The Speed of Sound (Speed of Sound Thrillers #1)(89)

Eddie stared out the window. “No they don’t.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“I don’t like figures of speech.”

“This one is actually a good one,” Skylar assured him. “If someone tells you they care about you, they might mean it, but they also might not. But if someone shows you through their actions, then you know they mean it.”

Eddie noticed the cabdriver was nodding in agreement, so he nodded, as well. “I will continue showing you through my actions that I trust you.”

She looked him in the eyes. “I’m glad, Eddie. That makes me feel good.”

He looked away. “Why does it make you feel good?”

“Because I want you to trust me.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked with all sincerity.

“Eddie, I trust you one hundred percent.”

“That makes me feel good, too.” He said it with the exact same intonation she had used.

For the first time since she’d known Eddie Parks, Skylar couldn’t be sure of whether he was merely regurgitating what he had just heard or actually meant it. So she asked, “Why does it make you feel good?”

“Because I want you to trust me.” The slightest hint of a smile crept across his face.

The cab headed north on Broad Street, passing the main campus of Temple University before heading west on Susquehanna Avenue. The driver pulled to the curb in the 300 block and announced that they had reached their destination. The meter read: $17.30. Skylar paid him with a twenty, and got out of the cab, along with Eddie.

He stared at the door to 317, but did not move toward it. “Eddie, what’s wrong?”

He just stood there, pointing toward the home’s entrance. “That’s the wrong door.”

“Are you sure it’s the right address?”

“It’s the right address: 317 West Susquehanna Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19122. But it is definitely not the right door.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“The door is the wrong shape and wrong color. It should be brown and splotchy, not black, and it should be curved on top.”

“Maybe it was just painted.”

“No, it was not just painted. Nothing is the same. The whole building is wrong. It’s not the same at all.”

Skylar only now noticed how new the redbrick structure looked. In fact, the entire block looked new. Like it had all been recently rebuilt and gentrified, much like developers were intending to do with Butler McHenry’s mother’s neighborhood. Dread filled her voice. “Eddie, do you remember if the building used to be made out of brick?”

“It was not made out of brick. It was made out of wood. Yellow-painted wood. Some of it had termites, and those parts were more gray than yellow.”

Skylar moved to him carefully. “Eddie, do you know that when they build new buildings, they often tear down old ones first?”

“Yes, I do know.”

She waited for him to connect the dots. He didn’t. “I think that’s why the building looks different now.”

Eddie looked like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. “You think they tore down my house?” She nodded. Eddie was devastated. “If they tore down my house, the echoes will be too dispersed. If the echoes are too dispersed, I won’t be able to reconstruct enough of the original sound waves to hear my mother’s voice!” SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

Skylar quickly grabbed his hands and held them tight as he flailed against her. “You will hear her, Eddie. I don’t know how, but I promise you will hear your mother sing.”

His face turned red as he fought against her with all his might. It took considerably longer than usual for him to calm down. Skylar did not release him until she was certain all the fight had left him.

And that was when all hell broke loose.





CHAPTER 92

317 West Susquehanna Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1:01 a.m.

Eddie tensed suddenly. His entire body went rigid. Skylar had no idea why until she saw the six heavily armed federal agents moving swiftly toward him. Weapons drawn. Safeties off. Eddie started screaming hysterically. The Philadelphia-based Homeland Security agents had been waiting for them in the shadows. They were now less than twenty feet away. Eddie and Skylar were completely surrounded. How could I not have seen them? Skylar thought.

“FREEZE!” barked the lead agent. “FEDERAL AGENTS!”

Skylar pulled Eddie in tight, clutching him with every bit of strength she had as his body started to convulse.

The lead agent barked, “PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!”

Skylar kept a firm grasp on Eddie, and screamed, “If I let go of him, he’ll harm himself!”

His tone did not waver. “RAISE YOUR HANDS AND KNEEL, OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE.”

There was no question in Skylar’s mind that he and his associates would follow through on the threat. So she complied. The echo box and laptop supercomputer tumbled from Eddie’s grip, falling to the street as he started seizing violently. He collapsed near his precious devices, SLAPPING himself as hard as he could. Ten times. Twenty times. There would be no stopping it this time.

Skylar looked on helplessly as the agents closed in. She pleaded, “He needs to be restrained!”

The agent was now standing directly in front of her. “Happy to oblige.” He smirked. “I’m Agent Kendricks.” He nodded to one of his subordinates, who cuffed her left wrist, and then her right, behind her back. It was the first time Skylar had ever been in restraints, but all she could think of was Eddie.