Allison went to the window Brandon usually came in through and lifted the latches. She then laid back on her bed to scroll through her newsfeeds. Waiting for Brandon, her eyelids began to feel heavy and she closed them to rest for a few minutes.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Thursday March 20 | 11:25pm
TYLER CAREFULLY LIFTED the glass pane window. At nearly midnight, the air blowing in had cooled off to a chill. Earlier in the day, Tyler had popped the screen out of its bracket so he and his friends would be able to sneak out efficiently. He lifted himself out through the window sill and dropped to the ground outside, landing on his feet and crouching. “Okay,” he whispered to his friends staring out the open hole into the night. “We’re good.”
Lucas followed, with Elijah coming out last and he shut the window on his way out, leaving a half-inch crack so they could lift it back up easily when they returned from their investigation.
They ran around the backside of the house, ducking under the other windows as they passed them, where Tyler and Elijah had placed their bicycles earlier in the day. Lucas hopped on the back pegs of Tyler’s bike and they rode out into the street, heading south toward the first house on the database list.
The first stop was off Marshall Street, which was less than half a mile from Tyler’s house. The cool night air blew on blew on their faces and made Lucas’s nose burn as they rode along. He wrapped his hands in the sleeves of his black Nike hoodie so that they’d stay warm while holding on to Tyler’s shoulders. As the boys rode, they avoided the main streets and checked for any sign of oncoming traffic before crossing intersections.
“Turn left up here,” Elijah said, his phone mounted to his handlebars of his bicycle and navigating them through the dark streets.
Tyler turned at the intersection, the green street sign reading “Marshall” under the illumination of a high street lamp.
“The address is 1107, up on the left,” Elijah called out again. This part of the street was incredibly dark with the only light coming from the porch lights that were left on. The sidewalks were cracked and many of the yards were unkempt, the only vegetation growing were weeds instead of manicured grass.
1107 Marshall was a house of white siding, with several panels chipping paint. The driveway was not paved but made up of large flat stones set in the dirt. The front yard was enclosed in a chain-link fence.
The boys rode up to the curb and hid behind a tree, its branches bare, not having yet grown leaves from its winter hibernation.
In the driveway was a black Ford Fiesta. Lucas hopped off Tyler’s bicycle pegs and snuck up to the rear fender, keeping out of the light from the porch. He checked the rear passenger tail light. It was intact.
Lucas jogged back to his friends, who were still crouched near the naked tree. “Not this one, but this neighborhood creeps me out. Let’s go.”
They mounted the bicycles and turned back toward the direction they came from, turning back to the north at the intersection. “Where to next, Elijah?” Tyler asked.
Elijah manipulated his phone attached to his handlebars. “We need to cross Evenside, toward Katy Drive,” he said.
Lucas held on to Tyler’s shoulders over the bumps in the road as they crossed Evenside Drive, looking for any sign of life on the streets. So far, they seemed to be the only people out and awake. Occasionally a dog would bark from the backyard of a house, but other than that, the streets at night were eerily quiet.
Lucas was so used to the ambient sounds during the day that these same streets and neighborhoods that he saw on a daily basis were alien to him now.
They turned onto Katy Drive, with Elijah leading the way and they approached the next house on the list. 2112 Katy Drive was an orange brick cottage with a large porch wrapped around the front of the house. A child’s tricycle lay on its side beside the front steps of the porch. In the driveway, there were two vehicles, a Ford Taurus and a navy blue GMC Acadia.
Again, like last time, Lucas hopped off the back of Tyler’s bicycle and approached the Taurus. With one look at the rear fender, he turned back. “Strike two,” he said. “It’s not this one either. Where’s the next one?”
“Larkwood Street,” Elijah said.
“That’s pretty far,” Tyler said.
“It’s about a mile, close to the edge of the woods. But the next two are on the way back to your house from there.”
Tyler looked at the Timex on his wrist and illuminated the watch face. “It’s just after midnight,” he said. We need to hurry. The longer we’re out, the more we’re at risk of getting caught or being seen.”
They pedaled back east toward the place where the woods bumped against the neighborhoods, using the canopy of the forest outcropping as camouflage and cover.
After about ten minutes of riding, they reached Larkwood Street. The houses were big and the opposite of the dilapidated homes that they’d seen on Marshall. Some of the residences were two-story with nicely manicured lawns.
“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Lucas asked.
“I think so,” Tyler said. “It’s on the list.”
“Which address?” Lucas asked Elijah, who continued to ride slightly ahead of them.
“3402, up ahead on the right,” he said.
They passed a couple of houses and advanced to the house on the list. Even in the dark, it was gorgeous. Shrubs lined the front of the house beneath the windows. The front porch was framed with round white columns and the brick looked polished and clean.
There were no vehicles in the driveway.
“Guys, what do we do?” Elijah asked.
Offset from the front of the house, the driveway extended toward the back of the residence, with a two car garage detached from the home. Lucas stepped off the pegs. “I’m going to look in the garage,” he said defiantly.
“I don’t know man, this doesn’t feel right,” Tyler said. “This one may be on the list by mistake.”
“Maybe we should just go on to the next one,” Elijah said.
“No way, guys. We won’t know for sure unless we look in that garage,” Lucas said.
Slowly, crouching down and staying out of the swath of light illuminating the front porch of the house, Lucas crept up to the garage. It was a double bay garage with separate doors for each entrance. Each roll-up door had a row of windows about two-thirds of the way up, which was just above Lucas’s head.
He ran back toward his friends, who had pulled their bicycles behind a row of shrubs lining the house next door and were crouching in the branches. Lucas knelt down with them. “The windows are too high. I can’t see in,” he said. “I need one of you to come with me and lift me up.”
“I’ll do it,” Tyler said. He turned to Elijah. “Keep your eyes peeled. Cover us.”
Tyler and Lucas approached the garage. Lucas’s heart raced. They got to the garage doors and Tyler laced his fingers to form a step for Lucas. Tyler hoisted his friend up and Lucas grabbed onto the window sills with the tips of his fingers to pull himself up so he could see in.
It was dark in the garage, but he could make out the outline of a little black Ford. With his left hand, he grabbed his iPhone and turned on the flashlight.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tyler said, his voice strained. He shifted his weight to better hold Lucas.
“I’m trying to see,” Lucas said.
“Elijah should have done this. He’s heavier than me.”
“Yeah,” Lucas retorted, “but you’re taller.”
Lucas peered in, the flashlight on the back of his phone illuminating the space so that he could see in. The words “Five Hundred” were embossed in a silver emblem on the trunk of the car. Lucas almost lost his balance when he gasped at what he saw. The passenger tail light was broken, with strips of red tape covering the hole.
“Holy shit, dude.” Lucas looked down at Tyler. “That’s the car.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Friday March 21 | 12:10am
“ARE YO
U SURE?” Tyler asked, his voice still strained from holding Lucas.
Lucas asked to be let down and Tyler did so more than willingly. “Definitely sure. Red tape and everything. This is the car.” Lucas’s eyes were wide with both excitement and terror.
Lucas’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text message from Elijah, who was still in the shrubs keeping a lookout for them. The message read 911. Lucas looked up at Tyler and they both bolted as quietly as possible back to Elijah’s hiding spot.
“I saw someone in the house, through the window,” Elijah whispered.
“Well, this is definitely the house,” Lucas said. “The car is in the garage.”
“Check it out,” Elijah said, pointing toward a window facing them. A light was on, and there was definitely movement in the house, though it was obscured through the miniblinds. They watched for a couple of minutes but were unable to make out what was happening.
Then, the light shut off. “Maybe he was going to the bathroom or something,” Lucas whispered.
The sound of the garage door opening startled them. Elijah nearly jumped out of the bushes and Tyler grabbed him. The tail lights winked to signify the car being unlocked remotely. From a back door, out of sight from their perch, a man walked into the garage and got in the car. He turned it on, and reversed it out of the driveway, the driver’s side door passing not even two meters from where they were hiding.
The garage door shut automatically, the car backed into the street, turned left and drove off.
“What are we doing?” Tyler said. “We gotta go after him!”
They jumped out of the shrubs, pulled the bicycles upright and rode off in the same direction the car went. The Ford’s driving lights were dark, but they could still see the vehicle as it passed under the street lamps that lined Larkwood Drive. Lucas could feel Tyler pumping his legs on the pedals, his body swaying as he shifted his weight.
“We can’t get too close. Don’t want him to see us,” Tyler said over his shoulder.
“Just don’t lose him,” Lucas said. “Look he’s turning again!” He pointed ahead of them.
“I see it!” Tyler responded.
Elijah called out, “He’s heading back toward Kilgore!”
They continued riding, pounding the pedals as hard as they could. As they crossed Kilgore Drive, the lights above the main city strip were much brighter, which Lucas knew meant they could be seen just as easily as a vehicle. Three boys out on bicycles at this time of night would get attention more than a vehicle driving along the same stretch of road.
“Where do you think he’s going?” Lucas asked.
Tyler, breathless but continuing to ride as hard as he could, said, “I don’t know, but we’ve got to stay with him.”
Elijah, riding beside them said, “If he’s out kidnapping someone else, we can get the cops there immediately!”
They watched as the car turned right off of Kilgore. They chased him, still tailing by about two blocks’ distance. Lucas realized they were getting close to their neighborhood.
The car turned again, left this time. The boys turned onto the same street, Bismarck Lane. The car had disappeared. “Where did he go?” Elijah asked, perplexed.
Tyler rode a little further up to the next block and looked down both north and south of the intersection. They had lost him.
“Damnit!” Tyler exclaimed.
“Look, we know where he lives now,” Elijah said, pulling up beside Lucas and Tyler them on his bike. “We can still go back to the old plan and call the cops in the morning. Now we know for sure though. This is our guy.”
“But why was he out here tonight?” Tyler said, exacerbated. “And how did we lose him?”
“It’s okay, Tyler,” Lucas said. “Let’s go back home. In the morning, we can call it in.” He hopped off the pegs. “Let me pedal and you ride. You’ve got no gas.”
Tyler swung his leg around off the seat and handed the handlebars to Lucas. Lucas mounted the bike and Tyler climbed onto the pegs. They had ridden nearly five miles at this point, and with the extra weight of Lucas riding on the back, Tyler was exhausted.
They took it easy riding back to Tyler’s house; not necessarily taking their time but at the same time not going all out to get there as quickly as possible.
Dogwood Lane intersected Bismarck, and they were only six blocks from Tyler’s house. Lucas’s house was on the corner two blocks away. “Take it slow up here, Elijah,” Lucas said. “My parents have cameras facing the street.”
They crossed to the far side of the street and passed Lucas’s house. Lucas looked at the house and nearly crashed the bicycle. There, the black car was parked two houses down, and Allison was being led into the backseat. As her head disappeared into the vehicle, she turned, and they momentarily made eye contact. Lucas and his friends sat frozen in the middle of Dogwood Lane watching. The man in the car threw something into the lawn across the street from where he’d parked, got in the car, and drove off.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Friday March 21 | 12:25am
ALLISON WAS STARTLED awake by the buzzing of her phone. She looked at the time. 12:25am. She opened the text message; it was from Brandon, which meant he was close. Come to the window.
She went to the window. The phone buzzed again. Open it.
She was confused but opened the window. Again, a buzz. Climb out.
She hesitated. Something felt off. Allison considered shutting it. The phone buzzed. This time, it was a call instead of a text. Brandon’s face filled the screen.
“Hello?”
“Listen to me right now.” The voice on the other end was not Brandon’s. It was a man’s voice, older and almost monotone. “Do not hang up. Your name is Allison Hanes. Your mother is Stephanie Beaker. Your stepfather is Bobby Beaker. Your little brother, Lucas Beaker, is eleven years old. He is in the sixth grade at Henderson Middle School. Do everything I say, and you and your family will be fine. I will not hurt you. But if you do not follow my instructions to the letter, I will kill your little brother and your parents.”
Fear immediately welled up in her. She felt her stomach sink. The voice continued. “Now, listen closely. After I hang up with you, climb out the window, and walk two houses to your right. Bring your phone. There is a black Ford. I will open the door for you. Get in the backseat. Again, do not make me hurt your family.” The voice was calm and smooth. The tone and the words were juxtaposed, as the threats did not match the sound.
Allison, in shock, did as the voice said. Clutching her phone in her hand, she crawled out the window. She was cold and wished she’d grabbed a sweater, but she was already outside and didn’t know what would happen if she made any sudden movements or deviated from her instructions.
She could see the car, its lights completely dark. As she approached, a man appeared from the driver’s seat and opened the rear door on the driver’s side. He was large, both tall and stocky. He was dressed in a black button up and dark jeans. Black wayfarer glasses framed his eyes, light brown and soft like caramel. Despite his size, he looked kind, like a young college professor.
“Your phone, please,” he requested with his hand outstretched. Allison handed it to him, and he threw it across the street, the device landing with a bounce in one of her neighbors’ yards.
Like an Uber from a nightmare, she got in the car. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Some light or reflection glinted, and she looked down Dogwood Lane. She must have been hallucinating, she thought, because Allison would swear that she saw her brother and his two friends, no more than a hundred yards away, staring at her.
“I know you’re really scared right now,” the driver said as he put the vehicle in drive and accelerated south on Dogwood Lane. “But I promise you, you’ll be fine. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Allison was speechless. A million thoughts zoomed through her brain, but she couldn’t focus to form a cognitive understanding of what was truly going on.
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The driver, her abductor, looked at her through the rearview mirror with those soft caramel eyes. “Don’t be frightened, okay? You’re going to be fine. I’m not going to hurt you,” he repeated. The way he said it, his voice smooth and caring, made Allison almost believe it.
She didn’t say a word, but simply looked out the window. She was amazed and perplexed. He didn’t tape her up, didn’t bind her hands. She could easily reach over the driver’s seat and strangle the man right here. He would crash the car and she could make a run for it. At a stop sign, she gently tested the door handle. The child safety lock was engaged; she couldn’t open it.
But, if she did try to strangle him, she thought, she could also end up injured or worse. There didn’t seem to be an easy way out of this at the moment. More importantly, her family was safe, at least for the time being. If this man kept his word, they would be left unharmed.
The man in the driver’s seat wasn’t big or even very intimidating. A man, most likely in his early to mid-thirties of average height and weight, with a few specks of gray coming through the part and sides in his dark walnut hair , who seemed more destined for a law firm than a kidnapping.
He looked at her again through the rearview. “What kind of music do you like? I want you to feel comfortable.”
He pushed the radio dial and scanned the FM channels until an Imagine Dragons song piped through the stereo system. “This okay?” he asked. Allison didn’t respond. She simply watched the houses pass as they drove. She recognized a few of them, but in the darkness, she didn’t know which direction they were heading.
“Where are you taking me?” she finally spoke.
“To my safehouse. The buyer will be arriving in a few hours.”
“The buyer?”
“I’ll tell you more when we get there.”
“So, you’re not going to kill me?”
His eyes darted to her through the mirror again. “My god, no. I know, some of the things I said earlier sounded scary. But I promise you, you’re fine. No one is getting killed tonight. I’m so sorry that I have to do this to you.”
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