“Okay,” I said meekly, and hurried off to change.

Not much more than fifteen minutes later, Ben, Altair, and I were out the door.

CHAPTER 54

Wednesday, May 3

2:45 P.M.

SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS

GENIE was in the kitchen, wiping the counters down with bleach the way Cleo wanted them cleaned, when she heard Aaron begin to cry. She hurriedly took off the too-big rubber gloves she was wearing and made her way to the living room.

“I said stop crying!” Cleo shouted.

Cleo grabbed Aaron by both arms, lifted him off the floor, and threw him hard. She threw him toward the sofa, and he landed against it, but Genie knew that even a landing on a sofa could hurt if you’re little enough and someone throws you hard enough.

“Stop it!” Genie shouted, and ran to her brother, who was now crying in earnest. Dad, who had gone upstairs with Troy, came running into the living room. He saw Cleo staring at them with her fists clenched, her face tight with fury.

“I didn’t hurt him,” Cleo said. “I don’t hurt kids!”

He looked helplessly between them, then came over to the sofa and took Aaron into his arms. “It’s okay,” he said, rubbing Aaron’s back as the boy clung to his neck. Troy stood at the foot of the stairs, eyes wide with fear.

“Cleo, maybe you should take another look around outside,” Dad said. Genie thought he sounded a little desperate.

“I’ll decide when I should do that, Roy, not you. Besides, I checked not twenty minutes ago.” She made a sound of exasperation as Aaron continued to cry. “Come upstairs when you’ve shut that brat’s yap. And it had better be soon.”

CLEO had been like this ever since she watched TV. She had taken Dad into the mirrored bedroom and yelled at him about Carrie and Irene Kelly, and Uncle Giles and Uncle Nelson. Dad made her lower her voice, but she stayed mad. Most people cooled off over time, but Genie thought Cleo was getting angrier by the hour.

Even going outside didn’t help Cleo to calm down. She made everyone stay inside, and the boys didn’t understand why she could go out and they couldn’t. There weren’t enough toys or games or books here to keep the boys occupied for long.

As soon as Cleo had gone upstairs, Genie said, “She picked him up and threw him!”

Dad looked miserable, but he kept speaking softly to Aaron.

“I want Mommy!” Aaron cried.

Genie felt her own eyes fill with tears. She had cried a lot for Mom last night, but her fear of Cleo and her attempts to keep the boys happy and busy forced her to hide her feelings during the day.

“Mommy can’t be here right now,” Dad said. “She’s on a vacation.”

Genie looked sharply at him, but he avoided eye contact with her.

“Why did she take Carrie and not us?” Aaron asked between sobs.

“She didn’t take Carrie,” Dad said quickly. “You’ll see Carrie soon. Carrie’s waiting for you at Grandfather’s. Won’t that be nice? Now, try to calm down, pumpkin. It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

After a moment, Aaron calmed. Dad said, “Troy, take Aaron into the kitchen and get him a drink of water, please. Go on with Troy, Aaron. I need to talk to Genie. Everything is going to be okay.”

Reluctantly, the boys obeyed.

He patted the sofa next to him, and Genie sat down by him, although she was angry.

“You keep telling them it’s okay,” she said in a fierce whisper, “but it’s not! Cleo hates us. She keeps hurting the boys.”

Dad pulled her closer and said in a low voice, “I’m so sorry, Genie. I didn’t think-I didn’t know she’d be like this. She was excited about having the three of you with her at first, I think, but she hasn’t ever been around small children.”

“We’ve got to get away from here.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, honey.” He paused, then said, “Can you find your way to the road?”

She nodded.

“When I go upstairs, I want you to take the boys outside and go down the driveway and out to the road. Then turn left and follow the road downhill toward the lake. No matter what sounds you hear coming from the cabin, just keep going. Next you’ll come to a big road-be very careful. Don’t get into a car with anyone-just ask anyone you meet to call the police. Don’t even get into the car with Uncle Nelson or Uncle Dexter-especially not with either of them. Promise me that you will stay out of reach and make them call the police.”

“I promise. What about you?”

He swallowed hard. “I’ll be fine. Just tell the police that I’m here and that Cleo probably has guns, and maybe explosive devices. Okay? You have such a good memory, you can remember that, right?”

“Yes, but-why don’t you just come with us?”

“I’ll be fine. But you and I need to do this to help the boys get away from her safely. I’m depending on you, Genie. Now, give me a hug, and when I go upstairs, wait about five minutes, then leave.”

She hugged him hard, and he hugged back and kissed the top of her head. “You’re such a good girl.”

He stood up quickly and called to the boys. He hugged and kissed Aaron and Troy, and told them he loved them, and that Genie was the boss while he was upstairs, and they should obey her. “Promise you’ll do exactly what she tells you to.”

They promised.

She watched him walk up the stairs. He looked back at her and smiled, giving her a thumbs-up sign.

Aaron and Troy looked at her expectantly.

“We’re going to play a game,” she whispered. “It’s a long game, and it’s-it’s not easy, but I think you can do it.”

“Of course we can,” said Aaron, confident without even knowing what he was so sure of.

She went to the coat closet and carefully opened the door. She took out their winter wear. She bent to whisper to them again. “The first part of the game is called ‘Secret Agents Get Ready to Go on a Mission.’”

“Like Mission San Juan Capistrano?” Aaron asked. Mom and Dad had recently taken them there on a study trip.

“No-keep your voice down. A mission is an assignment that spies and secret agents have. You have to be sneaky. We pretend we are staying inside, talking quietly, but the whole time you have to get dressed to go outside. But no one can know you are getting ready. Understand?”

They nodded.

Above them, they could hear Cleo pacing, speaking angrily, although they couldn’t make out what she was saying.

“So no talking about going outside,” Genie went on. “No clomping boots. Remember-be sneaky. Troy, you tell Aaron about dinosaurs while you’re getting your jackets, hats, boots, and mittens on, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Don’t shout, just talk in quiet voices. I’m going upstairs, and I’ll be right back down.”

She quickly made her way to her bedroom, grabbed paper, a pen, and the flashlight.

In the hallway, she paused briefly to listen. Cleo was now talking to Dad in a low voice, so Genie still couldn’t hear what was being said. Below, Troy was telling Aaron that pterosaurs were not true dinosaurs. Troy could talk about dinosaurs for hours, with Aaron a rapt audience for every minute of it.

She hurried quickly and quietly downstairs, saw that Aaron was too rapt an audience-Troy was pulling on his boots while Aaron sat staring at him.

She made a little growl of exasperation and helped Aaron dress, then put on her own warm clothing, all except the mittens. Troy nobly kept talking about dinosaurs, even starting to look a little happier as he lectured. Now he was on to one of his favorite arguments, saying that dinosaurs were not extinct because birds were dinosaurs. “Technically,” he kept adding.

They followed her into the kitchen, where she gave each of them a small bottle of water to place in their jacket pockets.

She wrote out a note. She couldn’t keep her handwriting from being shaky, but it was readable. She asked whoever was reading the note to call the police and to contact Irene Kelly of the Las Piernas News Express, who knew where the boys’ sister Carrie was. She quickly wrote about who was here, about the booby trap and how to disarm it, about Cleo being dangerous. She carefully checked the part about the booby trap to make sure it was right.