The Demon Conspiracy (34 page)

Mrs. Dunlop also laughed. “You’re so funny!
Mathew loves hotdogs. Thank you so much, Mrs. McCormick. Five it
is! Uh, Mrs. McCormick, I don’t know if you’re always so formal,
but I’d really like it if you’d call me Vanessa.”

“I’m sorry, please call me Angie. It’s just
that your husband’s a senator, and all.”

“Believe me, there’s nothing special about
us. We’re just regular people.”

“Glad to know that. We should be at your
place within the hour.”

“Angie, when you get here, you’ll need your
ID. Jacob’s meeting with some government people and security is
kind of tight. I’ll tell them you’re coming.”

“Thanks, Vanessa.” Angie
got off the phone. “Mathew is staying with us all next weekend
because his parents will be with the President of the United
States. And
I’m
on a first name basis with a senator’s wife. Can you believe
it?”

“That’s so cool!” I said excitedly. “I can’t
wait to see their house. Travis says they have a lot of money.”

Angie put the car in gear and drove out of
the Sunnyside parking lot. I relaxed in the seat. It’s a good thing
Mrs. Dunlop called. That was just the distraction Angie needed to
stop thinking about Chris for a while.

“Kelly?” said Angie. “Thanks for coming with
me today. I know you’re only thirteen, but often you seem almost
grown up, you know?”

I grinned. If Angie knew I
could read minds she’d certainly think more of me than just
being
almost grown up.
I considered the idea of being a senator’s wife, and that
sounded cool. But actually being a senator sounded even cooler, so
I made plans to look into politics sometime. After all, with my
telepathic skills, I could become anything I wanted, maybe even
president. And
nobody
could stop me! Nobody.

26

RETURN OF THE
SALESMAN

KELLY

On the way to pick up
Travis it was my first time to ride through Mathew Dunlop’s
neighborhood. That was
some
neighborhood, too. Every house we passed was
bigger and more impressive than the one before it. Each home was
built on a huge manicured lot with at least one
crazy
expensive car in the
driveway.

“
Wow!”
I said. “Everybody’s rich! No
wonder Travis likes it here.”

“It’s one of the most exclusive areas in the
country to live,” said Angie. “Look at that one.”

On the right, way back off the road, was a
huge three-story colonial with a row of white columns across the
front. As far as I was concerned any house that had columns was
automatically a mansion and that place absolutely qualified.

“Who
are
these people?” I asked, gawking
at the wealth. “What do they do for a living?”

“You’d better ask the Dunlops about that. I
can only imagine.”

As we rounded a corner Angie swerved wide to
avoid hitting a couple of old men who were rummaging through
recycling bins on the side of the road.

“It’s Doug One!” I said. Doug One was easy
to spot because of his white hair, tan leathery face and thick
glasses. The baskets on his 3-wheeled bike were loaded down with
crushed aluminum cans. “Who’s the other guy? Is he a Doug?”

“Doug Four,” said Angie. “He collects trash
of some kind. They’re a long way from home to be on bicycles.”

Doug Four was old, too, like Doug One. But
he was built like a tank with broad shoulders and thick muscular
arms. Though it was cold outside he wore a sleeveless plaid shirt
and green work pants. His thick, silver-gray hair was combed
straight back.

Macho
man
, I thought when I saw him, until I
noticed Doug Four rode a silver and pink girl’s bike with white
wicker baskets on the front and back.

So much for macho man. I couldn’t wait to
see what the other five Dougs looked like.

Angie parked in front of the largest house
of all, a stone three-story with eight towering columns across the
front porch.

Definite
mansion
, I thought.

As if the size of the house wasn’t enough,
there were nine cars in the driveway—six black sedans, a sleek
black limousine and a pair of matching silver Mercedes parked close
to the garage. A brick wall as tall as a man was connected to the
house on both sides and closed in the entire back yard.

“I knew the Dunlops had money,” I said, “but
that house is amazing. Their front yard looks like a soccer field!
How many cars do they have?”

“The two Mercedes belong to the Dunlops. The
others look like government vehicles. Mrs. Dunlop said her husband
was having a meeting.”

“Vanessa,” I corrected. “First-name basis
with a senator’s wife.”

Angie laughed. “I’d better remember
that.”

I scanned her mind to see how she was doing.
At the moment there were no real thoughts of Chris being at
Sunnyside. She’d probably break down and have a long cry when we
got home, but for now things were under control.

When we got out of the van I waved to the
Dougs down the street. Both Dougs waved back and returned to work.
We detoured around the carpet-like grass and walked up the
driveway. The instant we set foot on the Dunlop’s property two
important looking men in dark suits and overcoats stepped out of a
black sedan and blocked our way. They looked official and a little
bit scary to me. The taller agent on the left held up his hand,
palm out, to tell us to stop.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am,” he said. “Nobody goes
past this point. Official government business.”

The man who spoke was slim and blond, while
the other guy was shorter, stocky and mostly bald. Both wore dark
sunglasses, though it was cloudy and getting late in the day. They
flashed important looking badges.

“ASA, Ma’am,” said the shorter man. “We need
to see your ID.”

“ASA?” Angie had a blank look on her
face.

“American Security Administration. We’re
under Homeland.”

“Oh. I haven’t heard of you.”

“No, Ma’am.”

The way he said it was
like
nobody
was
supposed to have heard of them. Were they top secret, or something?
I made a quick scan of their thoughts and didn’t really like what I
got. The men were smug and proud about belonging to an agency
within the government that very few people even knew existed. I
asked them both who was at the meeting, but I did it
telepathically. The men blurted out their response in
unison.

“Mr. Mogen Deel and Senators Hathaway and
Rodriguez are meeting with Senator Dunlop.” The agents were aghast.
They looked at each other, stunned and embarrassed. Neither man
could believe he’d released important information like that to
complete strangers. I tried not to laugh.

“Thank you,” said Angie, passing over her
driver’s license. “But I didn’t ask.”

The short man blushed, checked her ID
quickly and gave it back. “You’re expected, Mrs. McCormick. Have a
good day.”

Angie thanked them and led the way to the
front door.

I thought about the names of the people
meeting with Mr. Dunlop. “Who’s Mogen Deel?” I asked as Angie rang
the bell.

“Never heard of him,” said Angie. “But I’ve
seen Senators Hathaway and Rodriguez on CSPAN.”

At that moment the front door burst open.
Travis and Mathew came barreling out, followed by a large yellow
Labrador retriever.

“Hey, Angie!” Travis waved at us and tossed
a soccer ball into the front yard. “Get the ball, Robo!” The dog
chased after the ball, using its nose to push it over the
grass.

“Hey, Ms. Angie!” said Mathew Dunlop, as he
ran after the others.

Angie barely had time to respond. “Hi,
boys!”

A moment later a petite and stunningly
attractive black woman appeared at the door. Vanessa Dunlop had a
warm smile and wide-set happy eyes. She wore a simple blue skirt,
white sweater and knee-high blue leather boots. I liked her
immediately, even without scanning her mind to see what kind of
person she was.

Vanessa called out to the boys. “Stay out of
the flower beds, okay?” She smiled at Angie. “Hi, Angie. Sorry
about all the confusion around here. Between meetings and rowdy
boys this place really rocks. Would you like to come in?”

“Can I take a rain check on that, Vanessa?”
asked Angie. “I’d love to see your house, but we’ve got to get home
so I can start dinner.”

“Absolutely,” said Vanessa. “I really want
to thank you for keeping Mathew next weekend. When I told the boys
he was staying two nights at your place they went crazy. They’re so
excited.”

“I’m excited, too,” said Angie. “It’ll be
fun.”

We said goodbye to Mrs. Dunlop and Travis
caught up with us on the way back to the minivan.

“See you, Mathew!” he cried, waving to his
friend.

“See you, Travis!” said Mathew, waving
back.

Mathew was about the same size as Travis,
but he always dressed like he just stepped out of a fine clothing
store. Even now, though he’d been running and playing all day with
Travis and the dog, Robo, his afro-style hair was perfect and his
button-down shirt was still buttoned and tucked neatly into his
slacks. The only flaw I noticed were grass stains on his knees. I
thought Mathew was just about the cutest little guy in the world,
along with Travis, of course. Where Mathew was always neat and
perfectly dressed, Travis was a typical mess. His face was flushed,
his shirttail hung out of his pants and his hair stuck up worse
than usual. But that was part of what made him so cute, too!

“I just love Mathew,” I said.

“Why do you always say that?” Travis
playfully shoved me.

“Because he’s cute. I can’t help it.”

“Did you meet any senators, Travis?” asked
Angie.

“Naw, they had a meetin’ in the basement the
whole time. Ms. Vanessa said we had to play outside or be real
quiet inside, so we played in Mathew’s treefort. It’s so cool! An’
we played soccer and football and army with his toy soldiers and
had a big battle with zombies and aliens!”

“Zombies?” said Angie. She shuddered. “Don’t
ever mention that to Chris. He has a dire fear of zombies.”

“But zombies aren’t real,” I said. “They’re
just in movies.”

“Chris thinks they’re real. He had…an
experience when he first started teaching. He won’t talk about it
with anyone.”

“He ran into zombies?”

“I don’t know.”

That threw me. Why in the world would a
grown man believe in zombies? Did he also believe in fairies,
vampires and werewolves? Then I remembered how nobody believed us
when we told them about the demons. It made me wonder about what
had happened to Chris.

The front door opened behind us as the
people who were meeting with Mr. Dunlop emerged. Curious, I glanced
back to see what a senator looked like. But when the first man came
out I froze in my tracks.

“Travis!” I choked out the
words. “It’s
him
!”

Travis looked back and instantly became a
few shades paler, if that were possible. It was the Salesman from
Pandora’s Cave!

“Thank you for a lovely afternoon, Vanessa.
Your hospitality is top notch, as always. Please remind Jacob I’ll
call him tomorrow.” There was no mistaking that baritone,
man-in-charge voice. Travis looked at me fearfully.

“Whutta we do?” he asked.

I’ll read his
mind
, I returned.
I’ll find out what his plan is
.

You better be careful.

Why? He’ll never
know.
I’m
the
only one who can read minds, remember?

Yeah, but
he
hangs out with
demons.

Travis had a point. I’d better be
discreet.

Angie noticed us staring at the Salesman.
“Kids, do you know that man?”

“We’ve seen him before,” I said quickly.

“In the cave!” added Travis. “He was talkin’
to the demons!” I almost wished Travis hadn’t mentioned it, but
maybe now was the time.

Angie was baffled. “I don’t understand. Do
you mean Pandora’s Cave?”

Travis nodded. “Yeah, an’ he gave a speech
to a bunch of demons.”

“Demons? Really? In the cave.” Angie sounded
incredulous. Of course she did. Who’d believe a wild tale like
that?

Travis went on. “They’re gonna try to take
over the world and make us live in caves!”

“Why wasn’t I told about this?”

I made a quick scan. Angie didn’t believe a
word of it.

“Chris was still trapped in the cave and we
didn’t want to upset you worse than you already were,” I explained.
“If you’d known he was down there surrounded by demons—well, we
were afraid you’d lose it.”

“You were
real
upset,” added
Travis.

Angie studied us
carefully. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You’re not making this up.”
She unlocked the minivan and opened the sliding side doors. As we
were about to climb in I looked back. I scanned the man lightly and
picked up his name. So
that’s
Mr. Mogen Deel. At least he wasn’t a senator. I
decided to ask him a couple of questions.

What’s your plan with the
demons?
Why do you want to make people
live in caves?

Demons are idiots, just
like humans. They’re all part of the greater
strategy
.

I was thinking about my
next question when it suddenly struck me. People always spoke out
loud when they responded to my telepathic questions. But the
Salesman—Mr. Deel—had replied
inside
my head like it was the
natural thing to do.