Page 87 of The Cottage on Plum Island
He peeked around the door, but the room appeared to be empty. Harley stepped inside and looked around. The bed was rumpled where he could see she’d been sitting. Muddy footprints on the floor led from the glass door that went into a small private garden area.
Harley walked to the glass doors and slid them open. His gaze assessed the neatly cut hedge and bright patches of flowers Angela had planted under the watchful eye of the nurses. But there was no sign of Angela. Harley stood still, cocking his head to hear if she was in the bathroom, but the room was quiet. Turning to close the door, he saw a flash of red and white beneath a low-lying bush.
Harley frowned and walked into the garden to see what it was and was surprised to see it was Daniel’s superhero lunch box. He reached down and picked it up, hearing there was something inside it.
“What on earth?” Harley said, walking back into Angela’s room.
He sat at the small desk, putting the lunch box before him. Memories of Daniel proudly taking it to school when he was six flashedthrough Harley’s mind, and tears stung his eyes. He was amazed to see Angela had kept it.
“She must’ve brought it with her when she was transferred here,” Harley told himself.
As Harley looked at the security lock on the box, he remembered how Daniel loved the fact that it had a secret code to unlock it. However, they all knew the code, so Harley hoped it was still the same. He punched in the month of each of their birthdays, and the box popped open. As he opened it, he couldn’t help but tear up. He could still hear the echoes of Daniel’s delighted laugh every time the box dramatically popped open.
Only there wasn’t a hidden stash of sweets or baseball cards in the box. There was a thumb drive and a note.
Harley,
The BAD MAN killed Annie’s sister and Clair, and now they are coming for me.
Take the drive to Uncle Sam and ONLY Uncle Sam.
Be careful, as the BAD MAN has eyes and ears everywhere.
He’s framing Duncan for Clair’s murder because we know the truth.
Angela
Harley stared at the note in disbelief for a few seconds before reaching into the box and taking the thumb drive, which he pocketed alongwith Angela’s note. He felt like he was in a video game where you had to find objects and rescue people. Only Harley had missed or overlooked a whole lot of pieces along the way.
He looked down at the lunch box, and something made him take a felt pen and some paper. Harley scribbled a note on it, put it in the box, locked it, and placed it back beneath the bush as close to how Harley found it as he could remember. He’d just pushed it into place when the room door slammed open. Harley was still crouched down as he turned and saw who it was.
“What are you doing…” Harley didn’t get a chance to finish as things happened so fast.
“I’ll take that!”
That was the last thing Harley heard before something stung his shoulder, and the world around him went black.
“Harley!” A female voice called to him from behind a thick foggy veil. “Wake up!”
Harley tried to open his eyes, but they felt so heavy because he was so tired.
“HARLEY!”
Something thumped painfully into his shoulder, making him pry his eyes open. The world around him was fuzzy. All of a sudden, a face appearedin front of him.
“Oh, good, you’re awake!” The face and voice were familiar, but he couldn’t quite capture them through his fuzzy brain. “Now get us the heck out of here!”
“Where am I?” Harley squeezed his eyes shut and tried to lift his arm to rub them but couldn’t. Frowning, he looked down as the fuzz started to clear and he looked at the ropes secured around his body. “I’m tied to a chair?”
“Oh great! His brain’s fried!”
Harley shook the last of the fog away, which left him with a dull headache and a dry mouth.
“What did he drug me with?” Harley tried to wet his mouth and lips.
“Probably a dart from that tranquilizer gun.”
He turned his head. “Oh, you are here.”
