairwells. If we each cover one, and the remaining one of us
starts at the very top, we can all slowly work our way down the
ramp and flush her out.”

Grater pulled back from the guard he
was menacing, and thought for a second. “Not bad, Barrios. But
she’ll just head down the ramp all the way to the first floor, and
walk right out the building.” Grater’s eyebrows were raised
mockingly.

“
Not if we build a
barricade here from the benches. Right here where the skybridge
connects is the thinnest point. We can gather all the benches and
stack them so she’s trapped.”

It took Grater a moment, but he broke
into a grin. “Well at least one of you is thinkin’. What are you
waiting for? Go grab the benches, let’s seal her in nice and
tight!”

§

“
Did you forget
something?” Penny looked up as she heard Zach
approaching.

“
I finished.”

“
Finished
what?”

“
I finished scanning all
the other file cabinets.”

“
You searched this entire
maze and I’m only done with half a row?” Penny said in
disbelief.

“
It helps to have the
image in my head of what we’re looking for.”

Penny suddenly realized the
implication of Zach completing the task. “Wait a minute, did you
find it? Because none of these have been a match.”

“
No. None of the symbols
matched.”

“
Oh no. What do we do
now?”

“
There’s one place we
haven’t looked.” Zach suggested unenthusiastically.

§

“
Cassie, you’re a very
intelligent young lady. So I know that you know what kind of
behavior is expected of someone such as yourself.”

Cassie watched intently as Dr. Trace
spoke, not sure exactly where the conversation was now
heading.

Dr. Trace continued, “Do you know why
Dr. Huitre – your Doctor – brought you here?”

Cassie shook her head.

“
He, and I, and your
parents want to make sure you’re healthy. Answering my questions
honestly is a very important part of making sure you’re healthy. I
know your parents would be very disappointed if they knew you
weren’t telling me the truth.”

Cassie blanched at the thought of her
parents thinking badly of her.

Dr. Trace saw Cassie’s face change and
sensed a potential opening. “And not just your parents my dear.
What about your siblings, your big sister? Don’t you think she’d be
very disappointed in you if you weren’t being completely honest
with me? Don’t you want to be grown up just like her? Big girls
always tell the truth.”

Cassie sat frozen and silent in her
chair under Trace’s withering gaze. If Samantha Trace had had the
ability to see through the table at which she and Cassie sat, she
would have seen Cassie’s thumb slowly tracing circular patterns on
an antique silver compact mirror held tightly between her little
hands.

§

Binny had felt pretty good about
finding the stairwells at the last minute. By listening for
footsteps combined with the mental map of the guards’ thoughts, she
had been able to avoid the security guards for the last few
minutes. She even grabbed some small rocks from a planter, and
threw them in opposite directions to send the guards the wrong way.
But Binny’s confidence was short-lived. She’d used most of the
rocks at this point and her luck seemed about to run out. On top of
that, she didn’t really like looking in the guards’ minds, because
what she saw there scared her.

As best she could tell from her
vantage point on the floor above, the guards had erected a
barricade right where the skybridge joined the ramp. They’d stacked
benches and chairs until the makeshift wall was taller than she
was. She hadn’t figured out what good it would do until she saw
them all heading for different stairwells with Grater himself
heading up the ramp. They were going to try and force her towards
the wall. Binny felt like a small animal being hunted by a pack of
wolves.

Grater was swiftly heading up the ramp
at this very moment. She needed a place to hide. The stairwells had
served that purpose but now they were occupied with guards. Binny
frantically searched for somewhere, anywhere, to hide.

Across the ramp, on one of the flat
parts, Binny saw a table draped in black cloth. She wasn’t even
sure what was under the black cloth. For all she knew there could
be stuff under the tablecloth blocking her entrance. Not to
mention, by scurrying across the floor to get under that table,
she’d be making herself visible to the approaching guard. She heard
Grater’s footsteps coming up the curving ramp. It was now or
never.

Binny felt around in her pocket,
silently hoping that she hadn’t used all the rocks. Two small ones
remained. She’d need to make the shot count. While staying as
concealed as possible behind the low railing wall, Binny lobbed the
two rocks clear across the chasm, aiming for a spot a ways behind
where Grater was on the move.

She didn’t need to read Grater’s mind
to know that he’d heard the rocks land behind him. His footsteps
suddenly stopped and then switched directions, moving back toward
the source of the sound. This was Binny’s chance.

She skittered across the floor
straight for the table. But when she looked under the tablecloth,
it was smaller than she had anticipated. Worst of all, it was
really more of a cart than a table. It had wheels! If Binny didn’t
keep perfectly still she might send the cart rolling down the ramp
right into Grater’s arms. Left with no choice, Binny carefully
stuffed herself on the lower shelf, gently pulling the tablecloth
back into what she hoped was its original position. She could
already hear Grater resuming his trot up the ramp.

As he ran past Binny’s hiding place,
Grater’s thoughts were displayed vividly in her mind. Everything
was a very dark shade of purple, verging on black, and the dim
image in the center was of Binny’s own scared face as viewed from
the height of an adult – an extremely angry adult. To one side of
the image, a big meaty fist held onto Binny’s thin fragile wrist.
The Binny in Grater’s mind looked like she was in pain. Binny
thought small thoughts and tried her best not to
breathe.

§

“
We probably should have
looked here first. Binny was sure this is where the records would
be.” Zach was looking at the locked door to the secure records area
off to the side of the overall records room. The keypad above the
door handle slowly flashed red.

“
Alright Mr. Memory. Do
your magic trick.” Penny egged Zach on.

“
OK. OK.” Zach
concentrated for a brief moment recalling what he’d seen the
employee punch in earlier that day. His memory served up a pattern
the employee’s finger had followed. Zach knew he could replicate
that pattern exactly.

Zach’s fingers played back the pattern
on the keypad in front of him. The light paused briefly and then
continued flashing red. Zach tried again. Still red. One more time.
Red.

“
What’s wrong?” Penny
asked, concerned.

“
I… I don’t know. This is
what the guy typed in this morning. I’m sure of it.” Zach looked
dejected.

“
Try again?” Penny tried
to be helpful.

“
I did it three times.”
The red light flashed mockingly.

“
Could you have remembered
it wrong?”

“
I don’t remember things
wrong.”

“
Maybe they changed the
code?” Penny suggested. “I read that in a spy story once where they
changed the code once a day.”

For a moment Zach was relieved at her
suggestion. “Yeah. That must be it.” His powers of recall having
failed them, he was searching for an explanation.

“
Can I give it a
try?”

Zach laughed despite himself. “What
are you gonna – ”

Penny reached her hand up, placing it
carefully over the keypad and part of the door handle. She closed
her eyes, and then gave the hardware a gentle squeeze. Zach’s eyes
got large as the keypad, the handle, and the locking mechanism all
fell to pieces, spilling out over Penny’s outstretched hand and
onto the floor in front of them.

Penny opened her eyes, saw the
expression on Zach’s face and gave him a wide smile.

§

Binny didn’t have to use her powers to
know what was happening. Grater’s voice was bouncing off the walls
as he yelled at the other guards. “Did you lock the doors to the
stairs as you went up?”

Binny heard a muffled “Yes sir”
emanate from the group.

“
Her luck has run out. She
is somewhere between us and that barricade. We will start here at
the top and work our way down the ramp. You are to leave no stone
unturned. I want you to poke your head into every nook and cranny.
We WILL find her.” The men started their approach.

Binny’s breath started to get ragged.
She could feel her palms getting damp. She worried she would slip
and start the cart rolling down the ramp. She could try and run for
it, but she didn’t think she’d be able to climb over the barricade
before Grater and his men caught up to her.

§

“
Nice job.” Zach said,
impressed at Penny’s display.

“
I’m getting better at it.
Well, at only breaking things intentionally, that is.” Penny’s
reflected on the inventory of things on which she’d tested her
abilities.

“
We better start looking.
We’ve already taken too long.” Zach pushed gently on the door to
the small restricted section of the records room. The smile on his
face as it swung open was short-lived. A loud blaring sound filled
the records room. They’d tripped an alarm.

§

Binny’s ears perked up immediately as
she heard the alarm go off in the distance. “That must be Penny and
Zach” she thought to herself. She’d already been incredibly
stressed out trying to figure out how to get out of her current
predicament. Now she was beside herself with worry for her brother
and her friend.

“
Sir, shouldn’t one of us
go check that out?” Binny could hear the guards clearly. They were
now only one floor above her.