When the Wind Blows - James Patterson [71]
Then she stepped off the Jeep and took to the air. Just like that.
“Oh, Jesus,” Kit whispered. He took the words right out of my mouth. “Just look at her. Look at that. I hope we can keep up with her.”
“We have to. Move this thing.”
He revved the engine. Stepped on the gas. The Jeep lurched off the shoulder of the road and then found its center, climbed steeply up the mountain. We followed Max’s flight, at least we tried.
I stuck my head out of the side window like a kid. So did Pip. I couldn’t take my eyes off her white and silver-blue wings as she flew before us. Cool air flowed past my face. I almost felt that I was flying, too. I was certainly having an out-of-body experience.
The Jeep bore into a long tunnel of darkness created by overhanging pines and towering fir trees. Max veered to the left, up another side road. This one was all dirt and deeply rutted.
We were following Max home. We were trusting her with our lives.
Chapter 74
THE SCHOOL WAS CLOSE. She could taste it on her tongue—bitter and nasty as could be. She could feel it, like a deadly poison pumping through her bloodstream.
Max suddenly came swooping down to the ground. The Jeep screeched to a stop close behind her. Frannie and Kit scampered out in a hurry. Pip was running around in circles. Normally, he would have made her smile, giggle happily. Not now, though.
“What is it, honey?” Frannie called. She was always so concerned, and never bossy.
Max felt as if a rope were tied around her waist and she was being firmly, inexorably, reeled in. She could feel extreme tension in her neck and shoulders, right down into her chest plate. She was going home. She was voluntarily returning to the School. Then maybe all the secrets would be out—and she could be free.
And maybe not!
She decided to stay on the ground for a while. Walking was probably safer. Frannie and Kit walked hurriedly right behind her.
She didn’t look back, didn’t have to. She could hear the struggling for breath in their lungs, the blood pumping through their hearts. She sensed their fear was growing. Finally, they would see the truth. See it for themselves. She prayed they were ready for this.
Suddenly, Max stopped!
She saw the physical boundary between her new freedom and her old life—the barbed-wire fence. The powerful sight chilled her, brought back a flood of terrifying memories. She could picture Uncle Thomas, the other creepy guards, and it made her retch. She almost lost it right then and there.
The School was close. She was almost there. It was as if the School were watching her approach, waiting for her, laughing because she’d come back.
The chain-link fence was ten feet high and topped with razor sharp concertina wire. Behind it was everything she knew, loved, and hated with all of her heart. She had seen men parking trucks at the School. Maybe they were all gone by now.
A white metal sign read: ABSOLUTELY NO ADMITTANCE. THIS IS A GOVERNMENT INSTALLATION. TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT.
She turned to Frannie and Kit. “We’re here.”
Chapter 75
MAX WAS STARING back at us, her bright green eyes wide with fear.
“They’re not kidding,” she said. “Trespassers have been shot, believe me. You can still go back. I think you should.”
“We won’t leave you,” Kit said.
Pip was barking and twirling in tight circles outside the fence. Suddenly two Dobermans came loping forward on the far side. They bared their teeth, barked and growled.
Kit pulled me away from the fence as spit and fury flew from the mouths of the Dobermans.
I felt the hackles rise on the back of my neck. And it wasn’t just because of the dogs. Actually, the dogs didn’t bother me so much.
Chain link and concertina wire and guard dogs in the middle of the woods were scary enough, but to see the words “U.S. Government” attached to “Trespassers Will Be Shot” made me ill. Kit and I were close to being trespassers, and illegal trespassing was definitely on our minds.
“Is this the School?” I asked, but Max wasn’t listening. She was busy with the Dobermans.
“Bandit, Gomer, it’s me!” she called out