Jack: Secret Histories

by F. Paul Wilson

  Jack thought of bolting—not back down the fire trail, because he didn’t know how fast the trooper was, and he might not be able to outrun him on a straight course. But he was sure he could duck into the brush just ten feet away and disappear among the trees before the guy knew what happened. With his dark clothes and the sound of the helicopters and the backhoe drowning out any noise he made, he could circle around to the bikes and hightail it out of here.

  Get home. Sneak back in the window. Slip under the covers. Pretend nothing had happened. And avoid being grounded for life.

  Yeah … he could do it.

  But it meant running out on Weezy and Eddie. Sure, the distraction he provided might give them a chance to bolt too, but he couldn’t count on it. If he escaped alone, he’d never be able to look them in the eye again. Never be able to look himself in the eye either. Didn’t want to look in the mirror and see a guy who deserted friends.

  Better to be grounded for life.

  Eddie was first to go in. He resisted, whining a little, but a shove from the trooper got him moving, sliding to the far side. Weezy went next, settling in the middle. Jack was last.

  “You kids wanted to see what’s going on. Well, now you’ve got box seats.”

  Jack leaned against Weezy so the door wouldn’t bang him when the trooper closed it.

  It sounded like a prison cell door slamming shut.

  4

  As soon as the trooper turned his back, Jack tried the handle—it moved but didn’t open the door. Across the car Eddie wiggled his.

  “It doesn’t work!”

  “That’s the way police cars are built,” Jack said. “To keep crooks from jumping out. There’s an emergency door release up front”—he tapped on the thick plastic barrier that confined them to the rear compartment—”but we’ll never reach it.”

  Weezy was staring at him. “How do you know so—?” Then she nodded. “Oh, I get it. Your deputy friend.”

  “Right. He locked me in the back of his cruiser once—just to let me know how it feels. But he also showed me a switch on the door that can undo it.”

  “Well then undo it!” Eddie said.

  “You can’t reach it when the door’s closed.”

  “What if they’re not cops?” Weezy said in a wondering tone.

  Jack looked at her. “Of course they’re cops.”

  “What if they’re just pretending to be? Those guys in suits sure don’t look like state cops. What if they’re some secret government agency—?”

  Jack waved his hands. “Don’t start with that stuff, Weez. Things are bad enough already. We don’t need a conspiracy too. We’ve got uniformed troopers driving state trooper cruisers. Let’s leave it at that, okay.”

  “I’m serious, Jack. You ever see a trooper with such a bad-fitting shirt? And if a government agency is high enough up, don’t you think it can come in and commandeer a few cruisers for a night?”

  A far-out story, Jack thought, but not impossible. That guy in the suit … he had an air about him that gave Jack the creeps.

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Let’s just hope they’re really going to let us go.”

  Jack felt his chest tighten. “What are you talking about?”

  “Yeah, Weez,” Eddie said. “Cut it out, will you. You’re scaring me. You’re always scaring me.”

  “I’m not trying to scare anyone.” Her calm tone was scary in itself. “But it’s pretty obvious they’re not looking for evidence. So what are they looking for? Something they don’t want anyone to know about if they find it?”

  “Fine,” Jack said. “But that doesn’t mean they’re going to keep us prisoners.”

  “We are prisoners, Jack. I’m thinking that real state troopers would have sent us home. We didn’t commit a crime, so why are we locked up in a cop car?”

  Good question, Jack thought. He felt his mouth going dry. Suddenly being grounded didn’t seem so bad.

  “Maybe—” He had to clear his throat. “Maybe they don’t want us going home and talking about it and bringing a bunch of people back before they’re through.”

  “Let’s hope so,” she said. “I’m just worried they might not want anyone ever talking about this.”

  Eddie started working his handle again. “It’s getting stuffy in here.” He sounded panicky.

  Weezy leaned toward Jack and lowered her voice. “He doesn’t like enclosed places. It’s called—”

  “Claustrophobia—I know. I may not know ‘gravitas,’ but I know that.”

  “I didn’t say you didn’t.”

  They fell into silence; the only sound was Eddie’s continuous rattling of his door handle. Jack’s mind raced. They had to get out of this car. But how? Possibilities popped into his head but he tossed them out one after another as unworkable. And then …

  He grabbed Weezy’s arm as a plan leaped full-blown into his head.

  “Wait! Eddie, can you fake getting sick—I mean, puke-type sick?”

  “If I’m cooped up in here much longer I won’t have to fake it.”

  “Great. Look sick.”

  Jack began rapping on his window. The trooper stood a few feet away with his back to them, arms folded across his chest, watching the excavation. He didn’t turn. He might have been ignoring them, but most likely couldn’t hear them over the racket.

  Jack began pounding on the glass with his fists.

  Weezy said, “Jack, you’re going to break it.”

  “I wish.”

  No way he could break auto glass with his bare hands—which were starting to hurt from the impacts.

  Finally the trooper turned. His expression turned from bored to annoyed when he saw Jack pounding. After a few seconds of hesitation he walked over and yanked open the door—not all the way, just a foot or so.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Jack jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Eddie. “He’s getting sick! He’s gonna puke!”

  Right on cue, Eddie retched.

  “Oh, no, he’s not!” the trooper said, eyes widening. “Not in any car I’m driving!”

  As Jack watched him slam the door and hurry around the rear to Eddie’s side, a question nibbled at his brain. Wouldn’t a real trooper have said “my car”?

  When he reached Eddie’s door he pulled it open and yanked him out.

  “If you’re gonna puke,” he said, pointing Eddie away from the car, “you do it out here.” He turned and jabbed a finger and Jack and Weezy. “Don’t get any ideas.”

  As soon as he turned away, Jack crawled over Weezy.

  She gasped. “What are you—?”

  “Shhh!”

  He stretched out across her lap, reaching for the edge of the half-open door, then hesitated. The trooper was behind Eddie, holding a fistful of the back of his T-shirt to make sure he didn’t try to run. But if he happened to reach back and slam it closed with Jack’s hand there, it could be bye-bye fingers.

  Let’s just hope they’re really going to let us go …

  Do it!

  He stretched his arm to the limit, ran his fingers along the rear of the door edge until he found the little toggle switch. He pushed it up—no go. But a downward push clicked it into a new position—the unlocked position, he hoped.

  He straightened up and looked out the rear window. He could see Eddie bent over, retching, putting on a great show.

  “C’mon, kid. Get it over with.”

  Eddie glanced up over the trunk and Jack gave him a thumbs-up. Eddie straightened and wiped his face with his shirt.

  “I feel better now.”

  “You’d better be sure,” the trooper said. “You mess up that car, there’ll be hell to pay.”

  “No, really. I’m okay. I just don’t like being cooped up.”

  “Well, get used to it. You’re gonna be there awhile.”

  He guided Eddie back into the rear seat and slammed the door, then walked back around the car. He checked the door on Jack’s side to make sur
e it was latched, then wandered away toward the excavation.

  Eddie pulled on his door handle. The door unlatched.

  “Hey! It opens!”

  “Keep it closed!” Jack said.

  “Why? I thought—”

  Jack pointed to the light in the ceiling above their heads. “That goes on when the door’s open. We’ve got to make this fast and time it just right.”

  He checked out the trooper. He was maybe a hundred feet away, talking to the guy in the suit. Both had their backs turned.

  Now or never.

  “Okay. When I give the word, Eddie opens the door, we all dive out, stay low, and run into the bushes. We’ll circle around to the bikes and get our butts back home. Everyone okay with that?”

  Weezy was staring out the window. “I wish I knew if they were finding anything.”

  Jack waved a hand in front of her face. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No. I really want to know.” She looked at him. “But I really want out of this car too. So let’s go home.”

  That was a relief. For a minute there he’d been afraid she’d want to stay.

  “Okay. Get ready, Eddie. I’ll tell you when.”

  Jack fixed his gaze on the trooper and the suit … waiting … waiting …

  And then pine lights appeared, half a dozen of them, swirling above and around the helicopters. Jack had seen a couple once. No one knew what they were—ball lightning, some people said—but every so often they appeared, varying from baseball to basketball size, skimming along the treetops.

  What had drawn them here? The light? The noise?

  Everyone around the excavation stopped what they were doing to point and look up, and then Jack realized his time had come.

  “Now!”

  Eddie opened the door and tumbled out, Weezy close behind him. Jack brought up the rear and swung the door closed—enough to turn out the light but not enough to latch it. With all the racket from the helicopters he probably could have slammed it with no risk of anyone hearing, but didn’t want to risk it. So he leaned his shoulder against it until he felt the latch catch.

  He turned and saw Eddie in a low crouch, disappearing into the brush a few feet away. But Weezy stood tall, gazing in awe at the pine lights.

  “Look, Jack! I’ve seen one or a pair at a time, but six—never six!”

  “Worry about them later. Let’s go!”

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the brush.

  Fifty feet or so into the woods the excavation site disappeared behind them and it was safe to walk upright.

  “Did you see them?” Weezy said. “Six pine—”

  She broke off, whirled, and put a hand over Jack’s mouth. Eddie’s too.

  “Don’t move,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

  Jack froze. What? Had she seen or heard something?

  And then Jack saw it—a dark shape slinking among the pines. If it was a man, it didn’t move like one. A breeze carried its sour odor their way and the smell made Jack break out in a sweat. All his instincts screamed Run! but he held his position. The shape slunk toward the excavation area. About a dozen feet short of the fire trail it stopped and crouched among the brush and trees, watching.

  Who or what it was, Jack couldn’t tell, and didn’t want to know.

  The excavation seemed to be attracting a lot of attention from things that came out only at night.

  Weezy removed her hands and signaled them to follow her. She moved slowly and quietly away from the watcher and the excavation. The farther they got, the faster she moved. Cutting quickly through the brush and weaving among the trees on a curving course that seemed to be taking them away from the fire trail and their bikes. But Jack said nothing. He didn’t see much choice but to trust her sense of direction.

  He was lost.

  5

  Just when he thought they’d never find their way out, when he was convinced they’d wind up like those hunters who entered the Barrens and never returned, they stepped out of the trees onto a fire trail.

  But which fire trail?

  Jack’s heart leaped as he watched Weezy hurry across to where three bikes leaned against the trees.

  Yes!

  He dashed after her.

  “What was that thing in the woods?”

  “I don’t know. A big piney maybe.”

  “Th-that was the Jersey Devil!” Eddie said. “I just know it!”

  Weezy, who bought into every other weird thing, had never bought into the JD.

  She looked at Jack as they pulled their bikes back onto the trail. “I don’t believe you got us out of that car.”

  “I don’t believe you led us right back to the bikes. We make a pretty good team.”

  She laughed and punched him on the shoulder. “You kidding? We make a great team.”

  The way she said it sparked a flood of warmth inside him, but it didn’t last. Nerves doused it. They had to get out of here.

  No one needed to speak again. They all knew what to do, and where they were going.

  Once they were moving toward Johnson, with the sound of the copters fading behind them, Jack’s heart began to ease its pounding.

  He glanced over his shoulder. No sign of headlights.

  They’d made it.

  Well, not completely. Not yet, anyway.

  They’d be home free if the trooper remained where they’d left him. If he just stayed put, watching those pine lights, he wouldn’t know they were gone. He could look all he wanted, but from that distance he couldn’t see into the dark interior of his cruiser. As far as he knew, they couldn’t open the doors, so he’d assume the “dumb piney kids” were right where he’d left them.

  Another over-the-shoulder look—still no headlights.

  Jack wished he could have hung around to see the look on that suit’s face when he found out they were gone.

  Where’s your sneer now?

  They were passing the trapper’s spong. Great. Halfway home. He took another look behind and—

  He almost lost control of the bike when he saw a pair of headlights bouncing down the trail, coming their way.

  He looked around. Even though a car could go only so fast without bottoming out on these undulating trails, it could still beat a bike. No way they could outrun it.

  “Hey!” he shouted to the others. “They’re after us!”

  He heard a frightened whine from Eddie and Weezy cry, “Faster!”

  “No! Pull off the trail and hide the bikes!”

  “They’ll catch us for sure!” Eddie wailed.

  “Maybe, maybe not. I don’t think they’ve seen us yet. But they will if we stay on the trail.”

  Weezy angled into a stand of pines at the far edge of the spong clearing. Jack and Eddie followed, hauling their bikes into the brush and laying them flat.

  “Tires toward the trail,” Jack said.

  Eddie obeyed but asked, “Why?”

  “Because tires are black.”

  “Oh, no,” Weezy said. “I’ve got reflectors on my spokes.”

  “Do they pop off?”

  “They’re screwed on.”

  Not good.

  “Okay,” Jack said, “we’ve got to get away from the bikes.” He pointed to another copse of pines at the other end of the clearing. “There!”

  Eddie’s gaze was fixed on the approaching headlights. “But that’s going toward them!”

  Weezy pushed her brother from behind. “Exactly. The last direction they’ll expect us to go.”

  Keeping low, they dashed for the copse and crouched among the trunks, panting, waiting. Jack’s bladder was sending urgent signals that it wanted to empty. He did his best to ignore it.

  He saw the wavering glow from the headlights grow brighter as the cruiser bounced closer. Finally it pulled into view.

  “Move along,” he whispered, wishing he knew how to use the Force. “Move along. Nothing of interest here.”

  If the cruiser passed the hidden bikes without se
eing them, it would keep going, and Weezy, Eddie, and Jack could follow it at a distance, keeping it well ahead of them.

  The cruiser bounced closer to the bikes … came even with them …

  “Keep moving,” Jack whispered. “Keep moving—”

  The brake lights came on. The car stopped. Went into reverse. Backed up parallel to the stand of trees.

  “Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no,” Eddie whimpered.

  “Hush!” Weezy said, then looked at Jack. “Had to be those reflectors on my spokes—sorry.”

  He was about to tell her it couldn’t be helped when a spotlight beamed from the cruiser onto the bikes. The car backed up farther, the light shining into the spong clearing, then arcing toward their copse.

  “Down!” Jack said.

  They flattened themselves on the ground just before the beam swept over them. The beam swung back again, then remained fixed on their spot.

  “Don’t even breathe!” Weezy whispered.

  As Jack lay frozen he felt something moving on his left forearm. His first impulse was to snatch it away, but that might give away their location. Slowly he angled his head until he could see. The reflected glow from the spotlight revealed a good-sized snake, big around as a plump hot dog, slithering over his arm. Fighting the instinctive urge to throw it off, he held his breath and stayed still. He couldn’t see the head, but its body was mostly black with a white center stripe and yellow-orange stripes along the flanks.

  It’s okay, he told himself. Just a garter snake … a harmless garter snake.

  He’d caught and played with dozens when he was younger. This was a big one, but just as harmless as the little ones.

  That didn’t keep him from breaking out in a cold sweat.

  It kept moving and soon was gone, wriggling toward the spong.

  The search beam moved away just then, giving Jack two reasons for a relieved release of the breath he’d been holding. But he stayed put until he heard voices.

  Raising his head he saw the trooper and the suit standing by the cruiser’s open driver door as they beamed the searchlight back and forth across the clearing. He wished he could make out what they were saying.

  Leaving the light trained on the spong, they stepped into the stand of trees where the bikes were hidden. They pulled out Weezy’s and Eddie’s and wheeled them around to the rear of the cruiser.