“Help me? I shot you.”
“You didn’t mean to, you were scared. Let me help.”
“Why would you want to help me?” David asked emotionally. “Huh? Why? I left you at that accident to die.”
“No, you didn’t. You pulled me out. You saved my life. You … carried me. Carried me up a hill.”
David shook his head. “I left. I left. I took your stuff and I left you there, and you’re acting like I’m some kind of hero.”
“You are.”
“I was running from the cops,” David lowered the gun.
“And you got in my car. Had you not, I would be dead. Dead. I wouldn’t have a second chance at life. I wouldn’t get to see I could live a better life. My parents would have lost a son. You saving me caused me to be saved, because I was bad. I was so bad. And you took nothing from me. You gave me life, hope, a chance at love and faith. Yeah, you did that.”
“And you expect me just to surrender? To walk out of here?”
“Yes, I do,” Jonas said. “With your head held high. And I will go to bat for you, Dude. I will do whatever it takes.”
“They’ll shoot me the moment I walk out there.”
“Not if I walk out with you,” Jonas said softly. “Give me the gun.” He held out his hand. “Do the right thing. Take the first step to righting a wrong and to set you on a new path.”
Confused, David shook his head. “What? What are you saying?”
“The words you said to me that night.” Again, Jonas held out his hand. “Let’s put down the gun and walk out of here together.”
“We’re coming out!” yelled the voice.
Russ’ head jolted upward. “Jonas. That was Jonas,” he said to John.
“John Doe?” The Fremont chief asked.
“Yes, that was his voice.”
“Please don’t shoot,” shouted Jonas. “He’s not armed. He’s surrendering. I’m walking out with him.”
“Hands in the air as you come out. Both of you!” yelled John.
“I can only raise one,” Jonas replied. “I’m injured. We’re coming out.”
Russ cautiously stepped forward. Scared for Jonas because so many officers were there, all of them with their weapons raised. His eyes were focused on the door. It opened.
Russ felt his heart pound in his chest as he saw the man he had been looking for. He stepped out; hands raised. Right beside him was Jonas and he was covered in blood, only one arm lifted.
“Someone call an ambulance!” Russ shouted, charging forward.
He didn’t care about the gunman; the other officers were quick to apprehend him. He ran to Jonas.
“You’ve been shot.”
“I’m fine, Chief.” Jonas peered up to him. “That was him.”
“I know. Is Marge okay? Is …” Russ didn’t get to finish his question, Marge barreled out of the door and grabbed on to Jonas.
Marge was always a tower of strength, never wavering, yet she held onto Jonas with everything she was and she sobbed.
She said a lot, never stopped speaking through her tears. Russ couldn’t understand a word she said, but he knew they had to be words of fear, gratitude and concern because Russ was feeling the same.
As far he could tell Jonas and Marge were alright.
At that moment, that was what mattered most.
TWENTY-EIGHT
They all raced to Fremont.
Once Joe received word, he went with Cate, Grant, Pastor Rick and Haley. They didn’t have much information, other than Jonas was fine. He was shot and Marge was inconsolable.
Cate was the first through the emergency doors of the hospital and she feared the worst when she saw Marge. Her clothing had blood all over it and she was crying.
“Jonas,” Cate whimpered.
“He’s fine,” Marge broke down. “He took a bullet for me. That man … he aimed at me and Jonas jumped in the way.”
Cate’s hand shot to her mouth.
“I’ll never get over what he did for me. Never.” Marge wept.
Grant and Cate stepped to her, but Joe grabbed a hold of her and held his wife.
Cate turned to Grant. “Our son did that. Oh, Grant, he did that.”
“I know.”
Haley’s call of, “Chief!” caught their attention.
Russ stepped into the waiting room, holding up his hands. “Jonas is fine. They removed the bullet. They are going to admit him for observation. I know the police here want to talk to him. That boy … that boy has some powerful connections, I’ll tell you.” He looked at Pastor Rick. “He should have been dead … again.”
Grant asked, “What? What do you mean?”
“I’ll let him tell you. They said you can go back. He’s in room seven …” barely finishing his sentence, everyone rushed by him.
Jonas adjusted himself to a more comfortable position. The wound actually hurt more since they took the bullet out. He had no more than some Tylenol. He didn’t want more than that.
They had his arm in a sling, strapped to his chest, and he moved the contraption because it rubbed wrong.
“Jonas!”
He glanced up to the call of his name by his mother, not expecting to see an entire mob race into the room.
He smiled.
Cate grabbed his hand. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Sore. But fine.”
“Son.” Grant put his hand on Jonas’ leg. “Marge told us what you did. We are so proud of you. So proud you did that.”
“It was nothing. Anyone would have done it.” He looked over at Haley. “I got all my answers, Haley, all of them.”
“The passenger,” she said.
Jonas nodded.
“Boy,” Joe spoke, looking at Russ. “You were relentless about this. That’s why you were in Fremont.”
“It all came together,” Russ explained. “David Jenkins was arrested for selling stolen goods. Troopers in Iowa were bringing him in and he faked sick. They uncuffed him because they thought he was choking, and he took off. Got in your car, Jonas. He did end up injured. Trucker picked him up and brought him to Fremont. He left the hospital before they could ID him. He found Kevin on social media and worked out the guitar thing with him. He laid low while he healed, when he needed more money, he found Kevin again to see if he could sell your gear bag. On a hunch, the chief in this town asked around to see if he tried to sell it. He tried; the pawn shop wouldn’t take it. They also brought your phone that was in the bag. We got footage. That’s when they matched David.”
“Wow.” Jonas sat back. “You wanted to tell me all this.”
Russ nodded. “They had him tracked to a motel out of town. They were gonna bring him in, but the robbery happened.”
“I feel kind of bad,” Joe said. “We had you believing Jesus was in the car with you, not some criminal.”
“Oh, he was,” Jonas replied with certainty. “He was just in the back seat watching it all unfold.”
Pastor Rick spoke up. “We’re glad that bullet missed anything vital.”
“It almost didn’t,” Marge said. “He was shot twice. Once in the shoulder and once in the heart.”
Amongst the confusion of voices, Jonas with a groan reached for the table next to him and held up his cell phone. “I will carry this with me the rest of my life to remind me how fortunate I am.”
Haley took the phone, running her finger over the bullet. “This is your new phone.”
“And I thought Dad was ridiculous when he paid all that money for that case,” Jonas said. “That phone is also a sign. I never read the messages, that phone was a link to who I was. That phone tells me, that’s gone. No looking back.”
“Jonas?” Cate asked.
“I made up my mind, Mom.” Jonas said. “After today, I know. Chip was always me. He was just the me I was afraid to be. I can’t go back. I’m going to stay in Williams Peak.”
Haley leapt forward to hug him, but as soon as she did, Jonas winced in pain.
“
Sorry,” she said.
“It’s okay.” He grabbed her hand. “Mom, Dad, are you okay with this?”
Grant smiled. “We’re better than okay with this, Jonas. This is where you are supposed to be. Well, maybe not in the hospital. If you don’t mind, can you try to stay out for a while?”
Jonas laughed. “I’ll try. But while I’m healing, we need you in the worship band. I can’t afford to lose you.”
“I’ll stay,” Grant replied.
Jonas then looked at the chief. “I want to help David. Testify, help with legal fees, whatever, I want to help him. I need to.”
Russ took a deep breath. “I don’t understand. He’s bad news.”
“Maybe. But he can change. Anyone can,” Jonas said. “I’m proof of that.”
TWENTY-NINE
Three Years Later
Hand on the railing, Grant looked up the stairs in the living room. “Cate, come on.”
“One minute,” she replied.
“You only have one minute. I have to get to service and you are on coffee duty.”
“It’s supposed to be once a month,” Cate said, coming down the stairs. “I swore I just did it two weeks ago.”
“And if you did, who cares? Let’s go. Truck’s loaded. I need to get there.”
“Maybe after the chief gets his coffee, I can get him to stay.”
Grant laughed. “You’ve been trying since we moved here.” He walked to the door and opened it. “If he hasn’t in three years, he isn’t.”
“Doesn’t hurt to ask.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“He listens outside, you know.”
“I’m sure he does.”
They stepped outside and Grant pulled the door closed.
He didn’t lock it.
He hadn’t locked his doors since they moved to Williams Peak, it was nice.
The decision to move there wasn’t because of Jonas, it was all Grant. He would have made that decision regardless. The town and the people there did as much for him as they did Jonas.
It took a lot of convincing to get Cate to agree, she did, once Jessie said she was fine with it.
Six months later, Grant took an early pension from the community college and ended up teaching history at Fremont High School. It was a commute, but there was little traffic on the straight shot, highway drive.
He wasn’t ever giving up what he gained in Fremont, and the decision allowed him to watch Jonas grow even more. His relationship with his son was one he had always wished for.
He watched his son work two jobs, run the worship band, stay sober and get married.
Everyone saw it coming, no one was shocked when he and Haley wed.
Life in Williams Peak was simple. No surprises, Grant liked that.
So did Cate.
They had their routine and stuck to it.
Grant could hear the band warming up when he arrived. He knew he was late again, but not that late.
Leaving Cate in the back with the coffee social, Grant walked into the main body of the church.
The sound of fast rolling wheels caught his attention and he smiled when the baby, arms waving excitedly raced his way in the walker.
“There’s my little buddy,” Grant reached down. “Come to Pap.”
“Dad,” Jonas called from the stage. “Don’t lift him he won’t let you put him down. We have to run through these songs.”
“Fine.” Grant kissed the baby. “We’ll play later, Chip,” he said to the baby.
The baby squealed his dismay when Grant walked from him.
“See,” Jonas said. “Look what you did. Now he’ll cry all through practice.”
Grant just smiled.
Finally, Cate thought, the coffee social was over.
She handed the cheese curl travel mug to Russ. “Here you go, Chief. Don’t suppose since you’re so late, I can convince you to stay.”
“You ask all the time and I always say no, but …” he lifted his hand. “I will be staying today.”
“What?” Cate asked shocked. “You’re joking?”
“No, I’m not. Someone asked if I would walk into church with them. I said I would. In fact, can you save a couple seats up front?”
“Absolutely. I’ll see you there.”
Cate rushed through pushing the tables aside. She was certain it had to be Jessie that was coming to service. She had just seen her the week before so it would be a really nice surprise.
She stopped by the nursery to peek in on Chip. She didn’t want the baby to see her, because he would get fussy. Haley was handling it and Cate just went back to the church.
She took her usual seat in the front left row, said her hellos to everyone.
Haley came to the row a few minutes later, sitting next to her.
“Is the baby good?” Cate asked.
“Oh, he’s fine.”
“Hey, can you scoot down? The Chief asked that we save two seats. He’s coming in with someone.
“The chief is coming to service? Wow. I wonder who he’s bringing.”
“I think it’s Jessie.”
“Oh, that would be nice.”
The church lights lowered, and the colorful stage lights brightened as the screen lit up with the words, the band started playing.
Jonas had taken the band and the service to an entire new level. Pastor Rick was known as the cool, hip pastor and people came from miles away. The service was always packed, and the energy was magical.
Cate kept looking over her shoulder during the first song, waiting to see the chief and Jessie.
It wasn’t until the second song the Chief came in. His presence was noticed by everyone who knew him. Like he was a celebrity walking in.
But he didn’t walk in with Jessie.
It was David Jenkins.
Cate wasn’t angry when she saw him, she was happy.
From the moment he was arrested in Fremont, Jonas took his side.
He testified for him with the judge.
Cate and Grant helped as well. Had he not been in the car with Jonas, they would have lost their son that night. They did what they could for him. David didn’t know they helped with his attorney’s fees or money on his prison book. All he knew was they kept him in their prayers daily.
Instead of condemning him, many people in Williams Peak wanted to help him. It was a community thing.
Marge forgave him for that day and convinced Pastor Rick to start a bible study at the prison.
It took a year, but David finally joined.
Jonas kept his word. He wrote to David, visited him and spoke on the phone. He saw something in David and believed in him. In return, David started believing in himself.
Seeing him was a surprise. She knew he was up for parole; Jonas had given a statement to the parole board.
Cate hadn’t heard a decision about it until he showed up in church.
David had changed. It was evident in the way he looked and walked.
He had weight on him, his hair was short, he looked happy and peaceful.
Cate knew when he slipped into the row he was anxious, she could tell. She grabbed his hand, kissed him on the cheek, and held on to him as they stood during the song.
It didn’t take Jonas long at all to see him.
His face lit up and he grinned widely upon seeing David. For a second he stopped playing to point at him, give a thumbs up to show him in some way how happy he was to see him.
Shoulder to shoulder with him, Cate felt him breathe in deeply and slowly let it out. His arm was tense as she held on to it. He was uncomfortable, nervous. Of course, he would be. Fresh out of prison, starting a new life. He couldn’t have picked a better place than Williams Peak.
It had a spirit about it that was contagious. He would learn soon enough.
To her, David would always have a place in Williams Peak, with her family and in her heart.
He saved her son’s life in more ways than one, she would always be grateful he was the passenger
in the car, that fateful, life changing night.
<><>END<><>
From the Author
Thank you so much for reading this novel, I hope you enjoyed it.
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The Passenger Page 18