Kerry blinked as sunlight hit her face. As she opened her eyes, she could see two faces right above hers.

   “Okay, okay,” she groaned. “Let me get up.”

   Soon Kerry was fully awake, and knowing that her father would be checking his email, shot him a quick message, asking for permission to tell her impatient sisters. He said yes.

   “Alright,” Kerry said as she looked up from her screen. “I can tell you. It’s a boy.”

   “Another boy?” Jana groaned.

  Macie smiled triumphantly. “I knew it was a boy!”

  Kerry stared at her.

  “I said it was a boy, but Jana and Justin said it would be a girl,” Macie explained.

  Kerry grinned at Jana. “I knew it, too. I just didn’t expect it to be a boy.”

  “What’s his name?” Jana asked.

  “Andrew Micaiah,” Kerry replied.

  “Andrew Mi-what?” Jana asked, looking positively confused.

  “Andrew Mi-cai-ah,” Kerry pronounced each syllable carefully.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” Macie called.

  Their father pushed the door open. “You’re on your own today. The midwife suspects that something is wrong with Andrew, so we’re running to the hospital.”

  Then he disappeared.

  “He seemed fine when I saw him,” Kerry said.

  “Some things are more subtle than you think,” Macie said. “I was born with a hole in my heart, but it was fixed before you were born, Kerry.”

  “Really?” Kerry turned to her. “I didn’t know that.”

  Macie smiled and shrugged lightly, as she got off the bed. “Let’s get ready for the day now.”

  Kerry dressed, brushed her hair, and made her bed, then headed downstairs to get breakfast ready.

  She thought about the message that she had received that she had gotten on her bug receiver. She though her suspicions were more or less right, because she was positive that she had seen Kurt Evans, or “Brenton”,  before,

on some newscast where he had been convicted of first-degree murder.

  Kerry was confused.  Her father, who she was sure had been part of his conviction, would probably have remembered Evans  as a criminal. He had very good face remembrance for someone nearing fifty years of age.

  “Not this time,” Kerry said to herself grimly.

  She wondered what she would do. She couldn’t search online, because her parents had installed a system to monitor all the sites that their children visited, and they would wonder what was going on. That was out of the question. Her siblings had no idea what was going on, so it would be absolutely pointless trying to talk with them-and they would probably tell on her anyway-, and because she had not been living here long, she knew almost no

one, much less really trust anyone to keep her secret, except for Triste and Elijah, and they had never seen the man, much less know who he really was.

  By the time that Kerry had set a platter of reheated pastries and sweet rolls on the table, she had nowhere to go with her suspicion, so she tried to drop it.

  But it was impossible. As Kerry ate, worked, and relaxed that day, the nagging thoughts never left her mind, so she gave up trying to make them leave. Kerry pondered through them a few times, but every time was left completely baffled.

  When Kurt Evans stopped by that day, Kerry tried to seem unsuspecting, but almost everyone sensed that something was amiss.

  Elijah, Triste, and Luke Brewster came over just before lunch, bringing with them a fresh lasagna for the hard workers. Everyone ate hungrily and went right back to work.

  Kerry spoke briefly to Elijah, then the two of them went over to Luke, who was digging in a toolbox for a hammer.

  “Luke?” Elijah asked.

  Luke turned to him. “What, Eli?”

  “My new friend, Kerry, needs to talk to you.”

  “What’s going on?” Luke asked.

  “Well, a few years ago, there was a newscast about a criminal who was convicted for first-degree murder,” Kerry explained.

  “And?” Luke folded his arms and raised his eyebrow.

  “He came to our house today, and he’s here now,” Kerry said.

  “How do you know it was him?” Luke questioned.

  “I was watching him talk with my parents, and then it struck me,” Kerry said. “I have my dad’s face remembrance gene, and I knew it had to be him.” She held out her camera. The picture of Kurt Evans was on it.

  Luke studied the picture. “I don’t recall ever seeing him before. Just to be safe, anyways, print out a good quality picture and give it to me. I know some police officers who could help.”

  “Thanks, Luke,” Kerry said gratefully as Luke hurried off.

  Then Kurt Evans came into the room. “I need a screwdriver, and I was wondering where-“ He saw the camera and broke off. “Is that a picture of me?”

  Kerry smiled at him. “I always take pictures of people my parents meet. Is that okay?”

  “I guess,” Kurt said, but Kerry could see that he was not buying the story.

  Justin came in. “Do you need something, Kurt?”

  Kurt repeated his question, and Justin got him a screwdriver. Then they left the room.

  Oh, great, Kerry thought. Now he’s suspicious!

  Soon after, Macie helped her print out the picture. When she wondered what was going on, Kerry said that it was something private. Macie did not persist.

  Kerry slipped a protector over it and gave it to Luke, who immediately put it in his pocket.

 After the Brewsters left, Kerry anxiously awaited for news from Luke as to the man’s identity.

 She went upstairs and got on her email. she had decided to confide her suspicions to Triste and Elijah, and now was a good time to, because they had given her their emails, and she, her own.

 

  Our neighbor, Kurt Evans, is probably a criminal convicted of first-degree murder. Please don’t panic, or tell anyone else of my suspicions, but let this be a secret among the three of us. I will tell you what to do if my suspicions are confirmed.

                                                       Kerry

 

   When Kerry went to bed that night, she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Kurt Evans and the mystery clouding his past. For a long time, she lay in bed, trying to go to sleep, but it was impossible.

  Finally, Kerry took out her laptop, got on Microsoft Word, and created a folder for mysteries. Her first file was entitled ‘Kurt Evans and His Clouded Past.’ She started tapping out the few clues that she had so far collected.

 

  He was having a highly suspicious conversation with a man and a woman somewhere.

 

 He looks exactly like a criminal who was convicted of first-degree murder three years ago.

 

 He doesn’t trust me, I don’t trust him.

 

   Kerry chewed her lip and thought some more. “I don’t see why he hates his picture getting taken. If criminals were the only people who didn’t like having their pictures taken, detection and police work would be so much easier. But regular people are camera-shy too, so there’s almost no way of guessing,” she said to herself. “I know his face, but...no one else does.”

   Kerry was confused, utterly, completely, and positively confused.

 

   Brenton Patrick took one look at the bug on his jacket before ripping it off. “I knew it,” he muttered to himself. “That girl is suspicious and overly curious, and needs to be gotten rid of!”

   A man spoke. “I heard that, Brenton.”

   Brenton looked up. “And? She might find us out!”

   The man spoke calmly. “This has been too carefully laid, too carefully planned for years to fail now. We will succeed.”

   “No one, can guarantee that, Warren!” Brenton threw out his arms angrily. “She suspected me from the moment she saw me!”

   Jack Warren did not answer. He folded his arms and leaned casually against the wall, his eyebrow raised.

   “Look, Jack, if we don’t catch her now, she will investigate too far for our own safety,” Brenton explained as he tried to calm himself down.

   “We want her to,” Jack answered.

   “You what?!” yelled Brenton, losing his temper. “You want her to find us out?”

   “No,” Jack answered.

   Brenton took a deep breath and once more tried to calm himself. “Then what are you talking about?”

   “Brenton, what I mean is that we will leave her alone and let her get into her investigation. When she gets too confident, then it is time to intercede,” Jack told him, smiling slyly.

   Brenton immediately understood. “I see now. If we leave her alone, she’ll think we’re not on her trail, so when we know that she is absolutely unsuspecting, we’ll capture her. Right?”

  “Exactly,” Jack replied. “Now, Brenton, I want you to know, don’t go near that house again without my explicit permission. Got it?”

  Brenton bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. “Yes, Jack.”

 

 

  Jackie paused her pacing, looked at the clock, and started walking back and forth again. “Where is Jack now?” she asked herself.

   Just then, the council room door opened. Jack strode in, followed closely by Brenton.

   “I apologize for being late,” Jack said. “Brenton and I were having a little chat.”

  Jackie tried not to show her impatience. “Alright. Let’s get on top of this.” She sat, as did all the council members.

   “The Supreme Aoran has set the date on which we must begin our duties,” Jack began. “Two weeks from now, we will start.”

   “Good!” said the blonde haired, blue-eyed female at the end of the table. “I’m tired of waiting!”

   Jack smiled at her. “Calm down, Lyona. Two weeks is not very long.”

   “But two years is, and that’s how long we’ve been waiting and preparing!” pointed out the youngest of the group, Clyde Weston. “I’m ready to go now!”

   “But we’re not going to, so shut up!” snapped Jackie.

   “The Supreme Aoran is very good at getting rid of traitors and disobedient followers,” Jack said. “I will not be responsible for disobedience in the ranks, nor will I tolerate it. We need everyone we can get.”

   “Who is our first target?” asked the quietest female of the group, Alliona Mandon.

   “We have three targets the first night,” Jack replied. “They are Jacob Meriweather, the Raleigh police chief, Kristen Strickner, the North Carolina governor, and Mason Greene, the president of the University of North Carolina.”

   “What are the groups?” Jackie asked.

   “The police chief belongs to Kadar, Allina, and Clyde,” Jack said. “The UNC president will be taken down by Wesley, Lyona, and you, Jackie. Brenton, Lespia, and myself will deal with the governor.”

   Lespia Devereaux spoke before anyone else. “This had better work, Warren, or I’m quitting the group.”

   “You’ll be dead before you get very far,” Jack answered coolly. “Now, any questions?”

   “No guns, right?” iinquired Wesley Heath, the most withdrawn male of the group.

   “No guns,” Jack said.

   There were audible groans from Clyde and Lespia, but they were silenced as Jackie glared at them.

   Alliona asked, “Why am I stuck with the most inexperienced person and the stupidest person?”

   Jack glanced sideways at Kadar Mohammed. “Because I trust you to do things right.”

   “I’m not stupid,” growled Kadar.

   “You’re slow-witted,” Jackie told him. “Get over it.”

   “Any other questions?” Jack said.

  When no one spoke, he waved his hand. “Go back to what you were doing. Council is dismissed.”

  Everyone dispersed except for Jack and Jackie.

  “This had better work,” Jackie murmured.

  “Oh, it will,” Jack assured her. “It will.” 

   “Okay, okay,” she groaned. “Let me get up.”

   Soon Kerry was fully awake, and knowing that her father would be checking his email, shot him a quick message, asking for permission to tell her impatient sisters. He said yes.

   “Alright,” Kerry said as she looked up from her screen. “I can tell you. It’s a boy.”

   “Another boy?” Jana groaned.

  Macie smiled triumphantly. “I knew it was a boy!”

  Kerry stared at her.

  “I said it was a boy, but Jana and Justin said it would be a girl,” Macie explained.

  Kerry grinned at Jana. “I knew it, too. I just didn’t expect it to be a boy.”

  “What’s his name?” Jana asked.

  “Andrew Micaiah,” Kerry replied.

  “Andrew Mi-what?” Jana asked, looking positively confused.

  “Andrew Mi-cai-ah,” Kerry pronounced each syllable carefully.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” Macie called.

  Their father pushed the door open. “You’re on your own today. The midwife suspects that something is wrong with Andrew, so we’re running to the hospital.”

  Then he disappeared.

  “He seemed fine when I saw him,” Kerry said.

  “Some things are more subtle than you think,” Macie said. “I was born with a hole in my heart, but it was fixed before you were born, Kerry.”

  “Really?” Kerry turned to her. “I didn’t know that.”

  Macie smiled and shrugged lightly, as she got off the bed. “Let’s get ready for the day now.”

  Kerry dressed, brushed her hair, and made her bed, then headed downstairs to get breakfast ready.

  She thought about the message that she had received that she had gotten on her bug receiver. She though her suspicions were more or less right, because she was positive that she had seen Kurt Evans, or “Brenton”,  before,

on some newscast where he had been convicted of first-degree murder.

  Kerry was confused.  Her father, who she was sure had been part of his conviction, would probably have remembered Evans  as a criminal. He had very good face remembrance for someone nearing fifty years of age.

  “Not this time,” Kerry said to herself grimly.

  She wondered what she would do. She couldn’t search online, because her parents had installed a system to monitor all the sites that their children visited, and they would wonder what was going on. That was out of the question. Her siblings had no idea what was going on, so it would be absolutely pointless trying to talk with them-and they would probably tell on her anyway-, and because she had not been living here long, she knew almost no

one, much less really trust anyone to keep her secret, except for Triste and Elijah, and they had never seen the man, much less know who he really was.

  By the time that Kerry had set a platter of reheated pastries and sweet rolls on the table, she had nowhere to go with her suspicion, so she tried to drop it.

  But it was impossible. As Kerry ate, worked, and relaxed that day, the nagging thoughts never left her mind, so she gave up trying to make them leave. Kerry pondered through them a few times, but every time was left completely baffled.

  When Kurt Evans stopped by that day, Kerry tried to seem unsuspecting, but almost everyone sensed that something was amiss.

  Elijah, Triste, and Luke Brewster came over just before lunch, bringing with them a fresh lasagna for the hard workers. Everyone ate hungrily and went right back to work.

  Kerry spoke briefly to Elijah, then the two of them went over to Luke, who was digging in a toolbox for a hammer.

  “Luke?” Elijah asked.

  Luke turned to him. “What, Eli?”

  “My new friend, Kerry, needs to talk to you.”

  “What’s going on?” Luke asked.

  “Well, a few years ago, there was a newscast about a criminal who was convicted for first-degree murder,” Kerry explained.

  “And?” Luke folded his arms and raised his eyebrow.

  “He came to our house today, and he’s here now,” Kerry said.

  “How do you know it was him?” Luke questioned.

  “I was watching him talk with my parents, and then it struck me,” Kerry said. “I have my dad’s face remembrance gene, and I knew it had to be him.” She held out her camera. The picture of Kurt Evans was on it.

  Luke studied the picture. “I don’t recall ever seeing him before. Just to be safe, anyways, print out a good quality picture and give it to me. I know some police officers who could help.”

  “Thanks, Luke,” Kerry said gratefully as Luke hurried off.

  Then Kurt Evans came into the room. “I need a screwdriver, and I was wondering where-“ He saw the camera and broke off. “Is that a picture of me?”

  Kerry smiled at him. “I always take pictures of people my parents meet. Is that okay?”

  “I guess,” Kurt said, but Kerry could see that he was not buying the story.

  Justin came in. “Do you need something, Kurt?”

  Kurt repeated his question, and Justin got him a screwdriver. Then they left the room.

  Oh, great, Kerry thought. Now he’s suspicious!

  Soon after, Macie helped her print out the picture. When she wondered what was going on, Kerry said that it was something private. Macie did not persist.

  Kerry slipped a protector over it and gave it to Luke, who immediately put it in his pocket.

 After the Brewsters left, Kerry anxiously awaited for news from Luke as to the man’s identity.

 She went upstairs and got on her email. she had decided to confide her suspicions to Triste and Elijah, and now was a good time to, because they had given her their emails, and she, her own.

 

  Our neighbor, Kurt Evans, is probably a criminal convicted of first-degree murder. Please don’t panic, or tell anyone else of my suspicions, but let this be a secret among the three of us. I will tell you what to do if my suspicions are confirmed.

                                                       Kerry

 

   When Kerry went to bed that night, she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Kurt Evans and the mystery clouding his past. For a long time, she lay in bed, trying to go to sleep, but it was impossible.

  Finally, Kerry took out her laptop, got on Microsoft Word, and created a folder for mysteries. Her first file was entitled ‘Kurt Evans and His Clouded Past.’ She started tapping out the few clues that she had so far collected.

 

  He was having a highly suspicious conversation with a man and a woman somewhere.

 

 He looks exactly like a criminal who was convicted of first-degree murder three years ago.

 

 He doesn’t trust me, I don’t trust him.

 

   Kerry chewed her lip and thought some more. “I don’t see why he hates his picture getting taken. If criminals were the only people who didn’t like having their pictures taken, detection and police work would be so much easier. But regular people are camera-shy too, so there’s almost no way of guessing,” she said to herself. “I know his face, but...no one else does.”

   Kerry was confused, utterly, completely, and positively confused.

 

   Brenton Patrick took one look at the bug on his jacket before ripping it off. “I knew it,” he muttered to himself. “That girl is suspicious and overly curious, and needs to be gotten rid of!”

   A man spoke. “I heard that, Brenton.”

   Brenton looked up. “And? She might find us out!”

   The man spoke calmly. “This has been too carefully laid, too carefully planned for years to fail now. We will succeed.”

   “No one, can guarantee that, Warren!” Brenton threw out his arms angrily. “She suspected me from the moment she saw me!”

   Jack Warren did not answer. He folded his arms and leaned casually against the wall, his eyebrow raised.

   “Look, Jack, if we don’t catch her now, she will investigate too far for our own safety,” Brenton explained as he tried to calm himself down.

   “We want her to,” Jack answered.

   “You what?!” yelled Brenton, losing his temper. “You want her to find us out?”

   “No,” Jack answered.

   Brenton took a deep breath and once more tried to calm himself. “Then what are you talking about?”

   “Brenton, what I mean is that we will leave her alone and let her get into her investigation. When she gets too confident, then it is time to intercede,” Jack told him, smiling slyly.

   Brenton immediately understood. “I see now. If we leave her alone, she’ll think we’re not on her trail, so when we know that she is absolutely unsuspecting, we’ll capture her. Right?”

  “Exactly,” Jack replied. “Now, Brenton, I want you to know, don’t go near that house again without my explicit permission. Got it?”

  Brenton bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. “Yes, Jack.”

 

 

  Jackie paused her pacing, looked at the clock, and started walking back and forth again. “Where is Jack now?” she asked herself.

   Just then, the council room door opened. Jack strode in, followed closely by Brenton.

   “I apologize for being late,” Jack said. “Brenton and I were having a little chat.”

  Jackie tried not to show her impatience. “Alright. Let’s get on top of this.” She sat, as did all the council members.

   “The Supreme Aoran has set the date on which we must begin our duties,” Jack began. “Two weeks from now, we will start.”

   “Good!” said the blonde haired, blue-eyed female at the end of the table. “I’m tired of waiting!”

   Jack smiled at her. “Calm down, Lyona. Two weeks is not very long.”

   “But two years is, and that’s how long we’ve been waiting and preparing!” pointed out the youngest of the group, Clyde Weston. “I’m ready to go now!”

   “But we’re not going to, so shut up!” snapped Jackie.

   “The Supreme Aoran is very good at getting rid of traitors and disobedient followers,” Jack said. “I will not be responsible for disobedience in the ranks, nor will I tolerate it. We need everyone we can get.”

   “Who is our first target?” asked the quietest female of the group, Alliona Mandon.

   “We have three targets the first night,” Jack replied. “They are Jacob Meriweather, the Raleigh police chief, Kristen Strickner, the North Carolina governor, and Mason Greene, the president of the University of North Carolina.”

   “What are the groups?” Jackie asked.

   “The police chief belongs to Kadar, Allina, and Clyde,” Jack said. “The UNC president will be taken down by Wesley, Lyona, and you, Jackie. Brenton, Lespia, and myself will deal with the governor.”

   Lespia Devereaux spoke before anyone else. “This had better work, Warren, or I’m quitting the group.”

   “You’ll be dead before you get very far,” Jack answered coolly. “Now, any questions?”

   “No guns, right?” iinquired Wesley Heath, the most withdrawn male of the group.

   “No guns,” Jack said.

   There were audible groans from Clyde and Lespia, but they were silenced as Jackie glared at them.

   Alliona asked, “Why am I stuck with the most inexperienced person and the stupidest person?”

   Jack glanced sideways at Kadar Mohammed. “Because I trust you to do things right.”

   “I’m not stupid,” growled Kadar.

   “You’re slow-witted,” Jackie told him. “Get over it.”

   “Any other questions?” Jack said.

  When no one spoke, he waved his hand. “Go back to what you were doing. Council is dismissed.”

  Everyone dispersed except for Jack and Jackie.

  “This had better work,” Jackie murmured.

  “Oh, it will,” Jack assured her. “It will.”

 

 

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