“It’s yours!” the class yelled in unison, a sick delightful sound of harmony.
“It’s yours! It’s yours!”
[31]
The Shasta Valley Mall came into view up ahead on the right. The main entrance was a block away, hidden between a Carl’s Jr. that had been under construction for several months and a Bank of America branch that had been there for years. Teri didn’t think the black Ford was going to let her get that far.
“Mom…”
“Just hold on.”
She slammed her foot down on the accelerator, and gave the steering wheel a sharp tug to the right. The rear tires squealed, kicking up a cloud of blue smoke, before they finally caught and sent the car into a sideways skid.
The front end jumped the curb.
Teri over-corrected in an effort to keep the car from doing a one-eighty, and ended up making matters worse. The right front fender clipped a street light, sheering it off near the base. The impact as it came crashing down sounded like a wrecking ball taking its first swipe at an old, tired building. She barely heard it, though. The car squealed across the sidewalk, forced its way into the narrow space between a pickup truck and a telephone booth, then suddenly accelerated again. She felt the weight of her body forced backwards into the cushion of her seat. It was everything she could do just to keep her hands on the steering wheel, and suddenly she realized that even that wasn’t going to be enough.
Not this time.
It was going to take more than just holding on.
For a moment, everything seemed to slow down, ticking off the seconds in an irretrievable manner that left no doubt there would be no turning back. The car shimmied and rattled, just missed a planter box, then rammed front-grille first into the side of a parked RV.
Teri felt the steering wheel press against her breasts, and with a shudder the car settled back on its springs and came to an abrupt standstill. The engine continued to race for another ten to fifteen seconds, sounding as if it might explode, then gradually winding down again. Everything turned deathly quiet.
She unstrapped herself from the seat belt. “You all right?”
The boy smiled at her, struggling with his own belt. “That was wicked. Really wicked.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Teri said, wishing they had time to stop and count their blessings. The boy’s side of the car was bulging inward now, a strange sculpture of metal and plastic that might have been a popular piece if only it had been on display at an art gallery. “We’re going to have to get out on this side.”
She gave the door handle a tug and realized with dread that something wasn’t right. The pull was too easy. There was no resistance. She put her shoulder against the door and tried again, but the result was the same. The door wasn’t going to open.
“Just break out the window,” the boy said.
In the distance, she could see the black Ford coming back across the intersection into the mall parking lot. There wasn’t much time now.
“Mom…”
“I heard you!”
But first, she tried to roll down the window, amazed that she had the presence of mind to even think of such a thing. Like the door handle, though, something inside the trim panel had apparently slipped off its track or had become stripped of its threads. The handle dangled from the shaft, useless.
“Try this.” The boy handed her the small First Aid box from the glove compartment. “It’s metal.”
She stared at it, toying only a moment with the idea before covering her face and slamming one end of the box into the glass. Instantly, it bounced back at her. Left behind was little more than a tiny spider-webbed pattern near the heart of the window.
“Hit it harder.”
“I’m trying.” What scared her more than anything was that she might put her arm through the window and end up cutting herself on the shards of glass. There was that fear, and then there was the fear of being trapped in here.
The Ford had gotten caught in the backup of rubberneckers across the way. Through the windshield, she watched as all four doors open nearly simultaneously. A small group of men climbed out and started across the parking lot in her direction.
Teri took another swing at the window, hit it hard enough to shatter the glass this time, and after that it was only a matter of knocking away the shards from around the edges of the opening. Teri climbed through first. The boy followed close behind, catching his pant leg on the lock, then shaking loose. He fell to the ground head first, wearing half-a-grin, half-a-grimace.
The men were only fifty yards behind them now, Mitch in front, looking like a football player in a suit, only a little heavier and maybe a little slower. The others had fanned out on either side.
Teri helped the boy to his feet, and pushed him ahead of her, between two parked cars, over a small area planted with ivy, across the road, and into the southwest doors of J.C. Penny’s. It was warm inside, and she was immediately struck by the calm in here. The chaos on the other side of the doors suddenly seemed a thousand miles away. She glanced back, seeing no sign of Mitch or his friends.
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t know.”
They passed through the cosmetics department, past women’s clothing, and followed the tiled walkway out into the mouth of the mall. In the back of her mind, she had been thinking—more like hoping—that they might be able to blend in with the shoppers and maybe find their way out through another store. But it was late afternoon now, and foot traffic was light.
Up ahead on the left, a Gottschalks had recently moved in. Teri crossed the floor, keeping the boy in front of her. In their rush to escape the car they had left his cane behind and he was limply markedly now. Distantly, it crossed her thoughts that there hadn’t been a normal, peaceful minute since the moment he had shown up on her doorstep.
“Not much further,” she said. “Hang on.”
“I’m okay.”
Once inside Gottschalks they followed the walkway toward the women’s section in the back, Teri glancing over her shoulder and trying to convince herself every step of the way they were okay, that Mitch and his friends hadn’t seen them.
A clerk looked up from her register, and smiled.
Teri forced herself to smile back, and pushed the boy toward the changing rooms, where a heavyset woman was modeling slacks in front of the mirrors. They moved to the back stall, closed the curtains, and sat down.
“Mom, this is for girls.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Gabe. Give me a break, will you.”
[32]
Walt woke up in a cold sweat. He sat on the edge of the bed, his heart pounding faster than he ever imagined possible. He slowly rubbed his hands over his face, and stared down at them, studying the wrinkles, the pores, the hair. And gradually, the dream came back to him.
Jeff Newcomer.
Raymond.
Joseph.
Samuel.
Berry.
Oh, Jesus.
Richard Boyle.
He got up and went into the bathroom to relieve himself. When he was done, he washed his hands and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Richard Boyle was the man who had kidnapped his two children and disappeared on his wife. He was the man Walt had been hired to find, and the reason Walt was here. Only Walt had never expected to find Richard Boyle in his dreams.
[33]
“We fucking lost them!” Mitch said, barely able to control his anger. The light turned green and he made a left through the intersection on the way out of the mall parking lot. He switched the car phone to the other ear and checked his watch. It was a quarter past five. They had spent nearly two hours combing through the mall, all for naught. The Knight woman and the boy had simply vanished.