Vanished (21 page)

“Hey, Jerry,” said the first cop. “Can I get that guy on the floor out of your way? You don’t care if we move him, do you?”

“Don’t touch him!” screeched Jerry. He moved closer to the old man, dragging Wyatt by the neck.

“He’s bleeding pretty bad, Jerry. I’d like to bandage his cut. He’s not a demon, right?”

“He interfered! He will die for interfering!”

The old man’s eyes widened, and he scooted a few inches away from Jerry.

“Holy fuck,” muttered the second cop.

“I think the shopper will be okay for a little bit longer,” murmured the first cop. “He’s holding his head up pretty good.” He raised his voice and looked at the older man. “You holding on all right?”

The bleeding man nodded. “Don’t worry about me.” He moved his gaze to Jerry and Wyatt.

“He’s a tough one,” said the first cop. “Okay, Jerry. We’ll leave the guy there for a while. But how about putting down that knife. You’re a lot bigger than that little boy. Do you really need a knife?”

“He has to die!” Spit flew from Jerry’s mouth.

“What do we do?” breathed Kent. He couldn’t take his gaze from his son. Wyatt was brave. There were a few tears on his face, but he’d been staying strong since Kent had appeared. If he didn’t break eye contact with the boy, he’d be all right.

Don’t look away.

“We keep him talking until our backup gets here,” said the first cop.

“Three minutes out,” said the second.

“Hey, Jerry. What did you ask Santa for this year?” asked the first cop.

Jerry’s expression blanked and then immediately morphed into rage. “There is no Santa, you lying sack of shit. Santa is Satan. I saw it on TV.” He waved his knife at the cop.

Bad question. But at least the knife was away from Wyatt.

“You’re all pawns of Satan,” Jerry shrieked at the cops. “You turn children into demons and try to fool the innocent. They must die!” He moved his left arm from Wyatt’s chest and grabbed his hair, yanking his head back and exposing his neck. He brought the knife back to Wyatt’s throat.

“Noooo,” screamed Kent as he leaped forward. Dimly, he heard the cops shout at the man to put down his knife.

Time slowed.

Jerry’s gaze was locked on his blade. Wyatt held eye contact with his father, his eyes widening to expose an alarming amount of white. In one smooth motion, Jerry reached across Wyatt’s neck and dug the blade under the left side of Wyatt’s jaw.

Wyatt knew. He pushed up on his toes, throwing his head backward into Jerry’s nose.

Noise exploded on Kent’s right side, and Wyatt’s head jerked.

Blood sprayed the glass doors behind Jerry’s head.

Jerry collapsed to the floor, pulling Wyatt down with him.

Kent scrambled to his son and fell to his knees, yanking him away from the dead man.

Wyatt’s hair was a bloody mess. Kent pressed his hand on the top of the boy’s head to stop the bleeding.

It was soft.

Kent’s ears buzzed. He couldn’t hear, but he knew the cops were shouting at him.

Part of his son’s head was missing.

In the bright bathroom, Kent breathed hard, still staring into his own eyes. Wyatt had been rushed to the hospital but didn’t survive the night. He’d been declared dead on Christmas Day. When Wyatt visited him in his dreams, he was whole. But Kent could still feel the softness of his brain under his fingertips. A sensation no father should feel.

The dream never went further than that. He had no memory of how he got to the hospital or of notifying Wyatt’s mother.

His life had stopped on that day. Twenty years later, this Christmas would be different.

Now, he had a plan to bring the world back into balance.

21

76 HOURS MISSING

Jake sank further into the couch and stared at the TV screen. The movie wasn’t registering with his brain. It was
Star Trek
, but he had no idea which one because he couldn’t focus on it for more than five seconds before his mind galloped off in a different direction. Lucas was sprawled in one of the big easy chairs. He snored.

Jake was jealous. He would have loved a good sleep. It was bad enough that he thought about Henley during the day, but she also invaded his dreams and kept him up at night. Horrible dreams. Nightmares.

Talking with his dad had been good. Except for the part about condoms. He’d wanted to sink through the floor when his dad had told him to use a condom.
No shit.
He’d been pissed last night when he was told he couldn’t go see McKenzie. They weren’t sleeping together. How could they when they never were alone together? Fate had been screwing with him when it brought them together at a party a week before he left to go to college. Since then they’d talked, texted, and Skyped daily. He’d been counting down the days to winter break because he’d finally have the chance to see her in person again.

So far he’d seen her for all of fifteen minutes last Thursday after he’d run to the market for his mom. Her parents had dragged her off to some family event. Last night, he’d needed to get away. For days this house had offered nothing but depression. After the vigil, he’d craved some fresh air and peace. A chance to hang with people who weren’t crying every hour. It’d felt good to get out of the house and go to the vigil, but it’d made him want to escape afterward. He could have just left. No one would have even noticed. But he’d done the right thing and asked permission and been shot down.

It’d made him angry.

McKenzie’s parents had been at a party last night, and Jake and McKenzie would have been alone. Finally. If he didn’t get some alone time with the girl, she was going to start looking for someone else to hang out with. Someone who lived in town. Like that asshole Scott Sinclair she kept talking about. She had him in one of her classes at Portland State, while Jake was a continent away at Duke. Why shouldn’t she see someone closer to home?

He sank deeper into the couch. There were cool girls at Duke, but he was being faithful to McKenzie. They’d had such a short time together before he’d left for school in August, but it was enough to tell him this was a girl he wanted to hang on to. Bright blue eyes, shiny black hair. Gorgeous. And nice. She was funny, too.

He’d had two texts from her so far that day. She thought her parents would be leaving to go to another party that afternoon, and did he think he could come over? He’d replied that he’d try. He could jog to her place in less than five minutes if he cut through the green space areas. But after his conversation with his dad a few hours ago, he didn’t think he’d be going anywhere today.

He’d even approached Ava that morning, asking if she thought it would be okay if he went to McKenzie’s for an hour or two. She’d offered to accompany him, and his face had turned red. Then Ava had laughed. “That wouldn’t be very cool, would it? An escort on a date. It’d be like old-fashioned dating, where the girls had to take an older female companion with them everywhere.”

Jake had no idea what she was talking about. He was pretty certain his mom had never taken an older woman with her when she dated in high school. He’d politely laughed and slunk away. But instead of going with him, Ava had gone to the grocery store with his mom and Lilian. The two women had decided to prepare a big Christmas Eve feast. He and Lucas had looked at each other when the women announced their plans and said they didn’t think they’d be very hungry.

Lilian had replied that they’d feed it to the reporters outside, and that the point was to give the women something to do so they didn’t go stir crazy. He and Lucas had nodded like they understood and proceeded to line up a bunch of movies for the day. The theme was
Star Trek
. All the generations. They wouldn’t be able to watch all of them today, but they’d make a good dent. They could always continue tomorrow.

Jake glanced at the huge Christmas tree in the corner. Its branches seemed to droop a bit, and he wondered if his mom had forgotten to water it. He could do it. But Christmas was tomorrow, so what would be the point? The amount of presents hadn’t changed since Henley had vanished. During a normal year they would have tripled over the last few days. No one wanted to go shopping, let alone wrap presents.

Now Ava, Lilian, and his mom were in the kitchen making food for an army. Lilian had complained about visiting three stores before they’d found a turkey that wasn’t frozen. He’d asked why they couldn’t just thaw it in the microwave, which had led to peals of laughter from all three women. Once again, he’d slunk out of the kitchen. The turkey was probably too big to fit in the microwave. At least it’d felt good to hear them laugh.

His phone vibrated, and he opened the text. McKenzie had sent a picture of her family’s Christmas tree. He smiled and tapped out a response.

PRETTY TREE

Her reply popped up.
CAN U COME OVER? THEY’RE LEAVING AT 2

Jake sighed and looked at the holiday picture again.
I
’
LL TRY

She sent three hearts and a pair of lips.

He swallowed hard and desperately wanted out of the house. Ava passed through the family room on her phone, heading to the back patio for a private conversation. That was becoming the norm. Whenever Dad or Ava got a work call, they took it to the backyard. His dad was still outside on his phone. He’d been on his phone for several hours. Work stuff, he’d said.

No doubt there was all sorts of fallout from that newspaper article. What were they saying on the newscasts? The family had agreed on a no-news-coverage blackout. Movies were the only thing they’d been watching. Jake hadn’t even been watching his regular shows in case there was some “breaking news.” Ava had promised to keep them informed of anything important, and she’d kept that promise.

He watched Ava outside on the phone. His dad had ended his phone call and now was intently listening to Ava’s side of her conversation. Dad stood stiffly, his posture perfect. Even without his cowboy hat, his dad always looked like he was ready to gun someone down. He had that look of tension and preparedness that spoke of razor reflexes. Jake sat up straighter on the couch.

What had happened?

Ava ended her call, and she and Jake’s dad talked heatedly for a moment. Ava used her hands when she talked, reminding him of a stereotypical Italian woman in a movie. Jake studied her face. She looked worried. She glanced his way, and he knew she couldn’t see him through the lightly tinted windows. She looked back at his dad and shook her head. Dad stepped forward and pulled her into a deep hug.

Jake’s jaw dropped.

Ava embraced him back. Her eyes closed. His dad rubbed her back with one hand, but Jake couldn’t see the expression on his face.
Dad and Ava?
He looked over at Lucas, who continued to snore. No one else had seen the hug. Jake studied the pair again.
Dad could do worse. But maybe he’s just comforting her about something.

A big part of him wished McKenzie was there to comfort him in the same way. There was something about being next to her that made him relax. She always smelled so good and was interested in what he had to say. He was tired of Skyping when he knew she was so close. They should be spending time together. He felt like a piece of him was missing because she wasn’t sitting beside him. He had to get over there today. Just for a few minutes.
It’d fill that hole he had in his chest.

His dad and Ava separated. Both were nodding as they talked, and they turned to head back into the house. Jake whipped around and stared at the screen, pretending he hadn’t seen the embrace outside. Patrick Stewart was giving orders for an away mission to rescue a crew member. Jake recalled from somewhere in the back of his brain that the mission would be a success.

Why couldn’t his family’s nightmare be resolved within ninety minutes?

“Hey, everyone. Could you all come in here for a moment?” Ava called out as she and his dad came in from outside. Lilian and Robin stepped into the family room from the kitchen, both wiping their hands on towels. Lucas jerked awake and blinked.

“I’ve just had a phone call from the command center,” Ava said. “Someone called in to 911, claiming that Henley has been released. They gave GPS coordinates for us to find her.”

“What?” Lilian grabbed Robin’s shoulder for support. “She’s safe? She’s okay?” Tears started.

Jake held his breath as every muscle in his body froze.
Could it be true?

“Hold on.” Ava held up her hands. “We don’t know. We’re sending several teams to the spot. It’s remote and wooded.
And
there is a chance that this is another fake, like the ransom note. Please keep that in mind. The caller also refused to answer when the operator asked him if the girl was alive.” She looked earnestly at Lilian. “Mason and I were just talking about whether or not we should even tell you before we know if it’s real.”

Jake’s dad nodded.

“Dad didn’t want to get our hopes up,” Jake guessed, excitement making his voice crack.
Would Henley come home today?

“No, it was the opposite.” Ava glanced at his dad. “He thought you should know. He’d said he’d want to know as a parent.”

“Thank you for telling us,” Robin said. “We understand you’re just trying to protect us.”

“You’ve been through a lot of ups and downs. So have I. I wasn’t sure this was a roller coaster you’d want to ride again,” said Ava.

“We’ll be fine. Where is the location?” asked Lucas. He looked ready to grab a jacket, hop in his car, and race to find Henley.

“Up the Sandy River. The spot is part of the National Forest, and it’s a really rugged area. If this is real, someone put some effort into getting Henley to that location,” answered Mason. “The FBI is sending teams, and they’ve called the search and rescue organization that handles that area.”

“Can we go?” Lucas asked.

Ava shook her head. “Mason and I are going to the location. Clackamas County has a few deputies outside, so you can contact them if you need something. We’ll let you know as soon as possible if it’s legitimate. It’s going to take us at least an hour to get up the river to that location. Maybe more.”

Lucas turned to look at Robin, and Jake’s heart cracked a little bit at the look of longing on his stepdad’s face. Robin left Lilian’s side and came around Lucas’s chair to sit on his lap. Lucas wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. Jake glanced back at Lilian. She stood still, both arms wrapped around herself as she watched the couple.

She’s got no one but Henley.

And Henley might never return. For a brief second, he thought about giving Lilian a hug, but her expression signaled that she didn’t want to be touched. She was sinking deep inside herself again, where she seemed to have spent so much of the past few days. This morning in the kitchen was the first time Jake had seen her nearly back to normal.

This has to be for real.

He glanced at his dad and saw that he and Ava were watching Lilian closely, too.

“Could they trace the call?” Jake asked.

Ava shook her head. “A disposable cell. Triangulation of the cell towers indicates the call originated from downtown Portland. He picked the most densely populated area to place the call from.” She glanced at Mason. “I’m going to change into jeans and boots and we can go.”

“Is it bad terrain?” Robin asked.

Ava nodded. “Some of the worst. Riverbeds and cliffs. We’ll see exactly what it’s like when we get there.” She strode out of the room.

Jake watched her leave.
Please God, let this be true.
He glanced at the clock over the fireplace.
An hour before we hear any news? I’ll go crazy waiting. What am I going to do?

McKenzie.

No. Not now. Not when we’re so close to finding Henley.

He studied the adults in the room. Lilian abruptly spun on her heel and went down the hall. Jake heard the guest bedroom door close and knew she wouldn’t be out until they got some news. His mom got up from Lucas’s lap and started loading dishes in the dishwasher. Lucas stared into space for a few moments and then grabbed his tablet and started tapping on the screen.

There was nothing to do but wait. And he could do it alone, or somewhere else, with someone to talk to.

I’ll just be gone for a little while. I’ll be back before Dad calls us about Henley.

No one noticed as he left the family room.