The Spanish Kidnapping Disaster Read Free Page B

just as she pressed the shutter.
    "How about me?" he asked. "Don't I make a good matador?"
    While Phillip posed for a picture, Amy turned to me. "See that guy?" She directed my attention to a man wearing a black leather jacket sitting at a table several yards away. "He's been staring at me ever since we got here. I bet he thinks I'm older."
    "Don't kid yourself," I said. "He's probably looking at her." I pointed at a girl perched on a wall behind us. She was wearing a short leather skirt and a lot of make-up. Her boyfriend sat next to her, whispering in her ear and making her laugh.
    Annoyed, Amy tossed her head and managed to swat me with her hair. The cobwebby feel of it tickled my nose, and I moved closer to Mom. I was hoping for a little more of her attention, but she was too engrossed in something Don was saying to notice me. Feeling neglected, I sipped my
café con leche
and stole another look at the man in the black leather jacket. He was staring at our table all right,
but not at Amy. At the moment his eyes were fixed on Don.
    When his gaze suddenly shifted to me, I lowered my head, hoping he hadn't noticed I'd been watching him watching us. Maybe it was the black jacket, maybe it was the mustache hiding the corners of his mouth, maybe it was the dark hair slanting down over his eyes, maybe it was just the way he sat there all by himself staring at us, but something about him made me very uncomfortable.
    I turned to Mom, but just as I was about to tell her about the man, Don hugged her and she kissed him. No matter what I said now, she wouldn't be interested. Not with Don whispering in her ear.
    "Can't that stuff wait till we get to the hotel, Dad?" Phillip asked as Don kissed Mom.
    "Kids," Don said to Mom, laughing. "Sometimes they act like stuffy old adults, don't they?"
    Mom nodded. "We should go anyway," she said. "We have a dinner reservation at eight-thirty."
    Reluctant to leave, I lagged behind the others. The moon was just coming out, and the tables were filling with people. Thinking Grace might be here somewhere, sipping
café con leche
too, I scanned the crowd for her red hair. That was when I noticed that the man in the black leather jacket was still watching us. Worse, he'd been joined by another man, older and kind of heavyset. They were sitting side by side talking, but it was Mom and Don they were looking at.
    Then the older man saw me. For a second, we stared at each other across the crowded square. It was like locking
eyes with a cobra. Paralyzed with fear, I couldn't move or look away. When the man turned his head, I hurried after Mom and seized her hand.
    "What's wrong, Felix?" she asked. "Did something scare you?" She was smiling, but she sounded concerned. It wasn't often I held her hand.
    "There was a man. He was staring at me." I looked back at the square, but the table where the two men had been sitting was empty. "He's gone," I said. "But there were two of them. One watched us the whole time we were having our coffee. Then the other came."
    "Oh, Felix, you and your imagination." Mom smiled at me as if I were five years old and squeezed my hand. "Maybe he was admiring your earrings. Or your tee-shirt. Maybe he wanted one just like it, cow and all."
    "Don't treat me like a dumb little kid," I said, but she was already walking away, eager to catch up with Don. Why did she blame all my worst fears on my imagination? It wasn't fair. Some things were real. I hadn't dreamed up the look in that man's eyes.
    Suddenly afraid to be alone, I rushed after Mom. Slipping my hand into hers again, I glanced back at the square, but it had lost all its charm. In the dusk, it looked sinister and full of danger. Somewhere in the crowd was a man with cobra eyes, a man I didn't want to see again.

5

    After dinner, we went straight to our rooms. "We're getting an early start tomorrow," Don reminded the three of us before he disappeared with Mom. "Get a good night's sleep, all right?"
    As soon as he left, Amy