CHAPTER 34
School’s Out
Alex was starting to wonder if leaving the investigation in Danny’s hands was a good idea. He was hesitating. He wasn’t following up on hunches, ideal leads. He was letting Alex take control. In truth leaving Danny in control meant Alex did hold a great deal of power by default.
That wasn’t so bad. But it was frustrating for him. Just when Alex got good and ready to lead, Danny became all too territorial; quick to remind him that only one badge legally existed between the two of them and it resided in Danny’s hesitant hand.
Truthfully, Danny was using his head. Alex was using his heart. He knew it, but it didn’t change the fact that the investigation was still proceeding murderously slow. Neither did it change the fact that both Alex and Danny were neglecting to utilize the most valuable tool of any police officer, retired or not—his gut.
Lisa was living on borrowed time. So were the other members of the Mendez family. Not to mention the number of unknown innocents.
And what was in that direction?
Alex was sure it would lead him to Lisa but Danny wasn’t moving. Intent on finding some stitch of evidence amid a burned out wreck, Danny Peterson remained preoccupied with a chain of irrelevancies that was going to get Lisa killed.
Inside Tisha’s car, Alex heard a sea of radio chatter.
Traffic stops, ID checks and a host of pointless rambling clogged the law enforcement airwaves, drowning out any chance of Lisa getting through, let alone anyone with a clue as to where she was.
“…reports of a power outage at Gilmer Elementary…”
The seemingly random statement drew Alex’s attention for reasons he could not fully explain.
“Who made the call?” came an unfamiliar voice.
“A neighbor. Last name Keslar. First name Charles…”
The female dispatcher carefully spelled the name for the investigating officer as the eavesdropping Alex frantically searched Tisha’s front seat and dashboard console for a pen. Finding one in the glove compartment, Alex wrote the name on a napkin.
“When did we become the power company?” the annoyed officer asked the dispatcher.
“Request you investigate report of possible suspicious activity.” Was the reply.
A lead, he thought to himself. Banks, grocery stores and schools?
Christina. Lisa.
“Danny!” Alex shouted, rising to a fully seated position.
Alex bumped his head on the car’s low ceiling. His vision prickled with lavender and orange-red fireworks. His head rocked back, sending a shooting pain down his right arm. He dropped the napkin and cursed, drawing attention from everyone in earshot.
“Danny!” he shouted again, rubbing his forehead, waving the napkin in the air. “I found them!”
***
“Mommy?”
“Hmmm?” Lisa was startled out of an incoherent daydream.
“I talked to Daddy. He said he’s coming to get us soon.”
“I hope so, Baby.” Her own heart longed to hear the voice of her beloved. Now that she could remember him for who he truly was, not just as some strange distant “Mr. Sexy” image swimming through her mind. All she could do was trust he truly was on his way. If she knew Alex, he might already be there. Relief mixed with trepidation and she selfishly contemplated rescue, though simultaneously considering the possibility of losing Alex.
“What happened to those girls?” Christina was pointing to the cage where, inside, the bodies of three blood-soaked children lay forever motionless. Forever afraid for lives that had been so horribly and inexplicably snuffed out.
“Some very bad men tried to hurt them,” Lisa said, hoping Christina would focus on the wordtried. “But God took care of them.”
“Those bad men?” Christina asked, pointing to the gun-toting animals that dotted the room.
“Some of them, yes.”
Christina paused for a minute, as if unsure. As if processing the entire situation on some mental plain incomprehensible to most five-year-old children.
“She looks like Holly,” Christina said, pointing to one of the little girls.
Lisa looked at the cage but said nothing, unsure how to placate Christina’s fears.
“Mommy?”
“Yeah Baby?”
“Did the bad men hurt Holly?”
“Honey, I don’t think that’s Holly,” Lisa said, “but they didn’t hurt those little girls, either way. I promise you.”
“How do you know?” Christina interrupted.
Looking around, Lisa realized she’d drawn the attention of one of the guards. “God took them away before the bad men could hurt them,” she offered.
Looking increasingly confused, Christina gazed toward the cage.
Pointing, she said, “Mommy they’re right there. They’re not gone.”
“That’s just their bodies,” Lisa said. “God took their souls to Heaven before the bad men could hurt them.”
“So they died?” Christina whispered. Her eyes went sad, just as she hung her head in a solemn prayer for the lost souls of Gilmer Elementary’s three little angels.
Lifting her daughter’s chin, Lisa said, “They’re in Heaven.” Lisa worried that her voice was less filled with love and more with dogged determination that might serve to frighten rather than console.
After a few seconds silence, Christina asked, “So they’re with my grandpa?”
“They’re with both your grandpas,” Lisa confirmed, “And they’re with Daddy’s brother and with my mommy even.”
“Maybe when the bad man are all gone they can come back?” she asked. “Once the bad men can’t hurt them anymore.”
“No, Honey. I think God’s going to want to keep them now, so that he can make sure they’re safe.”
“But once the bad men are gone—“
She stopped as a second guard began to take notice.
A look of fear washed over her face. Fear, confusion and uncertainty.
“Well from what I hear of Heaven, I don’t think they’d want to come back,” Lisa offered. “There’s lots of candy and puppies to play with. And nobedtimes!”
She added extra excitement to the declaration that heaven’s inhabitants lacked a curfew. It might have been a lie but she wasn’t truly sure. And if it was, she hoped God would be merciful when He considered the sweet face that was Lisa’s driving motivation toward unintentional deception.
Excitement filled Christina’s eyes. A short-lived excitement as one of the two guards suddenly appeared beside them.
Kneeling, bringing himself to Christina’s eyelevel, the guard whispered, “You do not need to think on such things as Heaven.”
Lisa wasn’t sure what to make of the guard. Might that have been a twinkle of compassion in his eyes. Perhaps his amiable expression meant he was open to the suggestion of a breath mint.
“Soon you will burn for eternity with your false prophet, Jesus.”
So much for compassion.
“Darn,” Lisa said, putting a defensive hand between her daughter and the guard. “You mean we’re going to have to spend eternity with you?”
His eyes narrowed. Through gritted teeth, he let go with a breathy growl. Lisa was surprised her sarcasm wasn’t met with physical retaliation.
“Allah Akbar!”
Though it came from across the room, the now familiar battle cry was deafening to Lisa.
It was Dr. Death, holding tightly to a large machete type weapon, swinging it above his head.
“The infidels are here!” he screamed excitedly.
Alex!
CHAPTER 35
Approaching Storm
On the first pass around the block, Gilmer Elementary School gave no clue that there might be anything amiss. Neither Shelby Davis nor her partner saw anything amiss. Still, they decided to make another pass before going to interview Charles Keslar. The lights appeared to be out. Nothing out of the ordinary for the summer, Shelby thought.
But
there were still a number of cars in the small dirt parking lot across Allen Street. Pre-K was in session, Shelby noted. Was the school closed today?
“What do you think, Shawn?”
“I think we go interview the old man and then we write it up for what it is. The school took a holiday.”
“So why are there cars if the school took a holiday?”
“Teacher Work Day,” Shawn amended.
“One way to find out,” Shelby said. “We wait till 3:15. The second session of Pre-Kindergarten lets out at 3:15. If we have a mad rush of parents between now and then we know something’s up.”
“There’s not going to be a mad rush of parents, Shelby.” Shawn Whitmore offered. His deep brown eyes possessed their usual playful menacing. In the nine months since she’d been a cop, she still could not read Shawn. No matter how many rides they went on, she never knew what to make of him, when he was serious and when he was not.
“Should we interview the old man then?” Shelby asked.
“Might as well.”
As he shifted the car into gear, Shawn let out a bit of a sigh.
“What makes you so sure there won’t be any parents?” Shelby asked.
“Shelby,” he grumbled.
Even with her window up, Shelby heard what sounded like shouting coming from inside the cafeteria.
Grabbing her partner’s arm, she said “stop the car!”
Shawn slammed on the brakes.
“What?” he asked. “What’s the deal?”
“Didn’t you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
She didn’t respond. Rather, she rolled her window down just far enough to allow sound to travel unabated. The wind whistled through the trees, sending a warm blast of summer’s breath blowing against her face.
“I know I heard something,” she insisted.
Another shout. This one clearer. More obvious.
Wide-eyed confusion met wider-eyed fear as the two officers sat momentarily stunned, unsure what to do.
Grabbing the radio, Shelby motioned toward the dirt parking lot.
“Pull in there!”
“What are you doing?” Shawn asked.
“I’m calling for backup.”
***
“So what does this Charles Keslar have to do with Lisa?” Danny asked. Alex wanted to smack him. Was he not listening?
“Danny, I’m telling you they are at the school. This guy saw something fishy going on at the school. Remember the news reports? Banks, police stations, grocery stores and schools. These guys are going after random buildings…”
“Exactly,” Danny said, “Alex it’s too random. You can’t just go out thinking this is a coincidence. We’re not dealing with people who follow a pattern. They want us so confused we wind up chasing every irrelevant lead. We wind up chasing our tails like a little lost puppy dog and they get away with murder.”
“Danny, get your head in the game for a second!” Alex shouted.
“Everyone follows a pattern eventually. Even if that pattern is to avoid patterns, eventually some pattern is formed. Some calling card is left— some way of identifying these idiots. I’m telling you this is where they are. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. We’re no further away than we were from finding them but if I’m right, we need to move. Either waymy wife’s life is at stake.Mychild. My whole family!”
“You see that house up there?” Danny said, pointing toward a hill in the distance. “For all we know they are in that house, bound, gagged and locked in a basement for safe keeping. Now are you really willing to bet their lives and be twenty minutes away if and when some idiot decides their time has expired?”
“We’ve searched most of the houses along this road. And we’ve got men searching the remaining houses for miles. What do you want to do, Danny? Just sit here until they’ve finished before we move on to the next step? Do I want to be here if some guy is preparing to use Lisa as kindling to bring down Gilmer Elementary? I understand patience but we can’t just sit by fumbling our fingers while this lead goes unchecked! I have to do something!”
“So do we need to lettheseleads go unchecked? You need to do something, so the rest of us need to just shirk our responsibilities? Because you’re bored? Or are you forgetting what happened the last time you ran off half-cocked?” Danny growled.
“Danny, I…”
Danny sighed. “Okay, fine!” He looked at the ground, paced a couple of steps. “Look, I know you’re going to do this anyway. And the fact is everybody here would follow you through the gates of hell and back rather than listen to the voice of reason. I’d sure follow you and you know it. So here it is. You want command, you got it, Alex. You say we go to Gilmer Elementary, we go to Gilmer Elementary; but if you’re wrong, we all lose. You lose your family, but I lose a partner and a friend. I lose my Goddaughter. The city of Longview loses. Gilmer loses. I lose too, Alex. And so help me God if I lose because you acted without thinking,again, you won’t have to worry about asking for your badge back. You’ll be pulling it out of your rectum along with the foot I’m going to break off in it! Do I makemyself clear?”
“Boys,” Tisha Warner interrupted. “I believe we have a lead to follow. You can play brotherly love later. All due respect, Mrs. Mendez is waiting and I’m sure you’d both agree that it’s not nice to keep a lady waiting.”
“…responding to report of suspicious activity at Gilmer
Elementary…”
The urgent female voice drew the attention of everybody standing near Tisha’s car.
As suddenly as it broke through it was gone.
“So were you serious?” Alex asked, turning back towards Danny.
“About what?” he asked.
“I’m in charge from here on?”
“It’s your wife,” Danny said. “You want it, you got it.”
“You’re not gonna pull rank on me?” Alex asked. “Or get territorial again and suddenly remind me you’re the only one legally with a badge?”
“I’ve already deputized you. As it is within my rights, I am legally advising my deputy that I am not presently fit to lead.”
“As your personal assistant,” Tisha interrupted, “shouldn’t I take charge of the investigation? Technically I’d be the next ranking officer wouldn’t I?”
“As a federal employee, I could claim jurisdiction,” Moe chimed in. When everyone looked at him suspiciously, he continued, “but I won’t.”
“Tisha,” Danny said, “As your superior officer, I am advising you to follow the lead of my duly appointed representative. As my deputy, and as a former cop, he takes command. As Captain, I’m temporarily restoring Alex to the full rank at the time of his retirement, Lieutenant, which makes him the next ranking officer. If you have a problem with that, I will remove you from this investigation…”
“Easy, Hoss,” Alex interrupted. “She was kidding.”
Tisha remained silent. She smiled a Cheshire-like grin and winked at Danny.
“Alright then, Boss,” Danny said. “You’re back in the saddle. What now?”
“Mount up,” Alex said, “Danny, I’d suggest getting on the horn and advising the uniforms we are en route to assist. I’m with Tisha. Everyone else, you’re behind us. Danny, you know the church parking lot next to Gilmer Elementary?”
“Of course,”
“We park there.”
“It’ll make the approach vulnerable,” Danny said.
“Not if they’re smart.” Alex said.
“What do you mean? We can’t just go marching in the front door,
Alex.”
“The cafeteria’s in the back. If they’re smart, that’s where they are. It’s the largest room, most open, smallest margin for error. Easier to control hostages plus there are only two ways in or out. One leads to a fenced in playground. An open corridor leads to and from the main building, but it’s very exposed as I recall. Still that’s our best way in. The other exit leads to the staff parking lot.”
“Okay,
so why not converge on the staff’s parking lot? They try to escape, they escape into a fenced-in playground. We have them.”
“Do you really need it spelled out for you? The staff will have parked there. Which means it won’t be an easy in or an easy out. There is no safe distance. No secret approach. It’s just across the narrowest of roads, Allen Street. If that’s where they are, they’ll be watching. Besides, if we go in that way, we risk two things. One, letting them escape right out the front door. Two, they feel trapped having only a fenced in playground to run into. They blow themselves up instead of run. Corner a scalded dog, Danny, and he’s gonna bite you.”
“But if there are cars in that staff parking lot. There’s plenty of cover to avoid bullets flying at me.”
“Danny, believe me, bullets will be the least of your worries. We park there, we lose the element of surprise.” He paused for a moment. “We park in the church parking lot. End of discussion. We park there and we wait. We assess the situation. If and when the time is right, my feeling is we do just exactly what we don’t want them to do. We go right in the front door. Whatever we’re going to do, we are not going to get my wife and family killed, do you understand me?” Panning the faces of those around him, he added, “Does everyone understand?”
Everyone did.
***
“Shelby, you can’t just call for backup when we don’t know what’s going on.” Shawn insisted, placing a hand on hers.
“We have to do something,” Shelby said. “There’s something going on and we don’t know what it is.”
“For all we know a janitor stubbed his toe.” Shawn continued.
“Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?” she asked.
“Isn’t it better to be a cop than a coward?”
“Yes,” Shelby agreed, “which is exactly why I’m calling for backup. Play Lone Wolf on your own time, Shawn. I have a job to do.”
As she continued the call to dispatch, Shelby grew increasingly nervous. Shawn pulled the police cruiser behind a dark blue Ford Expedition.
“…be advised, we are en route to the scene. Please advise status of officers on the scene.”
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