The Fugitive Factor by Gordon Korman

Author:Gordon Korman [Korman, Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Aiden and Meg stood on the sidewalk, gazing across East University Street at the glass and gunmetal mini-mall that housed Arrow Travel. They had been there for close to an hour already, trying to work up the courage to go inside.

Aiden was part embarrassed and part bewildered by the paralyzing fear that turned his legs to jelly. A fugitive lived with fear every moment of every day. They had been chased by police and Juvenile authorities and set upon by a mysterious attacker who seemed to be out to kill them. What was so frightening about approaching a travel agent?

Maybe it was this: If the meeting failed, if Jane Macintosh couldn’t help them find Frank Lindenauer, then the Falconer kids would be nowhere, with all their bridges burned. There could be no next move, no plan B, no alternative trail to follow. It would be the end of all hope for Mom and Dad.

Meg shot him a nervous smile. “You could always go back to cutting lawns.”

She had a knack for knowing what was eating him, and he was grateful to her for breaking the silence. “No, thanks.” He swallowed hard. “I guess we’d better get this done.”

It was ten to nine, the tail end of rush hour, and the streets were crowded. But the mini-mall, with its cracked terrazzo and dingy storefronts, was mostly deserted. Things became even quieter as they walked down the stalled escalator to the basement level and Arrow Travel.

“Good morning, kids. How can I help you?”

Aiden was battered by disappointment. The woman behind the desk was a complete and total stranger. She bore absolutely no resemblance to the Aunt Jane of Aiden’s memory or to the young woman in the crinkled photograph in his pocket.

In a shaky voice he barely recognized as his own, he said, “Jane Macintosh?”

She looked surprised. “Do I know you?”

Wordlessly, Aiden pulled out the picture of Aunt Jane and Uncle Frank reclining in lounge chairs around the pool at the Red Jacket Motor Lodge in Colchester, Vermont. He held it for her and stood there, waiting, scarcely daring to breathe. He was barely aware of it when Meg’s small hand stole into his.

It’s a lost cause. She isn’t the person in the picture. She’s fatter. And blond, instead of brunette. We got it wrong! We made a mistake somewhere.

With a series of nearly audible clicks, Jane Macintosh recognized her younger self and her then-boyfriend. She remembered the vacation and the young family she had spent it with. And from that point, she took a guess at who might be coming to her with this piece of her history.

“Oh, my God!” She gawked at the two young people in her office. “You’re not — the Falconer kids? Aiden?” She turned to the girl, who had been just a baby nine years ago. “Meg?”

The relief that flooded over Aiden was like the bursting of a dam. The emotion was too much for him to handle. There were no tears, but he was incapable of speech.

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