Not Alone

by Frederic Martin

  No, she was pretty sure they were somewhere in town, or very near town. She had not traveled much in the town and she didn’t know a lot of details about where things were or which streets led where. And why did it seem so important to figure out where she was? What good would it do? There was no way for her to tell anyone or signal them anyway.

  She stared at the window for a minute. Actually, there was a way to signal. Bronco had said that no one could hear her, so that meant she was a ways away from any nearby house and probably back from any road. The thing about vox is that you can hear it from a long distance. She knew from her childhood games and their experiments with the night vision camera that her eyes made a faint beam of light that could be directed to things. All she had to do was shine her eyes on the shade. If she voxed while she was looking at the shade, Will or someone else in his family could probably hear it even if they were not close. The shade was translucent which meant that it would pass the light from her eyes and show on the outside, just the reverse of the moonlight on the shade last night. It would even spread it out like a light on a movie screen.

  That was her only chance. If all four of Will’s family were to walk around town, and she was in town, they just might walk by this place.

  A little well of hope rose up and she suddenly found herself voxing at full tilt at the window, “Help, help, help! Please help!” She paused to listen for a response. She waited, and waited. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing. And then again. Nothing. Each time the sense of futility grew and grew inside her to the point where a worm of fear and panic started crawling inside her. She felt hot tears surging into her eyes again, and she fought hard against it. She could not let it get a hold of her again. She had to maintain control this time. She panted and suppressed the hard sobs that were struggling to get out until she started to calm down.

  As she calmed down, her mind got going again and she decided she should keep trying. She would just pace herself. She would concentrate on voxing hard at regular intervals to maximize the chance that she could catch someone in that brief moment that they might be looking her way. She wasn’t sure how long she could keep it up, but it was the only thing she could think of to do right now.

  28

  The Hunt Really Begins

  What Will told Chief Hannah was the truth and it was enough information to help but nothing that would reveal their secret. At least, that was his gamble. He told her about Blue’s obsession with the supposed dealers in the park and told her that she called them Gronk and Greazal but their real names were Bronco and Jack. But that was all he knew. He told her how Blue was skilled at night stalking and had taught Will a little bit. He also floated the idea that Blue might be willing to go out at night and try and trap these guys, but that he had warned her against it. What Will didn’t say was that he was supposed to go with Blue but didn’t. He did tell the Chief something important, which was that Blue thought she overheard a location for a drug deal and that they had checked it out. That might have been where she went last night.

  Chief Hannah listened patiently while Will spoke. After Will finished there was a long pause. Will, Rose, Wu, and Sam were looking at each other. How would Chief Hannah react? Would they be in trouble?

  “Thank you, Will. This is disturbing news” She hesitated as she saw the worry grow on their faces, “But, telling me was the right thing to do. I believe you.”

  Chief Hannah looked at each one of them and then said, “I promise you I will follow up on all of this information. I think I know who Jack is, and I think that he would not be involved with this, but he might know something.” “At least I hope he’s not involved with this . . .”

  Will caught her chiss. He wondered why she would be thinking that. He also wondered why Chief Hannah was looking right at him when she thought that.

  Chief Hannah turned back to the rest of the group. “This information changes the whole situation from our standpoint. Before you came forward, we had to consider this a runaway situation, but now we are going to change it to a different category.” She didn’t say what that category was, but they all knew. “What it means is that we can get more resources to help look for Blue, and it means that we will set up a search headquarters and coordinate volunteers for an all-out effort.”

  Sam piped up, “What can we do?”

  Chief Hannah thought for a minute. “What you can do is think hard about what might have happened last night, or anything you find out about Bronco or Jack. Let me know any of your ideas. You have my mobile phone number—don’t hesitate to use it. There isn’t much time. Every minute counts.” She then looked at each of them again and said, “Look, I know what you want to do. You want to search on your own. I can’t keep you from doing what you’re going to do, but I do not want to be looking for more than one person today! Whatever you do, be safe and do not go anywhere where there aren’t plenty of people around, okay? And do not go off on your own. Make sure you have someone with you at all times.” She gave them all a stern look. “Do I have your word?”

  They all nodded, but Will knew that he, for one, was not being sincere.

  “Okay, I have to go now and get things rolling the right direction. Will, you need to stay right here. I’ll be back in two minutes, and then you can show me the area where you think she might have gone last night. We need to tape that off for the detective. The rest of you, work with the search coordinators, please. We will set that up as soon as we can and let you or your parents know more about what you can do. Keep me informed, okay?” Chief Hannah gave them one last significant look, and then she walked back to the group of parents.

  “What are we going to do now? We can’t just wait around,” said Rose.

  Will knew exactly what to do. “We have to search now. And especially me and my parents, because we have a better chance of hearing a call for help. We shouldn’t wait until they have the coordinated search set up, but we shouldn’t be stupid about it, either. We have to all have phones and stay in touch. Rose, you and Sam have to stay here because our parents would freak out if you two were to go searching. Wu and I are older . . . don’t look at me like that!” Rose and Sam were both giving Will a sour look. “You know it’s true and we can’t have parents freaking out right now, or they won’t even let Wu and I start looking.”

  Rose and Sam looked down at the ground—they were both kicking at stones, which meant they got it but weren’t happy about it.

  “Wu, you should ask around—you know a lot more kids in high school than I do, maybe one of them knows where Jack lives or even Bronco. I’ve got my bike and I’ll start cruising the neighborhoods and listening for Blue as soon as I’m finished helping Chief Hannah.

  Wu looked lost. “You think you can . . . hear her or whatever . . . during the day? I thought infrared was best in the dark.”

  “Yeah, it’s better at night, but not that much different. You guys let me know if you get any clues where I should look.” Will realized this is the first time that he had come to the conclusion that Blue had been kidnapped or taken against her will. He wasn’t really pretending that she had fallen asleep in the bushes anymore.

  Sam said, “I am going to get on the computer and start digging for dirt on Jack and see if I can figure out who Bronco is. Rose can come with me.” Sam grabbed Rose by the hand and said, “C’mon, let’s get to my computer!”

  Wu was the only one that still seemed at a loss for what to do. Will could see he was still trying to process everything.

  “Hey Wu, it’s going to be fine,” Will said. “I know this vox stuff sounds weird. We’ll sort it out later, after we’ve found Blue.”

  Wu shook his head, “Yeah, well, I’ll figure it out. I know some kids who might know who this Bronco guy is.”

  Chief Hannah walked back over to Will.

  “Ready to go, Will?”

  “Yeah, the sooner the better”

  The reality was really starting to sink in. He was going to help them tape off a crime scene. It didn’t see
m right; they only did that with murders in the movies. It all seemed so surreal, like they were in a play or doing an emergency drill. But it was real. His friend was gone, and by now she could be anywhere. She could be dead.

  29

  Final Interview

  Bronco unlocked the side door of the house and went in, closing the door behind him. He walked down the hall to the guest bedroom and opened the door. The girl was glaring defiantly straight at him, and he could see where tears had streamed from her bloodshot eyes.

  “Upset you earlier, did I? Sorry about that. I brought you something to make up for it,” and he held up a paper bag. “You’re probably hungry and thirsty. I’ll give you a bite, and then we can continue our little chat. You remember what I said last time I took the tape off?”

  She nodded at him. She looked beaten. Good time to talk.

  He pulled the tape off her mouth—as carefully as he did the first time, almost tenderly. He gave her a drink and she gulped it down thirstily. He fed her a granola bar and she chewed it dutifully but did not seem particularly hungry.

  “Okay, let’s get down to business now, Blue,” he started.

  She gave a halfhearted glare.

  “Yes, I know your name now, obviously. Wasn’t hard to find. I know quite a bit about your friends and family, too. The internet is a wonderful thing, don’t you think?”

  Glare.

  “What I couldn’t find on the internet, though, is why the hell you decided to stick your little nose into my business. I don’t get it. I haven’t done anything to you or your friends or family, but here you come uninvited into my life and screw things up. Now can you explain that to me?” He tried to put a little bit of authority in his voice. “Well?”

  She looked down. The glare was gone. “I’m sorry,” was all she said.

  “Well, I accept your apology, but you haven’t answered the question. Why did you stick your nose in my business?” He put a little more spice into his inquisition this time.

  She whispered, “You sell drugs.”

  “Yes, I do sell drugs,” he replied, “And so does the corner drug store and so does your doctor. And food companies put drugs in foods, and there are drugs in cigarettes. Do you take videos of people who sell those?”

  “Your drugs are illegal, and they ruin lives,” she replied with a little more energy in her voice.

  Now he was getting somewhere. “People ruin their own lives, little girl, and they will find ways to do it whether it is legal or not. Now, do you take drugs?”

  “Of course not!” she said with a little more fire.

  “There you go! Good job! Neither do I, except these fine legal cigarettes, unfortunately. They kill more people than guns do. Freedom of choice, I say. Don’t you think freedom of choice is a good thing?” He could see she was starting to get angry. Good.

  “Little kids shouldn’t be allowed to get drugs! Jack gave me a joint! I’m only fourteen!” She was getting worked up now.

  “Why shouldn’t kids have freedom of choice? You seem to have chosen to come down at midnight and spy on me. You seem to have chosen to ‘borrow’ an expensive night vision camera. Did you really take a joint from Jack? You could have refused it. So you get to have freedom of choice, but other kids don’t? Sounds like you’re a bit of a hypocrite there, kid.” Bronco could see the emotions playing on her face. “Look, I don’t go out of my way to sell to kids. I don’t advertise on TV on children’s shows like all those crap cereal companies that have turned half the kids into diabetics. I run a quiet business and only grown-ups contact me. In fact, I have no idea how you found out about me. Remember, you were the one busting into my business. Not the other way around, right? Right?”

  She looked down again. “Yes,” she said in a cowed voice.

  “I didn’t go out and find you and say ‘Hey kid, you want some smack?’ did I?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Okay, so you should be angry at the person that told you that I sold drugs. If they hadn’t, we wouldn’t be in this mess, right?”

  “Nobody told me,” she said quietly.

  “Jack didn’t tell you?”

  “No.”

  “Well, how in hell did you find out about me then?” Bronco was almost at the crux now.

  She was quiet for almost a full minute. Bronco was patient, but finally said “Well?”

  “I overheard someone at the park. They didn’t know I was listening. I think they were a customer of yours.”

  “There now,” said Bronco “A little honesty feels good, doesn’t it? So it was all your freedom of choice to take that information and do what you wanted with it, and you decided to play little detective and snoop around at night. Man, don’t your foster parents have any discipline? They let you roam around all you want, like a little wild animal? Even at night? It seems to me it’s their fault that you and I are in this pickle.”

  “They had nothing to do with it!” Blue said angrily. “I didn’t tell anyone! They are good foster parents. I would have got in more trouble than you know if anyone found out!”

  Ah, and there we have it, thought Bronco. This was truth. She hadn’t told anyone. He relaxed. “Okay, calm down, calm down. I wasn’t saying anything bad about your foster parents. But it just seems strange to me then—you would take all this risk, all on your own, just to try and do what? Catch me, and turn me into the police? Are you kidding? You’re just a kid. Be happy, grow up, forget this.” He was relieved. He could just leave her there, alive, and call in a tip in a day or two. That meant he could get out of town right now.

  “Your drugs KILL people and DESTROY families!” she shouted angrily.

  The suddenness of the loud outburst triggered something in him. He smacked her. It was instinctive. She was too loud, someone could have heard.

  “Don’t you shout like that again!” he said to her in a fierce whisper. He grabbed her chin, looked hard into her eyes and said very slowly, “Do you remember what I said I would do if you shouted for help?”

  She nodded. A little blood was trickling out of her nose, and her right cheek was bright red.

  “Look, little detective, people die all the time for all kinds of stupid reasons. Kids fall down stairs, they pull boiling water off the stove, they run into the street, they fall out of trees! And some stick their noses into business that is way over their head!”

  Now Bronco was getting worked up. This little kid hadn’t seen anything like what he had seen. She had no clue as to what his life had been like. Visions of his own childhood and his brother’s death, and of his own revenge played back through his mind in a familiar flash of history. He just stared at her. “At least people who die of drugs do it of their own choice.”

  The girl gasped. She stared at him, her eyes wide in shock. “Your father killed your brother!” She gasped again.

  Bronco was dumbstruck. What had she just said? How could she know that? What just happened? “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, who are you? What are you?” He stood up and backed away. She had actually read his mind! There was no doubt about it. That would explain everything, how she knew about him and when his drug deal was. She had lied to him. “How could you know that? What the hell else do you know, you little demon?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. He ripped off another long piece of tape and wrapped it hard over her mouth. He didn’t care if it was uncomfortable now. He was not dealing with a human, he was dealing with a devil. She might know everything. He had to get out of that room, now.

  “You make a single peep now, and I will come in here and break your neck! Have you got that? Have you got that?” he pointed his finger violently at her. He was shaking.

  She stared at him frantically and nodded.

  He got out of the room and shut the door and stood in the hallway to get his breath. Okay, change of plan. He was not going to leave right now. He was going to hunker down and wait until nightfall. Not a problem. Just not his first choice. But this girl, if she really was a girl and not so
me sort of witch, had really left him no choice.

  Blue sat stunned in the sudden silence. Her cheek was throbbing where Bronco had struck her and one nostril was screeching from her panting through the coagulating blood. She was still reeling from the combined emotion of her anger and Bronco’s violent reaction. Her eyes stared through the wall and off into infinity, and her mind replayed what just happened hoping, please-God-please hoping, that it would be different the second time through. It wasn’t. She had seen what she had seen and said what she had said.

  What she had seen was something unbelievable, something she couldn’t quite get a handle on. She had seen someone else’s thoughts. Not just sounds, but actual visions. It was like having a vivid dream, but a dream while she was wide awake instead of half asleep. Bronco’s words and thoughts had projected intense flashbacks of his own life in her head! She had seen Bronco’s father push his brother down the stairs. She had seen Bronco suffocating his father. And before she realized she was repeating these visions out loud, it was too late. She had doomed herself. She had doomed everyone.

  30

  The Power of Six Brains

  Chief Hannah hoped that she had maintained her professionalism when she interviewed those kids, but inside her chest, her heart had taken a tumble. Her cop brain told her that the situation was bad. If there was any hope, she had to move fast. That realization is what kicked her cop training into top gear.