Jamie kept her shoes on. She knew the Colonel hated it, but she was disgusted to think what had been dropped on the hardwood floors over the years. Even after giving the floors a good, bleach-covered scrubbing last week, she still couldn't get the thought out of her mind.
The Colonel and Doug were deliberating quietly at the table. Sheaves of paper were strewn everywhere, holding elaborate drawings and plans. Their whispers were excited, full of anticipation…well, at least the Colonel's were. If she really took a look at Doug, she could see the weariness in his dark eyes and drawn face. This wasn't good for him, she thought. He's just seen so much blood. So much pain. Like warriors who come back from battle and are never the same again.
She plopped down in the seat across from Doug and picked up a few nonsensical drawings. She had never been able to look at her father's plans and make something out of them. She suspected that the Colonel did it on purpose. If a good set of drawings were ever to be found, he could be liable for a rash of murders longer than Jamie had time to count. People just didn't realize that the werewolves were among them, hunting them down one by one.
"So what are the plans?" she interrupted her father.
He gave her an irritated glance before continuing to Doug. "The old Hanson place would be good. It's just another mile out of town. Nobody's lived there in over fifteen years, or so I've heard. It's falling apart, but it would be perfect for our purposes."
"But dad," Doug cut in, "I heard the high school kids like to sneak out there to have wild parties. We could never get away with it!"
"Yes we could!" The Colonel's voice rose an octave, his hands gesturing erratically as he tried to prove his point. "Look what time of year it is! It will be too cold out for parties by the time we've got this set up. It's nearly November already!"
"Calm down," Doug tried soothingly.
"I am calm!" The Colonel cried out. "Why can't you just listen to me!"
Doug's mouth snapped shut. He nearly cowered from the Colonel's outburst, something he never would have done if anyone else had spoken to him that way. Jamie kicked her brother's foot under the table and when he finally looked up at her she sent him a sympathetic glance.
"So we'll send out the ransom notes next week," the Colonel continued, his pitch having returned to normal. "We'll just give them enough time to worry and fret before we hit them with a real punch."
"Ransom note?" Jamie latched onto the word as she looked back and forth between her Doug and her father.
"Yes, Ransom note! Can't you hear what I'm saying? Are you deaf?" The Colonel turned to her with a snarl. Then he added, "We'll make them bring all the werewolves in town. The whole colony, to the Hanson house. The colony's not as big as I thought it would be, so I'm sure they'll all fit. In the ransom, we'll call it a way to peg who our enemies are. Well ask them to leave a ransom of one million dollars in return for our hostage. We can give them three weeks to raise the money. We'll tie the hostage to that pole in the center of the Hansen house. Once the colony is within the building, then boom!"
The Colonel laughed. "They won't even see it coming! Who would expect us to blow up the million dollars too!"
Jamie swallowed slowly, assessing the idea. It seemed so strange to her, to think of her father killing so many people at once. Not people, she corrected herself, werewolves. They looked so human that sometimes the boundaries felt a little hazy, but she must never forget how evil they were. Still, something felt weird about the plan. She was used to her father picking them off one by one.
The Colonel laughed again, suddenly squeezing her hand. "It's all going to work. All because of you!"
"Me?"
Jamie swallowed. "Why?"
"Because you managed to follow that
girl home yesterday. Because you managed to find out where her house
was."
"Amber?" She asked, remembering how sneaky she'd felt, keeping just out of sniffing distance. She'd stepped as silently as a cat, and above all, she'd kept track of the direction the wind was blowing. If it had changed even a few degrees, Amber could have caught her scent. "Did you kidnap her mother?"
Doug sent her a crooked grin. "No? Would you like to see the hostage?"
Slowly, she nodded.
Doug scraped his chair backward and stood. She followed him out into the shadowy entrance, just out of the Colonel's earshot. She gripped Doug's arm and turned him to face her. "What's wrong?" She asked in soft tones.
He pulled her hand away from his arm.
"No, Doug. What's going on?"
Doug sighed and finally looked her in the face. "I asked dad if I could leave next year. I told him that I really want to go to college. He said I could leave in five years, but he promised the same thing five years ago!"
Jamie looked at him and said the hardest thing in her life. "Then just go. Just leave, Doug. Dad is never going to say yes. You're going to have to stand up for yourself sometime."
She knew what it would be like when Doug was gone. It would be the Colonel and she. She'd have no break from his death-obsessed life, his single-minded goals. And she'd always have to be the spy, never getting the chance to play an integral role.
His eyes widened. "I can't just up and go!" He countered. "You know dad!"
"He's more bark than bite," Jamie said although she didn't really believe it.
"You don't know that," Doug replied darkly. "You haven't seen him in a fight with a werewolf—"
He broke off at the look on her face. "Jamie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to rub it in. I know it's not fair that dad doesn't let you go…but believe me, it's for the best. You don't know what it's like to kill things that look like humans. That act like humans." He shuddered. "Sometimes I feel like a murderer."
"But they're not like us," Jamie countered, trying to pull the dark thoughts from his mind. "They're evil. They're killers."
Doug nodded and handed her a flashlight. He took his shoes out of the closet and stuffed them on his feet.
"The hostage is outside?" She asked incredulously as she listened to the sound of the rain pattering on the side of the house.
Doug shook his head and jutted his chin in the direction of the basement. He tied us his laces as he spoke. "No, she's in the basement. I just didn't want to walk downstairs in my bare feet. It's disgusting down there."
Jamie nodded, taking note of the cobwebs hanging in the upper corner of the door. She turned on the flashlight and trained it on the old rickety stairs. She'd never been in the basement before. It smelled so dank and musty. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Glad to have a snug pair of sneakers on her feet, she began to descend down the stairs. They groaned audibly, dipping slightly with her weight.
"So you kidnapped Amber?" she asked as she navigated the stairs.
"No," Doug replied from right behind her. "You'll see."
She reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner, a long dark hallway stood in front of her. She was glad for the flashlight as she nearly stepped into a hanging cobweb. What must it be like to have a werewolf's night vision, she wondered as she ducked beneath it?
Granules of dirk scraped beneath her feet. "You weren't kidding when you said it was dirty down here," she commented.
A small whimpering started up further down the hall. Small, soft whimpers. It almost sounded like a child. She supposed most people would sound like that when they were afraid.
As she moved ahead, she realized that it wasn't one long continuous hallway. The dark hall opened up into a wide room. The whimpering came from the left corner. The flashlight beam slid along the grimy floor to a moth-eaten mattress. The beam just caught sight of two tiny white sneakers followed by tightly bound ankles.
Jamie's hand froze as her heart began to quicken. I can look; I can see this, she told herself. To her amazement, her hand was trembling. The beam shook back and forth over the designer jeans with a picture of Barbie sewn into the pant leg. Finally, she was able to steady her hand.
She took a deep breath and flashed the light over a tiny pink "My Little Pony" sweater to a face. Wide tearful eyes stared back at her.
Jamie gasped.
"She's only a kid!" She finally managed to choke out.