Cry Mercy

by Mariah Stewart

Her heart pounding, she ran the length of the backyard to the alley behind her house where she’d parked her car. Driving carefully to make certain she was not being followed, she took a roundabout way to her daughter’s preschool. She parked on a side street, out of view of the front of the building, took a deep calming breath, and entered through a side door, just in case.

  Once inside, she waved to the head teacher, indicating that she’d arrived to pick up her daughter.

  ���Hey, you’re early today,��� the teacher said.

  ���Just a little.��� She searched the group for her child.

  ���Chloe Nolan, your mommy’s here,��� the teacher called into the next room.

  A tiny girl with dark curls and darker skin, yellow paint on her clothes and her cheek, skipped through the doorway.

  ���Can I go home with Natalie today?��� The little girl flung herself onto her mother’s legs and held on. ���Please?���

  ���Not today, sweetie,��� her mother replied softly. ���Go get your things and tell Natalie maybe another day.���

  ���Tomorrow?���

  ���We’ll see.���

  ���We’ll see means no.��� Chloe pouted.

  ���It means, we’ll see what tomorrow brings. And we will. So go get your things now and-���

  ���I have my things. There, by the door.��� The girl pointed to the pile of backpacks.

  ���Say good-bye to your teacher, then, and let’s go.���

  ���Bye, Miss Maria. Bye, Natalie. Bye, Kelly.��� The little girl’s voice trailed off as she picked up her belongings. Reaching up to hold her mother’s hand, she babbled brightly all the way to the car.

  ���Are we going home?��� Chloe asked as she strapped herself into her seat.

  ���We’re going to Aunt Steffie’s for a while.���

  ���Are we eating dinner there?���

  ���We might even stay all night.���

  ���Yay! I get to play with Mr. Mustache.��� Chloe’s small feet kicked the seat gleefully. ���He’s my favorite cat in the whole entire world.���

  ���He’s a pretty special cat, all right,��� her mother agreed.

  ���Mommy, are you having a bad day?���

  ���Why? Do I look like I’m having a bad day?���

  ���You’re not smiling.���

  She forced the biggest smile she could muster.

  ���Better?��� she asked.

  ���Uh-huh,��� Chloe agreed.

  She took the long way to her friend Stephanie’s house, and parked two blocks away. She gathered up the things she’d brought with her, and locked the door. She’d have to remember to ask Steffie to have the car towed to the police impound lot for safekeeping.

  ���Why do we have to walk so far?��� Chloe grumbled as she trudged along, lugging her backpack.

  ���Because it’s a good day for a walk, and we want to see what we can see.���

  ���It’s cold,��� Chloe complained.

  ���Then we’ll cross and walk on the sunny side of the street.��� She remembered there used to be a song about that, but she couldn’t remember the words. Someone used to sing it to her, long ago, but she didn’t remember who. ���But we’re almost there already. See? Just three more houses and we’re there.���

  They crossed the street and walked up the driveway to the backyard.

  ���Her car’s not here. She isn’t home.��� Chloe looked as if she were about to cry.

  ���She’ll be here soon.���

  ���What if she isn’t? We’ll have to walk all the way back to the car������ Chloe’s eyes widened dramatically at the thought.

  ���She said she’d be home by��� oh, there she is, see? I told you.���

  The blue and white Crown Victoria pulled slowly into the driveway and parked. A tall woman in her early forties got out. If she was surprised to see she had visitors, Chief Stephanie Jenkins of the Silver Hills, California, police department didn’t show it.

  ���Hey, cuteness,��� she called to Chloe. ���What’s happening?���

  ���I’m happening,��� Chloe grinned.

  ���You bet your buttons you are.��� She kissed the top of the child’s head. ���Come on inside. Let’s see what old Mr. Mustache is up to. I’ll bet he’s sleeping like a big old slug.���

  ���Mommy said we might eat dinner here and maybe sleep here, too.��� Chloe dropped her backpack inside the door and took off in search of the cat.

  ���Mi casa es su casa,��� Steffie told her.

  ���What?��� Chloe turned to ask.

  ���It means, my house is your house. That means you are welcome to stay as long as you like.���

  ���Yay.��� Chloe grinned happily. ���Does that mean that your cat is my cat, too?���

  ���Sure enough, sugar.���

  No words had yet been exchanged between the two women. It wasn’t until after Chloe was sleeping snugly in the guest bedroom, the old gray tom curled up contentedly beside her, that Steffie handed her old friend a glass of wine and said, ���Okay, spill.���

  ���I brought in a hooker late last night for solicitation.���

  ���And that would be news because���?���

  ���She offered to trade some information with me in exchange for not booking her.���

  ���By the look on your face, I’d say she had something big to trade.��� Steffie tucked her legs under her on the sofa.

  ���She told me that Anthony Navarro knows that the child I adopted four years ago is his daughter, and he’s coming after her.��� Her friend nodded slowly. ���I’d say that was big.���

  ���You think she knows what she’s talking about?���

  ���You think there’s any chance she could have made that up and, just coincidentally, got the facts right?���

  ���Okay, so we pick him up-���

  ���First, you have to find him. Stef, you’ve been after him for years, and you haven’t come close.���

  ���So we look a little harder while we wait for him to show.���

  ���He won’t be coming himself. He won’t have to. He’s offered twenty-five thousand dollars to the person who brings him his daughter.���

  Steffie whistled. ���Jesus. He’s serious.���

  ���As a heart attack.���

  ���So we pick up whoever he sends-���

  ���They’ll just keep on coming, Steffie. He wants his daughter.���

  ���Why?���

  ���The word on the street is, eight months ago, he had measles. It left him sterile. No more baby Navarros.���

  ���So he wants the one he had with��� wait a minute, how did he find out who adopted her? Tameka died while she was in prison. The court terminated his rights because he never showed up at any of the hearings. How all of a sudden does he know who has his kid?���

  ���He bribed someone at children’s services. This hooker this morning, she knew the whole story, Stef. She even knew the name of Chloe’s birth mother.���

  ���Well, shit.��� Steffie stood and began to pace. After a moment, she said, ���Okay, we do this. We stake out your house-���

  ���You’ll have to get in line. It’s already being staked out.���

  ���You know this for certain?���

  ���I saw them. Two of them, parked right across the street from my house.���

  ���When was this?���

  ���They were there when I left to pick up Chloe from scho
ol. Which is why I left when I did, and why I came here instead of going home.���

  ���You think Navarro sent them?���

  ���I’d bet my life on it. I won’t bet Chloe’s.���

  Steffie reached for the radio she had strapped onto her waistband, but her friend stopped her.

  ���Uh-uh. It won’t do any good, Stef. It won’t stop until he gets her. He’ll get her at her school or he’ll have someone come into the house in the middle of the night, but he will get her.��� She shook her head, her face white with fear. ���As long as we’re here, and he knows we’re here, it won’t stop. There aren’t enough police in this part of the state to take on his whole family, and he won’t care how many of us or how many of them die.���

  ���So we call in the FBI.���

  ���Steffie, the FBI has been after him for longer than you have.���

  ���So what are you going to do?���

  ���Let me tell you what I saw on TV this afternoon������ She related what she’d heard and what she’d learned from the Mercy Street Foundation website.

  ���You’re thinking about applying?���

  ���I already did, online.���

  ���You’re just going to pack up and move East?���

  ���No time to pack.��� She shook her head. ���I don’t dare go back to the house, Stef. I have to protect my daughter. No way can I let that animal or any of his relatives get within a country mile of her. I’ve always had a bag packed with clothes and cash and some things I couldn’t leave behind. Chloe’s baby pictures��� some of her baby things.���

  ���What made you think you’d need to do that?���

  ���I spent my entire childhood on the move. I’ve never felt that anyplace, anything in my life was permanent. Which is why I rented, instead of buying that house.���

  ���Give me a few days to see what we can do.���

  ���There’s nothing you can do. No one’s gotten close to him, ever. No one knows where he is. He has a huge network, his brothers, his sisters, his cousins, his uncles. We’re talking about one of the biggest drug families operating between Mexico and Southern California.���

  ���Sooner or later-���

  ���Later will be too late for my daughter. I can’t give her up to the kind of life she’d have, growing up as the daughter of a major drug dealer.���

  ���So you move across the country, you think he won’t be able to find you?���

  ���He won’t be looking for Emme Caldwell.���

  ���You’d change your name?���

  ���My name?��� she snorted. ���What is my name, Stef? I don’t even know what my real name is.���

  Steffie held her head in her hands. ���You know that Emme Caldwell died five months ago.���

  ���Robert Magellan won’t know that.���

  ���He will when he checks her references.���

  ���That would be you.���

  Steffie fell silent.

  ���I know it’s a lot to ask. If you’re not comfortable with it, God knows, I’ll understand. I can reapply, with a different name.���

  ���You already applied as Emme?���

  ���Yes.���

  ���Well, that pretty much seals the deal.���

  ���Oh, God. I should have thought this through a little more. Stef, I am so sorry. It’s just that, after hearing all this from that hooker this morning, then going off my shift and seeing this press conference on TV, then those two goons were outside my house������ She blew out a long stream of air. ���It just seemed like a sign, like someone was telling me something. But I was wrong to put you in a position where you’d have to lie. It’ll be okay. I’ll come up with something else.���

  ���It’s not okay,��� Steffie told her. ���You’re the best friend I ever had. You saved my life twice in the past five years. I can save yours this once. Besides, if anything happened to you or to that precious girl������

  Steffie visibly shivered. They’d both seen firsthand what happened to those who crossed the Navarro family in the past.

  ���Just tell me what you want me to do������

  TWO

  Mommy, do I go to school tomorrow?��� Chloe looked up from the picture book she’d been quietly looking at for the last eighteen miles.

  ���Not tomorrow, pumpkin.��� The newly self-christened Emme Caldwell met her daughter’s eyes in the rearview mirror. She’d been trying to think of herself as Emme and banish all thoughts, all reminders of her old name. Emme Caldwell, she’d repeated to herself over and over. My name is Emme Caldwell.

  Even her newly purchased ID reminded her that she was, indeed, Emme Caldwell. It had gone against everything she’d believed in to pay money for falsified documents, but in the end, survival trumped everything else.

  ���When?��� Chloe banged the heels of her sneakers on the car seat to emphasize her displeasure. ���I haven’t gone to school in days! When can I go to school again?���

  ���Pretty soon,��� her mother told her.

  ���But not my school,��� Chloe said softly.

  ���You’ll go to a new school,��� she said brightly as she tried to picture introducing herself to Chloe’s new teacher. Hi. I’m Emme Caldwell���

  ���I liked my old school.��� Chloe’s feet banged with increased vigor.

  ���I’ll bet you’ll like your new school, too.���

  ���Natalie won’t be there.��� Chloe’s eyes filled with tears. ���I won’t know anyone. I won’t have anyone to play with.���

  ���You didn’t know anyone at Miss Maria’s either, until you went the first day, remember?���

  ���Why can’t I go to my old school anymore?��� It was more a demand than a question.

  ���Do you remember what I told you?���

  ���That you’re going to have a new job and it would be too far away to go to the old school.��� Chloe’s face held the promise of a major whine on the way. ���Why couldn’t you keep your old job?���

  ���Sometimes change is good, Chloe, sometimes-���

  ���I could stay with Aunt Steffie.���

  ���Aunt Steffie works a lot, much more than I do.���

  ���I could have a babysitter, like when you have to work and I don’t have to go to school.��� She brightened. ���I could stay with Mr. Mustache.���

  ���It isn’t that simple, baby.���

  ���I’m not a baby.��� To prove her point, Chloe wiped away the tears that had begun to spill over with the back of her hand.

  ���I know, sweetie. And I’m sorry that this move is upsetting you. But it’s what we have to do.���

  ���I don’t like it,��� Chloe grumbled from the backseat.

  They’d had the same conversation no fewer than three times each day since they left California.

  Outside of Denver, Emme pulled off Route 70 and followed the signs for Highway 36, which had appeared on the map to be the quickest way east. It was closing in on 6 P.M., and she suspected that part of Chloe’s problem was hunger and fatigue. Even though the child had slept for a short time earlier in the afternoon, being confined in the car seat all day was taking its toll.

  ���We’re going to have some dinner and find a nice place to stay tonight,��� Emme told her. ���So you’re going to have to help me find a restaurant.���

  Chloe sat up straight in her seat and peered out the window.

  ���I see golden arches,��� she said excitedly.

  ���Let’s look for someplace
with a better selection of dinners.���

  Several minutes later, the sign for a hotel with a decent-looking restaurant came into view, and Emme turned in to the parking lot.

  ���Look, Chloe,��� she said as she turned off the engine. ���We can have dinner, swim in the pool, and sleep in a nice bed. What do you say?���

  ���Do they have spaghetti?���

  ���We can go in and ask.��� Emme got out and opened the rear door. ���What if they don’t have spaghetti? What else would you like?���

  ���Macaroni and cheese. The orange kind Aunt Steffie makes. It comes in a box.��� Chloe undid her seat belt and with her mother’s help, hopped down to the ground. She continued to rattle off dinner possibilities all the way to the reception desk and all the way to the room they’d share that night.

  There’d been spaghetti on the menu and a heated indoor pool for a swim before bedtime, so Chloe was not only a happy girl, but a very tired one by the time they turned in for the night. She fell asleep almost immediately after getting into her pajamas. Her mother was more than ready for a good night’s sleep herself, but took the time to chart the next day’s route before turning off the light. She was hoping to get to somewhere between St. Joseph, Kansas, and Springfield, Illinois, by the following night. She fell asleep trying to calculate how many more days they’d be on the road before they finally arrived in Conroy, Pennsylvania. Home of the Mercy Street Foundation. And with any true luck, future home to Emme and Chloe Caldwell.

  ���Just a heads-up,��� Stephanie said when she called Emme’s disposable cell phone the next morning. ���I did get a call from a Mallory Russo from the Mercy place wanting to know about Emme Caldwell.���

  ���What did you tell her?���

  ���I told her that she’d have to submit her request in writing, along with the release of information you agreed to when you filled out your application online, but that I could tell her that you were one of the best officers I ever worked with and that I was much saddened by your resignation.���

  ���Thank you, Stef.���

  ���It’s true.���

  ���I appreciate it. More than I can say. I know you’re going out on a limb for me.��� Emme paused. ���Did she send in the release?���