Blindside

5

J onah Flint, just turned forty and very proud of his full head of blacker-than-sin hair, came running out of the back room, the stethoscope nearly falling out of the pocket of his white coat.

“Jesus, Katie, what’s going on? Who’s this?”

“This,” Katie said, carrying Sam into the first examination room, “is Sam and he just escaped kidnappers, believe it or not. There’s a cut on his head and I think he’s going into shock. I was afraid you weren’t here.”

“I was doing some research in the back. Now, let’s see what we’ve got here.” Dr. Flint smiled at the boy even as he peeled him off Katie and removed all the blankets, taking in all the signs and talking to Sam all the while.

“How do you feel, Sam?” He sat the boy on the edge of the examining table. “Do you take any medications? No?” He began to check him over. “Does your head hurt? I know the cut does, but do you have a headache? No, okay, that’s good. I’ll give you something to cut the pain. You got away from kidnappers? That’s something now, isn’t it? Okay, Sam, let me get you out of those wet clothes. You can just call me Doc Flintstone, okay? That’s right, you help me. Now, do you hurt anywhere else? No? Good. Katie, you can step out, please, just men in here. You going to call the kid’s parents?”

Sam looked shell-shocked.

Katie said, “I’ll call his parents in just a bit, when you’re through examining him. First things first. He’s the most important thing right now.” She took one last long look at the little boy who’d run out of a wilderness of maples and oaks. She picked up the huge office umbrella, lots bigger than hers, and fetched Keely from the truck.

She sat Keely on a chair, handed her the huge black waiting room bear, and called Wade again. “What’s the word, Wade? You see anything out there?”

“Not yet. Where are you?”

“I’m in Jonah’s waiting room. He’s with Sam-that’s the little boy. I don’t know his last name yet. Making sure he’s okay is the first priority. I’ve got Keely with me, too. With the two kids, there was no way I could do anything but get out of there. Have you checked out the old Bleaker place yet? That’s bound to be where they were keeping him. It’s hidden and nobody can hear anything for all the trees.”

“I think so, too. Me and Jeffrey are out here on the road, and even with the fog and the rain, we found where the guys had come out of the woods. We found several shells, probably from your rifle. You also dropped a blanket. We’re fixing to go into the woods now.”

Katie wanted to be the one to go to the Bleaker cabin. It was tough, but there was just no way she could leave the kids, not yet. “Listen, Wade, you and Jeffrey be really careful. Anyone else with you? Good, glad that Conrad and Danny got there. Don’t forget, these guys are dangerous. If they’re still at the Bleaker cabin, it could get dicey. If they’re not there, I want you to secure the place. Be real careful not to destroy any possible evidence.”

“You got it, Sheriff,” Wade said. “Over and out.”

Over and out? Katie shook her head. Wade sounded pleased as punch that he was the lead on this. She just hoped he’d be careful. She disconnected and said to Keely, “I sure hope Jeffrey wears his glasses.”

Keely said, not looking up from the bear, “Jeffrey has to wear his glasses or he’d step in the toilet. Millie likes him without his glasses, but she says it’s just too dangerous.”

Millie was Jeffrey’s girlfriend. Katie smiled and felt her tension lessen just a bit. She fully intended to keep the boy with her as long as it took to get him safe. She hardly knew anything about him. She hated to wait before talking with him, but the child needed Jonah a lot more than he needed to answer questions right now.

Sam’s parents. She’d get their names and phone number as soon as Jonah said Sam was okay. She knew they had to be frantic.

Jonah came out from the examination room twenty minutes later, smiling, holding the little boy’s hand. “Sam’s been telling me how his mama kept talking in his head, telling him what to do, how to get himself free.”

How could Sam be okay? He looked white and exhausted, a big Flintstones bandage on his head. Katie said, “You did great, Sam, you didn’t give up.”

“No, ma’am, I didn’t.” There was a flash of pride in that exhausted little voice, and that was good. Sam looked like the little boy he was, wrapped in two very big blue blankets, a pair of Jonah’s black socks on his small feet. Sam looked up at Jonah. “I want to go home, Doctor.”

Katie patted Keely’s head, and walked swiftly to where the boy stood. She picked him up and held him close to her. “You’re just fine, Sam, just fine. Now, if Jonah is through torturing you, I’m taking you home with me. You’ll be safe there until I can get your folks here.”

“We’re in Tennessee?”

“Yes, we are. Eastern Tennessee. Jessborough is the name of the town.”

“Where’s Tennessee?”

“We’re sandwiched among lots of states. Where do you live, Sam?”

“I’m from Colfax, Virginia.”

“A nice state, Virginia,” Katie said and turned to Jonah. “It’s not too far away from here. He’s okay?”

“Yep, he might come down with a cold from his run in the rain, but he’s a strong kid. He’ll be just fine. Give him a nice big glass of juice. He needs the sugar. I don’t want to take any chances that he’ll crash.” He patted Sam’s head, ran his fingers through his damp black hair. “His clothes are still wet. What do you want to do?”

“If you could wrap his clothes up in a towel, I’ll wash and dry them.”

Katie realized she was rocking Sam, sort of stepping from one foot to the other, swaying, just like she did with Keely. She smiled. “I’m going to squeeze him in next to Keely and take both of them home. You like hot chicken noodle soup, Sam?”

He didn’t say anything, but she felt him nod. She and Jonah looked at each other. Neither of them knew what the kid had been through, at least not yet.

“You be careful, Katie, it’s coming down thicker than confetti on New Year’s,” Jonah said. “Take good care of my patient. Keely, you keep a close eye on Sam, too, okay?”

Keely allowed Sam to sit next to her mother, his head on Katie’s leg. She pressed close to his other side. “I’ll keep him warm, Mama.”

“Sam,” Katie said, lightly touching her fingers to his pale cheek, “you’re a very lucky boy.”

Sam, who felt dopey and stupid, said, “That’s what my mama was always telling my dad.”

“I’ll call your daddy right now if you’ll just tell me his name and phone number.”

Sam said against the wet denim on her leg, “My dad’s name is Miles Kettering. He’s really cool. He can fix anything. He fixes helicopters for the government.”

His father was a government contractor? Could that be why he was kidnapped?

“What’s your home phone number, Sam?”

He was silent, thinking, but he couldn’t get it together, and she knew his brain was closing down. “It’s okay. I’ll call information. Colfax, Virginia, right?”

Sam managed to nod before he closed his eyes. He felt her strong leg supporting his head. She still felt wet through the blanket she’d put under his head. He felt the sway of the truck and the little girl’s body pressed close against him. He was warm. He was safe. He was asleep in the next minute.

Katie pulled the blanket more closely around his shoulders, and whispered to Keely, “He’ll be okay, sweetie. You just stay there, keep him really warm.”

After a moment, Keely said, “I would have saved myself, too, Mama.”

“I know you would have, Keely. Now, let me get information in Virginia and find Sam’s daddy.”

When the phone rang, Miles jumped nearly three feet. He’d been telling the agents again how the government contracts worked, who his competitors were, and how much money was involved. Agent Butch Ashburn, the lead on Sam’s kidnapping, nodded to the other agent, Todd Morton, who’d just swallowed a doughnut too fast and was choking.

“Showtime,” Agent Ashburn said.

Savich, who’d just gotten to the Kettering house, laid his hand on his friend’s arm and said, “Everything’s set, Miles. Just answer the phone. Keep calm, that’s more important than I can say.”

Miles Kettering forced his hand to reach for the phone. He didn’t want to touch it, didn’t want to because he was afraid that Sam was dead. So many children were kidnapped and so few survived. He could hardly bear it.

It had been a day and a half. This was the first word. His hand shook as he lifted the phone.

“Hello? This is Miles Kettering.”

“Hello, Mr. Kettering, my name is Sheriff K. C. Benedict from Washington County, Tennessee. Don’t worry, I have your boy, Sam. He’s just fine. He managed to escape his kidnappers. He’s with me. Mr. Kettering? I promise you, he’s okay.”

Miles couldn’t speak. His throat worked. “I don’t believe you. You’re the kidnapper, right? What do you want?”

Butch Ashburn and Todd Morton were standing there staring at the phone, trying to look both calm and competent. Savich took the phone from Miles’s hands. “Who is this?”

Katie understood. She said again, “This is Sheriff K. C. Benedict from Washington County, Tennessee. Sam is just fine. He managed to save himself. I’ve got him with me. Tell his parents not to worry, he’s okay.”

“This is Dillon Savich with the FBI, Sheriff. Thank you very much. Give me your exact location and we’ll be there as quickly as we can.”

Katie gave the man directions. She’d never before met a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She patted Sam’s shoulder, whispered, “Your daddy’s going to be here soon now, Sam,” but Sam didn’t hear her. He was asleep.

She heard Mr. Kettering say in the background, “I want to talk to Sam.”

She said to Agent Savich, “Sam’s asleep. Do you want me to wake him?”

Miles Kettering came on the line. “No, let him sleep. I’ll see him soon. Please, Sheriff, tell him I love him. What about the people who took him? Did you get them?”

“I’m very sorry, but they escaped. But we’ve got a group of my deputies in the field and they’ll do their best.”

When Katie hung up the phone, Keely said, nearly asleep herself, “What about his mama?”

“She’ll probably come, too. If I were her, I’d beat his daddy here to get him.”

“Stealing Sam was a bad thing, Mama.”

“You’re right.” And she thought, I should have just brought the bastard down, not given him a kiss in the arm. I should have kicked his butt like Sam said.