Uncle and Ants by Marc Jedel

Author:Marc Jedel [Jedel, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC022070, FIC022100, FIC016000
ISBN: 9781732716407
Publisher: BGM Press
Published: 2018-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

19

Thursday Afternoon

“She’s quite the special young lady,” said the voice.

I fumbled with my phone, looking for some app to record the call. Why didn’t I have an app that could trace calls and send in a special police SWAT team?

The voice continued, “I’m Dr. Nathan Mahowald. I’m a professor in the biology department at Santa Clara University.”

Although still flummoxed, my heart rate slowed. I didn’t think normal kidnappers gave their full names or worked as a professor at a prestigious university. “Why do you have her? What’s she doing?”

“Skye showed up a little while ago for an appointment she’d requested. I was startled when I saw how young she was. I told her that she needed to go to school,” said Dr. Mahowald.

Now confused, I stopped pacing along the sidewalk. “Why did she meet with you?”

“We’ve been corresponding for a while. She had questions about a project she’s doing on Dorymyrmex insanus.”

“What?” I couldn’t help myself.

“They’re commonly called crazy ants.”

“You’re kidding?” With everything else going on, I couldn’t believe he was talking about ants.

The professor continued, “Based on her questions and the depth of her research, I assumed she was in a community college or at least high school.”

“That’s Skye for you. But it’s only a seventh-grade science fair project.” The DroneTech security guards might have seen the steam coming out of my ears. Skye hijacked Rover, put my career in jeopardy and interrupted the search for Laney’s attacker all for some crazy ants. It wasn’t the professor’s fault, but I was going insane.

“You have a budding scientist on your hands.” Dr. Mahowald sounded impressed.

If I don’t kill her first. “Could you put her on the phone?”

Skye spoke with an unsteady voice. “Uncle Marty? I’m sorry I skipped school. Dr. Mahowald is like an expert on endangered ants. I couldn’t get the Rover car to respond. Mom was going to take me and I didn’t know what to do.” Skye started crying.

I’d never known how to handle people when they cry. I took a deep breath and told her to stop. “Ok. Don’t cry. We’ll talk more later. I’ll take a taxi to come get you.”

“Thanks.” She sniffed and, with her voice steadying, asked, “Could you not tell Mom about skipping?”

“We’ll talk later,” I said, careful not to promise anything. At this point, I’d ground her myself. I gulped as I remembered the Amber Alert.

“Skye, I’ve got to go. I’ll be there soon.” I hung up.

I called Sergeant Jackson again.

No greeting again. “Now what? Pretty busy here.”

Although I could feel Jackson’s lack of love, I needed to give him the update. “Yes, sorry, it’s Marty again. I just heard from Skye. She’s okay after all.”

“What?” Jackson’s voice raised from his normal low rumble. “I thought she was missing and you didn’t know what happened to her?” He didn’t sound pleased.

I babbled, “It’s … um … because of her ants. I mean, her science fair.”

“What?” Jackson’s voice grew more curt and annoyed. “I just put out an Amber Alert.”

My nervousness increased. “Stupid science fair.

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