Chosen

by Denise Grover Swank

  He let go of her arm and picked up her suitcase.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “Why not? It’s my insurance.”

  “You know it’s all I have.”

  His mouth lifted into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s why it’s so perfect.”

  “You’re a fucking pig.” It was pointless to argue with him and she knew she couldn’t physically wrestle it from him.

  “Thank you. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

  She walked into the bathroom as she heard the motel door shut. She turned to check, already knowing he had taken her luggage.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  She took a shower and since Will had all their worldly possessions, she was forced to put on the clothes she slept in. Jake woke up and they ate their breakfast in silence. She clicked on the television, thankful for Nick Jr. Jake devoted his attention to the television, unfazed, as if the previous evening hadn’t occurred. He watched his show while she counted the money in her wallet.

  “Jake, I think we should think about leaving Will and figuring out where to go.”

  He glanced up, surprised. “We’re not done with him.”

  “What?” Emma threw the trash in the trashcan with more force than necessary. “What do you mean we’re not done with him yet?”

  Jake turned back to the television. “We still need him.”

  “I don’t care what you say. We’re not staying with him.” She didn’t have a plan. Should she leave without the suitcase? She had her purse, the gun, and fifty-six dollars in her wallet. How far would that get them?

  “We have to. You need him.” Jake was calm but firm.

  Why was she taking orders from a five-year-old? She let out a loud sigh. “Can you tell me why? Please Jake, give me something.”

  He looked up again, his large blue eyes full of innocence. “I see us with him, driving during the day.”

  “Okay, so maybe what you see doesn’t always come true. We could try to change things again.”

  “We’ve tried before. It never works.” He sounded bored.

  “So how long do we have to stay with him?”

  “I don’t know.”

  An argument was about to ensue when she heard a key in the door. She moved in front of Jake as Will walked in the door.

  “You look like I’ve caught you in the middle of something.” He grinned and arched an eyebrow.

  “Where’s my suitcase?”

  “Don’t worry, Princess. It’s in the truck.”

  She headed toward the door. “Did you ever think that I might need it? Jake and I need to change clothes and I couldn’t even brush my teeth.”

  Will blocked the door. “That was kind of the point, remember? I’ll get it, just settle down. You two get ready, and I’ll check us out. Then we can go eat lunch and figure out what to do next.”

  Emma turned to Jake, who nodded his head. “Fine,” she grumbled.

  * * *

  “Any preference for lunch?” Will asked as they left the motel twenty minutes later.

  “Chicken nuggets,” Jake answered.

  “Chicken nuggets it is.”

  Will noticed that Emma was uncharacteristically quiet. Instead of getting back on the interstate, he continued on the main road. He glanced at her, expecting a protest, but she ignored him.

  He drove a couple of miles until he saw the café he’d driven past earlier that morning. He pulled into the parking lot. “Is this okay?”

  Emma didn’t answer.

  They were seated immediately in a booth by a window. Will faced the door and Emma and Jake climbed in the opposite side. Will noticed she placed Jake next to the window. A waitress came and took their drink orders.

  “This looks like the last place Mommy worked.” Jake said as Emma and Will read the menus.

  Peering over the top of the menu, Will raised an eyebrow. “Really? What did she do?”

  “She was a waitress until we had to leave again.”

  “And you had to leave because of those guys who chased us?”

  “Yes, the Bad Men.” He nodded his head. His short curls bounced.

  “Jake, enough.” Emma’s voice was harsh.

  Jake turned to her. “He needs to know,” he said, soft but direct.

  The waitress returned and took their order. As she walked away, Emma turned to the boy. “Jake, I’m warning you. Don’t trust him."

  Jake studied Will as he seemed to evaluate his trustworthiness. Will gave him a disarming smile.

  Jake kept his eyes on Will. “He needs to know, Mommy.”

  She scoffed. “I think this is a bad idea.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned to face the kitchen.

  Jake looked at Will, waiting.

  “Who are the Bad Men?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Why are they chasing you?”

  “They want me.”

  Will glanced up at Emma to see if she would confirm what Jake said. Her mouth was set in a thin line, biting her lower lip.

  “How do you know when they are coming?”

  “I can see them.”

  “See them? How?”

  “In my head. I see things.”

  Jake stated it so matter-of-factly, as though seeing things in his head was perfectly natural. Will wondered if he was joking.

  “You can read minds?”

  Jake’s tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth as he thought about the question. “Well, not exactly. I see things, things that will happen. Not all things, just some things, usually only bad things.” His blue eyes clouded in distress. “But lately, I can touch people, and see more.”

  “Like read their minds?”

  “Gah, enough with the read-their-minds shit.” Emma rolled her eyes. “He already said he can’t read minds.”

  Will glared. “I’m trying to understand, Princess. You’ve had about seven years to figure this out. This is my first time.”

  “First of all, he’s only five, so what you just said is impossible,” she spit out, placing her palms on the table and leaning toward him. “Second, we didn’t know until he was two that he had his gift.” The way she uttered the word made it apparent she used it sarcastically. “Third, quit calling me Princess.”

  Holding up his hands, Will said, “My mistake.” He looked at Jake. “Sorry.”

  Jake shrugged. “That’s okay.” He didn’t appear as offended as his mother.

  “I’m just trying to understand.”

  Jake nodded. “It’s okay. We’ve never told anyone before.”

  “Really? Why not?”

  “It’s not exactly the kind of thing you go around telling people,” Emma said, her anger partially tempered. “Think about it. It sounds crazy, so who’s going to believe it. And then if they do…some people try to take what doesn’t belong to them and stop at nothing to get it.”

  “That’s the Bad Men? Right? Who are they?”

  “We don’t know who they are, or even why they want Jake. But Jake has always sensed they were coming and we always got away. The first time it happened I didn’t know what he was talking about, so that time we barely made it. I always listened to Jake after that.” Emma had a far-off look in her eyes, remembering, before her face hardened. “We used to be able to stay somewhere for several months, but the last two times they have found us more quickly and with less notice. Before, we had several hours to pack and leave. This time we had about fifteen minutes.”

  “You know this sounds crazy?”

  Emma narrowed her eyes. “I already told you it did.”

  “Why tell me? Why am I the first?”

  “Because Jake says you need to know.”

  Will turned to Jake. “Why do I need to know?”

  “I see you with us. You’d find out about me anyway, so might as well just tell you.” Jake paused, staring into his eyes. “Soon you’ll know what you’re really protecting.”

  His stomach twisted. He felt like a snake, deceiving a
child. But he supposed he was, in an indirect way. He wasn’t there to protect Jake. In essence, he was protecting Emma, but only because he was required to bring her alive. Nevertheless, this was why he didn’t work with kids. Kids didn’t deserve the shit that life handed them. Their parents, on the other hand, usually did.

  “What do you see me doing?”

  A frown formed on Jake’s face. “You don’t need to know what you do. It will happen anyway. You don’t even need to know we need you, but Mommy does. And if I tell you, maybe she’ll trust you more.” He gazed at her again. “In the end it wouldn’t matter, no matter what she does, we’ll end up with you. What I see is what happens.”

  “You can’t change it?” Will didn’t like the sound of that. He sure didn’t plan to be stuck protecting this kid.

  Jake shook his head. “No, I’ve tried. Sometimes it doesn’t happen how I saw it, but it does happen.”

  “What do you mean you try to change things?”

  “When I was little and in daycare, I saw a girl fall off the slide and break her arm.”

  “In your head?”

  “Yes, like a movie in my head. So that afternoon, I saw her on the play set and I talked her out of going down the slide. But she fell off the picnic table instead and she still broke her arm. I tried to change what I saw, and it happened different, but it still happened.”

  “Did you ever try to change anything else?”

  “Sure, I thought maybe that was just one time. I tried to change other things, like my babysitter burning her hand on an iron, and a boy in a store getting smashed by a shopping cart. I changed how I saw it, but in the end it happened. I didn’t really change anything, so I stopped trying.”

  The waitress brought their food and they fell silent. Jake ate his chicken nuggets while Emma picked at her food.

  Will decided it was time to broach their plan. “We need to talk about where we’re going.”

  Rolling her eyes, Emma took a bite of her hamburger.

  “Why are you planning on staying in Dallas?”

  She shrugged. “It turned out to be the city you dumped us in.”

  “So why don’t you come with me to where I’m going?”

  Her hand stopped halfway to her mouth with a French fry. “Where exactly are you going?”

  “South Dakota.”

  She started laughing and coughing at the same time. “I’m sorry, I thought you said South Dakota.”

  Will grinned. “You heard right.”

  “And why are you going to South Dakota?” she asked, still laughing.

  “I told you I’m a consultant. I have a consulting job up there.”

  “So what are you doing in Texas?” She squinted at him, her disbelief evident.

  “I just finished a job in Houston. I’m not due in South Dakota for a few days so I’m taking my time.”

  “Why would I go to South Dakota?”

  "Why not? It’s far from here; they’re less likely to find you up there.”

  “South Dakota? Their winters are heinous. There’s no way I’m going there.”

  “So go with me and I’ll drop you off somewhere along the way. Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska. See? Three other states to choose from.”

  She looked torn.

  “We go with Will,” Jake said, dipping his chicken nugget in ketchup.

  Emma scowled but didn’t protest. Will relaxed a little. After the initial bumpiness, things were going pretty well.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  After lunch, they got back on the highway. Stuck in her melancholy mood, Emma watched Dallas and its suburbs whiz past through the windows. As though being homeless, carless, and penniless weren’t enough, she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn’t right. Something was off. She turned to Will as he watched the highway in front of him. He seemed the likely reason, but there was something else. Something bigger.

  “This is where we lived before, didn’t we, Mommy?” Jake sat in the backseat, gazing out the window.

  Emma bit her lower lip before she answered. “Yes, baby, we used to live here.”

  “Until the Bad Men came?” Will asked, glancing at Emma.

  “Perceptive, aren’t you? Yes, until the Bad Men came.” Her tone was hateful but she didn’t care. She hated that Will knew so much. Goddamn it Jake, why did you have to tell him?

  “How long did you live here?”

  “It’s not any of your business. The less we know about each other, the better. We’re not going to be together very long, so what difference does it make?”

  “It’s a long way to South Dakota, two days. We might as well get to know each other.”

  “I say we just listen to a CD. Got any Tim McGraw? You seem the country type.” A gnawing in her stomach made her insides churn. She ran her hand over her forehead. God, she really shouldn’t have eaten all those greasy fries. Emma jerked her head back to Jake, who was playing with a toy car she found in her purse.

  Will scrutinized her through narrowed eyes. “Are you okay?”

  Forcing herself to stay calm, Emma scanned the cars around them, looking for any black SUVs that appeared suspicious. “Jake, do you sense anything?”

  He looked up in surprise. “No, Mommy. We’re fine.”

  “What’s going on?” Will straightened up in his seat and checked his mirrors.

  “Something doesn’t feel right.” She lay back on the seat, hand over her stomach. “I guess I’m just not feeling very well.”

  Will’s posture relaxed. “If you throw up in my truck…”

  “I’m not going to throw up in your fucking truck.” She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. Everything was fine, at least for now. She had a good few weeks before she had to worry about the men showing up again. The panicked feeling began to subside and the movement of the truck lulled her into an uneasy sleep.

  * * *

  Will wasn’t sure what happened with Emma, but he could tell she was pretty spooked. It surprised him she went to sleep so quickly. He shifted his gaze to the rear view mirror and saw Jake staring back.

  “You doing okay, little guy?”

  Jake nodded his head.

  “So, what are you, like in kindergarten?”

  Jake laughed. “No, it’s summer time.”

  Will shook his head. “Yeah, I guess it is. It’s been a while since I was a kid.”

  “My mom home-schools me anyway. I already know how to read and I can add and subtract,” He paused for a moment then added, “I bet you were nice when you were a little boy.”

  It had been awhile since Will had thought about his childhood. “Yeah, I guess I was. I was a pretty quiet kid.” He was lucky his childhood had been so ideal, at least when he was little. Of course, his father had missed most of it. He suddenly wondered how his parents were doing. He hadn’t thought of them in quite a while. The last time he saw them, when he came home from Iraq, his father made it very apparent that Will was no longer welcome.

  “Did you have a dog?” Jake asked.

  “A dog? Yeah, I had a dog. Rusty, some old mutt that showed up one day and my mom let me keep.”

  Jake’s mouth formed a pout. “I want a dog, but Mom says I can’t have one because we move so much.”

  “It would be hard for a dog to move so much. Maybe you can get a dog if the Bad Guys stop following you.” Will wasn’t sure what Jake and Emma’s future held. Why was he making friends with this kid when he was getting ready to hand Emma over to the people who hired him? Why did they want her? He had never put himself in a position to ask questions. Frankly, he never cared. “Jake, has your mom ever done anything bad?”

  Will watched Jake’s confused face in the mirror. “No, Mommy’s never done anything bad.”

  Just because Jake said she hadn’t didn’t make her innocent. A desperate woman trying to protect her son might have stole money from someone. The only thing she had now was a suitcase. How did someone rebuild from that? If she'd been in this position before she could h
ave taken money and pissed someone off. And now they were collecting their debt. Only these people were pretty powerful. Will felt an unusual nagging, startled by the unfamiliar prickling of guilt. It had been a long time since he felt any accountability for what he did. He quickly pushed it away; he was just doing his job.

  Jake laid his head down on the seat and fell asleep. Will drove over the Texas border into Oklahoma.

  * * *

  Emma woke up feeling a little better, but still had a twinge of uneasiness that something was wrong. She looked in the backseat and found Jake sleeping. Obviously, he didn’t sense anything. “Where are we?”

  “Just outside of Oklahoma City.” Will’s left hand was slung over the steering wheel.

  “How far are we going today?”

  “Up into Kansas I think. We’ll see how it goes.”

  They rode in silence until it overwhelmed her. He didn’t even have the radio on. “Never found that Tim McGraw CD?”

  Will laughed. “Sorry, you pegged me wrong. I’m not into country.”

  “So tell me about your consulting job.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Decided to make some small talk after all?”

  “Unless you’d rather play the alphabet game. So what kind of consulting do you do?”

  He shot her a wicked smile. “I’d be more than happy to demonstrate if you like.”

  “I thought I wasn’t your type, with my baggage and all.” She raised her hand and waved to the back seat.

  “Ouch,” He pressed his hand to his chest. “That hurts. Maybe I’ve decided to be an equal opportunist.”

  “Do you ever lay off the crap or is it all bullshit, all the time with you?”

  He laughed. “I work with computers. Networking stuff, nothing very exciting.”

  “So you make up for it with your crappy pickup lines?”

  Cocking an eyebrow, a slow smile spread across his face. “I can assure you, I’m not all talk. The offer to demonstrate still stands.”

  Emma rolled her eyes. “Thanks, I’ll pass.”