The Ex Who Glowed in the Dark (Charley's Ghost) Read Online Free Page A

instructions that we should pack what we could get in the car, put my bicycle on the rack, drive north and abandon the car in Nebraska. I was then to take the bicycle and ride to a used car lot. With one of the new identities, I was to buy another car for cash. We were to take that car and head south to Texas. If we ever felt threatened, we were to pick up and move again using another identity. Grant and I were freaked out that our parents were dead, and we didn’t know what to do. So we did what he said. We ran.”
    “I don’t understand,” Amanda said slowly, trying to take in the strange tale. “What was your father talking to the authorities about? Who are you running from?” The mysterious they again?
    Dawson pulled off his glasses and shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s the problem. I assume Mom knew, but she’s dead too. Now these people want some code that Dad wrote for Project Verdant, and I don’t have it. I took all our laptops when we ran, Dad’s, mine and Grant’s. I know about computers. I’ve been through all of them, and I can’t find anything about Project Verdant. There's a lot of code that Dad wrote, but it's all small stuff for his economics classes. I can’t give them what I don’t have. How am I going to get my brother back?”
    Amanda shivered. If Dawson was telling the truth, if he was sane and sober, the situation was bad. If he wasn’t, well, that could be worse. Either way, they were in trouble.

     
    Chapter Three
     
    Dawson picked up the laptop and stood. “I’m sorry. I can’t work today. I need to go home and—” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Search through the computers again. Do something.”
    Though he stood only a couple of feet away, Dawson seemed to be a million miles away, all alone and scared. Amanda thought of her own recent trip to the courthouse with her father by her side. She could have done it without him, but it had meant a lot to have him with her. Later in the day she would be meeting her birth mother for a celebration. Then there was also the mother who’d raised her and wanted to see her, albeit to talk about baby shower invitations. Her family might be a little offbeat, but they were there for her. Dawson was trying to face his problem alone.
    “Of course you can’t work today. Neither can I. We’re not busy. We’ll close the place and I’ll go with you to your apartment to help you look for Grant.” Or look for his sanity. Whichever had been lost.
    Dawson shook his head. “I appreciate that, but there’s nothing you can do. My brother’s gone. They came in and took him in the middle of the night and didn’t leave any trace evidence.”
    “Trace evidence?” Charley repeated. “He’s been watching too many crime shows. Do not go with him to his apartment. He’ll get you in there and lop off your head.”
    “I’m sure you know more about trace evidence than I do,” Amanda said, speaking to Dawson while glaring at Charley, “but let’s go look again anyway. We’ll start at the last place you saw your brother. Where and when was that?” If he said he’d last seen his brother during a computer game, she wouldn’t count on finding any unknown DNA in his apartment.
    “Last night. He finished his homework, went into his bedroom and closed the door, and that’s the last time I saw him. I didn’t even check on him. I just left him in there, and they took him.” Dawson headed for the door, his movements mechanical like those of a robot.
    This man should not be allowed to ride the motorcycle that was his only mode of transportation. That settled it. She absolutely had to go with him, help him somehow.
    “We should take the truck,” she said, referring to the battered pick-up they used to transport bikes and parts. “I’ll drive.”
    Dawson looked back, his expression vague. “Okay.”
    He hated to ride in that truck with its disorderly ripped seats, missing radio knobs and other imperfections. It completely offended his OCD