The anchor interrupted the reporter, “Hey listen, we’re going to have to switch to another story, possibly related, that is just coming in. There are reports of a very serious, multi-car accident on I-270 near Gaithersburg. Initial reports suggest that a bright flash of light, similar to the one that occurred nearby during the interview of Matt Sorenson, happened just moments before the collision, which has involved several cars, one of which has overturned. We currently don’t know if this is related to Matt Sorenson’s previous disappearance with Anna Sumner, Ryan LaRue, and Eric Foster.”
The screen switched from showing Lisa to a helicopter view of wrecked cars along a four-lane highway, traffic snarled in both directions. Several people outside vehicles were frantically trying to help one person thrown from a car and others who appeared trapped inside. A white sheet covered a body that lay a considerable distance from the wreckage.
The anchor added, “There are initial reports of serious injuries and one fatality. All lanes of I-270 south are blocked. Police and ambulances are approaching the scene now and we will keep you updated on this breaking story.”
Erin hit the mute button and flopped heavily on the bed’s edge, an awful realization going through her. She had been wondering if it was possible for a week and now had her answer. Anna, Matt, Ryan, and Eric had somehow become a kind of new Ellorian Champions, replacing the real ones. The stakes had risen. Questions swirled. She had to help them.
Now it was absolutely critical that she find them the moment they returned.
Daniel knew something wasn’t right, but then it didn’t take a genius. It wasn’t easy to control a drone with one hand, but he did well enough. He just had to give up performing elaborate tricks. And tricks were on his mind when the display camera showed his brother’s car in front of the guest house, the trunk and passenger door open. He had first felt relieved and buzzed around the building for signs of what Ryan was doing, but there was no sight of him, so Daniel landed out of the way with the camera aimed at the house and the motion sensor on. He’d see when his brother reappeared. If he did.
The police had shown up last night, looking for him. Neither Daniel nor his parents had been surprised, having seen footage of Matt vanishing on camera and confirmed reports about Anna’s car on I-270. Those first moments with the cops had been awful. Daniel wasn’t the only one who had feared the worst, his mother nearly collapsing at the possibility that the police had arrived to tell them their oldest son was dead. But the fatality had been a female, as were the other passengers, though no one had been publicly identified, pending the families being informed. They hadn’t even been willing to say whether the bodies came from Anna’s car or the dozen other vehicles involved.
They had been calling Ryan all night and trying to track his phone with no luck, which didn’t surprise Daniel. Their parents had installed GPS trackers on Ryan’s car and phone after the Stonehenge Four had returned from three weeks of being missing. It had led to some arguments with Ryan complaining that he felt like a prisoner. He had finally disabled them.
Daniel had assumed that his brother was gone, like Matt and Anna. Eric hadn’t been found either, his last known whereabouts being his job, where he had finished for the day and was apparently planning to leave, according to his boss. And then suddenly he was gone, with no sign of actually walking out. His disappearance had not been witnessed or reported until the police noticed that two of the Stonehenge Four had gone missing and they tried tracking down the other two, leading to Ryan and Eric. The police found the latter’s car at work, his boss showing the officers the abandoned belongings, as Eric had just finished teaching a class in his karate clothes and not changed yet. He was now presumed missing. So was Ryan.
Now Daniel called to his nurse, Susan, a young brunette he enjoyed flirting with. He wanted help and a witness for their excursion down to the guest house. It was time to see what his brother was up to down there. He hadn’t believed anything Ryan and Eric had said the other day due to their joking tone. His older brother was hiding something but had never lied to him. Or he didn’t think so anyway. The big guy could be irritating like any sibling, but Daniel trusted him. He wasn’t hard to get a read on, really, unlike Eric.
“What do you need, hon?” Susan asked as she arrived from another room. He never grew tired of the East Baltimore accent and predilection for calling him that.
“Keep this between us, but I just found Ryan’s car at the guest house. We need to head down there.”
“Um. Okay. Are we expecting trouble of any kind?”
They had discussed the situation. “Pretty sure no. I don’t think he’s there, but I want to see what’s going on and I can only get to the first floor.”
“Sure. I’ll get my purse, by which I mean gun.”
“I love it when you’re sexy,” he called as she walked away.
Within minutes, they were beside Ryan’s black Dodge Charger, where his car and house keys lay on the pavement beside it. Exchanging a wary look with the nurse, Daniel had her tell him what was inside the backseat. He could
