Resonance

Chapter 27. Impasse

  But we didn't actually have to report. Because everything that had happened, had happened in World A and not in Kirk A's TSA, so the home team had been able to follow along.

  "So it was all a waste," I said. "We didn't need to go at all."

  "But we didn't know that yet," answered Andrew. "There could have been a period when they were in their TSA—no way for us to know that without your help."

  It made sense, sort of, but it still seemed like a waste to me.

  "The next thing to be investigated," Andrew went on, "is the moment when Jessica gets kidnapped. And that happens on Kappa, of course. We're assuming it happens right away, so we'll want to reinsert you before the McDowells wake up the day after their trip to Hibbard."

  "Wait," I said. "Wouldn't it be better if Shep and I just went to Kappa ourselves? Maybe we could prevent Jessica getting snatched, the way we prevented the murder."

  Andrew looked at us, then at Nick, who grinned and shrugged. "Why not?" he said. "Good idea."

  "Could I go too?" Angel was there, sitting quietly until now. She'd gotten kind of pissy, we gathered, that her dad hadn't even told her what was going on, and she had asked to be allowed to come to our debriefing.

  Everybody turned to look at her.

  "It makes more sense," she said. "Two boys, alone on a suburban street late at night—it looks suspicious. Add a girl, it looks perfectly natural. My boyfriend"—she got a little pink but carried on—"is telling me goodnight. His friend is waiting for him. Maybe the friend already dropped off his girlfriend. Totally plausible scenario." She smiled brightly.

  Andrew started to open his mouth and then shut it again. I wasn't linked with him, but I knew exactly what he was thinking. He'd been going to say that it was too dangerous, but of course he couldn't, because first of all they'd been telling us how they could whip us out of there if there was any trouble, and second, Shep and I were sitting right there, and he'd told us to tell our parents that it wasn't dangerous.

  Nick apparently figured it out too. "Actually," he said after a moment, "she's right, Andrew. It would look more natural. We'll monitor, of course, and pull them out if need be, but I can't imagine any problem. Just their presence would be a deterrent…" His voice kind of trailed off.

  "We have to save that little girl if we can," said Shep firmly. "It's not dangerous—you can yank us out like he said. She"—he turned to Angel—"you being there would make it look more normal."

  I figured anything I said, I'd be suspected of an ulterior motive, so I just sat tight. We all waited.

  "Good idea," said Andrew finally. "All right. Here's the scenario. The night she was kidnapped, Jessica's mom put her to bed at seven-thirty. At about eleven the mom got ready for bed, then went back downstairs to work on a report due the next day. Before she went down, she checked on Jessica, who was sound asleep in her bed.

  "Her dad watched some TV and went upstairs at about midnight. He got ready for bed, then checked on the child at about twelve-fifteen. Again, she was there.

  "The mom came up at one-thirty to go to bed and looked in on Jessica one last time. She was gone. So the window of opportunity for the McDowells is only an hour and a quarter, from twelve-fifteen to one-thirty.

  "We'll insert you into Kappa at twelve-fifteen. Where will we put them?" he asked Nick.

  "The neighbors' back yard has a patio down at the end, on the far side of the pool, away from the house," Nick replied. "There's nothing between the two backyards, just a cage around the pool—it's a very open, unfenced neighborhood. So now, if Angel goes along, we could put her and Mitch out on the back patio—the neighbors are in bed by then, no lights on in their house—and we could put Shep on the street, waiting, pretending to wait for Mitch, by a car.

  "Sending all three of them is actually a much better plan—we can cover both the front and the back of Jessica's house." He looked at Andrew.

  Andrew looked unhappily at Angel. "Maybe we should ask—tell Mom," he said. Angel just looked at him. "Or not," he sighed, then shrugged.

  "Now?" she asked, standing up.

  I stood up too, and so did Shep. "Sure," he said. "No time like the present. We're wide awake, not sleepy, it's morning for us. Why not now?"

  Nick was trying not to laugh. "We might as well get it over with," he said to Andrew.

  Andrew grinned. "Oh, hell," he said. "Okay. Let's get it over with."

  So at twelve-fifteen at night Kappa time, Angel and I were sitting on a nice teak couch with weatherproof cushions in the Abersolds' neighbors' backyard. Shep was sitting on the hood of a car in front of their house listening to his iPod.

  We could see the lights on in the downstairs study, where Mrs. Abersold was working on her report. We'd seen the light go out in the master bedroom. There was still a dim light upstairs, probably from the hallway or the stairwell.

  Angel and I were cuddling and talking. I would have liked to be making out, but we had to keep an eye on the house. I admit, I did kiss her a couple of times—if I had been trying to make out, I don't think she would have objected. But we were both being really conscientious.

  We'd only been there maybe twenty minutes when I got an alarm from Shep. Heads up—there's a guy coming.

  Is it one of the Ys? I asked him.

  No—shorter and more heavy-set.

  And then through Shep I could hear them talking.

  "What's—" Angel began, but I shushed her.

  The guy was maybe in his forties, dressed all in black, slacks and turtleneck. He was showing Shep a badge. "What are you doing here, son?" he asked.

  "Waiting for my buddy." I could feel Shep grin. "He's in back saying goodnight to his girl, know what I mean?"

  "Let's go see him," said the guy, and Shep obediently got off the car and walked down between the houses, with the guy following. As soon as they got around the corner of the house, we could see them.

  "Who's that?" whispered Angel. "One of those men—the McDowells?"

  "No—a cop," I answered.

  "Good," she said. I turned and looked at her in surprise.

  "If the police are here, the McDowells can't take Jessica," she explained.

  I had time to say, "But they did take her," and then they'd reached us.

  "You kids need to go home now," said the guy.

  "Who're you?" I asked. He wasn't in uniform, and of course he didn't know I'd seen his badge through Shep's eyes.

  "I'm Detective—Black," he said. "Lincoln PD." He took out the badge again and held it out to us. Suddenly there was a second man—he'd come from behind us, I guess. He was maybe a little younger than Black, also dressed in black.

  "And this is my partner, Detective—Nero," Black added.

  "Get them out of here," said Nero. "Fast. He'll be here soon."

  Black took something out of his pocket, a small atomizer, and sprayed in an arc, catching all of us in the face. All my muscles instantly turned into Silly Putty and oblivion happened.