Annie

by Lexi Ryals

Guy sighed. “They’ll hold her for a while, then dump her back into the system after the election. No harm, no foul,” Guy assured her.

  Miss Hannigan looked shocked. “Sounds like a lot of harm. You can’t do that. She’s still a little girl.”

  “Why do you care?” Guy was beginning to get annoyed. “You did your part and you’ll get your money. Just go home and keep your mouth shut.”

  “You can’t talk to me like that,” Miss Hannigan told him. “I know things.”

  Guy stepped forward so that he was right in her face. “Then if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home and keep your mouth shut.” He gave her a warning look that caused Miss Hannigan to shrink back. Then Guy turned and followed Will and Annie out into the sea of reporters.

  Miss Hannigan stood there with her mouth open. This had gone too far. This wasn’t what she wanted.

  She had made a horrible mistake.

  Miss Hannigan stopped at Lou’s bodega on the way home to buy a diet soda and a lottery ticket. The television was on behind the counter and she could see the report from earlier with Will and Annie, looking scared and anxious, standing with Annie’s fake parents.

  “Hey, baby. Haven’t seen you in here for a while. How you doing?” Lou asked.

  “Not good,” Miss Hannigan admitted.

  “You want me to make you a sandwich? Roast beef?” Lou asked, concerned.

  Miss Hannigan paused. She needed advice. “You ever do something you think is a good idea at the time, but then after, you’re not so sure?” Miss Hannigan asked.

  “Three ex-wives. Yes, yes, and sí.” Lou laughed. “What happened? Whatever you did, you know I’ll help.”

  Miss Hannigan really looked at him, as if seeing him for the first time. “Why are you so nice to me, with the way I treat you?”

  “Because under all that bitter, there’s a sweet lady with a big heart. She’s just been gone for a while,” Lou told her.

  “Well.” Miss Hannigan took a deep breath. “I need your help.”

  Annie video-chatted with her foster sisters from Will’s kitchen when she got home. She wanted to say good-bye in person, but there wasn’t enough time.

  The girls couldn’t wait to hear all about Annie’s parents. After all, finding them was a dream come true!

  “What are your parents like?” Mia asked. “Are they what you imagined?”

  “They seem cool, I guess.” Annie shrugged. “Not really what I pictured.”

  “We’ll miss you,” Isabella said. “Come visit, okay?”

  “Of course. You’re my sisters,” Annie said.

  “We’ve got to go,” Tessie said suddenly.

  “Miss Hannigan’s coming,” Pepper added.

  “Bye!” Annie said, touching the screen fondly as the call ended.

  “Do you want something to eat?” Will asked Annie after the screen went dark. He’d seen how sad she looked on the call.

  “Always,” Annie said, managing a small smile.

  “My turn to cook,” he told her. He pulled takeout containers out of the fridge and let her choose five ingredients.

  “That stuff, that, whatever that is, that liquidy thing, and that goo,” Annie said, pointing out her choices.

  Will sniffed the last one. “I think that’s mold, but it’s all good.”

  Will did his best to cook, but he was as hopeless as Annie. By the time he finished cooking, Annie’s stomach hurt from laughing. Finally he set a plate in front of her and announced, “Be prepared to change the way you look at food.”

  “I think I already have,” Annie said, wrinkling up her nose at her plate.

  They each took a bite and then immediately spit their food across the kitchen.

  Will snuck a look at Annie wiping her mouth on a napkin. He was going to miss her so much.

  She pulled her cell phone out and handed it to him. “This won’t work in Brazil.”

  Will shook his head. “No, not yet. We’re only in Venezuela, Ecuador, parts of Colombia, actually mostly southern Colombia —”

  “I made you something,” Annie interrupted him. She pulled a handmade card out of her pocket.

  Will opened it, and the card almost brought tears to his eyes. It was a drawing of the two of them with “Annie ♥ Stacks” written at the top.

  “I copied your name from my phone,” she explained.

  Will could barely contain how much the card meant to him. He pulled her into a hug just as Grace walked in.

  Grace cleared her throat. “Annie, your parents are here.”

  Will nodded and Guy brought the parents in.

  “Annie! You ready?” her mom asked, reaching out to take Annie’s bag.

  Annie nodded.

  “We’re going right to the airport,” her dad told her.

  Grace bent down to look Annie in the eye. “It’s been so great getting to know you. You’re a special girl.” She gave Annie a hug.

  “You should punch Mr. Stacks in the face. So you can play in the park,” Annie whispered. Grace laughed and gave Annie a kiss on the cheek.

  While the others were talking, Will pulled Annie’s dad aside. “I’d like to help you out,” he said, pulling out his checkbook.

  Annie’s dad shook his head. “That’s very nice of you, but we don’t believe in handouts. Just hand-ups. And you already gave us one by giving us our baby back.”

  Will nodded. Then he turned to Annie and gave her a big hug. “Bye, Annie. Never slow your roll.”

  Annie nodded and then walked out with her parents and Sandy.

  The door closed and everyone stood in silence for a moment. Will and Grace missed Annie already.

  Eventually Guy cleared his throat and then checked his tablet. “The press is eating this up! We’re going to crush. Good-bye, Harold Gray. Go back to your pathetic life as a nonprofit do-gooder.”

  Grace looked at Will, worried about how he was handling this. But he had already pulled out his phone. “Grace, where are we with the phone battery?” he asked.

  “What?” Grace responded, surprised. How could he even think about work after everything that had happened?

  “A full week on one charge. Where are we on that?” he repeated.

  “We’re close,” she said.

  “Not good enough,” Will said sternly. “I’m going down to the office.”

  Grace put a hand on his arm. “We don’t have to deal with this right now, Will,” she said gently.

  “Why wouldn’t we?” he asked without emotion. Then he walked out the door and down to his office.

  Annie sat in the back of her parents’ car with Sandy in a crate next to her.

  “Is it cold in Brazil?” she asked as her dad pulled out into traffic and headed west.

  Her mom leaned over and whispered something to her dad. He whispered back, but neither of them answered Annie. Sandy whimpered from her crate.

  Meanwhile, Will was midway through a memo with Grace and Guy when there was a commotion outside of his office door. Suddenly, Nash burst in and escorted Miss Hannigan, Lou, Tessie, Isabella, Pepper, and Mia into the room.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I think you should hear this,” Nash said.

  “Annie’s in trouble,” Tessie blurted out.

  “Those weren’t her parents,” Miss Hannigan said.

  Grace looked from the girls to Miss Hannigan. “What’s going on?” she demanded.

  “Ignore her. She’s clearly insane,” Guy said, giving Miss Hannigan a warning look.

  “Watch your mouth,” Lou said threateningly.

  “I made a mistake,” Miss Hannigan explained. “I’m so sorry. I told him everything I knew about Annie and her parents. He found some people to pretend to be her parents. He promised me money, but I shouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry.”

  “What do you mean those weren’t her parents?” Will asked with a dreadful sinking feeling. “Where’s Annie? Who offered you money?”

  “He had them taken somewhere.” Miss Hannigan pointed at Guy.
“He’s behind it all.”

  Will whipped around to face Guy. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “Where — is — Annie?” he said through clenched teeth.

  In the car, Annie was getting a very bad feeling. Something was definitely off with her parents. They weren’t smiling or talking to her now. They wouldn’t even look at her.

  She needed to get out of the car and call Will.

  “Can we stop? I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” Annie insisted.

  “Just shut up,” her dad snapped.

  “Where are we going?” Annie asked, beginning to panic.

  “We’re just going to take you somewhere for a bit,” her mom said. “Just relax.”

  “You’re not my parents, are you?” Annie asked, her voice shaking.

  Her mom and dad exchanged a look that Annie couldn’t read. The car stopped at a red light. Annie immediately tried to open the door, but it was locked. She tried to roll down the window, but it was locked, too.

  “Let me go!” Annie cried. “When Mr. Stacks finds out about this, you’re —”

  The man cut her off. “He doesn’t need you anymore! Why do you think we’re taking you?”

  The woman jabbed him with her elbow. “Be quiet!”

  “You work for Mr. Stacks?” Annie asked, her heart sinking. She couldn’t believe it. Her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, “He wouldn’t do this.”

  But then she thought back to the deal they had made. That she would stay with him to help his campaign. That she would take as many pictures for the press as needed.

  Maybe he didn’t want her around anymore. Maybe this was all just to help him win the election.

  Maybe he didn’t care about her after all.

  Will had sprung into action. “Call my guy at the FBI. Tell him to put everyone on it,” he barked to Nash. Nash headed out to make the calls.

  “I’m an idiot. I didn’t think anything like this would happen,” Miss Hannigan whispered to Lou. She felt horrible.

  “How could you not know who has her?” Will demanded of Guy.

  “I have a guy who just takes care of stuff like this. It’s what keeps our hands clean, trust me,” Guy said, still trying to spin the situation.

  “I can’t trust you!” Will yelled. “You took Annie.”

  “I did what you told me to,” Guy snapped.

  “I never told you to do this,” Will insisted.

  Guy scoffed. “‘Whatever it takes,’ remember? This is just as much on you.”

  They all raced into the Stacks Mobile control room. The whole team had been commandeered to try to find Annie.

  “Can we track her phone?” a technician asked.

  “No. She gave her phone back to me.” Will groaned, slamming his fist down on a console. He felt so out of control. They needed help. “Let’s call the press.”

  “No!” Guy cried. “You’re going to blow everything. Just wait until the election’s over.”

  “What about Annie?” Pepper insisted.

  “Who cares? She’s just one girl,” Guy exclaimed.

  Hearing that made Will snap. He shoved Guy up against the wall. He was at the end of his rope. “She’s all I care about!”

  Annie was trying not to panic, but hot tears were already rolling down her cheeks. The car pulled to a stop at another red light. Annie stared out the window. Two kids in the back of the car next to them recognized Annie. They pulled out their phones and took her picture.

  “Help! Help me!” Annie yelled, banging on the window to get their attention.

  “Hush!” the man snapped at her. When he realized what she was doing, he ran right through the red light to get Annie away from the kids. “Don’t do anything stupid, Annie. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

  Annie quieted, but she had an idea. When the car slowed again next to another car, she motioned surreptitiously out of the window until the teens in the car saw her. They instantly recognized her and whipped out their phones to take her picture.

  All Annie could do was hope that someone would see the pictures and come find her.

  Will and Nash stood looking at the maps for any sign of Annie, while everyone else sat and waited as patiently as possible.

  “Listen to every call within the city limits,” Will instructed his team of technicians.

  “I knew you could do that,” Lou gasped.

  Suddenly, Isabella cried out, “Someone just posted a picture of Annie on Twitter!” She ran over to a map and pointed to a small box over one of the dots. It showed Annie crying in the back of her fake parents’ car.

  “Where was it taken?” Will asked.

  “Fifty-Fourth and Seventh,” Isabella read.

  All the girls pulled out their phones and started looking for any sign of Annie on blogs, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

  “Another one!” Pepper yelled out. “On a gossip blog. Fifty-Sixth and Seventh!”

  “They’re going uptown,” Will said, hurrying everyone out to his helicopter. “Let’s go.”

  Guy, meanwhile, was still trying to salvage the campaign situation. “You do this and everyone’s going to find out,” he hissed. “Forget mayor. It’ll destroy your whole business.”

  “I don’t care,” Will insisted.

  “You’re making a huge mistake! Think about everything you’ve worked for,” Guy begged.

  “That everything means nothing,” Will said fiercely.

  Guy turned to Grace. “Talk to him. You’re the only one he listens to.”

  Grace glared at Guy … and then punched him in the face!

  “Bam!” Pepper hollered. “That’s not because she likes you.”

  Everyone except Guy hurried out to the helipad and climbed into Will’s helicopter.

  They took off and headed northwest.

  Tessie held up her phone and announced, “Another one on Instagram. Sixty-Fifth and Tenth.”

  “Is anyone else dizzy?” Miss Hannigan asked, looking green. Lou put his arm around her and patted her shoulder comfortingly.

  “Just posted on the George Washington Bridge,” Mia shouted.

  “Go uptown!” Will ordered the pilot. Grace put her hand over his and squeezed.

  “We’ll find her, Will,” she said.

  Annie and her fake parents had turned onto the George Washington Bridge and were slowly moving in the busy traffic. She was still trying to get people to notice her, but no one in the cars around them was paying any attention — they were too distracted by the helicopter flying low over the bridge.

  Annie looked up when she heard the chopper. It was Will’s helicopter!

  “Oh no,” Annie’s fake mom said, noticing it, too.

  The man looked in the rearview mirror and saw a police car pulling in behind them. Its lights flashed on and the sirens wailed. There were two more police cars behind it.

  Annie’s fake dad yanked on the wheel and peeled off on the first exit from the bridge.

  “Just let me go!” Annie wailed.

  The man ignored her and sped up, racing along until he came to another police car blocking his path. He turned the wheel again and went up over the curb, crashing through some benches and driving across the lawn. The police cars followed.

  Annie held on to the door and Sandy’s crate tightly, her knuckles white as she tried not to be thrown across the seat as the car swerved.

  “There they are!” Pepper yelled, pointing at Annie’s fake parents’ car below.

  “Cut ’em off, bro!” Lou cheered.

  Miss Hannigan whimpered. “I am crazy dizzy.”

  The helicopter dropped down, maneuvering right in front of the car. They were so close that Will could see Annie in the backseat. “Annie!” he yelled, desperate to get to her.

  The chopper touched down, right in front of the car, forcing Annie’s “dad” to slam on the brakes. He tried to reverse, but there were police cars on all sides. It was over.

  The fake parents jumped out of the car and ran, but
Lou tackled the man and held him down until a police officer could handcuff him. Grace grabbed the woman and shoved her right into a cop. In all the excitement, it took a moment before anyone noticed that Annie had also jumped out and was running away.

  But as soon as Will saw her, he took off after her. “Annie!” He caught her midway across the bridge and pulled her to him.

  Annie resisted. She blinked away her tears and turned away.

  “Are you okay?” Will asked, his face filled with concern.

  “I’m fine,” Annie said coldly. But her lip was trembling. “We square now? You got what you needed? Want another photo?” She put her arm around him and gave a double thumbs-up and a fake smile to the reporters and photographers who had trailed the cops to the bridge. “Can I go now?”

  Will shook his head. “It’s not like that, honey.”

  “It’s exactly like that,” Annie said thickly. Will could hear the hurt in her voice. “We made a deal. My fault for thinking it was anything else.”

  “It was something else. It is something else,” Will insisted.

  Annie rounded on him. “You don’t care about me. I was just an opportunity to you.”

  “That’s not true!” Will exclaimed.

  “It is true!” Hot tears streamed down Annie’s face. She had been lost and betrayed so many times before. But this time hurt the most. “You did all this to me just so you could be stupid mayor.”

  “No,” Will said. “I mean, it was that way at the beginning. But it’s definitely not that way now. You’ve got to trust me.” He refused to let her go.

  “I can’t trust you. I can’t trust anybody!” Annie sobbed. “Just leave me alone!”

  Will started crying, too. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. I can’t look you in the eye and say I had nothing to do with this. But I swear to you, I did not know those weren’t your real parents. You’ve got to believe me.” He held up one finger. “This is you, Annie. This is you.” He pulled her into a hug.

  Annie resisted at first. But finally she gave in and hugged him back, sobbing uncontrollably.

  She believed him.

  When they finally pulled apart, Will kept hold of her hand. Then he turned to the growing throng of reporters. “I officially withdraw from the mayoral election,” he announced. “The city needs a better person than me as its leader. I need to focus on what matters most. And that’s an amazing little girl named Annie. My family.”