The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past

Chapter 10 - The Stakeout

“What?” Binny stepped out from behind Caleb. Caleb remained silent but his eyes got a little wider as he paused his efforts for a moment.

Zach noticed Caleb’s concern, “Uh, well, not missing exactly, she’s just gone out to play somewhere in the neighborhood and I’m not sure where.”

“Sounds like she’s missing to me.” Binny’s hands moved to her hips.

“Mom and Dad asked me to watch her before they went out on errands, and I was playing my game, and all of a sudden she’d disappeared. Can you help me find her before they get back?”

“You want me to help you find her so that you don’t get in trouble?” Binny recalled her anger at her brother from earlier.

“I need your help Binny. Please?” Zach was desperate, the apology she hadn’t allowed him to make earlier now clearly visible in his eyes.

“Fine. I’ll help you.”

The older Jordan siblings were about to leave the woods in search of their sister when they heard Caleb clear his throat, indicating he’d like their attention. They stopped in their tracks and looked at him expectantly.

 “I’m sure your baby sister is fine and just found something that caught her interest,” Caleb said slowly and deliberately. But, if you don’t find her in fifteen minutes, I expect you to call your parents and ask for their help. Even if it means you’ll get in trouble. OK?”

“Yes.” They answered in unison. Then they turned on their heels and sprinted out of the woods. 

§

 “I know you made it seem like you were less worried in front of Caleb, but… you’re scared… aren’t you?” Binny got the words out between the big breaths she was drawing as they ran.

Zach wasn’t sure how to answer her. He didn’t want to make her as nervous as he felt, and he didn’t want to confess to being worried about getting in trouble with their parents either. “Let’s just find her, okay?”

“Do you think he has her?” Now it was Binny’s turn to sound nervous.

“Knowing her, she wandered over there to play with that dog. ‘Cause she felt like it.”

The man’s house was close by. They crept up to their familiar spot behind the man’s back fence in time to witness him entering the yard with that large dog and their little sister in tow. Binny was about to stand up and call out to Cassie when Zach shushed her.

“What?” Binny hissed at Zach.

“First of all, we’re spying again and I don’t want to get in trouble for that too. Second of all, you wanted to know what the man wants with her, now we’re going to find out.”

“You’re, you’re,” Binny stammered, “you’re using her as bait!”

“Binny, we’re right here. We can see her. She’s not going anywhere. And if anything looks fishy we can grab her up.”

“You don’t think a strange man inviting a seven-year-old girl into his house is already fishy?”

“Of course it is, but we need to know why.”

Binny chewed on this for awhile. She definitely did not like the idea of leaving her sister in potential harm’s way even for a brief moment. But Cassie certainly looked in good spirits.

“I still think you’re afraid of getting in trouble with Mom and Dad.” Binny’s whispered admonition hung in the silence between them.

The man took the leash off his dog so the big creature could run around the fenced in back yard freely, and then turned his attention to the back door. The man used his key to unlock the sliding glass door. There was a keypad just inside the house. They could see the man pressing a sequence of keys presumably to turn off an alarm.