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turning out a bunch of zombies.”
    Maria didn’t laugh. “You might think it’s funny, but don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
    “Okay, you warned me. I’ll keep an eye out for people who glow in the dark and anyone who goes by the name of Dr. Frankenstein.” He looked at his watch. “I thought we were going to play some catch.”
    Maria reached under the porch and brought out two gloves and a ball. She tossed him one of the gloves. Before he had time to get it all the way onto his hand, she burned the ball into his stomach.
    He doubled over. “Hey! What was that for?”
    She glared at him. “Better learn to think fast, Young Frankenstein.”

C HAPTER 6
    Jim smiled to himself as he made his way back down the mountainside. Maria was actually a pretty good ballplayer. She was, that is, after she got over being mad at him.
    Things were definitely looking up. He’d found a pond and a new friend all in one day. Maria had invited him to come back the next day. She said she would show him a cave in a hill behind her house where prospectors used to mine gold. The tunnels stretched for miles. She said there was one that went almost all the way to Folsum.
    When he reached the edge of town, he hesitated. Although he hadn’t admitted it to Maria, something about Folsum really did bother him.
    That something, a feeling that perhaps someone was watching, made him decide to find a different route to his house. Staying low behind the tall redwood fences of his neighbors’ backyards, he worked his way along the alley. He let himself through the backyard gate and entered the house by the back door.
    His mother and father were having a discussion in the hall. “Just the man I need to talk to.” Dr. Stanton motioned for Jim to come closer. “I hear you were off up in the woods today?”
    Jim nodded. He started to tell them about Maria and the pond and everything, but his father cut him off.
    “I know you’re bored, Jim, but you can’t go up in the mountains anymore. Kincaid called me into his office and asked me to tell you.”
    “Wait a minute.” Jim’s eyes narrowed. He remembered the moving curtain earlier in theday. “How did Kincaid know I was taking a hike today?”
    His father shook his head. “I really don’t know, son. But I do know that it’s against company policy to let our children traipse around in the woods by themselves. Kincaid said there were undesirables living up there and that we should be extremely careful.”
    “But Dad, I—”
    Robert Stanton held up his hand. “End of discussion. We’re new here and I’m sure Mr. Kincaid knows the area better than we do.” He reached for his briefcase. “It’s time for us to go down to the lab. Where’s Laura?”
    Jim didn’t answer. A hundred thoughts were racing through his mind.
Who is this Kincaid, and why does he want to keep people away from the woods? What is he afraid of?
    Mrs. Stanton had gathered up Laura and her doll and was waiting for Jim by the door. “Dad’s already in the car, Jim. Get a move on. He doesn’t want you to make a bad impression on his boss.”
    “Right.” Jim mumbled under his breath. “We can’t have the great Mr. Kincaid thinking we’re part of the ‘undesirable’ crowd now, can we?”
    “What was that, son?” Mrs. Stanton asked.
    Jim held the door for her. “Oh, nothing, Mom. I was just saying how much I was looking forward to meeting Dad’s boss.”

C HAPTER 7
    An electric eye scanned the identification card Dr. Stanton held out the car window. The gates opened and a robotlike voice told them to drive ahead. Jim watched the two security guards march back and forth on the catwalk above their heads. The compound was entirely surrounded by an eight-foot fence that was topped with barbed wire, similar to fences on military bases.
    Dr. Stanton stopped the station wagon in front of a long white building with a sign across the front that said FOLSOM NATIONAL LABORATORIES — JEFFERSON KINCAID, PRESIDENT