I slumped in my
chair, feeling like someone had pulled a plug and I was deflating like a
punctured waterbed. "How long have they been missing?"
"I'm
sorry."
"How long?"
"What's
up?" Pete demanded, joining us. He saw Felicity two seconds after he
stumbled in, dressed in threadbare boxers with purple hearts on them. He
shrieked and dashed into the laundry room, just off the kitchen, and emerged a
few seconds later with a bath towel wrapped around his hips. To add insult to
injury, Felicity was too busy watching me to notice Pete's condition.
"How long have
my parents been missing?" I demanded again, choking on the words.
"Two
weeks," he admitted on a sigh.
"And you've been
looking for them all this time?"
"If Mum and Pop
didn't want anybody to find them for some reason, nobody could find them,"
Harry growled. He glared at me when I signaled him for silence, then sank into
the nearest available chair. Fortunately, it didn't have any of Felicity's loot
on the seat.
"When I have
more information, I'll contact you," Hayward said. "Don't stir up any
more trouble than there already is by calling here or the hotel they were last
at. Understand?"
"Oh, I
understand far more than you might imagine."
"Lanie… I'm sorry. They're
my friends." Another sigh. "I didn't even know the military was
trying to ride on the coattails of their research until after they were
reported as missing."
"If that's a
ploy to try to find out what we know—"
"Your parents
are my friends. Trust me, all right?" He waited, while I tried to find
words, and swallow down the sharp-edged block that filled my throat.
"Lanie?"
"We don't really
have any choice, do we?"
"I'll contact
you as soon as I can." Then he hung up before I could respond.
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