Every Second

56

Coyote Mountains, New York

Lori kept waking, sleeping and waking again.

We’re still alive.

She lay there in the twilight, shivering under the vest as Billy slept with his head on her chest. Birdsong echoed with the rustle, cluck and screech of small creatures moving through the forest. Lori listened for sounds of any approaching threat until the sun rose, bathing the woods in light and the horror churning inside her erupted.

Dan’s dead! Oh God! Dan!

She covered her mouth with both hands to silence her sobs, but her anguished spasms woke Billy. Cold replaced his warmth against her as he went behind a tree a few yards away and relieved himself.

Lori regained a degree of composure and studied him closely, touching his cheek when he returned to her side. His eyes were reddened because he’d cried much of the night. Stress lines were carved deep into his face.

“How are you doing, sweetie?”

Billy shrugged.

“Do you want to talk?”

He shook his head, but then he nodded.

“What is it, honey?”

“Did they really kill Dad?”

Lori stared into his eyes and nodded, pulling him to her and holding him as they both wept. She was numb. None of this was real. How could it be real?

Dan, tell me. What am I supposed to do now?

When their tears subsided, she brushed his cheeks.

“We just have to keep going, okay?”

“But how can we, without Dad?”

“I know, honey. I know it’s hard, but we have to do this. Dad would want us to keep going.”

He nodded.

“Do you think they killed Sam, too?”

“No, I don’t. I believe in my heart that Sam’s okay and he’s waiting to see you again.”

Billy considered her words carefully as he absorbed them.

“I’m thirsty,” he said. “And hungry.”

“Me, too. Let’s see what’s in here.”

She hefted the backpack, positioned it on her lap and pulled out the bottled water, which she passed to Billy. As he drank she opened a package of twelve chocolate-iced donuts. They ate two each, careful to save the rest.

“Mom, what are we going to do?”

“We’re going to find a way out of here.”

Lori pulled out the laptop and turned it on. The computer came to life, and she immediately tried to get on to the internet. But it was futile. There was no signal and no capability to find one. They had no way of reaching help.

“Can I have another donut?” Billy asked.

“I’ll give you half of one. We need to save the rest.”

As Billy ate, Lori scrutinized the laptop with heightened intensity, searching for anything that might help. Other than a couple of standard icons, the desktop was clean. She went on to the drives, found several folders and began opening them. Reading as fast as she could. One held files that contained detailed maps of New York City. Another file contained a list of names, addresses and emails for several people. Most were in the United States, some were in Canada, Germany, Australia, Britain, Kuwait, Iraq and Syria.

Another file contained four videos.

She played the first and was greeted by the face of Percy. The running time was a few seconds. She kept the volume low, hit Play, and Percy spoke directly into the camera.

“Greetings from paradise. At this moment, you’re asking why. We’ll enlighten you. Because your elected government continuously perpetuates atrocities around the world, your support of them makes you, the people of America, responsible, just as I am and my brothers are responsible for protecting and avenging our people. Until we feel safe from your oppression, you will be our targets. What you have witnessed in New York is only the beginning. More acts will come and they will be stronger until you cease committing atrocities. Allah is great.”

The three other videos showed the other captors making similar short statements.

“Those don’t sound good. What are they?” Billy asked.

Lori knew but didn’t answer.

She opened more files, finding another map. This one was of Manhattan, clearly marked with four locations, the Staten Island Ferry, Times Square, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal. A name was affixed to each location, causing the tiny hairs on the back of Lori’s neck to stand up.

“Oh my God, no!”

“What is it, Mom?”

She opened files containing notes, one detailing how the group had planned to give the money from the bank operation in Queens and names of “young American believers” to a network, so that it could fund more “glorious operations.”

Lori shut off the laptop and took several deep breaths.

“We’ve got to get out of here and warn people.”

“Warn what people about what, Mom?”

“Something very bad is going to happen and we’ve got to stop it. Come on, we’ve got to find our way out.”

As they stood to leave, they froze.

Voices carried from the distance.