Capture (21 page)

How was I supposed to control what others thought?
“I never made anyone any promises.”

“
Your girlfriend did, though.”

“
Tarah’s—” I started to say she wasn’t my girlfriend then gave up explaining. “I don’t know exactly what she told you. All I know is Tarah and I are headed to South Dakota, you guys are following us, and we need a rental bus to get everyone there safely without getting caught. You know, I don’t want to go to prison any more than you do.”

“
You mean back to prison,” he said.

“
Right.”

“
Except
you’ve
never actually been in prison. You would never end up in a place like that, ‘cause your daddy wouldn’t allow it, would he?”

What was with this guy?
Was he determined to tick me off or what? Just because it was along the same lines as what I'd told Tarah didn't mean I liked how it sounded coming out of this guy's mouth.

My silence only seemed to goad him on.
“I guess this all seems like a big adventure to you, don’t it, rich boy?”

I worked on breathing deep through my nose and
resisting the urge to lean across the seat to punch him.

“
Fact is, if you got caught right now, all they’d do is ship you back home to your mansion on a hill. While the rest of us would get thrown right back into another interment camp and doped up out of our minds again. Or shot.”

Finally I’d had enough.
“What is your problem? I’m trying to help you and your family and everyone else’s. You’re right, I don’t have to be here, and I don’t have to try to help. But I am. So why are you giving me grief about it? You should be thanking me.”

“
Because I don’t like you and I don’t trust you. I don’t like what you stand for, what your whole family stands for, getting rich off the imprisonment and mistreatment of others who don’t have your connections or money. And most of all, I don’t want your help.”

“
Then why’d you come? You didn’t have to come with me to get the bus. You volunteered, remember?”

“
I’m only doing this to ensure you don’t screw this up. Believe me, if I could afford to rent the bus on my own, I would. The only reason you’re here and I’m not doing this on my own is ‘cause of your money.”

“
I don’t have money. My mother does. There’s a difference. Maybe I should just give you some. Then you can get your family some bus tickets—”

“
So then you can make me look even worse in front of my wife and kid? I don’t think so.”

I took another deep breath, but it burned in my chest.
“What do you want from me?”

“
I want you to stop being a kid, to realize what you’re doing here. For you to take responsibility for your decisions and your actions. I want you to grow up and see that you’re holding a whole lot of lives in your hands right now.”

I snorted.
“You think I need you to point that out to me? I already know if I don’t help you guys, you’re going to screw this up just like you almost screwed up everything with your stupid decisions at the gas station. What were you thinking, killing that cop? And then you wanted to kill the gas station attendant too? He was just some kid working the wrong shift on the wrong day. But you wouldn’t have any problem killing him anyway, would you?”

“
Not if it meant protecting my family. I’d kill a thousand cops and gas station workers if it meant keeping Pamela and Cassie safe,” he muttered, staring out the passenger side window. “Including anyone who gets in our way of renting this bus.”

“
You’re not going to kill anyone else on this trip, Steve. Not if you want to keep tagging along with our group. Every person you kill just brings more heat on the rest of us. We’ve got hours to go till we get to Sioux Falls. We don’t need even more people trying to hunt us down along the way.”

“
Oh yeah? And if I do take out someone else, what you are going to do about it? You going to try and take me down like you did those guards at that camp last night? Or how about all those people you killed last summer?” His face twisted into a sneer. “You think it’s fine for you to judge me, but you’re not so spotless yourself, are you? Or did you think only your town’s outcasts had heard about that?”

My throat knotted, forcing me to swallow hard.

Again I heard the shouting from that night, saw the blue and red flashes lighting up the woods, heard Damon yelling out my name for help followed by his last words.
Run, Hayden!

And then I’d
lost control, my fear twisting my willpower as it exploded out of my control, killing him and everyone else and nearly myself too, the whole world turning into shades of gray and navy and black. And then it seemed like only seconds later I was waking up in the hospital…

“
You and I aren’t so different,” Steve went on, his words yanking me back to the present. “We do whatever it takes to survive. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do now. I’ll try to keep things cool as long as I can. But if it comes down to using force in order to get a bus, then that’s what I’m going to do. And I hope you’ll be smart enough to either help or stay out of my way. Understood?”

Oh yeah, I heard him loud and clear.

But I still wasn’t going to let him kill anyone else on this trip, no matter what it took. I had enough names and faces on my conscience to deal with when I looked in a mirror as it was. No way was I going to let him add another death onto the list.

The GPS broke that train of thought, the female voice directing me to turn off the interstate at the next exit.
I took the turn a little too fast and had to force my foot to ease up on the gas pedal. Having a wreck was the last thing we needed.

We headed down the town’s main street in silence, the GPS’s instructions the only sound now as we took the last two turns then pulled into the bus rental company’s pitted gravel
and dirt parking lot. Only one beat up old truck sat at the front of the small main building. But at least four or five buses of different types formed a hulking row behind the building under a tall, open ended metal shed, and the main building’s lights were still on.

“
All right, give me your ID,” Steve muttered after we parked near the building’s front door.

Adrenaline pumping, I dug out my wallet from my back pocket and gave him my driver’s license.
He stared at it for a moment, tilting it so the parking lot light shown down on it through the windshield. He pressed it between his hands, closed his eyes, and began to mumble something I couldn’t quite make out.

I waited for some sort of sensation to hit me.
But I didn’t feel anything at all. After a moment, he handed me the ID.

Before I could look at it, he raised a flat hand in front of my face, his jaw set with determination, and started mumbling again.
I braced myself for pain, but again I felt nothing. Was he even applying the effect yet?

“
How long till—”

“
It’s done.”

I looked in the mirror and swore.
I looked like my dad minus the gray hair and crows feet. Steve was a borderline sociopath, but I had to admit at least to myself that the guy had skills. “Can you do this to anyone?”

“
Anyone who lets me. Or has a weak will to start with.” He opened his door and got out. “Now hurry up and let’s get this done before it wears off.”

Yeah, that made me feel real confident.

C
HAPTER 12

A
bell dinged over the door as we entered the office. The man behind the counter looked up, his eyes squinting. The fluorescent lighting was just bright enough to show white sprinkled throughout his whiskers and the few hairs combed over his head. A maze of wrinkles cut through his still partly tanned face. He looked like he should be wearing overalls and riding a tractor under a hot sun instead of working at a bus rental.

He nodded hello, then asked,
“What can I do for you?”

I started to open my mouth, but Steve cut me off, stepping around me and up to the counter with a swagger I hadn’t noticed before.
When he spoke, his strangely heavy new drawl nearly made me stare at him.

“
Well, now, we heard you maybe had a bus we could rent. It’s for our church group. We figured, seeing as how it’s nearly Christmas, we’d all get together and take a little trip up north.”

We should have worked out our story together ahead of time.
I worked to keep my face still.

“
Is that right?” He stared at Steve, then me, then Steve again, squinting so hard I couldn’t see his eyes beneath the bunched up skin anymore. “You say you’re headed up north? Whereabouts?”

“
South Dakota. We’ve got a sister church up there we’re wanting to visit.”

I worked not to flinch.
Steve was taking a risk telling this guy even that much. What if the feds somehow traced our path to this man and asked him what we’d said?

“
Huh.” He rubbed a gnarled and weathered hand over his gut in thought. “You need a school bus or a charter?”

“
Charter if you’ve got one available.” Steve never missed a beat with his answers. I had to give it to him, he was good. “We’ve got a few little ones wanting to come along. So we’re hoping to keep things as comfortable for them as we can.”

The man nodded slowly.
“Yeah, I might have a charter available. When’d you need it?”

Here was the only time Steve paused.
He gave a sheepish smile and rubbed a hand over one cheek. “Well, to be real honest, we’re kind of in a bind here. See, we’re actually from out of town. We were already headed on our trip, and our church bus broke down. So we’re needing some new transportation real quick if we can find some.”

At this, the old man frowned.
“You’ve got little ones stranded out in this?” He jerked a thumb at the windows, as if a blizzard were raging outside.

“
Yes sir,” Steve replied. “So you see why we’re kind of in a hurry. I mean, I suppose we could just send everyone home and try again in a few weeks when our bus is repaired. But everyone was sure looking forward to this trip…”

Oh man, Steve was good.
Even my own mother, the queen of guilt trips, couldn’t have pulled one off as well as this.

Just how much did Steve practice lying to people?

The proprietor grunted. Then he looked at me again. “And who might you be?”

“
Church treasurer.” The words just rolled out of my mouth. Maybe Steve was contagious.

“
I’ve got a charter we can set you up with.” He reached under the counter and brought out a clipboard. “Treasurer, if you’re the one with the money then you’ve got to fill out this form. How long are y’all going to need it for?” He looked to Steve again for the answer while I tried to confidently step up to the counter and start filling out the form.

“
Oh, maybe a week or two? We’ve got some pretty chatty ladies in our bunch that are going to want plenty of time for visiting and picture taking and all that.”

The old man nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve got a sister-in-law the same way. Always talking and taking endless pictures for that scrapbooking stuff. Got herself a whole club of women who get together for it. Drives my brother crazy.”

Steve grinned.
“Yeah, our church ladies got a scrapbooking club of their own. Meets every Tuesday night like clockwork.”

“
Hey, you’re at least twenty-five, right?”

It took me a second to realize the old man was talking to me.
I looked up. “Yes sir.”

“
I’m going to need to make a copy of your ID for insurance purposes,” he said.

Dutifully I pulled out my wallet, praying my hand wouldn’t shake as I handed over the hopefully still altered license.

He held it up to the light and squinted at it for a long minute. Then he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out some bifocals. Without putting them on or unfolding them, he held the glasses near his face and peered through them at the ID. My heart raced faster with every passing second.

Finally,
he shuffled over to an antique looking copier machine and made a copy.

I let the air out of my lungs slow and easy through my nose and finished filling out the forms.

He handed me back my ID, looked over the form, then said, “Now who’s your driver going to be?”

“
Uh…” I hesitated.

“
I’ve got to put down their name for the insurance,” he added. “And they’ll have to come in and we’ll need a copy of their CDL. It’s federal law.”

I glanced at Steve, wondering how he planned to solve this one.
Another driver’s license makeover spell? And if it worked, then what? Could Steve even drive a bus?

Before Steve could answer, I jumped in.
“Well, Steve here has a CDL. But it’s a pretty long drive, and it’d be nice if we could find someone else to drive us instead. You know, so Steve could relax and see the sights with everyone else. You know any qualified drivers we could maybe hire?”

The old man’s bushy eyebrows shot up.
“Well, my brother John could. But he’s an idiot, and I’m not too keen on trusting him with one of my charters that far away. Especially for a couple of weeks.”

“
I’m sure I can handle—” Steve said.

“
What about yourself?” I said to the bus owner, ignoring the quick glare Steve shot me. His look seemed to ask whether I knew what I was doing here. Unfortunately the answer to that was no, I had no clue. I should have shut up and let him continue with the lies. But for some reason I was acting on a hunch. Tarah would probably be proud, what with all her beliefs in listening to emotions and instincts.

Both men stared at me.

“I was just thinking if you drove us, you could personally ensure your bus was safe at all times.”

Silence.
I could hear each of our breaths, mine a little too quick but hopefully too quiet for elderly ears to hear, Steve’s slower, more deliberate, the old man’s shallow with just a hint of a wheeze at the end.

T
he bus owner rocked back on his heels and rubbed his gut beneath the silver snap buttons of his white and brown plaid shirt. “Well, now, that’s an intriguing idea. John could watch the shop, it’s the dead season anyways, ain’t nobody renting right now. And I would like to do some traveling and sight seeing.”

“
Aw, I don’t know if it’d be right, taking you away from your family right before Christmas,” Steve said, his words nice and slow. But a certain tightness around his eyes gave him away at least to me. He didn’t want a normal, as Tarah called them, joining our outcast group.

But h
e could get over it. We needed someone who could actually get everyone to South Dakota safely. And legally.

The old man’s shoulders lifted and fell.
“Only folks I see Christmas Day are John and his wife. And frankly getting out and about on a working vacation would be a real treat.” He hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his stained, worn out jeans. “After working out in the fields most of the year, spending winter all cooped up in this place gets to choking on you after awhile.”

“
Well, alright then,” I said with a smile of relief. “You mind adding on your driver’s fee to whatever we owe you, and putting it on this?” I held out Mom’s card.

He took the card but didn’t look at it.
“I haven’t said what that fee would be yet.”

“
I know. But I’ve got a good feeling about you. You seem the type of man who’ll do right by us. So you go on and put what you feel is fair for a charter with a restroom on it and your time. And of course we’ll cover your food and hotel expenses on the trip too.”

I must have surprised him
, because his eyebrows shot up. “Well, that’s real good of you, boy. My name’s Bud Preston, by the way.” He held out his hand.

My insides tried to catch a little as I told him my real name.
Would he recognize the connection to my father? But he didn’t hesitate as he shook my hand. I’d learned lately that Dad had been wrong about a lot of things over the years. But right then I hoped he had at least one thing right, that you really could judge a man by the way he shook your hand. If so, then my instincts about this guy were also correct. Bud’s grip was firm despite his years, with none of those power plays of using his free hand to cage mine or grip my arm or shoulder like my father did to voters around election time. Bud’s handshake said he was a simple, honest, strong man, the calluses promising he was also a hard worker.

We’d all have to hope
his handshake didn’t lie.

“
Well, let’s get this show on the road then!” Bud said, cracking his first smile yet. It transformed him, lighting up his eyes.

Tarah would probably like him a lot.

“What do you say we meet up over in Clemens?” I suggested, naming the neighboring town our group was waiting in. “Our group’s in the Wal-mart parking lot behind the bookstore, if you know where it is?”

He nodded.
“Yeah, that sounds real good. Give me, say, forty-five minutes. I’ll get the ole girl warmed up and gassed up, give her a good check up and all that. Maybe run by my house, call my brother and grab some clothes and a razor.”

“
If you need longer—” I started to say, sweat sliding down my back at the thought that he might agree.

He waved me off.
“Naw, old man like me, I don’t need much for a trip. Besides, we got to get those young ones warm and back on the road.”

“
Alright, see you there.” Still smiling, I headed out the building, jumping into the truck with more hope than I’d felt in a long time. Maybe Tarah was right about this positive thinking stuff after all.

Steve wasn’t quite as optimistic, judging by the way he slammed the truck door shut after climbing inside.

As we headed back to our group in the festering silence, I wondered if Steve would continue to hold his tongue or let it all out. Minutes later, I had my answer.

“
I guess it was just too much of me to ask you not to make any stupid mistakes back there, huh?”

I counted to five before replying nice and slow.
“Something on your mind?”

“
Yeah. Your stupidity. Do you want to get us all killed?”

“
We need to get there safely. Or do you really have a CDL and know how to drive a bus after all?”

“
I could’ve figured it out.” His tone was sullen.

“
Before or after causing a wreck? Besides, why break the law if we don’t have to?”

“
How do you know he won’t learn the truth and run off to the authorities the first chance he gets?”

“
Like I said, it’s a necessary risk. We need him to get us there safely and legally. I’ll make sure to pay him more than enough to keep him quiet.”

Silence.

As we turned off the interstate and headed back into town, he muttered,
“Just so you know, if that bus driver finds out the truth and turns us all in, I’ll be holding you one hundred percent responsible.”

“
Yeah, you and everybody else,” I muttered.

I eased the truck into the bookstore parking lot and around the building to the back.
And got another sucker punch to the gut that robbed me of the ability to breathe.

The military trucks were gone.

Steve cursed loudly.

“
Don’t panic,” I said, more to myself than him. “Maybe they had to move the trucks somewhere out of sight nearby.”

We cruised around the store, even checking the nearby Wal-
Mart parking area and the neighboring gas stations. No military trucks anywhere.

“
Do you think...” His voice trailed off, like he couldn’t stand to even finish the idea. My mind finished it for him, dark possibilities instantly exploding into life fueled by what I’d seen with my own eyes in the last two days. What if they were hauled off by the police? What if...

No.
They had to be around here somewhere, or at least had left behind some kind of clue or something to let me know what had happened to them. Tarah would have made sure of it. She would have trusted that I would try to find her.

I turned around in the Wal-
Mart parking lot and headed back towards the bookstore again.