The Super Spies and the High School Bomber (25 page)

Aunt June stopped in front of room two hundred seventy-five. Sarah stared at the door protecting her uncle. She sighed, suddenly weary.

Uncle Walt's room was right next to the nurses' station. Noticing an orderly sitting there, Sarah studied him. He watched the group with a dispassionate eye. She took in his close-cropped hair and thin build. All at once, it dawned on her; he was one of the undercover FBI agents. The discreet earpiece was a dead giveaway, invisible to the untrained eye. Sarah smirked—
I'm a great detective
. Just knowing that there was an agent nearby made her feel safe and she relaxed.

Aunt June faced the girls. “Okay, who wants to go first?”

“I will,” Lacey blurted out and then looked at her sister.

Sarah rolled her eyes and sighed. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” Lacey gave her arm a squeeze before walking toward his room.

“Remember, only five minutes,” Aunt June warned.

Lacey nodded then disappeared inside the room.

It seemed like only seconds before Lacey was back outside. She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

A new wave of anxiety washed over Sarah as she looked at Uncle Walt's door.

“Go ahead, sweetheart.” Aunt June gave her a gentle nudge.

Sarah took a deep breath and stepped toward the door. Once inside, she noticed the shades were drawn. The only light came from the monitors beeping and flashing beside the bed.

He lay there, motionless. Sarah gulped; her throat was suddenly parched and scratchy. Taking a step closer, she gasped when she saw how frail her uncle seemed. A sob caught in her throat as she stared at him. His head was heavily bandaged and it appeared as if a tube was growing out of his scalp. She studied the tube and realized that it led to a monitor that beeped every few minutes.

Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at her uncle. He seemed so small and fragile lying there, lifeless. She took a few more steps and found herself next to his bed.

Touching his hand, her tears spilled down her cheeks. He was cold, so she adjusted the blankets around him.

“Uncle Walt, we're going to catch the guys who did this,” she whispered as she stroked his hand. “You just work on getting better.”

She stared into his face, hoping for a reaction. There was none.

More tears spilled down her cheeks and she dropped his hand to wipe her face on her sleeve. “Uncle Walt, we need you to get better.”

Sarah stroked his hand and sniffed. Staring at her uncle, she willed him to open his eyes. A movement caught her attention. She wasn't sure what it was, just a shift or something, but there it was again. It was a flutter, she was sure of it—a flutter of his eyelids.

Leaning in, Sarah gazed at her uncle's face. His eyes flashed open and just as quickly closed. For the briefest of seconds, Sarah made eye contact with him. Her heart soared.
I'm sure he recognized me
!

She raced out of the room and collided with Lacey, almost knocking her down. “He opened his eyes! He opened his eyes!”

Aunt June stared at Sarah then ran into the room. Seconds later, she was back out, dashing toward the nurses' station.

“Please, call the doctor! He opened his eyes!”

The nurse grabbed the phone and paged the doctor. He called back in seconds and she relayed the information to him. She hung up the phone and faced the group. “He's on his way.”

Aunt June smoothed her hair away from her face and adjusted her ponytail. “I'm going back inside. ”

“Okay.” Sarah paced in front of Uncle Walt's door unable to sit still.
If he's awake, maybe he can come home.
Her fingers tingled as she walked.

Jackie strolled with her. A wave of gratitude overwhelmed Sarah and she reached out and squeezed her friend's arm.

Jackie winked at her. “This is awesome news, girlfriend.”

“Yes it is,” Sarah said with a smile. “Now, all we have to do is catch those guys.”

Jackie pulled on her curls. “I hope Scott can get us that list.”

A doctor came striding down the hall. He nodded briskly at the girls, before he walked into Uncle Walt's room.

Gazing at the doctor as he rushed by, Sarah noted his piercing blue eyes and thinning dark hair. He towered above the teenagers and had a quiet air of authority about him. She was comforted by this and knew instinctively that Uncle Walt was in good hands.

Sarah and Jackie stopped pacing and huddled together in the hall. Lacey was quick to join them.

Sarah glanced at her sister. “Can you ask Scott about that list?”

“Yeah, I'll give him a call.” Lacey pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and walked down the hall, punching numbers as she went. Sarah followed her sister with her eyes, chewing on her thumbnail.

She turned to Jackie. “Once we get that list, we can find out if they have any connection to Randy Ferguson.”

“So true, girlfriend.”

Aunt June and the doctor came out of Uncle Walt's room. The doctor nodded to Aunt June and then hurried down the hall.

Sarah's aunt walked up. “Okay, girls. Let's go home and get some dinner.”

“What about Uncle Walt?”

Aunt June smiled at her niece. “The doctor is very encouraged by this new development.”

“And?” Sarah gestured with her hands.

Aunt June cracked a wide grin. “Your uncle didn't say anything, he went right back to sleep. But the doctor thinks it would be best if I stay the night in case your uncle wakes back up.”

“What about me and Lacey?”

“Sorry, only one family member can spend the night.” Aunt June gave Sarah a quick hug. “I thought maybe Jackie could spend the night at our house?” She glanced at Jackie and raised her eyebrows. “I'll call your mother and see if it's okay.”

“Awesome.” Jackie gave Aunt June an innocent smile and winked at Sarah.

Lacey closed her phone and sauntered up to the group. “So what's the scoop?”

“Aunt June is spending the night at the hospital with Uncle Walt, and hopefully Jackie is spending the night with us.” Sarah glanced at her friend and cracked a smile.

“Cool,” Lacey said.

“So,” Aunt June said as she clapped her hands together. “Let's get some food. How about Chinese tonight?”

“Sweet and sour chicken,” Lacey blurted out.

“Mongolian beef,” Sarah chimed in.

Aunt June laughed. “How about you, Jackie?”

“I'll have cashew chicken.”

Aunt June laughed again and a feeling of peace flowed through Sarah's body. She knew things were looking up if her aunt was relaxed enough to laugh.

Aunt June gathered her purse and planner and motioned for the girls to follow her. “I'm calling Jackie's mom now, then I'll call Wongs and order the food.”

Aunt June led the way down the hall. Trailing a few paces behind her aunt, Sarah whispered to Lacey. “Okay, Lace, what'd you find out?”

“Scott's going to try and find a list of the victims. He thinks he saw his dad with one.”

“Awesome, then all we have to do is find the connection between them and Randy Ferguson.”

Sarah clenched her hands.
We're so close, I can feel it
. “When Aunt June comes back to spend the night, we'll call Scoop and see what he found out about Ali Hameedi.”

“Cool beans.”

Aunt June stopped when she reached the stairwell and faced the girls. “I just got off the phone with Jackie's mom. She's okay with her spending the night.”

The Super Spies exchanged mischievous glances and giggled.

“This is going to be an awesome Saturday night, girlfriend,” Jackie said as she gave Sarah a quick squeeze.

“You got that right.”

“Can we stop by my house so I can pick up a few things?” Jackie asked Aunt June.

“Sure.”

“Don't forget we have to get our bikes from the rack,” Lacey called from behind.

“Thanks for the reminder, Lace,” Aunt June said over her shoulder.

The group proceeded down the stairs. A chill of anticipation ran down Sarah's spine. She shivered.
I can't wait to put the bombers behind bars
.

Upon reaching the landing, Sarah weaved her way between people. She wanted to get to work right away. It shocked her that Randy Ferguson had eluded the FBI not once but twice.
Just who is Randy Ferguson? Is he a career terrorist
? She frowned and wrinkled her brow as she moved forward, her hands clenched into tight balls.
I'm going to get some answers
.

 

 

After they ate their Chinese food, the Super Spies waited for Aunt June to pack an overnight bag and head back to the hospital. They waved good-bye at the door, and then scurried back to the kitchen.

Sarah rubbed her forehead. “Okay, I'm going to call Scoop and see if he found anything today. Lace, you check with Scott, and don't talk forever, okay?”

Lacey stuck her tongue out at her. “Shut up.” She grabbed her cell phone and raced down to the bedroom.

Sarah punched Scoop's number into her phone. “It's ringing.”

“Cool beans.”

“Hello?” Scoop's voice boomed through the phone.

“Hi, it's Sarah.”

“I bet you're calling to get the scoop.”

Sarah cracked up laughing. “You got that right.”

He chuckled. “Well, let's see. Ali Hameedi does have relatives back in Afghanistan, but that's all I found out.”

“So, do you think he could be the target?”

“At this point, I just don't know. Anything is possible.”

Sarah frowned and sighed. “Okay, Scoop, keep digging and let me know if you find anything.”

“Okay.”

“Guess what we found out,” Sarah teased.

“What?”

“The bomber's name is Randy Ferguson. Do you know him?”

“Hmmm, that name rings a bell. Let me look into it and I'll call you back.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Sarah disconnected the call and looked at Jackie. “Ali Hameedi has relatives in Afghanistan, but that's all he found.”

“Bummer, I was hoping he'd have more.”

Sarah pursed her lips and blew air through them. “Yeah, me too. Hopefully, Scott comes up with something.”

“It may take forever to get information out of the lovebirds.” Jackie giggled.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “You can say that again.”

“It may take—”

“I get it.” Sarah snickered. “Well, let's hop on the computer and see if we can find anything.”

“Cool beans.”

They strolled into Uncle Walt's office. Sarah pulled another chair up to the desk before she turned on the computer. She logged on and then signed in to her account.

“Now, let's start searching.” Jackie brushed a curl out of her face.

Sarah typed in Ali Hameedi. After sifting through a few of the pages, Sarah found the teacher. His page popped up and Sarah studied the information.

Sarah relayed the information. “He teaches social studies at the high school, and he's been teaching for ten years. He's married and has two young boys.”

“Pull up his friends list,” Jackie said.

Sarah pulled up his friends and scrolled through them. “I don't see anyone I know, do you?”

Jackie shook her head. “No, I don't. Hey, see if he's friends with Randy Ferguson.”

Sarah nudged her friend. “Good thinking.”

“Yeah, I know.” She gave Sarah a cocky grin and then turned her attention back to the computer.

“Well, Ali Hameedi isn't friends with Randy Ferguson. So, there's no connection there, but maybe we can find Randy Ferguson.”

“Search, girlfriend, search.” Jackie pretended to crack a whip.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She typed in the criminal's name and waited as the computer searched. “Ugh, there's like thirty of them out there.”

Lacey walked into the room, interrupting them. “Hey guys.”

“Hey, so, can Scott get us the info?” Sarah asked.

“He said he'd e-mail you the list. He found it on his dad's computer.”

“Awesome!”

Lacey cracked a smile. “Yeah, he is pretty awesome, isn't he?”

Sarah rolled her eyes again. “Whatever.”

Jackie nudged her friend. “Check your e-mail, see if it's there.”

Sarah typed in her password. “Holy cow! It's here already.”

“See, I told ya. He's awesome.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows and smirked at Jackie. “Okay, I'll just print this list out.”

The sound of keyboard keys clicking filled the room, followed by the whir of the printer.

Jackie ambled over to the printer and pulled off the pages. “Wow, there's about ten people on this list.”

“Yeah.” Sarah nodded grimly and looked at Lacey. “Are these all patients at the hospital now?”

“Yep.”

Sarah sighed. “Okay, let's start working.”

Jackie glanced up from the page she was studying. “Are these all teachers?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Lacey nodded.

Jackie pursed her lips and let out a low whistle. “Wow.”

Sarah frowned. “One of these teachers is the target.”

“So true, but which one?” Jackie asked as she studied the list. “I mean, we've got Walt Bennett, Ali Hameedi, Mark Anderson, Bill Stevens… Bill Stevens? He's the football coach. We didn't have a winning team until he took over coaching.” Jackie sank back into her chair as she studied the list.

“For real?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah, he put our school on the map with his coaching. The whole town's going to be bummed if he doesn't make it.”

Sarah reached over and pulled a pad of paper out of a drawer. “We need to write our ideas down.” She searched for a pen then wrote on the pad.

“This might not have anything to do with terrorism.” Jackie furrowed her brow. “Do you think this Ferguson guy had a beef with one of the teachers?”