Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He arrived precipitously to his house in the middle of the torrential downpour that fell at that time of night in London. Mrs. McAlister, the babysitter, came out to meet him smiling as always to tell him that the boy had already fallen asleep, while she began to grab her things to go home. Dr. Hansen gave her barely a glance as he left his wet raincoat on the floor and was rushed to the library there on the second floor. Mrs. McAlister was surprised by his attitude and asked him what was happening.

“I don’t have time to explain. Thank you for coming, Mrs. McAlister”, the doctor told her as he walked into the library and began to rummage through the drawers of his desk. “As always, your payment was transferred to your account this morning. I won’t need you for the rest of the week. Now it’s better if you leaves, and the faster the better.”

Mrs. McAlister hesitated for a few seconds, still puzzled, and then turned to leave the library and head for the front door. She was used to the strange, elusive and sometimes unpredictable attitude of Dr. Hansen, so she decided not to give importance to what was happening at that moment, thinking that perhaps it was another of his pressing situations that he was in often because of his work. Dr. Hansen found a manila envelope among some papers and opened it, found that they were the documents he was looking for and left the library, went up to the second floor of the spacious house and went to his room. Once inside, he took a suitcase out of the closet and began to fill it with some of his clothes and some personal effects. When it was full he closed it, put it on the floor next to the door and left the room, entering the second. There, a boy of about five years old was sleeping peacefully in his bed; he watched him for a few seconds in the semi-darkness and then turned on the light, looked in the closet for another suitcase and began to fill it also with some of the boy’s clothes. When he heard it, he woke up and light affected him for a few seconds.

“What’s up, dad?” He asked, once he could see well. “Why are you packing that suitcase?”

Dr. Hansen continued filling it without pause.

“We’re going on a trip”, he said. “Take your favorite toys and put them in your school bag.”

“Where we go?” The boy asked, getting out of bed and looking for toys in a trunk next to the door.

“Let’s go to a friend. Ask no more and hurry up.”

A few minutes later they were leaving the house wearing raincoats and getting into the Mercedes Benz in front of the garage. The rain hadn’t stopped yet, and Hansen thought he should drive carefully to avoid an accident, even though he was in a rush to get out of the country. When they were on the road he made sure every moment that no one was following them, and he began to feel nervous. Beside him, the boy was holding a Captain America action figure in his hand and saw through the window how the rain was wetting it constantly, and everything around him.