Registry's Secrets (The Mengliad Series Book 2) Read online

He laughed, but curbed it quick when she sighed in exasperation. ‘Sorry. Baby, I know you’re frustrated by all the attention, but they mean well. They just see you as something of a celebrity.’

  ‘But I’m not! I’m just a woman who happened to get bit by a mosquito!’

  ‘And in all your years of getting bit by mosquitoes, has anything more than a welt happened?’

  His point was clear before he even made it. Sighing, she shook her head in answer.

  ‘Hence the interest. Lay down,’ he suggested, moving the now empty bowl to the floor. ‘Things might not seem so intense after a nap.’

  Since she was tired anyway, she relented; she settled in as he spooned her, finally allowing herself to yawn, and then to eventually nod off.

  It was hours later, not that Craddock had any sense of time. He had fallen asleep shortly after Jessica had and had remained so, until a panicked voice filled his ears.

  “Craddock! Craddock, wake up!”

  Groggily, barely conscious, he rolled over and strained an eye open to see who was disturbing him. “Stacy? What?”

  “Craddock! Shea and Jessica are gone!”

  Chapter Twelve

  He sensed it before he visually confirmed it. Pushing himself upright, his eyes scanned the bed beside him, unfocused. His heart raced wildly as he fought to feel her. The emptiness was overwhelming.

  “They left a note,” Stacy said tearfully. When she extended it towards him, he leapt from the bed and snatched it from her hand.

  Panic choked him as he read it. He couldn’t fix this alone. He wasn’t even sure if it could be fixed. Maybe he would have to show up with guns blazing after all.

  “What do we do?”

  Stacy’s question only found the barest of footholds within Craddock’s consciousness. “I don’t know.” He stared at his wife’s handwriting, the words blurring into loops and vague shapes of letters. “We need to involve the others. They’ll know better what to do.”

  “What if they won’t help us?”

  It was then that he finally tore his gaze away from the note; his eyes locked with hers. “Then we’ll do it alone.” His tone was absolute. He would get his wife back, and Shea by extension, or die trying.

  A silent understanding passed between them, like they had just struck a deal; he then marched out into the hall and towards the living room, set on talking to the first person he came across. That person just happened to be Elsa.

  “We have a problem.” Handing the note over to her, the tremble in his voice matched his physicality.

  She gasped almost immediately; reading on, she hollered, “Emergency house meeting! Now!”

  The flurry of activity that followed seemed to unnerve Stacy, but Craddock was just thankful for it. The faster they jumped into action the better.

  When everyone was present, Elsa went into something resembling drill sergeant mode. “We have a couple of well-meaning runaways!” She waved the paper before handing it back to Craddock. “Jessica and Shea have run off in an attempt to rescue their parents. They have a good two hour head start, which means they’ve probably already contacted the Registry. Ideas? Anyone! Don’t be shy!”

  Marcy was the first to speak up. “They would’ve directed them to the nearest office, so they’re probably in Westport.”

  “Yes!” Elsa agreed, then gestured with a roll of her hand to continue, though it was directed at anyone who cared to, and not specifically Marcy.

  “We’ll need an agent still employed with them to infiltrate and mount a rescue attempt.”

  Craddock didn’t recognize the man who had said it, but he was grateful that he had. It was just what he’d been hoping for – swift action.

  “Craddock should go with.” Wade stepped forward through the crowd. “They could be in any of two dozen rooms or more. No one would be able to check them all without getting caught. His Chimie with her is strong. He could narrow it down.”

  “He’s too recognizable,” someone said from the back. “How would we sneak him in?”

  “An elaborate disguise and a fake ID?”

  Elsa snapped her fingers and pointed to a man off to the side. “John! Get on that!”

  “Yep!”

  As soon as the man replied, Craddock felt himself being grabbed by the arm and pulled.

  “C’mon, kiddo. We have work to do.”

  Reluctant to leave the room, he stumbled in defiance, but the man’s hold was unrelenting; he seemed insistent on making him follow.

  “Don’t worry,” John said as he continued out the back door and into the garage, “they’ll let you know the plan as soon as they iron out the details.”

  While that wasn’t exactly pacifying, Craddock did become a little more compliant, allowing himself to be directed to and physically pushed into a chair that sat near an extensive workstation of sorts.

  “What kind of disguise will get me into a Registry branch office?”

  John didn’t answer; hunting in drawers and cupboards, he asked instead, “How good an actor are you?”

  Craddock shrugged. “I did a couple plays in high school. Why?”

  “‘Cause yer gonna need to act like yer about a hundred and seventy-five years old.”

  Before Craddock could comment further, John produced a do-it-yourself hair bleach kit.

  “Don’t worry,” John ripped into the box and yanked the contents from it, “I got black to getcha back.”

  ****

  John proved himself to be skilled at the art of disguise, though Craddock did get antsy due to the time it was taking. Through the next half hour, he learned more about John than he ever wanted to know. The only fact he was able to retain, however, was that the man had spent decades as a costumer and makeup artist with a small traveling theater group. Everything else said was little more than hazy noise.

  Feeling that he was at the end of his sanity, his worry concerning Jessica reaching the limit of what he could stand, Craddock interrupted John’s pleasant babblings, harshly.

  “When will this be done with? We’re wasting time!”

  John didn’t even bat an eye. “Elaborate takes time, kiddo. S’not like we can just slap a wig on yer head, ya’know. They’ll be lookin’ for that.”

  “Sorry,” Craddock muttered, penitent. “I just want to get this over with.”

  “Everything’ll be movin’ along soon enough,” John assured him. “We just gotta do this, before you can do that.” He then spun around and showed off the project he had been working on.

  “What is that? A beard?”

  “Yep. Facial hair can change the whole look of a person. And the more you don’t look like yerself the better.”

  The spirit gum used to adhere the beard to his face was itchy, but Craddock didn’t care. He would roll around in poison ivy, naked, if it meant Jessica would be back safe.

  “Go wash that stuff outta yer hair now,” John instructed, “but come right back when yer done. We have a few more steps to take.”

  Anxious to get things moving, Craddock launched out of his chair and went running for the bathroom. His head was already in the sink and under the water when Wade walked in.

  “The plan is set.” He spoke a little louder than normal to be heard. “Ready for the details?”

  It was a simple enough plan, but Craddock listened to every word intently. There was no room for error; the stakes were too high to chance the slightest slipup.

  ****

  John put the finishing touches on the disguise as the conversation and activity around them, and in the house, picked up. Meticulously, he used a silver permanent marker to add illusions of gray to Craddock’s bleached white hair, then he used makeup to create lines around his eyes and on his forehead. If he could keep a distance from anyone they encountered, it was convincible enough. Security in the lobby was their main concern.

  Craddock was almost numb by that point, which allowed them to move and redirect him as they needed. They dressed him twice, once for the picture that would be u
sed for his ID, once for the trip itself, though it was just his shirt and button-up sweater that they changed.

  After Kiffen snapped off several pictures with her digital camera, in front of a white sheet that was hanging in the corner of the garage, she raced off, presumably to finish making the ID he would be using. It was then that Marcy approached.

  “How are you holding up?”

  He hadn’t planned on unburdening himself to her, but with the question posed, he broke down and spilled his guts.

  “I’m scared out of my mind. I miss her. I miss her being in my head. It’s like a large piece of me has been amputated.”

  “You haven’t spent much time apart for the entire time you’ve known her,” Marcy noted. “It’s hard enough to separate from loved ones.”

  He humored her with a nod; this was a far bigger issue than mere separation anxiety. “If she was just off doing something – if I knew she was safe – I don’t think I would be feeling like this.”

  “She’s safe. They don’t want to hurt her, they just want to control her.”

  “I’m sick of what they want,” he spat, almost under his breath, though he wasn’t angry with Marcy.

  “So is everyone here,” she replied calmly. “That’s why we’re here.”

  It was the perfect opportunity to broach the subject of why she and Jeramey had joined Pardaze Ahme, but he didn’t take it; his brain was too hard focused on the task ahead of them.

  There was a certain amount of blind faith involved in trusting her, but he had no choice. She was the agent who would be sneaking him in.

  ****

  It was a twenty minute trip – a trip made in virtual silence – and Craddock had spent all of it wringing his hands. His tension escalated as they pulled into the parking lot.

  “I can’t feel her.”

  He was starting to panic; if Marcy couldn’t coax him off the ledge, it would turn into a full-blown attack.

  “It’s a big building, and we’re not even inside yet.” She was the epitome of composed. “Wait for it.”

  “Should I give you a signal if I can’t, once we’re in?”

  “Yeah. Something subtle, though. Like, if you can’t, say it’s cold in the building. If you can, say it’s warm.”

  Only after taking a deep breath to settle himself did he move to leave the car, but Marcy stopped him before he could.

  “I need you to keep it together in there,” she said, almost sternly. “When you get her back inside your head, don’t react!”

  Nodding, he pushed his door open and climbed out. Immediately, he adopted a slightly hunched over posture, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as if his sense of balance was unsteady.

  Marcy gave no outward sign, but inwardly, she was pleased. The more convincing he was as a senior citizen, the better their chances.

  They entered the building slowly, Craddock continuing the act by shuffling his feet as he walked. Just past the threshold, his dragging steps hesitated.

  “Warm in here,” Craddock muttered in a crackly voice. He then began moving towards the security desk in the back center of the lobby.

  She held his arm like she was helping him as they approached, but when they were a few feet away, she let go and finished the distance alone.

  “Agent Marcy Hampton.” She handed her badge to the guard, who had been watching them since they had walked through the doors. “I’m here to pick up a file the New York office couldn’t wait to have shipped.”

  The second guard off to the side laughed. “What, is this bring your grandfather to work day?”

  “Young whippersnapper!” Craddock used the same altered, crackly voice he had before. “Learn to respect your elders!”

  “Easy, Pa,” Marcy soothed, as much to shut him up as to be convincing as his granddaughter. Casually, she mentioned to the first guard who was running her badge through the computer system, “He gets a little crotchety when he’s hungry. I would have left him in the car, but he’s getting on in years, and I didn’t think it a good idea.”

  His intense gaze made her feel uneasy – scrutinized – though she never showed it in tone or demeanor. She kept her cool, determined not to bail unless it was absolutely necessary to do so.

  But then something surprising happened. The guard laughed.

  “Don’t worry, old-timer! You’ll be on your way to grub soon enough!”

  He knew; Marcy was certain of it. Not only that, but then it seemed as if he was actually planning to help them.

  “Hey Steve,” the guard addressed his coworker, “why don’t you go ahead and start rounds? This seems a pretty standard check-in. Start on two, where the detainees are being held.” Without waiting for a response, he dismissed him by returning his attention to Marcy. “I’ll need to see his ID, please.”

  Craddock discreetly kept his eye on the guard named Steve, extracting the dummy wallet he had been given from his back pocket. By the time he handed the fake ID over to Marcy, Steve was out of the lobby.

  “I was hoping I would be on duty when you guys showed up.” The man’s lips barely moved as he spoke, whispering as he began typing on the computer. “Good thing you came when you did; they were set to move them in about three hours.

  “There are cameras at both ends of each hall, but this is the only monitoring station. I can cover you from here, but it would be best if you hurry. The old man act will only slow you down, so once you get off the elevator on two, move faster.

  “I’m changing your badge status now, so that you can activate the locked door. I’ll try to change it back later, but… this will be it for you as an agent.”

  “I know,” Marcy whispered back, “and thank you.”

  His expression remained neutral while returning their badge and ID. Then he glanced at the security monitor. “Steve just left two. Go now, but when you leave, go out the back exit. There are fire escape maps every few feet down the halls; follow them. But just know, an alarm will be tripped, which won’t give you much time. I’ll have to chase you, but don’t worry, I won’t catch you.”

  ****

  Jessica could feel their connection strengthening; wherever Craddock was in the building, he was getting closer.

  The last too many hours had been spent believing she would never see him again, or if she did, only under severe duress, with the Registry using him to coerce her submission. Now, to have him within reach... it was like she had been struck by an emotional wrecking ball, exacerbated by her pregnancy hormones. If not for the probability that they were being monitored, she likely would have had a meltdown or, at the very least, brought unwise attention to herself by banging hysterically on the door.

  Maintaining outward appearances wasn’t easy, though, and had not fooled Shea at all. The sudden change in her demeanor was slight but evident; crushing despair had somehow been replaced by a sense of hope.

  Of course he questioned her, but he was smart enough to back off when she locked eyes with him, pointedly, and gave a subtle shake of her head. He was also smart enough to piece it together on his own, as the minutes ticked by in silence, as Jessica stood there staring at nothing…

  Almost as if she was in a trance…

  That shattered spectacularly, as soon as Craddock’s voice was back inside her head.

  ‘…trying to get to you, baby. Can you read me yet? I need to know what room you’re in.’

  ‘Craddock!’ Jessica burst into tears, grabbing Shea by the shirt and shaking him. ‘Room eighty-two!’

  “Up here!” Craddock darted to the door they had been several steps away from; Marcy quickly brought her badge up to the reader to unlock it.

  ‘I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! It sounded like a good idea at the time!’

  The moment the door flew open, Jessica threw herself into Craddock’s arms. Even with his disguise, she knew him instantly.

  “No time for reunions.” Marcy pulled them apart, pushing them into the hall and in the direction of the elevator. Once they were inside, w
hile on their way down to the lobby, she briefed them. “Don’t run until we’re outside. We’re turning right when we get off and heading for the back exit.”

  ‘Was it Shea’s idea or yours?’

  ‘Shea’s.’

  Craddock sighed heavily. ‘You can’t reason with them, Jess!’

  ‘I know that now.’

  ‘You didn’t know that before?!’

  The elevator arrived with a ding, the doors whooshing open, which put their conversation on hold.

  To be sure that the coast was clear, Marcy poked her head out first; verifying that it was, she then led the way to the emergency exit in the distance. The building was surprisingly vacant, considering its size.

  Knowing the alarm would be loud once it was triggered, she huffed last second instructions before they got to the door. “The car’s ‘round front. To the left. Run like hell.”

  And then she touched the push-handle.

  They were expecting it, but that didn’t stop them from startling. The alarm was more than just loud; it was comparable to an air raid siren. Or maybe that was just a fear-induced misperception.

  Whichever, they recovered quickly from the shock of it. Feet pounded the pavement as they bolted for the parking lot.

  True to his word, the helpful guard from the lobby gave chase, feebly. His feigned attempt at apprehending them consisted of nothing more than shouted demands from just outside the doors to the building.

  “Hey! Stop! Now!”

  Marcy was the only one who even spared a glance in his direction.

  Reaching the car seconds later, Shea managed to climb in first, into the front passenger’s seat, but before Craddock and Jessica could jump into the back, there was a single report of gunfire.

  Since she assumed it was a warning shot, Marcy wasn’t immediately concerned… until Jessica hit the ground.

  The pain was so excruciating, Craddock thought for sure, for just a moment, that it was his own. When the reality proved otherwise, he wished that it was.

  Crumpling to his knees with an anguished moan, he scrambled to pull her into his arms, to lift her so that he could get her into the backseat. She was light anyway, but the adrenaline coursing through him made the task far easier.