Chosen

by Denise Grover Swank

  They passed an exit. “Do you need to stop anytime soon? Use the bathroom?” Will asked.

  “No, I’m good. Since Jake’s sleeping, I say just keep going. Unless you have to stop.”

  “I’ve been trained to travel for long lengths of time without needing a bathroom stop.”

  “Oh yes, that previous military training. I still think you’re bluffing on that one.”

  Will winked. “I guess you’ll never know. So now, your turn. You have to tell me something about you.”

  She didn’t want to tell him anything. Whatever she told him needed to be fairly benign. “I used to be an accountant before all of this happened. A CPA.”

  His eyes widened in surprised. “You? An accountant?”

  A smug grin lifted the corner of her mouth. “Don’t see me as the accountant type?”

  “Not any accountants I ever knew. They teach you how to drive in accounting school?”

  “Not hardly.” She scoffed. “I learned how to drive like that when it became a necessity. Believe it or not, I used to be a very boring person.”

  “Princess, somehow I doubt you were ever boring.” The way he said it made it sound like an actual compliment. “So why aren’t you still an accountant?”

  “It’s hard to find a job in the professional world when you keep leaving without notice. Employers frown on that.”

  “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. You keep leaving because of the Bad Men?”

  Emma realized she had been too unguarded. She straightened up in her seat. “Jake might feel it necessary to discuss it with you but I don’t.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Will’s sudden niceness unnerved her. He had to be up to something. “So did you learn your consulting skills in the military?”

  He paused then belly laughed. “Yeah,” he choked out. “I guess you could say that.”

  “What did you do in the military?”

  His cocky attitude returned and he gave her a lazy smile. “I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you.”

  She groaned. “Seriously? Is that the best you can do? It’s such a cliché.” Emma closed her eyes again. This was going to be a long trip.

  “Ever live here?” Will asked as they drove around the outskirts of Oklahoma City.

  “Fishing for information?”

  “What do I care where you lived?”

  “Exactly. Then why bother to ask?”

  “Mommy, you need to be nicer to Will.” Jake sat up in the back seat, tears streaming down his face.

  Her heart lurched. She leaned over the seat to wipe the tears from Jake’s cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’ll be nicer, okay?”

  Will grunted.

  She narrowed her eyes with a glare. “Don’t push me.”

  “Mommy, please be nicer. Please.”

  His face was so earnest that guilt hit her like a tidal wave. Why did he care if she got along with Will? Maybe Jake liked Will, saw him as a father figure. God forbid. Whatever the reason, she knew she needed to respect his feelings.

  “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll try, okay?”

  Jake nodded his head but worry still etched his face. Emma stroked his soft cheek with her fingers. Why did he look worried? “What’s wrong, Jake? Do you see the Bad Men?”

  His tear-filled eyes held hers and he slowly shook his head no.

  Emma caressed his cheek one last time and turned around, the gnawing feeling in her gut returning with a vengeance. Something wasn’t right.

  * * *

  Will wasn’t sure what to make of Emma and Jake’s exchange. Jake was obviously a sensitive kid. Against his better judgment, he was starting to like him, freak show and all. He’d make a better effort not to antagonize Emma, even if she made it hard to resist. He passed a road sign stating that Wichita was seventy-five miles ahead.

  “We should hit Wichita around rush hour time. We can stop for dinner right outside the city limits and try to miss some of the traffic.”

  “Sure.” Emma answered, looking out the window. She had clutched her stomach since Jake’s meltdown.

  “There’s a rest stop just up ahead. Why don’t we stop for a few minutes? Jake, you have to go to the bathroom?” Will called over his shoulder.

  “Yes.”

  Will glanced at Emma again. She bit her lower lip, lost in thought. “You okay?” he asked, softly.

  His tone must have surprised her. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said, but the uncertainty in her eyes was clear. Will liked the feisty Emma better. While a feisty Emma was definitely more fun, it was also easier to dismiss. Something was wrong.

  He pulled off into a rest stop. A large building with restrooms on either side stood centered on the edge of the parking area. Vending machines lined the building and concrete picnic tables were scattered off the side. The parking lot held only a few cars this late in the afternoon. He pulled into a space in the middle of the lot, separated from the other cars. Emma got out, grabbing her purse. She held it close to her body as she helped Jake out of the backseat.

  “Afraid someone’s going to snatch your purse?”

  Emma’s expression was as puzzled as it was guilty. “No, don’t be an idiot.”

  Will got out of the truck and walked to the front, waiting for Emma and Jake. She was up to something. As he tried to decide how to handle the problem, Jake ran up and slipped his hand into Will’s. Will jerked in surprise, but Jake held on tight.

  “I want to go to the bathroom with Will.” Jake told Emma in a tone that left no room for rebuttal.

  “Jake, I don’t think it’s a good idea right now. Just come with me and you can go with Will next time.” Her usual anger was gone, replaced with an anxious tone.

  Will tensed.“Is everything okay?” He did a quick scan of the parking lot, but saw nothing unusual.

  “Something doesn’t feel right.” She clutched her stomach again while maintaining her death grip on her purse. “Jake, are you sure you don’t see the Bad Men?”

  Jake tightened his grip on Will’s hand. “No, Mommy. Everything is fine.”

  Will had a sinking feeling that Jake wasn’t being truthful. Looking around again, he put a hand on the small of Emma’s back and gently pushed her toward the restrooms. “Let’s just hurry up with our business and get out of here.” He checked over his shoulder as they walked across the parking lot. Both of them were acting weird, and if he didn’t have to pee so bad he’d skip the stop altogether.

  Jake’s hand still had a death grip on his when they got to the building. Emma reached out to Jake. “Come with me, Jake.”

  “I’m going with Will.”

  “Jake, please, we don’t have time for this,” she pleaded.

  Will saw fear in her eyes. “Emma, what’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. I just have this awful feeling that they’re following us. I’ve had it all afternoon, but Jake says he doesn’t see them and I don’t see anything…”

  Jake’s hand had more strength than Will thought possible in such a small boy. Obviously, Jake wanted to go with him and Will was curious why. “Emma, just go to the bathroom. I swear I’ll take care of Jake and make sure nothing happens to him.” Will stared into her eyes as he promised, surprising himself in the process. This wasn’t like him.

  Emma looked from Jake to Will and relented. “Just hurry, okay?” She scanned the lot again before going into the restroom entrance.

  A man and his two sons walked out as Will led Jake into the bathroom with him. Will did a quick check around the restroom and determined that no one else was there. Jake let go of Will’s hand and headed for a stall while Will walked over to a urinal.

  “I’ll wait out here for you.”

  The tile wall in front of Will did little to hold his attention so his mind easily wandered to Emma and Jake. Why did Emma seem so concerned, when Jake didn’t? He was sure Jake was hiding something.

  Jake emerged from the stall as Will finished up. They stood in front of the sinks and turned on the faucets. W
ill decided to see if Jake would spill some information. “How do you know when the bad guys are coming?”

  Jake carefully rubbed his hands together. “I can see them. I see them sitting in their truck watching us, or chasing us.”

  “The next time you see them, will you give me some warning?”

  Jake shut off the water and turned to watch him, water dripping from his hands onto the concrete floor. “I know about you.” His unblinking eyes bore into Will’s.

  The blood drained from Will’s face. He broke away from Jake’s gaze and leaned over the sink, rinsing his hands. “What do you mean?”

  “I see who you work for. When I was asleep, I saw you.”

  Looking up in the mirror, Will saw Jake’s reflection, his piercing eyes staring at him in the mirror. He waited to see if Jake was going to say anything else before Will cleared his throat. “You mean my computer company?”

  “No. The other bad men.”

  Will froze. How could a five-year-old make him feel like he’d been caught? He reached for the paper towels and handed a couple to Jake. He began to wipe his hands. “Jake, that must have been a really bad dream. Why would you think that?”

  “I know the truth about you and now you know that I do.” Jake stood still, his hands still wet and clutching the unused paper towels, his face expressionless.

  Will knelt down in front of him, unsure how to handle this. Should he continue to protest? Should he call Jake crazy?

  “I’m not going to tell Mommy.” Jake’s small voice echoed off the cinder block walls.

  Will narrowed his gaze, his face less than a foot from Jake’s, and lowered his voice. “Jake, if you think I’m bad, why wouldn’t you tell your mom?”

  A tiny smile lifted the corners of Jake’s mouth. “I never said you were bad.”

  Will opened and closed his mouth, trying to figure out how to respond.

  Jake spun to leave. “Mommy’s scared and waiting for us. Let’s go.”

  “Jake,” Will called as he stood up.

  Jake looked back over his shoulder.

  “You didn’t answer my question about the Bad Men. Will you tell me if you see them coming?”

  Jake’s face remained expressionless as he threw his paper towels in the trash can and walked out the door.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Will walked out of the restroom and found Jake holding Emma’s hand.

  “How could you let him walk out alone?” Emma spit out through gritted teeth the moment he emerged.

  Will eyed Jake with wariness. “He just ran out. Next time I’ll handcuff him to me.” His tone was shorter than he meant, but the bathroom incident still replayed in his head.

  “Next time? There won’t be a next time.” She hurried toward the truck, dragging Jake behind her.

  “Good.” Will had no desire to be alone with him anytime soon.

  They climbed in the truck and got back on the highway. Emma was in a foul mood and Will had one to match. He checked the mirror and saw Jake smiling at him. Will looked back toward the road, the hair on his arms prickling.

  Jake knew. Maybe he was bluffing. Will cast another glance toward Jake, but he knew he wasn’t. Why would Jake let him take them to South Dakota if he knew the truth? Maybe the people in South Dakota weren’t bad. There was the possibility the South Dakota people would protect them.

  I never said you were bad. Jake’s words reverberated in Will’s mind like they had against the dirty bathroom walls. Boy, was that kid wrong. The last ten years of his life were drenched in filth. The things he’d done…some on the orders of other people, some on his own. There had been a time when he was good, back when he was the little boy with a dog named Rusty. Life was so simple when he was a kid. Will had believed in fairness and justice. He had believed in right and wrong. When he was a little boy, he believed in heroes. Then he went to Iraq. He had joined the service to be a hero, just like his dad. But he came back a pariah, with the dishonorable discharge to prove it.

  In Will’s world, there were no such things as heroes.

  * * *

  Something happened between Jake and Will in the bathroom, but damned if Emma knew what it was. Jake acted like nothing was wrong. He played with his car and stuffed dog in the backseat, occasionally pointing out an amusing road sign or a road kill that caught his attention. Will, on the other hand, was in a dark mood. He alternated griping and wringing the steering wheel with both hands. He hadn’t said a single word since they left the reststop and Emma didn’t dare talk to him. Not that she had anything to say. Regardless, she didn’t want her neck wrung instead of the steering wheel.

  Traffic increased as they got closer to Wichita. Will turned off an exit and pulled into the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel, still silently fuming. After they got out of the truck, Jake smiled and took Will’s hand. Although Will seemed reluctant to hold Jake’s hand, he accepted it anyway. Anxiety twisted in Emma’s chest as she watched Jake attach himself to Will.

  The wait for a table was ten minutes so Jake asked Will to look around with him. Will raised his eyebrows at Emma for approval. She gave a reluctant nod and Jake pulled Will to the back of the store, leaving Emma to tag along.

  Jake wandered to a pile of stuffed animals. He let go of Will’s hand, moving his fingers from animal to animal, lightly touching them. “I have a stuffed dog,” Jake said. “Since I can’t have a real one.”

  “It’s not all fun, you know. Real dogs take a lot of work.” Will picked up a stuffed elephant and held it in his hands.

  “Did Rusty take lots of work?”

  “Sure, I had to feed him and water him and take him for walks after school.”

  Emma was surprised to hear that Jake knew anything about Will having dog. They must have discussed it when she slept earlier. She wondered what else they had talked about.

  “But I bet he loved you. Did he sleep on your bed?”

  Focusing on the back wall, Will’s eyes glazed over. “Yeah, he did. He was a good dog.”

  Will's face became softer, more open. Emma had a hard time imagining Will as a little boy, but she was sure she caught a glimpse of what he must have looked like. She felt uncomfortable seeing this side of him, like a bystander overhearing a private conversation.

  “If I had a dog, I would take really good care of it.”

  Will put the stuffed animal down in the bin and ruffled Jake’s hair. “I’m sure you would.”

  The color rose in Jake’s cheeks as he glanced up at Will, his eyes bright and shining. “I like you, Will.”

  Will’s mouth opened and his eyebrows raised. The intercom overhead announced their table was ready and Will cleared his throat. “That’s us.”

  Smiling up at Will, Jake took his hand, and led the way to the hostess. Jake’s short legs stretched to match Will’s strides. Emma followed behind them, wondering if she imagined what had transpired.

  The hostess took them to a table in the back of the restaurant. Will sat down and Jake quickly slipped into the chair next to him. Emma sat on the opposite side, worried at Jake’s sudden attachment to Will. Jake had never been interested in any adult other than her.

  The waitress took their drink orders and Emma realized she only had forty dollars left after lunch. She ordered water for her and Jake as he began to color on his kids’ menu.

  “Jake, we’re going to share something, okay?”

  Jake’s gaze lifted, crayon in mid-stroke. “But I want chicken.”

  Leaning over, Emma lowered her voice. “We can get chicken. We just need to share.”

  Will looked up from his menu. “How much money do you have?”

  Her cheeks grew warm as she bristled with embarrassment.

  Will saw her hesitation. “Emma, let him get chicken strips. I’ll buy your dinner.”

  “Thanks, Will, but that’s not really necessary. I can take care of it.”

  Will winked then leered at her with his cocky smile. “No worries. I can collect on it later.”

  Em
ma should have been offended, but the image of Will talking about his dog while rubbing Jake’s head ruined it. It occurred to her that perhaps Will was a lot of bluff. “Yeah, I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  He smiled and raised his eyebrows. “Are you accepting my offer?”

  “Not hardly.” Emma rolled her eyes and hid behind her menu.

  Pushing the menu down, he leaned toward her. “I’m serious, Emma.” He sounded sincere. She wondered why he was being so nice.

  Emma gave him a cautious grin. “About the dinner or the payback?”

  Will laughed and sat back up. “Dinner, of course. You have baggage and all.” He leaned his head toward Jake who devoted his attention to their conversation.

  “Will, really…”

  The waitress came back and Will ordered his own dinner and Jake’s chicken and a glass of chocolate milk. He turned to Emma. “And the lady?”

  She ordered salad and handed the menu to the waitress. As she walked off with their order, Will asked, “A salad? Really?”

  “Maybe I like leafy green vegetables.”

  “I hope so. It’s too late to impress me with how little you eat after watching you inhale lunch.”

  Emma scowled. Jake put his crayons down and asked Will to play the golf-tee-peg game.

  “You ever played this game before?” Will asked as he grabbed the triangle and moved it between them.

  “A couple of times.”

  “I’m pretty good, so don’t expect me to be easy on you.”

  “Okay, I’ll go first.”

  “Fair enough”

  Jake bent over the triangle studying which peg to move. He moved a peg and looked up at Will. “Your turn.”

  After Will examined the board, he performed a series of moves and removed several pegs.

  Jake’s mouth dropped in surprise. “How’d you do that?”

  “Strategy.”

  The tip of Jake’s tongue peeked out of the corner or his mouth. Classic Jake trademark look of concentration, Emma thought to herself. He removed a couple of pegs and sat back, watching Will with an eager gleam in his eyes.

  The corner of Will’s mouth lifted slightly. He removed six more pegs, giving Jake a wink as he sat up.