Shadow of the Hegemon, the - Book 2 (Ender)

doesn't make a pattern."
    "Let's not wait to see who's next," said Mother. "I'd rather feel silly later for overreacting than grieve because we dismissed the possibility."
    "Give it a few days," said Father. "It will all blow over."
    "We've already given it six hours," said Bean. "If the kidnappers are patient, they won't strike again for months. But if they're impatient, they're already in motion against all their other targets. For all we know, the only reason Nikolai and I aren't in the bag already is because we threw off their plans by going on vacation."
    "Or else," said Nikolai, "our being here on this island gives them the perfect opportunity."
    "Father," said Mother, "why don't you call for some protection?"
    Father hesitated.
    Bean understood why. The political game was a delicate one, and anything Father did right now could have repercussions throughout his career. "You won't be perceived as asking for special privileges for yourself," said Bean. "Nikolai and I are a precious national resource. I believe the prime minister is on record as saying that several times. Letting Athens know where we are and suggesting they protect us and get us out of here is a good idea."
    Father got on the cellphone.
    He got only a System Busy response.
    "That's it," said Bean. "There's no way the phone system can be too busy here on Ithaca. We need a boat."
    "An airplane," said Mother."
    "A boat," said Nikolai. "And not a rental. They're probably waiting for us to put ourselves in their hands, so there won't be a struggle."
    "Several of the nearby houses have boats," said Father. "But we don't know these people."
    "They know us," said Nikolai. "Especially Bean. We are war heroes, you know."
    "But any house around here could be the very one from which they're watching us," said Father. "If they're watching us. We can't trust anybody."
    "Let's get in our bathing suits," said Bean, "and walk to the beach and then wander as far as we can before we cut inland and find somebody with a boat."
    Since no one had a better plan, they put it into action at once. Within two minutes they were out the door, carrying no wallets or purses, though Father and Mother slipped a few identification papers and credit cards into their suits. Bean and Nikolai laughed and teased each other as usual, and Mother and Father held hands and talked quietly, smiling at their sons ... as usual. No sign of alarm. Nothing to cause anyone watching to spring into action.
    They were only about a quarter mile up the beach when they heard an explosion -- loud, as if it were close, and the shockwave made them stumble. Mother fell. Father helped her up as Bean and Nikolai looked back.
    "Maybe it's not our house," said Nikolai.
    "Let's not go back and check," said Bean.
    They began to jog up the beach, matching their speed to Mother, who was limping a little from having skinned one knee and twisted the other when she fell. "Go on ahead," she said.
    "Mother," said Nikolai, "taking you is the same as taking us, because we'd do whatever they wanted to get you back."
    "They don't want to take us," said Bean. "Petra they wanted to use. Me they want dead."
    "No," said Mother.
    "He's right," said Father. "You don't blow up a house in order to kidnap the occupants."
    "But we don't know it was our house!" Mother insisted.
    "Mother," said Bean. "It's basic strategy. Any resource you can't get control of, you destroy so your enemy can't have it."
    "What enemy?" Mother said. "Greece has no enemies!"
    "When somebody wants to rule the world," said Nikolai, "eventually everyone is his enemy."
    "I think we should run faster," said Mother.
    They did.
    As they ran, Bean thought through what Mother had said. Nikolai's answer was right, of course, but Bean couldn't help but wonder: Greece might have no enemies, but I have. Somewhere in this world, Achilles is alive. Supposedly he's in custody, a prisoner because he is mentally ill, because he has murdered again and again. Graff promised that he would never be set free. But Graff was court-martialed -- exonerated, yes, but retired from the military. He's now Minister of Colonization, no longer in a position to keep his promise about Achilles. And if there's one thing Achilles wants, it's me, dead.
    Kidnaping Petra, that's something Achilles would think of. And if he was in a position to cause that to happen -- if some government or group was listening to him -- then it would have been a simple enough matter for him to get the same people to