My brothers both looked over at me with raised eyebrows.
“Don’t look at me as if I’m crazy, you idiots! I’m telling you I can feel people. I can feel what they’re feeling. It’s how I knew we could trust Dr. Andrews and how I know Michelle Andrews is the one who put the tracker in the truck. I knew what the thugs were thinking when they attacked. I’ll be able to feel mom. It’s like knowing there’s a fresh baked pile of cookies hiding in the house and following your nose to find it. That’s the best way I can think to describe it. If I’m close enough, I can find her by following her scent.”
“Wow, Meg. You’re a real freak, you know that? I mean, I’ve always known you’re an emotional nut-job, but now you can feel the emotions of others?” Alik glanced over at me from the driver’s seat, clearly teasing me. It made me want to punch him square in the jaw.
Evan, ever the diplomat, spoke up. “I have a bit of a confession too. I mean, I would have told you guys sooner, but I always worried about saying too much in front of Dr. Andrews and Cole. Besides, it just started showing up a few days ago. Kinda like Meg, I don’t know if I could do this for a while and just never had the opportunity on the ranch, or if it recently came-about.”
“What is it? What are you talking about Evan?” I was excited to know that maybe I wasn’t alone in my newfound abilities.
“I can pretty much unlock any machine.” Evan said simply.
“That’s not new. You’ve always been good at taking apart and putting together all things mechanical.” Alik said matter-of-factly.
“Well sure, and Meg has always been hyperemotional. That’s not what I’m saying. I can crack any mechanism nearly instantaneously. All I have to do is look at it and I can see in my mind its inner workings. Then, I can manipulate those workings.” Evan looked to me for understanding then continued. “Now sometimes I need equipment to help me accomplish that, but that’s just a necessity. I’m not magical!”
“Wait. Back up. You can make machines do what you want it to do? Like what, make an ATM spit out money?” I asked.
“Well, yeah, I could probably do that. But I don’t think that would be very ethical. I don’t like the idea of stealing; besides mom would flip her lid.”
“You got that right!” Alik blurted. “It’s bad enough we took this truck from Cole and Dr. Andrews.” Alik pointed out with a hint of guilt in his voice.
“We did what we had to do to protect them. It’s not like we abandoned them on the side of the road. I’m sure Mr. Burns will help them get back to Kansas safely.”
Truth be told, I missed Cole and Dr. Andrews. Those two men had truly honest souls and only wanted to help us. I wondered what Cole thought of me and remembered his tender good-bye. Was he relieved to be done with us? Would he think of me? Would I ever see him again?
From a passenger’s viewpoint the doctor’s SUV was comfortable and functional. Now that we were in the driver’s seat, so to speak, we got to appreciate the bells and whistles.
Evan took one look at the GPS and quickly did a search for The Institute’s address. Within moments, he had a map pulled up on the screen displaying the approximate drive time. It was only three hours twenty-three minutes away. Our mom was so close I just wanted to fly to her side and kill the monster that had taken her.
But before the fury and anxiety merged into one of my typical uncontrollable rages, I made myself breathe slowly and think. It would do mom no good to rush The Institute half-cocked with no decisive plan, all guns blazing. That could be fatal, for all of us.
“Listen guys, we need more time to prepare our strategy. Let’s not rush it. You mentioned that we need to gather equipment, right Evan? We’re going to need to create a diversion too. Explosives?” I was just thinking out loud ticking off ideas as they came to me.
A thought occurred to me. I reached over and popped the glove compartment open. There sat the two guns Dr. Andrews had packed.
“That’s not going to be enough,” Alik and Evan said at the same time.
“Nope, not nearly enough.” I agreed.
Evan leaned back to the onboard computer. With a few flicks at the screen, he pulled up three addresses of sporting good stores in the area. Reading briefly a basic list of the merchandise each offered, he zeroed in on his top pick.
“What are you thinking, Evan?” I could almost hear his thoughts racing with a solution to our needs.
“Well, I believe I’ve got a plan, big sister.” He looked up at me with a mischievous grin.
Oh yeah, this is exactly what we need! My heart cheered.
Chapter 37 The Audacity of That Woman