“Good morning.”
“W-Who are you? How did you get in here?” I stammered, my heart pounding a mile a minute. “Where’s Brady? BRADY! HELP!”
“Hey, hey, hey now,” the man said, holding his hands up in a non-threatening gesture. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you. Brady’s not here. I’m filling in for him.”
I stared, speechless and unable to comprehend what I was hearing. The stranger in the kitchen was an older man. He had a head full of white hair, beady gray eyes, and a stocky but muscular frame. “What do you mean you’re filling in for him?” I asked.
“I mean exactly that. I’ve been put on duty as your personal guard. You’re Speaker Harper’s daughter, right?”
I nodded. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?”
“Beats me,” the man said. “I guess it was too last-minute. I was contacted first thing this morning and told to come out here immediately. You want some coffee? I picked up some donuts.”
I shook my head. “But where’s Brady?”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
I stared at the man, getting a distinct feeling that he was lying to me. “Yes, you do.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, remembering that I was wearing a rather flimsy nightgown. But the man hardly seemed to notice, or perhaps just didn’t care. He looked old enough to be my father.
“I’m sorry, honey. I can’t tell you that.”
“You can’t tell me where Brady is?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It’s just not my place. Now, what’s on the agenda for the day? I’ve been instructed to take you wherever you need to go. I hear you’re studying for something?”
I nodded. “Yeah…Uhm. Give me a minute to get ready. I need to go to the library.”
I ran to my bedroom, but not without checking the guest bedroom first, just to confirm that Brady truly wasn’t there. I looked around, noticing that his clothes and belongings were gone. A knot formed in my stomach as I left his room and headed for the bathroom. His toothbrush and shaving cream were missing too.
He was gone, and from the looks of it, it didn’t seem temporary.
I quickly showered and dressed, trying not to panic.
There has to be a logical explanation for this, I told myself. Brady didn’t leave me. Whatever this is about, it’s temporary. No need to panic…
Back in my bedroom, I retrieved my cell phone and swore.
How ridiculous was it that I didn’t even have Brady’s number?
Disregarding the fact that my father wanted to keep limited contact with me for the time being, I dialed his number, needing to know if he was aware of this current situation. Yet, when the phone continued ringing and he did not answer, it occurred to me that he was probably busy with meetings. At the sound of the beep, I left him a voice-message, trying my best to disguise the alarm in my voice.
“Hi Dad. I’m sorry to bother you, but…I just wanted to know if you knew that Brady is gone and that someone else is here, claiming that they are filling in for him? Can you…Can you give me a call back? Thanks. I love you.”
I ended the call. Sitting at the edge of my bed, I closed my eyes for a moment and took several deep breaths, letting oxygen fill my lungs, and then exhaling slowly, trying to get my heart-rate back down to normal. Yet, the way my stomach squirmed when I returned to the living room to the man who was not Brady, I knew it was going to take more than a couple deep breaths to keep my panic at bay.
In the living room, the man sat on the couch with his legs crossed, whistling to himself and flipping through the pages of what looked like some sort of scientific magazine.
I cleared my throat to announce my presence. “And what is your name again, sir?” I asked once he looked up from his magazine toward me.
“Call me Wallace,” he said with a smile.
“Wallace—my father is aware that you are here, right?”