“Throw down your weapons and surrender peacefully!” blared from one of the choppers. It sounded like the voice of God. “Throw down your weapons. You are surrounded.” From the east crept another surge of SWAT team members. More from the north! If Jack and Jesse had kept going, they’d have bungled right into the teams of rescuers. “Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons!” the chopper’s amplifier kept blasting. It was answered with a burst of gunfire as one of the militants raised his weapon and shot toward the helicopter. He must have missed, because the chopper pulled up a little higher and kept right on flying.
Suddenly the desert bloomed with flares. At that moment the eight men from Darwin Falls must have realized they were sitting ducks, that they were surrounded by troopers, police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and SWAT team members, all holding rifles pointed toward them. “We give up, we give up!” they cried, their voices carrying clearly across the sands. Throwing down their assault weapons, they raised their hands in surrender.
Jack waited, his breath catching in his throat, as he stared intently toward the barricade where the actual kidnappers were hiding. After what seemed like an eternity, the two kidnappers climbed up out of their hole in the ground. They were waving white handkerchiefs over their heads.
But where was Ashley?
The SWAT team members began to move closer to the barricade the kidnappers had built, their rifles ready. Then, without warning, not more than 50 feet ahead of Jack, one of the kidnappers thrust his hand down as though reaching for a sidearm. “Duck!” cried the man who was holding Jack. He threw Jack onto the ground, out of the range of fire, but not before Jack had seen two other SWAT team members pull Leesa down, too. Spitting sand out of his mouth, he jerked up his head. The kidnapper had frozen in mid-reach; he held his right hand immobilized, away from his holster, while he stared down at his chest.
Three red dots glowed on the front of the man’s zippered jacket. Jack knew what that meant: He’d seen it at Yellowstone. The kidnapper knew what it meant, too. The three red dots were laser points, beamed from the sights of three separate rifles. If the man had pulled his handgun from its holster, even before he could have fired it, he would have been hit simultaneously by three bullets fired from three separate SWAT team rifles, each bullet hitting exactly where the red laser had pinpointed his jacket. Shaking, the man raised both hands into the air and yelled, “Don’t shoot!”
“Please,” Jack begged the man who was holding him, “let me go so I can find my sister.”
“Take it easy,” the man answered. “Our guys are working on it. This entire mission has been to get your sister back. We’ve caught all the men who were on their way to help the kidnappers escape, and it looks like both kidnappers have surrendered. Unless they’re entirely stupid, they’re not going to fight us when we move in to cuff them.” He released Jack saying, “You don’t have to lie flat anymore, but don’t stand up. Just stay sitting.”
By then, bright lights were sweeping all across the desert as though it were halftime at the Super Bowl. Some of the SWAT team members led the eight militia men away, jerking them forward by their elbows because their hands had been secured behind their backs. Others were patting down the two kidnappers, searching for weapons. Still others had jumped into the dugout behind the rock barricade. And then….
Jack let out a hoarse cry. There was Ashley, being lifted by the rangers. From that far away he couldn’t get a really good look at her, but she seemed limp, as though she couldn’t manage to stand up on her own. At the same time a helicopter was setting down very close to them. The men carrying Ashley ran toward the chopper, ducking low beneath the whirling rotor blades. When they handed Ashley inside, other waiting arms reached out to receive her.
The SWAT team member who’d been holding Jack spoke into his radio, “I’ve got the girl’s brother here, too. Do you want me to bring him over so he can fly back with her?”
The answer cracked back into the handset. “Sure. Bring him.”
“What about Leesa?” Jack asked anxiously. “Do they have room for Leesa, too?”
When the man relayed the question, the answer came back affirmative. He called over to the two SWAT team members who were holding Leesa, and within seconds she and Jack were hustled across the sand toward the waiting helicopter.
“And Jesse,” Jack wanted to know. “What’s going to happen to Jesse?”
“You mean the guy who drove you out here?” When Jack nodded, the man said, “I think he’s gonna be in a world of hurt.”
CHAPTER TEN
Two o’clock in the morning, and all of them were still awake. They hovered around the bed where Ashley lay staring up at them, her eyes large, shadowed, and frightened—but no more frightened than Olivia’s. Olivia held one of Ashley’s hands, and Steven held the other, while Jack and Leesa stood at the foot of the bed.
“My throat hurts, Mom,” Ashley said. “I was so thirsty.”
“You’re safe now, sweetie, and you can have all the water you want,” Steven told her. “Or do you want juice? They have orange drink in the soda machine at the end of the hall—”
“No, don’t leave, Daddy,” Ashley begged him, looking fearful again.
“I’ll get it,” Jack offered, and Leesa said, “I’ll go with you,” but Ashley stopped them with, “I don’t want any of you to go away from me right now. For such a long time I thought maybe I’d never see you again, so now that we’re all together, I want you to stay here with me. Please?”
Steven knelt beside the bed and gently stroked a tangle of her curls. “You’ve been through a terrible ordeal, Ashley. But you’re safe now. We’re here.”
Ashley closed her eyes, but didn’t quit talking. “The one man kept staring at me and staring at me, and he wouldn’t stop, and I got so scared. Then he said he had a daughter just my age, and he was feeling bad about everything they were putting me through. But when I asked him for water, he said there wasn’t enough, and he had to save it for himself and the other man. He wouldn’t give me any.”
“Did either of them try to hurt you?” Steven asked, his grip tightening on Ashley’s hand.
“No. When they found out they had the wrong girl, they were mad at first, but not at me. They kept yelling at each other about how stupid the other one was. And that’s what really worried me because they had so many guns—the guns were standing up against the sides of the dugout where we were hiding, and some were lying on the ground. I wasn’t afraid they were going to shoot me, but I thought they might try to shoot each other, and I’d be in the way.”
Olivia sat on the bed and put her arms around Ashley. “It’s all over now. No more guns.”
They decided that Jack and Steven would share one room while Leesa would stay with Ashley and Olivia. “Can I sleep in your bed with you?” Ashley asked her mother, sounding so pathetic that any of them would have agreed to anything she asked for.
“Of course,” Olivia answered. “Now, if Jack and your dad will leave us and go to their own room, we three ladies can get ourselves tucked in for the night.”
“Please keep the door open—the one between the two rooms,” Ashley begged. “If I can hear Daddy snoring, then I’ll know he’s right there.”
“Who, me?” Smiling for the first time in 15 hours, Steven protested, “I don’t snore. I bet you’ll hear Jack snoring, not me. He snores up a storm.”
“I do not snore,” Jack said, glad they were making a joke, no matter how feeble it sounded. Ever since Ashley’s rescue, their emotions had been running so deep, so painful, that even that silly bit of banter brought relief, especially when he saw a tiny smile curl the corners of Ashley’s lips.
“I’m supposed to meet with the park people tomorrow to talk about the bighorn sheep,” Olivia said gently. “Would you like me to cancel, Ashley? Because if you’d like me to, I will.”
Ashley shook her head no. “Every time I close my eyes I see those bad people and their guns. I need to think about other things. Can I go with
you? That will help me think about sheep instead of kidnappers.”
“Of course you can come. We’ll all stick together from now on.”
Sheep. Darwin Falls. Jack remembered that there was some kind of connection, but he was too tired to call it to mind. It would probably come back to him in the morning.
The next thing Jack became aware of was a pounding on the door of the room. “Huh? What time is it?” he asked, groggy, and then remembered that he was wearing his wristwatch. “It’s nine in the morning. Are you awake, Dad?”
“I am now. Who the heck is banging on the door like that?” Steven hurried out of bed, pulled on his jeans, and opened the door to the hall.
Jesse stood there, leaning against the door frame, grinning. “Rise and shine,” he greeted them. In one hand he held two capped, insulated mugs inscribed “Death Valley National Park” and decorated with Indian symbols. In the other hand he balanced a cardboard tray holding three Styrofoam cups. “Hot coffee for the grownups, orange juice for the kids,” he announced, breezing past Steven. “At your service.”
Jack let his eyes roam over Jesse from his curly black hair to his Kenneth Cole loafers. He was dressed in tan cargo pants with a brown leather jacket and a pale green crew shirt that accentuated his dark good looks. Everything about him seemed expensive—and careless, as though none of it mattered to him. Clean-shaven, bright-eyed, energetic, he might have just come from a spa rather than a harrowing nighttime raid in the desert. Jack and Steven, on the other hand, looked as though they’d been dragged across the sand by coyotes.
“I just came to say good-bye,” Jesse told them, gingerly setting the orange juice onto the dresser. “I have a two o’clock class, and before that, I want to drop off my videotape at the national network news office.” He patted the pocket of his jacket, where he was carrying the tape. “Thanks to Jack and Leesa, I’ve got a winner here. It’ll be on the six o’clock news for sure. National news! I thought you might want to watch.”
“I’m not interested in your kind of journalism. You led these kids into danger for the sake of a story,” Steven said, cold anger in his voice.
Jesse waved his hands in the air. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I plead not guilty to that charge, Mr. Landon. Look, man, you can ask Jack. If I hadn’t given Leesa a ride, she was ready to hitch, and that would have been a whole lot more dangerous. You never know who might have picked her up in the dark.”
Pulling a T-shirt over his chest as if it were armor, Steven answered, “That’s no excuse—I know why you did what you did. You had a thousand other options, and you chose to film the story for your own gain. You showed an appalling lack of judgment that put my son and Leesa and Ashley into danger. I think you’d better go.” Steven planted his feet into the carpet like tree roots, his arms crossed so tightly that his biceps bulged beneath the sleeves of his T-shirt. He kept his eyes on Jesse, like a cat tracking a mouse.
“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, Mr. Landon,” Jesse said finally. “I know I might have gone a little over the line—“
“A little?”
“But I didn’t make Leesa do anything. It was her choice. She wanted to!”
“What Leesa did or did not want to do is irrelevant. She is a child. You are an adult, or at least claim to be. You should have stopped her.”
For a moment Jack stood there, his face closed off as his mind went reeling. The accusation against Jesse—those words of condemnation belonged to him, Jack Landon. Only Jack had been aware of Leesa’s plan right from the beginning. Only he had agreed to the bargain being struck—Leesa for Ashley. Had he been wrong? It had all worked out, with everyone safe, and yet…the words his father hurled at Jesse were true for Jack as well. It could have worked out a thousand different ways, many of them perilous. He’d been lucky.
“Dad,” Jack said softly, “It’s not Jesse. The whole thing was my fault.”
“What?”
Jack squared his shoulders. “I’m the one who knew about Leesa’s plan. I’m the one who didn’t stop her. I didn’t know what to do—I just wanted Ashley back.”
“It’s OK, Jack.” Leesa had come to the still-open door connecting the two rooms. She stood there half hidden, looking tousled in a long sleep shirt. Her hair stuck out in wisps, full of static. Olivia hovered just behind Leesa.
“It was my decision, Mr. Landon,” Leesa stated. “Don’t blame either one of these guys. For the first time since I can remember, I made a decision about what I thought was right. And I’m not sorry.”
Steven didn’t seem to know what to say. Olivia looked just as puzzled, probably because they’d never before heard Leesa stand up and state her own convictions. The anger that had set Steven’s face into a hard mask seemed to soften as he nodded at Leesa. As the tension lessened, Jack felt himself let out the breath he’d been holding.
“How’d you get out of jail?” Leesa suddenly asked Jesse.
Jesse’s cocky grin returned as he answered, “No jail time so far. They’re still trying to figure out what laws I might have broken—the only ones they’re sure of are that I was speeding out there on Route 190 and that I drove a vehicle off the paved road, which is a big no-no. As for being there in the first place—I had permission, remember? The ranger allowed me to go through the checkpoint. Anyway, my dad has a whole slew of his lawyers already working on this—”
He left it dangling. As Jesse stood there, looking happy with himself, Jack was glad nothing bad was going to happen to him. Jesse might be a wild card, but Jack liked him and would never forget their adventure together. Jesse was probably going to make a great television correspondent, barreling his way into wherever the action was, tramping down all the barriers, doing anything necessary to get his story. Maybe all first-class newsmen were like that.
Jesse continued, “The thing is, Leesa, because of your attempt to give yourself up, the SWAT team captured eight conspirators from Darwin Falls. They didn’t even know those Unit guys were out there until we drove into the desert after them.”
“Is that true?” Steven demanded.
Jesse shrugged. “It’s what the police told me. If we hadn’t got there when we did, those eight guys might have reached the kidnappers, and who knows what would have happened then? It could have turned into a real bad shootout—with Ashley caught in the middle.”
Leesa walked over and gave Jesse a little hug.
“Hey, what’s that for?” he asked. When Leesa didn’t answer, Jesse looked down at her, his lips turned up in a warm, crooked smile. “Hey, Leesa,” he said, “about five years from now, if you break up with Aaron, give me a jingle. You won’t have any trouble finding me—I ought to be famous by then.”
“I believe that,” she answered. “Thanks. For everything.” Jack didn’t know whether she was thanking Jesse for the ride into the desert, for the invitation to look him up in five years, or for the orange juice. Or all of the above. Jack crowded beside her to shake Jesse’s hand. Jesse was a way cool guy.
“See you, people,” Jesse said, backing into the hall. “Gotta get this tape to the network news, plus, like I said, I have a two o’clock class.” With that, he was gone, and it seemed to Jack as if the energy level of the room had dropped considerably.
“Well,” Steven said, looking at Olivia.
“Well,” Olivia echoed. “What a way to start the morning.” Before they could even close the door, a motel employee approached them waving a white envelope. “Es la señora—is Olivia Landon?” the woman asked in a strong Spanish accent.
“That’s me,” Olivia said, taking the envelope from the woman and saying, “Gracias, señora.” After she opened the envelope and scanned the contents, she announced, “It’s from Hank Kodele. He’d like me to come to his office whenever we can. So—let’s get dressed.”
“You want all of us to go?” Steven asked.
“I don’t know if I ever want to leave the kids again,” Olivia answered. “Maybe sometime I will, but for now, humor me.” Turning to the girls, sh
e said, “I get the shower first.”
“Leave the door open,” Ashley said sharply. “At least a little bit, Mom. And maybe sing like you do sometimes. I need to be sure you’re there.”
Where did Ashley think Olivia could go? There wasn’t even a window in the bathroom. It seemed that Ashley had been so traumatized by her ordeal that she had to make sure each of her loved ones was near her—to see them or touch them or just hear them.
“I’ll sing your favorite song from when you were little,” Olivia told her gently. “‘Let the Sunshine In.’ Do you remember?”
Jack remembered. His mother had sung that to him, too.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
An hour later, Jack stared out the window as their Cruiser rolled past the visitor center and along Route 190 once again. In the daylight the highway looked ordinary and innocent, with all traces of last night’s drama removed from sight. The sand had been blown smooth, as if nothing more than gusts of wind could polish away trauma. As Jack watched the mountain peaks blend into the horizon, he thought about what he had admitted in the motel room, to his parents and to himself.
He’d made a decision to help Leesa. Listening to his father rail against Jesse for his irresponsibility, Jack realized how much his own decision could have cost them all. But it had worked out, he argued with himself. He had his sister back safely, and that was all that mattered. And yet, he couldn’t help wonder if success was the only criterion for justifying a judgment call. Was anything he did OK as long as it worked out all right? Or were his choices like prints left in sand…the outcome could blow one way or another, depending on the nature of the wind.
A tumbleweed skittered along the side of the road. Jack sighed and watched it grow smaller, until it disappeared like a dot behind him. Maybe he’d have to grow old before things came clear to him. Or maybe some questions just didn’t have any good answers.
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