Sosa dragged Bryanna down the steps, where the light was just slightly better. We kept backing up, keeping as safe a distance as we could, but it felt like my feet had lead weights inside them.
“I remember you,” Sosa said, looking at Kelsey. “Girl from the mall.” He waggled the gun in his hand. “You're very clever.”
Kelsey didn't respond. She moved her body to stand in front of me, interposing herself between me and Sosa. Bryanna stood as still as a statue, her lungs heaving, not daring to move.
“I just want the boy,” Sosa continued. “Give him to me, and I'll release your friend.”
I made a move to walk around Kelsey, but she grabbed my wrist. “Don't,” she said firmly.
“Kelsey,” I whispered. “He's got a gun.”
“You're not going with him!” she hissed.
The cold realization hit me. This is all my fault. All I've done since Mom died is think of myself … how her death, how Pop's heroic stand against Lynch affected ME. All I thought I was risking was getting caught again, but this … no. These girls, these brave, incredible girls, risked everything to help me, and I can't just stand by and let one of them get hurt. Mark Campbell might have done that. But I'm not him anymore. I'm better than him. Tomorrow I may be someone else, but right now, I'm Ethan Freaking Zimmer. And I'm not letting it end this way.
“Kelsey,” I repeated. “No. No one's getting hurt for me.”
She turned to look at me, and all I saw was raw determination and defiance. This was the Kelsey that the legend was based on. Fearless Kelsey. Kelsey the Bully-Slayer. “You can't,” she said.
Just then, Sosa moved the gun in his hand and held it in front of Bryanna's face. “I don't want to hurt this girl, but I will if you force me to.” His voice was like pure ice. Bryanna whimpered in terror, closing her eyes. “Send the boy to me, now. You have ten seconds, and after that, she gets a bullet in her kneecap.” She stifled a sob.
I straightened up. “I have to, Kelsey. I'm sorry.”
I stepped around Kelsey, and was just about to move toward Sosa when I caught a glimpse of rapid movement in the near-darkness to Sosa's right. As I watched, a figure detached itself from the corner of the gym and slammed into Sosa's side. Caught totally off guard, Sosa lost his grip on both Bryanna and his gun, which skittered on the pavement, coming to a stop about five yards away.
Suddenly free, Bryanna remained frozen in fear and indecision as Sosa grappled on the ground with his unknown attacker.
Kelsey was the first to recover her senses. “Bree, RUN!”
That spurred Bryanna into movement, and she sprinted away from the fight and toward us. She'd just reached us when Sosa backhanded his silent attacker across the face. Scrambling to his feet, he grabbed his assailant by the back of the head and slammed it down hard on the cast-iron handrail that led up the steps to the gym's front doors. I heard a sickening thud, and the figure dropped to the ground in a heap.
Recovering himself, Sosa moved over to where his gun lay. He was bending over to pick it up when another figure came around the corner of the gym. This one was much larger than the first, and it was also armed. “Freeze, Sosa!” it said with a deep, booming voice.
“Daddy?” Kelsey whispered, moving forward. I grabbed her arm and held her back, as the three of us watched the scene unfold.
Sosa stood, motionless, staring at this latest threat. He was bent over at the waist, his hand hovering only a few feet above the gun that lay on the ground before him.
There was an audible click as Kelsey's dad pulled back the hammer on his revolver. “How lucky are you feeling right now?” Sosa said nothing, but his hand continued to inch closer and closer to his weapon.
Kelsey's dad took a couple more steps forward, aiming his revolver square at Sosa's head. “Do not make me shoot you in front of these kids,” he growled.
I wondered, right then, if Sosa was going to push his luck against a twenty-year veteran cop who clearly had the drop on him, but then the decision was made for him. At the far end of the faculty parking lot, a half-dozen cars rushed in, one after another, covering the distance between the street and where Sosa was standing within seconds. Pulling up ten yards away, a squadron of law enforcement officers climbed out of their cars, guns drawn and all pointed at Sosa.
After a few more seconds, Sosa apparently decided that dying in a hail of bullets in front of a middle-school gym was not on the menu for today. He straightened up, and then kicked his gun toward one of the police cars. Without another word, he raised his hands, placing them on top of his head.
Several officers ran forward, grabbing Sosa and forcing him to his knees as they cuffed his hands behind him. Then they yanked him to his feet and hauled him off to a waiting squad car.
Kelsey, meanwhile, had left my side. She ran to her father, who had holstered his revolver. She gave him a huge bear-hug, which he returned as she sobbed quietly on his shoulder.
Thanks to the light provided by the headlights of the many police cars, I caught a faint glimpse of Sosa's first attacker, who still lay motionless at the foot of the gym stairs. It was a girl. With reddish-brown hair.
Bryanna saw this too, and sprinted to her side. “PENNY!” she screamed as she ran.
Oh my God.
That was … Penny? That outgoing, friendly girl from my English class attacked Sosa? How could …
My next thought was interrupted as I was grabbed roughly from behind by two pairs of gloved hands, who latched onto my arms. I was about to scream for help when one hand moved to cover my mouth.
I didn't even have time to react as my left arm was twisted painfully behind my back, and I was frog-marched away from the scene of Sosa's arrest, past the cafeteria and out to the main parking lot, where a black car was waiting for me. One of my captors opened the door and climbed in first, and then the other one shoved me inside before climbing in after me. The first one tapped the shoulder of the man behind the wheel and said “Let's go.” I recognized the voice.
“Gillian?”
“Don't even talk to me right now,” she said, turning to me with a frightening scowl. “You have no idea how much trouble you've caused us tonight.”
The car raced out the exit-gate, and within a minute, we were speeding away from JMMS, on our way to who-knows-where.
“I know, and I'm sorry,” I said. “But they caught the guy! Can we just go back for a few minutes? A girl got hurt! And I never got to say goodbye to Kelsey!”
“Not gonna happen.” She dialed a number on her cell phone. Holding it up to her ear, she said, “We got him … yeah, he's safe. We're en route to the new location right now.” Then she hung up.
“Please, Gillian, just one minute is all I …”
She glared at me. “If you know what's good for you, you'll sit quietly the rest of the way. And get comfy, it's a long drive.”
A few minutes later, we were on the freeway. We'd be on the freeway for the next two hours.
* * *
It was almost eleven o'clock when we pulled up to a house in the woods of northern Arizona, a house that seemed to be completely devoid of neighbors. I climbed out of the car, stretching my legs after the long, cramped journey. Almost immediately, Pop burst out of the front door, running up and giving me a bear-hug.
“Mark! You're safe! Thank God!”
“I'm okay, Pop,” I said, returning the hug.
A few seconds later, Nathan was out the door and hugging me as well. “Mark! You're okay!” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist.
After hugging it out for a few seconds, I turned and faced Pop. “I know what you're gonna say–”
“I'm sure you do,” said Pop, who was now frowning. “And believe me, you and I are going to have it out tomorrow morning. But for right now, I'm just glad you're here, safe.”
“Me too,” said Nathan.
Pop led us into the house, which was pretty much the same as every house we'd lived in for the last few months: small, dirty, and with just enough fu
rniture to be considered “furnished.”
I flopped down on the living room sofa, ignoring the multitude of grease stains that were on it. Pop sat down next to me on one side, Nathan on the other. “Your bedroom's down that hall,” he said, pointing to the left.
I nodded, burying my face in my hands. So much had happened in the space of just one night, I couldn't even process it all. At the moment, though, only one thought, one image occupied my mind. The disappointment was overwhelming. I'd done everything I set out to do when I left the house a few hours ago. Everything but one. Thanks, Man Upstairs. You're all heart.
I barely felt it when Pop laid a hand on my shoulder. “Son?”
“Yeah, Pop?” I said sullenly.
“Was she worth it?”
I looked up and faced him. Pop's face wasn't harsh, but sympathetic. I had no doubt I was going to get punished like hell tomorrow, but tonight, I was just his son, and he was my Pop. Nathan and I were all he had left. And I'd nearly gone and gotten my dumb ass kidnapped or killed. All for a girl.
Kelsey. The most amazing girl who ever lived.
I smiled. “Yeah, she totally was.”
Chapter 43
~ DAY 41 (Sat., 8:00 p.m.) ~
KELSEY
From the curb where I was sitting, I watched as the ambulance pulled away. The paramedics had stabilized Penny's condition, as well as stopping the bleeding from the nasty cut on her forehead, but she hadn't regained consciousness yet. She was now on her way to St. Joseph's Hospital. Bree had left a few minutes ago; one phone call to her parents, and they were here within minutes. It was almost a relief that she was concentrating more on Penny's well-being than the fact that she'd been held hostage by a ruthless criminal less than an hour ago. With any luck, she'll blot that memory out for the rest of her life.
Sosa was taken away in a squad car within minutes of his capture. With the sheer number of policemen swarming over the school, the dance was stopped, and all the kids who showed up were either picked up by their parents or were about to be. Baz and his band had to leave their equipment behind, but that was probably temporary.
After hugging Dad, I turned around to look for Mark, but he was gone. One frantic but brief search of the area later, I came to the obvious conclusion that his security detail had spirited him away to a safer location than the house on Orange Blossom Lane. And my heart sank again.
I was still lost in thought when Dad sat down on the curb next to me. He put a loving arm around my shoulder, and I leaned my head on his.
“Dad?” I asked.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Where were you?”
He squeezed my shoulder gently. “During the standoff, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
He pointed at the red Cadillac, which was still parked nearby. “Well, first I went to Sosa's car, thinking he might still be inside. He wasn't, so I disabled the car.”
“Disabled?”
“Yeah, I used my trusty pocket knife to slash two of his tires. He wasn't going anywhere.”
“Nice.”
“Then I got your first text, telling me Sosa was in the kitchen. I ran to the employee's entrance, and found that the lock had been forced. I searched the kitchen area for him, but he'd already gone. Then I got your second text, but you didn't tell me where you were, so I had to ask some of the other kids if they saw where you went. By the time I found you, Sosa was holding Bryanna at gunpoint.”
“Your timing was perfect.”
“Thanks, Kel.”
I gave him a wry smirk. “ 'How lucky are you feeling right now'?”
The light wasn't very good anymore, now that most of the police cars had left, but I could swear Dad was blushing. “Uh … yeah.”
“You've been waiting your whole career to do a line from Dirty Harry, haven't you?”
He gave an embarrassed grin. “And I screwed it all up, didn't I?”
I straightened up, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. “Nah, Clint's got nothing on you.”
He smiled. “Probably just as well. 'Dirty Marty' just doesn't have the same ring to it.”
I gave a short laugh, but almost immediately, I became serious again. “Dad?”
“Yes, K-Bear?”
I leaned back, staring into space. “All my life, I've wanted to be a detective. Like Sherlock Holmes. Like you.”
“I know.”
“But after what's happened these last few weeks …” I looked straight into his eyes. Tell him, Kelsey, he's gonna know eventually. Might as well be now. “I don't know if I want to … do what you do. I don't know if I can. Not after this.”
He took my hand in his, and sighed. “You know, Kel, after your mom died, I knew it would be up to me to … you know, guide you. Teach you. Prepare you for the day when you would make your own decisions. I did my best to do this for you and your brother. Of course, a detective and a father is all I ever wanted to be, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at both.”
“Better than good,” I said sweetly.
He smiled. “Tom was never that interested in what I did for a living. Not that I minded, of course. He's always been his own man … even when he was a boy. But you, Kel … you took to it like a duck to water. It was so amazing, getting to share my passion for detection and police work with you.”
I smiled back. “It was fun, wasn't it?”
“But I never told you that you had to be a detective. I would never force you down that path. And if I ever made you feel like you had to follow in my footsteps … well, that's my fault. The truth is, I want for you what any parent wants: for their children to be happy, and healthy, and spending their lives doing something they love. And if that means you not becoming a detective, well … then I'm perfectly fine with that.”
Relief flooded my brain. “Really?”
He put his arm around my shoulder again, pulled me toward him and kissed the side of my head. “You're an amazing girl, K-Bear. And I know that whatever you decide to do with your life, you're gonna be great at it.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head on his shoulder again. “Thanks, Dad.”
He made a motion to stand up, and I did the same. After we rose to our feet, we turned to face each other again. “And now that this case is almost over, we can spend a lot of time over the next two weeks talking about your future career plans.” He cracked a wry smile.
My brow furrowed. “The next two weeks?”
He cocked his head slightly, his eyebrows raising.
“I'm so grounded, aren't I?”
He nodded. “Oh, yeah. Big time.” His smile widened. “I've got a jumpsuit that should fit you just fine.”
I exhaled in frustration, and then smiled again. “I hate orange.”
We started walking back toward the car in the main parking lot. “For now, though, we'll get you to the hospital. You'll want to be there when Penny wakes up.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“But,” he said, “we'll stop by the house first.”
“Why?”
“Have you taken a look at yourself lately?”
I looked down at my Hawaiian shirt and white slacks, which were nearly covered in dust, grime and grease from the bleachers. Definitely not the clothes I wanted to wear to a nice clean hospital. “Perhaps I will freshen up a bit.”
“Good call, Pigpen,” he said, chuckling.
“Hey!” I retorted, smacking him on the forearm.
* * *
At home, it only took a few quick minutes to change into a fresh set of clothes and wash the last of the construction dust off my face. I also speed-dialed April's number, telling her as quickly as I could to meet me at the hospital, giving her as many details as I could blurt out in thirty seconds. She was shocked, but said she'd be there as soon as she could.
I checked the clock. It was just before nine. Penny was likely at the hospital now, getting fixed up by doctors. I knew Bree was also heading for there, and it was time I joined her.
I saw Dad looking at me out of the corner of his eye while he drove. Despite the poor light, I could see his nose twitching, which could only mean one thing … something important was on his mind, and he wasn't sure whether to tell me or not.
“Quite a day, huh?” he said, breaking the silence.
I nodded. “Remember what I said about middle school not being exciting? I take it all back.”
“I hear you,” he said, nodding as well. “Look, I'm going to have to drop you when we get to the hospital. I've got to get back to the precinct, there'll be a mountain of paperwork to fill out about this.”
“It's okay. I'm sure Bree's folks will drive me home, but I'll call you if I need a ride.”
“All right,” he said. He turned to look at me. “You did a brave thing tonight.”
“I guess it runs in the family,” I said, smiling.
He chuckled, but didn't reply. The look in his eyes turned to one of sadness.
“What is it, Dad?” I asked.
“You've grown up so fast, K-Bear,” he replied. “Seems like only yesterday your mom and I held you in our arms for the first time …” He turned to face me again. “I see so much of her in you. It breaks my heart that you never got to know her. She'd have been so proud of you.”
I was touched. Dad didn't talk about Mom that much anymore, and it was clearly making him sad to do it now. “Thanks, Dad,” is all I could whisper in reply.
He continued, “Time just moves so fast … here you are, an amazing young woman, ready to take on the world.” Where is he going with this?
“I want you to know that I will never stop loving your mother. Maddy gave me the best years of my life, and she gave me the two greatest kids a father could ever have. But she's been gone for eleven years now … and Tom's now off in college … and one day, quite soon, I'm going to wake up and you'll be gone too.”
Ethan's Secret (James Madison Series Book 2) Page 26