Ambush by Sigmund Brouwer Read Free Book Online

experience,” Dr. Jordan said, “that I’m not bluffing.”
    As he spoke, Mom and Dad walked toward the clear plastic window where I sat on this side.
    Tears blurred my vision of them. Mom, with her short brown hair and concerned smile. Dad, with his square face and dark blond hair.
    Mom pressed her fingers hard against the window as if she wanted to touch me. Dad stood beside her, arm around her shoulder. They were both shivering. A large bruise darkened the side of Dad’s face.
    I reached toward them, pressing the window with my fingers where Mom’s hand was.
    â€œGive me what I want!” Dr. Jordan ordered me. “Or you can watch them die.”
    I didn’t remove my eyes from Mom and Dad. “Do they know why you have them in there?” I asked.
    â€œOf course. I gave them a chance first to tell me where you had it hidden. And they were as stubborn as you.”
    â€œIt’s because I don’t know what you want. Neither do they.” I wiped away a tear and tried to keep my voice from trembling. “Please don’t do this.”
    Dr. Jordan answered by reaching past me to put his hand on the button for the outer air-lock door.
    Mom and Dad saw his action. Dad took his hand off Mom’s shoulder and put his index finger of one hand across the index finger of his other hand to make the shape of a cross. I knew he was reminding me of all the things we’d talked about whenever I asked him questions about God. Like the conversation we’d had after Ashley died. When he’d told me that there are some things we’ll never understand until we can go to heaven and ask God face-to-face. That the important thing was to trust in God.
    Dad put his arm around Mom’s shoulder again and held her tighter.
    â€œI want your answer in five seconds,” Dr. Jordan said. He waited a beat and spoke a single word. “Five.”
    Mom lifted a hand and pointed at her eye. Then she touched the left side of her chest. Then she pointed at me. Eye. Heart. Me.
    â€œFour,” Dr. Jordan said calmly.
    I love you. That’s what her sign language meant.
    â€œThree.”
    I quickly touched my eye and my chest above my heart and pointed back at them.
    â€œTwo.”
    â€œPlease don’t do this,” I said. “Please.”
    â€œOne.”
    I grabbed at his hand, but it was like trying to pull away a bar of iron.
    He hit the button.
    At the far end of the air lock, the door slid open. And a white puff of vapor took away all the air that Mom and Dad could breathe.

CHAPTER 12
    Dad pulled Mom toward him, as if he could shield her from the vicious cold vacuum of the Martian atmosphere. He buried his face in her hair.
    They were so close that if I could have put my hand through the window, I would have been able to touch both of them. Yet I was helpless to do anything but watch.
    I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. “There is nothing I can tell you,” I said to Dr. Jordan. “If there were, I would tell you now.”
    â€œI think you are lying to me.”
    â€œPut me in the air lock instead of them. It’s not their fault I don’t know what you want.”
    Dr. Jordan studied my face.
    I lifted my eyes briefly to his, then watched Mom and Dad again. He clutched her, and her arms held him just as tight. How much longer could they hold their breath? I wondered if it would help to tell Dr. Jordan about the note and tonight’s meeting. But that wasn’t what he wanted. Still …
    â€œWhat do you want?” I pleaded. “At least give me the chance to answer you.” I was ready to throw away the only hope I saw for any of this. The robot pack I’d found under the towels.
    Mom and Dad fell to their knees.
    Dr. Jordan continued to study my face. “Fine then.” He hit the button to close the outer door lock. When it was shut, he opened the inner door lock. Oxygen-filled air from inside the dome whooshed