Suddenly, one Tuesday, everything is different for April Corrigan. She has a new name and a new home. But still the man with the eyes as dark as night wants to kill her and her family. Can she stop him?
CHAPTER ONE
My name is April Corrigan and I am seventeen years old. Last year my family lived in Northwood, Virginia. My father worked in an aeroplane office and my mother wrote children’s books. My little brother, Bram, was eight years old. We were a happy family then. But one day in May things changed for us all.
I remember that Tuesday very well. It was a beautiful sunny morning. I got a glass of milk and sat down at the kitchen table with Mother and Bram.
‘Anything in the newspaper about Dad?’ I asked.
‘Nothing today,’ Mother said. ‘April, please eat some breakfast.’
‘No thanks, I’m late,’ I answered. ‘Look, Steve’s here for me. Don’t forget, Jodi and I have a tennis game after school today. See you later.’
I ran out to the car. My boyfriend, Steve, was outside, ready to drive me to school. Steve and I were best friends and he drove me to school every day.
‘Hi,’ smiled Steve. ‘Why are you looking sad this morning?’
‘It’s about Dad … I want to know that he’s OK,’ I said.
‘April, what’s happening?’ asked Steve. ‘Why is your dad in Washington? Does he know that man, Loftin? Do the police think your dad knows something about Loftin and drugs?’
‘Yeah, Dad knows Loftin. He’s Dad’s boss and they often go to South America together,’ I said. ‘But Dad doesn’t know anything about drugs!’’
Soon we arrived at school and I went in to start my last day at Springside Academy. I had an English class first and read some of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I ate lunch with Steve and my best friend, Jodi. We made our plans for after school. I wanted Steve to come to my house — he sometimes helped me with my English.
‘Good luck with the game today! See you later,’ Steve said. He went off to his next class.
That was the last time I saw Steve. In the afternoon my teacher told me to go to the office and take all my things with me. I saw my grandmother, Lorelei, in the office.
‘Come along, April,’ she said. ‘I’m taking you home.’
CHAPTER TWO
‘Why are we going home? I can’t leave now. I have an important tennis game after school,’ I told Lorelei.
‘You can’t play today, April,’ she said. ‘Your mother asked me to bring you home. I don’t know what’s happening.’
We drove home quickly in Lorelei’s Porsche. Bram and Mother were in the front room with Max, my father’s best friend. I knew that Max worked for the FBI.
‘Max is here because something bad happened today,’ Mother said. ‘Somebody tried to kill your dad. He’s OK, but the police are looking for the gunman. Max says we must leave here. He’s putting us in a hotel tonight.’ She looked at me. ‘No questions now, April. Go and get your things for the hotel.’
I went to my bedroom and took my big, old bag out of the cupboard. In it I saw the things from my last visit to Jodi’s house, some school books and a letter in an envelope to a sports shop. I put the dirty jeans and my tennis shirt in the bathroom and put some clean jeans and a few good shirts in my bag. Then I went down to the front room.
‘I can take the dog to my house tonight,’ Lorelei said. ‘But please, phone me later from the hotel, dear, so I know you’re OK.’ ‘I can’t call,’ Mother said. ‘Max says that nobody must know where we are. I’m sorry.’
We got into Max’s car. I looked out of the car window at my home, my grandmother and our dog, Porky. I’ll never forget that picture.
In the town car park Max stopped next to a big, black car. The driver smiled at us.
‘This is Jim Peterson,’ Max said. ‘He’s your driver and a policeman. Please be careful, Liz, and do what Jim says.’
We moved our bags into the black car and Max left. Jim started his car and we drove quickly out of the town.
‘Now, Mother, can you tell me what’s happening?’ I asked. ‘What does Dad know? He only works in an aeroplane office.’ ‘No, April,’ she said. ‘Like Max, your dad is working for the FBI.’
CHAPTER THREE
At the Mayflower Hotel a young man took all our bags up to our rooms on the fourteenth floor. Mother looked very tired. ‘Can I go and swim now?’ Bram asked.
‘First we must talk,’ Jim said. ‘I’m sorry, Bram, but you can’t swim at this hotel. Nobody must know you’re here.’
‘I must call Steve, tonight,’ I said. ‘I didn’t say goodbye to him.’
‘You know we can’t make any telephone calls,’ said Mother. ‘Why must we do what Jim says?’ I answered angrily. I ran into the bedroom and shut the door. Next to the bed I saw a telephone.
‘I can call Steve from here,’ I thought and sat down on the bed. Suddenly the phone rang and I picked it up. Before I said ‘Hello,’ I heard Jim say, ‘Hi, Max. Where are you? In the office?’ He was on the phone from the other room.
Then I heard Max say, ‘No, I’m at home. Please tell Liz she can talk to George tomorrow. And Jim, don’t forget, that family is in danger. They can’t leave that hotel. George knows all about the drugs.’
‘They’re all OK here with me, Max. Good-night.’
‘What can I do now?’ I thought. ‘I can’t tell Mother about this.’
At that minute Bram came into the bedroom. ‘Mum says that dinner is ready. Are you going to eat with us?’
I smiled at him. ‘Yeah, Bram, I’m coming. I’m hungry, too.’ Together we went in to eat dinner with Mother and Jim.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next morning Jim bought us a newspaper. ‘Liz, it says here that George and Loftin brought drugs back from South America. Is that right?’
‘Yes, Jim. He did it to help the police,’ Mother said. ‘He always wanted to be like Max. He did what Max asked him to do. It was very easy for him. He worked in that office with Loftin for years.’
We stayed at the Mayflower for two more weeks. Every day I thought of Steve and my grandmother. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner in our room and we watched television. Mother wrote stories every day. We only saw the people from the hotel and we never went outside.
Then one day Max rang Mother. ‘Loftin’s going to prison,’ he said.
‘Can we go home now?’ Bram asked. ‘I want to see Porky.’ ‘No,’ Mother said. ‘Max says we must stay here for now. The police say it’s dangerous for us to go home.’
‘Oh, no!’ I shouted. ‘More time here in this hotel? It’s a prison!’
Mother turned to me. ‘Be quiet, April. We all want to go home, not only you. I must finish my book before August, you know.’ ‘This is too bad,’ I cried. ‘Now I can’t go to the end of the year school dance with Steve. I want him to know I’m OK, Mother, but Jim says I can’t call him. I don’t know what to do.’
I ran into my bedroom and sat on the bed and cried.
Soon I heard somebody come into the room behind me. It was Jim.
‘I want to speak to you, April,’ he said. ‘You’re seventeen years old. You’re not a child now. Please think of your mother. She doesn’t know when she’ll see your father again. Please do nothing to make her feel worse and don’t try to telephone your boyfriend.’
He left the room. I looked at Mother’s desk and all the papers on it. She sat there and wrote her book every day.
‘I can write to Steve!’ I thought. I took Mother’s pen and wrote:
Dear Steve,
I’m OK. The hotel is nice, but we never go outside. I’ll tell you everything later. I think of you every day.
All my love,
A
I remembered the envelope in my bag. I found it, took out the old letter and put in my letter to Steve. Then I carefully closed the envelope and wrote Steve’s name on the outside.
That night, Jim, Mother and Bram all went to bed at eleven o’clock. At midnight everything was quiet. I got out of bed, left the room and put my letter to Steve in the hotel letter-box. Nobody saw me. Then I went back to bed.
CHAPTER FIVE
We stayed for three more days at the Mayflower. Every day was the same as the others. Mother wrote her book, we read and watched television from morning to night.
On Saturday afternoon Jim said, ‘I’ve had too much television. I’m going out. I’ll buy some games and we can all play tonight.’
He left and I started to read to Bram. Suddenly we heard somebody at the door.
‘That’s the woman with my coffee,’ Mother said from the bedroom. ‘She’s a little late, but open the door, please.’
I opened the door a little and saw a tall woman outside. She had a dark face and very, very dark eyes. Then I saw that her hair was very light. ‘Something’s wrong here,’ I thought. The woman started to push the door open but I stopped it with my foot. I pushed back.
‘Bram! Mother! Come quickly,’ I shouted. ‘Help me!’
We all pushed the door very hard but the woman was stronger than the three of us. Slowly, slowly the door opened . . . Then I saw Jim behind the woman. He had a big box of games in his hands. He saw the woman and started to run to our room.
‘Shut that door, April!’ he shouted.
The woman turned and looked at Jim. Quickly we closed the door. There was a noise from outside: BANG!
‘What’s happening? That wasn’t a woman! It was a man!’ shouted Mother.
She put her ear to the door and listened carefully. She heard nothing, not a sound.
‘Perhaps Jim went after him,’ Bram said. ‘Please call Max, Mum!’
Jim didn’t come back, but Max arrived six hours later. His face was sad.
‘Get your things together, fast. The police will be here in five minutes. But we’re leaving now.’ Then he asked me, ‘Did you see the man’s face?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘His eyes were as black as night.’
‘Yeah,’ Max said, ‘That was Mike Vamp. They sent him after you. But how did he know you were here?’
I remembered my letter to Steve, but I said nothing.
