She pushed open one of the double doors and stormed out. “He's all yours,” she told the two guards, who had removed their gas masks. The two of them stepped into the dining room, weapons raised toward Seth. For a moment, he wondered if they were actually going to shoot him.
“Women are crazy, huh?” Seth asked. They didn't respond. “Hey, nice guns. What kind are they?”
The Homeland Security men just stared at him coldly.
***
Later, Seth and his mom watched from the wreckage of their foyer as the federal police vehicles pulled out of their driveway.
“Did they hurt you any more?” his mom asked.
“No.”
“They kept asking me questions about that Morton girl,” she said. “'Where is she? Where did she go? Where do we find her?' Just the same thing over and over.”
“Mine went pretty much the same way,” Seth said.
“I knew that girl was bad news, but I had no idea how terrible she was. What do you think she did, Seth?”
“I think they have the wrong person.”
“Your father and I keep telling you to stay away from her. You'd better listen now. God only knows what crazy things she must be doing to have Homeland Security after her like that.”
“They make mistakes, too,” Seth said. “Jenny's never done anything bad.”
“You're too trusting of people, Seth.” She looked around at the mess of toppled furniture, and she glowered. Then she took her cell phone from her purse.
“Who are you calling?” he asked.
“Silas,” she told him. Silas Deever was the family's personal attorney. “And then your father. And then, maybe Uncle Junius.”
“The guy said it was a national security letter,” Seth said. He didn't want his father—or his great uncle Senator Mayfield—digging into this and finding out exactly why the feds were after Jenny. “That means you can't tell anybody they were here.”
“Like hell I can't,” his mom said, and she started making phone calls.
Seth had a sinking feeling. He wished he could get in touch with Jenny to warn her about how seriously they were searching for her, and how they might kill her the moment they found her. But he still had no idea where she could be. He just hoped she was safe.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When Seth's dad came home, Seth just played dumb—he had no idea why Homeland Security would be searching for Jenny. He kept up the act on the conference call they had with Silas Deever, who advised them that there was little they could do to get compensation for the extensive damages to their house, but he would look into it.
Then Seth's mother took Seth to the hospital to get his nose checked out, though Seth assured her he wasn't hurt badly. By the time they reached the emergency room, his nose wasn't even swollen. Seth's healing powers had fixed him up quickly.
The next morning, Seth decided to call Darcy Metcalf again, since she was the only person who might have any information about Jenny. The girl had claimed to remember nothing, but that was in front of her parents. Maybe she could give Seth some idea of where Jenny had gone.
He'd lost Darcy's cell number along with his Blackberry, though, so he had to look up the Metcalfs' home number in the local phonebook. He dialed, and Darcy's dad answered.
“Can I speak to Darcy, please?” Seth asked.
“Who is this?” her dad barked over the phone.
“This is...” Seth almost gave his own name, then remembered how much Darcy's dad seemed to hate him. “This is...Hank.”
“Hank? Who the hell is Hank? Why are you calling my daughter?”
Seth remembered something Darcy's dad had said at the jail: She's gonna take that job at the Taco Bell in Vernon Hill, she knows what's good for her. “This is Hank from Taco Bell,” Seth said.
“Oh, the Taco Bell! Finally.” Then Seth heard him scream: “Darcy! Pick up the damned phone! It's the Taco Bell!”
Darcy picked up another extension. “Hello?”
“Don't screw this up, Darcy,” her dad said. “You need to get your ass a job.”
“Daddy!” Darcy said. “He can hear you!”
“Well, it's true, Hank from Taco Bell,” Darcy's dad said. “You hire her, she'll work hard, pregnant or not. She works hard around the house, worked hard in school, up til she got knocked up by that no-good boy—”
“Dad, please!” Darcy said. Her dad finally hung up.
“Darcy, it's Seth Barrett,” Seth said.
“Oh, jeepers,” Darcy said. “What do you want?”
“I need to talk to you.” Seth wondered if Homeland Security was listening to his phone calls. “Can you meet me somewhere?”