Silencing Joy (13 page)

“No. I can’t.” I replied. I then asked the
question I had been dreading. “What do we do now?”

“Well, we need to find out how deep the
corruption goes and find someone that we can trust,” Will
answered.

“What about Bill from the Boston office?”
Derek interjected with his eyebrows furrowed.

“I forgot about Bill. He’s been around a long
time. I think he’d be safe to advise us on what to do.”

“What do we do with them?” Derek motioned to
Jen and me. “We need to find Kara.”

“Hello! Sitting right here!” Jen spit in
aggravation. She continued to pick at her muffin with her
fingertips.

“We have to take them with us. We can’t leave
them alone,” Will stated.

“No, we have to drop them off somewhere and
take care of business,” Derek said through clenched teeth, fuming
at Will.

“What is your problem?” Will asked getting
agitated. “We will. Let’s figure this out.”

Derek took a sip of his coffee and placed the
mug down hard, shaking the whole table.

“Dude, calm down. One step at a time.” Will
tried to speak soothingly, but his irritation with Derek was
evident.

Derek looked away from Will. He was pissed. I
was confused as to what sparked this argument, but I really hadn’t
been totally focused on the conversation since it became concrete
that felons want me taken down. I gulped from my
thoughts...
Killed!

Derek stiffened as his eyes locked on the
door of the diner. I turned my head to see two guys walk in. They
scanned the restaurant.

“Speak of the devil,” Derek said cryptically
in a low voice. “Go to the restroom now, see if there’s a window to
climb out of. We’ll meet you outside.” Derek whispered to Jen and
me. The way he was acting, I didn’t question him.

Jen grabbed my hand and pulled me up out of
the booth. We headed straight for the sign that says
Ladies
.

I didn’t dare look back. Luckily, the
restroom was in the opposite direction of the front door. My heart
thundered, not sure of what was going to happen.

We spilled into the ladies room clumsily. We
were alone. Jen took in our surroundings.

“Good, there’s a window.”

Jen walked straight over to it. She tried to
open it, but it was stuck.

“It is probably nailed shut,” I offered. “To
keep people from breaking in.”

“Or getting out...” Jen countered
ominously.

“What do we do?” I asked.

We stood together thinking, but our
consideration of what to do was cut off.

Pop, pop, pop!

Gun shots sounded throughout the diner in
quick succession. Yelling erupted from outside the bathroom
door.

We both jumped. I clutched my chest in
fear.

“Hold this.” Jen handed me her purse as she
sprang into action.

She picked up the trash can and threw it with
all her might at the window.

It smashed. Glass rained everywhere.

I danced nervously in place, watching the
door, waiting for a person or a bullet to burst through it.

“Get ready,” Jen ordered as she took off her
sweatshirt and wrapped it around her hand and arm.

She used it to cover herself as she punched
out the rest of the glass so a body could fit through the window.
The glass tinkled when it hit the tile floor.

I swung her purse over my head, so I wouldn’t
lose it.

“Come on,” Jen commanded.

The diner was street-level, so we used the
trash can to boost ourselves up. Jen rested her sweatshirt on the
window sash. Touching carefully where the glass shards were left,
we hoisted ourselves up and each of us jumped. It wasn’t a long way
down, but we still landed ungracefully on our butts.

I felt a prick in my palm, but ignored it as
we scurried to our feet. Upheaval was coming from the front of the
building and sirens whirled in the distance.

Will ran screeching around the corner at full
speed. Jen and I both jolted in surprise. Derek was right on his
heels. Never losing momentum, Will grabbed my hand and propelled me
forward, practically ripping my arm out of its socket. The four of
us ran with all that we had.

Panting for breath, we continued to run, then
dodged behind an old barn.

The hand that was crushed in Will’s felt wet
and cool. I stole a second to peer at it and realized the wetness
was blood. The hurt amplified as I saw a large piece of glass
wedged in my palm.

“What happened?” I stammered out.

“Those were guys from the bureau,” Derek
said, still catching his breath. “They told us to run. We have to
leave the car. They are going to make Matthews think they chased us
on foot.”

“What? Why would they help us?” Jen asked,
sliding down the wood planks of the barn to sit in the dry uncut
grass.

“They said they’ve been suspicious of
Matthews for a while,” Will added. “We have to meet them at
midnight back here.”

“You trust them?” I asked, frightened.

“We don’t have anyone else,” Derek concluded.
“We need help. We have to help Kara.”

I was all for helping people. I could only
imagine the horror that she was going through at the hands of
Tommy. At that point, though, it seemed we needed to help
ourselves. Something was not sitting well with me, but, with the
state I was in, trying to put my finger on it was a lost cause.

Will leaned in to me and gently kissed my
forehead.

“Damn, that was close,” he said. My eyes
closed and a swimming bubbled in my stomach.

As my eyes opened, I saw Derek and Jen stared
at us. I couldn’t read their expressions.

The stinging in my hand intensified. I lifted
it up to look at it.

“Holy shit!” Will said, seeing the blood.

He took my hand to examine it. He put the
backpack down and rifled through it, pulling out a first aid
kit.

“Wow, Joy, that looks deep,” Jen said, moving
to stand behind Will who immediately started cleaning the blood and
glass out of my hand.

“I’m gonna go see if they left. I want to try
to get the car back,” Derek informed us as he walked around to the
front of the barn.

“I think you need stitches,” Will said. He
wrapped my hand in gauze, but the blood soaked through immediately.
Derek walked back.

“It looks like they’re gone, but the police
are still there.”

“How’re we going to get the car?” Jen
asked.

“I don’t think the baseball cap and
sunglasses thing is going to work this time,” I said.

Will grimaced at my joke before turning to
Derek. “She needs stitches.”

“We’re going to have to steal a car,” Derek
replied.

Derek smoothly hot-wired an older Chevy
sedan. We climbed in and drove to the nearest town. Will
disappeared into the drugstore and returned with something called
liquid stitches. In the bathroom of a nearby gas station, he gently
removed the blood-soaked wrap and cleaned the cut, applying the
glue-like substance to my palm.

“Don’t move your hand until it dries,” Will
ordered.

“So how many years does a criminal get these
days for grand theft auto?” I asked sarcastically.

“Oh, only about ten. You can get away with
three for good behavior.” Will chuckled wryly. “Don’t worry; we’ll
return the car as soon as we’re done here.”

Will, pulled me close, tilting his head
toward me and nuzzling my ear.

“Might as well do something until your hand
dries,” he whispered.

I
harrumph
, but allowed him to shower
me with kisses. It feels really good. He moved my wounded hand
aside and a grasped me at the base of my neck. His eyes shone
passionately as he planted his lips to mine. Our breathing picked
up. Lost for a moment, all the fear forgotten, I put my non-injured
hand on his back to pull him closer. He moaned against my lips. A
loud knock startled both of us.
Ugh!

“You guys done in there?” Jen asked through
the closed door.

We pulled apart, and I yelled back,
“Almost.”

Will rewrapped my hand, and we walk back to
the stolen car. Derek and Jen had fast food waiting and my stomach
rumbled, reminding me it was likely dinner time. We drove back to
where Derek had hotwired the car a mile or so from the old barn and
left it for the owner a ways away from the rendezvous point. We
walked the mile back to the barn to wait for midnight to come.

“I didn’t want cheese,” Jen whined. “Why
can’t they ever get a large order straight at these places?”

“Here, take mine,” Derek offered, and they
swapped sandwiches.

“What are we going to do here for the next
six hours?” Jen asked.

I could tell she was getting tired and
cranky. Derek had taken the blanket from Will’s backpack and laid
it out for all of us. It was kind of like having a picnic at night.
If it weren’t for the running for our lives part and knowing some
girl had been abducted, it would have been fun.

It was dark, but the moon was full and
bright. It was eerie and cool at the same time. There was enough
light for me to see Will raise his eyebrows at Jen’s question.

“I can think of a few things,” Will answered
huskily.

“What’s the matter? Didn’t get enough last
night?” Jen quipped.

I shot Jen a nasty look in the darkness.
Everyone silently chewed. The food tasted like cardboard.

I had an urge to get my camera out and take
pictures. The moonlight was perfect. But instead, I collected
everyone’s trash and shoved into the fast food bag.

Derek lay back and covered his face with his
arm. He was just not himself.

Will pulled out the sleeping bag from the
backpack. He tossed the sleeping bag towards Jen. He then leaned
his back against the barn and pulled me in front of him, so that I
sat between his legs. Then he draped the blanket we’d been sitting
on across us.

Derek:

Derek lay on the ground staring at the sky for a long
time. He sent up a prayer that Kara is okay, that she is unharmed.
He can hardly believe that she has been taken. Maybe Will is wrong.
Maybe it’s not her in the picture.

Light even breaths are coming from everyone except
him. He knows he needs to sleep. He needs his strength for whatever
is coming. Time is not moving fast enough, and midnight is a
century away.

Derek gets up and walks to Will’s backpack in the
moonlight. He quietly pulls on the zipper and uncovers Joy’s
camera. He fiddles with it for a minute, figuring out how to turn
it on, and clicks a button on the top, and the camera springs to
life. The lens extends and a bunch of green and red lights come
on.

The screen on the back illuminates, and Derek finds
the review button. He keeps pressing it to shuffle through the
pictures. Great ones of the football team on that fateful night
pass across the small display. He goes so fast he almost doesn’t
see it. But there, right before his eyes, a picture pops up. The
player is really close up. Derek can see the bleachers. He holds
the camera closer to his face. There, underneath, is a girl. Her
face is out of focus, but you can tell something is wrapped around
her mouth. Her eyes are slightly visible and are grotesquely
horrified.

It’s her. It’s his Kara.

Derek puts the camera down in the grass and runs
around the side of the barn in the dark. He gets as far away as he
can before he punches the old wood of the barn. His knuckles burn
from the strike, but that is nothing compared to the burning fury
in his chest. Anger flows through his veins. He let her down.

This will not help her. He needs to keep his cool.
Derek needs to be level-headed and smart about this. He needs to
use what he knows of Tommy and all the time he has spent with him
to save Kara.

I felt Will’s leg jolt. We all must have
fallen asleep. His leg banged mine again. I heard someone saying,
‘Will.’

Directly above us was a man tapping Will’s
leg with his foot, trying to wake him up.

“Will?”

Will shot up straight and flopped back
against the barn.

“Ugh, Dude. Wake me in a century,” he
grumbled.

Mr. Cranky-pants was back.

Derek got up, groggily going over to the man
to shake his hand.

“Hey, Bill.”

Jen was out cold, and I stayed snuggled in
front of Will while Derek and Bill talked.

“Things are not good, Derek.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Matthews has lost it. He’s coming after you
and Will. He’s going to try and get you for insubordination.”

“Ha, yeah right,” Derek said
sarcastically.

“I didn’t realize the punishment for
insubordination was being shot at. I must’a slept through that
class,” Will interjected sleepily.

Bill looked at Derek, then at Will and me
leaning on the barn.

“He also wants her,” Bill said in a hushed
tone.
Did he think it was any less of a blow if he said it
softly?

“Kara Matthews has not been seen since
Saturday.”

Derek visibly shrank and seethed. Derek and
Will shared a look. “We think that she was with the new shipment of
cargo Tommy was delivering. He is trying to send a message to
Matthews.”

“Tommy thinks nothing can touch him. He’s
getting even sloppier than he was before.” Will added and
stretched. He gave me a little hug before getting up.

“What are we going to do?” he said, as he
walked over to Derek and Bill.

“I think this corruption runs deep.” Bill
shook his head. “No one knows who to trust. Everyone’s acting like
nothing is happening. They’re blindly following orders from
Matthews.”

A man carrying a bunch of coffees in a foam
tray approached the group. He looked young, maybe nineteen or
twenty. Jen was sound asleep. Derek turned to slap a hand in the
guy’s free one.

“Hey Jake!” Will said. “Nice of you to join
us. And thanks for missing my ear by an inch with a bullet in the
diner. I really appreciate that. I like my ears where they are.” He
clasped both his earlobes for effect.