The Ultimatum

by Nancy Moser

  Merry was getting ready to lock up the library for the evening when she called Annie for the second time. Again no answer. She must be feeling better or she'd be home. Maybe they'd gone out for the evening.

  Taking Avi with them?

  Merry shook the unknown away. She left another short message: “Hope you're feeling better. See you tomorrow.”

  At least she hoped she'd see Avi and Annie tomorrow. The Christmas pageant needed them.

  “See you tomorrow!” Annies throat caught at Merry's words on the answering machine.

  Tomorrow wasn't just any Sunday. It was the Christmas pageant! If Annie and Avi didn't show up, Merry would come looking. And if she did, maybe Annie could get her a message. Somehow…

  “What's tomorrow?” Jinko asked.

  “Just church.”

  Jinko shrugged. But Cal gave Annie a lingering look. Had he remembered the pageant? Was he thinking the same thing she was?

  If only they had some time alone.

  Cal was weary of calling Scott Wheeler. It was ten o'clock and was obvious—to everyone but Jinko—that Scott was out for the evening. Besides that, Cal's nerves were frayed to the point of breaking. Jinko hadn't left Annie and Cal alone for even a minute, so he'd had no chance to talk to her or to ask where Avi was.

  They'd spent the entire evening watching TV, all four of them together in the living room. Jinko and Jered were sprawled on the couch, and Cal sat in his recliner. Annie sat in her rocker and read some book with an odd title: My Utmost something-or-other.

  Cal didn't hear a word of the sitcoms. He was trying to figure out how to get the gun away from Jinko without it going off. He'd never been around guns. Could it go off with the slightest nudge?

  Cal watched as Jered laughed at the TV show. He had asked if they could turn the Christmas lights on. In many ways Jered seemed like a kid. Did Bailey have a tree? It was a hard call. Either Bailey had nothing in the way of decorations or he'd overdo it, for show. Cal couldn't imagine him being in between.

  Poor kid.

  What an odd thought. Bailey was a good guy, a successful man. Why would Cal feel sorry for his son? Cal studied Jered some more. He had his feet on the coffee table, his right foot in constant motion, coming precariously close to one of the wise men. If only Cal could call Bailey and tell him.

  The weird thing was, Cal wasn't completely sure Bailey would be happy about the news. Especially considering the fact that Jered was hooked up with a criminal and was holding Cal's family hostage. None of this made sense. Why would Jered be hanging around with the likes of Jinko?

  The sitcom ended and the news began. Soon it would be time for bed. How would they work this? Would they stay up all night, right here in the living room? Maybe when Jinko slept and Jered was keeping watch, Cal could get the gun and—

  “Our top story. Two Eldora men are wanted for questioning in some burglaries. Jinko Daly, the owner of Palambas restaurant, and Jered Manson, a dishwasher at the establishment, are wanted by police for questioning regarding the burglary of the Stetson and Dillon households. Just two nights ago, Aaron Stetson realized a pair of silver candlesticks had been—”

  Jinko was on his feet with Jered close behind. Jered pointed at the screen. “They know about us! They're after us!”

  Cal smiled and snickered. Maybe there was a God. Maybe there was—

  Jinko slammed the side of the gun against Cal's face.

  Sixteen

  Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,

  from the traps set by evildoers.

  Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

  while I pass by in safety.

  PSALM 141:9-10

  CAL'S HEAD EXPLODED—but thankfully, the gun did not.

  “Cal!” Annie jumped up. Jinko pushed her back into the rocker.

  “Shut up! Quiet!” Jinko's eyes were locked on the TV news. He grabbed the remote and upped the volume.

  Cal's cheek burned, his ear rang. And his heart raced. He touched his face. There was blood. The gun had broken the skin.

  Annie was fairly bursting to stand and help him. “Let me get the first aid—”

  Jinko glared at her. “I said shut up! He's fine.”

  Cal nodded at her, patting a hand in the air, calming her. She sat back a bit. Good. He didn't need her riling Jinko.

  Cal tried to think past the pain. He couldn't give in to it. Things were getting dicey. He had to concentrate…

  The news said that Jinko and Jered had done this—or something like it—before. Jinko was obviously a pro and had somehow lured Jered into it. And now they were wanted by the law. Would this make their present situation better or worse?

  “How did they find out it was us?” Jered said.

  Jinko flashed him a look and he was quiet.

  “…vehicle spotted near the crime scenes has been traced to Jered Manson and was found parked at the residence of Mr. Daly. Daly and Manson have not been seen today and took the day off from work.

  Eldora police have contacted the police forces in neighboring towns and are looking for Daly's car: a black 2001 Mercedes with license plate DX-1823.”

  “They know your car!” Jered took two steps toward the front door. “They'll see it outside. We have to go!”

  Jinko held up a hand. “Hold on. Let me think.”

  Suddenly pictures of Jered and Jinko flashed on the screen.

  “That's my high school graduation picture! How did they get that?”

  “Your dads been looking for you, Jered,” Annie said. “I'm sure he gave it to the police months ago.”

  Jered fell onto the couch, his head in his hands. “Everyone will see. The whole town of Steadfast will think I'm a criminal.”

  “You are a criminal, you twit!” Jinko yelled. The picture of Jinko was a promo shot in front of his restaurant.

  Annie looked a little dazed. She raised a hand weakly. “I was at Palamba's a couple of weeks ago.” She looked at Jinko. “I can't believe you run that place.”

  “I saw you,” Jered said. “I saw you and Claire and Merry.”

  “Why didn't you say something? Come out and say hel—”

  Jinko swung the gun at her and she flinched. “Because he's a runaway, lady. Because he didn't want people from this stinking town knowing where he was. Okay?”

  She nodded and glanced one more time at Jered, but he looked away.

  “We gotta go,” the boy whined. “We gotta go now.”

  Jinko's head shook back and forth. “I'm not leaving empty-handed. What we have to do is think.” As the news broke for a commercial, he began to pace between the television and the coffee table. “We need to get rid of the car. For now. After we get the coins, we'll use one of theirs.”

  Cal's mind ran with possibilities. Whatever he could do to end this thing… “I could drive it somewhere, leave it, and walk home.”

  Jinko rolled his eyes. “And take a detour to the police station?”

  Well, yeah. It was worth a try.

  Jinko ran to a living room window and peered out. “Why do you have your cars in the driveway? Don't you have a garage?”

  “We do, but it's full of my tools and wood and stuff. We've gotten in the habit of just leaving our cars out.”

  Jinko let the curtain drop. “Not anymore. You have five minutes to make room for my car. Then we'll do some rearranging and get it inside.”

  It would take way more than five minutes to clear a space. While Annie was a clutter-bug inside, Cal was just as bad in the garage. “I'm not sure five minutes is enough time.”

  Jinko got in his face, making him rock back in the recliner. “Make it enough time.”

  “Sure. I guess.”

  “Now go. Jered, go help him.”

  The boy shook his head. “I don't want to go outside. My face was just on TV.”

  “It's dark. Go. And no funny stuff, Cal, or your wife is dead.”

  With a look to Annie, Cal did as he was told. Hang in there, Annie-love. We'll get
through this.

  “Close the garage door behind us,” Jered said.

  Cal hated taking orders from a kid—a punk kid, no less—but he closed it. The place was a pit.

  “Jinko would have a fit if he saw this mess,” Jered said.

  “How did you ever get hooked up with him?”

  Jered picked up a couple two-by-fours. “We need to get going. Clear a space. Just like Jinko said.”

  Cal made a decision. “Let's move everything against the back wall. Stack it. But we can only go out about two feet, or his car won't fit.”

  They worked side by side, Cal's head throbbing every time he bent over. He didn't have much time to pump Jered for information, so he tried to sort out the questions he wanted to ask. He narrowed it down to two. “Are you afraid of Jinko?” Should we be afraid?

  Jered carried a box of caulk to the back. “Not really. I mean, I wasnt.

  “You weren't, but you are now?”

  Jered seemed to realize what role he was supposed to be playing. His voice hardened in his version of tough man. “Yes, I am now. And you should be, too. He'll use that gun if he has to. Don't cross him.”

  “You've seen him use a gun before?”

  Jered showed Cal his back and dragged a duffel bag of tarps across the floor. “He'll use it, okay? Don't make him mad. Just do as he says.”

  It was an unsatisfactory answer, but Cal doubted he'd get a better one. “Why did you run away from home? Your dad's been looking for you. He's been worried.”

  Jered arched his back and laughed. “My dad? Worried about me? No way. Mad at me? Sure. Disappointed in me? Always. But worried? Never.”

  “But he's been looking…” Actually Cal wasn't sure how much Bailey had been looking for Jered. Maybe it was best to leave it alone.

  Jered did a double take at a blueprint that was opened on the workbench. He moved toward it. “This is for Bon Vivant.”

  “Yes.”

  “Is my dad adding on?”

  “I finished it right before Thanksgiving.”

  Jered stared at the plans, then suddenly snatched them up, tore them, wadded them, and threw them across the room.

  “What did you do that for?”

  The kid stood over the trashed plan, his chest heaving, his hands pumping fists. “He wasn't worried about me! He went on with his life as usual. He wasn't upset about me being gone. He added on to his precious restaurant like nothing had happened. My being gone didn't affect him one bit.”

  Cal hated how this looked and hated even more that what Jered said sounded true. Why had Bailey continued with the addition project? How could he have done that? Cal thought back and realized if he hadn't known from other sources that Baileys son had run away, he wouldn't have suspected it, wouldn't have even known Bailey had a son. Something was terribly wrong with that.

  Jered kicked a torn page. “We need to keep going. Jinko's counting on us. I don't want to disappoint him.”

  It was an odd statement. Not the statement of a boy afraid of his partner but of a boy in search of a father figure.

  All things considered, Cal couldn't blame him.

  Annie and Jinko sat in the living room. Jinko flipped channels, trying to find more info about the burglaries.

  Talk to him.

  Annie immediately countered the thought with a question: About what?

  But she knew very well what. She was in the midst of what could be a life-and-death situation. She had one goal: to save her family from further harm.

  And save Jinko and Jeredy too.

  Huh? The thought was so foreign, so out of place for the situation, that she knew it came from God. And as such, she had only one choice. She must obey. But she was scared. What if she made Jinko madder than he already was? What if he yelled at her, whipped his gun against her face, stopping her words? What if—?

  I'm here. Trust Me.

  With a deep breath she set My Utmost for His Highest on the floor. It was an amazing book about faith, but she needed to pull out the big guns. She slipped her pocket Bible out of her back waistband and set it on her lap. Lord, give me the words—Your words.

  “Don't be afraid,” she said to Jinko—but also to herself.

  Jinko flashed her a look. “I'm not afraid. You're the one who should be afraid.”

  Her stomach flipped. “No thank you.”

  He did a double take. “Excuse me?”

  She rocked up and back, holding the Bible with both hands. She found that her stomach had miraculously settled. “I said no thank you. I will not be afraid. I choose not to be afraid.”

  He laughed. “You choose?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And what makes you so brave?”

  Inside, she laughed at the perfect opening God had supplied. She held up the Bible. “This. God.”

  He squinted at the title. “That's not God. That's the Bible.”

  “It's God's Word. His words.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you got nothing.”

  He was wrong, and she found herself smiling. “I have everything through Him. That's why I'm not afraid.” She ruffled through the pages and opened at random. Her eyes zeroed in on a verse: “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”

  What was that supposed to mean?

  Jinko turned his attention back to the TV. “Save the Bible-thumping, lady. That's mystic mumbo jumbo. Do me a favor and keep it to yourself.”

  Annie looked down at the Bible.

  She shivered.

  Jered and Cal came in the back door. Annie looked at the clock on the TV. It had been ten minutes, not five like Jinko had ordered. She hoped he wouldn't notice, wouldn't punish.

  They came in the living room, and Annie sought Cal's eyes. He nodded, calming her. His face was horrible to see, rivulets and smudges of blood, drying. His eye and upper cheek were swollen.

  Jinko was still flipping channels. Jered pointed at the television. “Anything else on the news?”

  “Nothing,” Jinko said. “The garage ready?”

  “Anytime.”

  Jinko hit the remote and tossed it on the recliner. “Jered, you move their car, I'll move the truck, and Cal here, can move our car into the garage.”

  “I don't think the two of us should go outside,” Jered said.

  “So you'd let both of our hostages get in vehicles? Think, kid.”

  Jered appeared to be thinking, but clearly he wasn't getting it.

  Jinko sighed. “We need one of them in here—like the wife— because if she's left behind, then Mr. Macho Man won't try anything, knowing we'll hurt her if he drives off. Hurt her far more than a whap to the face.” He turned to Cal. “Comprende, Macho Man?”

  Cal nodded. “I get it.”

  “Good.” Jinko turned to Annie. “We'll only be outside a couple minutes, tops. Behave yourself.”

  She continued her rocking, but her mind swam with what she could do in those two minutes. Call the police? Get Avi more food and drink? Get Avi out?

  She followed the men into the kitchen. Unfortunately, as Jinko walked past the phone, he backtracked a step, unplugged it from the wall, and took it with him outside, along with the extension from upstairs.

  That left helping Avi.

  Annie gave her keys to Cal and let her fingers touch his. Their first contact. It helped more than she expected. To be in close proximity to Cal for so long yet unable to touch him… Then the men were outside.

  Annie waited at the door until they were occupied, then she bolted to the pantry, grabbed a jar of peanut butter, a box of crackers, and a six-pack of juice boxes. She ran up the stairs, through the master bedroom, and flung open the door to the cubby.

  “Food! I have food!”

  Avi looked pained. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

  Oh, dear. “Go!” Annie whispered. “Go fast. They're all outside.”

  Avi stumbled out of the cubby, tripping on the slippers and long sweatpants. Annie carried her to the master bathroom. “Hurry, sweet-apple. Hurry!”

/>   She heard three engines swell and purr. There was no window in the bathroom, so she couldn't see. Annie heard a foreign-sounding vehicle drive toward the back of the house. They had Jinko's car in. She only had seconds.

  “Done, Mama.”

  “Don't flush.”

  “What?”

  Annie grabbed Avi and ran her back into the closet, giving her an extra squeeze and kiss. “Love you, dear one. Stay safe.”

  “Are they staying all night, Mama?”

  “It appears so.”

  “Why are they doing this?”

  Annie heard one engine shut off. “Shh!” She waved good-bye to her little girl and shut the door.

  She ran back to the bathroom and flushed just as she heard footsteps come in the kitchen door.

  “Hey, lady?” Jinko yelled. “Where—?”

  She forced herself to be calm and walked down the front stairs. “I had to use the facilities.” She met them at the bottom of the stairs. “Speaking of another need, I really would like to go to bed. It's been a long day.”

  Jinko looked around the first floor, then walked to the kitchen and back. “There are only these two doors, right?”

  “Right,” Cal said.

  “Is there a basement?”

  “Unfinished.”

  “Walkout?”

  “No. Only tiny window wells.”

  Jinko pointed at Jered. “Go check.” He looked up the stairs.

  Annie really wanted to be with Cal so they could talk. And she needed to be in the master bedroom so she could be close to Avi. “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

  Lord, make it work. She raised a finger. “Sir? I'd really appreciate it if we could sleep in our own room.”

  Jinko snickered. “You want me to allow you to sleep together?”

  “Us being together is easier for you, too. Only one room to watch.”

  “Hmm.” He pointed to the couch. “Jered, you sack out there and I'll—”

  “But there's another bedroom. Can't I sleep—?”

  “I need you on the first floor. Here. Near the doors.” Jinko turned his head right, then left. He pointed to the small buffet in the entry. “Help me move this.” Jered took an end, and they moved the buffet in front of the door. “Now go stack some canned goods by the back one. Good and wobbly so they'll fall if anyone tries to leave.”