Z. Rex Read Free

had just flitted across the sky at impossible speed. He stared hard into the brightening orange of daybreak, but didn’t see the movement again.
    “Great,” Adam murmured. “Now I’m losing it.”
    He’d started talking to himself a lot since Dad had gone. He’d spent the days gaming, cycling around the lonely industrial park and bugging his friends back in Edinburgh on Instant Messenger. At least they hadn’t totally forgotten him. And he’d gone to bed each night listening out for his father, hoping to catch the turn of the key and the front door squeaking open. But the night remained stubbornly silent, loaded with uneasy dreams.
    Yesterday, for want of something better to do, he’d tried hanging out around Dad’s workplace here in the industrial park. But the team who’d used to joke around with him as their resident “test case” weren’t so friendly now. It turned out that their unit had been broken into a couple of days ago, with tons of gear nicked. And just the next day, Adam’s dad had told them he wouldn’t be coming back to work in the near future.
    “Inventors don’t care about anyone,” railed one of Dad’s old team. “They live in a world of their own.”
    At least he bothered to tell you, Adam had thought, instead of leaving you to work it out for yourselves. He could be dead for all I know.
    Adam flung himself back onto his bed and switched the TV over to News 24 for some company. The Scottish anchorman was on in the mornings, which made Adam feel a little less homesick. Clearly not much had been happening in the world, as all the talk was of a film star couple breaking up and some rubbish about a giant monster spotted in a state park in southern Utah. Nothing exactly serious.
    But what if something serious had happened to his dad?
    Mr. Adlar had started off calling and mailing as he usually did when he was working away. Then, three days in, a single text message marked the end of all that: Can’t get away. Friends of mine will look in on you soon. Love, Dad.
    Adam had been disappointed but not too worried; this wasn’t the first time Dad had become too caught up in his work to talk, feeling himself close to a big breakthrough. It was a pain, but if it led to a contract with these Ponil people back in Edinburgh . . .
    He’d nursed the hopeful thought through days four and five, though Dad’s occasional texts had given little encouragement.
    And then Dad’s promised friend had turned up—some guy with the stiff, solid bearing of a soldier or security man and the name Frankie Bateman. He was a large, powerfully built guy, formidable looking despite the beer gut hanging over his waistband. “I’m from Fort Ponil. Your dad asked me to look in on you.” Bateman’s thick mustache bristled above the confident smile, and his all-American voice was as deep as the dimple on his chin. “You know, see how you’re doing.”
    “When’s Dad coming home?” Adam had asked.
    “Real soon.” Bateman kept smiling.
    “Can’t I come and visit?”
    “We’re actually getting you security clearance right now. Shouldn’t take much longer.”
    “Security clearance?” Adam frowned. “Sounds like the military.”
    “Nothing like that, really.” Bateman pushed his way inside. “Meantime, your dad asked me to pick up some stuff for him. . . .”
    The big man spent ages in Mr. Adlar’s room, but came out with nothing but a few clothes and a sour look. Then he brought in a stack of groceries from the car, and even unpacked it while Adam watched TV. “Don’t eat it all at once, y’hear?” Bateman held up Adam’s Nokia. “Oh, and nice cell phone by the way. . . . I’ve got my eye on one like this.”
    “Yeah, it’s all right,” said Adam, though in truth it was nothing special. Bateman had put down the phone and left, promising to check in again in a couple of days.
    That had been three days ago. “Chances are, big Frankie’s coming today,” Adam announced out loud. “And if he