Kara rubbed a hand across her weary eyes, willing them to stay open. She had gotten no sleep all night, nor had she tried. Neither had Craig. He sat restlessly in the armchair in the den, staring blankly at the wall, saying nothing. She stood before the picture window, gazing out into the back yard as the hidden sun nudged the black sky toward navy blue. She prayed simple, desperate pleas for her son, trying to remember the good times they had enjoyed out there in the yard. Paws was still inside, curled up despondently at Craig's feet.
Officer Garrenton peeked up at her from the couch, where she sat with her head leaned back. The officer had rested a little. Eddie, too, had slept a bit, and looked better for it. With a little encouragement from Kara, the young man had wandered into the kitchen to find food. Agent Nyler sat with two other agents at the dining table, drinking a bottle of orange juice he had brought and looking alert and focused. He had driven home to catch a few hours of sleep before returning just a few minutes ago.
They were all silent, waiting. In another hour a flurry of activity would begin—not here, but across the city and at the clinic, as FBI agents and police officers launched a citywide search for clues that might lead them to Zach. Grateful as she was for their efforts, Kara couldn't help thinking the situation seemed hopeless. They simply knew too little. Zach could be in Canada by now. If the kidnappers had a plane, he could be in Asia.
Her phone chimed. It was on the table. Kara, being closer than Craig, reached it first. She snatched it up and checked the incoming number. "It's blocked," she reported.
She waited for a signal from Agent Nyler. A wire wound from the phone to a recording device one agent had set up in case the kidnappers called. "Put it on speakerphone," he reminded Kara in a low voice; they had discussed what to do with anymore calls that came in, just in case.
He nodded that he was ready, and she activated the phone. "Hello?" Her voice seemed weak to her, trembling and exhausted.
"Mom?" Zach's young voice resonated across the room.
"Zach!" Kara cried, suddenly filled with energy.
In an instant, Craig was at her side and Officer Garrenton and all three FBI agents were on their feet. Eddie, at the standalone counter, looked up intently from the glass of water he was sipping.
"Mom, I'm so sorry, please, I'll be good, I'm so sorry!" the boy gushed, his voice quavering. "I didn't mean it, Mom! I'm sorry, I want to come back home, I don't want you to send me away, I want to stay with you and Dad and Paws, I'm so sorry…" He broke down into a sob that wrenched Kara's heart—he was alive, thank God, but he sounded so scared.
"Zach!" she exclaimed. "We were so worried! Are you hurt? Are you okay?"
His voice returned shakily. "I'm okay, Mom. I just—I'm so sorry, Mom. I want to come home." He was still crying; she could hear the strain in his voice. "Mom, please don't be mad at me. I'll do better, I promise. I'm sorry, Mom. I—"
"Zach, listen to me," Kara interrupted him. She struggled not to break down herself. He was panicking about being sent away. Maybe he had only run off after all. "We want you back home, kiddo. I'm sorry, too, Zach. I yelled at you without thinking. We've been up all night trying to find you, Zach. Your Dad, he's right here with me." She glanced to Craig.
He took the cue and stepped closer to the phone. "Zach," he spoke up, "we just want you back home, pal. We'll come and get you."
Zach's voice hesitated before replying. "But I was really mean. And I didn't clean my room…"
"I don't care about your room, Zach," Kara told him. "We care about you, okay? Now, take a deep breath, kiddo. We need to know how to find you."
"Okay," he managed after a moment, and she heard him suck in a full, shuddering breath. She inhaled deeply herself.
Agent Nyler scribbled something on a sheet of paper and held it up for her to see. Who took him? the paper asked.
"Okay, Zach," Kara instructed, "the first thing we need to know is who took you, kiddo. Or did you run away?"
He choked down a sob. "Mom, I didn't run away. I was halfway home, and they grabbed me and threw me into their car. They tied me up in the back and drove out of Seattle and left me in a shed for a long time."
He had been kidnapped. "Who, Zach? Who took you? What did they look like?"
"Two men, from another country—from Asia. They have an accent."
Agent Nyler nodded encouragement to Kara. This was helpful information. She needed to keep him talking.
"Okay, Zach. What kind of car did they drive? What color?" she asked.
"An SUV. I don't know what color. They left me in the shed all night, Mom. It hurt my arm, my throwing arm. I don't think I can play catch with Dad for a while."
Kara sniffled and grinned at the same time, meeting Craig's eyes. She bit her lip and wiped a sudden tear away with one hand. Her son had been kidnapped, and he was worried about whether he would be able to play catch with Craig!
Agent Nyler had written another note—Where is he?
"That's okay, kiddo," Kara assured Zach. "You're doing awesome, okay? You did the right thing, calling us. I'm really proud of you."
"I miss you, Mom," he moaned.
"We miss you, too, Zach. So does Paws. We need to know where to find you, okay? Where are you right now?"
"I don't know. Somewhere in Seattle. In an apartment."
Kara nodded to the phone, releasing a relieved sigh. Seattle. Still here in the city. "Good. That's helpful, Zach. Do you know the name of the apartments?"
"No."
"Can you look out a window?"
"Yes—no," he corrected, "not exactly. I'm outside, on a sort of porch, but up high."
"A balcony," Kara told him. "Can you see a sign with the name of the apartments on it? Or a street sign?"
"No," he replied. "Sorry, Mom. I'm trying."
At a loss for a moment, Kara looked to Craig and saw him calculating. Catching her eye, he received the phone from her and spoke into it. "Hey, pal. Remember when we were up in the Space Needle, looking at all the landmarks?"
"Yeah."
"All right, look around and tell me what landmarks you can see."
"Okay." Zach's voice was silent for a moment. "I can see the Space Needle, Dad! It's not very far away."
"Awesome, Zach," Craig encouraged him. "Which direction is it?"
"Um…south. I can see the downtown towers on the other side of it."
Agent Nyler gave a thumbs-up, urging Craig to continue. One of the other agents worked to access a map on his phone. Kara's heart raced. They were going to find their son!
"Great. What else, Zach?" Craig prompted. "What can you see closer? Is there anything unusual that might help us find you?"
"Um…" Kara imagined Zach scanning the area, searching for something distinctive to report. "I don't see anything unusual, Dad. Just houses and apartment buildings."
"Businesses? Stores? Freeway?"
"No."
"All right, that's helpful. That means you're in a residential area. What about water? Are you close to the Sound or one of the lakes?"
A pause. "I can't see them. Maybe the Sound. I'm not sure."
"That's okay, pal. It's still pretty dark out there. What else can you see?"
Zach sniffled and sucked in another deep breath. He was working to keep himself calm—good for him. "There's a place with a bunch of trees."
"Maybe a park… Which way from you, Zach?" Craig urged.
"Um, it's a little bit—oh, no…"
Kara's heart slammed against her ribs as new tension filled Zach's voice.
"What is it, Zach?" Craig asked. He was trying to stay calm, but his knuckles turned white as he gripped the phone.
"No, don't!" Zach yelled. There was the sound of a scuffle.
"Give it to me, Zechariah!" another voice, a man's voice, demanded—in clear American English.
The line went dead. Eddie's glass shattered on the floor; it had slip
ped from his fingers. His face went pale.
"Zach! Zach!" Craig and Kara yelled together, but it was no use. The call was lost.
Agent Nyler turned to the agent at his side. "Get the number the boy called from and have it traced!"
She nodded and pulled out her phone as she moved into the den.
"Jackie," Agent Nyler spoke to Officer Garrenton, "tell the station I need every officer they can spare to search Uptown and Queen Anne Hill, the whole hill. If they can't find him there, search Fremont, Lake Union, West Woodland—anywhere a kid north of the Space Needle and the towers could see them from a balcony. It would be facing east, west, or south. And he's in a residential area, might have been able to see a park with trees."
Officer Garrenton stepped to the hall to radio in to the police station. Agent Nyler joined his other agent at the table and with a finger on the agent's map indicated the area he wanted to have searched.
That left Kara and Craig standing helpless in the kitchen, gaping at each other and Eddie. They had been so close, or so it had felt, hearing Zach's voice.
"I broke your glass," Eddie gulped, looking stunned.
Kara shook herself out of her shock, set a consoling hand briefly on the young man's shoulder, and fetched a broom from the garage. Craig joined in, and the three of them set about to clean up the mess. At the moment, as the officers made their calls, it was what they could do.
*****
The Boy Who Appeared from the Rain Page 92