by Bob Blanton
“Shish, not so loud. I don’t want to try and explain this to anyone else.”
“Explain what?”
“I think I can help you find her, but you can’t tell anyone.”
“How?” Emily looked skeptical
“I can see things.” He immediately realized that this was going to be really hard to explain.
“You’re crazy.”
“No really, I don’t know how, but I can see places and people.”
“Then where is she?”
“I don’t know, I tried already, but I couldn’t see her. It’s hard to explain. I can only see people I know really well or places I’ve been.”
“Everyone can, it’s called memory.”
Matthew knew he was about to lose her.
“No, I mean I can see them like watching them live on TV. Here let me prove it to you.”
Matthew calmed his breath, turned his virtual camera on and moved it into the study. There he saw Mr. Stevenson and his wife talking with two police officers from the SDPD and a Deputy Sheriff. Mr. Stevenson was wearing brown slacks and a tightly checkered shirt.
“Your dad is in the study with the police. He’s wearing brown slacks and a checkered shirt. Your mom’s sitting in a chair.”
“That doesn’t prove anything. You could have seen them through one of the windows. Matthew, I know you want to help, but ...”
“No wait.” Matthew decided he had to go for broke. “How would I know this? Last month you and Sonja were in your room singing a duet. You were singing ‘Summer Nights’ from Grease. You were doing John Travolta and she was singing Olivia Newton John. I couldn’t have seen that any other way.” Matthew was desperate for Emily to believe him.
Emily turned red. “We only sing that song after we’ve showered. How did you see us? Were you peeping into my bedroom?” Emily was angry.
“Emily, who are you talking to?” Mr. Stevenson called from the study.
“It’s just Matt. He came over to see if I was okay.”
“Well, how did he get in?” Mr. Stevenson asked, as he walked into the study followed by the Sheriff Deputy and two SDPD officers.
“Hi, Mr. Stevenson, I just came in the back way.”
“What about the guards out there?” Mr. Stevenson asked.
“Well, I kind of avoided them. Your property is so big, it was easy to get by them. Sorry.”
“That’s all right,” Mr. Stevenson said. “You should go home; we’ve got enough going on here.”
“No, Daddy, talking to him is helping me. I’ll keep him out of the way?”
“Okay.”
“Where’s Mommy?” Emily asked.
“She went up to their bedroom,” Matthew whispered in her ear.
“She went up to her bedroom. This has all been too much for her,” Mr. Stevenson said. “Okay, Matt, you can stay, but please keep out of the way.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
“I’ve got to call the Security Company and tell them to beef up that patrol,” Mr. Stevenson said as he went back into the study followed by the deputy and the two police officers. All three of them gave Matthew a stern look as they left the room.
“How did you know where my mother was?” Emily whispered to Matthew.
“I told you, I can see things or places. I just watched her as she left the study.”
“Well if you can see, where is Sonja?” Emily crossed her arms.
“I don’t know. It only works with people I know really well. And I’ve only met Sonja a couple of times.”
“Well, then it’s useless. Why did you get my hopes up?”
“There is still a chance. I discovered last month that if I held something personal from someone, something they used all the time, then I could zero in on them.”
“Like what?”
“I tried it with the neighbor kid’s teddy bear. It worked that once. I’m hoping it’ll work with Sonja.”
“Do you think so?” Emily’s face brightened as her hopes rose again.
“I hope so; can you get something of hers, like a toy she sleeps with, or whatever she wore last night?”
“I’ll get it right away.”
“Oh, and it only works on something they had recently.”
“This is nuts, but anything is worth a try. Wait here, I’ll be right back.” Emily ran up to Sonja’s room.
Matthew sat down in the chair where Emily had been crying, “Please God, let this work,” he prayed quietly.
Emily came back into the room carrying a stuffed blue elephant and a pair of pajamas. “Here, this is Dumbo, her favorite toy.” Emily broke down into tears as she handed it to Matthew. “She sleeps with him every night.”
Matthew took the toy and slowed his breathing, concentrating on the toy and the little girl. He turned his virtual camera on. All he could see was darkness.
“Well?” asked Emily.
“I can’t tell yet. It’s just dark; I think I hear someone breathing.”
“That’d be you,” Emily said, sarcastically.
“No, wait.” Matthew switched the camera back on. It was still dark; he moved the camera back from the spot. As he did so he was looking at the back of a Ford Explorer. It was parked on the side of a dirt road. As he looked around, he saw a huge man resting in the front seat of the SUV. He could see that there was a box with air vents in it, and he suspected that Sonja was in it. There was a soft whirring sound coming from what looked like a fan. He took the camera back into the box; he could just make out the slow, quiet breaths of someone.
“I think she’s in the back of a Ford Explorer. I don’t know where it is.”
“Are you sure?” Emily asked clasping her hands over her heart.
“I can’t be sure. I think she’s in some kind of box. There is a fan ventilating it and I can hear someone breathing, but it’s too dark to see anything.”
“We should go tell my dad.”
“No, you can’t. They won’t believe me and I don’t want anyone to know about this.”
“Then what good will it do?”
“I don’t know. I can give you the license number of the truck. You could tell them you remembered seeing it around last week. Then maybe they would put a trace on it or something.”
“I guess that might help, but where is it?”
“Let’s see if I can tell,” Matthew said as he switched his camera back on. He read the license number to Emily. Then he took his virtual camera back down the road where the truck was parked. He looked for a street sign or something to tell him where the truck was. He had to go all the way back to the highway to get a bearing. “The truck is parked on a dirt road that branches off the old north highway. I don’t understand why it’s parked there.” Matthew said as he turned the camera off.
“I’m sure it’s because the police are stopping anything that moves right now.”
“Well then, maybe the police can catch them. But how will we convince them to look?”
“We don’t. We’re going.”
“Are you crazy?”
“She’s my sister; I’ll do anything to get her back. Wait here, I’ll tell Dad about the truck and then we’ll sneak out.”
“How will we do that? There’s a cop at your gate.”
“I’ll tell Dad I’m taking you home.”
“Okay, it’s a green Explorer.”
Emily went into the study. When she came back, she was carrying her purse and a sweater. “Let’s go.” She looked more determined than Matthew had ever seen her.
“Okay.” Matthew wondered what he had gotten himself into.
They went into the garage and got into Emily’s Porsche Boxter. At the gate, the police officer waved them by. It was 12:30 A.M. when Matthew looked at his watch.
Twice sheriff deputies who were patrolling the area stopped them. Both times they let them go after Emily explained she was just taking Matthew home. They flew down Del Dios highway, then turned north onto Interstate 15.
“Is the truck still there?�
�
“Yeah, it’s parked right where I saw it. The guy looks like he’s sleeping in the front seat. I don’t see anyone else around.”
“Good, it’ll take us another 30 minutes to get there, if we don’t get stopped anymore. I hope they don’t go anywhere.”
As they crossed through Escondido, they were pulled over twice by patrols looking for Sonja. Each time they were waved on after a brief check of Emily’s little Porsche Boxter.
As they approached the turn-off for highway 395, Matthew told Emily to slow down. “We need to turn off up ahead, then I think it’s about five miles before the dirt road.”
As they approached the dirt road, Matthew had Emily turn off her lights. “The truck is parked about two miles up from here. We should go about half way, then walk in. There’s no telling what he’ll do if he hears your car.”
“That’s a good idea. But then what will we do?”
“I don’t know.” Matthew cursed himself for not thinking about bringing something. “Do you have a tool kit in the trunk?”
“Sure, but what good is that?”
“We’ll have to see what you have. Hopefully we can disable the truck, and then we’ll see if we can get Sonja out.”
As they pulled to a stop it was 1:15 A.M. They opened the trunk and Matthew found a screwdriver in the toolkit. “I can use this to poke a hole in something; once I disable the truck, he’ll have to abandon it.”
“I hope this works.”
“We have to be quiet; now he’s sitting beside the truck on a lawn chair. Good thing we have a full moon, we won’t need a flashlight.”
“What’s wrong with a flashlight?”
“Nothing, but he might see it. This way we can just sneak up on him.”
“Can’t you just take him out? Use some Kung Fu move on him?”
“I don’t think so, he’s huge.” Matthew hoped Emily didn’t think he was a wimp.
“Well let’s go.”
As they slowly made their way to the truck, Matthew kept checking on what the man was doing. He was sitting in a lawn chair, cleaning his gun. Matthew thought that was lucky. If he’s cleaning it, maybe he won’t be able to use it. As they got closer, the man got a call on a cell phone. Matthew motioned Emily to wait. Then he zoomed in on the guy, so he could hear the conversation.
“I didn’t have any problems,” the man said. “I gave her a shot of that magic juice you gave me, put her right to sleep.”
The man listened to the cell phone.
“Yeah, people didn’t even notice a park service employee putting a garbage can in the back of his truck. I drove right out of the park without anyone turning their head.”
“Uh-huh, sure I dumped the truck back in the lot. I moved the girl into my little box and headed out.”
“No problem, I was halfway to Escondido before I even heard anything on the scanner about it. By the time they figured out she wasn’t anywhere in the park, I’d made it to my little parking spot here.”
“No, I’m going to lay low for the night,” he said. “I’ll wait until around 8:00, then I’ll head out.”
“Nah, by that time I shouldn’t have any problem merging into the traffic. They won’t be able to keep up the search of all the cars once the traffic picks up.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll meet you at the airstrip in Hemet.”
“Yeah, I heard her dad was loaded.”
“Hey, I just picked out what you ordered, a blond girl about five years old.”
“No way, we can’t ransom her. The little brat bit me. You know my DNA’s on file. They’d trace the blood on her to me in no time.”
“No way, if I go down, it’s permanent; I’ve already got two strikes. If I go, you go, so just forget about any ransom; we’re getting plenty for her anyway.”
“I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave.”
“Okay.” The man hung up the phone. He went back to cleaning his gun. He had the whole thing disassembled in his lap on some kind of towel.
“Emily, you stay back here. Use my phone to call for help if anything happens,” Matthew said as he gave Emily his phone.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, remember you can’t get caught. Someone has to be able to get the police to come.” Matthew started crawling toward the truck.
Unfortunately, the truck was parked right up against a rocky hillside. There was no way Matthew could approach from the side. His only chance was to sneak up behind the truck and crawl under it from the back. Then hopefully he could drive the screwdriver into something and disable it before the man realized he was there.
Creeping up to the truck in a crouch, Matthew said a silent prayer.
He paused several times to check out what the man was doing. He just kept cleaning his gun. When Matthew got to the truck, he lay down on his back. Using his arms and legs to arch himself off the ground, he inched his way under the truck. After what seemed like an eternity of inching along, he was close enough to the oil pan to reach it. He had decided that poking a hole in it was his best bet to permanently disable the truck. He wished he’d brought a wrench or pair of pliers to undo the oil plug. But first he would pull off the gas line since that wouldn’t make any noise and hopefully would stop the man from driving away.
Once he pulled the tube loose, gas started to pour onto the road. Trying to move quickly before the man could smell the gas, Matthew took the screwdriver out from between his teeth. He rolled over and positioned it against the oil pan. Drawing his hand back, he slammed the palm of his hand onto the hilt of the screwdriver. He winced in pain as the screwdriver pierced the thin metal pan letting out a stream of warm oil.
The man must have smelled the gas or heard the screwdriver pierce the oil pan, because he bent over and looked under the truck.
“What the hell!” He ran behind the truck and grabbed Matthew by the legs. With one big yank he pulled him from beneath the truck and hurled him into the hillside. Matthew rolled over and sprang to his feet, quickly establishing distance between himself and the man.
“What are you doing here?” the man yelled at Matthew.
Matthew didn’t say a word. He just kept circling to maintain distance between him and the huge hulk of a man that was yelling at him.
“You little twerp, I’m going to beat you,” the man yelled again. “And after that I’m going to make you fix my truck.” The man lunged at Matthew.
Dancing to one side, Matthew realized that the man was much quicker than he had expected from a man his size.
“Come here you little shit,” the man said as he lunged at Matthew again. Dodging to the side, Matthew planted a power thrust kick into the man’s ribs. It didn’t even faze the man, not even a slight gasp. He just slapped at Matthew’s leg and lunged at him again. Matthew ducked to the side again and kicked the man in the ribs one more time. The huge hulk didn’t even flinch.
Matthew was starting to get really worried about how he was going to handle this guy. He was hoping that Emily had called for help and the cops were on their way. As he danced around the man, he saw Emily out of the corner of his eye. She was holding up the cell phone, making a slashing sign across her throat. “She must not be able to get a signal,” Matthew thought, as he jumped to the side to avoid another lunge from the human grizzly bent on his destruction.
Matthew’s mind raced; what should he do? He could easily outrun the big man, but he wanted to keep him busy until the gas tank emptied. Even then he was worried what the hulk would do if he and Emily had to go very far before they could call for help. He jumped to the side again as the man lunged at him one more time.
“What’s the matter, boy, you afraid of me?” the man said as he gave a motion with his hand beckoning Matthew toward him. “I’m going beat you to within an inch of your life when I catch you.” The man continued to make disgusting references about what would happen to Matthew once he’d caught him.
Matthew just kept circling, holding his distance. When the man lunged for him again, M
atthew dodged to the side as the man first dove by, executing a speed thrust to the man’s knee. The kick caught the knee a little more to the front than the side. Matthew quickly pulled his leg back and kicked the man in the ribs before he danced out of his range again.
The man laughed at Matthew. “I’m just too big for you, boy, now just come over here and take your medicine,” he said. As Matthew kept dancing around him, the man grew even angrier. “I’m going to kill you,” he screamed.
Again, he lunged at Matthew. This time Matthew danced around behind the man and put his shoulder into him just below the shoulder blade. Putting all his weight behind the push, Matthew knocked the huge hulk of a man off balance. The man stumbled a few steps, then he fell.
The man rolled over and started to right himself. He roared at Matthew, “Why don’t you just give up, you’re just making me mad.” As the man stood up, he spread his legs wide and started pushing himself upright with his arms. Matthew immediately executed a cross-over thrust to the knee of the man’s outspread leg. He threw his entire weight and power into the kick. The man’s knee buckled inward with a ripping sound as the cartilage tore. He gasped in pain and fell back to the ground. Matthew circled around behind him and executed a speed thrust kick to the base of his skull. The huge hulk collapsed onto the ground with a loud gasp. Matthew poked at him a few times with his foot to see if he was still conscious, but there was no movement.
Turning to the Explorer, Matthew rushed to the back and tried to open the hatch. It was locked. He turned and ran to the front of the truck and opened the driver’s door, pulling the latch to release the hatch. When he got to the back again, Emily was already there, opening the hatch.
“I couldn’t get a signal,” she was gasping for breath.
“That’s what I figured,” Matthew dropped the tailgate down, exposing a large wooden box. He raised the lid and there was Sonja, curled up asleep.
Emily tried to wake her. “Sonja, it’s sissy; come on wake up.” She gently shook the little girl.
“I heard the man say that he had drugged her. Here you take her.” Matthew picked Sonja up out of the box and handed her to Emily. Emily hugged her sister to her and started cooing in her ear.
Matthew then walked around the truck and started poking at the man with his foot.
