I have started walking. I am alone most of the day and there is no one to notice my absences. Our neighborhood is surrounded by a fence twenty feet high topped with barbed wire. I thought about cutting the fence but am sure it is electrified or monitored. Whatever it is my husband does, it must be very important for him to be able to afford this much security.
—The diary of Megan Jean
By the time they exited the van it was almost two in the morning. The way Mia saw it, that meant six hours until Andrew’s arrival. Time was moving slowly.
“I don’t see a house,” Corinna said. She tried her hardest to keep her voice low, but it still echoed along the trees.
“We’re leaving the van here and walking,” Riley said. “Two people need to stay behind.”
“Why?” Alex asked. “Were you and Mia planning on watching the car?”
“Stop with the comparisons,” Mia said. “More people, new plan.”
“If someone spots the car we need a cover,” Riley said. “We no longer have to take the risk of our vehicle being towed and I’d like to take advantage of that.”
“Why two people?” Corinna asked.
“To keep each other company,” Riley said.
“Oh,” Corinna replied.
“I was kidding,” Riley said. “In case there’s a problem one person can warn us. So any volunteers?”
“I’ll stay,” Mia’s mother said.
“Frank, that means you volunteered yourself,” Riley said.
“Why me?” Frank asked.
“You two can pose as a married couple easier than her and Alex,” Mia said.
Riley grabbed a pack and handed it to Mia. She swung the heavy bag over her shoulders while Riley grabbed the second pack. She took out a meter.
“Follow me,” Riley said.
She crossed the empty road into the trees on the opposite side. Mia signaled for Alex and Corinna to follow first. Mia gave her mother a quick hug and Frank a nod.
“You’ll be fine,” Mia said. “Take care of him.”
Mia gave her mother a wink and started after the rest of the group. They were making more noise than Mia would have liked, stepping on twigs and leaves. They were too wet to make a crunching sound; Mia was thankful for that bit of luck. Corinna slowed down until she was closer to Mia.
“What is that box she’s carrying?” Corinna asked.
“An electronics detector,” Mia replied.
“Why?”
“Grant’s not the average American,” Mia said. “We don’t know how far back his security system spreads. This will make sure we don’t cross over into his area of coverage. When we’re close enough it will tell us where his defenses are.”
“How far away are we?” Corinna asked.
“About five miles from his actual house and about four and a quarter from where his land starts,” Mia said.
“How did you find this out?” Corinna asked.
“Riley,” Mia said. “She said his house has been on television a few times and that made it easier to trace the information she needed.”
“Where will the security system start?”
“That depends on how paranoid he is,” Mia said. “But my guess is it won’t spread that far.”
“Why?”
“Because Grant is rich, powerful, and capable,” Mia said. “He isn’t paranoid. He’s cocky.”
“You knew him well?” Corinna asked.
“I learned a lot about him when I was running away from him,” Mia said.
“Keep quiet,” Riley said. “Grant could have the woods crawling with guards.”
“I doubt that too,” Mia said.
“Why?” Corinna asked.
“Because if someone finds me lurking around America before he does it could mean trouble for him,” Mia said. “Notice when he showed up at Frank and Alex’s house he didn’t have a team with him. He’s not a very trusting person. He would be too scared a guard would ask questions or recognize me somehow.”
“Either way, I don’t want to take any risks we don’t have to,” Riley said. “So stop talking.”
Mia didn’t answer that time.
The group walked for another hour before they took a rest.
“How long have we traveled?” Corinna asked.
“Almost five kilometers,” Riley said.
“So we should be at his house?” Corinna asked.
“Kilometers are different from miles,” Mia said. “We have another mile or so before we reach the edge of his property.”
“Why did we park so far back?” Alex asked. “We crossed at least three roads.”
“Because if we get caught then the others won’t,” Mia said.
“And vice versa,” Riley said.
“Huh?” Corinna asked.
“It means we’ll be safe if Mom and Frank are caught,” Mia said.
Riley passed around a bottle of water and everyone took a sip.
“Why do you call Mom by her name?” Mia asked.
“Anger,” Corinna said.
“I thought you’d forgiven her,” Mia said.
“I have,” Corinna said. “But that doesn’t mean I forgot that she sold me off and then threw me away when I came running home.”
“What else could she have done?”
“I miss my baby boy every day,” Corinna said. “I think about him nonstop, wondering where he is, how he’s doing. I would give my life to see him one last time. Laura did not feel that way about us. I won’t call her ‘Mother.’”
Throughout all of this Mia had forgotten Corinna had birthed a son.
“Have you tried to find him?” Mia asked.
“How?” Corinna asked. “I’m a single woman who’s dead to the world. How could I look for a little baby with no records?”
“Maybe that’s how Mom felt,” Mia said. “About sending you back and selling us. There was no option for her.”
“I was more of a mother to my child in the five hours I had him than she was in the eighteen years she had me,” Corinna said. “Whatever bond I have with my son she never had with us.”
Mia knew her sister was being irrational, but the argument would continue in circles at this point.
“If the Registry and service list are destroyed I will dedicate every breath I have to finding him,” Corinna said.
“Does he have a name?” Alex asked.
Mia had forgotten about Alex and Riley, but both were looking at Corinna with sorrow in their eyes. Mia was shocked to see this display from Riley.
“I called him David, after my own father,” Corinna said. “At the time I didn’t realize his marrying me off was bad. It wasn’t until my baby was taken that I understood the horrible situation I was living in.”
“David is a good name,” Alex said. “I’m sure somewhere out there he’s dreaming about his mother.”
“That’s a lie,” Corinna said. She wiped away a tear. “He couldn’t remember me, but thank you for saying so anyway.”
“We should keep moving,” Riley said.
Everyone stood up again. There was nothing Mia could say to comfort her sister. Corinna’s words only fueled Mia’s hatred for the world they lived in.