Jack_ Secret Vengeance - F. Paul Wilson [56]
Dad looked at him. “You know darn well I was.”
Yeah, he did. He kept pestering his father for war stories and was continually frustrated.
“Right. Was your father a soldier?”
He shook his head. “No. Too young for the First World War, too old for the Second.”
“But your grandfather was in the Spanish American War,” Mom said.
“Yes, he was. On San Juan Hill.” He looked at Jack. “Why the sudden interest?”
“Just curious as to how many soldiers were in the family.”
He was curious, but that wasn’t why he was asking now. Kate had sneaked off to the phone in her room to call Jenny Styles about the recanalization thing and Jack wanted to keep his folks in the kitchen, far out of earshot.
Plus he wanted to know about that photo of Uncle Joe.
“How about your dad, Mom?”
She shook her head. “No. Too young too. But his older brother, your great-uncle Joe, was a career soldier in the Black Watch.”
Black Watch? That sounded cool.
“What’s that?”
“A Scottish regiment,” Dad said. “Reputed to be some of the fiercest fighting men in history. They used to wear kilts into battle, and because of that their enemies named them the ‘Ladies from Hell.’”
Jack laughed. “My uncle was a Lady from Hell! How cool is that?”
Mom pulled a gallon of Welsh Farms peanut butter swirl ice cream from the freezer and handed it to Jack.
“There’s warriors on both sides of the family.”
“And thank God we’ll have no more,” Dad said, looking at Jack. “At least in your generation.”
He felt mildly insulted. “What do you mean?”
“The draft’s gone, and if we can avoid war for the next ten, twelve years, you’ll be too old should some idiot bring it back. I don’t want anyone shooting at my son.”
Kate returned then. She looked at Jack with a tiny shake of her head.
What did that mean? Jenny didn’t know either?
Jack cocked his head toward the back door and wandered over there, pretending to look out at the backyard. Kate joined him for a second.
“She’s out for the night,” she whispered. “I’ll call her in the morning.”
Jack nodded and stayed at the door as Kate drifted away.
Okay. He was disappointed, but only a little. He could wait till tomorrow.
His thoughts drifted to tonight—or early tomorrow morning, rather—and his planned trip to school.
That lock … how was he going to beat that lock?
8
His folks had gone to bed earlier than usual, so Jack decided to get an early start. But just before midnight, as he wheeled his bike into the garage, he caught sight of a glow in the cornfield next door. He stopped and stared in wonder as a softball-size glob of yellow-white light skimmed along the tasseled tops of the stalks, heading east … toward the Pines.
A pine light. What was this one doing out here, out of the woods?
He walked around to the back of the garage to keep an eye on it and saw it meet up with another light. They circled each other twice, then continued toward the Pines.
He felt an urge to follow but held back. Heading into the Pines alone at night was risky. Weezy always knew where they were, but no way he could get hold of her. He wished again for a Star Trek communicator.
He found the Big Dipper in the moonless sky and followed its leading edge to Polaris, the North Star. Good. If he got lost, the stars would guide him home. All he’d have to do was keep heading west and eventually he’d run into a town, a farm, or Route 206. So, besides wasting a little time, he couldn’t see much downside in following. And the upside … well, you never knew with the Pine Barrens.
He hopped on his bike and followed the pair. Once in the Pines they picked up others. This reminded him of the time he and Weezy had followed a group of lights—she called them lumens—during the equinox last month.
Lights of all sizes mingled and circled one another as he followed them along the starlit firebreak trails through the trees. They led him to a place he recognized: the clearing beyond the spot where Toliver had attacked Weezy.
He stopped