In an instant, Black noticed something out of the corner of his eye but it happened too fast. Something moved on the other side of the street. A car. No, a truck leapt away from the curb and careened into the left side of Black’s Ford as he passed. The impact was immense, and the truck didn’t stop. Instead the driver continued to ram right through him, almost pushing the Ford to the other side of the street.
From behind the wheel of the truck, Dan Taylor yelled to Tania across the front seat. “You okay?!”
She raised her head and looked around, dizzily. “Yeah.”
“Stay here!”
Taylor threw open the driver’s door and jumped out. He ran straight for the car that was now wedged sideways against the curb. Black struggled behind his own wheel, repeatedly smashing the accelerator to the floor in an effort to break the entanglement. He had no way to know from his position that his car’s left rear wheel was virtually destroyed and protruding sideways from under the fender like a broken limb. The rear axle had been completely sheared.
Black repeatedly floored the gas pedal, desperate to escape. The engine was roaring and the Ford’s remaining rear wheel was spinning, but it was not enough to break away.
Darias Black’s eyes widened when he saw a large frame appear at his window. Black hadn’t realized his side window was broken until the other man’s giant fist came through, striking the side of his head. He tried to raise his arm to block the second punch, but whoever was outside his car now had a chance to secure his footing. The second strike was even harder, and it was the last thing Black saw before he lost consciousness.
“Evan!” Dennis reached down and grabbed him by the shoulders. Evan seemed dazed with his eyes only half open. In the darkness, he quickly searched the teenager, feeling for any spots that might be wet with blood.
When he heard the collision, Dennis stopped and looked up. Taylor and Tania had been waiting in his truck down the street. And it looked like they had just plowed directly into the bastard as he tried to flee. Dennis watched Taylor’s giant silhouette get out and rush to the side of the old car before he turned his attention back to Evan.
“Are you hurt? Do you feel any pain?” Dennis continued patting him down, searching.
Evan did not answer. Instead, he mumbled something as he tried to regain his bearings. Dennis felt around until he found the front zipper and unzipped the sweatshirt. He snaked his hand inside and over Evan’s T-shirt. All dry.
“Evan, can you hear me?!”
From the ground, he nodded and spoke with a hoarse voice. “Yes.”
“Are you hurt?
Evan blinked. “I’m not sure.”
Dennis reached down and gripped Evan’s hand, gently pulling him up into a sitting position.
“What happened?”
Dennis didn’t answer. He was instead now examining his own left arm, which was bleeding badly. He winced and ripped his shirt sleeve open around the wound, before rotating his arm slowly. A gash cut across most of his outer tricep. He couldn’t tell how deep it was in the darkness, but he could clearly make out blood. A lot of it.
When Evan spotted the wound, he gasped. He quickly unzipped and removed his sweatshirt, handing it to Dennis.
Dennis wrapped the garment around his arm and cinched it as tight as he could.
“How bad is it?!” Taylor asked, upon reaching them. He bent down and put his face close to Evan’s, trying to see him. “You alive, kid?!”
“Yeah, I’m okay. It’s Mr. Mayer who’s hurt.”
Taylor looked to Dennis when Anne Keyes’ porch light came on and blinded them. They both squinted at her door as the screen was pushed open. “What was that?!”
Taylor glared at Dennis and spoke under his breath. “We’ve got to get Evan out of here! Now!”
Dennis looked up to see more lights coming on across the street, and some of the neighbors peering out from their living room windows.
“Go! Take him!”
Taylor didn’t wait for another word. In two seconds, he had Evan’s small frame up and over his shoulder. He turned and immediately withdrew from the area lit up by Anne Keyes’ porch light. It took less than twenty yards for Taylor and Evan to disappear completely into the darkness.
Dennis placed a hand on his knee to help himself up and winced again. When he turned, Keyes suddenly gasped in panic.
“You’re hurt!” She looked closer at his arm. “My God, were you shot?!”
“Yes. Call the police and tell them there was a shooting at your address.” He peered at the shadow of the old car still attached to his truck. “And tell them the suspect has been in a car accident but is still armed.”
Dennis tried to hold his arm steady as he ran to the car. The slightest move of his muscles was becoming excruciating. When he arrived, the passenger door on his truck swung open and Tania’s petite frame jumped down.
“I’m okay!”
Dennis nodded and continued to the car’s driver door which was almost wrapped around the truck’s grill. Whoever was inside was out cold, lying across the front seat.
He quickly turned to Tania, who approached behind him.
“Tania, listen to me very carefully.”
16
“What happened?!” Mary asked, frantically. She opened Shannon’s passenger door and jumped inside the BMW.
“I don’t know!” Shannon stomped on the gas, causing the door to slam shut behind her sister. As she sped away, Shannon checked the rearview mirror to see Ellie sitting quietly behind them.
The seatbelt alarm sounded from the dashboard and Mary twisted around. She pulled it quickly across her body, fastening it as Shannon sped down the car-lined street.
“Dennis said there was an incident and we needed to get there fast.”
“Is Evan hurt?”
“I’m not sure. They’re not together. He didn’t have much time to talk. He said the police were coming.”
Mary’s eyes opened wide. “The police?!”
Shannon nodded and slowed, turning right onto a cross street and accelerating again.
“What happened with the police? Do they have Evan?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then where is he?”
“I don’t know, Mary! They’re still somewhere in Bakersfield. Dennis said something happened and we needed to hurry. He said he’d call me again as soon as he could.”
Shannon reached the on-ramp to the 210 Freeway and sped up the small grade. Thankfully, L.A. traffic lightened at night. She crossed into the third lane and stayed carefully behind another car. It was painful for her not to go any faster, but she could almost hear Dennis preaching to her. Don’t be the fastest car on the road. You’ll stand out.
She gripped the wheel with both hands. The last thing they needed now was to be stopped by the Highway Patrol.
Bakersfield was just over a hundred miles away, which at their speed meant roughly ninety minutes. It was at precisely forty-two minutes into their drive that Shannon’s phone rang. Mary didn’t wait for permission from her sister. She immediately picked it up and answered.
“Hello?”
“Who’s this?”
“Mary.”
“This is Taylor.” After a slight pause, he continued. “I’ve got Evan. We need a ride.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
“Thank God. Hold on.” Mary opened the glove compartment, searching for a pen and something to write on. “Where are you?”
“We’re at a Starbucks on Panama. Where are you?”
“On the freeway. We’re about forty-five minutes away. What’s going…”
“Hurry,” was all Taylor said before hanging up.
Mary looked at the phone and watched the call end. “Well, that was abrupt.”
“Where are they?”
“At a Starbucks.” Mary opened an application on the phone and began typing in the street name. “He said Evan’s okay.”
“What else did he say?”
&
nbsp; Mary replied sarcastically, “I think he said to hurry.”
Shannon rolled her eyes. “That’s it?”
“Pretty much.”
They were there in thirty-eight minutes.
Shannon swerved into a mostly empty lot and nearly screeched to a stop in front of the store. Mary barely had her door open before both Taylor and Evan exited the store. Taylor had an arm around Evan, helping him move quickly to the car, while Mary rushed back to open the rear passenger door.
Shannon peered at her daughter through the mirror again. “Ellie. Scoot over, honey.”
The young girl unbuckled and hastily slid behind her mother, making room.
Evan managed to climb in and pull himself across the seat, next to Ellie. He smiled weakly at her and winked. Mary followed him in. She flipped on the car’s interior light above them and leaned his head back to assess his condition.
“What happened, Evan?”
“Someone found him,” growled Taylor. “That’s what happened.” He climbed into the front next to Shannon and slammed the door closed. “Get us the hell out of here!”
Shannon backed up and tore out of the parking lot. “What happened? Where’s Dennis and Tania?”
“We don’t know.”
In the back, Mary examined Evan’s eyes. She then switched to checking his pulse, which felt normal. “How do you feel, Evan?”
He thought for a moment. “Like a suitcase in one of those commercials.”
She grinned and placed her hand against his forehead. A little warm but nothing alarming. “So is someone going to tell us what happened or not?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. We were leaving Ms. Keyes’ house and something happened. It was like a bright flash in my head and then my legs just kinda fell out from under me. I thought maybe it was a seizure.”
“Any idea what caused it?”
“No. That’s all I saw. Then I was on the ground and heard the gunshots.”
“GUNSHOTS?!” Shannon nearly slammed on the brakes. She managed to slow the car and pull over. She turned back to look at Evan. “There were gunshots?!”
Taylor frowned. “Yes.”
“My God, was anyone hurt?!” Her mind immediately raced to Dennis, and then Tania.
“Your husband was hit in the arm. It didn’t look too serious.”
Oh God. “How serious is ‘serious’?”
“A wound on his arm,” Evan offered from the back seat. “He tied it up and told us to get out of there.”
Shannon turned back around and stared through the front windshield. “Jesus. Please tell me he’s on his way to the hospital.”
“He’s on his way to the hospital,” Taylor lied. He then nodded to the steering wheel. “Now let’s go.”
“We need to call him!”
“No, we don’t,” argued Taylor. “We need to get out of here right now.”
“But…”
Taylor cut her off. “Listen to me! Both of you. Someone found out about him. I don’t know who they are or how they did it, but now they know who Evan is. They know what he is.” He turned around and looked for anyone behind them. “If you want to protect Evan, you’ll get him out of here right now!”
The women glanced at each other through the mirror and Shannon relented. She needed to know what happened, but this wasn’t the time or place. Besides, she reasoned, if Dennis were really hurt badly, either he would have said something or Tania would have already called her back.
“Fine.” She looked over her left shoulder and pulled back out.
Taylor turned forward, watching the road from under his heavy brow. They were moving and that’s all he cared about. He was afraid, and it wasn’t just for Evan. He was worried about something bigger. If someone had found Evan, maybe they had found him too.
17
From its original founding in 1898 with only a single marshal, the Bakersfield Police Department had since grown to more than four hundred officers and staff, covering an impressive one hundred and thirty square miles. Ironically, after notable milestones in its history — such as the first female officer in 1941, and less than three decades later, the first African-American officer — the city had recently come under public scrutiny over accusations of heavy-handed tactics and overuse of force. It was an image that Bakersfield was trying hard to change.
Dennis Mayer noted the single gold bar on each side of the officer’s dark blue shirt collar when he entered the rather nondescript office. The man was a lieutenant, and by Dennis’ estimation, probably the highest ranking officer in the south side substation at that hour.
Dennis watched as the officer lowered himself onto the edge of the desk, facing him. On his right breast pocket was a small, rectangular nameplate emblazoned with the name “Patrick.”
“Good evening, Mr. Mayer. I’m Lieutenant Patrick. How are you feeling?”
Dennis frowned, gesturing to his bandaged arm. “I’ve been better.”
Patrick smiled and lowered both hands to his sides. He leaned outward slightly from the desk as he spoke. “I understand you’re retired LAPD.”
“That’s right. I made detective, but I put in my paperwork about six months ago.”
Patrick had both a few pounds and a few years on Dennis, but less hair. He smiled again. “So, what brings you to our little patch of the desert?”
Dennis maintained a relaxed expression. Momentarily separating himself from the evening’s events, he found himself mildly amused to be on the receiving end of the questions. He also knew that Patrick had already put these same questions to Tania Cooper in another room. Still, Dennis was an ex-cop, which he hoped would buy him some leeway, even in Bakersfield.
“I’m looking into a kidnap case,” Dennis replied. “My daughter Ellie was abducted and we were damn lucky to get her back. Eventually, I decided to do something more meaningful.” Answering Patrick’s next question before he could ask it, he added, “Staying on the force wouldn’t have given me the flexibility to pick my own cases.” He finished with a grin, “And I was damn tired of paperwork.”
“Amen to that.” Patrick leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “So you’re working on the Keyes case. Find anything interesting?”
“Not yet. But I’d say someone taking a shot at me might be a new lead.”
“That’s a safe bet,” Patrick chuckled. He had his own bemused look as he studied Mayer. He had a sharpness about him, and Patrick had a feeling he wasn’t going to get the whole story out of the man.
“So who’s the shooter?” Dennis asked.
“Don’t know, yet. He’s not talking and he didn’t have any ID on him. We’re running his prints now. I was hoping you might have some idea.”
“Sorry. I wish I did.”
Patrick pursed his lips, as if thinking. “Mind telling me again what happened?”
Dennis knew Patrick was asking to see how much his version varied from Tania’s. “I was just leaving the house when this guy ran up out of the dark and took a couple shots at me. He grazed me, but it was too dark to fire back.”
He left it at that. One thing cops knew was the less you said, the better. Especially if you were on the other side of the table.
“And what about the collision with your truck?”
Dennis shrugged. “Apparently Tania saw it all happen and drove into the bastard before he got away.”
“That was awfully quick thinking. She must have kept the car running.”
There were small holes in the story and Patrick had obviously noticed them. “I’m not sure if she kept the engine running or not.”
“I see.” Patrick feigned another thoughtful pause. “Why did Ms. Cooper stay in the truck? Why not go inside with you?”
“Katie Keyes’ mother is in a pretty fragile emotional state. I didn’t want her to feel overwhelmed.” Dennis maintained his calm expression. It was a thin explanation, very thin. But not one easily disproven. Inconsistencies in someone’s actions were easy to identify. It was much hard
er with a person’s thoughts.
“I see. And what kinds of things did you talk to Ms. Keyes about?”
“I just went over the basics really. The day her daughter disappeared, any phone calls, that sort of thing.”
“And how many times had you been to the house?”
Damn it. Patrick knew about his earlier visit, which meant he talked to Anne Keyes. Worse, it meant that Keyes had talked to him. Did he know about Evan? If he did, it was going to be a long night.
“I visited her this morning too.”
Patrick displayed a confused expression. “If you talked to her about the basics this evening, what did you talk about in the morning?”
“Pretty much the same stuff. Sometimes asking the same questions can jog a person’s memory.”
“And did it?”
Dennis shook his head. “Not this time.”
“Hmm.” Patrick nodded again and glanced at his watch. He decided they both had better things to do than play this cat and mouse game. Mayer was, after all, the victim here. Was Mayer trying to intentionally deceive him or was it just a result of being a cop for twenty years? Frankly, it didn’t matter to him all that much. They had the shooter and that was who Patrick and his officers needed to spend their energy on. In the end, Mayer was trying to do a good thing, which was to find missing kids. And he wasn’t about to get in the way of that. Who cared if he was trying to be secretive about it? Most officers didn’t broadcast their occupations anyway.
“Okay, listen,” Patrick said. “I’d like you to make sure you’re available for more questioning later.”
“No problem.”
Patrick reached out his hand. Dennis stood and shook it.
“We pried your truck off the car and had it towed here. Doesn’t look too bad. You’ll need some body work, but it’s drivable.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant.”
“Sure thing. If you wait outside, I’ll go get Ms. Cooper for you.”
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