by Jen Blood
“Katherine!” Cam said again, more firmly this time. At the sheer command in his voice, she finally turned.
And stared directly into the wrong end of Jenny’s partner’s shotgun. Two other men had come in during the struggle, unbeknownst to her. All were armed. Most were focused on her. Cameron stood against the wall with blood dripping from his nose and lip, staining his clean white t-shirt.
Kat lowered her gun.
Chapter Fifteen - Solomon
If ever there was a movie-worthy moment, this should have been it. The man I’d thought was dead for over a decade, the man who had meant home to me for the first ten years of my life, was walking toward me. He wasn’t a ghost; he wasn’t a dream…
He was my father.
And he was here.
But instead of racing across an open field to leap into his arms, I just stood there. Mouth opening and closing with no words, like a friggin’ land-locked salmon. Diggs’ hand was at the small of my back. He looked as shocked as I was. My father took another step toward us.
“You’d be Diggs,” Dad said, hand extended. Diggs met him halfway. They shook hands.
“Mr. Solomon,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“And you,” my father agreed. It was official: I was losing my mind. “Though I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances.”
“They could be better,” Diggs agreed. And then, he fell silent. As did the rest of us. Finally, my father cleared his throat.
“Diggs, would you mind giving us a minute?”
Diggs stood his ground, hands dug into his pockets. He looked at me, waiting for my word. I nodded.
“Uh—yeah, it’s okay. I’ll be all right.”
“I’ll just get cleaned up, then,” he said reluctantly. “But if you need anything, I won’t be far.”
“Thanks.”
A wave of panic washed over me as he walked away. That left my father and me, standing there. I had no idea what to say. No idea what to do. I remained rooted to the spot, mute. Eventually, my father closed the distance between us, while I just stood there staring at him stupidly. Einstein sat down beside me and looked at us both expectantly.
“I know this is a shock,” he began.
“Yeah,” was the best I could manage. Dad nodded toward the picnic table.
“Will you sit with me? We can’t stay here long—Cameron has everything arranged, but we don’t have a lot of time.”
I sat down. My father took the seat beside me, turning his body so he could look at me. He looked the same. Not the way he’d looked after the Payson fire, when he’d been so broken, so lost…. but the way I remembered him when I was growing up. Older, sure, but his presence remained the same: solid; steady. He reached out and ran his hand along my cheek gently.
“You grew up,” he said.
My eyes watered, the weight building in my chest. I nodded again. “You, too,” I managed. He smiled at that, and all at once it hit like me like a slab of concrete:
Things to remember, things to forget.
People won’t understand the world out here, Erin. Some of the things you’ve seen… the things Isaac has done. People off the island won’t understand. They can’t know.
“Erin? Honey, I know you’ve been through a lot.”
“You made me forget something.” I stared at him, only half aware I was even speaking. “Before I left the island, you said there were things people wouldn’t understand.”
I’m going to help you forget, baby. Everything that’s confused you about this place, everything that scared you…
“How?” I asked, my voice surprisingly even. “How did you make me forget? What out there was so bad that I shouldn’t remember?”
He touched my arm. I cringed. And it hit me for the first time: Everything I believed my childhood had been was a lie. The life I thought I’d had with my father, the bond I thought we shared… I had no idea anymore how much of that was real. Somehow, he had manipulated everything I thought I knew about my past on Payson Isle.
I stood up and walked away, arms crossed over my chest, trying to hold myself together.
“What did you do in Jonestown? Why are they still after you? Why are they after Kat?”
“Honey—”
I wheeled on him. “Don’t ‘honey’ me! I know this is supposed to be some Lifetime movie moment, but I’m running for my life. Diggs is running for his life—he almost died three weeks ago. Did you know? Were you there somewhere, lurking in the background the way Juarez told me you were in Black Falls?”
He stood again, an odd combination of regret and defiance in his eye. “I’m sorry you got pulled into this, Erin—I truly am. It was never my intention. When I faked my death thirteen years ago, it was to try and keep you out of that world. When I took those memories from you, I was doing it to keep you safe.”
“But safe from whom? Cameron? Jenny? Max Richards? Or safe from J. Enterprises?”
He hesitated, wetting his lips. “You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Yes, you can—but you won’t. You and Kat have been doing this since I was a kid, trying to keep me safe. Well, guess what, Dad: It’s not working. I’m not safe—I don’t know if I ever will be, at this point. Tell me what this is. What is J. Enterprises?”
The sun was up now, cars pulling out of the parking lot as people tried to get a jump on another day of travel. Einstein stuck close, sensing trouble. Dad turned his back on me and walked away, his hands in his pockets. For one irrational moment, I thought he might not turn back. When he finally did, it looked like he was locked in some deep, internal battle.
“Erin,” he began again.
“Please.” My voice broke on the word. “My whole life is fucked six ways to Sunday because of these people. Just… please, Dad.”
He ran his hands through his hair, then returned and sat down beside me. “What I’m about to tell you… You can’t tell anyone this, Erin. This can’t be a story you pursue; you have to let this lie. You have no idea what they can do to you—to everyone you care about.”
I actually had a pretty good idea, as a matter of fact, but I kept my mouth shut. “I won’t say anything. You have my word.”
He took a deep breath. “J. Enterprises was a front for the federal government,” he said, his voice low. “It was a dummy corporation concealing an elite division of the United States military.”
I couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d said it was a front for Christ himself. I just stood there for a second, blinking stupidly at him. “I don’t understand,” I finally managed.
Before he could clarify anything, my cell phone rang. It had to be Cameron… with impeccable timing, as usual. Much as I didn’t want to take it just then, I couldn’t run the risk that he wouldn’t call back. I held up my index finger to ask for a minute. Dad nodded.
“It’s about time,” I said into the receiver. “We’ve been here for hours, waiting for you to tell us what the hell the next move is.”
There was no response for a long few seconds. Nothing, that is, but breathing. Heavy breathing.
“Cameron?” I said uneasily.
“Erin,” a woman’s voice purred into the phone: Jenny. My blood turned to ice. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to have this conversation.”
“Where’s my mother?” I demanded. “Where’s Cameron?”
Dad looked up sharply. Jenny laughed. “We’re all together,” she said. “It’s actually really sweet. Now—I have some instructions for you.”
My father was still watching me with a clear question in his eyes, but I dodged him and walked away. “Let me talk to my mother,” I said.
“You don’t give me orders,” Jenny said, her voice suddenly cold. “I’m in charge here—not you. You’ll do what I say, and you’ll do it when I say. Now: I need you to listen closely. I think it’s time we finally meet, face to face.”
“Erin?” Dad whispered. “What’s going on?”
Heart in my throat and lac
king any better ideas, I took a step closer to him. He leaned down so we could both listen to the phone, his cheek close to mine. He smelled the way he had when I was little—back when I believed he could do anything. Fix anything.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“What do I want?” she repeated, a lilt to her voice. “Oh… Where do I begin? How about we start with your father’s head on a platter, and go from there.”
I could almost feel my father flinch beside me. “Well… I can’t give you that,” I said. “I don’t have a clue where he is. Now—let me talk to Kat, and then we can work something out.”
“Spare me, please. All that leverage your dear old mom and dad held over our heads all this time? Jonah Melquist is dead. The evidence they were keeping out on that island is gone. We found everything. Which means not one of you is in the position to bargain anymore. My orders are very simple.”
“That’s not actually true,” I said. I forced strength into my tone. My father took a step back, away from the phone—like he didn’t have it in him to listen anymore. I walked away, aware of his eyes on me. “That professor you killed in Kentucky… the one you shot just before you blew up an entire building filled with innocent people? He was working on something, wasn’t he? That was the reason you guys were there in the first place—at least, that’s the way Diggs and I figure it.”
I was shaking, had the eerie feeling it wasn’t me saying these words at all.
“What are you talking about?” Jenny asked. I had her, I could tell; she hadn’t expected this.
“That professor had a memory card with some information on it,” I continued. “A lot of information, actually. Diggs got it before the building went up. We have it now.”
My father was watching me, dumbstruck. Jenny didn’t answer for a couple of seconds, her breathing audibly faster.
“You’re lying,” she said.
“First entry: 40N85W3062210511115DM,” I said, reciting it from memory. “Do you want more? It’s a long list—this could take a while.”
There was the distant sound of voices on the line, as though she was conferring with someone. It was as much as a minute later before she spoke again.
“You want to deal? Here’s your deal: We’ll trade your mother for that card. I’ll even let you and that cute boyfriend of yours go, for it. And then all three of you can leave town, free and clear, just as soon as the information is in my hand.”
“And if we don’t? If Diggs and I just keep running… Or we bring that list of numbers to the first cop we find? What happens then?”
“Don’t test me,” Jenny said. “You want an idea of what I’ll more than happily do to your mother? Take a look.” A second later, an image came through. I took one look and the world spun sideways, my stomach tilting sickeningly.
I waited for my father to intervene; for him to grab the phone from me and tell this bitch exactly what he would do if she hurt Kat. He didn’t do that, though. Instead, he remained silent when I showed him the photo Jenny had sent: Kat, her face bruised, dried blood crusted around her nose, holding a newspaper with today’s date and headlines…
“The longer this takes, the harder this will be on her. You don’t want to do that to your mommy now, do you, Erin?” Jenny crooned. I was holding the phone so tight my hand ached. “I mean… I know you two have your problems, but let’s be reasonable here. I’m going to send along some coordinates and a meeting time. We’ll make our trade, and that will be that. You go on your merry way.”
Diggs was walking toward me, already sensing trouble—it was clear from his pace, the wrinkle in his brow. He started moving faster, gearing up to a slow jog as I continued with Jenny.
“How do I know we’ll be safe? How do I know you won’t kill all three of us the second I hand over the numbers?”
“Because, unlike you and your family, I actually keep my word,” Jenny said, her voice hardening again. “We’ll make the exchange in a public place. You leave the numbers and the memory card and a guarantee that you don’t have a copy hidden away somewhere, and you can all walk away. If I find out you double crossed me, then you’ll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. And when I catch you—and I will catch you—then I’ll make sure you’re watching when I kill Diggs and your mother, as slowly and painfully as possible. And then, I’ll kill you.”
Her voice had darkened, all reason leeched out by that last sentence. It lightened a moment later, though; she was suddenly all business. Dealing with psychopaths, incidentally, is exhausting. The mood swings alone could kill you. “So… We have a deal, right? You follow my instructions—without Jack Juarez, without Willett and his band of idiots—and we can all part company happy.”
“What about Cameron and my father?” I demanded.
“Cameron and your father have some things to answer for,” she said. “There’s no other deal here. When I catch dear old Adam, trust me when I say he won’t be leaving. There’s no bargaining chip big enough to get him out of here. But that’s none of your concern. And neither is Cameron. Let me worry about them.”
Diggs reached me then, that furrow in his brow getting deeper. Before Jenny could say anything more, I turned my back on both the men in my life and steeled myself for the next step. “Where and when?”
“See how easy that was?” Jenny asked with a laugh. “All right—good. I’ll text you the details. No police. No more games. It’s time to end this.”
She hung up before I could ask anything more. Maybe three seconds later, a text came through:
11993 Walnut Grove Ln
Trumann, AR
15:00, Monday April 10
“Arkansas? Jesus, can’t they make anything easy? How far is that?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Diggs said. “Maybe ten, fifteen hours. You mind telling me what’s going on?”
“They’ve got Kat,” I said. No tears, no shaking voice or trembling lip. Now was definitely not the time for a psychotic break. “We need to go.”
“Erin—” Dad began. He may not have been a father to me since I was nine, but I remembered the tone well.
“I’m not arguing about this,” I said. I thought of Kat’s words to me back on Raven’s Ledge: We were never more than roommates.
It wasn’t true. Whatever else we may have been—roommates, soldiers in arms, often overt enemies—we were still mother and daughter. I had her eyes and her stubborn streak; her sarcasm and her vitriol.
“I’m not leaving her to die,” I said.
“She would never forgive me if I let you do this,” Dad said. He was torn, I could tell—scared, pissed off, and ripped in two. He didn’t need to be, though. The solution to this particular problem was simple.
If it meant they would let Kat go, I would do whatever Jenny asked.
“We’ll be all right,” I said. “We have some leverage, still. They’ll let us go.”
“Do I get a vote in this?” Diggs asked. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m part of the equation here.”
“You don’t have to come,” I said. That earned a glare from him—not surprising given recent conversations.
“Spare me,” he said. “Just hear me out, would you? If we’re doing this, I think it’s long past time we call Juarez in on it.”
I thought of Dad’s revelation: J. Enterprises was a government operation. Or at least it had been, once upon a time—I had no idea what it was now. Juarez had to know that. That’s what he’d been hiding. Whoever was behind the death and destruction on Payson Isle, Kentucky, and possibly Jonestown itself, had once been part of the United States government.
“They said no cops,” I said, then turned to my father. “And what was that she said: Willett? Who the hell is Willett?”
“He’s… It’s a long story,” Dad said. “But you’re right. If we bring someone in, I have no doubt that they’ll hurt your mother.”
“How would they find out?” Diggs asked. “Jack might not be telling us everything, but he’s on our side,
Sol. You know that.”
Suddenly, I didn’t know that at all.
“You can’t bring Jack Juarez in on this,” Dad said. “It’s too dangerous right now. Trust me: Jenny will know.”
“Well, Jenny will also know if we don’t show up where we’re supposed to tomorrow afternoon,” I said. “And maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think that will go over any better.”
“You’re being unreasonable” my father said. It was like no time had passed at all. How many times had he said those words to me? You’re just like your mother, Erin. “This isn’t a debate,” he continued. “Your mother and I have talked about something like this happening. Your safety is our priority. It always has been.”
“And so Diggs and I are just supposed to disappear, knowing that Kat is being tortured and killed? Knowing that when all is said and done, nothing’s changed? These people will keep killing; Diggs and I will live the rest of our lives in fear, waiting for them to find us.”
“You don’t have any choice where they’re concerned,” Dad said. “I’m sorry, but that’s the reality… The best I can do for you, the best Cameron and your mother could do, ultimately, is to help you get away.”
“But why? Who the hell are these people?” I asked. And again, he hesitated. If I got stonewalled on this one more time, blood would absolutely, positively be shed. And it wouldn’t be mine. “You said J. Enterprises was an elite military division.” Diggs looked as shocked as I expect I had when I’d first heard the news, but I kept right on going. “What does that mean? Are they still part of the government? How long have they been around—and what the hell did Jonestown have to do with any of it? What does any of this have to do with the U.S. military?”
Suddenly, Diggs took my hand, pulling me away from the parking lot. “I think we should have this conversation on the move.”
“What? Why?” I asked. My father was already on the alert, following Diggs’ gaze.
“Last night while you were walking Stein, someone else was gassing up their car. He struck up a conversation.”
“And…?”
“And he just pulled in,” Diggs said, nodding toward an old blue car just pulling up to the curb. When the man stopped and got out, my stomach dropped.