The 45th Parallel

by Lisa Girolami

  Val strained to see any movement around the building or in the parking lot. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s there.”

  Cam checked her watch. “It’s a quarter past ten. If this is what your mom’s note was referring to, we have a few minutes.”

  “I assume there’s an entrance in the back. We might not see anyone if they arrive that way.”

  “Unless they drive off-road, through the trees back there, they still have to drive past here.” Cam pointed to a driveway on the side of the church. “That’s the only way to the back.”

  How would she know that, Val wondered. She hadn’t said that she’d ever come to this church. But then again, she probably knew almost every road and parking lot in this small town. The anticipation that stuck like a too-big piece of taffy candy in her throat was making her panic and doubt everything. She felt like she was about to find out everything she needed to know but wasn’t sure it would fix what had been going so wrong.

  They sat in silence and Val stared at the church, looking for someone inside to open a door or walk past a window. She was really spooked, and her gut was churning as if some completely oblivious farmer was using her stomach to make five pounds of butter.

  She turned ever so slightly to look at Cam, who was engrossed in studying the church and surrounding parking lot. Val scrutinized her face, trying to read her. What was behind Cam’s reticence at their first kiss, and why had she seemed to pull back? Why was Cam so available to her when she had a business to run? And why, when Cam had spent all her life with these people, even loving one of them, would she side with Val and help her so unreservedly?

  Cam’s face brightened suddenly, and Val realized that a car had just turned a corner close by and its headlights were shining on her.

  “Look,” Cam said.

  An El Camino pulled into the church’s front parking lot and parked in a space close to the front door. There were, maybe, three people inside, but it was hard to tell. The headlights and brake lights shut off, but no one got out.

  “Who’s that, can you tell?”

  “Nobody I know.”

  Presently, another car approached. A pickup truck pulled in and parked next to the El Camino. The lights went out, but whoever was in it remained where they were, too.

  “That’s Mack’s truck. That’s got to be Donna with him.”

  Val saw another car approach, and the churning in her stomach accelerated. “Shit,” she said as a Tesla pulled in.

  “Nedra Tobias.”

  When Nedra parked, the doors of all three vehicles opened.

  Three people got out of the El Camino. Val squinted, straining to see who they were, and it took less than a second for her eyes to lock onto the shortest one.

  “That’s the girl! The girl from the accident!”

  “I don’t know who she is. I’ve never seen her before,” Cam said, then pointed quickly. “Shit. You’re seeing what I’m seeing, aren’t you?”

  The other two were the men that had helped Mack the night they’d chased Val and Cam into the woods. Val definitely recognized the Dingo boots and enjoyed a nanosecond of satisfaction when she saw the man’s heavily bandaged chin. They stepped around the car to stand with the girl by the trunk. Mack and Donna had already gotten out of the truck and joined them. The Tesla driver’s door opened and Nedra stepped out. Too afraid and too engrossed to look away, Val stared at the activity as if her very life depended on her retention of every detail.

  Val watched Nedra walk over to the passenger side of her car and open the door. Val leaned forward, so engrossed she could no longer see anything beyond the periphery of her tunnel vision. Her throat had gone desert dry and she barely got the words out. “Who’s getting out of her car?”

  “It looks like a little boy.”

  The group of seven walked into the church, and one by one, lights began to come on behind the window drapery. The church no longer looked foreboding, but Val’s senses were on fire with the knowledge that malevolence lived within some of the people now inside it.

  She tapped the dashboard, her fingers attempting to release some of the energy that was fighting containment in what felt like a pressure cooker in her body.

  “What the hell are they gathering for?”

  “Whatever it is, your mom knew about it and felt it was important enough to write down.” Cam took the keys out of the ignition. “Let’s go find out.”

  Cam and Val silently made their way over to the church. They stayed close to the building, ducking under windows, and headed around to the back. Sneaking up to a back door, they listened for sounds. Val glanced at Cam and shook her head. She didn’t hear anything.

  Slowly, Cam tried the knob. It was locked.

  Val motioned for her to follow and she crept to a window. Its drapes were closed, but a muffled voice speaking intermittently softly and loudly was coming from what Val guessed was the church’s sanctuary. She jiggled the frame but it was locked, too. She proceeded down the back of the building, trying windows, but they were all shut tight.

  Finally, she came upon one window, and though it was locked, the drapes were parted a few inches. The people from the parking lot were sitting in the first-row pew, and Pastor Kind stood behind a pulpit that sat on a raised platform.

  “He had to have already been here, waiting for them,” Val said.

  The pastor’s voice was much clearer, and he was strangely animated as he spoke, looking like a mentally ill person rocking to the voices in his head.

  “The rapture of which I speak,” Pastor Kind said, “comes in a special form. It takes the very sensitive parishioners to see that. You see, theology and sex are sometimes confused in the…” he gestured dramatically with his hands “…the gray convergence of that rapture.”

  Cam whispered to Val, “What is this? A private worship group?”

  “They’re closer than you might think.” Pastor Kind rocked back and forth. “How exposed do you feel when you’re worshipping the deities? And how exposed do you feel when you’re worshipping the flesh?” He raised his fist. “Does it feel the same?”

  The group leaned forward in their seats, seemingly transfixed by his words.

  “And why does it feel the same?” Pastor Kind slammed his fist down on the pulpit. “Because it IS the same!”

  He paused and then said, “Nedra, please come up here. And Manny, bring the child.”

  Nedra walked up to the pulpit, and Dingo Boots took the boy by the hand and walked him up there, too. The child appeared indifferent about what was going on.

  Pastor Kind stepped from the pulpit and took the child by the hand, and Dingo Boots backed away. The pastor then handed the boy off to Nedra.

  Pastor Kind returned to the pulpit and gestured to Nedra. “Hug the child.”

  Nedra obeyed, hugging the child, who flinched a little. Val wondered if the boy knew her at all. Certainly, if his family were members of the church, the little boy would be familiar with who she was.

  Pastor Kind said, “How did that feel?”

  Val was surprised when the group answered with “great” and “wonderful.”

  “What the hell is this?” Val said to Cam.

  But before Cam could answer, Nedra grabbed the child by his arms and threw him at the pulpit. A terrible scream erupted from the boy as Pastor Kind caught him.

  “Quiet,” the pastor bellowed, and the boy started crying. Dingo Boots moved forward again and lifted the little boy onto the altar that sat in the middle of the raised platform. He struggled, trying to release his arms from their grip, but the man held him down.

  Val almost yelled but stopped herself and just growled to Cam, “Fuck! Is this some kind of sick child sacrifice?”

  “I don’t know what they’re up to, but your mom figured it out. That’s why she wrote down their next moves and then hid the list.”

  “They must have found out that she knew something and needed to see if she had evidence.”

  “Or maybe they knew she had the li
st.”

  Pastor Kind bellowed again, and they both jumped. “The rapture of youth is the closest to perfect rapture! Get the camera, Nedra! We need a witness!”

  The girl from the accident set up a tripod and helped Nedra attach a small digital video camera to it. Val was so engrossed with watching them that she didn’t see what was happening at the altar until Cam nudged her.

  Val’s stomach turned as Mack unbuttoned the little boy’s shirt. She felt like she was going to throw up.

  “Oh, God,” she said, swallowing back foul bile. She turned to Cam suddenly. “The video camera at Mack’s. The lemonade dispenser was for kids only so he could get them to go pee. But it wasn’t just him. All of these people are involved. This is some sort of child-pornography cult. Jesus—”

  The little boy screamed, and Val turned back to see Pastor Kind struggling with the boy, who was fighting to keep his pants on.

  Val took off running, her legs pumping as fast as they could, and reached the front door of the church. She pulled roughly on the handle, but it was locked.

  Cam caught up with her. “Val, wait!”

  “For what?”

  “We’ve got to get the police!”

  “Fuck that. We don’t have time.”

  She raced back around to the window where they’d watched the horrific events, and Val could hear Cam’s footsteps behind her. She skidded to a stop and dove into the bushes by the window.

  She heard Cam whisper loudly, “What are you doing?” but couldn’t answer. She grabbed what she was looking for, jerked the big rock up over her head, and threw it at the window. It crashed through, flinging the drapes aside and spewing shards of glass into the sanctuary.

  Screams erupted from inside and Pastor Kind yelled something.

  Val grabbed Cam’s arm, pulling her. “Now let’s go get the police.”

  She and Cam turned just as Mack yelled, “It’s Cam and Val!”

  “Get your car keys ready,” Val said as they ran around toward the front of the church. Sprinting as fast as she could, she jabbed a hand into her pants pocket to get her phone. She had to call 911. But when she pulled it out, it slipped from her hand and crashed onto the pavement on the side of the building. She tried to stop but slid and came down hard on her hip. Cam grunted loudly and almost tumbled over her. She scrambled over, grabbed the phone, and pushed back up to her feet.

  As they rounded the church and came out in front, Donna and all the men in the group were already dashing out. Pastor Kind was in the lead, and Val could tell that they could easily cut them off before they reached the car.

  Val stopped quickly and reversed direction, running back toward the side of the church. She was still trying to unlock her phone but couldn’t afford to lose precious seconds by slowing down to look and dial.

  They reached the corner of the building, and in a split second Val realized Cam hadn’t said a word since she’d broken the window. And while her mind processed the possible reasons—was she in too much shock or were things not going as planned, whatever that plan might be—she heard the little boy scream again.

  Impulse took over and she took off, heading around the back. She got to the window and looked behind her. Cam hadn’t followed. She grabbed the edge of the side frame, scrambling up the wall, and leapt up on the sill and through the opening. A sharp pain tore at her knee as she grabbed one side of the drapes and lowered herself into the sanctuary.

  Nedra started, grabbing the child from the altar and pulling him down violently. He bellowed again, crying out in a wail that Val had only heard once before from a gravely injured sheep, hit by a car and bawling as it lay on a farm road.

  Val ran toward Nedra, but her leg buckled and a hot knife of pain twisted around her kneecap. She groaned and grabbed the end of a pew, pulling herself closer.

  “Val! Stop!” Nedra yelled. Her face was red with fury.

  Val grabbed the last pew and ignored the agony in her knee, loping as fast as she could. She’d balled a fist, readying it for Nedra’s face, when a rough tug pulled her to the left. The girl from the accident held onto her shirt, dragging her toward the opposite pew. Val tried to dig her heels into the carpet but her knee wouldn’t work, so she deliberately fell forward, knocking the girl onto the wooden pew. She heard a loud crack as the girl’s side connected with the seat, and in the second her grip slipped, Val hit her face, sending the delinquent to the floor.

  Val turned back toward Nedra, focused only on getting to the boy.

  Nedra was dragging him by his arm, trying to pull him toward the back of the room. Val’s knee felt like it was exploding, but getting to the little boy was more important. She hobbled, using her good leg to thrust herself farther forward.

  The boy kicked and flailed against Nedra’s grasp, which slowed them down enough for Val to catch up. She got up on the platform, passed the altar, and reached Nedra, who was now at the entrance to a back hallway.

  She reached out and grabbed Nedra’s hair, pulling her down as hard as she could. The woman dropped and so did the little boy. Nedra answered with a swift backhand to Val’s cheek, and she stumbled backward. The little boy seemed completely terrified, and his high-pitched screams echoed off the acoustic wall panels that were designed to help people praise God, not abuse children. Val shook off the sharp pain, and her anger suddenly peaked.

  Grunting loudly, Nedra began scooting backward on her butt, pulling the boy into the hallway. She scrambled to her feet and jerked the boy up with her. Val grabbed Nedra’s blouse and pushed her roughly against the wall, moving between Nedra and the door.

  Nedra’s face was bloodred, and she almost hissed when she spoke. “Val, this is none of your business.”

  “I know what this is all about. Let him go.”

  “Get out of my way.”

  Val didn’t care that Nedra’s eyes looked as if they’d turned to steel and her expression was washed in some kind of manic insanity.

  “Go, you fucking bitch, but not with the boy.”

  “They’ll be back and they’ll kill you, Val. Get out of my way.”

  “You’re already in deep shit. Leave him.”

  Nedra raised her voice. “Get out of my way.”

  Val stood her ground as Nedra’s eyes darted back and forth, obviously looking for another way out. The woman began to shake, her face quivering as if her head were about to burst. Her stare was beyond menacing. “You, OUT!”

  This needs to be over now, Val thought. The idea of them abusing this poor little boy, frightened out of his mind, enraged her like nothing else in her life ever had.

  “No,” she said as she dropped her fist back behind her. “You, out.”

  Val brought her fist around, throwing her shoulder into the inertia, and connected with Nedra’s face with such force the woman’s head snapped to the right. She smacked into the wall and crumpled to the floor.

  Val yowled at the hot pain throbbing in her hand and shook it quickly before holding it out to the boy.

  “Let’s get you home,” she said, grateful when he didn’t fight her.

  They rushed down the hallway and found a side door. She pushed him out into the night and led him around toward the front. When they reached the corner, she slowed and stopped, squatting down next to him. “Are you okay?”

  He was still crying but otherwise only nodded.

  “What’s your name, honey?”

  “Edgar Santorino. I live at 44 Crest Drive.”

  His response sounded like something his parents had made him memorize.

  “Okay, Edgar. We’re going to get you home. But right now, I don’t know where the other bad guys are, so I need you to stay right here while I go take a look.”

  Before she could stand, Edgar threw his arms around her and hugged her as if he were drowning in the ocean.

  Her heart broke into a million pieces. “It’s okay. You’re okay,” she said.

  He let her go and she put a finger to her mouth, motioning him to be quiet. “Be right ba
ck.”

  Edging up to the corner, Val leaned out so she could peek around to the front.

  Donna and the men were in the parking lot, and she could see that they’d encircled Cam. Val was too far away to hear them talking, but they were in a fierce discussion.

  Val couldn’t simply march out there with the boy and demand they let Cam go. She also didn’t have the car keys to drive the boy away. Maybe she could get the boy to the car and have him wait there until she could somehow get Cam to make a run for it.

  She was just about to turn back to the boy when Donna stepped toward Cam and put her arms around her. She began whispering something in her ear.

  Cam was so close to Donna, listening to whatever she was saying. The men stood there and watched. Then she saw Cam nod, and Val suddenly spun away, falling against the side of the building. Her ears began to buzz and her stomach threatened to heave everything out of her.

  There it was, the horrible truth playing out right before her eyes. They were planning their next move. And Cam was in on all of it.

  A nauseating dizziness threatened to topple her. She steadied herself against the wall. Tears welled up in her eyes and she held her breath, trying not to lose it right where she stood.

  The distant sound of sirens made her pause. When she knew they were approaching, and before she completely lost her ability to function, she limped back to the boy. She had to sneak him out through the woods and find a house where she could call 911.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Holding a cup of coffee she hadn’t touched in a half an hour, Val sat at her mother’s dining-room table, staring at the grain of the wooden top. The tree rings looked like little roads running circles around themselves. That’s how her life had gone lately. She had no control of the events happening around her and was just running in circles, reacting to whatever transpired.

  And the night before had been the final spin, the last road for Val on this strange trip back to her childhood home.