by Kim Hoover
“This is a pretty good view. I can see quite a ways down the highway.”
“Are the Rangers hiding out there somewhere?” Rachel asked.
“I guess so. They must be in the woods over there,” Jane said from her perch. “There’s a gully or ravine that disappears behind a long line of big old oak trees. About a hundred yards away.”
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Six thirty,” Jane said. “Hey, I think I see something.”
Just then Rachel’s radio crackled. “Suspects spotted.”
“This is it,” I said, taking a swallow from my canteen.
“Hand me my binoculars,” Jane said.
“Here go you,” I said. “What do you see now?”
“A van, a tanker—small one—and a pickup truck.”
The radio crackled again. “Confirmed, tanker approaching. Stand by.”
“They’re almost here,” Jane said. “Five minutes tops before they’re in the parking lot.”
“Turn the radio way down,” I said. “We can’t let them hear anything from up here.”
I got my binoculars ready. I wanted to get a good look at them once they came inside.
“Turning into the parking lot. I’ll lose sight of them now because of the angle,” Jane said, jumping down off the ledge to join us on the platform.
The three of us trained our binoculars on the huge overhead door that would be opening to let them in. It felt like hours to me, but only minutes went by before the door came up.
“Joyce,” Rachel said. “She’s in the pickup. On the passenger side.”
Several men got out of the van to help maneuver the tanker into the bay. Once it was in place, one of them took an oversized wrench from the pickup and worked on the valve on the vat of gasoline that was their target.
“Theft in progress,” said someone on the radio.
“Move in,” Bev said.
I kept my binoculars on Mom. Her face was passive. No expression. I couldn’t tell if she was a part of this or not. Meanwhile, Jane was back up on her perch, watching for the Rangers.
“They’re coming,” she said.
“I hope they can do this without firing any shots,” I said.
“I don’t know,” Jane said. “They’re bringing an awful lot of firepower.”
Just then, a loud pop went off and everyone on the floor below grabbed for their guns and ran toward the outside. I saw Mom get out of the pickup. Then I saw Hank pushing her out of the way, like he was telling her to go for cover. Without thinking, I moved to the edge of the platform and scaled down the ladder as fast as I could. Jane grabbed at me, but I ignored her. When I got to the floor, I scanned the room for any sign of Mom.
I spotted her, huddled behind a forklift and some other equipment.
“Mom,” I said. “C’mon, I can get you out of here.”
“What on earth,” she shouted. “What are you doing here?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “You can get away. I can save you.”
“Cal, get out of here. You have no idea what you’re doing. And I don’t need to be saved.”
“What?”
“Go,” she said, scowling at me.
At that moment, Hank grabbed her hand and said, “Let’s go.” He looked at me with what seemed to me like a mixture of surprise and admiration. He nodded and then they were gone. I ran to the bay door and watched the van speed away as the Rangers got too slow a start. The pickup and the tanker sat abandoned.
I had no time to think about what my mother had just done because, when I looked back toward the ladder wall, I saw Jane frantically calling me over. I ran to her and saw Rachel crumpled on the ground.
“She fell from halfway up,” Jane said, a look of terror on her face.
“Oh my god,” I said, kneeling down beside her. “Rachel?”
She moaned but didn’t move.
“I don’t think we should touch her,” Jane said. “I’m afraid she’s got multiple broken bones and she might be bleeding inside.”
“Where’s her radio. We need to get help fast.”
We found the radio in the duffel bag and just started screaming into it, asking for help from anyone who could hear us. Bev’s voice interrupted us.
“Cal, is that you?”
“Yes, please, we need help. We’re inside the building. Rachel’s hurt.” I was screaming and crying frantically, scared my best friend was dying at my feet.
Bev came within a few minutes, a medical team following close behind. They were very careful putting Rachel on a stretcher. She whimpered weakly but didn’t open her eyes. I tried to get close to her, but the medic stopped me.
“Will she be okay?”
“We’ll do our best,” he said. “The faster we get her to the hospital, the better.”
“Can we go with her?” Jane asked.
“Not enough room,” he said as the stretcher moved quickly to their van.
We stood watching in silence as the medical team sped off down the highway. I collapsed into Jane’s arms, sobbing.
“I’ll never forgive myself for this! Never!”
Jane held me tight, tears covering her face too. “She’ll be okay,” Jane said over and over, trying to convince us both. “She has to be.”
“Stay here,” Bev said to us sternly. “I’ll be back.”
We sat on the floor for almost an hour before she finally came back.
“I know you’re probably going to arrest us,” I said, “but can we find out how Rachel is doing?”
Bev looked at us with a mixture of anger and sympathy.
“They got her stabilized at the hospital in Tyler,” she said, “but they are waiting for a critical care ambulance to take her to Dallas.”
“Oh my god,” I said. “I have to see her.”
“No,” Bev said. “You need to start acting like who you are, which is a fifteen-year-old girl who should be home and in school. It’s going to take every trick in my book to keep you out of the juvenile justice system.”
I stared at the ground, unable to look her in the eye. Jane reached for my hand and we huddled together, waiting for what would happen next.
“Can we at least know what happened out there?” Jane asked. “With the gang and with Cal’s mom?”
Bev sighed, as if considering what to tell us, if anything.
“The bottom line is they got away. There was a mistake by the Tyler police that gave them an opening. So we’re back to square one.”
“I spoke to my mom,” I said sheepishly.
“What?”
“Yeah, I got close enough. She told me to get away. That she didn’t need to be saved from anything.”
“What was your sense of her situation? Was she acting on her own free will?”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t tell. That guy, Hank Hart, he came and pulled her away. Maybe he was forcing her to go along? I just don’t know.”
“You’ll let me know if she contacts you?”
“Do you think she will?”
“There’s no way to predict, but sure, she might.”
“What are you going to do with us?” Jane asked.
“We’re keeping you overnight at a motel in town. Then, assuming I can work it out with my superiors, we’re sending you home tomorrow.”
“Home?” I asked. “By myself?”
“Home to your dad’s,” Bev said.
I didn’t even try to argue with her. I knew I’d be stuck at my dad’s until further notice. Bev motioned to some Rangers standing nearby and they helped us gather up our things and escorted us to a van outside.
“They will get you checked into your room,” Bev said. “Stay there. I’ll be next door.”
I was out of my mind, thinking about everything that just happened, knowing I was responsible for Rachel getting hurt. And then, on top of it, being sent home. Jane and I sat in the back of the van, helpless.
“It’s my fault,” I said.
“It’s not your fault.”
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“I never should have involved either one of you in this.”
“Cal, we came on our own. Because we wanted to. Because we’re a team.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I really love you. As a friend, I mean.”
“Silly girl,” Jane whispered. “What else would I be but a friend?”
We rode the rest of the way in silence.
Early the next morning, the telephone rang. I looked at the clock, groggy and cloudy-eyed. It was six a.m.
“Please come down to the lobby with your bags packed,” said a male voice.
“What? Where’s Bev—”
“Now, please,” said the voice, sternly.
I woke Jane up and told her what the voice had said.
“C’mon,” I said, “we better get moving.”
Bev was not there when we got down to the lobby. In fact, none of the Texas Rangers were there. It was only the Tyler police.
“Outside. There’s a truck waiting,” said a sergeant, pointing to a vehicle parked in front of the entrance.
“What’s happening? What about my car?” Jane asked, stepping toward him.
“Your car’s impounded. You’re getting a ride to Dallas. Someone’s meeting you there.”
“Who?” I asked.
“The Rangers didn’t disclose that to us. But they’ll have paperwork.”
Jane and I looked at each other. I felt like a prisoner who was being hauled off to jail. “Can I make a phone call?”
“I can’t authorize long distance,” he said.
“I’ll call collect.”
He waved me over to the girl at the motel desk. She helped me make the call.
“Grandma,” I said after the collect call was accepted. “Jane and I are being shipped back to—”
“I know,” Grandma interrupted. “Your dad’s the one meeting you.”
“But Grandma!”
“There’s nothin’ I can do about it,” she said. “Wish I could, but he’s hoppin’ mad.”
“Did you hear what happened to Rachel?”
“Oh, yes ma’am, I did. And it’s all over the news now.”
“Oh, no. What are they saying? Is she okay?”
“It’s not good, but they think—”
The sergeant took the telephone out of my hand.
“Hey!”
“Time to go,” he said, nodding toward the waiting truck.
Men on both sides took our arms and escorted us quickly through the doors and into the police vehicle.
“Look,” Jane said, pointing to photographers snapping our pictures as they shoved us into the backseat.
At this point, we started to realize how serious—and public—our situation was and how stupid we had been to think we could control anything. The truck sped away, almost running over one of the photographers and throwing us to the floorboard.
“Hey,” I yelled out to the driver. “Take it easy!”
“Shut your trap!” he yelled back at us.
As we rolled along the highway at eighty-five miles an hour, a horrible scene played out in my mind. My life was breaking apart in front of me. I saw my house split up and pieces flying in all different directions. I suddenly had the sensation of floating away into space, disconnected from everything I’d even known. I started hyperventilating.
“What’s wrong?” Jane said, grabbing my hand. “You need to calm down.”
She shook me and I came back to Earth.
“You were breathing so hard and fast. I thought you were going to pass out.”
I looked at her, but I couldn’t speak. It felt like someone had poured gravel down my throat or stuffed it with cotton.
“Cal!” Jane took me by the shoulders and stared into my eyes like she couldn’t find me in there.
I gasped out a few words, “Okay…I will be…okay.”
She hugged me tightly, stroking my hair and saying over and over, “I’m here. I’ll take care of you.”
When we got to Dallas two hours later, I spotted my father standing outside his car talking to two Texas Rangers. As we pulled up next to the patrol car, I saw Jane’s father walking out of the state highway building nearby.
“Your dad,” I said, gripping Jane’s arm.
“That’s not good,” Jane said. “They weren’t supposed to be home from their East Coast trip yet.”
“Well, girls, it’s quite the adventure you’ve been on,” Jane’s father said ruefully as we got out of the truck.
“Let’s go,” Dad said, picking up my suitcase and opening his car door.
“Jane,” I said, in a panic, suddenly realizing we were being separated on the spot.
“You’ve spent enough time together,” Dad said. “In the car,” he said, daring me to challenge him.
As we drove away, I looked back, trying to keep Jane in my sight as long as possible. Her father was dragging her toward his car as she held both arms out in my direction. Tears streamed down my face and I held my hand to the window, imagining that I was touching Jane’s.
Chapter Twenty-Two
What a weird feeling it was to go back to school a few days later. The thought of it was silly to me. With my mother still missing, Rachel in the hospital fighting for her life, and Jane and I separated, the idea of sitting in a classroom was trivial.
Every night at my dad’s had been a sleepless one, and not just because the bed in his apartment was saggy and uncomfortable. Being at his house was like being in a straightjacket. I felt trapped. I even imagined I couldn’t catch my breath sometimes. I started to think I might be going a little crazy.
I got up at sunrise on my first day back at school. “This stinks,” I mumbled, throwing off the covers.
I looked out the dingy window of my tiny room, which was really his office. The sight made me feel even worse. Dirty pickup trucks and broken down beat-up old cars lined the parking lot below. It looked like a used car lot. I got dressed and went into the kitchen, looking for cereal, but couldn’t find any. Dad walked in.
“There’s no Cheerios,” I said.
He tossed the morning newspaper on the kitchen table and opened the refrigerator door.
“There’s eggs,” he said. “And some bacon. Fry us up some.”
I gave him a blank look.
“Don’t you know how to cook?”
I turned and started to leave the room.
“Hey!” he said. “I’m talking to you.”
“I hate this,” I said, slumping into a chair.
“I don’t know what you think you’re gonna do,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning back on two legs of the chair.
“I can tell you what I’m not gonna do,” I said, crossing my arms too. “I’m not gonna cook for you.”
“Fine,” he said, getting up and opening the refrigerator. “I’ll make it myself. You need to eat something and then we gotta get you to school.”
I watched him cooking, thinking maybe I was being too hard on him. After all, he hadn’t really done anything. It wasn’t his fault my mother had gone crazy. I offered to set the table. We ate in silence and quickly cleaned up together. As we drove to school, I fidgeted with my book bag.
“I want to see Rachel.”
“She’s still in Dallas.”
“She’s probably gonna be there for a long time,” I said. “I want to see her.”
He strummed the steering wheel, letting out a long sigh. “I’ll talk to her dad. See what the visitor rules are.”
When I got to school, the first thing I did was look for Jane. We hadn’t been allowed to speak to each other since we were separated in Dallas. Dad had forbidden me to use the telephone, and he told Jane to stop calling after she’d tried to reach me several times.
I ran up the stairs to the junior hall. I knew she had calculus first period, so I walked in that direction. I didn’t see her. I stopped a girl I knew on the way in.
“Have you seen Jane Rawlings?” I asked.
“They said she’s not coming back,” the girl
said.
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s in my homeroom, well, she was supposed to be. Her parents sent her to boarding school.”
A wave of nausea washed over me and my head felt like it was floating off my body. I grabbed onto the doorjamb to steady myself. I couldn’t think.
“Are you okay?” the girl asked.
“Sorry,” I said and stumbled down the hall. I saw the principal coming toward me and dashed into the girls’ restroom.
“Cal,” he called from the hallway. “What’s wrong? You need to get to class.”
“I’m coming,” I said, splashing water on my face and trying to calm down.
The rest of the day, I felt like I was in a pool up to my neck, treading water and going under every so often. Kids tried to talk to me and find out what happened in Palo Duro Canyon and Tyler. I gave them answers, but it didn’t seem like me talking. There was a soupy fog in my head that filtered everything coming into my ears and slowed my responses to half speed.
Somehow, I made it to the end of the day. When I got home to find Dad home too, I was struck by how small the place was. I closed myself in the bathroom, sat on the toilet seat and stared straight ahead, using every ounce of willpower to stop myself from screaming.
Not knowing where they had sent Jane or when I would see her again hit me almost as hard as Rachel being in the hospital. And realizing that I was to blame, at least in part, for the situation both of them were in, made me ache inside. Soon the rock-hard plastic toilet seat became too uncomfortable to bear. I stood up, rubbing my butt and thinking, one step at a time. That’s how we got through things. I would see Rachel. I would find Jane. My mother would return. Everything would be okay.
I finally left the bathroom and went straight to Dad’s office, telling him I wasn’t hungry for dinner. I sat on the bed, staring at the bookcase. When I saw his copy of the Bible on the shelf, I reached for it almost without thinking. There was a time when I got something out of reading it. Maybe it would help. I opened it at the ribbon marker—the Twenty-third Psalm. I read the last part of it out loud. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou has anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.”
