by Bob Blanton
“Are you crazy? Leave him alone and let’s get out of here!” Emily was terrified.
“He’s got a cell phone that gets reception here. I saw him talking on it. If I can just roll him over,” Matthew grunted as he bent down and rolled the whale of a man onto his side. Searching the man’s pocket, he found the phone. “It’s a satellite phone, no wonder it worked here.”
As he stood up and walked over to Emily, he asked, “What’s the number for your house?”
He dialed the number as Emily recited it. When the phone rang, he held it up for Emily to speak.
“Daddy, we’ve got her.”
“Sonja, Matt and I have her, she’s asleep. Matt thinks the guy drugged her.”
“Yeah, I know Daddy; please send the police. We’re on a dirt road five miles north of Deer Creek Road and old Highway 395. Matthew knocked the guy out, he was amazing. Please hurry, we’ll be waiting.”
With that Emily sat down, hugged Sonja to her breast and cried.
It only took ten minutes for the Sheriff Deputy to show up. When his patrol car pulled up, the deputy jumped out and ran over to where Matthew was standing. Matthew pointed at the big man lying on the ground. “I don’t know how much longer he’s going to be passed out.”
“How in heaven’s name did you take that monster out?” the deputy asked, as he rolled the hulk over and handcuffed him.
“It wasn’t easy,” Matthew sighed. “We need an ambulance for Sonja, where is it?”
“Mr. Stevenson had a helicopter standing by, they’ll be here in a minute. Here help me set off the flares to mark the road for them.” The deputy went to his patrol car and returned with a handful of flares.
By the time they had struck the last flare, you could hear the whump whump of the helicopter as it approached. The helicopter set down in the middle of the road and an EMT jumped out and raced over to Emily and Sonja with his bag. He was tending to the little girl when a second helicopter set down. Mr. Stevenson and his wife emerged from it, followed by the Sheriff and Dr. Reeves, Jennifer’s mom. Mrs. Stevenson raced over to Sonja with Dr. Reeves on her heels. “My baby,” she cried, as she tried to pull Sonja away from the EMT.
“Ma’am, please, I need to treat her,” the EMT said. “Please stay back.” He tried to push Mrs. Stevenson away.
“Listen to him, Liz.” Dr. Reeves set her medical bag down next to Mrs. Stevenson and gave her a small hug. Then she turned her attention to Sonja. “Let me help you there, I’m her doctor.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the EMT made room for Dr. Reeves to tend to Sonja.
“She seems to be drugged,” the EMT said.
“Yes, it does look that way.” Dr. Reeves was checking Sonja’s eyes with a small flashlight.
Dr. Reeves turned to the Sheriff Deputy, “Would you search the truck and see if you can find what he used to drug her?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the deputy immediately ran to the Explorer and started to search it.
Meanwhile the Sheriff and Mr. Stevenson had walked over to Matthew.
“I don’t know what happened here,” Mr. Stevenson said, “but I want to thank you for whatever you did to help my little girl.”
“Yes, just what happened here?” the Sheriff asked.
“I overheard the man talking on this cell phone,” Matthew handed the satellite phone to the Sheriff, then rushed on with his explanation. “He was saying he was going to meet the man who called and someone else at the airstrip in Hemet at 10:00. They were going to sell Sonja to the other man.” Matthew finally had to stop and take a breath.
“Are you sure you heard them correctly?” the Sheriff asked.
“Yes. He said that he’d just picked Sonja up based on an order. The other man must have suggested ransoming her back to Mr. Stevenson, but that guy said that Sonja had bitten him and that his DNA was on file.”
Mr. Stevenson smiled a little when Matthew said that Sonja had bitten the man.
“He’s probably got a record,” the Sheriff said.
“Yeah, he said something about having two strikes already. He said no way could they afford to ransom her.”
“What else did he say about this meeting?” the Sheriff asked.
“Well he just said he was going to wait here until the traffic started picking up around 8:00 or 8:30, then he’d call the guy and head out. You should be able to get the phone company to tell you what number called him.”
“Good thought.” The Sheriff turned and handed the phone to another deputy who had just driven up. “Call the office; tell them everything about this phone and what this young man has said. Tell Sam to call the DA and get him down to the office. I want everything handled just right on this one. Now move.”
Turning back to Matthew, the Sheriff asked, “How on earth could you know they would be here?”
“Well, it’s hard to explain,” Matthew stuttered.
Emily grabbed Matthew by the arm. “Daddy, it was a vision. I was driving Matt home and I just saw them here. I just knew this is where they would be.”
“How did you know?” the Sheriff asked.
“I just knew. I told Matt and he agreed to come out here with me. When we got close, we parked the car and snuck up here.”
“You’re lucky the man didn’t hear you coming,” the Sheriff said.
“Matt had me stay back with the cell phone to call for help while he got in close to check things out. I guess that’s when he heard the man talking on the cell phone.”
“Why didn’t you just call us?” Mr. Stevenson asked.
“We didn’t want him to get away. Matt crawled under the truck to disable it, but the man grabbed him. He threw Matthew into the bank over there.”
Mr. Stevenson and the Sheriff looked at the hill, “Lucky you didn’t get knocked out on one of those rocks.”
“I thought he was a goner,” Emily said. “Then he got up and they fought, I just knew that man was going to kill Matt.”
“It’s a wonder he didn’t,” the Sheriff said. “That man’s got to weigh at least 300 pounds.”
“I tried to call out on the cell phone, but there wasn’t a signal. I didn’t know what to do, but then Matt knocked the guy out.”
“Amazing,” Mr. Stevenson said looking at the huge man sitting up against the deputy’s car.
“That’s when we opened the truck up and found Sonja.”
“Slow down young lady,” the Sheriff said. “Now let’s go back to this so-called vision.”
“I just was thinking about Sonja real hard, and I just saw that truck. I just knew this is where they were. I’ve never been here before in my life, but I just knew it.”
The Sheriff looked at Emily skeptically. “How could you know?”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me. But Matt believed in me, so we came here.” She gave Matthew a hug.
While she was hugging him, her hand felt the damp blood on his shoulder. “My God, you’re bleeding.” She started looking him over, searching for other wounds.
The EMT and Dr. Reeves had loaded Sonja into the helicopter and were preparing to leave. “Come over here and treat this boy,” Mr. Stevenson said as he waved at the EMT.
“No, they need to get Sonja to the hospital. I’ll be all right.”
“He’s right,” the Sheriff said. “One of my deputies can clean him up a little. Then he can take him into Escondido to the hospital there.”
“All right, the deputy can clean him up, but we’re going to take him with us,” Mr. Stevenson said. “We’ll take the other chopper; your deputy can treat him on the way.”
Mr. Stevenson walked over to the helicopter. “How’s my little girl?” he asked Dr. Reeves.
“She should be all right once we get her to the hospital. The deputy found the sedative he must have used on her. It’s strong stuff, but she should recover.”
“Good,” Mr. Stevenson was obviously relieved.
“We need to get going,” Dr. Reeves said.
“Then go. We’ll follow. Hurry!”
he waved them off. “Are you done with the boy now?”
“For now,” the Sheriff said.
“Good.”
“What about my car?” Emily asked.
“If you want, I’ll have one of my men take your daughter’s car to the substation here at Deer Creek,” the Sheriff said. “Or we can have a tow truck pick it up. You can get it tomorrow.”
“Just drive it,” Mr. Stevenson said.
“The keys are in it,” Emily hollered behind herself as she hurried to keep up with her father.
One of the deputies went to one of the patrol cars, there were four of them now, and collected a first aid kit. He went with Mr. Stevenson, Emily and Matthew in the second helicopter. Mrs. Stevenson had gone with Dr. Reeves and Sonja in the first helicopter.
“Can I call my mom?” Matthew asked, as the helicopter was taking off. “She’ll be worried about me.”
“Sorry, but no cell phones while we’re in flight,” the pilot said. “If you give me your number, I can radio in to have someone call her and tell her that you’re okay.”
Matthew gave him the number, and when they landed at the hospital, his mother was one of the first to greet him.
She gave him a hug as she examined the wounds that the deputy had done his best to patch up. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, just tired.”
They took him to the emergency room where an intern treated his wounds.
“You’ve had quite a day,” the intern said as she soaked the bandages away. “We need to clean those wounds. They don’t look too bad. There won’t be too much scarring, just enough to make you look more rugged. Now soak that elbow for a while and I’ll be right back.”
Matthew didn’t hear anything; his head was propped up against the wall and he’d already fallen asleep. The next day he told his mom the last thing he remembered was her hugging him at the hospital.
Halloween Party
On Sunday afternoon, Emily called.
“Matt, how are you feeling?”
“Exhausted, I didn’t get to bed until 5:00 this morning. My right shoulder hurts a little, but otherwise I’m just fine. How’s Sonja?”
“She’s fine, she woke up this morning. The only thing she remembers is being grabbed by someone in the haunted house and biting him.”
“That’s good.”
“The doctors said she wouldn’t suffer any side effects from the drug. And they don’t think she’ll have too much psychological damage since she was unconscious most of the time.”
“That’s great, how are you feeling?”
“I’m exhausted like you, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“Thanks for covering for me with the vision thing.”
“It was the least I could do. Are you going to school tomorrow?”
“No, Mom wants me to stay home and rest. I can sure use it, I’m so tired.”
“It’s no wonder, after fighting that behemoth.”
“Yeah, he was pretty big.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“Yeah, scared that he’d fall on me,” Matthew laughed.
“We’re on our way to the hospital to see Sonja, so I have to go.”
“Then I’ll see you on Tuesday at school.”
“See you then. Bye now.”
. . .
On Tuesday Matthew had to endure the applause and congratulations on being a hero from his friends and teachers. There were lots of comments about how it was becoming a habit with him. Was he going to make the headlines every month? Matthew tried to play it down, although he was proud of what he’d done; he couldn’t imagine how he’d had any other choice. At the end of lunch period he finally got a chance to talk to Emily one-on-one.
“Hi, Matt, my hero,” Emily said. She pretended to faint into his arms.
“Cut it out, Emily.”
“Okay, but you really are my hero. How can I possibly repay you for saving my sister’s life?”
“Don’t worry about it. I just did what I had to.”
“That’s what makes you so perfect, Matt. You don’t think about what’s in it for you, you just do.”
Matthew’s heart fell as he realized Emily’s body language spoke of friendship, not love. If ever she was going to have a romantic thought about him it would be now; but all he sensed was friendship. ‘Oh well,’ he thought, ‘it’s kind of run its course anyway.’
“What’s the matter?” Emily said. “Are you still exhausted?”
“A little, I guess.” Matthew hoped Emily wouldn’t guess the true reason for the sigh.
“Here comes Brea,” Emily waved madly at their friend.
Matthew looked at Brianna and his face brightened; he realized that he was always happy when she walked up.
“Have you asked her to the Winter Ball yet?” Emily asked. “You know she really wants you to.”
“I know.”
“Then do it, now’s your chance.”
“Hey, what are you two doing?” Brianna asked. “Comparing notes on how to be a hero?”
“No, Emily was asking me who I was taking to the Winter Ball.”
“And,” Brianna asked with a look of expectation.
“I was thinking that maybe I could work up enough courage to ask the prettiest girl in school,” Matthew gave Brianna a shy look. He was worried that she would have given up on him.
“Really?”
“If you’ll go with me.”
“Yes.” Brianna’s face was beaming as she walked over and gave Matthew a hug. He got a gentle whiff of her perfume as she hugged him. It made him keenly aware of how attractive she was and how much more so she’d become since July.
“He’s good isn’t he,” Brianna said to Emily.
“I guess so, real smooth.”
“I’m just in a weakened state after all our adventures,” Matthew said.
“Poor baby, he’s all tuckered out,” Brianna said as she patted Matthew on the back.
“Yes I am; I think I’m going to need some major nursing to get my strength back.”
“Well you just come over to my house and I’ll take care of you,” Brianna said.
“I helped,” Emily said.
Matthew and Brianna started laughing.
“What’s the matter, Emily, you need some TLC, too?” Brianna pulled Emily into her hug.
All three of them started laughing. “You two are a piece of work,” Brianna said. “Now are you coming to our Halloween party tomorrow night?”
“I don’t know; I’ve still got Jessica, although I don’t know if we’ll be doing any trick-or-treating.”
“We changed it so that everyone can bring their little brothers and sisters. We’ll have a play area set up upstairs and big kid area downstairs by the pool. It’ll be a blast.” Brianna gave Matthew a hopeful look.
“Since I’m friends with the hostess, do I get any special deals?” Matthew smiled at Brianna.
“Sure, just name it. I’m sure we can work something out.” Her whole face brightened at the prospect. “What about you, Emily?”
“I’ll have to see if Sonja is up to it. If the doctors and my parents think it’s okay, then I’ll be there.”
“Great, hopefully I’ll see both of you tomorrow night.” Brianna looked at Matthew with adoring eyes.
As Matthew walked back to class, Tyler stopped him in the hall.
“Matt, I can’t believe you went up against that mountain,” he said. “That guy would make a whole offensive line just by himself.”
“He wasn’t that big.”
“He sure was. I’m going to ask coach if I can make you my personal protector like that bald guy in The Longest Yard. You take out anybody who gets by the line. What do you think?”
“I think I’d be getting the short end of the stick. Everyone who’s gunning for you hits me, and if someone gets by it’s my fault.”
“But no one would get by you. You’d just lay them out.”
“Nah, I think I prefer to watch the games from the
sideline.”
“Well if you change your mind, give me a call,” Tyler said as he slapped Matthew on the back.
. . .
The rest of the day went much the same way. Matthew was really happy once his last class ended. Since he was taking the week off from Webmasters.com to rest up, Matthew went straight home from school. When he arrived, Mr. Stevenson was there with his mom.
“Hi Mom, hi Mr. Stevenson. What’s up?”
“Well, young man, when my daughter was abducted, I offered a $500,000 reward for her return. From what I can tell, you’re the one who returned her.”
“Emily’s the one who figured out where she was.”
“I saw what you had to do to get her back. I’m here to settle accounts.”
Matthew was so flabbergasted; it took him a few minutes to regain his composure. “You don’t owe me anything, Mr. Stevenson. I only did what I had to do.”
“That’s beside the point. You deserve the reward.”
“I didn’t do it for the reward; I didn’t even know you’d offered one. Emily’s my friend, and I had to help.”
“I understand that, son, but you have to understand how much this means to Liz and me. Our daughters are our lives, they’re more important than anything else we have.”
“I know that.”
“We have plenty of money, and to be able to reward the person who returned to us the most important thing in our lives means a lot. We have to do this, just like you had to do what you did.”
“Matt, I’ve already tried to talk him out of it. It’s no use.”
“I’ve been talking to your mother, and she’s been describing quite a remarkable young man to me. You’ve been working hard to help out your family. Now I want to help lift some of that burden from you, like you lifted the one from me.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Matthew gave in. At the same time, he was delighted at the possibilities the reward would open up for his family.
“We’ve been discussing how to structure the reward. Your mother has suggested that setting up a college fund for you would be a good first step.”
“No, I’ll earn a scholarship.”
“I’m sure you will,” Mr. Stevenson said, “but having a college fund will open up more choices for you.”
