Foster, Alan Dean Slipt

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the waterfront.
Unless her first guess was wrong and her prison wasn t a hotel. What other structures were likely to
boast a fancy room like this several stories above the water s edge? From Galveston to the Mexican
border there were only isolated, large industrial plants. Corpus Christi lay on a curving bay, and she
couldn t see anything to north or south. Galveston s shorefront would be full of night-time strollers, and
there were none of these. It seemed likely she d been brought to a far more isolated location.
It didn t matter. There was one person who would be able to find her anyway. She hesitated,
considered carefully before contacting him. He was an old, tired man with a bad heart. But she didn t
know what else to do. She was scared, and it wasn t like he was helpless. Not anymore.
She closed her eyes and did as she d done for all of her conscious life, reached out with as much
strength as she could muster.
UNCLE JAKE!
The half scream, half cry brought Pickett awake as if he d been shocked. Instinctively he started to
scramble clear of the bed, then calmed himself and set his mind to listen.
Is that you, Mandy?
It s me, Uncle Jake. Are you alright? Where are you?
I m fine, Mandy. I m at your mom and dad s. Everyone thinks you ve been kidnapped by a bunch of
angry would-be car thieves. They think you ve been taken for revenge by the people your dad beat up.
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I ve been kidnapped, but not by them. By
I know who, he said wordlessly, interrupting the thought. I knew right away. Are you sure you re
okay? You sound funny.
They drugged me, Uncle Jake. Took me away and drugged me. I ve only just come out of it and I
don t know how long I ll have before they come in and drug me again. She was watching the bathroom
doorway now, not the view out the window. I don t even know how long I ve been sleeping.
They took you last night, princess. I just got here today myself.
So I ve only been out one day. Then I msure I m not far from home!
Where are you, Mandy? Just tell me where you are and I ll come and get you. I ll bring every
policeman I can find between here and wherever you are.
No, Uncle Jake. I m . . . I m afraid what might happen if these people think they ve lost their last
chance to manipulate you. If they see a bunch of police cars driving up, they might move me or ... they
might do something else. You have to come get me by yourself, Uncle Jake. You have to try. I think you
can do it. I don t know what else to do.
If that s what you think s best, Mandy, then that s what I ll do. Now tell me how to get to you.
I can t tell you for sure, Uncle Jake. I m on the coast somewhere, in a bathroom three or four stories
off the ground. My room faces the intercoastal waterway; you know, the ship canal? It s a fancy room,
but I don t think it s a hotel. I can see the water and the moon and ships moving around. There are lots of
big pipes and things all over the place, and big docks with one cargo ship. It s got to be a plant of some
kind. You don t feel very far away, Uncle Jake.
Neither do you, princess. Don t worry. I ll get you out of there. Then we ll send the police in for these
evil people, after you re safe and away from them.
Be very careful, Uncle Jake.
I will, Mandy. They won t be expecting me. I ll bet they plan on contacting me in the morning, to tell me
they have you and to warn me I d better cooperate. I have to come get you now, before they find out
I m not here anymore. I m sure they know I m here. He was dressing silently, pulling on worn socks,
tying his shoes.
, That s right, I almost forgot. They have the house bugged, Uncle Jake, so I m sure they have
somebody watching it, too.
I ll go out the back window, he told her. I know that window well. You ve helped me look out
through it a lot over the past ten years. He smiled, wondering if she was able to perceive his feelings if
not his actual expression. I ve gotten real good at going out windows lately.
If you can get away from the house without anyone seeing you, you should be okay, Uncle Jake. Then
you come and get me and we ll sneak out of here and go to the police. We ll . . . we ll have to tell them
everything, Uncle Jake. About you and me, I mean, or they ll never believe us.
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I know, princess. I didn t think we could keep our secret forever.
How are mom and dad? Little girl thoughts and feelings now, the fear beginning to overwhelm the
rational, brilliant teenager.
Scared for you, like you d expect, he thought back at her. They don t know what s happened to you
or why, and I can hardly wake them up and tell them, can I?
No. Come and get me out of here, Uncle Jake, and we ll go to the police and everything will be alright
again. Even if we do have to give away our secret.
I can get out of the house without them seeing me, he said as he buttoned his shirt, but how am I
going to get to you? Until they have me they re going to be watching the bus station and the highway. I
can t take your parent s car because they d see me right away. And if they re watching the roads I
can t hitch a ride. Princess, I can ... I canfeel where you are, but it s much too far for me to walk.
I know, Uncle Jake. I m right on the waterway. Go out behind the house and turn north. A couple of
blocks up the seawall there s a small floating dock where everybody in the neighborhood keeps their
private boats. Most everybody we know has a rowboat or something to fish from. Except dad. He
doesn t like to go fishing for fun. Maybe you can find one you can start. You have to, Uncle Jake.
Don t worry, little girl, he thought. I ll find something. Been a lot of years since I jumped an ignition.
Maybe you won t have to do that, Uncle Jake. This isn t Los Angeles. People don t lock things up
around here the way they do in big cities.
I hope you re right, princess. I m ready now. He stood there in the dark room, digesting her thoughts,
orienting himself to something inexplicable yet terribly real. It wasn t that difficult. He d been orienting his
mind to hers for years. She was... that way.
He stepped toward the window, the window he d looked out of so many times while lying on his bed
back in Riverside. It opened easily and he cautiously surveyed the narrow back yard and the seawall [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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