“Do you have any plan of action?” Eric asked.
Wil explained his idea about entering the factory as a safety inspector. Eric agreed it was a good idea.
For the next half-hour they enjoyed their breakfasts, not speaking of the subject on all their minds. It was as if they needed the reprieve to gather strength for whatever might be forthcoming.
Wil checked his watch. “I don’t have to be at the factory until ten. That gives us some time to work. Does anyone have any ideas?”
“Look, I don’t believe much in spooky stuff like telepathy,” Barbara said, “but this whole thing is weird. I say we take a leisurely walk through town. Maybe Rachel will be able to sense something more.”
“I agree,” Wil said. “Barbara’s got the right idea for a starting point. Let’s check out the town now that it’s daylight.”
As they walked down the street toward the beach, they looked no different from any other tourists. No one knew that Wil had belted a gun under his jacket, that Rachel’s mind was filled with thoughts of Steven’s presence, that Samantha was taking in every detail under the morning sun and trying, trying to remember.
50
ALTHOUGH IT WAS a great temptation, Lorraine managed to hold back her powers throughout the examination Dr. Blanely performed on her. He worked in a very efficient manner, never smiling. He never looked into her eyes; except, of course, when he examined them. Others might have been moved by such a sweet baby face as Lorraine’s, but Hartford Blanely saw her only as a specimen. She wasn’t even a very interesting one, as far as he was concerned. Not at all like the subject they’d nicknamed Marty.
But it was Blanely’s job to find out what her connection was to the older boy.
So far, none of the procedures hurt her, so Lorraine was able to take them in stride. She didn’t like them at all, but she understood Steven’s suggestion that she keep her powers to herself. At that moment she wondered why she’d suddenly lost contact with her two other friends. They’d been working together to call Marty, unsuccessfully, until Lorraine was brought in for the sonogram. For a few moments she’d still heard them in her mind. It made her worry that something might have happened to them. But curiosity was a stronger emotion, and soon all her concentration was aimed at the small televisionlike apparatus to her right side.
A nurse walked into the room. Without saying a word to the child, she picked up a device that reminded Lorraine of a microphone. She lifted up Lorraine’s shirt and rubbed a clear gelatinous liquid on her stomach. The little girl squirmed at the cold, tickly feeling. The nurse made no attempt to comfort her. In fact, she didn’t smile at all. She just left the room without a word, replaced in a few moments by Dr. Blanely. Lorraine didn’t like him, but she lay still for the entire procedure, watching in fascination as the sonogram revealed her insides in pie-wedge sections on the screen. She recognized her sternum and clavicles and various other bones. She saw her own heart beating.
Dr. Blanely spoke into a tape recorder.
“So far, the subject shows no anomalies of the internal organs,” he said. “Bone structure is consistent with a child of this age, organs are functioning properly.”
Of course they are, Lorraine thought. There’s nothing wrong with me.
He punched a few buttons, and moments later sonogram “snapshots” came rolling off a printer.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, as if Lorraine might try to go anywhere.
Lorraine pulled her shirt back down. She jumped off the table and went to the still-working printer, holding out the row of black-and-white prints. It fascinated her so much that she hardly heard the voice in her mind. When it called her name a second time, she dropped the printout.
Steven? Is that you?
But it was Marty who had suddenly, finally, spoken up in Lorraine’s mind. She closed her eyes with relief to know he was there.
Lorraine, there’s danger . . . You have to get out of there!
Something was wrong. This wasn’t the Marty she knew. Before, his urgency was born of strength. Now it seemed full of desperation.
Marty? Where have you been? Are you all right?
No, no. You must get away from them. They’ll kill you. Do you hear me? They’ll kill you, and Julie, and Steven. I’ve seen what they can do!
I lost contact with Julie and Steven. Did something happen to them?
They were given sedatives, but they’re all right. The danger right now is to you.
Marty, they keep trying to see if I look like you inside. Why would they be doing that? Of course I don’t look like you inside! I’m a girl, and you’re a boy!
That . . . that isn’t what they mean. Lorraine, listen to me. You must get away from them.