Read Online The Case of the Vanishing Boy by Alexander Key - Free Book Online Page B

nodded. “I—I see it. Ginny is just a hostage. They’ll use her to get me back.”
    Heron nodded. “It has to be that.”
    â€œWell, I’m ready to be traded. Any time.” He tried to make his voice sound confident, but it was far from the way he felt.
    â€œYou’re very brave, son.”
    â€œI’m not brave. But I have to do it. There’s no other way to get Ginny back.”
    â€œHm. But even, if we make the trade, they might not return Ginny. Have you thought of that?”
    â€œYes, sir. I’ve been thinking of it. I’ve a feeling that once Big Doc—whoever he is—gets his hands on me, he’ll try to keep both of us.”
    â€œWhat makes you feel that way?”
    Jan chewed on his lip a moment. “Well, it’s several things. If they believed Ginny was really blind and couldn’t see anything, why did they bother to drug her?”
    â€œHm!” Heron looked startled. “Go on, son.”
    â€œThen there’s Angus. There’s no reason why they should even know him, especially if they’re interested only in me. But they knew him—they even called him by name—and, well, how could they possibly have learned ahead of time that he was going to drive Ginny to Glendale today? She usually takes the train. Anyway, if the extra guards had come, they would have driven her.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œSo, well, it sort of looks like Big Doc knew a lot about the Rhodes family before I ever came here.”
    â€œGood lord! I hope to heaven you’re wrong!”
    â€œI sure hope I am too. But when you think about it, Ginny would be just as valuable to Big Doc as I am. I mean, what she can do is amazing. If he’s found out about her, and figures he knows how to control her …”
    â€œGod forbid! But first he’d have had to learn the truth about her, and I don’t see how he could have managed it. You’re the only person besides the family who knows.”
    â€œDoesn’t Mr. Lane know?” Jan asked, nodding across the big room toward the lawyer and Bill Zorn in deep discussion near the recorder. “He knows about you and your sister.”
    He doesn’t know everything about us,” the doctor said quietly. “Jackson and I grew up together, and he realized early that what he’d learned about us had better remain a secret. Even his wife doesn’t know. As for Ginny, he may suspect she has odd abilities, simply because she’s a member of an odd family. But I doubt if he knows the truth—and I’m certain he’d never allow himself to mention a word about any of us to a soul.”
    Heron Rhodes paused. He was grimly silent for a moment. “Of course,” he went on finally, “it’s possible that Big Doc knows far more about us than I’ve supposed. I overlook the fact that certain countries are spending huge sums to investigate and develop people like us—we’d be worth billions to them in time of war—and that Big Doc could be over here on a search for talent. In that case I’d be high on his list as a possible source of material. The European medical fraternity certainly knows of my interest in unusual minds. We could have been watched for months.”
    â€œMaybe that’s it,” said Jan, though he was far from convinced, in spite of the doctor’s logic.
    Heron Rhodes sighed like a man in pain. “I—I don’t know, son. I just don’t know. It’s hard to think right now. I’d rather be dead than lose Ginny.”
    Jan swallowed. In the short time he’d known Ginny, she had come to mean more to him than he would ever have thought possible.
    â€œYou’re not going to lose her,” he managed to say.
    â€œI wish I could believe you,” the doctor muttered. “But something tells me exchanging you for her isn’t going to work.”
    Hecuba, restlessly pacing the library,