THE SECOND CHAPTER

They had travelled into the woods for about fifteen minutes until they felt relatively safe. The kids set up camp within a circle of five close trees. They faced each other in a triangle so that between the three of them, they could see in every direction. A thick layer of pine needles covered the ground, hiding their footprints. It was about four-thirty and the sun’s angle in the sky was causing the shadows to grow longer in the woods. Breezes made those shadows move sometimes, making the three even more jumpy than they were. “So, anyone know why someone wants to kill us?” Nap asked nervously, but trying to make a joke out of it. “All we were doing was walking down the street. Maybe when we get to the shopping center later, we can ask the guy who gives us the keys about it,” Amy said with tears in her eyes. “No good. The silver haired guy said not to talk to him. If we do, we might not get the car. When we get the car, we’ll be in much better shape. Once we have a vehicle, we can go to the cops and tell ‘em what happened. I mean, a car blew up. They’ll know we’re not making it up when we say we were there,” Jared said. “So we’re just gonna let these guys call the shots?” Nap asked. “For now yeah, but only until tonight. Once we have a car we can disappear. We need to lay low right now. We have five grand and soon we’ll have a car. I think we’re in pretty good shape. Nap, you do still have the fanny pack, right?” asked Jared. “Yeah, right here boss,” Nap said as he held it up. “Why a

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fanny pack? And green? I hate green. When was the last time you saw a black man walking around with a green fanny pack? It just doesn’t happen,” Nap said. “I’m hungry,” Amy said. “I was going to go out to dinner with my parents tonight. Now they’ll just worry all night,” she said, as she pouted with her arms crossed. “I’ve never had anybody try to kill me before; except for that kid when I was in third grade cuz he thought I stole his liverwurst sandwich. That was different though. I don’t like this one bit,” Nap said. Jared sat quietly while his friends bickered and complained. He pulled out his phone and opened a text he had received several days earlier. It was from an unknown number, and simply had a sequence of numbers that read 39.519783, -100.148765. He sat and stared at it, wondering if it had something to do with all of this. It had come very unceremoniously the other day at 5:11 pm. He was watching TV and glanced at it when it came through, but since it made no sense to him, he ignored it and later forgot to delete it. It stayed in the back of his mind though, because it was such an odd thing to come in a text. “Jared? You with us at all?” Nap asked. Jared snapped out of it and looked up at his friends. “Yeah, what’s up?” he asked. “We’re taking a look inside the pack, ok?” Nap asked. “Yeah, let’s see what we got,” he answered as he rubbed his eye and focused on them. Nap unzipped and opened it, pulling out a big wad of cash surrounded by a rubber band. He pulled out the hair dye, scissors, and other objects the silver haired man had mentioned, and said, “Personally, I’m not planning on cutting or dying any of my hair. You guys?” They both shook their heads as he stuffed everything back in the fanny pack and zipped it. There was a small zipper in the front of the pack that felt like it had something in it. He unzipped it and pulled out three driver’s licenses, one for each of them. “Check it out. Fake ID’s! The guy didn’t say anything about this,” Nap said. He gave them all a quick look and then passed Amy and Jared theirs. “Where’d that picture come from? That’s not my name or my address! My birthdate’s even wrong,” Amy complained. “That’s pretty much the point of a fake ID, ya know?” Nap said.

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“Shut up,” Amy said after she realized he was right, but didn’t want to hear it. “This makes me nineteen. I’m only fifteen. Matilda? Do I look like a Matilda? That’s an old person’s name. I’m not gonna be called Matilda,” she said. Well, my name’s ok,” Nap said. “Prescott Williams. I like it. It has class. What’s yours, J?” he asked. “Roger Kent. Sounds like Superman’s brother or something,” Jared said. “I don’t feel safe here. Can’t we walk to the pickup spot early?” Amy asked. “Nope. It won’t be much longer ‘til it gets dark though,” Jared said, as he put his phone back in his pocket. “This place reminds me of when we were real young and we’d all play in the woods behind your house, Jared. Remember the time we built a fort out of old sticks and branches, and then tried to get in it when it rained? We got all wet and dirty and it collapsed on us,” Amy said, smiling. Jared and Nap smiled slightly while she continued. “Your mom would always bring out snacks and drinks and make sure we were all getting along. Those were fun times; then things changed. After your dad died, nothing was ever the same again.” Jared took off a thin gold bracelet that he wore on his left wrist and studied it, deep in thought. “Remember when my dad gave us these?” he asked. “Sure we do,” Nap answered. “Like it was yesterday. It was just before he died,” Amy affirmed. “He asked me to find out if you preferred silver or gold about a week before he gave ‘em to us,” Jared said as he looked at Amy. “Gold all the way, baby,” Amy said, attempting a smile. “I guess he really wanted to make sure you were gonna like it. He always had a soft spot for you,” he said. Amy’s eyes filled with tears as he continued. “When he gave them to us, he made us promise to always be friends, and to keep them with us as a symbol of our friendship.” “Yeah, and don’t forget the corny oath he required us to take before he’d give ‘em to us,” said Nap. They all smiled as Jared said, “We promise to be loyal friends to the end, no matter what! Cross our fingers, cross our toes, if we

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break our promise, someone will beat us with a hose!” Things got awkward quickly as soon as they stopped talking, so Nap chimed in. “Not to change the subject, but where’d you get the lighter back there?” Nap asked Jared “Got it off my mom when she hugged me at the house. I’m always bugging her to stop smoking, so I snag her lighter now and then to remind her I want her to quit,” he said. “Well, I’m glad you’re such a good pickpocket. Quick thinking to blow up that car. It stopped the other car in its tracks. I feel bad for the people who owned the one you blew up, though. How do they explain that to the insurance company?” Amy asked “I don’t know. I feel bad about that too,” Jared answered. “So, when we get the car and we go to the cops, how do we know they’ll believe us? We’ll be in a car we don’t own with a huge wad of cash in an ugly fanny pack, and we’re underage. Who’s gonna believe us? All they’re gonna do is call our parents and try to send us home. According to the guy in the car, that could get dangerous for our parents,” Nap said. “We have to try. You’re right, we can’t go home. We can’t go forward and we can’t go back. The cops are the only option we have at the moment. How do we know they don’t know all about this? They might be waiting for us to go to them so they can help. Maybe they’ll take us in and protect us until all the bad guys get caught. We’ve got nothing to lose right now. If the cops won’t help us, we’ll just take off and figure something else out,” Jared said. “He’s right, Nap. It’s all we can do. We’ve gotta go to the cops to start with. We don’t even know what these people want us to do. For all we know, we’re gonna get in the car and have an answer to all this,” Amy said. The trio sat in the woods for several more hours talking about their plans, and pondering how they had come to be put in such a position. Finally, they felt comfortable enough to begin moving around in the dark. It was twilight. “This seems like a good time to get moving. If we don’t start out soon, we’ll get lost just trying to get out of these woods,” Jared said. Nap agreed and grabbed the fanny pack. He unzipped it, took out the flashlight, piece of paper with the directions and the

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compass. Then he leaned to his right as he got to his feet, stumbling a bit. They all dusted themselves off and looked around, once they were standing. Nap turned on the small flashlight and, pointing it at the compass, determined the direction they had come from, then began to walk in that direction. “Where you going?” Amy said. “Heading back the way we came. The guy said when it’s dark, to follow that road around to the right,” Nap answered. “But the bad guys are that way,” she said. “They’re gone. They wouldn’t hang around there, and if they did, they would have figured out where we went, and caught up to us by now. I haven’t heard any helicopters in a while, either. Besides, the directions on the paper start there,” he said. “I think we’re safe. Come on,” Jared said as he started walking and took the lead. Amy and Nap followed closely behind, as they all navigated their way through the growing darkness with freakishly eerie shadows all around them. Every sound made them jump, even the ones they were making by snapping twigs under their feet. Jared took it slowly in the lead, warning the others of uneven ground or small obstacles in their way. The last thing any of them needed was a twisted ankle. After about twenty minutes of walking, they began to see light filter through the trees up ahead. They knew they were getting close. A few minutes later they were standing at the edge of the woods looking down at the road they needed to follow. “I don’t wanna walk on the road,” Amy said. “Yeah, let’s walk in the woods as much as we can, with an eye on the road to stay hidden,” Nap suggested. “Yeah, ok,” Jared said as he started down the steep slope parallel to the road. They stayed in the woods about thirty feet from the road. When the occasional car came along they could easily disappear behind a tree or a big rock. After about a half mile they came to the end of the road and needed to turn right. The problem for them was that the woods ended soon after they turned. The road became a residential neighborhood with houses on both sides of the street, with no sidewalk and nowhere to hide. Many of the yards had a chain link fence that came all the way out to the edge of the yard, forcing them to walk in the street.

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“It’s ok, guys. Just keep walking. We can go faster on the road anyway. Just act like you belong here and don’t look around a lot. If a car comes up behind us don’t look back,” Jared said. They all picked up their pace. No one talked as they were all on edge. Nap and Jared kept their heads down and put all of their energy into keeping a fast walking pace. Amy kept up well enough, but her eyes were darting around at all the cozy looking houses surrounding her. The bay windows with dim lights on inside the houses looked very inviting. She wished she could be in one of these houses, safe from possible harm. They continued the double-time march toward their destination with fearful determination. They would conquer this one obstacle before worrying about the next one. Jared and Nap quietly began to encourage each other with small jokes and fart noises, but were quickly shot down by Amy. “This is not the time!. How much further do you think? I’m getting tired,” she moaned. Just then they heard a car coming up behind them. The headlights got closer and closer. “Keep looking straight ahead,” Jared reminded them. The car seemed to slow down as it approached. Their hearts raced even faster than before, and their pace stayed noticeably and uncomfortably fast. The car headlights turned to the right and they heard the engine turn off. “Now what? Do we run?” Amy whispered with a shaky voice. “Not yet. Just keep walking,” Jared said. They heard the car door open then shut. They listened for footsteps. They didn’t hear any, but then they finally heard the squeak of a screen door. The person in the car had pulled into his driveway and was going into his house. When he went in, the screen door slammed shut behind him, jolting them out of their skins! “How long is this road? This is ridiculous!” Nap said out of frustration. “Anyone wanna jog?” he asked. “I see a light!” Amy said. “Funny, like you died, right?” Nap asked, as he continued to look down. “No, she’s right. There’s a stoplight up ahead,” Jared said. The road was on a slight curve and was now turning just enough so that they could see the end of the street. As they got closer, they saw a shopping center directly across the road. Jared kept checking his piece of paper, staring at it and making sure he was reading it right.

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“That’s it; that’s where we’re going,” he said with excitement. They got to the end of the street and waited for the light to turn green as they scoped out the shopping center. It was a strip mall – nothing fancy. The building was one story tall, went straight away from the road about two hundred yards, and then went at a ninety degree angle for the same distance with more stores. The anchor store was a grocery store, surrounded by smaller shops. It was just after nine p.m., and the grocery store was closing. All of the other stores’ lights were already out as they walked through the parking lot. There were only a few cars left in the lot, making it easy for them to spot the black Mustang. It was halfway through the lot, almost in the middle row, parked directly under one of the few street lights that was working. “I hope it’s an automatic. I was never taught a stick shift,” Jared said. “You mean you’ve had your license for all of twenty seven hours and in all that time you never learned to drive a standard?” Nap asked as they walked directly toward the car. Jared looked at his watch and hit the button on its side to turn on the light. “Twenty-eight hours, actually,” he said. They slowed their speed as they got closer to the car, looking around for the person who was supposed to give them the keys. They spotted a figure to their left walking on an intercept course from the other side of the parking lot. As the figure got closer they could tell it was a man. He looked to be very unassuming and who would probably be overlooked in a crowd. That was probably the idea behind sending him. He intercepted them about twenty yards from the car. Jared kept his left hand free. He did his best to not stretch out his arm for the keys. The man came uncomfortably close and skillfully handed off the keys into Jared’s open hand. The kids continued straight to the car as they momentarily marveled at its beauty. It was gorgeous! It was a brand new shiny black Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. The hubcaps were also black, with slender spokes running from the outside to the center. There was a hood scoop that looked wider than most, and made the car look mean. The front grill held fog lights on either side and the signature small metal cobra was mounted on the grill’s left side, with the pony in the center.

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Jared put the key in the door and turned it. He opened the door and was greeted by a blaring car alarm. It was a loud siren, accompanied by all of the car’s lights flashing on and off in alternating fashion from side to side. A few people who were milling around the entrance of the grocery store began to stare. The car was causing a scene. Jared fumbled with the keys, looking around and debating if he should even get in the car at this point. “Hit the alarm button on the remote!” Nap called out over the siren. Jared fumbled with the keys some more before finally hitting the alarm button and silencing it. The three looked around to see if they had caught people’s attention. “That was smooth,” Nap said as he anxiously took note of his surroundings. He was so nervous he was bouncing up and down on his toes as if he had to go to the bathroom. “Just get in the car,” Jared said, very embarrassed and nervous. He opened the door in a hurry and Nap climbed in the back seat, while Amy went around the car and got in on the passenger’s side. “Drive man! Just get us outta here!” Nap said. Jared, still flustered, fumbled with the keys again, trying to get them into the ignition. His hands were shaking so hard he needed to use both of them to be able to guide the key into its little slot. When he turned the key he held it in the turned position too long. The ignition made a loud screeching noise until he let it go. Once he let the key go, the engine settled into a low, powerful sounding rumble. “We’re doomed,” Amy said as she cupped her hand over her forehead.. Jared took several quick breaths, trying to calm down and get hold of his emotions. He slowly put his foot on the brake and shifted the car into drive. He took his foot off the brake and let the idle start moving the car very slowly. As they began to move, he turned the wheel to the right, heading for the exit. He straightened out the wheel once he was headed in the right direction. He let the idle take him all the way to the stop sign at the main entrance. This entrance led out to an intersecting street that was a main road. When Jared got to the stop sign, he put his foot on the brake, not realizing how touchy the brakes were, launching all three of them forward in their seats. “Which way should I go?” he asked, ignoring his quick stop. “Well, since it says no left turn, maybe you should turn right,”

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Amy said as nicely as possible, not wanting to upset him any further. Jared slowly turned right, onto the main road and brought the car’s speed up to thirty, as Amy rubbed his shoulder. A few minutes went by before he was able to regain his composure. While they waited for Jared to calm down they had searched the car for any kind of message that might let them know where they were supposed to go. They found nothing. The car was completely clean and even had that new car smell. Amy glanced at the odometer and noticed it only had thirty-two miles on it. “We need to find the nearest police station,” Jared said. They all looked around to try to get their bearings. They were in light traffic with no noticeable sign of being watched or followed. They continued straight on the road for a while, hitting a stoplight every half mile or so. It gave them all a chance to breathe and re-group. “Hey, this is a nice car. Leather seats, nice looking stereo, nice lit up dashboard. It’s a little small in the back seat, but still comfy. How’s it drive?” Nap asked, attempting to get Jared to start thinking about something positive. “Drives nice”, Jared answered abruptly. “Oh. Well good! Brakes work too?” “Yup.” “Great. Good talk,” Nap said. “The people in the car next to us are staring at me,” Amy said as she held her hand up to shield her face and looked forward. “Did you notice before we got in the car how reflective the windows are?” Jared asked. They can’t see you. They’re probably checking their look in your window,” he said. She glanced over again and noticed the woman in the other car appeared to be looking right through her. Amy waved her arms across her face with no response. She stuck her tongue out and still got nothing. “I guess you’re right. That’s kinda cool,” she said. “Ok, we’re miles away from the parking lot now. Let’s everybody stay relaxed and find the cops; unless you guys wanna go get something to eat first. I could go for a burrito myself,” Nap said. “How can you think of food now? I can’t eat until we get to the police and end this thing,” Amy said. The light turned green and Jared went with the flow of traffic. He saw an opening in the right lane, so he signaled and moved over safely. After a few more

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blocks, they came to the next stoplight. A blue Toyota Prius pulled up next to them at the light, with the passenger side window down. The driver was a young woman with short brown hair, wearing a light purple blouse. She looked approachable. Jared pushed the button on his door to bring the window down. “Excuse me, ma’am…could you please tell me where the nearest police station is? Nothing’s wrong, we just need to talk to someone, that’s all,” he said nervously. The woman looked over with a thin smile, leaned toward him a little and said, “They aren’t going to believe you, Jared. Follow the numbers on your phone. That’s the only way this will end.” The light turned green and the Prius took off, followed by two cars behind it. Jared just sat there, shocked at what the lady had said to him. Goosebumps covered Amy as she and Nap sat motionless with their mouths hanging open. People in the cars behind them started beeping their horns and yelling, waiting for them to move. Jared was jolted back into the moment with the cars beeping. He slammed on the gas, accelerating quickly and causing the back of the car to swerve slightly as the wheels skidded. “Jared, we are really trying hard to not die today, and right now you’re not helping us in our attempt!” Amy yelled. Jared got hold of his emotions and let up on the gas. “Sorry guys, but did you hear that? She knew my name! She knew what we were doing! All the people around us are probably just watching us to see where we go!” Jared said. “Police! Take a right here!” Amy said, pointing to a blue street sign that said Police. Jared applied the brakes hard enough to be able to make the turn without a problem, other than screeching the tires as he rounded the corner. “But that lady said they won’t believe us!” Jared said. “We’ve talked about this. What’s the worst thing that can happen? If they don’t believe us, we get back in the car and continue on our way,” Amy answered. The police station was about a mile down on the left. The building was very small. It looked like a satellite office and was probably manned by only a handful of people. There was an American flag out front with lights shining on it from the ground. Jared pulled into a parallel parking spot across the street so they could check it out before going in. The front of the building was

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mostly glass, and there appeared to be only one officer inside. He was sitting behind a desk, reading a magazine. They sat for five minutes and watched for activity, but saw none. “Nothing much going on in there. You guys ready?” Jared asked. “Let’s hit it,” Nap answered. “Do we all go in? What if it’s a trap?” Amy asked. “I doubt it’s a trap. Both the silver haired guy and the lady in the car said they won’t believe us. Sounds like they’re trying to keep us away from the cops,” Jared said. Jared and Amy opened their doors at the same time and got out, followed by Nap, who got out on Amy’s side. They walked across the dark and empty street and into the light of the police outpost property. Nap got to the door first and held it open for the others, following close behind. They were not comfortable with how bright it was in the room and the fact that it was so easy to see in. They still had the concern of being followed, and now felt like they were in a fishbowl. They stood in front of the officer behind his large desk. He was a middle aged man with a medium build. He had a full head of dirty blonde hair and a mustache that was in desperate need of a trim. The desk only held a corded phone, a police scanner, a few pens, a closed laptop, two neat stacks of paper about an inch thick, and a half-eaten sandwich. He had a small bag of chips in his hand, and his attention was focused on a motorcycle magazine in front of him. He didn’t look up when they entered. They stood there for a few moments to be polite, and let him finish whatever it was he was reading, but quickly grew impatient when he didn’t acknowledge them. They looked at each other, confused over how to approach this man. Finally, Jared spoke up. “Excuse me, sir? Can we speak with you please?” “How can I help you,” he said in a monotone voice, never looking up from his magazine. “We were at the shooting today in Tampa.” “What shooting is that?” he asked, sounding unconcerned. Jared looked at him with even more confusion and then looked to Amy for help. “We were abducted from the scene. They gave us this fanny pack and let us out. They had us walk to a shopping center and

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take a car,” she said. Jared held up the fanny pack to show him. “Where’s the car?” the officer asked. “Outside,” Amy answered. The officer rose from his desk without saying a word, wiped a few crumbs of food from his mustache, and went around the desk without making eye contact with any of them. He led the way out the door, not holding it open for them as they followed. He saw the Mustang and headed straight for it since it was the only car in the area. When they were all across the street, the officer stopped and sized it up “Unlock the doors please,” he said. “It’s unlocked, sir.” Jared said. “You should always lock your vehicle when you won’t be with it, even if it’s for a short time. Thieves only need a short time to steal it,” he said. Amy and Nap looked at Jared as though they couldn’t believe he left the car unlocked. The officer opened the driver’s side door and got inside. He leaned over and opened the glove compartment. He pulled out a piece of paper, leaned back over and asked to see their ID’s. Nap and Amy quickly handed over their fake ID’s. Jared fumbled around with his wallet and gave him his real one, not even remembering he had a fake one. The officer took all three of them in his left hand and fanned them out. He held up the vehicle registration in his right hand, using the car’s interior light to see, and studied everything closely. After he was satisfied with what he was looking at, he put everything together in a pile and handed it to Jared. “According to the registration, this car belongs to you, Jared. It’s in your name and the address matches. You three better be on your way,” he said coldly, as he exited the vehicle. “On our way?” Jared said. Don’t you wanna look in the fanny pack? It’s got five thousand dollars in it! Aren’t you wondering where we got that much cash?” The officer made eye contact with Jared for the first time and started to become agitated. “There have been no reports of a shooting in Tampa today, or an abduction. If you have five grand in there I have to assume you worked hard to earn it, since I have no reports of anyone missing any cash either. Looks like today’s your lucky day,” he said sternly as they began to back away a few steps in fear.

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“Yeah but -,” Nap tried to interject, upsetting the officer. “Look! I will say this once; I…..can’t…..help…..you. Just get in your car and go,” he said, as he pulled out his night stick. “Drive away, kids. You have a car and you have money. Drive away. If you don’t, the people you love just might be in danger soon.” He moved to the side and the three quickly and nervously got in the car. Once they were inside, the officer walked around to the passenger side and motioned for Amy her to lower the window. He leaned down and handed her bracelet to her through the window. “You dropped this on the ground, Amy. Be careful, you don’t want to lose it.” “Don’t you mean, Matilda?” she asked slyly. He just looked at her blankly with no concern and stood up. Jared glanced over at the exchange and slowly pulled away from the curb. He looked both ways before turning around on the lonely road and heading away.