Jump When Ready

by David Pandolfe

  “But they don’t know who it was. There’s nothing to worry about, right? Just send the ransom note and arrange the drop off.”

  Will shook his head. “What about the thing you saw? Wasn’t it some guy? You said he pointed at you.”

  “Probably it was just nerves,” Karen said. “So, I was freaking out a little.” When Will didn’t say anything, Karen asked, “Why? Did you see something too?”

  “Not exactly.” Will stropped pacing. He ran his hand through his hair.

  “Will, what’s going on? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “I kind of heard a voice. More than once.”

  “What do you mean you heard a voice?”

  “A voice! Someone talking to me. And, no, I’m not going schizophrenic on you. I heard this voice telling me I was going to prison.”

  Jamie, Nikki and I looked at each other, our eyes wide. “This is great!” I said. “I bet they call it off.”

  “That’s really bad,” Karen said. “You’re scaring me now.”

  “I know it seems bad,” Will said. “But now I’m thinking it’s more like a sign. Like that was our subconscious talking to each of us, telling us the whole deal was about to unravel. So, if you see your guy again or if I hear that voice, that’s actually good. It means our instincts are working for us.”

  Karen thought for a moment. “Seriously, you think so?”

  “Absolutely. You don’t just ignore something like that. So, here’s what I’m thinking. We take her and get the hell out of this trap. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t think of a contingency plan. My grandfather had a cabin in Michigan. He died years ago but we’ve kept it in the family. Obviously, it wasn’t my first choice but—”

  “Michigan? Are you out of your mind? What are we going to do, keep her tied up while we drive there?”

  Will shrugged. “Sure, I guess. What choice do we have?”

  Karen stared at him. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  “Not at all,” Will said. “That’s my decision. Get ready to roll.”

  ~~~

  After they left the room, we stood there in a state of shock. All of us were thinking the same thing, I knew. I broke the silence.

  “He’s a freaking monster! We have to do something!”

  “He thinks we’re a good sign?” Jamie said. “I can’t believe this!”

  If I could have thrown something across the room, I would have. If I could have gotten my hands on Will’s gun, I’m not sure what I would have done. That wasn’t possible and maybe it was for the better. But there was no way I was giving up.

  “They’re not doing that to my sister!”

  “I don’t know what we can do,” Nikki said.

  Maybe I was grasping at straw, but I could only think of one possibility. “The cop. He heard me. I know he did. I just didn’t find the right way to get through. Nikki, will you help me?”

  Nikki’s eyes met mine. “I’ll try.”

  “Jamie, can you stay here with Bethany? Let us know if anything’s going on?”

  Jamie nodded. “Sure, of course.”

  “Then we still have a plan,” I said.

  13

  Will and Karen Pay for Parking

  Trent was a pretty small town and it didn’t take long to find the accident scene, one car at the side of the road, its hood buckled, and another overturned in a ravine. Just as we spotted the crash from above, the ambulance took off with its siren blaring.

  “That looks bad,” I said, my eyes still on the overturned car, its chassis exposed to the air like the underbelly of a dead animal.

  “At least nobody died,” Nikki said.

  I looked again at the crash scene below. “How do you know?”

  “I can just tell,” Nikki said. “I’m not getting anything like that.” She pointed to the people standing at the roadside. “They’re confused, scared, but nobody died.” Nikki shifted her attention away from the cluster of people. “Look, there he is.”

  Sure enough, the cop was walking across the road toward his car. He closed the door and started his engine. A moment later, he got moving and we followed as he drove across town. It was only a matter of minutes until he pulled into the police station parking lot. We were with him as he entered the station.

  Once he got inside, the cop went to his desk and opened some files on his computer. We stood there while he typed, looking around as other cops walked past talking to each other and phones rang in the background. Our cop wasn’t at it very long—maybe twenty minutes—before he logged off again and got up from his desk.

  As he crossed the room, someone called out, “Have a good weekend, Gary.”

  “I plan to,” he called back. “Thanks!”

  Gary. His name was Gary. Maybe that could help. At the same time, what the other cop had said didn’t make me feel any better. Probably the last thing Gary would be thinking about when he got out of there was his job. We followed him out to the parking lot and I fell into step next to him.

  “Gary. Officer Gary, we need your help! Please, can you hear me?”

  Gary got into his own car this time.

  I tried to think of something that might get through. “Those people at the cabin, they were lying about the gunshots! Remember the gunshots?”

  Gary looked in the rearview mirror, right to where I was sitting. He waited a moment, then drove out of the parking lot.

  “I think he heard you that time,” Nikki said.

  “Yeah, I think so too. I’m just not connecting with him. Can you get anything?”

  Nikki closed her eyes and concentrated. A couple of minutes passed before she opened her eyes again. “I got something. He’s thinking about the weekend. His family is heading to the beach. He has two young kids, a boy and a girl. Does that help?”

  “Did you get the kids’ names?”

  Nikki tried again. “Steve, I think. And…hang on…Haley.”

  Gary pulled into his driveway, killed the engine and got out of the car. I chased after him as he crossed the lawn, telling myself to whisper when I wanted to scream. He went to unlock the front door and I was at his ear.

  What if it was Haley or Steve in that cabin?

  Gary went inside the house, then stopped in hall and stared into his living room. Family photos sat grouped on a piano—himself, his wife and their two kids, everyone smiling. After a moment, he started walking toward the kitchen.

  What if it was Haley or Steve? Would you trust your instincts then?

  Gary stopped again. He turned and walked back to the hallway. He stood there jangling his keys.

  They abducted a girl. They have her at the cabin. Trust your instincts.

  Gary went to the front door, hesitated another moment, then left the house.

  “I think you got through!” Nikki said, as we followed Gary back across his front lawn.

  “I really hope so,” I said. “If not, Bethany doesn’t have a chance.”

  ~~~

  Gary got into his car and drove back in the same direction he’d just come from. I kept thinking he must be getting his patrol car or other cops to help, but it wasn’t long before he drove past the police station toward the town’s main street. He pulled up in front of a restaurant, one of those small town places that probably served just breakfast and lunch, what my parents would call a “diner.” In the front window, a neon sign faced the street, a simple blue oval with just the word “Open” centered and lit in red.

  Gary got out of his car.

  “What’s he doing?”

  “I don’t know,” Nikki said. “Try again!”

  We were next to him as he opened the door to the diner.

  What if it was Haley they had up there? You need to go to the cabin!

  Gary shook his head, went into the diner and took a booth by the front window. It didn’t make sense that he would drive all the way home, not even change clothes, then head right out again to get something to eat. Had I only imagined he’d heard me?

&
nbsp; A waitress came over, an older lady with graying hair. “Gary, what are you doing back here again? Didn’t I just get you breakfast a few hours ago?”

  Gary smiled at her. “Technically, that was my dinner. I was pulling the night shift. I had my actual breakfast at two o’clock this morning.”

  The waitress chuckled. “No wonder you’re hungry again. What are you having?”

  “Maybe just some iced tea,” Gary said. “If that’s okay.”

  “Sure, sweetie.” The waitress looked back at him. “Everything okay? You look a little out of sorts.”

  It took a moment for Gary to answer. “Huh? Sure, I’m fine. There’s just something on my mind. Thought I’d take a few minutes to gather my thoughts.”

  I looked at Nikki. “We don’t have time for him to think about things!”

  “I think we just ran out of time,” Nikki said, staring past me. “I’m really sorry, Henry.”

  I turned to see Jamie standing just inside the front door, his expression grim. “They’re ready to leave,” he said.

  ~~~

  We got back to the cabin just as Will and Karen lowered Bethany into the van, her wrists and ankles both bound this time. Despite everything that had happened, all the sick and cruel things Will and Karen had done to Bethany, I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Now, they had her tied up like an animal! In that moment, it became clear that nothing was beneath them. Will’s T-shirt lifted as he bent over and I saw that he’d stuck the gun into the back of his jeans. Seeing that gun made me realize Will was getting scared, edgy, and undoubtedly that much more dangerous as each minute passed. For some reason, I wondered if Karen knew he had the gun on him. Something told me she didn’t. At the same time, I wasn’t sure why I cared what she knew. They were both doing this. Both of them were equally guilty.

  They got into the van and we did too, no one speaking as they drove the same bumpy path I remembered from that night when Will and Karen brought Bethany here. Jamie and Nikki stared out the window and I knew what they were thinking—there was nothing more we could do. I suspected they would bail out of the situation as soon as possible. To be honest, I didn’t really blame them. They’d done as much as they could. It seemed we were now out of time and we’d only be lying to ourselves to keep pretending we had a plan.

  A few more minutes passed as Will drove, then Karen looked over at him. “Maybe you shouldn’t have given her another dose. She could barely swallow it.”

  Will kept his eyes on the road. “Look, she needs to be totally out of it at least while we get moving. Don’t you think she’d freak if she knew what was going on?”

  Karen considered, then nodded. “Okay, maybe. But she keeps saying the drugs make her breathe funny.”

  “She’s fine.”

  I kept looking out the window, hoping Gary would come racing up the road in his police car, lights flashing. But that didn’t happen.

  Will glanced over at Karen. “Listen, I know this isn’t how we had it planned. But I’m sure we’re making the right move. As soon as we get to Michigan, we’ll send the demand and get this done. We’ll just set up a new place to drop her. Okay, baby?”

  Karen’s eyes were bloodshot, probably from stress and lack of sleep. Then again, she might have smoked a joint. “Absolutely promise?”

  “Absolutely, totally,” Will said, breaking into a grin. “Repeat after me. I am a millionaire living in Iceland where artists and other cool fringe people hang out.”

  Karen exhaled, then tried to smile. “I don’t think I can repeat all that.”

  “Okay, you don’t have to repeat it. But how does it sound?”

  “It sounds good.”

  “They have awesome art and music festivals there,” Will said. “Remember all that stuff we looked at online?”

  “Yeah, I do. Listen, I’m just going to check on her. She didn’t look good.” Karen undid her seatbelt and climbed over the middle console. She went to the back of the van and peered over the seats down at Bethany. “She looks bad. Will, she’s shaking!”

  “Get back up here and put your seatbelt on! What if you get us pulled over or something?”

  Karen climbed back into her seat. “I think she’s having a reaction.”

  “She’s not having a reaction. She probably has a cold.”

  Karen shook her head. “We need to do something.”

  “What are you talking about? The onramp is right there.”

  “You said it yourself, we’re not barbarians! We need to get her to a doctor.”

  Will put his blinker on and merged lanes to get on the highway. “We’re not going to a doctor. No way.”

  “What if she’s having an allergic reaction?”

  “Okay, fine. I’ll get her some Benadryl.” Will switched off his blinker and passed the onramp.

  “Benadryl? Are you kidding?”

  “What do you think they’d do at a hospital? It’s what they use for allergic reactions. I’ll get some cold meds too just in case. Then we keep going. Okay?”

  Karen didn’t answer.

  “Okay? That’s the only option.”

  “Fine. You better be right.”

  Will and Karen didn’t speak for a while after that. They didn’t have to—the tension between them did all the talking. Still, he drove into town slowly, remaining calm, as if everything was just fine and there wasn’t a person tied up at back of the van struggling to breathe.

  Will glanced over at Karen. “You know, maybe next fall we should think about touring Europe too. Do you still want to?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Karen said. “I don’t know. Let’s just get her some medicine.”

  “Try to relax. Look, there’s a pharmacy right here on Main Street. We’re almost there.”

  Will approached the pharmacy, slowed, then drove past.

  “What are you doing?”

  “There’s nowhere to park.”

  Karen pointed up ahead. “Right there.”

  Will saw the spot, pulled over, then put his blinker on to pull out again. “No, this isn’t good. It’s too close to the fire hydrant.”

  Karen stared at him. “Oh, my God. You have to be kidding.”

  I kept looking at Bethany, only half-aware of what was going on around me. “She’s really pale,” I said. “I think she’s getting worse.”

  I felt Nikki’s hand on my shoulder. “Did you hear what she just said? It might just be that simple. Don’t give up, Henry.”

  Jamie stared at me too, waiting for me to get it.

  “I should move the car,” Will said.

  Suddenly, I realized what they were trying to tell me. Who could say what might get them noticed? It might just be something that small. I forced myself to stay calm. I leaned forward and whispered into Will’s ear.

  Park here. You’re only going to be a few minutes.

  Will searched the street for another parking space.

  Just leave it running. Karen can wait in the car.

  “You would have been back by now,” Karen said.

  “Okay. I’ll leave the van running.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Will got out of the van, looked back once, then walked toward the pharmacy.

  Karen lit a cigarette and sat waiting. After a few minutes, she turned on the radio and searched for stations, then she turned it off again. She kept drumming her fingers on the dashboard and watching the pharmacy, but every so often she’d turn to glance at something on the other side of the street. I watched her eyes in the rearview mirror, wondering what kept catching her attention.

  Then I saw it too—the neon sign. The blue oval. In its center, just one word lit in red: Open.

  I turned to Jamie and Nikki. “That’s the same place,” I said. “Maybe he’s still in there!”

  We flew over to the diner and I searched the room, desperately hoping Gary would still be sitting there. But all the booths were empty now. The waitress sat at the counter reading a newspaper as music played softly in the background.
A television mounted to the wall silently flickered images. Dishes clanked in the kitchen.

  In that moment, I realized the truth of the situation. Will and Karen were going to drive out of town with my sister in the back of their van. There was nothing I could do. There never had been. I was dead.

  I guess my expression must have showed what I was feeling.

  “I’m sorry, Henry,” Nikki said.

  Jamie put his hand on my shoulder. “Me too, Henry. I’m was really hoping we could help your sister.”

  Just at that moment, a door opened off the kitchen and Gary came out. He looked back at someone I couldn’t see. “Honestly, no bother at all,” he said. “I’d say that lock looks real secure. You have a good weekend now.”

  We watched as Gary went to his booth, picked up his hat and started toward the door. Jamie and Nikki turned to face me, their eyes wide.

  “You can do this,” Nikki said. “I know you can.”

  “Me too,” Jamie said. “Good luck.”

  This was my last chance, I knew. There wouldn’t be any others. I had to play this right or my sister was going to die.

  I waited until Gary was outside. I walked next to him.

  The couple from the cabin, that’s their van. Right there, look!

  Gary kept walking toward his car.

  You had a bad feeling about them. You knew they were lying, didn’t you?

  He hit the remote and unlocked his doors.

  They kidnapped a girl. What if it was Steve or Haley? Trust your instincts!

  Gary stopped and looked across the street, just at the moment when Will came out of the pharmacy.

  Will spotted Gary and started walking fast.

  Gary stood there for a few more seconds, watching as Will got into the van. Then Gary broke into a run.

  Will was just about to shift into drive when Gary knocked on the window. He motioned for Will to lower it. Will exhaled, shot a hateful look at Karen, then lowered the window.

  “Funny how we keep running into each other,” Gary said, still breathing hard from his sprint across the street.

  Will hesitated, then said, “How are you, officer?”