Chapters (73)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Part IAnnie
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Part IIHarry
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Part IIIAnnie
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Part IVHarry
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Part VAnnie
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Also by Linwood Barclay
- About the Publisher
So, no, he wouldn’t flag down the car, which had almost reached him. He’d find another tree to sleep under and in the morning contemplate his next move. Wasn’t that something his mom would say to him sometimes? “Things will look better in the morning.”
The driver of the car must have spotted him, because it was slowing down. And as it got closer, Charlie could see that it wasn’t a car, but a white van.
The van pulled over to the shoulder on the other side of the road and the driver powered down his window.
“You okay, kid?”
Charlie stopped crying long enough to say, “I’m okay.”
“Your bike broken?”
Charlie nodded.
“You a long way from home?”
Charlie didn’t say anything.
“I get it. You’re not supposed to talk to strangers.”
Charlie nodded again.
“But I’m not really a stranger,” the man said, “if I know your dad.”
Charlie felt an uncertain swelling of hope in his heart.
“I’m betting you’re on your way to Lucknow,” the driver said. It was at this point Charlie noticed the man was wearing a funny engineer’s hat and a vest with patches all over it.
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “That’s where I’m going.”
“Well, that’s where I’m going, too. Actually, it’s where I’m coming from, but I can turn around right here and head back. It’s not that far. You’ve come a long ways.”
Charlie was wondering how the man would know that. He hadn’t told him where he’d started out from.
“Truth is,” the man said, “I was expecting you, and then I started to worry that even for a boy like you, who’s been training so hard on his bike, it’d be a long haul, so I decided to come meet you along the way. Now, I understand if you’re worried about getting in the van with me. I bet your mom’s told you not to do something that dumb, but we’re not really strangers if I already know your name, right, Charlie?”
Charlie smiled. The man had a point.
“Hop in and I’ll take you to Lucknow. Your dad can’t wait to see you.”
Charlie had stopped crying, but now he was ready to start again. Only this time they’d be tears of joy running down his cheek. He could feel himself being drawn toward the van. This guy knew him, knew where he was going and why. And he couldn’t have come along at a better time.
“I guess . . . it would be okay,” Charlie said, and grabbed the bike by the handlebars, getting ready to wheel it across the road.
“You can leave that,” the man said. “You’re not going to need it anymore. You won’t need that backpack, either.”